The darkness of tomorrow

Screams, screams surrounding me, everywhere. Sounds of flames from all directions, fear and agony inside of the white room. It all changed, the room changed from just white into something agonizing, scary, and completely disturbing. A massacre, a massacre… The walls that were once white became a scenery of destruction, fire everywhere, people dying covered in blood and ash. The further I went the more destruction could be seen, the place of the massacre… I don't know where it is, but it can't be far since it came to my mind. Another couple of steps into that white nova of an event. People on the ground covered by ash, black ash, almost dark as the power itself. Dark enough to make the shadow itself feel bright.

Even further down, my legs started giving up on walking anymore, the long corridor with the illusion took everything over. But when I reached the furthest down, a wall was there, white, invisible if not touched. There was nowhere else to go besides the sides that felt like an infinite hole. So I stepped into that direction, touching… Nothing. I started falling and at that moment I woke up, completely submerged in sweat, my heart pounding like there is no tomorrow, racing somewhere so far that I myself didn't know where it led. Sounds of wind blowing through the iron poles, making a sound like that of a flute, not understanding the phenomenon, I stepped to the bars. They were dark, when I wanted to touch them I felt their rather cold nature from a distance of an inch. Close to my hand but not touching it.

When I touched it, the bars melted down into a black paste that became an acid going down to the core of the earth. Estel, Marcus nor Matthew weren't there, I was all alone on my own as I saw that something shining and red started emerging from that hole created by the acid. It was magma now going up, closer to me than before. I started panicking, tried to do something to escape my fate, I didn't know why but there was no heat behind that molten rock. It was coming closer to my feet, I heard a bubbling sound right under me, the lava about to eat me alive. Once it reached my feet, I didn't collapse, I didn't fall, didn't even feel pain. It was all just an illusion, a deceiving mechanism. It was just a floor painted in that color to create fear, futile struggle, but it still made me feel miserable with my fate that was already close to being set.

The red floor started going further up, I don't know what it is, something just pushes it up. Helping me somehow to leave, but… It's an illusion right? This must be a dream. The moment I got up put me out of my misery, everyone was there, everyone was outside, the prisoners of this hell were out. Estel, Matthew, and Marcus, the three of them were out, Lucas, my brother as well. Everyone I know from here and probably everyone I don't are out, they stand behind the gates together with me now. I… Teleported there? I don't even know, but I wasn't on the weird platform anymore. The soldiers were still behind the wall, hurling spells at them, now the general appeared with a dagger in his hands. He slashed a single finger and blood dropped on the ground. He threw a dark ball right after that in the same place.

"Make a barrier!" Several people screamed, a black wall in front of us, we were still able to see through it but the sunny sky was now just straight up… Black, everything was black. Clouds that were white just a second ago went completely black, lightning in the background was also black, the sky was the only thing making those two differentiate in any way. The grass itself became black, the snow that was falling from the sky also started going black. Everything was painted dark, the reality itself shifted as the ball of darkness fell on the ground. Time has stopped for two seconds and then a blast of red dark energy emerged from the epicenter of it. Everyone, their skin was light and in a real color of pink, now… Their bodies went black as well, red swords pierced the whole valley from the underside up. The ground shifted, and once the swords went back to the underworld, all of the grass disappeared, the building behind us, all of them. Were destroyed and I myself was the lone survivor, I looked at my hands to look if I wasn't affected. I wasn't. So I ran, ran to the destroyed ruins, ran with my disfigured legs, shaved because of my opened wounds from before. The general was laughing loudly, my face disgusted by the rotting smell of bodies. Bodies that now were dark humans, they crumbled to ashes in a second right after. Nothing was left but ash…

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It was morning, once again I woke up, somewhere else. In the cell, our cell, they were sleeping. They were alive, they were here and not up outside without me. It was morning, it was the day when we will escape, this is the day when we will leave. The day when we leave all of this behind, the sky I saw from my floor was dark, not black though. People were waking up, guards not suspecting anything. The climax… As we grow closer, it slowly goes to the point where we won't be here anymore. We love to leave, but hate to change… That is the nature of people here, the chained ones. People being chained to the darkness itself, we are… Imprisoned by power.

"Hayden, it's the day. Still this morning, after eating, we will finally escape." Estel whispered, he didn't want to notify anyone besides us, even Marcus seemed litten up, more vibrant, more… Alive. He even wanted to speak but didn't find the courage to do so, a man that taught me my very first life skill. He taught me how to fight with a spear, he showed me how to save Estel, the other man who was a person I could relate to. A person I could talk to for some time about a lot of things, we are about to end all of this, forget this and keep it just as a memory behind our new present and old past. Solidarly, we will escape.

"Right, how do you feel? Did you sleep well?"

"I did. How about you?"

"I… Had some weird visions in sleep."

"Is that so, what did you see?"

"Death."

The final thing I said moved Estel from his sitting position, he moved to the other side. Looked at the ceiling somewhat not believing what I said but also somewhat accepting pain. A direct gaze into my eyes, staring into my soul trying to find himself in my own existence, Not understanding what stands behind my already soulless eyes, lost it. Some time ago, not liking who I am anymore at a point, hating myself, hating people, hating existence, hating… Darkness, the same darkness that took me into the place I am in. The tandem of seeing death at every place where I go.

Ten minutes passed without any more words being said, Estel's face sad but not to the point of it being a concern. Matthew is still in the bed but witnessing all of it.

"I will talk to our masterminds." Marcus finally said a word, he said something, finally did something nobody expected him to do especially after what happened. They don't know what happened, I know, therefore I am concerned to a point of insanity almost, a lion scared for his cub because I am now the sanest. Nobody is sane here...

"Hey, Hayden! Hey you guys! Listen, we are going to start 15 minutes after eating, 15 minutes. You will get a message when it all starts. And then, we will start, start the greatest escape in the world." He said through Marcus's mouth, he wasn't too happy about existing and even talking at this point. He was tired, as all of us are. "We will get out, all of the people from lower floors want to come with us, no one wants to stay here." He added, it was Lupo, the man behind this great plan, surely there is no way for them to counter it. They don't know about it. "Till we talk again."

"What's with Lucas?"

"He is still sleeping, we have to wake him up in a second, the food is coming."

"Right…"

"So as I said until we meet again." He said and stopped talking at all, Marcus came back from them, food arrived… It's 15 minutes from the escape, 15 minutes from running away. It will finally be time to leave this place, to find… Happiness. If it still exists in this flawed world.

"What a shame… Lucas doesn't want to talk."

"Don't worry… We will have a chance when we escape."

"You are right."

The food, s*it as always, at least today we have some meat. It will be important, we need it to run, run fast. Nutrition...