Stella

Chapter IV

On waking, Sibilla felt a pleasant warmth on her face. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a blue-green flame dancing in a light stone fireplace.

"Good you've woken up," someone said behind her. The woman looked around confused; the entire room she found herself in was as though it was carved in the same light stone and the one who had just spoken to her was a very old man who was busy with steaming stills.

"Where am I?" Sibilla asked.

"Inside the moon," he said absently, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Inside the moon? So you are ... the magician ... that ... "

"Yes, that's right," he said, shaking an ampoule.

"I came to you for ..."

"I know why you are here," he interrupted, looking into her eyes. "You had a lot of courage to oppose your father."

"You know who I am and where I come from, then," Sibilla murmured bowing her head.

"You don't have to feel guilty," he assured her, "you are different from the King of the Nightmares despite having the same blood."

"How can you be so sure? It is my fault the prince ... " her voice broke. Sibilla looked at the ceiling as if she were trying to pull her tears back inside.

"You would not have come to me if it was not so," the magician reassured her. "But now you have to make sure that the prince's sacrifice has not been in vain."

"Tell me what I have to do," Sibilla said.

"In the meantime, drink this infusion, it will do you good," he said holding a cup out to her with a not very inviting yellowish liquid. The woman obeyed, trying to hide her expression of disgust.

"You know now that the creature that is born could alter the equilibrium of the universe," the magician continued. "The day that she comes to the world an era will come to an end and another will begin anew, yet unknown and impossible to imagine even for me. Whatever future will await us all, neither I nor anyone else can tell you what to do: you will listen to your mother's instinct, which will grow day-by-day and you will decide the destiny of the Supreme Being. I could even give you a potion to interrupt the pregnancy, if you really wanted to. But if your creature is born I will promise you that I will do the best to protect it and prevent it from taking the wrong path."

"I have a huge responsibility," Sibilla sighed. "I hope my choice will be the right one."

"It will be, I'm sure. Don't be in such a hurry. You can stay in the moon for the time you need to decide. For the moment you are safe from your father and you can think in peace."

Sibilla accepted the advice and agreed to stay in that miraculous place. She immediately realized that the magician did not live alone. Indeed, shortly thereafter, emerging from the heart of the stone came strange, long-limbed and evanescent beings, spirits floated around her that emanated a clear and soft light.

"These spirits are my friends," said the wizard, "it was they who found you and brought you here. "Sibilla tried to smile and bowed to them to thank them.

"When the night falls, they dwell in the moon: it is also thanks to them that it is so bright," he continued smiling. "But now follow me, I'll show you the room where you'll be staying. "The wizard had reserved a small white room with a beautiful canopy bed and a balcony where she could see an incredible view: Sibilla saw the snowy summit of the mountain, the sloping and rocky slopes that she had just climbed, the valley in the distance covered by thick forests and also the imposing hedges of the Labyrinth that stretched tortuously becoming lost on the horizon. She also noticed a place with a brass telescope.