The holy forest murmured as if the earth itself breathed. 

Between gold vines and millennial trees, the breeze dancing in spirals, involving the figure of the old gypsy elf Nairë, who watched axiel with teary eyes. 

The vampire kept his arms crossed, his black cloak oscillating with the night wind. He fixed -handed eyes on the woman, as if they sought a forgotten door in her. 

- You feel, don't you? - Said the old woman, with hoarse and kind voice. - There is something inside you ... that does not belong to this world. 

Axiel did not answer. 

- Your soul ... - She closed her eyes, touching the air before him - ... she has a scent of heaven. But it's like looking at a veil mirror. I see light ... but neither the past nor the future. 

Loriel, sitting on a stone, bit a crystallized apple and raised his hand. 

"Perhaps because it is a riddle without solution ... or a lost case." 

Nairë released a light laugh. 

- There is another seer elf. An old friend of mine. It is now in the suburb of the arcane kingdom, has been called to take care of an important woman burned by war. An Empress, she say ... 

- Can she help? - Axiel tight his eyes. 

- She is a seer and very powerful magician. Perhaps the only one you can see beyond the veil in your soul. 

- And are you going to give me the way? he asked, with a dry tone. 

- It's not me who gives paths, vampire. They are the heavens. She looked at Loriel, who pretended to be distracted, kicking an enchanted pebble with her foot. "Maybe someone knows more than it seems ... but you are under a vote of silence." 

Loriel coughed in protest. 

- It's not with me, I swear. - say Loriel totally innocent. 

Axiel sighed and turned his body. 

The night was already thick, with few visible stars. 

Without more words, he walked away, disappearing between the trees. 

... 

Elena was alone, with lacy white nightgown and loose hair, on her bedroom porch at Aeltherion's palace, looking for a robe she had left in some corner. 

Just when he bent behind a bookcase, he heard a soft thud. 

She looked up and widened them: Axiel was there, standing on the porch, her wings gathering in the costume as if they were smoke. 

- What...?! She exclaimed, put on the robe, embarrassed.

"Sorry," he said dry, then turned his face with a minimum of respect. - I needed to talk to you. 

"Of course ... But next time, try to use a more the door... civilized entrance." 

Elena was red, but with a slight smile. 

He approached the balaustrada, his eyes aiming at the trees beyond the wall. 

- I need to go. There is a woman in the arcane kingdom ... They say you can see who I am. Or what I was. 

Elena approached him. The bluish light of the moon involved them as a silver veil. 

- You never said ... what happened since you woke up. 

He turned to her, and for a moment he no longer looked like the dark warrior. Just a man ... lost. 

I woke up in a temple in ruins. Without memories. Thirsty for blood. Feeling that there was something wrong with me. The first days were pure instinct. I killed monsters. I diverted from hunters. I tried to understand what I was. But ... I never knew. Until now. 

She touched her arm. 

- And yet, it saved me. 

He nodded. 

- You ... remind me something good. I just don't know what. 

Elena looked at the floor, a small smile emerging. 

- When we were small, my sister and I treated in secret to use the sword. Aether was better, of course, always stronger. But I was the stubbornness. Once ... I ran away from the fortress to protect a village that was being attacked. Alone. At twelve years. 

- And saved the village? 

- No. I almost died. But I tried. 

She looked at him in the eye, and the silence that was made between them was comfortable. 

So, without asking, she said: 

- I go with you. 

Axiel frowned. 

- Is that real? 

- I'm a princess. I can do anything I want. 

Before he could contest, Loriel came up sitting in the railing of the balcony, as if he were always there. 

She chewed a sweet golden fruit, with a kind of sad look. 

"How romantic ..." he said slightly sarcasm. - Are you going to leave on a blood moon? 

Axiel looked at her. 

- Were you watching me? 

- Perhaps. She went down floating. "Or maybe I was waiting ... to see if anyone would invite me." 

Elena watched her, lightly touching her own necklace. 

Loriel sighed with humor. 

- Rest assured. I take you to the old friend. And I promise not to make inconvenient comments ... in front of it. 

In the distance, the cold winds of the borders of the Arcane kingdom were already blowing between ruins and cities populated by magic and war wounds. 

The truth was getting closer and closer. But with her would come unpredictable consequences. 

...