After a few hours in which doctors performed all kinds of medical tests on me, the one in charge of my case decided to discharge me. Despite his great efforts, he did not find any physiological problem in me. For that reason, he attributed my symptoms to some psychological trigger. According to what he told us, what I suffered could be due to excessive stress. This news calmed Annette a little, but knowing that I'm not completely well still worries her. I would like to tell her the real reason behind my distress, but I am not ready to do so yet.

The only more or less credible excuse I could think of to explain my anxiety attack to Annette was the upcoming return to school. I told her I was nervous about going back to school. That statement, at least in some ways, is true. I still don't know how I'm going to face so many unknown people and situations. There will be a lot of new information to process. It is assumed that they do know me closely or, at least, they think they do. The problem is that I'm not the Olivia that was with them until recently. Filling the shoes of a girl whose life has only reached me in fragments will be a very difficult task.

Once we got home, the lady insisted that I continue resting or, at least, do something relaxing. Julie suggested we watch a movie. That way, I could rest and we would both be entertained with something trivial. I agreed so as not to be rude, but I don't think I'll be able to concentrate on anything right now. I can't stop thinking about what I felt when that unknown somebody touched my hand. I also can't forget the mysterious boy and his shiny fist. Although I still don't quite understand how it could be related, I believe he had something to do with both incidents.

Is it possible that that boy touched me like that on purpose? What was he trying to do? Did he want to attack me? Does he know who I really am? Was that act a warning? Why was his fist glowing instead of his belly? Oh! I have too many questions! My head is a mess, but I try to stay calm. I don't want to continue causing other people's worries.

After changing into more comfortable clothes for the afternoon, I lie down on the bed with a couple of pillows under my back. Julie settles next to me in the same position. Using the remote control, she starts browsing the entire Netflix movie catalog. There are so many options available there that I get dizzy just looking at the list of titles.

"Today I would like to see some of the movies based on Wattpad novels. We have to choose between 'Through my window', 'My fault', 'The kissing booth' or 'The Tearsmith'. Look, I'm going to show you the synopses."

"Ok."

Wattpad? I have a vague idea that I saw that name on my phone, but I'm not sure. I also don't know the novels she mentioned, so I have homework for later. For now, I'm going to focus on paying attention to my friend. She unfolds the summaries of each story and gives me a moment to read them. From what I can see, she is very fond of youthful romantic movies. It's not that I hate them, but to be honest, it's my least favorite genre.

Unfortunately, none of the stories she shows me catch my attention. I hate to feign interest in something that rather bores me, but I have no choice. I would hate even more to stifle Julie's great enthusiasm. After all, the most important thing now is to spend time together. I want to form new memories and create a stronger and more real bond for myself. Clinging only to what she transmitted to me to maintain our friendship does not seem fair.

"Well, we could start by watching 'The Tearsmith.' The title sounds intriguing."

"Perfect! It also catches my attention a lot."

I give her a friendly wink. I'm not intrigued at all. I only chose it because the plot sounds simple enough to follow without getting too complicated. Also, I can't deny that I find the protagonist very attractive. As a warrior, I never had time to admire men. Much less did I have the time to organize meetings with them. In fact, we were discouraged from starting families, since having those responsibilities could hinder our invaluable mission. So, while I'm here, I guess it won't hurt me to relax and refresh my eyes a little while I'm at it.

Five minutes into the movie, Annette knocks on the door. Julie pauses it and we tell the lady to come in. As soon as she enters, the first thing I notice is the appetizing food she brings for us. I smile from ear to ear and my mouth is watering. She is carrying two bowls with ice cream, wafers and gelatin. Of all the food I've tried so far, that is one of my favorite dishes.

"If you want to eat more, there is a whole jar full of ice cream in the refrigerator. Just let me know and I'll bring it," she says in a friendly tone.

"Don't tempt me like that, Annette. Can't you see I'm trying to stay in shape?" Julie responds, slapping her abdomen as if it were a drum.

"The round shape, like this?" I ask while touching my belly.

"Exactly. Ice cream works wonders for keeping curves, right?"

I shake my head and laugh, as does Annette. After arranging the tray on the table, she waves goodbye and closes the door. We continue watching the movie while eating with great enthusiasm. Every once in a while, my friend makes a brief comment about what's going on and I try to keep up with her. Even though the story doesn't excite me, sharing this moment with her puts me in a good mood. Her company makes me forget about my worries for a while.

A little over halfway through the movie, I hear a strange noise. I frown and listen. The more I focus on it, the more easily I hear it. It's like a person is running on the roof. I turn my neck to see Julie, who is immersed in the movie. How come she doesn't hear that? It sounds very loud! I close my eyes and hold my breath. For a moment, I don't hear anything, but then I hear a roar that makes me jump.

"Are you OK?" my friend asks, pausing the movie.

"Yeah, I just need to go to the bathroom," I answer hesitantly.

"Really? What a weird way you have to announce that you're going to poop. Come on, I'll wait for you here."

I would like to say answer her with nonsense and thus undo the knot in my stomach, but my mind is blocked. Before I have a nervous breakdown in front of her, I get out of bed and head towards the door.

"Bring more ice cream when you get back, okay?"

"Alright."

She immediately takes her phone to check her notifications. I take a deep breath and turn to leave the room. I close the door very carefully. I take each step with great care, because I want to go unnoticed. I don't want Annette to see me upset again or she'll be even more worried than she already is. Maybe so much stress is really making me imagine things. Instead of making a fuss, I first have to make sure that everyone here is safe. If Julie didn't hear that loud noise, there's a good chance it only existed in my head.

I move towards the back of the house focusing on what I hear. Apart from the usual sounds of an inhabited home, I detect nothing else. My own breathing is much louder. I retrace my steps and take a look at the kitchen, bathroom and living room. Everything looks normal in those rooms. Annette is in her room and, from there, I hear relaxing music at low volume. I huff and look up at the ceiling. Could it have been an animal running? A simple cat was probably what scared me. I massage my neck while inhaling and exhaling slowly.

"Everything is fine, we are fine," I whisper.

When I regain some calm, I head towards the kitchen again. I open the refrigerator and reach out to grab the gallon of ice cream. My hand doesn't touch the container when the lights in the house go off. Even though it is three in the afternoon, everything around me suddenly goes dark. It is as if it were suddenly midnight, but without the light of the moon or the stars. Another roar hits the ceiling and the temperature of the room drops drastically. Now I can only hear my heavy breathing and I find it difficult to swallow. My skin is crawling, my tongue is dry, my temples are throbbing, and my stomach is turning.

However, I do not allow any of those sensations to paralyze me. I know what's happening. The beginning of a new battle, the one I feared so much, has arrived. There is a Dákama that is projecting his power towards me. He has built a spiritual barrier, which allows only his energy and mine to exist within the boundaries. No one outside of us will be able to see or hear anything that happens inside. He is not present here in his physical form, but is manipulating a creature that will fight in his place. I know what I should do. My senses awaken in unison for the fight that lies ahead. I extend my hands and invoke the goddess.

"Løft skjoldet ditt for å beskytte barna dine..." 1

The blueish energy of the goddess flows through my palms. I can feel the heat pouring like boiling water down my arms. In a quick maneuver, I trace my shield symbol in the air. My hands dance in perfect synchrony. I move my fingers as if I were manipulating a puppet and threads of energy spring from them. In a matter of seconds, the intangible network that protects me finishes being woven. A slight vibration reaches my ears, thus announcing to me that my defenses are deployed to their maximum capacity. I spread my legs, raise my arms and summon Gildestrale again.

"La krigeren din kjempe på dine vegne..." 2

Both the eye and the mouth in my palms open wide. Dozens of new sensory stimuli flood my mind. Through my right hand, I see hundreds of small bodies grouped in a swarm that surrounds me. They look like huge dragonflies made of black bones. The mouth in my left hand screams sharply at them to cause dispersion, but they challenge it by buzzing. The intensity of the noises from both sides begins to escalate until the room turns into pandemonium. I clench my jaw and try to ignore the acoustic distraction. I will not allow the Dákama's henchman to take me by surprise.

"Come here, don't hide," I whisper.

I move my right arm in all directions. Apart from the monstrous insects, the goddess's eye shows me nothing else. My pupils don't capture any image either. Even though I'm used to the darkness, I can't really make out much. Everything appears to be too calm for it to be a Dákama raid. That fact, far from reassuring me, reinforces my state of maximum alert. Not being attacked immediately does not mean that the enemy is weak or easy to defeat. On the contrary, it could be a trap to make me lower my guard.

"What are you waiting for?" I murmur.

Just at that moment, the earth shakes very hard. I wobble a little, but I hold my position. I look everywhere through my palm, but I still can't find the creature. In less than five seconds, a new tremor destabilizes me again. More and more shockwaves start from there. Despite not knowing the origin, I have no doubt that they are footprints. The interval between each one and the power they emanate suggest that it is an immense entity. I take a deep breath and focus on channeling all my energy into my fingers. I won't let my shield break, not this time. I won't make the same mistake.

"I can handle this," I tell myself.

After resisting the shock wave of new stomps, the most powerful of all creates a gigantic crack in front of me. I move my right hand towards the opening. Through the goddess's eye, I behold a pair of pale claws holding onto the edge. The rise is slow, but sustained. Each of those paws easily quintuples my size. If that is only a small part of the entity, a much more demanding fight than the one I thought awaits me. I have problems to swallow. The violent heartbeat makes my chest hurt. I'm sweating buckets, but I can't chicken out. I was born to be a Gildestrale warrior. This is my duty.

As the creature continues its ascent, new horrors come before the eye in my palm. The creature's head emerges from the hole and my blood runs cold when I see it. The bioluminescent skull looks like that of a person, but it has no muscles or skin, it is just the exposed bone. Despite this, it has eyes and a tongue. It is a hybrid of feline, reptile and human. His slanted red pupils stand out against the yellow irises. Between its sharp teeth, you can see a black forked tongue. He stares at me before emitting a guttural growl towards my face. My hair gets messy and my skin crawls. The smell of rot makes me gag.

"Can't you even manifest yourself correctly on this plane? Are you that limited? What a disappointment! Only cowards and the weak hide like this," I say sarcastically.

Not being able to look at the entity with my human eyes is dangerous. Soon I will need both hands to fight. If one of them is busy showing me the enemy's position, my capabilities will be diminished. That's why I need to provoke him so that he shows himself. I know I can achieve it with words. It is easy to arouse anger in creatures like this, as they are slaves to dark emotions.

"Are you afraid to fight against me? Are you afraid that if I use all my skills, you will be defeated very quickly? Is that why you don't dare to show your face?"

A roar like a lion messes up my hair again. But now, to my happiness and misfortune at the same time, I see the inside of its maw with my own eyes. There is a bright reddish paste that pulsates in there. It looks like a mass of bloody meat. 'There is the seal of the Dákama,' I think. If I want to eliminate the energy that controls this creature, I will have to destroy that link. The biggest problem is that the creature stands up and its head is many meters above me. To be able to reach its mouth, I will have to fly.

"We are already understanding each other better, eh?"

With no more time to waste, I slap my palms against each other and stretch my arms out to the sides. I keep my fingers extended, as this is how the shield can remain deployed. Thanks to this, the entity cannot touch me while I complete the air movement process. Before long, bulging bluish veins cover my skin. I feel a wave of heat flowing through all my muscles. A pair of large wings made of energy sprout from my shoulder blades. Their blue glow infuriates my opponent. I shake them vigorously and begin to rise.

"Tell your master that sending servants to fight in his place seems low to me. I, Olivia Duncan, First Lieutenant of Branvinger Squadron, never run away or hide. True warriors always fight head on."

As soon as I am level with the creature's face, I inhale deeply and hold my breath for several seconds. My chest swells. I perceive an accumulation of incandescence in the middle of my lungs. When the heat begins to burn me, I open my mouth and release the pent-up air suddenly. Through the exhalation, the fire of Gildestrale flows. A fiery ball shoots towards the entity. Although the creature also deploys a shield, it does not have the same resistance as mine. The impact of my attack cracks its defenses. It twists its bony body and screams, but remains standing.

I immediately prepare the next attack. Using my left hand, I trace a lemniscate symbol in the air. The mouth in my palm emits a roar similar to that of a storm. From the cavity, a column of smoke emerges and takes the shape of a sword. Without needing to make a fist to swing it, I raise my arm and let it fall furiously in the direction of my opponent. Blue tabs of energy spin like a cyclone and sever one of the creature's arms. Before it recovers or counterattacks, I dive towards it. With a swift maneuver, I cut his neck. As soon as the head falls, I plunge the sword into the seal of the Dákama.

Through my hand, I perceive the desperate convulsions of the entity, but I do not move an inch. I hear dozens of voices shouting at the same time and I get a foul smell of burning flesh. In my chest, I feel the oppression of hundreds of imprisoned souls, but I do not give in to their tormented prayers. I don't know if what passes is minutes or hours. In this place, both time and space behave very differently. It must be just a little while outside the barrier. Even knowing that, I feel like I've spent a lifetime here.

Little by little, I am losing sensitivity in my arms. My body is about to collapse. In the midst of the incessant noise and stench, my pupils capture the fleeting image of a black-haired boy. His figure appears right in the middle of the broken seal, which means that he is the one controlling this creature. Even though he has his back to me, I can recognize him. My jaw unclenches and a gasp escapes me. Where have I seen him before? I try to remember it, but exhaustion consumes me and steals all my attention.

When my energy is about to reach its limit, a sepulchral silence covers the environment with its mantle. That is the unmistakable sign that the battle is over. There is no longer any trace of the entity's presence. Having extinguished its radiance, darkness once again reigns around me. With a weak flap of my almost vanished wings, I return to the ground. I lie down on the floor and bend my fingers for the first time in a long time. The shield disappears together with the wings and the sword. My eyelids droop like they're made of lead. I'm dizzy.

The mouth on my palm whispers and the barrier that separated me from the outside world ceases to exist. The marks of the goddess close. In just a moment, I am back in the kitchen of my house, lying in front of the refrigerator. The clock on the wall shows three ten in the afternoon. For Annette and Julie, barely ten minutes have passed. For me, what just happened was like spending a whole day fighting. My pulse is still racing, my body hurts, and it's hard to breathe.

I can't go back to my room like this. Otherwise, they might think I'm having panic attacks or something. I don't want any more appointments with doctors who have no idea what's really happening to me. Gathering up what little energy I have left, I inhale and exhale deeply many times. I close my eyes, focused, until my heartbeat calms down. I drink a lot of water and then I go for the gallon of ice cream. I walk slowly back to the room.

"You're back! I thought maybe you had sunk in the toilet," my friend says, laughing.

"I think it was bad to eat so much ice cream," I reply and try to form a smile, but it comes out as a strange grimace.

In her eyes, I just took too long in the bathroom and that's it. It is easy to associate my dull appearance with simple tiredness. Only I know what really just happened. Even though I'm dying to vent to her by telling her every detail, I have to pretend that none of that occurred. For her safety, it is better that she does not know anything about the truth. The Dákamas can be unpredictably cruel.

Furthermore, the only thing I did was take down a low-ranking puppet. No powerful entity would succumb this quickly to basic attacks. The real threat is still alive out there. It won't be long before it comes looking for me itself. I must prepare better so that fighting doesn't exhaust me so quickly. The lives of many people are at stake. I can't give up when they need me the most. Therefore, I will start my training tonight.

Translation of the fragments into English

1. "Raise your shield to protect your children."

2. "Allow your warrior to fight on your behalf."