Obsidian Chapter 5

5

Izachiel disappeared. She wanted him to, so that's fine. But he took both stones with him, and that's a problem. Mariana opened herself up to darkness in order to forget. She gave up her soul for relief from unbearable pain, but Izachiel still did not abandon her. He watched her from afar and made sure that his arch-enemy did not get close to her with his new hellish gift. But Samael had no intention of intervening in the situation; he enjoyed watching the two of them play cat and mouse too much.

Mariana was prepared not to back down. Of course, she could call Izachiel and lie to him that she had changed her mind, take both stones and throw away the crystal, keeping only the obsidian, but she was afraid that it would no longer have the power of oblivion. Izachiel had said that if she took both stones from him, the obsidian would lose its enchanted power. That would be useless to her.

Samael sat in the oak tree behind Mariana's house, spending time with Lilith and laughing at the events on Earth. How torn Izachiel was hiding from Mariana and how Mariana was almost tearing her hair out in despair. He had no plans to give her a new stone or steal the original one from that foolish lightbearer, because he was waiting for instructions from higher authorities.

"Aha," he muttered, because he had just picked up Lucifer's message in the ether, and pricked up his ears. "I have nothing more to do in this matter. My mission here is complete." He pursed his lower lip a little, puzzled but resigned, and stroked his beard. Lilith, next to him, stretched her beautiful naked body in response and yawned. She turned into a snake. "Don't go yet," he protested, but she was already gone. Samael's mood suddenly sank, and he growled something to himself.

...

Two days passed, and Mariana felt like she was losing her mind. She subconsciously knew that she was dependent on the energy of obsidian. She had lost her crutch, the source of relief that the spell had brought her. Until one day, she had had enough. Her skin itched all over, she couldn't sit still, she was seized with rage, she wanted to end it once and for all. She deeply hated those who had caused her this. She hated those who had made her suffer so much. The unicorns who had taken her son away, and the other creatures in this forest. She even hated Izachiel.

Izachiel watched from a distance, but he couldn't help her because she hadn't asked him to. Doing so would have broken his oath for the umpteenth time, and he feared that with his fading light energy, it would be the end of him. Why was he alone in everything? He blamed himself for not being able to do things better. But that was because he didn't have enough experience. In fact, he had no experience at all. Usually, people, especially those tested by fate, have more angels and a spiritual guide.

So why is he alone?

Then it dawned on him, and he shivered as a wave of emotion ran down his spine with its prickly fingers. His actions and thoughts had distanced him so much from his kind that he had lost contact with them. He had fallen through the dimensions and was now closer to humans than to beings of light. Samael was right. Izachiel never had physical wings, but he lost them nonetheless. He fell in love with Mariana. And he made a series of mistakes.

He hasn't lost all his power yet, he's just stuck with one foot in the world of humans and the other among the light bearers. So he's no longer a pure angel...? He still has both stones with him, and that's what matters now. When she finally asks him, he will give them to Mariana, and she will see her way home through them. It has to be that way. He knows it will happen. Izachiel has no doubt about it. It doesn't matter if he then dissolves like a drop of water in the sun, but Mariana must find her way to her soul. A hot tear ran down his cheek. A tear? He's crying, that's bad. It was as if the earth beneath him had sunk another notch.

He is losing his footing. It can no longer be remedied, he accepts his fate with all its consequences and is at peace with it. He just has to complete one more task.

...

Mariana sat at the table, her bloodshot eyes staring into space, scratching wildly at her neck, arms, and head with her fingernails. Her long dark hair was tousled and her skin was torn, but she couldn't stop. A plan for revenge was running through her head. She felt like she was going crazy.

It was no longer about Janek; rage and hatred were consuming her.

She jumped out of her chair, grabbed the kerosene lamp on the table, and lit it with a hot ember from the stove. She pulled a coat knitted from lambswool over her emaciated body and, lamp in hand, stormed out of the house. Outside, it was bitterly cold and foggy. Mariana thought to herself what a beautiful day it was for her plans and smiled crookedly from under the hood of her sheepskin coat. Suddenly, she felt relieved; she had finally made up her mind. She had been thinking about it for so long, but she had lacked the courage and determination. But now she was furious. He had taken the last thing she had left, the obsidian that belonged only to her, and she would not forgive him for that!

She walked through the mossy yard into the forest, and at that moment, the gray sky broke and the ground was flooded with sunlight, unusually warm for this time of year. It was as if God was lighting her way. Or perhaps hell itself. It spurred her on and confirmed her decision.

Be that as it may, she had just decided her own fate. But she would take everything else with her!

Dazed, she pushed her way through the forest, agitated and barely catching her breath as she rushed toward the Mountain of Kings. Finally, she had it before her eyes, the black rock and with it all the memories of the ruler of the forest.

The sun flooded the area, melting the frost on the brambles, branches, and tree trunks. The black rock, jutting out of the hillside as if it had sprung from the very core of the earth, as if it did not belong here, stared at her with its invisible stone eyes, resigned to what it was about to witness.

Mariana stopped at the same place she had stopped several months ago, and just like then, she hoped that the Lord of the Forest would appear. At the same time, she sensed that this would not happen, that this sacred being did not appear on command. Oh well, she would do it even without talking to him.

She felt that she had grown cold on the way, but she did not back down from her plan. She focused on the emotions of anger that had accumulated over many months of suffering and helplessness, which had caused her to run out of the house and get here. It's revenge, she told herself, her teeth chattering with excitement and her wide eyes burning as tears of satisfaction pushed through the fog of rage.

"I hate the enchanted forest and everything that belongs to it, I hate the world!" she shouted in a throaty voice, as if it were a spell. And she didn't recognize herself. "I want my obsidian, or I'll do it," she threatened Izachiel a little more softly, looking through the trunks of the conifers standing around like a natural palisade guard.

The sun hid behind the clouds and the world darkened. Black clouds covered the entire sky. Izakiel stood by the rock, but did not reveal himself. With his head bowed, he stared at the ground.

"Fine," said Mariana, her eyes glassy, "as you wish." She took a few angry steps forward and then exploded. She uttered another spell loudly: "Burn in hell!" She threw the lamp at the nearest tree. The lamp shattered against the trunk of a fir tree and kerosene splashed everywhere. The ground was immediately covered in flames. She knew it wasn't enough, but she also knew that her hatred and power were great enough to reduce the entire forest to ashes with this small fire.

"I'll destroy this place, I'll burn it all down, just burn and scorch everything in your path," she shouted over and over again until her voice was hoarse, until the flames began to grow and swell to superhuman proportions. It was as if she had awakened an unknown power within herself, a power she had only discovered just before this destructive act.

Before she threw the lamp, she had no doubt that exactly what she wanted would happen. The flames grew so fast that it took her by surprise. Then she saw orange, purple, yellow, and red tentacles forming into a strange, unnatural shape. She watched with burning eyes, her heart pounding so hard it almost jumped out of her chest.

When the fire engulfed the entire area, it was already completely uncontrollable due to its growing volume, roaring like an animal, a terrifying element, torn from its chains. Suddenly, through the flames, she saw deer and does, hares, wolves, a bear with her grown cubs, badgers and foxes standing opposite her on the other side of the fire, and behind them a whole crowd of other small animals. Birds of all kinds, squirrels, and dormice gathered in the treetops. Their bodies completely covered the sky. Animals from all over the forest had gathered. They all stood motionless, watching the scene with absent, resigned, and broken eyes.

"I hate you, I've said it a thousand times, serves you right!" she shouted at them, and her heart beat a little faster, to the very limit of its capacity, so she clutched her chest with both hands and gasped for breath. Then she suddenly noticed a small bluebird sitting in the dry thorn bush just a few inches from her face. It was so unusually close that Mariana jumped in fright. It was sitting a short distance away from her, but closer to the flames. Mariana could already feel the heat scorching her cheeks and took a few steps back. The bird sat calmly facing her, staring intently at her.

She stared at it in surprise and wondered if it was real, since it wasn't afraid. Why had it settled so close to the flames? And why was it still sitting there? A yellow belly, a blue head, and black eyes. It looked at her quite motionless and then chirped some message in its language.

"What are you doing?" Mariana managed to say. "Stop it. Don't do that."

The little bird didn't move, and Mariana couldn't take her eyes off it. How brave this little bird is, she thought, the flames are almost licking at it, but it's still sitting there, as if it wants to tell her something. Suddenly, the tiny bird moved her. Behind its small bird face, she saw a real face, the face of a pure being. A mystical being, an elf.

It was an elf, dressed in the coat of an innocent creature for human eyes.

She looked around in fear at the animals behind the flames, and they were all like that—the faces of pure, guileless beings looking at her. Forest sprites, flying ones in the form of birds, land ones in the form of mammals, and fairies in the form of butterflies and dragonflies.

And there were other creatures that human reason does not yet know, she realized. They are mystical beings and at the same time, outwardly, just ordinary forest animals and insects. They hide here, in the enchanted forest, believing that this is the last place where they are safe. People do not come here out of fear, so they have paradise here.

But now they all stood still like soldiers, and not one of them retreated from the flames of the raging fire, even by a single step. She turned her gaze back to the bird, but cried out in shock as the bush disappeared in the flames. She saw only the black outline of its body before the heat consumed it completely. In horror, she rushed to the others, who were still standing in place as if someone had ordered them to. It was as if they had all decided to die at the same moment.

"Don't do it, run away!" she cried, but it was too late. "Run! Run, what are you standing here for!" she cried tearfully and ran towards the deer and wolves. Some of the small and large mammals and reptiles in the front rows, and most of the birds in the treetops, had already been engulfed by the flames, and the fire was licking at the legs of the others. She wanted to run to them to chase them away, but the heat stopped her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do this," she moaned. She saw what a terrible thing she had done. The fire was already so big that it was blazing at the tops of the tallest fir trees.

"Izachiel!" she cried desperately, finally sinking helplessly to her knees. He appeared right next to her and looked down at her with a sad face. Mariana raised her head. "Please stop it. Why are they standing there? Do they want to die?"

"But that's what you wanted," he replied.

"No! No, no. I was foolish, I was talking out of madness. I don't want this anymore, please, let them save themselves, let them run away, tell them, I know they understand you." She looked with tearful eyes at the diverse animals as they allowed themselves to be consumed by the flames.

"They won't do it," said the angel. "They have nowhere else to go, this is their home. They are resigned to death, sooner or later it would have come for them anyway."

"For my sake! I'll put out the fire, I'll do anything to make it right. That little bird died right before my eyes, and then many others, the bear is gone, and the deer and does! No one else must die, do something, tell me how to fix this, please! Izachiel, please!"

Izachiel pulled a clear and black stone from under his cloak. Mariana blinked to focus through her tear-filled eyes and took it from him without hesitation. "I want the fire to be extinguished.

Please, let it be extinguished. I proved with my willpower that it became wild, so it must be possible to extinguish it if I wish it."

"That's not possible," he said. "You must come to terms with your mistake."

Mariana stood up defiantly, holding the crystal and obsidian in her hands. "I will drive them from the flames myself. And if they want to burn alive, I will die with them."

No sooner had she said this than she saw a small bird before her eyes, which a moment ago, staring into her eyes, had burned to death right in front of her. She ran determinedly into the flames toward the beasts, who still stood there like mindless soldiers, resigned to their fate. Without hesitation, she ran into the center of the fire with a scream, and the next moment she felt incredible pain. It was the cry of her heart. She fell to the ground, her throat unable to utter a sound.

…

She saw the whole scene from a distance, as if her soul had left her body and was floating in the sky. She floated in a cloud of smoke above the burning forest, while her body lay charred near a black rock. The animals were no longer there, only charred lumps of flesh remained. Soon after, the fire spread sideways and engulfed the entire surrounding area. From her vantage point above, she realized that these were no ordinary flames, but wings. Fire is a living creature. At that moment, it was all over, leaving behind a burnt forest and the ashes of the forest animals. It happened so supernaturally fast that there was nothing left to consume.

The huge creature of flames, with a roar that only an untamed thousand-degree heat can produce, flapped its wings and took off. When its body lifted off the ground, Mariana suddenly fell from a height and plunged into darkness for a moment.

When she opened her eyes, she saw everything again from her body, lying motionless and helpless on the ground. She felt the presence of an angel at her side, and so somewhere in the corner of her soul she knew she was safe. Then the supernatural fiery beast flapped its wings to rise high above the ground, and a wave of flames swept over the burnt surface one last time.

A cloud of smoke and ash rose, making it impossible to see even the tip of one's nose, and the remnants of the blue sky disappeared under the black, acrid smoke. Although she couldn't see, she knew the fiery bird was gone.

How come I'm not dead? She raised her head in surprise as she lay on her side on the ground. And nothing hurts. She sat up and examined her hands and her undamaged clothes. No burns. She looked up in confusion at Izachiel, who was standing next to her, smiling slightly. She looked around in confusion. What had just happened?

The ashes gradually disappeared, literally, leaving no trace, and when she looked around properly, she began to laugh. She laughed loudly and heartily, her soul laughed and her whole being laughed, she couldn't stop. The sun was shining in the sky again, just as it had when she left the house that morning, its rays warming her body and shining through the trees onto the forest animals, which watched her curiously from a distance. When she reached out her hand toward them in disbelief, they scattered in all directions in alarm. The blue tit on the rosehip bush jumped onto a branch and flew away with a bird's chirp toward a flock of titmice chirping in the treetops. The forest was the same as before the fire, as if it had all been just a terrible dream.

"What happened, Izachiel?" she looked at him in amazement. "The fire looked like..." She didn't dare say it out loud.

"The phoenix, guardian of the gates of the afterlife," he finished.

"In the end, you managed to reverse fate. It's unbelievable. You have great power within you, which you can use for both destruction and development. You finally found it within yourself and learned to control it. What's more, you have a great gift—the forest and the creatures in it listen to you. And you, you just have to sweep away the dust of time on the path that connects you. The last generation forgot this gift, but you are different, you have the soul of your ancient ancestors within you, so listen to what it tells you."

Mariana lowered her head, but inside she was filled with joy. And pride, too. Izachiel smiled at her, but suddenly, despite the smile, she realized that sadness was hidden beneath it. "I'll never do it again," she said and got up from the ground. "I will never forget the miracle that just happened, and from now on I will protect this forest. My ancestors did not build their house on the edge of this territory for nothing. I want to continue to develop and seek their knowledge."

She looked down at her feet and picked up the two stones, clear and black, that had fallen when she fainted. "I think this miracle happened because of these crystals. I should have listened to you and taken them long ago." She no longer felt any kind of enchanted power from the black one, only a tingling in her hands, emanating from both stones and connecting with each other in the center of her body. It was a strange but relaxing and liberating feeling, as if the crushing grip on her chest had suddenly loosened and been replaced by a rush of pure energy. Izachiel listened to her and watched her, his eyes filled with pride and tenderness, but at the same time he was tormented by a painful feeling of finality.

"Why are you sad? This is what you wanted from me all along, isn't it? I finally understand. The forest creatures didn't cause me pain, I did it to myself, and I didn't listen to anyone. I have to apologize to them."

"Do it, but hurry," he replied gloomily. "They won't be here long."

"Why?" She clenched the stones in her hands.

"The mayor has ordered the forest to be cut down. He says it's useless, people are afraid to go in there, so he'll cut down the trees and make pastures here. That will expand the space for livestock by several hectares, and he'll make money on it too."

"What? He can't do that!"

"It's his land, he can do whatever he wants with it, he said. The council decided on it this week, and they've already started cutting down trees on the other side of the forest. That's why the creatures were so resigned to the fire; their lives will end anyway."

"Don't tell me that, Izachiel, we have to do something about it," she exclaimed and hid the crystals in the pockets of her sheepskin coat. She strode decisively toward the path. "This can't happen. I'll go home and think of something."

"If you could save the forest," he said in an urgent tone that made her stop and turn to him, "it would be a priceless gesture for them."

Marian was taken aback by his strange expression, but before she could say anything, he disappeared.

She quickly walked away from the Mountain of Kings along the path. Her head was heavy as her mind tried to explain what had just happened and at the same time try to find a solution to save the forest. Suddenly, she felt as if she understood everything better. How was it that she could feel Izachiel's emotions? She had always seen him only as a light bearer who came to teach her and give her advice, and it had never occurred to her to see him as a living being with his own weaknesses. She even sensed that he genuinely liked her, a feeling she had last experienced eleven years ago with her husband. And with Janek, but that was a slightly different kind of love. She also sensed that Izachiel was somehow weakening, and that worried her. But if he were in trouble, he would surely tell her.

Lost in thought, she ran to the lake and realized that it had grown dark. A strange mist rolled in circles above the surface of the lake, standing out even more in the twilight, and glistening with subtle, delicate silver reflections in the light of the rising moon. After her experience today, Mariana could see behind the curtain once again. It was no fog, just as the blue tit was no ordinary bird but a fairy, and ten years ago, it was not condensation that formed above Janek's cradle, but unicorns visiting him, revealing themselves only by the scent of jasmine. This time, too, fairies were hiding above the surface of the lake behind the mask of dusk and rising fog, and they began their dance in the moonlight. She stood transfixed, watching the enchanting scene, when yellow lights appeared on the shores of the lake. Will-o'-the-wisps, she marveled. With bated breath, she watched as hundreds of yellow will-o'-the-wisps joined the fairies' dance, and the fairies welcomed them among them. These creatures formed pairs before her eyes. They danced together in pairs in circles, but Mariana knew that they loved each other. She let her gaze draw her into this magical ritual.

They hide during the day, but as soon as dusk falls, they spend their time together until dawn, dancing interwoven with intense love that is not connected to the physical plane and therefore transcends Mariana's consciousness. The sight is so captivating that the observer cannot take her eyes off them.

If only people could see it through my eyes, she suddenly thought sadly, because she realized something. That's how it is, she lowered her eyes. These are not heartless beings who take pleasure in leading lost people into swamps or the middle of a lake and then watching with satisfaction as they drown. These are just stories from witnesses who didn't understand anything. The reality is a little different. These creatures were just fleeing from people who happened to see them and saw through their cover in the fog and tried to steal a piece of their pure love by catching them.

They fled from them to the safety of their homes, the fairies to the middle of the lake and the will-o'-the-wisps to the undergrowth in the swamps, and the man enchanted by their beauty followed them, unable to give up his desire.

They just want to live their lives, and people whose hearts are so closed that they think true love can be stolen, locked away, and appropriated chase after them like a chimera. No wonder it destroys them, Mariana gritted her teeth. Out of greed, these people failed to understand that there is another way, one that benefits everyone.

That they can be inspired by them, let themselves be enchanted by the magic of the moment and soak up the purity of their existence just by looking at them and feeling the atmosphere, without disturbing their loving dance. With respect for the beings, they can watch their dance every night until they recognize true love in their own lives. Just as Mariana does, and suddenly, as this thought crossed her mind, a warm light flooded her heart, and she sensed that it was a thank you sent to her by the fairies and will-o'-the-wisps, who sense her presence and beg her to spread this information further.

She nodded with a smile, and then the warm light was replaced by a sharp stab in her chest as she remembered the bailiff. She couldn't waste any time, she had to think of something and act quickly, otherwise it would all be over!

But what? How could she stop the bailiff?

"If you manage to save the forest, it will be a priceless gesture for them." Izachiel's words flashed through her mind, and she remembered the strange gleam in his eyes. She began to think eagerly until it dawned on her.

"...a priceless gesture... A priceless gesture!" she stammered and ran home.