40. Guilty

Isabella now saw herself as she was today, in her castle, but all was decorated in black and purple. In front of her was a coffin, her father's coffin. Seeing it again, she cried. Trying not to look just at the coffin, she looked around and saw her cousins judging faces as if she was guilty somehow. Or as if she was unfit for her new responsibility. She again stared at the closed coffin, and cried on top of her family's banner.

She felt lonely.

Minutes later, Isabella saw her and her friends in Menialainem. She was just watching, being able even to look at herself. She remembered how she was unable to convince Valorum to help them and they were forced to work for a few days. Isabella said:
- "Come on Valorum, give us the argonite!" - but he did not notice, nor did her friends or herself. She was just watching, nobody could see her. Seeing how things could be different, she glanced down.

In a moment, she was again with her friends seeing Neggenegg on the distance. She said:
- "This is a trap, we cannot go inside!"
- "No, we must rest" - said Mazanlold.
- "He is right" - said Caoilainn - "we need a good rest." - Richard spread his arms and they started going. Isabella gesticulated and said:
- "But we are at risk" - and her friends did not listen. She facepalmed, unable to change their minds.

Now she saw herself and Mazanlold, Richard and Caoilainn fighting the apes on Delfinifled. She clearly saw as the apes separated them and she couldn't keep them together. Again, she saw Caoilainn getting hurt. She saw the leader of the apes laughing at her inability to defend them. Isabella clenched her fists, unable to intervene.

Now, Isabella was floating. She saw the strange man who convinced Caoilainn to fall into Donisemon's trap with Mazanlold. From above, she saw Mazanlold and Caoilainn falling into the trap, fooled by the fake elephant. And at the same time, on the other side, she saw herself and Richard walking on the beach playfully, having fun. She panted and moved her arms and hands, feeling guilty, unable to fight it.

Finally, she saw her three friends. She saw Richard turning his head away from Caoilainn and she lowering her eyes. Mazanlold looked at Isabella asking for help, but Isabella did nothing.

Isabella lifted her arms quickly, panting, her heart racing. She was in Dacrina's room. It seemed all those things were visions.
- "It seems you have some tough memories" - said Dacrina, calmly - "and unsolved issues."
- "How do you know that?" - Isabella replied still, panting.
- "Well, I cannot see what you see. However I am able to feel what you see, similar to a taste or a smell. So I can't know the specifics, but I can easily understand what kind of thing you are experiencing. And I do feel your guilty."
- "I am going away" - Isabella said getting up. - "I am tired of this."
- "But Isabella, you have just seem memories, don't you want to know what the mystics really want to tell you?"

Isabella breathed and looked at her. Dacrina was unwavering. Isabella touched her left arm. She looked down. In her head, her memories repeated. "If I am a leader" - she thought to herself - "how can I neglect a vision and information that can help my comrades? It may hurt, but for their sake I must go on." - she breathed again. She said:
- "Okay, let's do it." - she sat down and again held both Dacrina's hands.

Back in the other room, as he couldn't relax, Richard started thinking about Isabella. He was afraid. He was afraid she was running some kind of risk. "What if she is being fooled like Mazanlold and Caoilainn? What should I do? And why am I thinking that? I am afraid. Why am feeling like that?"

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Now Richard felt he heard a heart and it was getting louder and louder in his head. He tried to silence the thought and the sound, but it was getting into his nerves. He put his hand on his chest and felt nothing. No sound, no movement. His eyes widened and his face deformed. He got up trying to find the origin of the sound. He walked around the room. He started getting closer. He got closer and closer. It seemed to come from the chest. He stared at the chest, then knelt. The sound was deafening. Richard was afraid to open the chest, but the disturbance won and he opened it.

Much to his dismay, inside the chest was a beating heart. Richard recognized it not as his heart, but as Isabella's heart. And in and instant, it stopped beating.

Richard jumped away from the chest and cried loudly. He looked up and saw Mazanlold in place of the scarecrow who said:
- "Look at what you did! She is dead because of you! Peuco? You are trash! You are a traitor! You are a shame, I feel disgusted looking at you!" - Mazanlold paused - "You heartless trash, if you have any honor left, you should disappear from here, and punish yourself!" - then, Mazanlold disappeared.

At the same time, Mazanlold was still fighting Epitropos. It advanced trying to poke repeatedly at Mazanlold's head, but he avoided each hit. With his spear, Mazanlold tried to counterattack, but Epitropos blocked all hits with its right arm, as only the left one held the spear. Mazanlold stepped away to avoid more thrusts and repositioned. He changed his strategy and kept a larger distance, forcing Epitropos to lean over to him to aim its pokes. Despite that, Mazanlold tried and had no successful strikes. The automaton's left arm seemed omnipresent protecting the gem in every situation.

Mazanlold took some distance and a breath. He held his spear with only his right hand and waited for the automaton's attack. He used the same strategy, keeping a bigger distance and forcing Epitropos to lean over him. He avoided the thrusts and waited for an attack in which the automaton leaned a lot. Sensing it was off balance, Mazanlold stroke his foe's spear with his own spear. With that, his foe's spear was lowered and with his own spear, Mazanlold poked at Epitropos gem. The hit was weak, but it worked, as Epitropos made a movement like he was hurt and jumped away.

- "Test passed." - Epitropos said, releasing the spear. - "Commencing next stage" - the automaton picked up two long swords from the ground and threw one in Mazanlold's direction. - "final stage started." - Mazanlold smiled confidently and prepared to attack.