The news shocked me.
It is true, I had only seen him twice, but for some reason beyond my comprehension, Syform felt familiar, as if he was a lost relative I had been reunited with. And maybe he was, maybe he had been important to my parents and now he was important to me. Perhaps his loyalty had extended across generations, perhaps even his affection.
'Explain,' I begged, holding back tears.
'When you didn't show up the first night, we went to his territory to look for him,' Russell began.
'You went to their territory, you?' I asked him completely amazed. 'I thought you were avoiding him at all costs, that you wouldn't go there for anything.'
'There is only one reason I would do it.'
Again the red cheeks, again the curious looks of the rest and the seconds of uncomfortable silence.
'To sum up,' Aaron interrupted, 'we went there and called him but he didn't answer, so Russell did the unthinkable, he went into his house.'
Even I, a few days earlier when I was looking for him, had not dared to go into the small cabin that was within his territory, it seemed too much. They... Russell had done it just to find me. I didn't know he truly cared that much about me.
'Inside, everything was in turmoil, as if he had left quickly or something. Not knowing what had happened, we went to ask the tree keepers if they had seen him leave, but they had not.'
Russell slowed down to prepare me for the information that followed.
'We returned to his territory and we noticed something we hadn't seen before. We found a small hole in the dome. We don't know what caused it, but we think Syform did it himself. He is the only one who has the magic to do something like that. If he went out into the woods alone, with no magic and no weapon to defend himself, he is most likely dead. All that remains is for his body to be found, or else he may have been caught.'
'Either way he is dead,' Aaron concluded.
I lowered my head and tried to process what I had been told. Not only was I saddened by the possibility that Syform was dead, but the only option I had of finding out what I needed to do to help the Kingdom was lost. What was I supposed to do?
'I'm sorry,' Russell said, showing support.
I separated from the group for a few seconds to think in solitude. None of them interrupted me. Although I had asked them that nothing would change, their treatment was different. They had more respect for me, almost veneration. It felt strange yet normal, as if my soul had always known who I was.
I looked at the moon above us, its light reflected in the woods. Everything about this Kingdom was splendid, a painting, a dream come true.
And, this, all of this beautiful Kingdom belonged to me, I was its heir.
Even if I did not want the power, I had the responsibility to care for it and protect it as my parents had done.
I tried to remember picture by picture what had happened in the cave, to find some clue, something that would help me to reach a solution.
The image of the King and Queen appeared before my eyes.
They embraced and talked about how I would find the solution. What had the King said?
"Everything will be all right, Sheba. Gaia will know that Lucius uncreated magic, but she will also know that the only way to get it back is to recreate it. She will have to use the sign."
The sign.
My heart was racing at the mere thought of it. Each Kingdom had its own sign, that was known by all. The Gods had given the power to the first Kings and Queens to protect it at any cost.
Only, both Crescendo and Bieno shared the fifth sign because of the immense power it possessed. This meant that if King Lucius had used the part of the sign to create the curse, I could use Crescendo's part to counteract it and bring magic back to the world.
'I know what to do,' I informed everyone. 'I will need Crescendo's sign, do you know where it is?'
The looks that were silently exchanged alerted me to a problem with what I had asked. Great, more trouble.
'What's it now?'
Galaga was ahead of everyone to respond.
'I don't know if you know, but my father was the First Commander Tullum, he served in the King's order until the day he died,' the pain that the last words caused her made her stop for a moment before continuing, 'my father told me everything he could about the King, and what he assured me is that, when he died, the sign disappeared with him.'
'That's impossible.'
'They searched for years throughout this Kingdom and never found it. The sign is not here, the King took it with him, that is the only coherent explanation. If we had it, we wouldn't be so worried about the curse, just finding someone who could use it, and we found you.'
I hadn't thought about it.
Being the heir to the throne, I was also the heir to the power of the sign. It would be my responsibility to use it and protect it as so many Kings and Queens did before me.
But they were telling me that the sign was gone, that it no longer existed.
No, it couldn't be that way.
Why would the King had said that the sign would be what would help me if he took it with him into the afterlife? There was something that didn't add up.
'I assure you that the sign is there somewhere.'
I did not know that such a statement would cause such a stir among those present.
Voices came in and out, cheering how wonderful and miraculous it was that this was true. 'Even if it's true, we have to find it,' Fred intervened, bringing rationality to the situation.
'Did the King say something about where it might be?' Tryx asked me, in a hopeful tone.
'I don't think he drew her a map while he was being assassinated, Trixie,' Rich commented aloud.
'Speak to her like that again and I'll cut out your tongue,' Galaga stomped her feet and Russell moved a bit to be ready to come between his friend and his brother.
'Guys, please,' I asked them to calm down, and continued with the question Tryx had asked me. 'No, the King only said that with the sign I could solve it, but he didn't say anything about where it could be, although...'
I stopped before saying my thoughts aloud, I had seen that for Rich it had been something dangerous.
I was not sure if my idea was true, but I was running out of options.
If Syform was gone, and the sign was gone, there was only one place left for me to go to get the answers I needed.
Russell gently took my arm and smiled with his gray eyes.
How I wish I could have met him under different circumstances, had the time to be two normal people.
But now everything had changed, nothing would be normal in my life anymore.
Although, there was something I could not deny. I was not sure of anything, but I knew deep inside that he would follow me wherever I went, that he would always be by my side no matter what we faced. That's why I directed my idea directly to him.
'We have to go to Crescendo.'
'I don't want to lose my tongue, but I think Her Majesty is kind of lost. We are at Crescendo Gaia, I mean Milaia, I mean...' I silenced Rich's voice with just a glance.
'I am not talking about this place, I am talking about the old kingdom, we must return to where the kingdom of Crescendo was, the place where my parents died.'