POV - Emilia
Las llamas lo rodearon. Una criatura oscura y sin forma con múltiples ojos emergió de la niebla rojo sangre. No podía ver su rostro con claridad, pero sabía que era él. Sabía que era Luahn.
Estaba cubierto de heridas, su brazo derecho colgaba flácidamente, pero aún sostenía su espada en alto. Detrás de él, los niños, Noeli, Kenshi y los demás se aferraban unos a otros, temblando. Intenté gritar su nombre, pero ningún sonido salió de mi garganta.
Solo silencio. Solo podía sentir el horror de verlo en ese estado.
La criatura se abalanzó sobre ellos.
Luahn gritó, agarró su espada y se abalanzó sobre la criatura. Fue una batalla feroz. Apenas pudo resistir sus ataques mientras intentaba proteger a los niños. En su descuido, perdió el equilibrio y su cuerpo fue atravesado por zarcillos de sombra.
Su figura fue iluminada brevemente por una luz blanca pura antes de desvanecerse ante mis ojos. La sangre lo cubría todo.
"¡LUAHN!"
Desperté empapada en sudor y con un grito que hizo temblar las paredes.
Me incorporé bruscamente en la cama, respirando como si no lo hubiera hecho en mucho tiempo, con el pecho subiendo y bajando violentamente, un dolor agudo palpitando en el centro de mi frente.
Un presagio, era una advertencia.
La puerta se abrió de golpe.
"¡Emilia! ¿Qué pasó?"
La voz de mi madre, que parecía preocupada por mi estado, se quebró al verme tan alterada. Mi padre apareció detrás de ella, todavía en pijama pero con la mano en la empuñadura de su pistola.
"¿Tuviste una pesadilla, hija?", preguntó mi madre.
"Fue un sueño... pero... fue demasiado real. Él... Luahn..."
"¿Viste algo?", preguntó, con la mirada fija, penetrante, casi como si ella también sintiera algo similar.
"Estaba luchando, estaba luchando solo, protegiendo a los pequeños, lo mataron".
Mi padre frunció el ceño.
"Los sueños no siempre son visiones, Emilia".
"Esta sí lo fue. Lo sé".
La habitación cayó en un pesado silencio. Entonces mi madre habló en voz baja.
«Luahn sigue vivo, hija, no debes pensar mal».
«No puedo quedarme aquí esperando. No después de ver eso. Voy a buscarlo». Me puse de pie con determinación.
«¡Emilia, qué dices!», exclamó su madre.
«Voy a encontrarlo, ha pasado demasiado tiempo, y si me detienen, iré sola si es necesario».
Fortz se cruzó de brazos; la furia brillaba sutilmente en sus ojos, pero no iba dirigida a mí.
«No puedo impedir que lo intentes. Pero tampoco puedo quedarme de brazos cruzados».
«¿Así que tú también vienes?», pregunté, con una mezcla de esperanza y ansiedad.
«No. Pero haré algo más útil. Buscaré información en mi interior».
Ese día, mi padre fue a ver a uno de los centinelas del templo. Era conocido por compartir discretamente lo que otros querían ocultar. Con palabras hábiles y algo de presión moral, consiguió lo que necesitaba: el alto mando había identificado objetos similares a los encontrados en la cueva al borde del bosque sur durante la última expedición.
La misma cueva donde tuvo lugar mi primera expedición.
Cuando me lo dijo, me quedé sin palabras por un momento, recordándolo todo.
El camino rocoso, la oscuridad húmeda, el silencio opresivo. Y ahora... Luahn podría estar allí, herida o peor...
"Entonces iré allí, junto con Grisel. Ella también irá".
"Hay guardias apostados en la zona. Si vas, debes moverte sigilosamente. Nadie más debe enterarse".
"Gracias, papá".
No respondió, pero me miró con una expresión llena de sentimientos que no podía expresar con palabras. Había cosas que no podía cambiar, pero al menos podía ayudarme a intentarlo.
Esa noche, mientras el templo dormía, Grisel y yo preparamos discretamente provisiones, armas y un pequeño mapa que mi padre nos había dejado en secreto. No hubo despedidas formales. Solo una última mirada al altar, una oración susurrada y el crujido silencioso de sus botas al cruzar el límite del bosque.
El viento era frío. La noche era densa.
Pero nuestros corazones ardían.
Y así, con la luna como único testigo, comenzó el viaje.
Uno que cambiaría nuestros destinos para siempre.
*
POV - Grisel
The night had not yet completely dissipated, but the house was no longer silent.
Emilia's hurried footsteps echoed in the hall, interrupted only by the faint sound of the burning brazier. I was sitting near the window, the cloak still draped over my shoulders, staring into the darkness of the forest.
I couldn't sleep, I just couldn't.
Since Lecia's return, something inside me had broken.
Luahn...
There was no news, several days had passed, but nothing, only speculation.
And that silence, for the first time, hurt.
"He's going to do something stupid," I muttered without surprise as I heard the bedroom door burst open.
Emilia entered, agitated, pale, frightened.
"Did you have a nightmare?" I asked calmly, although inside I was a whirlwind.
Emilia didn't answer right away. She walked straight to the table and clung to the edge as if she needed to hold on to keep from falling.
"I saw him," she whispered at last.
"Saw what?" I asked.
"I saw Luahn... he was fighting alone against a beast. Protecting the young ones. And..." She swallowed.
"He killed him... my Luahn."
My heart skipped a beat. Something in the way Emilia said it... as if it weren't just a dream. As if part of her knew it for sure. As if she were already mourning him.
I stood up, approaching her silently, my fingers hesitating before resting on Emilia's shoulder.
"He's not dead," I said with a confidence I didn't have.
"Not yet," I added, not believing it myself.
"I can't stay here," Emilia replied.
"I'm not going to sit around and wait. He would be looking for us if the situation were reversed!" she shouted.
I looked at her profile, that expression, the rage trembling with fear.
Strong, determined, but so fickle...
The same Emilia who once told me, annoyed, that if I was going to stay close to Luahn, I would have to protect him too.
The same one who confessed to me some time later, with a big smile on her face, about her strong feelings for him.
The same Emilia who was now trembling at the thought of losing him.
And the same Emilia who had left me feeling the same way, unable to close my eyes for a single peaceful night since Luahn disappeared.
"Grisel," Emilia said, "you'll help me, right?"
Our eyes met. And for the first time in many days, there was no mockery or sarcasm between us.
I lowered my gaze a little, pressed my lips together... and nodded.
"Yes. I can't stand by and do nothing either. Not this time."
That night, while Emilia was gathering a few supplies, I went over to the corner where I kept the small grimoire my mother had left me. I opened it carefully, leafing through it slowly, as if my fingers could find among those pages the answer to a question I didn't dare ask.
"Why does this hurt so much?" I asked myself.
I remembered the way Luahn looked at me the first time we exchanged words: not with fear, nor with doubt... but with simplicity.
"Your energy is not like everyone else's," he once said to me while we were cooking.
"But it's not bad, it's just different, like you."
At that moment, I ignored him. I pushed him away. I didn't want to... feel anything.
But then there was more, laughter shared without intention, small confessions.
Whole days spent looking at each other without speaking, understanding each other more in silence than with words.
And then the ritual, the accident, and the explosion.
The moment I saw him shaking on the floor, his body convulsing, and me lying on the floor unable to do anything.
I wanted to go to him to see how he was. But it was Emilia who tried, it was she who reached him.
And I... I just felt helpless because I was unconscious from my injuries.
Fear of losing someone I didn't know I had already begun to love.
Fear of not being able to do anything for the people who were important to me.
"What about your mother?" Emilia asked suddenly, tying her shoelaces.
I hesitated for a moment.
"I didn't see her this morning, but I guess...
A knock on the front door interrupted them.
It was Emilia's father.
Fortz entered with a heavy expression, his body firm, but his gaze exhausted.
"Are you going? Are you sure?" he asked bluntly.
"Yes," Emilia lifted her chin.
A long silence fell between them. I felt the tension like a sharp rope between two trees about to break.
"Then I have no right to stop you," Fortz said at last.
"I can only warn you: you are hiding things. Although bringing Luahn back is your priority, don't expose yourselves to danger if it's not necessary. Trust the rescue squad that left a few hours ago. You must protect each other."
"Don't worry, Dad. We'll only act if it's necessary," Emilia replied.
"Will you help us get there?" I asked.
Fortz nodded.
"Yes. I'll take you to the edge. After that... you decide the way.
When I return with my wife, we will try to distract the priestess by saying that you are with Emilia at our house."
"Okay, that will give us some time," I said.
He stopped me for a moment before leaving. I looked at my reflection in the water of the bowl I used to wash my face.
"Luahn..." I whispered.
"We're coming for you, Luahn. Hold on a little longer."
I took my staff, covered my face with a light cloak, and stood next to Emilia.
We both set off under the cover of the stars. In the distance, the forests trembled in the breeze, and the echo of the night seemed to whisper a name.
Luahn.
That name, which, for the first time, hurt me to say.
*
POV - Olivia
I had remained silent, pretending to be asleep. But ever since I heard Emilia's scream in the middle of the night, my heart had not been at peace. Anxiety gnawed at me like a dark root growing inside me.
There were no words for what I felt... only premonitions. And mothers knew. No proof was needed, no explanation.
The hours passed as if I were dragging an invisible weight. The sky was black, covered by thick clouds that hid the moons, and I couldn't take it anymore.
I got up, barefoot, my heart tight, and walked through the temple shrouded in shadows. I knew exactly where I had to go.
At the threshold leading to the forest, I saw them.
Two silhouettes: Emilia and Grisel, covered in cloaks, backpacks on their backs, armed. Ready to leave, like shadows determined to disappear among the trees.
"Emilia!" My voice pierced through them, broken and desperate, like a call from the depths of my soul. They both turned instantly. Emilia tensed, surprised, while Grisel closed her hand around her staff.
"Mrs. Olivia... what are you doing here?" Emilia asked, her voice trembling with surprise.
I advanced quickly, breathing heavily, and threw myself at Emilia, holding her arms with desperate firmness, my words emerging like a torrent held back for days:
"Please... bring him back. Safe, my Luahn... he's all I have. He's my son, my life. If anything happens to him, I don't know if I can go on. I have no power, Emilia. I was never as strong as you, or as he is. I never knew how to protect him from what the world threw at him. And now... all I can do is wait. Wait and pray... and it's killing me inside."
My tears began to roll down my cheeks, warm and silent. I clung to Emilia's cloak as if my son's life depended on it.
Emilia pressed her lips together, holding back the lump in her throat. Her gaze trembled, but her voice did not.
"I'll bring him back," she said with absolute determination.
"I promise. Even if I have to cross that forest alone, even if I have to face whatever it takes, I won't come back without him."
I lowered my forehead to her shoulder. I was trembling, not from the cold, but from helplessness. My body ached just from standing. Then I felt a hand on my back. It was Grisel.
"Trust us," she said, with a seriousness deeper than usual.
"Luahn is important to me too. I can't explain when it started, but he's there, in my chest, beating with this anguish. I'm not going to let it die. Not without a fight."
I slowly raised my eyes, my tired, red eyes searching for Grisel's. And in them I found something I had not allowed myself to recognize: a silent love, neither childish nor naive. A love born of connection, of guilt, of shared struggle.
I nodded, unable to say more. I could only nod, I could only trust them.
"Come back," I whispered. "Both of you. Please... come back, all of you."
I watched them walk away. The sound of their footsteps on the damp earth, their cloaks fluttering in the wind, their staffs and weapons tense against their backs. Two figures advancing into the darkness.
And me here, in the middle of the temple, hugging my own body, trembling in solitude.
The wind carried a name that echoed among the trees.
Luahn.
I whispered it silently, over and over, as if it were a living prayer. As if my faith could protect him from afar.
Because it was all I had left.
Because he was still my son. And I wasn't going to give up as long as he was still breathing.