The sun was rising, casting a smooth light over the dark street.
Alex had already made his bag. He came down from his room, expecting to find his Mother and brother waiting for him, ready to block his path. However, nobody was home.
They must have spent the night in the nursery.
Alex walked down the street at a determined pace. Lost in his thoughts as usual, he was planning how to defeat his future enemies.
As he arrived at the village exit, he found everyone waiting for him.
"Don't try to stop me." Alex walked up to them, waiting for some pushback.
"We're not here to stop you. We all know that you'll go anyway. We just wanted to wish you the best of luck," Answered Zora, as she held his right cheek with her hand.
"Th...Thanks," Alex had thought of everything but this. "What are you going to do?" Alex was talking to his Mother, but his question was addressed to everyone.
"We're going to help Celia take care of Herald. Alfred is going to fetch the ingredients to make a potion for your father, and I'll look over the library." Zora looked back at them, happy to be surrounded by everyone.
"Can you bring back some of their Iron on the way back? I need it for one of my projects" Added Alfred pulling on his clothes.
He had always been an experimental kid. When he was nine, he tried to make a boat out of rocks to make it sturdier than a wooden one. After countless attempts, he adjusted the hull's area and made the rocks so thin that the boat floated. In the end, the thin hull cracked at the first impact in the river, and we all laughed it off. However, he had already proven all of us wrong. Nobody believed in him, but he still got it to work by understanding the physics behind it. And even in this situation, he was still thinking about his projects.
"Yeah, yeah..." Alex's heart was shaken as he thought about his younger brother going through the same thing he was, and that his older brother didn't even know about the situation.
"Take this!" Celia sent a bag flying at Alex. "It has three healing potions; use them wisely." The bag hit Alex in the chest harder than it should have.
That's odd, she seems angry at me.
"See you soon! I'll be back with gifts and a healer!" Alex turned around and engaged the long path to his destination.
"Aren't you forgetting someone!" The voice could have been heard on the other side of the forest.
"Alriiiight... what do you want me to bring, Malena? Another pair of oversized boots?" Alex didn't even take the time to turn.
"First of all, you don't have a sense of style, so I won't be taking that into account. And secondly, you don't have to bring anything because I'm coming with you!" Malena was already at Alex's level and had jumped on his back.
"What? How did you convince Cel..." Alex felt Malena pushing him to walk faster.
"Shhhhh...walk faster before she changes her mind," hissed Malena.
Alex took one final look back at his loved ones. Celia was watching them leave with an irritated look, and Alfred was consoling Zora, who already had a tissue in hand.
The trees quickly obscured the view, and the long journey had begun.
After a couple of minutes of walking, Alex was the first to break the silence.
After a couple of minutes of walking, Alex was the first to break the silence.
"Soooo... now that they can't hear us, how'd you convince Aunty Celia?"
"Well..." Her unease was visible from a mile away.
"Spit it out."
"You remember what happened yesterday at the end? As Xander was launching his fireball at the library." Malena was rubbing her hands, trying to muster the courage to continue her explanation.
"Yes, you dashed in to try to stop him before he could launch it. Since you were too close, Dad couldn't conjure a small sphere around Xander to block his fireball. He had to create a bigger one to protect the library." Alex spoke as if this were obvious.
"Wait... so you know that..." Malena grew more agitated by the second.
Alex stopped and pulled Malena by the arm to face him. She avoided his gaze and gripped her rod tighter.
"He knew what he was doing when he cast the giant shield that 'Cristalized' him. You did that to protect us in the first place. I can't blame you for it. You put your life on the line just as much as he did."
Malena's eyes filled with tears. She'd been thinking about it since Zora told her after Alex left. Her hands shook at the thought of what had happened. She had to help Alex. Even her mother couldn't object, seeing her pain.
"So that's how you got your Mom to agree." Alex started walking again.
"She didn't even argue..." Muttered Malena.
"Don't kick yourself too much. We're going to save Dad. I'm sure of it. Besides that, the old geezer needed a bit of rest."
His last words were enough to steal a chuckle from Malena. They weren't only made to cheer her up. Alex also needed encouragement. He was going on a trip to find a fifth-grade mythical healer after all.
The two friends dove deeper into the forest. The sun had only begun rising, but the wildlife was wide awake. Branches cracked, lizards rattled, and birds chirped, creating a soothing melody.
Alex saw a couple of squirrels fighting over nuts, and Malena came face-to-face with a boar.
They had a long trip ahead of them, but with a steady pace, they could make it in one day.
"Let's take a small break. I have to pee." Said Alex, after at least an hour of walking.
Malena used this time to lie down on her back and relax. Her bag was heavy, and the break was well-earned.
When Alex came back from his bathroom break, he helped her up and started picking up her stuff. As he was going to grab the metal rod, he heard rapid footsteps behind him.
"Don't touch that!" Malena shoved his hand away and picked up the rod from the grass, as if it were made of glass.
"What's wrong with you? This is the second time you've bugged me over a piece of metal." Alex recalled when he'd used it like a lever to accelerate the tree's fall
"Just don't touch it. And it's not a rod, it's a staff!" Barked back, Malena.
"You've officially lost your mind. Look, it even has some rust on the bottom," Alex pointed at the crumbling end she was holding.
"I don't care! Just keep your hands off of it." Something was off, and Alex wasn't going to let it go.
Malena started walking ahead, and Alex followed, observing her clothes, her steps, and her balance as he tried to understand what was happening.
Something is really off with her reactions...
She always shows off her weapons. She even forced me to practice for three hours on a bow she got for her birthday.
But right now, she won't even let me hold the "staff" to give it to her...
Alex continued his inner monologue, trying to replay the events leading up to her first comment.
She told me to go grab her rod when we were in prison and used it to melt the bars.
When was the first time I saw her with it?
That's right... It was when she helped me from under the shelves. She was ready to fight with it, thinking I had been attacked.
Wait...
Don't tell me...
"You're hearing voices, right?" Alex stared down Malena, waiting for any clue she might leave.
"What are you talking about? We're in the middle of the forest, you're the only one who won't stop talking."
"I mean... you're hearing a voice in your head." Alex had caught up to her and was looking her in the eyes, watching every blink, every breath, every twitch.
"Hey, I'm not crazy, you know. I didn't hit my head yesterday !" Malena couldn't hold eye contact, and her mask was starting to crack.
"Well, I just thought we were on the same page because I'm hearing voices." Malena was his closest friend; if anyone, he had to tell at least her.
Malena snapped her head back to look at him. She waited a couple of seconds, then asked: "Are you serious??"
"Yes, I've been hearing the voice since the prison cell."
"Nooooooo... you don't know the weight you just took off my shoulders! I thought I was going crazy!" Malena's face was shining, as if she had just escaped death.
So I'm not the only one. I think I'm beginning to understand what's happening.