7. The girl in the mist

The sun rose timidly over the floating island of Arkanum, tinging the mists with gold and pink. Pandora walked along the path of stones that led to the Lunar Orphanage, surrounded by a slight anxiety. I still felt my body trembling after fainting in Raven’s tower. The dream of Lili was too clear to be just a matter of imagination.

The Orphanage was on the outskirts of the enchanted forest, protected by subtle spells. It was a cozy building, with rounded windows and walls of living ivy that moved slightly with the wind. Small enchanted creatures played among the trees, as if they were always in celebration.

Amy was waiting for her at the entrance, with the same serene smile as always. Her curly hair was tied with flowery ribbons, and her green eyes shone with sweetness.

"Are you all right?" asked Amy, gently touching Pandora’s arm.

"I don’t know. Since yesterday, everything seems more... intense" Pandora confessed, the look vague. "I need to understand what’s happening."

"Maybe this will help you." Amy said, guiding her inside.

The interior of the orphanage was charming. Books floated on the shelves, magic toys danced in the air, and children ran through corridors of enchanted floors that changed color under their feet.

And then Pandora saw her.

Sitting in a corner, drawing on an enchanted leaf that came to life as the pencil moved, was Lili. She was about six years old, pale skin like porcelain, big eyes of an impossible violet shade, and black hair dripping with a misaligned fringe. She wore a blue dress with embroidered stars, and seemed alien to the world.

But when Pandora approached, Lili raised her eyes slowly... and smiled.

"I know you," said the girl, her voice as light as wind.

Pandora stopped, surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"You came in my dreams," Lili replied with the greatest naturalness in the world. "Always protecting me. Sometimes you have wings. Sometimes you are crying. But you always call me "my light"."

Pandora felt a shiver rising up the spine.

Amy approached, seeming hesitant.

"I had this dream too... years ago. Even before entering the Arkanum. You were holding Lili in your lap, bleeding, trying to protect her from something that came out of the forest. I didn’t know what it meant, but now..."

"It doesn’t make sense" Pandora whispered, her eyes searing. "How could I have done all this if I’ve never been here before?"

Amy looked at her with unusual seriousness.

"Perhaps your soul has been."

Lili approached slowly, with a lunar amulet attached to her wrist. She looked at Pandora as if she had been waiting for her for a long time. Then he reached out his little hand and laid it gently on the fairy’s forehead.

At the same instant, a warm energy ran through Pandora’s body.

An ancient symbol shone between her eyebrows - a spiral intertwined with leaves, like an ancient seal being activated. The ground trembled slightly, and an invisible wind blew through the room, momentarily extinguishing all the candles.

Amy took a step back, wide-eyed.

"Pandora..."

But the fairy didn’t answer. She was in a trance. Her pupils dilated, her body motionless as stone.

The seal pulsed slowly with a white light, as if something deep was being released from within it.

Pandora falls to her knees, still with glazed eyes, while the voice of Lili whispers: "You promised to return..."

The world around Pandora disappeared when the magic seal was activated. An intense light enveloped her eyes and in a blink she saw herself floating above the island of Arkanum. The sky was covered with mystical auroras, and golden lines snaked on the horizon, connecting invisible points in an ancient pattern, as if the island itself was supported by a web of spells.

Before it, the Barrier.

It was colossal. A dome of translucent energy surrounded the island, pulsing with life of its own. Inside the barrier, time flowed differently. The trees whispered secrets and the sea that surrounded the island floated in suspension, as if respecting the magic limit.

Pandora watched, fascinated and frightened, as a crack began to form in the structure of the barrier. Dark figures tried to force their way through. Voices were hissing, calling her by name - but not "Pandora", but Heranys, the queen of ancestral fairies.

"You are the key," whispered a female voice - the same as her dreams. "The barrier lives in you."

The vision dissipated like sand carried by the wind.

Pandora woke up panting, sweating, with Lili hugged by his side.

"Did you see, didn’t you?" asked the girl, looking at her with wide eyes.

Pandora nodded, the heart racing.

At breakfast, met with Amy, Morgana, Persephone and Raven in the enchanted garden of the academy. They knew that something had changed.

"The barrier is failing," declared Raven, dark. "And if it breaks, everything we protect will be invaded."

"Pandora saw her," Amy whispered. "And it was in the center... it was her."

Persephone crossed his arms.

"So what do we do? Let it be vulnerable? If it’s the key, everyone will want to use it. Or destroy it."

"No one will hurt her," Raven replied, with a cold look. "Not even you."

Morgana leaned in the chair, with that provocative smile.

"I don’t mean to hurt you. But I won’t stop fighting for your heart. And if that means protecting you... so be it."

Pandora looked at each of them. Amy, sweet and firm; Morgana, defiant and loyal; Persephone, fluffy and restless but visibly worried; and Raven, who was hiding secrets even now, but seemed genuinely shaken.

"So we’re all on the same side?" she asked.

"For now" replied Persephone, casting a sharp look at Raven.

╔══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════╗

At night, the Colosseum was lit by magic torches, but it was empty. Pandora walked alone, still restless with sight. The night breeze stirred his purple hair, and the distant sound of the forest creatures gave him shivers.

It was then that he saw him.

In the center of the arena, there was a hooded figure, motionless as a statue. Pandora hesitated, but something in it propelled her to follow.

The figure slowly raised her face. A pair of silver eyes shone in the darkness under the hood.

"Heranys..." said the figure with an echoing voice, ancestral.  "The Queen awakens."

Pandora took a step back.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Your soul remembers. Your magic already responds. The barrier dies... but you can restore it."

"Who are you?"

The hooded man took off his hood, revealing the face of a woman with blue skin, silvery hair floating like mist, arcane tattoos glistening along the neck.

"I am Elyra, a sentinel of the Old Kingdom. I have waited centuries for this moment."

"What time is it?"

Elyra smiled.

"The moment when the Heiress will choose between love... and duty."

Before Pandora could respond, Elyra disappeared into a spiral of magical dust, leaving only a whisper in the air.

"Beware the red-eyed one."

Silence fell again on the Colosseum, but Pandora knew: nothing would be like before.

Pandora is called to an emergency meeting in the teachers' lounge. The Great Council of the Island is coming.