Taking some time, Ithil and company cleaned the area, removing boulders and logs among the four of them. In the end, a wide area, about 5 square meters, was cleared to unfurl the scroll without interruptions. Fortunately, they found the surface of an enormous boulder, slightly curved, but very useful for the task at hand.

  Ithil spread his bag to one side, revealing several curious tools, not just magicer ones.

  —"Wow! There's a lot of junk in your bag, Ithil," Dein said, admiring utensils and other trinkets like brushes and burnt-tip sticks.

  —"No, Dein! It's not junk, they're the treasures of a lonely man, aren't they, Ithil?" Zein winked at Ithil once more, sticking out his tongue and putting his finger on his cheek in a mischievous gesture, trying to get revenge for the previous affront.

  —"Seriously, Zein? Rein, hand me the black box on your left," Ithil grumbled at Zein's gesture, holding out his open hand to the other triplet. Rein, timidly, turned and said:

  —"Can you hand me the box, Ze...?" he said in a somewhat timid voice, but Zein didn't let him finish; he just turned and walked in the opposite direction. Rein had no choice but to go get the box himself.

  Examining the box, he discovered inside a jar with a heavy reddish powder. Lifting it, Rein struggled a bit not to drop the box and its contents, which, though small, weighed at least half a kilo. Inside the box rested an ampoule and, accompanying it, a trio of glass rods stained with an iridescent red. Each rod had a wool feather made of crystalline fibers, as if they were paintbrushes. Rein looked at the contents with intrigue.

  —"Sun dust," Ithil said.

  —"Huh?" Rein turned confused to look at Ithil as he handed him the box.

  —"That's what this is called," Ithil shook the ampoule and took one of the glass rods. Squeezing with both hands, he proceeded to break the fused tip that sealed the top of the ampoule. Little by little, a purplish mist continuously emanated. Rein looked perplexed, turned to locate his brothers with his gaze, but they were watching the Quelontas intently. Returning his gaze to Ithil, he watched him use the crystalline rod to outline those strokes. Once outlined, he tilted the ampoule slightly; the mist emanating from the ampoule covered the Leur.

  —"Sun dust adheres to the moon ink, it's believed to be due to its high Mana content. With this, scrolls can be activated in case of any catastrophe, and the adverse effects don't consume you," Ithil quietly explained how the Leur scroll reacted to the sun dust. Slowly, the Leur went from a soft, sepia stroke to a vibrant, defined black, as if it were about to leap off the scroll. Rein had never seen anything like it; he felt as if the moon itself was pouring from the sky onto the scroll. Little by little, the black turned into a vivid, pulsating red.

  —"Ithil, quick, I see something by the branches!" Zein said in a loud, agitated voice. Ithil stopped dead and threw the empty ampoule aside. Sharpening his gaze, he could discern dark silhouettes among the undergrowth.

  —"They're Swamp Monkeys, hide and put away the tools, quick!" Ithil said softly, gesturing downward with his hand. Fear began to return to Ithil, but he stood firm before the boys.

  Those humanoid creatures ran through the undergrowth, moving skillfully to avoid being seen. They were short and displayed terrifying agility. Trunks and branches swayed aside as if parting from their path; their hunched posture did little to identify them. Only the barefoot patter of their steps could be heard, with a guttural sound here and there. Their seemingly savage sounds and vocalizations concealed an effective predatory intelligence. Their movements, to the young ones' eyes, seemed like beasts running through the place, but for Ithil, who had more experience, their movements were clearly in a crude search and hunt formation.

  —"There are too many, at least 40! Stay down, don't let them see you, they'll attack if they can," Ithil told the boys, pressing with his hand on Rein and Dein, who were trying to steal a glance over the log.

  —"But! Are they hunting Quelontas? Are we going to let them destroy the nests?" Zein said nervously, trying to go to the mangroves. Ithil took her arm.

  —"We can't interfere, they also have to hunt, they have to feed their young!" Ithil said firmly, to which the young ones turned to look at him, not knowing what to say; they knew he was right.

  —"Damn! There are at least 100 monkeys around, which means there are at least 150 more on the other side of the formation. They didn't seem so many a moment ago. At my level, I'd only endanger the boys, I don't have the necessary strength!" Ithil's thoughts raced as he tried to devise a correct course of action. Dozens of plans and their possible outcomes developed in Ithil's mind.

  —"We can't let them eat them, Ithil, please, let's help them!" Dein whimpered nervously and scared.

  —"Ithil, what do we do?!" Rein said, just as scared.

  —"Please, let's help at least some of them, the ones closest!" Zein argued sadly. The three kids were almost crying when Ithil heard a knocking sound coming from the forest, like a drop in the darkness, each one heavier than the last, each one more terrible and dark, and each one more familiar, until Ithil could only see blackness, and it was looking at him. Falling into the darkness, the world disappeared.

  —"Ithil's eyes are empty, just like in the hall!" Zein waved her hand in front of Ithil while her voice broke with fear. She looked at her brothers; Rein, scared, immediately thought of his brothers and took a military knife from Ithil's belt, which lay motionless in front of them.

  —"Don't separate and don't make noise," Dein whimpered quietly; neither of his brothers paid attention to him. Zein was shaking Ithil, and Rein was glaring at the monkeys, paying no attention.

  —"Rein, Dein, Zein, where are you?! Jacob, Mina? I don't see you, don't leave," Ithil said in a low voice, searching in vain in the darkness, but seeing himself completely alone, his fear shot through the roof.

  —"Jacob, Mina, where's the cart?! I have to go back to the cart, MINA, JACOB!" Ithil's hands searched for that metal cart lost in the depths of the mine of his memories from that day.

  And from the darkness, Ithil saw a light, faint glimmer flickering in front of him. As if submerged in the depths of a dark lake, he heard the young ones' screams:

  —"Rein, no!" Dein and Zein cried out to their brother.

  Ithil saw through a glass, surrounded by darkness, as Rein ran with his military knife in hand towards an injured Quelonta lying on its side. It was being overwhelmed by monstrous piles of fur, swamp monkeys, who with crude tools had managed to pull it from the safety of the trees. Framed by fear and darkness, the scene unfolded slowly, like the ebb and flow of ocean waves. Powerless and unable to return, his stomach twisted with anger and frustration. Remembering the boys' voices and their conversations throughout the day, like flashes of light on his face, each one reminded him a little of himself, and even if it was little, he managed to cling to those moments and finally evoke enough strength to speak.

  —"Dein, go to my bag, I have a Klauvra there, use all your strength, kid!" Dein looked at Ithil, whose eyes had not yet regained their sparkle. Trembling and unsure, he moved to where he was told.

  —"Y... Yes!" Dein tremblingly took a leather sheath; inside rested an already worn Mageia wand. With trembling hands but with determination, he took the Klauvra and turned to look at Ithil, awaiting instructions.

  —"Shout after me! Stella Secare!" Ithil instructed the boy. His clouded, lifeless eyes were intimidating, but Dein fully trusted Ithil.

  —"S... Stella Secare!" Dein shouted with a fearful but determined voice. A luminous sphere fluttered at the tip of the Klauvra. Dein could barely hold the Klauvra steady; the sphere, impatient as if awaiting Dein's command, barely had the strength to burst out, throwing his hands to the side. It violently struck one of the monkeys on top of the Quelonta, twisting backward, severely wounded.

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  —"Did I hit it?... I hit it!" said Dein, who continued to launch luminous spheres at the other monkeys who fled, trying to avoid the projectiles.

  —"Zein, there's a revolver on the side of my backpack, take it!" Ithil recovered with difficulty while he himself drew his own Klauvra.

  —"What? I've never used these things, I'm going to hurt Rein!" Zein refused to take the revolver; the dull gleam of the weapon scared her as much as the creatures attacking the Quelonta.

  —"What are you talking about, I haven't seen you miss once all day?" Ithil told her, pointing with his hand at the branches on the ground.

  —"Branches and stones aren't the same as a weapon, I could hurt someone!" Zein retorted, even more scared; the idea of using a weapon terrified her too much.

  —"No, they're not, but now it's absolutely necessary that you don't miss!" Ithil looked at Rein, who was finishing off a monkey wounded by Dein's spheres.

  —"Help, Zein! I'm very dizzy," Pale, Dein turned to his sister, who, with a confused look, turned to Ithil.

  —"W... what's wrong with Dein?" Zein asked, on the verge of tears, Ithil about her brother who was looking paler and paler with blue lips.

  —"With each Zodiac and ritual, Mageia generate Mana; this is toxic, we cannot continuously use the power of the Zodiacs or moons without being poisoned by it," Ithil took his Lumaria and placed it next to Dein. Activating the lever, the small manaquist inside swelled as if it were bread in an oven; tiny gleams detached from Dein and were absorbed by the Manaquist.

  Zein stared intently at the dull gleam of the revolver. Her brother Rein continued fighting, armed with the knife, finishing off the monkeys weakened by Dein's blows, when, suddenly, an uninjured Swamp Monkey approached running behind him and swinging a rudimentary stone hammer. Zein, scared, grabbed the revolver and pulled the trigger. A huge bang echoed in the mangrove, which made her close her eyes for a fleeting moment, during which the monkey disappeared from where it had been. Zein tremblingly looked at Ithil with tears in her eyes, without lowering the revolver.

  —"See, you didn't miss! Now, let's protect your brothers!" Ithil put another magazine aside for her, and with blurred vision, he slowly recovered.

  —"Rein, come back right now, all the swamp monkeys are coming this way, regroup with us!" Rein looked triumphantly as the Quelontas successfully fled from the monkeys into the deep forest. Some were left behind, defeated, but the vast majority escaped; this, for him, was a victory.

  Rein ran to reunite with the others. The three young ones, more scared than angry, were terrified. The howls and screams of the swamp monkeys were heading to where they were entrenched, surrounding them, and little by little the natural light abandoned the place.

  —"I don't see them approaching!" Zein tremblingly leaned her hands on the log; her trembling hands dared not lower her guard.

  —"I... I don't see anything either...!" Dein, leaning against a boulder, let the Lumaria do its work. Using the Klauvra had exhausted him.

  —"They surely fled... at school they say they're cowards and don't come near!" Rein, triumphant but scared, tried to give himself false security.

  —"That's not entirely true!" Ithil, sweating and battling his own darkness, panted, tired, as he tried to figure something out.

  —"Look around! What's missing?" Ithil, with a nod of his head, indicated their surroundings. The three young ones looked puzzled.

  —"There are no Manaquists!" Dein said, slightly surprised. The other two young ones looked and turned to Ithil, bewildered and scared.

  —"That's right!" Rein affirmed, to which Ithil replied seriously:

  —"Yes! They only grow where there are high concentrations of Mana, like in the temple and its surroundings. And if there are no Manaquists, there's no glowing pollen, therefore, it will leave us in deep darkness in 5 minutes." Struck by the revelation, the triplets could barely hold back tears.

  —"No, no, no, no, no," Zein muttered repeatedly while Dein paled with fear, clutching the Klauvra tightly.

  —"No! No problem, we... we can run to the docks, there... we can climb the watchtowers and..." Rein stammered with every word, visibly terrified and trying to give hope to his brothers. Ithil looked at him seriously.

  —"Rein, listen. Zein and Dein too," Ithil pulled them together by their shoulders and looked at them intently. Zein cried, Dein, pale, looked bewildered, unable to process what was happening while Rein shook his head in denial.

  —"Swamp Monkeys are violent, they only come out in total darkness. They stick to harassment and tracking techniques, they're very good. Even though we killed some, they haven't fled, they're just waiting for us to lose natural light," Ithil sighed and told them bitterly while squeezing their shoulders:

  —"There are at least 130 more, we can't escape."

  Ithil finished with a pat on each boy's shoulders. Dein began to sob, Zein, for her part, bit her lower lip in a mixture of rage and fear. Rein looked at Ithil, searching for something to say, to finally let out a curse.

  —"I apologize for the bad time, guys, I can barely stand, I'm too weak to fight, my last job left me somewhat injured. I'll do everything possible to get out of this," Ithil looked at the Leur on the ground once more and noticed a green glow framing the area.

  —"But there seems to be a chance! I'll get you out of this, as I told you, Zein, we can't fail!" The three young ones looked at him bewildered, but decided to trust him.

  —"Everyone close to me, I think this rock beneath us holds a secret!" The three boys looked at the surface of the boulder on the ground and clung to Ithil.

  Ithil began the chant of the Leur, just as darkness advanced like a tide towards them. Letting himself be carried by the Leur, Ithil delved into the earth.

  —"Humid depth, guardian barrier of times, Book of yesterdays, eternal Light of the sleeping, Let me read your pages laden with endings and broken hopes, Luster Fatuous Luminiscence, lead me to the fortress of those who wait!, the land where only echoes remain and memories live, Answer those who no longer sigh!, Come to this place and Close your Stories!" Ithil chanted with all his might, while the three boys looked at him full of trust, but Nerak, the moon of memories, is the most expensive of all.

  —"Ithil! Are you alright?" Zein and Dein looked at Ithil's clouded eyes, devoid of warmth. Rein held him up with all his might, almost as if dying, while Ithil felt years of his life being drained from his body by the Leur. In front of them, an emerald green flame pulsed. Ithil raised his Klauvra and said:

  —"Echo of yesterday, this moon binds you to me, you will serve under my command all my existence; in return, I will close your story so that no echoes of your desire remain," Ithil, deftly, traced his signature in the air, at which the flame pulsed brightly.

  —"Please, don't let the spirit be a raccoon! I'm too weak to guess," Ithil thought to himself.

  —"Take me and my proteges back to the safety of the temple!" Ithil exclaimed and fell unconscious.

  A tinkling of porcelain was heard, accompanied by a comforting warmth, then laughter accompanied by the rustling of books, the smell of hot drinks filled the scene, and finally a strong and deep breath that brought him back.

  —"And then, BAM! Zein pulled the trigger!" Dein shouted enthusiastically.

  —"Yeah, and let's remember Dein wet his pants!" Zein, with bandaged hands, teased her brother.

  —"I didn't wet anything, you cried when Ithil fainted!"

  —"What?! That's not true, you deformed fetus, you're the most deformed of the two,"

  —"Alright, alright! But you haven't told me, what happened?" Khan intervened, intrigued by what had happened.

  —"Oh, that's right! Look, Ithil woke up!" Zein excitedly ran to the bed where Ithil was, looking confused at the three boys who were drinking coffee and milk sitting at a table. Khan accompanied them in his usual flowing-sleeved robe.

  —"Ithil!" the boys exclaimed as they ran towards him.

  —"Calm down, calm down, I'm fine, I think," Ithil felt himself, checking that no body parts were missing.

  —"What happened, how did we get back?" he asked.

  —"I think 'that' happened!" Khan pointed behind Ithil, through a window. The magically reanimated skeleton of a large Quelonta was enveloped in an emerald green pulse, resting in the glow of the Manaquists.

  —"It was incredible! A bunch of bone parts rushed against all the monkeys that approached us!" Rein said excitedly, to which Dein seconded:

  —"At first we got scared! The bones surrounded us and made a corral around us, but we knew it was you helping us," Dein said as he filled his mouth with bread and drank coffee.

  —"Then, Quellis, she took us inside her to a side of the forest next to the temple, floating directly over the lake waters! Master Khan received us and brought you here! She's definitely more reliable than Ithil,"

  Ithil looked at him and asked

  —"Quellis?"

  —"Of course!" The boys answered in unison

  Zein continued

  —"You would have given her a ridiculous name, so we helped you, just this once!" Zein winked and stuck out her tongue and put her finger on her cheek.

  —"Hahahaha, alright, boys, go rest, you can take the upper rooms!" Khan told them, then turned once more and said:

  —"But shower first, you were inside a dead Quelonta," Khan gestured with his hand to hurry the boys.

  The three went upstairs excitedly, still chatting and reminiscing about the adventure that almost cost them their lives. Ithil knew it, their escape was pure luck.

  —"Thank you, Ithil, those boys are more enthusiastic than I ever managed to make them,"

  Ithil replied to Master Khan:

  —"Never again, please!" as he lay back and looked at the Quelonta, baptized Quellis.

  —"You found a good ally, I knew the scroll would serve you well," Khan smiled, as he cleared the coffee and cookie table—. "There's still darkness in you, it won't be easy to get rid of it, but you're no longer unarmed," Master Khan looked at him proudly.

  —"I'll try, in the end, that's what this is about, right? Living is experiencing the things that happen. By the way, Master, did you make that scroll?" Ithil asked.

  —"Oh, no!... It's just a faithful tracing of a Leur made by Kerr Lucine, which I had the honor of transcribing while doing my postgraduate work in advanced Nerak rituals," Khan collected dirty clothes and bandages, throwing them into a trash bag.

  —"None other than the first Mageia of the Black Moon, wasn't that scroll important to you?!" Ithil looked at Quellis, the Leur shone on her shell, bright red like a fine line of magma.

  —"Not at all, I'm a lecturer, I don't care much for adventure, but if it serves you, I'm satisfied. Magic is for helping and assisting, young Ithil," said Master Khan proudly.

  —"Hahahaha, wait until Jacob and Mina see this!" Ithil said as the glow of the Ocher Moon temple and the petrichor flooded the landscape.