Later, while drinking juice to refresh themselves, Lilla looked restlessly at the stage, her love of music made her uneasy at the first opportunity to play.

“Why don't we play something?” She asked at last.

“Oh no.” Rox says sly “ I didn't bring my violin and I don't like to use someone else's.

"How do you leave without your violin? I always carry my flute.” Lilla takes a flute from her inside coat pocket.

The flute made of bamboo was painted with a mixture of green and brown, at its base, a small symbol was carved into the surface, three spirals starting from the same point, the symbol of Merion's triad of gods: Gaia, the goddess of life, Alys, the goddess of love, and Arandir, the god of death.

“A violin isn't as handy to carry as a flute, and besides, I didn't intend to play anything today.”

“Rox, it seems to me that you don't know our sister.” Provokes Aglia. “I can conjure one for you if you want.”

— No, the sound won't be as good as…” Rox exists “as mine, old violins have a clearer sound. I'll be happy to borrow someone's lute.

Aglia looks at him tenderly. “Sure.”

While they were discussing Lilla had already talked to the musicians on stage, ready to perform, they would just have to wait for the song it was playing to finish. However, a shadow appears through the castle's portals and the music is interrupted by the screeching sound of the metal doors.

The silhouette descended the steps of Aman Dir confident and imposing, with each step the sound of his shoes spread through the city.

The Regent had left the castle and did not emanate contentment with the festival.

One of the singers on the side of the stage was pushed by the Regent to give him passage, Lilla hurried when she saw that the young woman had lost her balance with the push preventing her from getting hurt by the fall, the young woman thanked her and positioned herself behind Lilla.

“There's a war out there!” Shouted the regent, catching the attention of the few who hadn't yet noticed him. "And you fools are here partying?"

"You should treat your people with more respect!" Shouted Aglia, now at Lilla's side.

"Who do you think are forest rats? I am the regent,” he thundered, “you worthless children have nothing to teach me. So be aware of your post and keep silent.”

Lilla's eyes and hair had already taken on a dark shade of grey, her angry expression was frightening, Rox's left hand had instinctively slipped to the hilt of his sword, however Aglia's arms came out in front of the siblings, they looked doubtful, she just shook her head in denial.

Aglia still kept her serious and calm expression, she simply stared at the regent for a few moments before speaking.

“Complains about the festival, which has been one of the few reasons for joy in the midst of these foolish wars.” The calm tone in her voice made the words even more powerful. “You say war is knocking at our doors, but where are your efforts to stop it, to stop it from coming? Or is it so much fun to see entire realms crumble to the point of jeopardizing the stability of the elementals, the stability of Gaia?”

There was silence, the Regent furious at the affront coming from a unimportant mage like Aglia. Little by little whispers emerged and these in turn became an ovation to the words of the fauna.

Few were the mages who still had the slightest support for the regent, who in turn did nothing more than enjoy the facilities of Aman Dir and the power granted to him as regent of the capital of Mérion.

The choice of a new queen or king for the capital should be done with the vote of all the kingdoms of Mérion, and therefore should be a consensus among all, unlike the current situation where wars between several mage kingdoms erupted after planned attacks from other kingdoms continuing for over a decade, but even with constant speculation as to who would be the next queen or king many mages still held out hope that the former king would return.

Aglia was uncomfortable with the ovation. The Regent grew more and more furious, for a moment Rox had the impression that his angry expression gave way to relief, but before he could process this information something worse caught his attention, he reflexively grabbed Aglia's arm that looked at him in surprise.

“Rox? What’s the matter?”

“Dark magic, very strong, I can feel it approaching.”  He whispered.

As soon as he ended, dark clouds appeared on the outskirts of Mirandir, the clouds gathered quickly, the magic intervention was clear and quickly the day had turned to night.

“The clouds of my dream!?” he exclaimed, ‘Weird…’ Rox whispers to himself.

Rox closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating, Aglia and Lilla watching him. “There's a lot of dark magic in those clouds, it looks like some kind of poison, but I can't identify it.” Rox explained to his sisters.

“Attention!” Rox yelled. “Find shelter and stay out of the water. There is a lot of dark magic, it could be poison, so don't get wet or let the rain touch your skin.”

Before Rox even finished his instructions, drops began to fall, all the mages in the festival hurried and found shelter, in moments the light rain turned into a storm.

Aglia was a few steps away from the awning of one of the stalls when she noticed a little girl who had lost her mother, she immediately turned to the girl taking off her coat and using it as protection for the little one.

“Aglia!” Exclaimed Rox.

Rox used his magic to protect Aglia and the little one, but something about the magic that had launched that attack prevented him from succeeding. The magic began to affect Rox and before Aglia could reach shelter he had to cease his attempts.

“Are you okay?” Lilla asked Rox who had a tired expression.

“Yes… I think.”

Aglia made it to the awning Rox and Lilla were on, but to her and her mother's delight, the little girl was fine.

“Aglia! You are soaked! Are you sure you're okay?” Lilla asked as soon as Aglia turned to them.

“I think so, but I can't say for how long. There's something very strong about this spell, I could feel it, but I can't say what it is.”

"Can you identify what magic this is?" Lilla asked Rox.

“I am going to try.“ He responded.

Rox brought his hand closer to the rainwater and concentrated, he felt that there was a lot of dark magic there, but something was blocking his magic, something that hurt his soul.

“There's a lot of hatred in this magic, it's masking the spell, I can't identify the poison.”

As soon as she walked away from the rain it stopped, and Rox felt exhausted by the strong feeling. As soon as the rain came it was gone, the regent was gone too.

Rox and Lilla ran to the stage.

“Black mages!” Rox began. ”Clean up any poison that may have lingered here, water mages and undines, dry it all up.”

“Fire mages as well, make sure there's no waste, air mages help the fire mages so the water vapor doesn't hit anyone.” Lila continued.

“Be careful, just the hate present in this attack is already destructive enough, so be careful.”

Rox looked around for a moment. “The regent disappeared.”

“That despicable shadow!”

“Lilla, calm down. His being a bad ruler is his fault, but his still being in power is everyone's fault. Let's help the others.”

As Lilla and Rox helped the other mages, Aglia watched them from afar, quickly the entire central square was dry and ready for the festivities to continue.

”Running away from the spotlight as usual?” Provoked Lilla, approaching.

Aglia just smiled in confirmation.

“And yet you are the most qualified.” Replied Rox.

“So? How are you doing?”

“I'm not sure, I feel like my magic is being drained.” Answer tired.

“Perhaps we'd better go to the apothecary, I'm sure Madame Erandir knows some antidote to whatever this poison is.” Says Rox.

"Wouldn't it be better if we went to the castle healers?"

“I don't want the chance to run into the regent.” Aglia says already turning to leave.

The central square had three main streets through which it could be reached, the three followed the central street or main road which ended in a second square, smaller than the previous one, the commercial center of the city, where all kinds of stores could be found, from bakeries to instrument shops, two of the main items in a mage's life.

Even on a festival day, the movement in the commercial square was calm and you rarely saw anyone passing, heading for the central square.

They walked quickly, Rox on Aglia's right and Lilla on her left, always respecting her time. Rox noticed that more and more, and at a frightening speed, Aglia's vital energy was diminishing.

Noticing the symptoms Rox promptly knew what spell was used on those clouds. But before he could say anything he felt sick, he knew it came from Aglia, Lilla also realized that something was wrong.

Aglia walked a few steps behind and in an instant, Rox and Lilla disappeared from her view, Aglia no longer saw the road ahead of her but the forests of Merion.

Leafy trees adorned with leaves and flowers, bushes and wild animals, the strong sun lit up the beautiful summer day, but suddenly, some plants withered, and soon dark clouds appeared, they looked like storm clouds.

The leaves on the trees fell and the bushes began to wither, animals began to die, and all life was gone as soon as the black clouds appeared.

Aglia felt her energy weakening, even more, she felt that whatever was affecting the plants in Merion was also affecting her.

“Aglia!” She hears a voice calling in the distance.

“Aglia! Come back to us!”

Aglia feels her muscles fail and hands holding her, her legs no longer have the strength to keep her up, she just hears her name being called in the distance, louder and louder, until everything went dark and she didn't feel anything more.

Rox and Lilla called out to Aglia, a faint violet glint in her eyes, the next instant Aglia was falling, the two of them held her, each on either side.

“Aglia!” They continued to call, louder, but she had already lost consciousness.

They both carried her to the apothecary, which was just a few steps away.