The fake and the real

FELIX

My team continued the search until sundown. I walked around the entire forest and scanned every inch of the cave, but found no signs or traces of Nova. The only thing my warriors discovered were a few extinguished furnaces filled with ashes and bone parts. I guess we now knew what happened to the bodies that left their blood all over the forest. I sensed the remains of different smells, but there was no magnolia scent among them. When I became certain that there I felt nothing indicating that Nova's body had been burned there, I collapsed to my knees, thanking the Goddess for leaving me the thin ounce of hope. But as time went on, keeping my grasp on that hope became harder and harder. Finally, we had to terminate the search and go back to Scarletville. It was the only rational decision I could make. Nonetheless, it didn't make my choice any less painful.

"You need to consider the possibility that Nova is already dead." Eric had become my cruelest voice of reason. "You said it y