Darkness

Thirty minutes had passed again with this mad chase going on. He could gather as much strong will as he wanted, it would not keep him running infinitely. As he was considering to dig a hole by himself the time it would take for the beast to reach him, he tumbled into a clearing.

'Not good' If there was no tree, the mammoth-like thing wouldn't have any obstacle to slow it down. But he could only keep going on, so he kept running.

As he past by a giant flat boulder lying in the center, he saw a part of the ground around it that seemed to collapse. A sparkle of hope lit up in Jun's eyes as he jumped next to the eight feet tall roc, kneeled and started digging as fast as he could.

Soon his hand passed through a layer of soil and reached a cavity. Jun sighed deeply with relief and dug to enlarge to hole. When it was big enough for him, he jump without a shred of doubt because he could hear the beast charging through the clearing.

He fell abruptly on a stone floor, almost breaking his two legs. But he could not care about the pain. His eyes were fixed on the hole above through which passed a single ray of light. He listened, trying to guess how his chaser was reacting to his sudden disappearance. He heard a few growls and sniffing sound as the mammoth footsteps resounded in the cave. Then the light stopped getting through.

Its trunk bas obstructing the hole, meaning it found where he was hiding. Jun always refused to believe in gods but he found himself praying it would give up. After it sniffed a few times more, it let out a deep roar as it was unable to follow. It tried to move the boulder but it wouldn't move, however it tried.

Even if it was angered as its prey was getting away, it could only accept it since it had no chance to fit in that hole. But it had another option. It could stay there, blocking the entrance and wait till the one who disturbed its nap dies.

Jun was getting happier as he saw the light get through again, but his smile disappeared when he heard a loud 'thud' and watched the hole being blocked completely.

'Shit. I'm not even the one who disturbed you, stupid beast. Why do you have to be so thick headed ?' Sighing for a multiple time, he heard his belly gurgling and sighed again. 'That would be a big joke. To die of hunger because ten thousands pounds of fur are in my way.'

'Maybe there is another way out. I can be thick headed too, you know.'

One step after another, he walked with care in the dark. Surprisingly, he realized that the cave was pretty large. After he walked on all the perimeter, he calculated that it should be about a hundred square meters wide. But he found no exit.

'That's strange. The walls are quite smooth for a natural cave.' Starving, tired, Jun let his body slide along the wall. When his head hit the wall however, a strange buzzing sound filled the room. Jun got up in one move, in a state of alert. Some blue light permeated the floor and became brighter as it gathered at the center, slowly shaping a body that stood proudly with an awe-inspiring aura.

Jun was admiring this work of technology when a voice resounded as the man in shiny armor opened his mouth. "What the hell is a brat like you doing in this Mighty God's grave ? How did you triggered the mechanism ? You don't look like one of my heirs." The hologram closed its eyes and seemed to look deeply into something?

"God dammit ! The processor bugged. I knew I couldn't trust this new technology. Sorry, boy. But you saw something you shouldn't have. Now you have to die." It raised a hand as if to invoke some power and a slight earthquake extended everywhere.

Starting to panic not knowing how to defend against a hologram, Jun's mind turned at high speed, trying to find something to say. He remembered something that made his eyes lit up suddenly. He raised his left arm and screamed "Wait !"

"Any last word, boy ?"

"I have a tracking chip on me ! If I die here, my supervisors will know and surely they will inspect the matter." Of course it was a lie. He had no guarantee that someone would come. The tracking chips only served to control the pack and verify that they followed the rules as well as spotting any strange occurrence. Him dying here wasn't odd at all.

"You're lying to save your life. Even if I don't kill you, I cannot let you go. You'll die here anyway."

"Deal !" Jun was too glad to escape immediate death to consider the rest.

"Whatever. Don't try anything stupid ! I know everything that happens in here so I'll just get back to sleep after you die."

After they agreed on this death sentence, Jun sat down in one corner of the cave, deep in thought. The hologram just stayed there, not moving an inch with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed. This situation lasted for a few hours.

'I must find a way to trick him. I can't fake death, I bet he knows my heart rate precisely. What can I do ?' As he was thinking wildly for any opportunity, the hologram opened his eyes again. His face showed some hesitation, as if he had something to ask but was ashamed to rely on some random boy.

"Hum... May I ask... What year is it ?"

Jun didn't expect his keeper to ask for the date. "Can't you know ? After all, you're a computer of some sort, right ?"

"Well... Yes. But it seems my processor suffered some troubles somehow. I lost count."

"..."

"Please."

"I don't know anyway. I believe I heard we are at the twelfth century of the God Kings Era or someth..."

"What ??? Are you sure ?" The hologram instantly lost his mighty air as he rushed to Jun who backed away a bit.

"I think so."

"That's not possible. They would have come before. Why didn't they come ?"

"Who ?"

"My descendants. Have you heard of the Julia Family ? Where are they ? Did something happen to them ? I specifically left a message for them with a map that led here."

"Never heard of it." Actually, there was no way for him to know anything about any noble family at all. Nobody cared about it nor had the time to care when they lived in poverty.

When he understood he couldn't get any information from him, the hologram's face darkened quite a bit. He turned around and walked slowly towards the center where he sat on the ground, his face livid. "They must have died."

The hologram then stood still for awhile, not caring about Jun anymore. The youth was wondering if he should seize this moment to dig a new hole when he heard a long sigh from the light made warrior. "I guess I'm of no use anymore. You can go."

Relieved to hear that, a brief smile appeared on Jun's face. Then he chose the side opposite to where he came from and started digging. The walls were extremely hard but not unbreakable. Jun calculated that he would probably need two weeks to reach the surface so he needed to start now if he didn't want to die of thirst first.

When he was working on his escape tunnel however, the hologram that was deep in thought watched him dig and then seemed to decide something.

"Wait."