Chapter 70: Voices from the Past

Chapter 70: Voices from the Past

The old man walked slowly, the city streets unfolding before his eyes like a mosaic of stories. Every corner, every house, seemed to hold a fragment of the past, memories he knew well. As he approached an old market, he felt a strange familiarity in the air, as if ghosts from the past were whispering in his ears.

The market was bustling, as always. Vendors shouted their offerings, children ran from one side to the other, and the smell of spices and ripe fruit permeated the air. But there was something else, something he could not ignore. A voice, distant but unmistakable, calling him by a name he had not heard in a long time.

"Sebastian?"

The old man stopped, his heart racing. It was a name he had left behind, along with a life he would rather forget. But the voice continued, now closer.

"Sebastian, is that you?"

He turned slowly, and his eyes met the face of a woman who looked as if she had seen many winters, but whose gaze still carried the glow of youth. She approached, hesitantly, as if she could not believe what she was seeing.

"It's me, Estela," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. "Do you recognize me?"

The old man, for a moment, was transported to another time, another life. Estela. The memory of her was one of those he had tried to keep buried, but now it came back with full force. She had been an important part of his past, someone he had loved and lost when circumstances had separated them.

"Estela..." he murmured, feeling the weight of the years between them. "I... I thought I would never see you again."

She smiled, a smile filled with sadness and longing. "Time may separate us, but memories... they never fade. I have been searching for you for years. I heard rumors, stories of an old man who wandered the world, solving problems, helping those in need. I never thought it was really you."

Sebastian—the name he had used in his youth—felt a wave of conflicting emotions. "I left that name behind, along with so much else. But you... you never left my mind, Estela." She nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. "I know. I carried you with me too, in every place, every year. But I never lost hope that our paths would cross again." The old man—now Sebastian again, at least to her—took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. But Estela, sensing his dilemma, held his hand tenderly. "You don't have to say anything. Just knowing that you're alive, that you're okay... that's enough." They were silent for a moment, just looking at each other, letting the past speak for them. Finally, Estela asked, "What now? What are you going to do?" Sebastian knew he couldn't just go back, that his journey wasn't complete yet. But there was a sense of comfort in knowing that, despite everything, there was someone who still cared about him, who remembered who he was before he became the old wanderer.

"I have to keep going, Estela," he replied with a sad tone. "There is still much to do, many people to help. But knowing that you are here... it gives me the strength to keep going."

Estela smiled again, this time with a calm acceptance. "I understand. I just want you to know that, wherever you go, you will always have a place in my heart. And if one day you want to rest, to come back... I will be here."

With a last look full of unspoken feelings, they said goodbye. Sebastião, now lighter and at the same time more burdened by the unexpected reunion, started walking again. But something inside him had changed. He was no longer just the old wanderer. Now, he carried with him a part of the past that he could no longer ignore, a part that perhaps, one day, he could finally embrace.

And as the city streets stretched out before him, Sebastian knew that, despite all the battles and challenges he would still face, meeting Estela would be a memory that would guide him, proof that, even on the most tortuous paths, hope and love always find a way to prevail.