CHAPTER 7

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The Crystal Cave

The magician led them through the warm corridors of the palace to a wonderful library. Elizabeth lost her breath when, entering the room next to Caspian, she found herself surrounded by an infinite number of bookshelves full of books. Lifting her gaze, she saw galaxies and constellations, among which other volumes fluctuated. Just like Hogwarts, she thought, the ceiling was an illusion.
Soon Coriakin called their attention to the center of the room, where he unrolled a huge magical map of all Narnia. The group stood around it, waiting for an explanation.

"That's quite beautiful," Eustace suddenly stated, drawing on himself the surprised look of all. "I mean, for a make-believe map of a make-believe world," he hastened to clarify.

His companions laughed lightly, before turning again to the wizard.

"There is the source of your troubles," Coriakin said, pointing to a black spot, which started to become bigger as he continued to talk. "The Dark Island. A place where evil lurks. It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true. It seeks to corrupt all goodness, to steal the light from this world," he explained, beginning to walk closer to each one of them, to look them in the eyes, "to extinguish all love," he eventually added, stopping in front of Caspian.

The King felt he knew within himself why the magician had addressed those words to him. When Coriackin walked away, he turned his face to Elizabeth, whose eyes were already staring at him. Their exchange of glances lasted only for a moment, as their attention was immediately drew back to the meeting, but that moment was enough to give both to reflect.

"How do we stop it?" Lucy asked firmly.

"You must break its spell." the wizard told her. "That sword you carry," he said, turning towards Edmund, "there are six others."

"Have you seen them?" the boy immediately inquired, receiving a nod in response.

"The six Lords, they passed through here?" Caspian supposed.

"Indeed." the magician replied

"Where were they headed?" the man then demanded him.

"Where I sent them." he quickly answered. "To break the spell you must follow the Blue Star to Ramandu's Island. There, the seven swords must be laid at Aslan's table. Only then can their true magical power be released." he explained. "But beware, you are all about to be tested," he added.

"Tested? What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Until you lay down the seventh sword, evil has the upper hand. It will do everything in its power to tempt you," he responded, starting again to approach each of them. "Be strong. Don't fall to temptation. To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself." he concluded.

✵✵✵✵

With that knowledge they had resumed their journey to the east, but there was no sign of the Blue Star that day, nor in the days that followed. Nevertheless, on the morning of the fifth day after they left Coriakin Island, land was sighted. This appeared very strange, as it wasn't drawn on any map, but Caspian decided to go ashore: they might have found some traces of Lords or supplies.

The beach on which they left the longboats was very different from the one where they had been a few days before. Instead of fine golden sand, here the sea met only gray rocks.
The party soon set out to explore the interior of the island, which resembled a tropical rainforest, with dense and lush vegetation.

"It's beautiful," Elizabeth murmured, walking alongside Lucy.

"It is, isn't it?" she replied smiling, "I wonder why it wasn't on the map," she added.

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