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Alexandra-Anamaria Nițescu is participating in the 5th International Literary Creation Competition from Bucharest, Romania and is 18 years old. She is guided by Mrs. Professor Elena Sticlea at the „Gheorghe Lazăr” National College. We thank for the participation and wish her success.

The Obsidian Knight

Save me from the light because darkness (=pseudo-barrier behind which I can be a mighty knight with a ruby sword, metamorphose into a bird and fly off to an Edenic otherwise unreachable universe or even be a poet) is comfortable enough
Every story has its villain and this time it is not knowing when the light bulb will turn on to burn your armor like it would burn a moth
Darkness is a tunnel that is empty and full (depending on who's looking) simultaneously
And the light at the end could be the breath of the dragon of the underworld or the visualization of the lyre's music (made only out of major chords) that plays behind the golden gates that are painted so harmonically

I'm playing chess with reality, light has always got the first move, pearl queen executes the obsidian knight and conquers the onyx rook
In order to find the antidote, the fallen warrior must go to the enchanted, now regrown forest during the summer solstice at exactly 3.33 a.m. and let the black holes on her face absorb Sirius while the blue ghost firefly gracefully lands between them, this is the way of the ancient (forbidden by the left side) book
The journey starts on the day of the eclipse (=extension of dreams)
But the diamond ring could slow it down with its sharp edged (the only hope is the obsidian) gleams

February 29th, 33rd day
Dear diary,
I see the first brown column of the emerald temple, it shoots its arrows over the white boats of the sapphire upside-down sea, the morning brings them orange blood that travels downwards following tango steps, looking for meaning, leaving behind empty canals buried deep beneath the dense prophetic moss, my tired fingerprints read:
Find the sunset binary
Or fade into midnight tranquility
Find the gray binary
Or fade into bright obscurity
Find the transparent binary
Or fade into colorful opacity
Find the infinite binary
Or fade into meaningless eternity

The fate line on my left hand (because I believe I make my own destiny) understands:
Go North and feast from the kind divinity of the cornucopia
Go South and slay the misunderstood lizard of pyromania
Go West to face the unforgiving God of reality
Go East to drink from the unbreakable marble fountain of creativity

3.34 a.m., summer solstice, the enchanted forest
Dear diary,
I am a mermaid figurehead (sculpted out of all the gemstones I gathered, missing the iron compass eye) on a pine wood ship built in a desert, pushed towards the tide by the harsh ever-changing wind that whispers in a soft yet disappointed voice: "You are the sun of a 24-hour-long night..."
I am a gloomy basalt ravine situated at the edge of the forest, struck by lightning and corrupted by dazzling magic, artistically dissected, revealing two salt, rapidly flowing (from craterlike formations) waterfalls (I hope this scenery will tell my story, obsidian hero to some, coal wrongdoer to others, I wish thousands of years later at least one person will admire it and write)

5.29 a.m.
As the black blanket that covers the world burns red, orange and yellow with a hint of blue, I notice I'm standing in the shadow of a wise towering pine tree, I realize shadows are darkness created by light, I found the pendulum of the equilibrium binary

Shack Of Emotions

Summit of Exile
I stomped all the way up here (unsuccessfully leaving footprints in the everlasting snow, their wish was to be teleported into oblivion because the trail is forbidden, and yet omnipresent) in hopes of finding the forlorn shrunken shack, it fearfully weeps in front of me
My red hand (red not from the cold, but from the ruby fragments that fell from my sword while in battle with The Order of The Five) reaches for the door knob
Unlocked
The decaying portal shrieks
Latched
I have studied the doubt lexicon within me enough to know not to flee
And under the blue moon of ataraxy, I detach my amygdala, placing it on the sleeping arcane pedestal in front of the translucent eyes, they are now wide open
I exist inside the shack, thus I observe the passage is sealed with innumerable latches, each adorned with an initial shaped token

Shack of Emotions
Beside the shut eye, one single table has an epiphany, it refills the obsidian faith goblet on top of it with water from the twin salt waterfalls (but the goblet is drained by the uncertainty fissures)
Self-distrust
One can dilute their insides with the goblet extract by strategically placing their fingers on the ruptures in the iron beneath the Stygian rust
But with every self-doubt fissure (and suddenly I wish my right hand wasn't cursed to be clenched on the sword like a claw of a raven that escaped from a woeful tower on a branch overhead a rotting graveyard), the goblet is one step further from reaching its objective of being replenished
And inside the goblet, a microscopic carelessly handwritten message in an ancient even-then-isolated language enunciates: "The repairing of the ruptures comes from belief and drinking comes from the self-distrust that has vanished."

Guarded by the four tottering eroded obelisks that sustain the oracle's plaque, a diamond box unleashes hoaxing screams (mimicking the ones from the windowless tower)
All of them have my voice, and so I swallow the skeleton key because Pandora assassinates love
Anger
I have scratched all the familiar tokens with shards from glass boxes found in previous adventures (shards always have two edges), the evolution from glass to diamond is a sign of self-control
And the implosion is prevented by the gasping keyhole

Hanging from the eyelash, a detailed bewitching painting (of a painting of a fragile goblet on top of a shatterproof chest) wickedly smiles at me
The chaotic scribble (that desperately wishes to be a semi-circle on a vertical line on a rectangle inside another rectangle) on the diaphanous papyrus scroll (in vain meticulously folded and cautiously inserted inside the sword scabbard) enviously whines
Jealousy
The scroll evades from the leather prison, cutting itself on the sword shaped bars, its essence flows into letters I downheartedly rearrange (on the horizontal daemon) into a poem
Silence
I take the burnt helmet off and hear the walls chanting under the spell, a promising low hum

Fear
Fear is the tenebrous void, fear is the uninhabited outline of the goblet, the chest and the painting, un-inhabitation is caused by the misinterpretation of the cryptic verses of the age-old legend (that summoned an impossible goal inside my mind) the destiny-offering sorceress (wearing a mask that looked exactly like my face) recited to me countless lunar cycles ago
However, with the goblet's brackish mercury caressing my tongue, the self-carved phalanx key (forged when freeing souls) galloping through my throat far away from the sparkles of the outside world and the rectangle rainbow hypnotizing my vision, the (un)real runes engraved into the table of the stone deity complete the tale, possibility is birthed by the tunnel below

Sadness
Sadness is the banished shack itself, sadness is the Darwin's bark spider silk rope that ties the self-distrusting goblet, the angry chest, the jealous painting and the frightened void together with the Gordian Knot
The plinth of Jupiter begs the ruby to bite the string, it opens the no atmosphere path under the shack (where footprints are teleported into consciousness), positives and negatives complot

The tunnel where I signed the armistice with The Order of The Five is being absorbed by the Sanctuary of Silhouettes, each figure (all of them having partaken in the same forbidden rite of passage into acceptance as me) corresponds with one of the tokens, they preach: "Life is a playful rag orb (eyes contoured with companionship, washed away by the liquified solitude, tissue cut open by the Blade of Dolor, sewed back together by the Needle of Bliss) that has been tossed and turned through red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange."

Moon Delirium

Waning Gibbous, 48 minutes of chaos, 41°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through an anagram) to meet the oval (180° rotated "a") delirium in the realm of Morpheus
It can be reached by getting lost in the 22221 corridor maze with 8 eyes surrounded by willow branches (the 21st corridor shelters a forest without trees, the 221st corridor guards an ocean without water and the 2221st corridor greets me with the sword that has killed the swan in my mirror, now I can't be victorious)
The 22221st corridor promised a 2/5 destroyed bayou that resurrects the swan in order for their beaks to touch, but 1 will reshape into 2 only under a full moon (the string can be followed backwards and forwards in space, but only forwards in time)
29.53 days left
After 7.38 days, the 22221st corridor reveals 8 steps (number 8 has no ends, like an unsolvable maze) sculpted in the southern wall (the steps lead to the sky, I can now see the constellations and the phases of the moon, at the exact moment when Waning Gibbous turns into Third Quarter, a 9th step will appear, the solution is to climb)

Third Quarter, 5 hours and 36 minutes of chaos, 41°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through the 2nd letter) to meet the flame form avalanche delirium on the peak of Nyx in the realm of Chaos
It can be reached by riding the chariot pulled by four horses, two white and two black (the ones on the left are white and the ones on the right are black to symbolize the phase of the moon) over the Cygnus constellation twice, over the Orion constellation once (the hunter captured one of the swans) and over the Pyxis constellation once as well (in order to find the lost swan and reunite their gazes to mend my cardiac loss)
But Auriga gets blinded by Alpha Pyxidis before being able to read the compass, now the charioteer finds himself in the endless ever-changing celestial maze and must wait until Corona Borealis is visible so he can ascend to the Black Hole Peak
While walking on the tightrope that divides the black and white circle into two (still) equal parts, Auriga retrieves Nyx her crown and to show her gratitude, she clears the mist atop the peak to reveal the next black and white circle (this time with two unequal parts) that he seeks

Waning Crescent, 6 hours and 24 minutes of chaos, 41°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through the 8-4-3-7 sequence) to meet the havoc delirium in the realm of Máni
It can be reached by taming the warg after witnessing him swallow Epsilon Pegasi, but spare Beta Pegasi (both were located on the left side of the chariot), now Auriga and Hati can talk to the Corvus constellation (with whom the swan used to fly), cross the Eridanus constellation (where the swan used to swim) and find the Sagitta constellation (with which Orion wounded the swan), even cured of blindness by the elixir made out of raven feathers, Phaethon's bones and swan blood, there is still something Auriga cannot see
While passing the Lupus constellation, Fenrir whispers to Hati to devour Huginn and Muninn in the Corvus forest, to aid Jörmungandr at the Eridanus river and to break the arrow in two and gift Sköll one half along with its swiftness in the Sagitta vale (in Hati's maze, two doors open up, one north and one south, Hati chooses the one in the south)
22.15 days left
After 7.38 days, Hati catches the moon (with help from the remaining half of the arrow) and swallows it, infusing the swans' sky pond with black drought

New Moon, invisible chaos caused by 1/2, 37°C
Maze → Labyrinth

Waxing Crescent, almost infinite minutes of chaos concentrated in a thin line, 32°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through the collapse of the "c" shaped dawn and "r" shaped dusk) to meet the clover delirium in the realm of Draum-Njörun
It can be reached by falling back into the 22221 corridor labyrinth with 8 legs surrounded by willow roots (the 21st corridor shelters a tree that grows teeth in the spring, but sheds them during autumn, the 221st corridor guards Hydra's lake and the 2221st corridor greets me with the pair of wax wings that belonged to the swan that flew too close to the sun)
The 22221st corridor promised a 1-4-5-6-7 crossed boundary that rearranges the remains into 8-2-3 (their beaks get closer together and the swan grows back one wing and one extra feather, but 1 will reshape into 2 only under a full moon, however, now I do not want to follow the string backwards in time)
14.77 days left
After 7.38 days, the 22221st corridor reveals 6 steps (7 is the perfect number) sculpted in the northern wall (the steps lead past the sky, I can now see past the constellations and the phases of the moon, at the exact moment when Waxing Crescent turns into First Quarter, a 7th step will appear, the solution is to climb)

First Quarter, 5 hours and 36 minutes of chaos, 32°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through the first two geneses and last two apocalypses) to meet Lost Delirium no. five on the peak of Erebus in the realm of Chaos
It can be reached by covering the torch of Erebus with a black veil on the left side so that the light is only visible from the right side (to symbolize the phase of the moon) and by gathering Deneb, Sadr, Gienah, Delta Cygni and Albireo and placing them on the right side of the torch (as an offering for Erebus who does not let the light pass to the left side just yet, but shows his gratitude by revealing that Albireo is a double star, saying that it should be followed in order to find the swan's missing pair and reunite their gazes to mend my cardiac loss)
Perseus is Albireo A and Andromeda is Albireo B, but Perseus doesn't manage to petrify Cetus in time and the sea monster swallows the Telescopium constellation, now Perseus is all alone in the endless ever-changing celestial labyrinth, however Erebus is impressed with Perseus' love for Andromeda and lights up his path towards the Supermassive Black Hole Peak with Alpheratz and Alpha Persei
But Perseus gets blinded by Diphda before arriving at the Peak of Erebus, yet, the deity is pleased with Perseus' determination to find Andromeda and lifts the veil so that the light can finally pass to the left side (he still forbids the light to reach a small corner, as the total absence of darkness would lead to his decay)

Waxing Gibbous, 4 hours and 48 minutes of chaos, 32°C
The moondial in the sanctuary orders me (through the life that starts with the right birth and ends with the left death) to meet the evil (the "i" has been mutilated and now the dot is the only thing that is left of it) delirium in the realm of Selene
It can be reached by binding together the Carina constellation, the Puppis constellation and the Vela constellation and sailing the cosmic neap tides in search for the four white pearls with which the full moon can be conjured (each pearl is hidden in a constellation, the first one is being held by the Crater constellation where it was dropped by the raven after receiving it from the swan, the second one is located inside the mouth of the Hydrus constellation, where the swan placed it when swimming in the river, the third one lies in the hand of the Ophiuchus constellation, it was a gift from the swan after he removed the arrow in its back and nursed it back to life, but the fourth one rests inside the beak of the swan itself, a swan that cannot yet be seen)
7.38 days left
I find the crater hiding at the bottom of the ocean 
The tide rises
5.54 days left
I find the snake hiding in an underwater cave
The tide rises
3.7 days left
I find the healer hiding in a boat, floating across the endless aquamarine encrusted labyrinth
The tide rises
1.86 days left
I have yet to find where the swan is hiding
The tide rises
It carries me to the moon
The swan is hiding in the completely white circle

Full Moon, 0 minutes of chaos, 37°C
The two swans reunite in a heart
Which makes them forget
That tomorrow it's Waning Gibbous again