by Andre Pisco
"We should help him..." Neil said though he didn’t move.
"Should we? We have to go." Lucy propped him up, while he clutched his lower lip and clenched his fist.
"What if it's a trap? It's not like they weren't just trying to kill us.” James said, imperceptibly at the opinions of his colleagues. He was aggressive and didn’t back down.
"I agree with him. It's best to pretend we didn’t see it and move on," Lucian said, his tone monotonous.
"Are not you going to feel guilty about letting someone die?" Neil countered.
James and Lucian didn’t respond. They had the same opinion, but they had not lost their humanity. They were logical and not emotional. Max timidly asked if he could speak.
"I ... I think we should save them. They're too hurt to do something” he said, unable to look into his eyes.
"It's just one of them," Alec replied, catching the attention of the others.
"How do you know?" James asked, approaching him.
"I gave the other two a chance to get away."
"YOU WHAT?" James shouted, transporting the sound across the surrounding plains.
"If we kill them while they attack us it's self-defense but letting them die doesn’t make us better than them," Alec replied, walking toward the wreckage with Lucy and Neil in tow.
James spat on the floor and turned his back on them, sitting a few feet away from Lucian. Max stood, approaching them, watching only as the others removed the wreckage until they could see the boy's face. A shiver ran down their spines as soon as they saw him; inanimate, his face full of open wounds, half-open mouth, eyes closed, and the arm being pressed by a beam that had fallen on top of him. Neil pulled away and vomited onto the floor; a yellow-toasted-colored liquid that left his lips moist. Lucy also backed down, swallowing her own vomit, and spitting saliva, that kept her from breathing, onto the floor. Only Alec continued on the wreckage, looking for a way to succor the boy. There was no sign of the other two. Most likely they had fled and abandoned him there, without mercy or hesitation, as it was expected. Carefully, he began to remove bricks, one by one, freeing his arm. He seemed to have been trampled several times as if someone had taken pleasure in doing so. He was flat, blood trickling, and limp. He was still unconscious. The pain was too strong for the body to keep him alive and awake at the same time.
"Come here and help me," Alec said, sweat trickling down his cheek, and his muscles almost tearing at the frayed tissue of the t-shirt, whose school symbol had been covered with dust. It was nothing more than a memory now.
"Are you sure?" Neil asked, wiping his lips on the t-shirt.
"Yes, I can’t take it all by myself, and he has bricks on his legs too."
Neil stepped to his aid, but as soon as the smell of fresh blood rose through his nostrils, the ailment returned. The disgusting taste of vomit was on the tip of his tongue. He used his fingers to close his nostrils, blocking the air from entering. He breathed through his mouth as he used the remaining hand to help Alec. After a few minutes, as the sun hit them on the cheek, Lucy joined them, also covering her nose. As soon as they got a small opening, enough to get the boy out of the wreckage, they pulled him, being careful not to drop him, and laid him down on the ground.
James glanced over and turned away again as his stomach twisted. The guts of the boy were exposed, a mixture of red and yellowish brown, which smelled of something out of date. Neil vomited once more. Max covered his eyes and turned away from him in a sneaky way. Only Lucian and Alec had a resilient stomach, looking straight ahead, disgusted but not needing to turn their backs on the boy. The high temperature made the smell even worse, a rotting fuse that set their noses on fire.
"Lucy, bring the backpack here," Alec asked.
"Don’t even think you're going to give him one of our HP bottles," James shouted, still on his back.
Lucy hesitated as she heard James. She looked at Alec as if she wanted to convey that she didn’t agree either - eyes downcast, and a slight nod.
"You don’t agree, either?" Alec asked.
"I agreed to save him. I don’t think we should jeopardize our survival for him," she said shyly.
"Neil?" Alec asked.
"I ... I don’t know ..." he replied, feeling trapped between a sword and a wall.
"What now?" Alec said, "We have to save him."
"Alec, look at his condition. We don’t even know if a bottle can save him. It heals the wounds, but the arm and legs are broken. We should have left him there to die. Whoever does evil, deserves evil," Lucian said, without hesitation in his voice. He didn’t blame him, nor did he seem to pity him.
"We are 3 against one, and Max and Neil abstain. You've lost!" James said, with a grin, glad to have been able to deny Alec something, forgetting that there was someone at death's door.
Alec finally resigned himself and accepted that it was over. He picked up the boy, blood sprinkling his arms and even his face, and laid him in the shade, putting a brick under his head. There was no open wound that was worth healing. The boy's body was in limbo between life and death.
"Let's go then," Alec said, followed by a sigh.
They set off on the way. The goal was to return to the previous site, to continue forward and with luck to find a place where they could stay overnight. The embarrassing silence made itself felt as they walked, heads down, feeling the weight of the temperature on their bodies and wondering if they had made the right choice.
"AHHHH," Max shouted.
They looked at him, clenched fists, trying to understand what had happened. They didn’t even need him to explain. Alec ran, with Max's backpack in tow, to the unconscious boy. It left only dust, which rose through the air, behind.
"NO!" James yelled, running in the same direction.
Alec took one of the bottles and, forcing the opening of the boy's mouth, gave him a sip of HP potion. Before Alec could even put it back in the suitcase, James hit him with a punch right in the center of the face that threw him to the floor. He looked up, his mouth half-open, his lip ripped, and eyes filled with fury. He got up slowly and rubbed his clothes until they were minimally present, but he did it with his fists closed.
"We decided we were not going to help him," James shouted, taking the suitcase away from the boy.
"I had to save him! Maybe he was just like that because he had the bad luck of meeting the other two." Alec replied, putting his soul in his voice.
"Betting our lives on a ‘maybe’ is not the best decision, Alec," Lucy replied, accentuating his name, almost as if she wanted to wake him from a trance.
"What do you guys know about that? You never had to hide in debris, or trust someone who could have killed you one minute before!" Alec shouted. The blue veins in his neck about to erupt.
Lucy approached him. She looked him in the eyes, and after closing them, slapped him with all the strength she could manage. He looked at her, taken aback, not believing she had done it. The moment stopped for everyone. The dust and gentle breeze only became a prop. She was crying in front of him, and from nowhere she began to punch him in the chest repeatedly. Her nose went red and swollen, her cheeks rosy and wet.
"No... you don’t know anything. Just because we came from a better place doesn’t mean that everything was a sea of roses. That we've never seen violence or people dying," she sobbed.
"Oh... Shouldn’t we be walking?" Max said, meddling in the conversation.
Lucy turned to him, staring at him with such anger in her eyes that he choked, took two steps back and didn’t utter any other word. Alec was unscathed, the words didn’t leave his mouth, even though he had opened it. Not even James dared to add anything.
"I ... I didn’t know Lucy," Alec said, stumbling over his own words, talking as he thought of what to say.
"There's a lot you still don’t know. A lot I try to avoid thinking about." She said, wiping her eyes, and blotting some of her soft makeup.
"I just had to save him. There are good people out there who may
simply have had no choice but to make the wrong ones." Alec said, trying to convince them that he had made the right decision.
"It’s done, there’s no coming back. Not worth wasting time on that," Lucian said, and turned his back, "Let's go on before anyone shows up. Just check him before. Maybe he has a good item we can use.”
"Maybe it's for the best." Neil, who had been quiet until then, said.
“I’ve checked him. He doesn’t have anything with him. The ring is absolutely destroyed. Let’s get out of here. They might come back with reinforcements.”
"Let's just ignore that he went against the group's decision?" James said, not content with the resolution.
"No. But we don’t have time to lose. Right now, we have to get out of here." Lucian commented, glancing at James with his clear eyes like the ice.
James grunted, frowning and kicking a small rock at his feet. He threw it at the wreckage and it broke into dozens of pieces. He discharged his anger and the sound of the shattering stone comforted him. Max picked up his pack and ran to Lucian. Neil and Lucy turned their backs, leaving Alec, still with one knee on the floor, behind. Neil still looked once and murmured an "apology," but that was all.
Alec punched the floor, fully knowing he had been set aside to save the humanity of his friends. Inside, he knew that everyone would regret it if they had let him die, that guilt would consume them, little by little, taking over their nightmares and chaining their hearts. He got up and followed them, a few yards away, aware of what could be around them.
Chapter X
No one spoke. Neither alone nor with others. There was an awkward silence in the air, a wound still unlocked, causing a break in the group. The sun disappeared from the monochromatic painting, giving them the gusts of wind that raised the dust and even destroyed fragile rocks, forcing them to cover their eyes and hide behind sturdy stones.
James's belly was the first to growl, followed by Neil's and Max's. Hours had passed since the last time they had eaten and the battle and stress of it had left them exhausted. They took the time to take a break, sitting in a circle, and each eating a piece of fruit. They gave small bites, trying to make the fruit, which wasn’t even fresh, last longer. Alec joined them but noticed that no one looked him in the eye. At the slightest sound, they looked to every corner, dreading that someone had come closer.
"That's enough, don’t you think? We're acting like kids!" Alec said. Sadness turned to anger, "I did what I had to do for you!"
"For us? We made a decision and you ignored it. You must think you're the greatest." James replied.
"Have you ever killed anyone? Do you know what that is? Do you think you'd be able to pretend it never happened? Or that his face and the cries of despair before the building collapsed would not be repeated in your head? In your nightmares?" Alec exclaimed. He spoke loud and fast. Some thin threads of saliva jumped out of his mouth as he spoke in exasperation.
His emotions were on the verge of collapse. Everyone seemed to have something to say, but no one took a step forward. They knew what was at stake and the consequences they would have in breaking the group in two. They sealed their lips, watching only Alex's face, red closed lips and gasping for breath. Particles of fire came out of his fingers and splattered the desert floor.
"BUT ..." James began but was interrupted by an explosive substance in the distance.
A black cloud appeared on the top of a mountain. The wind carried the ashes and the crumbled rocks around the surrounding area. The sound still buzzed in the ears of the young, when they realized they were unable to move. Almost imperceptible wires, connected to each other and tightening whenever one of them tried to move, fastened their arms and legs. Facial expressions changed as they screamed in fear and despair. They looked in all directions trying to understand what had happened, while at times one of them dragged the others to a painful punishment as they tried to move.
"Stop moving!" Lucy said, "You’re only making it worse."
"But ... we have to get out of here. Fast. What is going to happen to us now? "Neil said, anxiety becoming the owner of his voice.
"Whoever did this should be watching too. They have to appear. We have no choice but to wait," Lucian said, taking a deep breath.
"Where is your wolf when we need him?" James asked, still trying to yank the wires with only his hands.
"We don’t know who they are or how many there are. I cannot risk it. We have to see where this is going" he replied.
James, Alec and him were still recovering. The combat had drained all of their energy, and they had not yet been able to recover. They had agreed not to drink any of the bottles unless it was urgent. Come to think of it, they now regretted not having taken it soon enough, but it would be impossible to predict that something like that would happen to them. They were at the mercy of a being they couldn’t see, and who rejoiced in testing their resistance, tightening the threads until they brushed against their skin, wounding it. Blood rose to the surface of their knees and arms. Lucy and Max fell to their knees, screaming in pain. It was too much. The skin slowly undoing itself, blazing malevolently, as the threads scraped past the wounds of the past, some of which were still open and sensitive. Their HPs were descending slowly, but nothing could be done to stop it. They were already in the 30s, and they wandered between losing consciousness and recovering it for a brief moment. Finally, the wires fell to the floor, transparent, letting them breathe until the earth began to tremble.
Dozens of footsteps approached them. They could hear the soles of different sizes touching the floor, like an earthquake that is getting closer. Two men, in the middle of a row in pairs, carried a red and green banner, with a crowned serpent, whose body wrapped around the flag. It was impossible to tell how many they were, but certainly at least 20. They all wore gray armor that shone even though the sun was no longer awake and had a small X burned above the left eyebrow. It had a bright reddish appearance, with a singed tone.
Behind a huge, triangle-shaped cliff, a young man, in his twenties, emerged, his pale skin contrasting with black clothing and a device attached to his hand. A sort of weapon, which instead of bullets fired transparent threads. He had painted the area around his eyes in black, and a gray cap covered most of his black hair. It was only possible to know the color due to some wires that constantly beat on his face due to the increasingly strong breeze. He walked in a strange way, staggering from side to side as if carrying extra, invisible weight on his back. He was one of those rare people whose body had been shaped to power and not the other way around. His veins looked like wires, coming out of his arm, spinning around him, then back to their place of origin. They had a mind of their own, and he seemed to be able to shape them by the way he drew back a bit and dug it, throwing it to the ground for pure pleasure.
???
Class: Ninja
Specialization: Invisible Wires
HP: 470/470
Attack: 250 + 50
Defense: 250 + 70
Agility: 250
Wisdom: 230
Items:
Paintbox: +50 attack (makes the blue wires invisible when thrown)
Armor of the dark: +70 defense (imperceptible at night)
"My money?" He asked. He had a soft voice for someone with such a dark aura.
One of the men at the front pulled a sack from his pocket and handed it to him. The man opened it and counted the coins one by one. After making sure the payout was correct, he walked in the direction of the line, ignoring everyone, as if they were nothing to him, not even fearing that they could attack him from behind. He was unprotected, but he gladly accepted it, not being afraid of the death reaper. He disappeared into the horizon, leaving a bittersweet sensation in the group's tongue. A simple boy, only 2-3 years older than them at maximum, had immobilized them.
"That boy always scares me," said the man who had handed him the sack.
"Have you heard the story? Of his parents?" The man, at his side, said. He had the voice of some
one younger, possibly an apprentice.
They heard someone clearing his throat and fell silent, swallowing. The line split in two, opening the way for one man, twice the size of everyone else, to walk into the group. He removed the armor that protected his face allowing his long blond hair to stretch out, almost as if the strands were sailing through the wind. As the man smoothed his thick brown beard, he curled the corners above his lip. He waited for the young men to calm down before he spoke.
???
Class: Wizard/Knight
Specialization: Electricity
HP: 600/600
Attack: 450 + 50 (+25)
Defense: 400 + 60
Agility: 300 – 50
Wisdom: 250
Items:
Ra’s Armor: + 60 defense – 50 agility
Forest gloves: +50 attack (bonus + 25 on sites with a large amount of flora)
"Who are you?" He asked in a thick voice that shivered to the whirlwinds behind his neck.
"We... Ah... we were just passing through. We don’t want any trouble." Neil replied, hesitating at every word he uttered.
"As he said, we are not looking for trouble," Lucian added, avoiding showing any fear.
"Hmmm," the man hummed, "I can’t risk it. Arrest them. Let's bring them with us. The doctor will get the truth out of them."
They looked at one another. Their bodies were taken by the despair that bound them to that place, imprisoning their fogged minds. The soldiers obeyed the chief's orders and carried rusty chains with them. Lucy, who still had enough energy, created a barrier to push them away while thinking of a plan. They believed that they had won a few minutes, which they could use to think of a plan and escape. However, hope was decimated in seconds. The boss stepped forward and snapped his fingers.