The next morning, Roud woke up to a little strange popping sound. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Bracchius in front of his face, playing with his mucus from his nose, making big bubbles and popping them with his own breath.

  “Oh, well..I know you are quite a weird one, but not like that..” smiled Roud while making a fancy kneeling salute, which you mostly do for ladies.

  Roud checked the landscape around him, his own boat, and looked at Agatha sleeping on the side. The weather was so nice: the sun was shining on their left side with a warm, gentle touch, the wind was quite soft and steady, and you could see not many clouds, only islands and mountains from time to time, fixed in their spots in the sky.

  “Well, it is time to speed up a bit, or we won’t arrive till night, and we do not want that..” said Roud.

  He went to the helm of his boat, tapped the back, and took out of it two longer branches hidden in the helm that were attached to it by an end. He then went to Agatha and buckled her to the ship. Agatha did not awake at all. He then took Bracchius and closed him in the storage bench. Tied his feet to two holes next to the helm, grabbed the two branches, and closed his eyes.

  “I guess half of my power would be enough..” said Roud.

  His eyes began to glow, then the light moved to his arms; his hands grew light, and a great flow of light energy poured into the boat from his hands, making it shine like a star. The boat started to tremble. Agatha started to open her eyes, and she saw Roud tied to the boat..

  “What on sky..Roud!” shouted Agatha.

  Too late. The boat jumped in front quite hard, and Agatha shut her mouth in fear. The boat started to navigate so fast that it was almost like a Blink Bird, the fastest bird in the Sky Mountains, also called Star Bird in different regions, that was rumored to be capable of flying almost at the speed of light. Agatha gritted her teeth and was so scared she had never been before. Roud could not see well, so he stopped grabbing the branches. He took from a drawer a strange helm made of leather with glasses on it, put it on..

  “Roud..can you sto..” was about to say Agatha.

  Roud put his hands back to the branches and continued to navigate even faster. The journey took about half an hour till Roud stopped and took off his helmet. He finally looked at Agatha, who was absolutely frozen like a piece of ice.

  “Oh, you finally got awake!” said Roud sincerely.

  “Roud! Untie me right now! What on sky did you just do? Could you not wake me up before all of this?” shouted Agatha.

  “Oh..well, I thought you would get angry if I had awakened you, ahah” said Roud.

  “And what about waking me up while moving your ship at a speed never seen on a boat? Ah?” asked Agatha.

  “Ah..well, the old man Jerems tells me often women are complicated, so I guess..” said Roud

  “Do not guess Roud..” said Agatha once untied with a very sceptical and sarcastic smile.

  “Ok ok, sorry!” said Roud “Well, here we are!”

  Roud opened his hands to the right; on that side, there was a rather ugly mountain. Not quite the mountain Sky men would build a city on it or anything else. In some places, you could see this dense, darker stone in other forests with a very dark green colour. Let’s say it's not a place for a picnic at all!

  “What is this place Roud?” asked Agatha, feeling a strange sensation.

  “Well, this place is basically the cemetery of the Royal Family!” said Roud with a happy smile.

  “What is so funny about this place?” asked Agatha suspiciously.

  “Well..”

  dong-dong-dong

  “Oh, I almost forgot Bracchius in here! Ahah!” laughed Roud.

  He opened the storage bench, and Bracchius came out a bit annoyed from the not very noble treatment. Bracchius looked at the forest, and his eyes seemed of a different colour. He then turned his head to the drawer where the ham was and wanted to eat..

  “Oh, ok ok, there you go, your Highness!” said Roud in a serious way.

  Bracchius sat down like a dog and waited diligently for his meal. Agatha looked at the scene, astonished. She thought she should also learn to behave that way so that Bracchius would be of use at least, not just eat all her meals.

  “Ok, so we basically have to go there, and we need to find a phantom..” said Roud.

  “What? And how do we fiiinnd this phantom Roud? Oh, Wizaaard of Liight?!” asked Agatha

  Roud became quite serious all of a sudden.

  “Well, we need to go through the tombs, and we basically will use your hunter bracelets combined with my light to at least be able to see them, we still cannot know if they will talk to us or hurt us..but it's worth the try ah?” said Roud.

  Agatha looked at Roud sceptically.

  “So we basically need them to tell us where the key is to open that door to get..the sword?” asked Agatha.

  “Oh, no. We are not getting any sword..” said Roud.

  “What do you mean? The mercenaries were looking for the sword in that place, and the sculptures all over were all praying to a sword.

  “Yes, well, you know, the sword is not the relic we need now, and the sword is not in that place” said Roud.

  “So what is inside there?” asked Agatha.

  “Basically, there is a piece of a relic we need to take to open the Cloud Border” replied Roud.

  “Haaang on a minute..what on sky are you saying? I agreed to help you, yes, but I was not imagining we have to open the b..b..bordersss?” bubbled Agatha “How..how long have they been closed? Have they ever been opened or what? Like what a millennium ago?” asked Agatha.

  “Yes, a millennium ago.” replied Roud

  “Oh, for God Kloud, that is too much to handle for me right now..” said Agatha while sitting down on the boat with her hands on her forehead.

  “Come on! It's going to be fun! Ahah” laughed Roud.

  “Why does the Royal family want to open the borders?” asked Agatha.

  Roud sat down very tranquilly. Looked Agatha in the eyes, took her hands as an old guy would do.

  “Agatha, you are a very sweet person, you know? The world is full of many kinds of people, but because of my Light, I can see in you a heart full of warmth like the sun. As you might know, this world in the Sky is not the only reality. I know it's hard to realise, because Sky men have forgotten much in a thousand years. The reason the borders have been sealed is to protect us after we won a great war together with our allies. It was meant to help us regrow and be strong again, like we used to be. As you may know, we are so close to the era of the sky again, right? The reason why we have our calendar is simple. Now comes the time we are in charge again. Help me regain that role for us all..”

  Agatha looked at Roud with an open mouth. She did not say anything. Then Bracchius went to lick her hands that were now bending down. He then smiled at her. How come, in that moment, Bracchius seemed convinced by Roud’s words too? He is usually a very dumb animal. Is it for real? He understood?

  Agatha pet Bracchius, made a smile.

  “Ok, Roud, let’s go Phantom hunting!”

  “There we go!” shouted Roud happily.

  Roud navigated his boat closer to the river of the mountains. He then anchored it with a decent ability and jumped down on the grass with Agatha and Bracchius. He started walking towards the top of the hill, inside the forest. Agatha and Roud followed, on alert for anything.

  “There is nothing to fear, Agatha” said Roud “These places are not lived by Sky creatures at all..they are more lived by creaaaturess of the darrrknesss..”

  Agatha threw a small rock at Roud’s head.

  “Ouch..”

  “You deserved it Roud..” said Agatha

  Roud smiled and continued walking. The sun was up in the sky, but its light did not really enter the forest; only in some fragments could you see a pillar of light. After a walk of about twenty minutes, they arrived at a square made of stones. In front of them, five caves were opening. Roud stopped in the middle and scratched his chin.

  “Where do we go, Roud?” asked Agatha.

  “Mmmh let me think, how much power do you have in those bracelets?” asked Roud.

  “Well, I can basically shoot a strong beam of wind about three times with one and make a big cloud to sustain a small boat for about five to seven hours, let’s say” replied Agatha.

  “Ok, now what I need you to do is to create for me a small cloud, let’s say about the dimension of a ball” said Roud.

  Agatha put up her air bracelett and said: “Duenila”

  From the bracelet came a cloud, big as a ball. Roud took it, infused it with some light, then placed it in the centre of the square.

  “Ok, Agatha, your turn, blast this ball with your wind bracelet” said Roud, “but..be prepared in case of attack”

  Agatha went to the ball of cloud and light, pointed her hand at it and said: “Mielis!” a strong beam of wind came out of it, destroying the cloud ball that spread all over the square like a dust of light. Nothing happened, then suddenly..right in the upper part of the square, you could see the shadow of a person.

  “Who..are..you..” said a very dense and terrible voice

  Agatha’s blood froze; she could not swallow her own saliva in her throat. What did they just do?

  “We are the descendants of the king’s subjects! We are here sent by your king in search of information..” said Roud with a steady voice.

  “You? You can’t be..” silence “You must have chosen the wrong path, two children like you..like..you, cannot be at the king’s needs” said the phantom

  Meanwhile, you could see his back, a long mantle with a hood. Out from his left side, a hand, the hand of a dead, rotten and full of sores. He slowly turned towards them. He had an armour made of steel with a stemma Agatha had never seen before. He was thin, with a long beard and moustache; his face looked almost alive, but you could see his skin was stiff, like that of someone dead. He had a pale green colour all over from his head to his toes, and in his right hand he held a sword that he just moved up to his head to...

  “Run!” shouted Roud.

  Agatha jumped straight to the left side. Roud, to the right side. The phantom was about to strike his blow. Bracchius, who was right in the middle of Agatha and Roud before, kept his position while licking his paws. The phantom stopped. He looked at Bracchius and then turned his head towards Roud. The phantom made a fast jump and struck at Roud with his sword. Roud was fast enough to make a jump back and dodge a killing blow, but not entirely. Blood, blood from his left ear to his chest.

  The phantom eyes were surprised.

  “Shoot me a cloud Agatha, fast!” shouted Roud with his face half covered with blood.

  Agatha pointed her hand towards Roud and shouted: “Brekinit”, a cloud was shot at considerable speed towards Roud. Too late.

  “What on sky are you doing, little girlll..” said the disgusting voice of the phantom. He was striking again, but this time he jumped fast enough to give Agatha a blow. Agatha saw her life ending. She saw the sword passing through her and killing her..

  “That is enough, Guardian!!” shouted Roud. The blow stopped. Roud was on the back of the phantom, pulling him back with a circle of cloud and light at his neck.

  “I am the Wizard of Light! And you will obey me!” shouted Roud fiercely.