In the market place, Alexander was sitting at the side of the road, looking so lost, as he watched other people go about with their businesses.
Griswold, who was carrying two boxes, happened to pass by at the time, and spotted Alexander sitting all alone.
Alexander also looked up and saw Griswold, but he didn't say anything, and just stood up, walking towards Griswold. When he got to where Griswold was standing, he didn't say anything to acknowledge him, and just passed him by.
Being ignored by Alexander, Griswold couldn't even bring himself to say a word, and just looked downcast, thinking Alexander was mad at him.
"Hey, what are you doing? We have work to do." Alexander suddenly said, and Griswold immediately dropped the boxes as relief washed over him, and he enveloped Alexander is a tight hug.
"Alex!" He exclaimed, "I'm glad you are okay." Then when he released him from the hug, he then began to inspect him, and saw that his left cheek was a bit swollen. "What… what happened to your face? Did something happen?"
Alexander didn't respond, and Griswold nodded in understanding. "Cheer up, Alex! I have a surprise for you." He said, as he bent down to open the two boxes. "Tada! I made twice the amount of medicine we usually make. It was so hard to make. So what do you think? They will sell like hotcakes, right?"
Alexander still didn't say anything, but this time, he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
Griswold then pointed at him. "Hey, you smiled! Look, everyone, I made my best friend smile!" He yelled at the top of his voice, getting the attention of some passerby.
Alexander, who was embarrassed by this, quickly turned around and began to leave. "Hey, Alex! Come help me carry these!" Griswold called out, as he carried the boxes and followed after Alexander.
Alexander suddenly looked at Griswold with a smile—an evil smile—as he looked at Griswold's pants. "Did you change the pants you peed on?" He asked out loud.
Griswold's eyes widened as his face reddened in embarrassment, "Hey!" He exclaimed, and turned around to see if anyone had heard what Alexander had said.
….
Deep in the Black Forest, the Sacred fire circle were busy journeying through with horses in search of the Oakwood temple. They had set out at dawn even before the sunrise.
"If Alethea's curse activates today, on her eighteenth birthday, the death curse would be activated. We must find a way to break the curse here. This is the only means of survival that we have left." Ronan said to them, filling the initiates with the motivation they needed to go through with their journey.
The journey continued, and they finally got to a rocky mountain, where they could no longer go with their horses, and had to go on foot.
Through the help of the map, they easily navigated their way through the mountain. "I'm sure there's an entrance somewhere around here." Ronan paused and said as he closed his eyes as if trying to sense a presence, or power.
When he opened his eyes, he then pointed at a direction. "Over there!" He said, and all of them headed towards where he pointed, and behold they saw a passage likely to that of a cave.
It was dark inside, and they could barely see, but Ronan saw a candle as they entered and he stretched his hand towards it, lighting it up.
The light of the candle made them to be be able to see their surroundings, and Ronan said to the others, "Search around."
"Sir!" One of them said, "I feel a disturbing presence around here."
Just as he finished speaking the place which had been lightened up by the candle then became dim, and a piercing scream together with the hissing of snakes could be heard.
They all instinctively held unto their eyes, trying to block off the screams, but then they also found themselves screaming in pain. Their bodies began to itch, and also became inflicted with fatal wounds from nowhere.
Among all of them, only Ronan was unaffected, but his hands were still clasped tightly over his ears. "Don't let it get to you! They are merely illusions!" He yelled.
A loud hissing sound then caught his attention, and he looked towards the sound, seeing a cobra which looked like it was ready to attack at any moment, but Ronan wasn't fazed. He instead walked towards the cobra, and stretched his hand towards it.
The cobra suddenly vanished, and in its place stood a lit candle, restoring light back to the surrounding, and putting an end to the illusions.
The initiates all stood up, some looking embarrassed at how they had been screaming in pain over mere illusions.
"Sir, there's a path over there." The second in command said to Ronan, and they all headed towards that path.
There was a stairway which led them down, and when they got down, they split up to search around the place.
While searching, Ronan then saw an entrance, and when he entered into the space, he saw so many candles, which were on wooden surfaces similar to shelves. There were also vines all around the room, but there was one particular point where the vines seemed ridiculously much.
Ronan slowly approached the vines, and as he cleared the spot, what beholded his sight was an old-looking book. He turned the book over, and muttered the title that was written on the book im bold letters, "Spellbook Of The Damned!"
"Over here!" The second in command who had seen Ronan called out to the rest.
Ronan opened the book and flipped the pages, while the initiates waited anxiously for what he would find in the book.
"What's the method for breaking the curse?" One of them asked.
"If we set fire to the hundred candies that are in here, and offer prayer to the heavens, we should be able to break the curse. That's what it says in the book." As he explained to them, he then stretched his hand towards the candles, but nothing happened. "As expected, it seems these candles are no ordinary candles."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"In order for us to light up these candles, we would need a true soul." Ronan answered, and then he sighed. "It also says here that if we start the prayer, we must light all hundred candles, and break the curse before Polaris disappears. If we can't break the curse before Polaris disappears… then the person trying to break the curse will lose their life."
"Don't worry sir." The second in command said with determination. "We still have about five days before Polaris disappears. If we all combine our powers, we can be able to protect Alethea and break the curse."
The others nodded In agreement with what he had said, and Ronan turned around to look at them. "First, we must bring Alethea here as soon as we can. I beg of you. Please help me so that we can save Alethea and this kingdom."
"Yes, sir!" They all said in unison.
….
In the market place of the kingdom of Eldrador, joy could be seen on the peoples faces, as they ran about and did all sorts of things, from dancing, to singing, and beating of drums.
William who was deep in thoughts was strolling the streets of the market, as he looked around the so many stalls that were packed with all kinds of enticing things, mostly for ladies.
He continued to go his way, and he saw some ladies that had gathered to watch a magician who was performing a magic trick. Most of the ladies were holding dandelion flowers in their hands, and that made him take out a box from his pocket in which he had kept the dandelion flower he had given Alethea to make a wish.
He had acted as if he had not heard Alethea's wish, but he actually did. Alethea's supposed whisper was as loud as a wailing baby.
It's a bit exaggerated, but the point was that, Alethea's whisper was still so loud enough for him to hear. Alethea's wish made his heart feel conflicted as he didn't know what to do.
On one hand, he wanted to fulfill her wish, especially since it was her birthday, and on the other hand, he was worried of the unknown which his father had always warned him about without telling him the actual reason.
And so, William tried his best to forget the wish Alethea had made, but it kept replaying over and over again in his head.
"I wish I could see the outside world even if it's just once." That was Alethea's wish.