9 Damianos appears - 1

He stood still near the pond for a while, allowing the ripples in the water to settle in. Then he turned to look at the reflection of his back in the water. There was not even a single scratch on his back. Not a single hair on his skin had been burnt.

"How is this even possible? I was right there, underneath the unforgiving flames," he thought and ran the back of his hand over the bare skin of his body just to be sure.

The acute burning sensation in his hand that he had after waking up in the woods was also gone. He felt normal, extremely normal but that was strangely weirding him out. He wanted to talk about it with someone. Someone who could understand what was happening to him and why it was happening to him. The only person whom he could think of to talk about it was Damianos, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Morpheous !!!"

And his trail of thoughts got distracted as he heard the faint call of Iris. He picked up the Alocasia leaves and made a pouch out of it and filled it with water. As he was walking back, he saw the bushes of Boswellia and plucked a few leaves. Nefeli used to consume Boswelia leaves for her joint pain, so he planned to ease a bit of pain of Iris with the help of it.

"Here, drink some," he said and propped her a bit so that she could drink the water which she gulped in seconds. The fire, the heat along with the dust had definitely taken a toll on her.

"You must rest here till any help arrives," said Morpheous and started crushing the Boswellia leaves in his palm as there was no other way to prepare the concoction.

"Have this. Might help a bit with the pain."

"Are you sure this is the right herb?" questioned, Iris.

"I have seen Nefeli taking this herb whenever she wanted some relief from pain," he said and brought his palm holding the concoction close to her mouth and helped her have it.

"You still call her by her name huh !!! After all these years? Would it kill you to call them mother and father, Morpheous?" asked Iris.

"This is neither the right place nor the right time to discuss my family matters, Iris," saying that Morpheous got up. His mind was now busy thinking about where his Godfather could be. He had no time to discuss such trivial things.

"Where are you going?" Iris asked with a worried tone as she was scared to death to be left alone in that starless night.

"Do not worry Iris. I will send someone here."

He gave her a look of assurance and then went ahead in search of help. As he went a couple of steps ahead, he saw Erastus running towards the cropland area.

"Erastus wait !!!"

"There is no time to wait brother. All the crops are going to burn." Erastus said and keep running.

"Erastus, Iris needs help," he said loudly and that halted the pace of Erastus.

"What happened to her?"

"She has a broken leg and it needs immediate attention. Is your father all right? Can he help her with some medicines?" asked Morpheous as Erastus's father was an apothecary.

"Yeah, he is a bit dizzy but I think he can help all right."

"Then please get your father to help her as soon as possible. I have made her rest in the flat land area near the pond. Be quick," said Morpheous and ran in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going now?"

"In search of Damianos." And without waiting for his response, Morpheous ran towards the village entrance. As he passed the area of his house, his nerves stiffened a bit as he saw everything reduced to rubble. But now wasn't the time to wait and reflect. So he continued his pace and reached near the giant Angel Oaktree.

This was the place where usually Damianos held his sermons, so apart from his hut, Morpheous was expecting him to be here. But to his disappointment, not a single soul was present there. Feeling dejected he started walking a bit ahead.

He kept walking without any motive, without any idea of where he was going. He was tired from his core. Tired of everything that was happening recently. He didn't have the heart to go back and see the faces of people who had lost everything in the fire. He knew what was the reason behind the fire, in fact, he knew the person behind it. But right now at that very moment, he felt helpless for that person was someone who was beyond the reach of a common man like him.

"Why it had to be Ambracia, why my village?", he sighed and let out a gasp of air as he kept walking.

Probably after wandering aimlessly for an hour or so he reached somewhere in the woods where he could hear the faint sound of someone whispering into the woods. Curious to find out who it was, he went ahead in the direction where the sound was coming from. After a few meters, he saw a sight that was unreal for him.

Surrounded by a faint halo of light, Damianos was floating up in the air in a standing position. His eyes were closed but his face was facing in the direction of Morpheous.

"Damianos !!!", he screamed.

"Damianos, are you all right?" Morpheous asked and ran towards him. But before he could reach him out, Damianos suddenly opened his eyes. Startled for a moment, Morpheous asked,

"What is wrong with you? Let me help you to come down."

"Morpheous look at me clearly. Do you think I need help?" Damianos said and smiled. His greyed hair was now scintillating like silver. The halo around him illuminated everything around him including his chest. He rested his hands to his side, his palm facing the ground and he trusted himself even higher in the air.

Morpheous shut his eyes tightly and then opened them again in a hope to see something that could make sense to him but even after reopening his eyes again, the sight in front of him didn't change. This Damianos looked different. He didn't give out the same comfortable vibe as that of his Godfather. It was like he was meeting a whole new person.

He turned around, trying to figure out where he was. Then looking in the direction of Damianos he asked,

"Is this the forest of the forbidden?"

Damianos smiled looking at him and then asked,

"Didn't you come here in search of me?"

"Yes, I did but..."

Interrupting him, Damianos continued,

"Now that you have found me, why don't you try and ask me the questions that you actually intended to ask?"

"Well, I don't have any questions now. I must return to my village," said Morpheous and then thought to himself, 'No wonder Damianos had asked us not to enter these forests. Nothing goes right here. First, my burning hand and now a possessed Damianos. This forest definitely makes people see things which are unreal.' While thinking about it, he turned to go back to his village.

But he would have hardly covered a couple of steps when Damianos suddenly apparated in front of him.

"Where are you running away Morpheous? Scared of your own Godfather now?"

Morpheous stood there stupified in silence as Damianos continued.

"I saw you burning in your house but I don't see a scar on your skin. How did that happen Morpheous?"