Crystal Shade Episodes 01

confirmed the woman.
    “Secret magic of eleven-eleven?” Grace whispered the magic words. “What is that?”
    “Eleven is a mirror to our inner self. But some says it represents the Sacred Crystal Mother and her shade,” answered the man. “Or the one who is watched over by her and her angels. Others say; it’s a crack, a bridge linking light and darkness; a doorway in our past and future, good or bad decisions. And for many; it’s just a myth, a legend of the Crystal Shade.”
    “It always remembers who you truly are and where you come from,” stated the woman. “Whoever wears eleven, that one protects Odess’iana’s bright future and her shaded forgotten mythical past with it.”
    “That’s why there are two elevens at the gates of Odess’iana, right?” Grace asked curiously. “The magic numbers are protecting our province from the evil Shaina. The reason we haven’t seen any in a long time.”
    “You’re a very-very good observer little girl,” nodded the woman with great respect.
    “Everything is told by the numbers,” whispered Grace enchanted, while her mind began to wonder what other numbers might hide, what secrets they can reveal about her beloved legend, the Crystal Shade.
    “What is your name?” asked the man.
    “Grace Sessa Aredia from the outskirts of Odess’iana, the valley of Seradelphia. And yours?”
    The man and the woman looked at each other, and then smiled at Grace.
    “We’re just an ordinary man and woman, two strangers of Odess’iana who are dressing this beautiful capital in joyful colors,” the woman said and smiled as she proudly looked at the large colourful freshly painted silk ribbons that covered the trees and dried in the sun.
    “Are you ready for your commencement day, young one?” he asked. Grace nodded. “Then please step forward and show your respect to Sachylia,” he called her with a regal tone. The woman crouched down, dipped her finger into the dye pot, while Grace looked into the sapphire sun. Her nose picked up the unmistakable aroma of the Odess’ianan ground blue corn dye, the same that Aurora used to use when she painted back home with their mother.
    “Decisions never come from the body, they come from patience and control; one decision comes from your spirit and one from your soul,” the female spoken in rhymes, while she gently drew two short lines diagonally from the top center on Grace’s forehead with her dyed finger. Basking in the sapphire sunlight, Grace enjoyed the moment with a wide smile. “But never forget, young guardian; when you take a road, the other will fade; as everything has its own shadow within our Crystal Shade,” the woman drew two diagonal lines down to meet almost to the center of her eyebrows under the previous lines.
    The woman led her to the fountain and Grace looked into the clear water. The lines on her forehead shaped a blue rhombus standing on its edge, the symbol of the Sacred Crystal and the ancient symbol of eleven; eleven, which also represented her home province, Odess’iana.
    “Eleven stands in light,” the woman pointed at Grace’s forehead. “Eleven mirrors the shade,” she pointed at her mirror image. “A brave little guardian can face the night even without a crystal blade.”
    “Today, you, Grace Sessa Aredia are the youngest guardian of the eleventh province, Odess’iana,” declared the man, and he bowed his head with respect. “Your large white wings, hidden in the spirit realm, will follow you wherever you go.”
    Grace smiled proudly. An imagination of her daydreaming mind she felt her large guardian wings are on her back, following her unseen and invisible from the spirit realm. The male stranger leaned close to her.
    “As a guardian your duty is to watch the people, to listen their souls, to hear their stories and their heart’s desire. And foremost, to learn more about our civilization, about our great Eecrys Aredia and her culture.”
    “A guardian lives so others may live,” said Grace determined. “My spirit will take responsibility for my actions, my soul will be truthful and honest all the times,” said the lines that she had practiced so much in her daydreamings in the hope she could say this when her dream came true.
    “You speak so beautifully,” the woman stroke her hair proudly. “But remember; Guardians live in secret and now you’re a guardian in disguise who must act from the background. You can’t show your wings and you can’t tell to anyone who