Agatha looked at the boy with fear and at the same time, with nonsense. That boy looked so nice, but did he just try to blow all of them up with a bomb? That smile, the way he scratches his hair, looks like the sweetest person she could ever meet.

  “What on sky are you saying?” said Agatha, while looking him in the eyes.

  “Well, I knew you would not believe me, but yes, I am a wizard; never met one?” asked Roud.

  “Hell no! You think wizards fly around any mountain or cloud around here?” replied Agatha while crossing her arms.

  “You must be right..ahahahaha!” laughed Roud.

  “I have never met a wizard; most likely, I would have never imagined a boy as a wizard!” said Agatha.

  “Well, it’s complicated..maybe you prefer to see me like this?” asked Roud.

  He covered his face with his right hand and quickly moved it down to his belly. His eyes grew full of wrinkles, and a long, brown beard grew from his cheeks and chin. However, only his eyes aged, while his hands and cheeks were still really young. Agatha was in shock for a couple of seconds, then she looked at this dorky figure.

  “That is not a very well-done disguise, you know?” said Agatha.

  “Ahah..well, you must be right, but for now I only learned it this way, you know, when people do not take me seriously, suddenly with a beard they tend to listen to me” Roud replied.

  “So, how does it work? There are many wizards around here in disguise, like you?” asked Agatha.

  “Oh no! I am actually the only one, I think!”

  “You think?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, my memory is not back yet..how to explain to you?” said Roud.

  “Your memory? You must be between 14 and 18 years old! You still have no memory, what are you talking about?” said Agatha a bit annoyed, too many questions in her head to ask this boy, quite difficult to decide what to ask first, so at least let’s start from something she thought.

  “How to make you believe me..I actually need you to trust me since you have to come with me” said Roud while scratching his chin.

  “And why would I come with you? To do what, that nonsense of a phantom hunt you babbled before?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, yes” replied Roud “I know it's hard to believe, but you did not even know wizards exist, so you just have one in front of you, so maybe, just maybe, you should believe me a bit more?” Roud looked at Agatha with his hands up, as if trying to pray for her.

  “Fair enough, you are not that wrong after all..” said Agatha while biting her thumb in her mouth “but you have to tell me more..”

  “Ok, I have been living with my mom, Celest, in the mercenary village on the Faroaks Mountains..one day, a man dressed like me now came to visit my mother. I was around ten years old, I guess, and this man had a talk with Celest and presented himself as the wizard of Light.”

  Roud walked towards the figures carved in low relief next to the keyhole and pointed to a group of people on the right side, looking at the sword.

  “You see? These people here have the same dress I am wearing..” said Roud after leaving his mouth open.

  “This man, who came to my house after speaking with my mom, left one of these tunics in my room. He only caressed my cheek with a big smile, said nothing, and left.”

  “So there are more wizards of light like you!” said Agatha

  “Well, yes and no. Those are disciples of Light, I still do not remember if they can use any light magic, but I am trying to remember also where they live..” replied Roud.

  “What do you mean by remembering?? This is turning very weird!” said Agatha.

  “It's hard to explain, but basically once I became 14, I started to have a lot of new memories in my head. Like I have lived those things, I actually did not. Celest has seen my change of attitude, and she then gave me a stone during breakfast. A gem, to be more precise. You know our awakened gems not to fall? Well, this one is different; it is yellow and emits a pure light like the sun.”

  Roud put his hand in an internal pocket next to his heart.

  “I present to you, the awakened gem of Light Agatha.”

  The stone was so beautiful that you could feel your own blood boil with excitement. The dark cave, which became even darker with the night, suddenly became like midday light. From it, light emerged like dense water dancing around the gem itself. Agatha was simply in shock. What on sky is happening? Just half an hour ago, she was a hunter searching for Brenath's special food, and now she is in front of the most important gem of the Sky Mountains?

  “I..I..I be..believe you, Roud..” said Agatha astonished.

  “Ow, why did I not come up with it immediately?! Ahahahah” laughed Roud.

  “So that man was a disciple who brought this stone to your mother?” asked Agatha.

  Roud put his gem back in his pocket.

  “Nah, I am that man.” said Roud with a smile.

  “What??” said Agatha astonished.

  “Yeah, basically, the Light Wizard reincarnates continuously. Sometimes it happens right after he dies, and sometimes it happens when the two are already alive; the shift between their minds and souls blends in more slowly. So basically, there is one Light Wizard, and since when, I have no idea yet; it depends on how fast I will actually remember my past lives. That is why I cannot reply to all your answers. I only know that we are lucky that I was born right when he was still alive, because at least I got the stone earlier, which I suppose any Light wizard in the past was trying to give to the successor. The problem happens when the next Light wizard is still not born, and the previous one is already dead. Because the balance of the world might get in trouble, dark forces might be on the march to get the stone first” eplained Roud.

  Agatha was listening to him with an open mouth. She then closed it slowly, regained some rationality, and said:

  “Interesting, very interesting, but..can you please take off this weird beard you have?? It seems a comedy to listen to you talk so seriously, looking like that!”

  Roud laughed, brought his hand to the tip of his beard, and rolled it over his mouth, canceling the spell.

  “So..better? Ahahah. Trying to be brief here, I basically work for the Crown. You see this man here with this golden crown?” Roud pointed out the king in the sculptures.

  Agatha looked at it and said:

  “Yes, Roud..I am well aware what a king is, thank you..” said Agatha annoyed

  “Oh, ok ok..well, since I am the Light wizard, I have kind of always been designated to help the ruler of the Sky Mountains. Which is the reason why I am here now under the orders of his majesty King Haraldinous the 8th. There is quite a lot more to talk about, but since it's already night, we should keep going..oh you have some jars of fire libellula! Nice, what were you using them for?”

  “Wait a minute Roud! First of all, why should I come with you?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, how about I saved your life!” replied Roud with a huge smile.

  “How about you almost killed me! I was not going to die since I am a professional hunter and I had these libellulas to shoot at my enemy, which would have exploded into fire!” said Agatha a bit angry.

  “Oooh, had no idea you could use fire libellulas like that! How interesting..maybe this will help me remember something?” asked Roud to himself while putting his hand in his hair trying to remember hard.

  Agatha was looking at him sceptically..is this for real, the Wizard of Light?

  “Mmmmmmh..pfffff..no, nothing, sorry! Ahahah!” laughed Roud.

  Meanwhile, all this long conversation Bracchius kept staring at them calmly without making any move.

  “Hey Bracchius, what about you? Should Agatha come with me?” asked Roud.

  Bracchius started slobbering happily and made a clear yes with his head.

  “For God Kloud! How can you talk to him and be understood?! I keep talking to him for months, and nothing happens!” said Agatha.

  “Well..I guess it's Wizard of Light power!” said Roud while making a strange superhero pose.

  Agatha gave a slap on Roud’s head.

  “Ouch!”

  “Do not lie to me Roud!” said Agatha.

  “Well, I remember the past Light Wizard spent quite some time with him. I still do not remember his name, but Bracchius works fine, you see, in order to speak with him and be comprehended, you have to psychologically speak to him as if he is more important than you..”

  “What?” asked Agatha.

  “Yes, he is quite a narcissistic creature by nature, so if you speak to him as your pet, he will never actually help you in anything. But if you speak to him as if he is the strongest or the prettiest, or as if you truly need him because of how amazing he is, he will eventually hear your words in his head as telepathy. Otherwise, any other topic won’t be listened to. He does not hear your words; he listens to the winds far stronger than us, so that is the only way to make him hear your words” replied Roud, miming a professor.

  Agatha was surprised. She finally understood why Bracchius was coming to help her only when she truly risked her life, not when she was joking or making fun of him. He could hear her words in his head only when she was giving him high importance.

  “Ok Bracchius, why do you want to go there, your highness?” asked Agatha.

  Bracchius could not care less. He started to lick his toes and belly.

  “Aaargh, why is it not working?”

  “Ahahahah, well, you do not feel he is a highness, you just said it. You need to feel he is important, not fake it! You treat him like a little pet anyway..” said Roud.

  “But he is a little pet!” said Agatha.

  “What about we make a deal, Agatha?”

  “What do you mean by a deal?” asked Agatha.

  “You help me with your hunter abilities, which will be needed, and I will pay you gold, all the gold you need.” said Roud.

  “You liar, how can a little boy like you have money or even gold to give me?” asked Agatha.

  “You seem to have forgotten I have lived many previous lives..I actually got a lot of treasure from the previous time in the Sky Mountains, including a palace in the capital. Not to mention I work for the king now, so name your price!” said Roud very seriously.

  “O..o...ok. What about 2000 golden coins? That is a fair amount..to..open my restaurant.” said Agatha knowing she raised the price almost double.

  “Such a small amount? Ok! Deal done! Ahahah!” laughed Roud.

  “I should have asked more..I knew it, but if I have more to do than expected, prepare to have my price raised, little boy!” smiled Agatha.

  “So what do we have to do? Did you mention a phantom hunt? Are you serious?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, yes..basically we need to open this chamber from that keyhole to take what we need from it..” said Roud.

  “To do what? What is your majestic mission, oh wizard of Light!” asked Agatha.

  “We have a long journey to do, and we will talk about it tomorrow. For now, it is a top-secret priority from the king. Follow me!” ordered Roud.

  Roud started walking out of the chamber. Agatha grabbed Bracchius, trying to give him orders, but nothing happened; he continued to mind his own business. She followed Roud down the hill, then turned right opposite the fire libellula field, where now, by night, they started to dance while making figures of fire. It was quite beautiful. Roud brought Agatha down the second hill of the Sky Island back to a place full of trees, and moored to these trees, there was a golden boat. It had strangely only one silk sail, which was probably made of the most basic Brenath silk. It did not look like a magical one at all. Roud went on his boat and invited Agatha to come on board.

  “What kind of boat is this?” asked Agatha.

  “Well, it is the boat of the wizard of Light!” said Roud with a stupid smile.

  Agatha gave another slap on Roud’s head.

  “Ouch! When will you stop hitting me? We are not such good friends to have this intimacy, you know?”

  “No, but even if you are the Wizard of Light, you are still a little immature boy, and I could be your older sister to teach you manners, ok?” replied Agatha.

  “Ok ok, your majesty” said Roud with a bow and a sincere smile.

  “So how does this thing work?” asked Agatha.

  “I told you this is the wiz..”

  Agatha brought her hand up.

  “..my boat, it works with light, you see?” said Roud “may I ask for some of your fire libellula? I will also repay their cost.”

  Agatha handed over the jars. Roud pulled them inside two engineering systems made of glass on the two borders of the boat. The libellulas started making fire inside it, some others only sparkled light, and the ship started to move forward.

  “I am out of power for a while, so thank you for helping me, Agatha; they are creatures of Light after all. I guess they love to be helpful to the wizar..” stopped saying Roud while looking at Agatha’s annoyed face.

  “..the route of the sky!” smiled Roud while then making a weird face of patience.

  The boat went up, then straight till catching the windy root above. Roud moved his helm into position each time and successfully made it without issue. The night was pure, with few clouds; the stars were so bright that everything looked illuminated by a soft, pale light. The windy root was stable and fine; it was finally time to relax and eat something. Roud opened a drawer from the opposite side of the helm. Took out some cheese, cherry tomatoes, and a big piece of ham and started preparing dinner. They did not talk much about their mission during dinner; they were more like two youngsters telling jokes and admiring the Islands they were passing through. Bracchius also had his little plate of ham and then fell asleep like a pig, snoring so loud that any flying creature would have never tried to attack them since they would have thought a bigger creature was there. Agatha also took a moment to think of Granpa. She should probably send him a letter at the first settlement they would find the next morning. She was used to going away for more days before coming back, but this time she should have told her old relative that she might miss home more days than usual. What about the Lighting Cloud? Well, 2000 gold coins are quite a fortune. She loved that boat, and she probably would have found it again, but her future restaurant was more important than her boat; it was a chance she could not miss. After the night of laughs, the two got together quite well. Roud took out some sleeping bags with pillows, and they fell asleep on the boat, even though Bracchius continued snoring. It had been quite a hard day for the two of them.