Agvar: The order of the guardians (English version)

Chapter 3

That night I had the same dream that I had had since the day my mother died. But this time, the figure of the man who appeared in the darkness, looking at me, pronounces my name with a malicious smile and releases the sphere in my hands, making me wake up with a jump. It was still night when I woke up, I felt my heartbeat in my throat and my sweat-soaked hands kept shaking. It does not record him understanding the nature of the dream, much less the reason why it altered me so much. I futilely tried to catch up on sleep but the rest of the night went on forever. I walked the house from side to side and browsed through several books without being able to focus on anything. I leaned back in a comfortable seat in the study, watching my mother's portrait on the wall. I looked inside my shirt for the necklace that my mother had given me on my birthday several hours before the attack in Erena. It was the same necklace that she had on the painting, I squeezed it in my hands as if it were a piece of her. I stayed leaning on the furniture concentrated on my mother's face until a ray of light announced that my night of torment had ended. In a hurry, I rummaged around for breakfast in the basket Kate had given me, got ready, and hurried off into town. I had so many questions in my head that it was impossible for me to put my thoughts in order. Everything was crisscrossed in my head so I decided to focus my attention around me. The fresh air and people working in the fields made the landscape very familiar. Life in Erena was very similar to theirs although here there was a peace and a carefree joy that I never managed to see in my little town. I couldn't stop thinking about how happy and calm the people of Erena could live here, without the abuse of the empire.

I got to the city much faster than I expected for some reason the journey in the carriage seemed much longer. As I walked through the busy city streets a strange scene caught my attention. On one of the balconies, a woman was holding a girl who, due to her appearance, was very ill. And a man with long white hair was examining her. The man placed his hand on the girl's forehead as if raising a prayer. A faint white glow came out of his palm as his hand touched the girl. For a few seconds, I could feel strange energy running through the girl's body as if it were my own body. The little girl with a tired look opened her eyes and smiled at her mother. The man's eyes fell on me as if he knew what I had felt. His gaze reflected a surprise and insecurity that made me think it was the first time it happened. The man stood slowly with his eyes fixed on me. Unintentionally I started running towards the port without paying attention to anything until I reached the old building where I would meet Andre. I paused for a moment to catch my breath and entered. As I approached the office, I heard Andre speak without understanding what they were saying, but my body remained motionless for a few seconds when hearing my name.

"Good morning," I said, interrupting the conversation and being puzzled to see that Andre was alone. Smiling, he put away what looked like a strange stone and asked me to come in and sit down.

"I suppose you're coming to talk about your father," he comments as he searches the desk. Elzar was a great friend and one of the most influential people in the city. Did you know that it was he who made possible the restoration of the temple of light? Everyone was talking about my father, full of pride and enthusiasm, making me wonder why, if he was such an admirable man, my mother walked away from him with me. Thinking about how awesome my father seemed to have put an awkward weight on my heart.

"What is the temple of light?" I asked, unable to understand, how important it was to know if he rebuilt a temple or not.

"In its glory times, the temple of light was a place of peace and illumination for the people. It was the home and school of the teachers of light, and the most important temple of the order. Your father was obsessed with the order, that was one of the reasons that led him to rebuild the temple. According to him, he had found evidence that in Agvar there were still people with the ability to communicate with the elements. I knew it was impossible because all knowledge of the order and its practices had disappeared with the war," he said with his lost gaze.