'What are you talking about, Russell? Have you lost your mind?' I replied instantly. 'You left me alone inside that cave and now you're saying crazy things. What's wrong with you all?'
I tried to get up, but my legs didn't seem to respond, they felt heavy and cramped.
'It all fits,' Russell kept pushing. 'All the signs, your powers.'
'Powers? I don't have any powers.'
'Yes, you do. Think Milaia. The first time I saw you, I felt it. I don't know how you could use your magic outside of Crescendo, but you did.'
'Magic in the woods? You didn't tell me any of that.' Galaga interrupted his explanation.
My head was spinning, I just wanted to get out of there. As if she could read my mind, Tryx gave me her hand and helped me to get up. I got up as best I could and went outside.
I took a deep breath.
The sun had set. How much time had I spent inside that cave?
Not only did I not understand what had happened, but I also had to deal with the madness of these three people who had abandoned me and were now making meaningless excuses.
They were crazy, simply insane. They had left me alone in a cursed cave, and now they wanted to convince me to be a salvation. What had he said? That I had powers? I think I would have realized much earlier if I had magical powers.
How could I have been so foolish as to believe that Russell was a good person?
'Milaia,' his voice called to me from the cave. He came out a few seconds later. I turned around, I didn't want to see him, I didn't want to listen to him.
'Leave me alone,' I warned them.
'Milaia, please, let me explain, let me tell you the whole story.'
Explaining? It sounded more like lies and deception to me.
Why did he do that to me? Maybe Tryx and Galaga had helped him to create that illusion, to scare me and then to make fun of me? The twins had also participated? Maybe they were all making fun of the dumb girl from Bieno. Stupid.
I confronted him. His eyes captured me. Maybe I had to give him a chance, after all, he had saved me, given me a home. I owed him for that alone.
'Talk,' I said, without looking at his friends, who had stood by him.
'When the war came, the king ordered us to hide here. We received the worst news a few days later, when we were informed that the King and his family had been killed by King Lucius. King Lucius killed King Gelon and his wife... and their baby.'
I could not believe the kind of monster that was running my Kingdom. But I could not divert my attention from what had happened and I also had to start thinking about the possibility of leaving Crescendo. I was not going to live again with people I did not trust, I preferred loneliness to betrayal.
'Knowing that was terrible for everyone. Many thought that all was lost. Until we received the prophecy.'
'The King left us a prophecy, something incomprehensible that Syform himself had entrusted to him,' Galaga added, letting Russell continue.
'The prophecy said that in almost twenty-one years, our salvation would come out of the woods to find us, that it would be the light that would lead the people out of darkness, that it would restore order to the Kingdoms.'
'From the woods?'
'Exactly,' Russell stared at me.
'That's just a coincidence,' I said, ignoring my age as well. I was less than three weeks away from turning twenty-one.
'What about your powers?'
'I told you, I don't have any powers.' I hesitated for a few seconds and continued. 'And even if I did, wasn't magic real?'
'It was in the past, yes, now it only exists in this Kingdom.' Galaga interrupted him again, and this time, she continued. 'When Lucius attacked us, he did it by uncreating magic, that was our greatest weapon, and he took it away from us. Worse still, he took it out of the world's existence. All Kingdoms lost their magic. All magical creatures lost their magic until they had nothing left. Most of them became extinct and those who did not, do not have much time left. We were able to keep it because King Gelon protected it inside the dome all these years. That's why we stay hidden, but it won't last long.'
'What do you mean?'
'Galaga...maybe this is not the time to tell her everything.'
'If you don't tell her, I will.'
'Guys, please don't fight.' Tryx intervened
Russell sighed and took the lead again.
'Since the prophecy was about our salvation coming back in almost twenty-one years, that's how long the magic will last. And those twenty-one years are about to end. We only have a few weeks left. When that time is over, the curse of Lucius will penetrate the dome. We will lose the magic we had left; we will be left in plain sight and we will be attacked. They will kill us all.'
I was speechless. I had walked the streets of this Kingdom and found only happy, nice people, full of life and light. I could not imagine the soldiers of Bieno bursting into this paradisiacal bubble.
It made me sick just thinking about it.
'Isn't there a way to avoid it?' I asked, to no one in particular.
'The prophecy,' Russell continued, 'our salvation, the one that would come from the woods, is you Milaia, you are the way to avoid it.'
'This is crazy, you are all insane,' I held my head in my hands.
It was not possible that this was happening.
I just wanted a place to be safe. In the last few days, I had imagined the rest of my days at Crescendo. I could learn to cultivate and have my own garden, as I did not want to go back to hunting. Or I could work in the small bookstore on the second street. I could teach the children to read. I could grow up happy in a place like this. Maybe even, fall in love...
All those dreams would disappear if Crescendo was exposed to Bieno. But even worse was that these people believe that I was the answer. I couldn't understand it, I didn't want to understand it.
'What did you see inside the cave?' Galaga asked me.
'Don't you know? I thought you did it, that it was a trick.'
'Of course not, no one has ever been able to go that far,' Tryx replied. 'You must tell us what you saw.'
'No,' their faces showed me how much my refusal had affected them. 'And I never want to be near this cave again.'
'Milaia... '
'No Russell, it's too much... don't you think I deserve a bit of peace of mind? Please leave me alone. I'm sorry, I'm terribly sorry but I'm not the solution you are looking for.'
I turned around and tried to go back the way Russell had led me. As I walked away, I could hear behind my back.
'The prophecy did not say that our salvation would be an ungrateful selfish girl who would abandon us.' Galaga's voice echoed in the forest.
And I just walked away from that cave, away from Russell and away from the word salvation.