The Son of Ice and Dusk

Where I'm told a shocking revelation

Raegan knew where we had to go. It was the place where Set and his siblings found the Enemy Mirror in the famous story. I wanted to ask her why we couldn't go there directly, but it was obvious that, whatever Vitaly was trying to tell us, it was important.

I still couldn't grasp what it was, and Jeff's words didn't make it easier to understand.

When we entered the portal, we ended up in a room that looked very much like the one where we met the Awakened, but this time they weren't there.

I felt hopeful, for a minute, that they would give us Edgar back, but when I realised someone else was there, I felt impossibly tired, angry and sad.

With his eyes open, but his body in complete white, Vitaly was creating the Void.

Since he could decide how he looked to us, his hair was long and wavy like it was when he was young. The only difference was that it wasn't reddish brown — the spell made it white like the rest of his body.

"Why are you here? Why are you white?" Raegan asked.

"Because the energy we use to bend space and time can make us look like that if we're weak, and I've told you I was giving up on my magic."

"Like a printer running out of ink."

Vitaly scoffed.

"Why are you here, though?" Jeff asked. "Did you know I remembered something about my father?"

Vitaly looked concerned. "No, I didn't know that. But I felt like you should know the truth before you completed the quest. Congratulations, by the way. When you get to the Enemy Mirror's location, you might see something that surprises you. I didn't want you to find out that way, and I figure oaths of secrecy matter less in a war of those proportions. I didn't know they would take Edgar hostage. I never knew it was them who took Sean. So, I'm here to tell you everything."

"Oaths of secrecies aside," I muttered. "How can we trust someone who lied so much to us? Jeff is limping, and he probably will forever. Raegan put her father's spirit to rest. I was stabbed almost to death. And we lost Edgar."

"I can't make up for what you lost," Vitaly said. "But you, on the other hand, can listen."

After weeks where nobody would tell us what was going on, this was enough to shut us up.

"So, I'll tell the story from the start.

As you know, I have been a friend of Samuel ever since I was a little kid. But I was also a friend of his brother Nathan.

Nathan was Sam's older brother and he got along very well with their father. He was basically the perfect son. He didn't play with us most of the time, but I knew him very well.

Then, I turned twelve. I was kicked out of my house and started living with my aunt and uncle. Which meant that, really, I always stayed at the Winter's. Daniel Winter didn't like me. Once, he caught me while I was trying on makeup and from that moment on he started liking me less and less. Same thing happened when I started wearing women's clothes.

Samuel accepted me the way I was and often fought with his father about it. Mister Winter also understood that I saw Sam as more than a friend, while to him I was a little brother. He already had an older brother who was better than him at everything, he wanted a younger one who admired him.

When Sam and I became well known and started hanging out with Brady, Nathan started becoming famous for his talent as well. He was older than us, but he was also more gifted."

"But this doesn't make any sense!" Jeff yelled. "My grandfather never mentioned another son! I can't have an uncle I know nothing about! He's not even in the book Famous Enchanters."