The Fourth World

by Marina Sandoval

  “I don’t believe what I'm hearing!” Habel screamed with all the force in her lungs. “I've been trying to help you since you set foot in that house. You don't understand that the sermerios will not let you go back! Look at you! You're no longer a regular human.” Habel lowered her voice. “I'm going after Hubert. You're free to go back if you want to; no one is stopping you.” She flew off without looking back.

  Hubert was getting close to the asadelis when it exploded. He threw himself on the ground with his hands over his head and remained there for a while, until he heard Habel's voice.

  “I guess the danger is over.”

  He stood up, and they watched the scene together. Humans, Rabans, and other beings were scattered here and there. Some were dead, but most of them were moaning in pain. Many had already walked away and were staring at the scene from afar. Those who were unharmed tried to help the injured; Habel and Hubert did the same. Hubert didn’t know the Rabans, but Habel assured him they were good creatures.

  After assisting some people, Hubert headed toward Lácio. He was lying next to the burning asadelis. Next to him were Thomas, Steven, Virginia, and Chad. Hubert dragged them away from the fire but didn’t recognize his friends; their faces were black with soot. Lácio had deep lacerations in his left leg, caused by the lizard’s claws. Hubert and Habel knelt next to him.

  “I'll take care of him; you can go see how the others are,” Hubert suggested.

  She tore a piece of fabric from her dress and cleaned Thomas’ face.

  “Rabans rarely suffer accidents; something must have gone wrong,” Habel said, occasionally looking up, expecting to see Theo coming to help them, but he never did.

  Hubert was cleaning Lácio’s wounds, but he couldn’t use too much of their water to do it. He tried to take the sand from the cuts with the tips of his fingers. He glanced up to see how Habel was doing and was surprised to recognize the pirate she was helping. “I know... I...”

  “Do you know him?”

  “He was with me when I arrived. Remember when I told you there were two friends and one...” He searched around for the others and saw Steven, who had fainted near Virginia. “I don’t see Richard! I'll go look for him; you take care of them!”

  “Wait! Which ones are...?” But he was already far away. “...Your friends?”

  He ran across the dunes, calling out for Richard. He passed through people in mourning, jumped over the dead, slid in the sand and fell, then stood up and looked around with his hands on his head in despair. It was then that he noticed the outline of a person who was moving away from the crowd. He started running again and shouted for his friend as loudly as he could.

  His throat felt dry and his voice was rough. He could see it was not Richard; it was a sermerio, but since he had never met one, he didn't know that. But whoever they were, they were dragging Richard. As the sermerio heard his shouts, he stopped and peered back at him. Hubert couldn't see him well, but his silver eyes gleamed in the dark.

  Hubert filled his lungs with courage and yelled, “You can't take him!” He ran to them, his knees trembling with exhaustion and fear.

  “And who are you?”

  “I’m his friend, and he needs my help.”

  “And what will you do to stop me?” The sermerio ripped a sack from his belt.

  Hubert caught a smile growing on the sermerio’s face and suddenly, he threw the sack at him. A snake slithered out and moved straight towards Hubert. He threw himself to the ground to dodge it. The snake was staring at him. It was so much bigger than the ones they had been hunting to survive, and something told him it was poisonous.

  “It would have been my dinner, but I guess it will be more helpful in taking care of you,” said the sermerio.

  Hubert took his dagger and saw out of the corner of his eye that the sermerio was leaving. The snake was rushing forward, and Hubert recoiled, trying to stab it with the knife. He had learned to make the same striking moves as the snakes did. Habel had taught him to.

  The two of them danced for a while until the snake leaped forward, aiming for his face. He deflected, but he could feel the cold scales scraping his skin. He fell on the sand, jumped on top of the animal, and stabbed the knife into its head. When it stopped struggling, he ran after the sermerio, who was about to disappear into the darkness. He jumped to the side as he felt a hand grip his shoulder. He braced himself to attack.

  “Where are you going?” It was Theo.

  “That being has my friend!”

  “That being is a sermerio... you can't fight him!”

  Hubert felt a chill run down his spine, but it didn't matter. He turned to continue the chase. Theo rushed forward and stood in front of him.

  “Do not try to stop me!” Hubert shouted.

  “I will not stop you. There's only one place he can go, and it's the Oasis. Remember what Habel said; you must always go west. We are not far. I'll find her, and we will catch up to you.”

  Hubert thanked him and ran as fast as his injured ankle allowed him to.

  Habel placed her hand in one of the little bags she carried and took out two lilac-colored pebbles. Though small, they shone, and in the center of each was a tiny flower, resembling a daisy. Three men, a woman, and a child stood before her, and all of them were wounded, but she had only two stones. She wanted to use them on Hubert's friends, but she didn't know which ones they were. She reflected a little and used them instead on those who were in the worst conditions. She moved to Lácio and knelt at his side. She saw his eyes widen and announced, “This may hurt a little.”

  “What are you going to do with that?” asked Lácio in disbelief.

  She stuffed the stone inside the cut. Lácio let out a cry that echoed. Habel covered the wound with her hands, causing the stone to sink deeper and deeper. When he stopped screaming, she took her hand away, and the deep cuts were gone. He moved his leg, not feeling pain anymore.

  “How did you do that?”

  She showed the other stone to him and stood up.

  Virginia was conscious, but a piece of wood punctured her chest. She struggled to breathe, since she felt unbearable pain with each breath. Habel went to her.

  “I will take it out.” She stuck a piece of cloth in Virginia's mouth and ripped the piece of wood out as quickly as possible. Tears were flowing from Virginia's eyes. Her cries were muffled by the cloth. Using the other stone, Habel did the same thing she did with Lácio. Virginia searched for Habel's other hand and squeezed it so tightly, it almost broke her fingers.

  In a few moments, she was better, and Theo appeared.

  “What did you do?” he asked.

  “I didn’t think they would survive. The other three are injured, but it is not serious. You came...”

  “And you used our stones on them!”

  “They would have died!”

  “They are strangers! These stones could have been our only salvation in the future!”

  “They are not total strangers; Hubert knows them... I mean, I don't know which ones he knows...” Habel paused to consider this. She felt good about saving the lives of two people, but maybe Theo was right. She was too tired to think straight. “They were dying and... it's too late, anyway.”

  “We have to go, now!” He took her hand and tried to pull her.

  “Where is Hubert?” asked Habel.

  “He ran after a sermerio who was dragging his friend.”

  “And you left him?”

  “Who are you?” Virginia asked as she sat down. The others had already regained consciousness.

  “We are Hubert's friends,” Habel replied.

  “You found Hubert!” Said Steven, still stunned, as he sat down. “You were right; he didn't die! Where is he?”

  “We don’t have time for explanations. If we want to reach him, we need to go fast,” said Theo.

  “So, let's go! Can everyone walk?” Steven asked.

  Lácio couldn’t hear a word of what they were saying. He was looking around for his broth
er, but all he saw were unfamiliar faces. He turned away from the group to look for him, and as soon as he left, Habel noticed Chad. Until that moment, the boy had been lying on the sand. She knew he was well, for she had already checked, but he only moved when Lácio walked away.

  Steven looked to the side and saw Thomas getting up. Recalling what he had done, a wave of anger invaded him; he grabbed the pirate by the shirt and knocked him to the ground.

  “You would have let us die!”

  “You would have done the same if you were me!”

  Meanwhile, Chad dodged the group, but Habel went to him. “Are you alone?”

  The boy jumped. “I'll stay with that group of Rabans”

  “I thought you were with Hubert’s friends.”

  Chad stared at her, his gaze sad and desperate. Habel understood that he, in fact, was with them, but they were not his friends.

  “Are you a fugitive?” She asked in a whisper. He nodded and lowered his eyes again. “Stay here with me. Everything is going be okay. Trust me.” Habel reached out to him. He hesitated, but eventually gave in.

  Virginia was searching for Proctor, but she had the impression that someone was observing her. She looked up at the sky and saw the bird that had knocked over the asadelis. It was landing.

  Steven saw Thomas' eyes widen, but he wasn’t looking at him. When the doctor looked back, he saw that the bird was heading for Virginia. He dropped Thomas and rushed to help her.

  “We have to get out of here. It was this bird that...”

  “It’s okay; it's Ivy! She did this?” asked Virginia.

  “It flew in the direction of the asadelis and broke... did you say Ivy?”

  “Ivy is a mutant animal; she can shift into whatever animal she wants. I guess she wanted to save me...” A shadow fell over Virginia's face.

  “Thanks to her, we escaped...” Steven said, trying to sound grateful.

  “And how many others died because of this? I didn’t choose to kill a minotaur; he must have died anyway. Now, more people are dying. I should have come back and accepted my fate as I promised.” She turned and looked Steven in the eyes. “You do not have to escape. You must let me go... it will be better for everyone if I surrender.”

  Ivy landed next to them. Virginia walked over and patted her head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  At that moment, they heard a scream.

  Lácio was sitting on the sand with his brother in his arms. A thick piece of wood was buried in Proctor's abdomen. The tears that Virginia had tried to contain suddenly began to flow.

  It was not sadness that Lácio showed, but hatred.

  “This is all your fault. You have no right to cry for my brother,” he said, looking at Virginia.

  “I know...”

  “No!” Interrupted Steven. “It's not her responsibility. She didn’t know what Ivy would do; she didn’t tell her to do it.”

  “Why are you defending her? Can’t you see? We're dead! All of us! Just because she didn’t keep her agreement. Now, it's only a matter of time!” Lácio shouted with all his might.

  “That's why I want you to take me to them and hand me over,” replied Virginia.

  “It's no use. I killed one of them.”

  “No one knows.”

  Steven was about to say something, but Virginia stopped him.

  “Sometimes, we must accept our fate without resisting,” she said without lifting her face, then returned to speak with Lácio. “I am ready. When you want to, we can go. I will not run away. Ivy can take us.” She stepped away from the group and sat down beside the bird.

  “You will not do this,” Steven told Lácio.

  “It's what should have been done a long time ago. She realizes that.”

  He wanted to hug Proctor one last time, but his brother had already turned to ashes. That was what happened to the bodies of the humans who died there. He got up, determined, and headed for the bird. “Let's go.”

  Lácio and Virginia climbed onto Ivy's back. The woman took one last look at Steven before the bird took flight. The doctor felt lost; he looked at Habel and Theo, who watched it all without knowing what to do or think.

  Thomas approached him: “Look at this place. If you intend to save everyone you meet, you will die trying, and you will get everyone else killed, too.”

  Steven felt the impulse to turn and attack the pirate with all his might, but he took a deep breath and did not move or speak. Deep down, he knew that Thomas was right, and that knowledge corroded him from the inside-out.

  Theo came close to them. “I do not want to interrupt, but Habel and I are going after Hubert. If you want to come with us, we're leaving.”

  “How do you know where to go?” Asked Thomas.

  “We are in the desert; he has to be going to the Oasis. We know how to get there; it’s not too far.”

  While the others gathered everything they found that seemed to be useful, Steven spotted Kekuk. His leg was broken, but he appeared to have no other serious injuries. He approached the little Raban. He wanted to find the right words, but all he could say was, “I'm happy you are well... I don’t know how to thank...”

  “Do not worry. I've been in other accidents.”

  “Have you?”

  “How do you think we test our inventions? With accidents!” He gave a chuckle that seemed out of place.

  “Are you sure you're okay? Did you hit your head?”

  “I'm fine and I'm happy because you're not in their hands.”

  “I owe it to you.”

  “That must stay between us... I do not know what you're talking about.”

  “I think you're braver than you think...”

  At that moment, Habel called out his name. They were leaving.

  “I have to go. Are you going to be okay? How many people died?”

  “Do not worry. We sent a salamander to Raban with the message as soon as the bird hit us. Help is coming. I admit we lost some... but only a few.”

  “A salamander?” Steven repeated without understanding, but he had no time to ask, so he said goodbye and ran to his party. They were already moving away from the wounded.

  Chapter IX - Lorne

  Steven shared his thoughts with Virginia and Richard, barely talking to the others. Chad drew close to Habel and Theo.

  Thomas was quiet most of the time, but he helped with whatever was needed. His decision to go with them was made only because it was a chance to escape that place without having to go through the missions.

  Chad told them everything they had gone through, and Habel did the same. Although Steven and Thomas said nothing, they listened to everything attentively; for them, all information was important. Steven wanted to figure out how to save his friends, and Thomas wanted to figure out how to save himself.

  After they’d finished sharing, the doctor spoke for the first time, telling them what Kekuk said about the sermerios, and Habel added that Zauber was the wizard who was helping the new king.

  “What is the purpose of the experiments that Zauber was doing on you?” Thomas asked Theo.

  “I don’t know; he never told me.”

  “They want to turn humans into slaves,” Habel said. Theo glanced at her in confusion.

  “From what I have seen, we are already slaves,” replied Thomas.

  “No, not the way he wants it. You can refuse; you can flee like Virginia and Chad. It may not seem like a big deal because in the end, they are still all trapped here, but the main point is that once you have done the task, they must send you home. Zauber is seeking to produce a potion that will take away any trace of your awareness. Without questions, without wishing to get back to life... I think you already understand.”

  “And you have known this all this time?” Theo asked, feeling betrayed.

  “I could not tell you! I was afraid that if you knew, you would panic and do something stupid like fighting Zauber and getting yourself killed. And if you do not remember, I was trying to get you out of there for s
ome time, but you would not listen.”

  “Maybe if you had told the truth!” The idea of turning into Zauber’s puppet made Theo feel furious. He remembered all the things Zauber made him drink, his stomach spinning, and he forced himself to remember every detail of his life to make sure he still knew who he was and what he was doing. Habel apologized, but in fact, he was not mad at her, only at himself. “If, all this time, he wanted to create something that would control me, how did I end up turning into... a tiger?”

  “It's a common potion among wizards; it makes you turn into an animal. You change and after a while, you go back to normal. From what I've observed, he used that potion as a base and added other things... I know this potion; Azura used it whenever she felt threatened... or when she wanted to steal something. I knew it was harmless; so, whenever I had the chance, I changed the jars, but sometimes, I couldn’t. Something went wrong and now you are like this.” She tried to say it like it was not such a terrible thing.

  Thomas, who had not yet seen Theo turn into a tiger, was curious about the conversation and inquired what they were talking about.

  “I rarely do it at my will. In fact, most of the time, I don’t even want it to happen; it hurts a lot.”

  Even so, Thomas found it extraordinary.

  The new day was dawning, and everyone was already up and ready to continue the trip when a sandstorm caught them by surprise. They could not open their eyes; the sand entered their mouths and noses. In a few moments, they were suffocating; the group was being buried alive and there was nothing they could do. Habel tried to fly, but the wind was very strong, and the sand was already up to their waists.

  When the sand was covering their heads, a hole opened under their feet and they fell into the void.

  It was not a soft landing; they rolled over rocks, and all of them got hurt.

  When they stopped falling, they were in the dark.

  “Is everyone okay?” Steven asked.

  “We're alive, if that's what you want to know,” Thomas replied.

  “Try to touch the walls; maybe we can find a tunnel or something? Keep talking, so we will not lose each other. Habel, do you know what this is?” Steven shouted.