Chapter 6

Gaia

"Ouch!" my partner yelled, forcibly lowering his head so as not to hit the cold metal bars intertwined to form a cell.

"What do you want from us?" I asked but didn't need an answer. My voice rang out in the night and the words were lost in the void: nobody listened to me. I was trapped in a web about four or five meters above the ground, above the lava. In front of me was Samuel, who was locked up in a steel cage. A veil of sadness covered his eyes. He tried in every way to hide the tears that ran down his face. He kept his head down and was broken and dark in the face.

He was torn: he could do nothing to save me and vice versa. Also, he was about to witness one of the bloodiest scenes ever. I would slowly slip out of my cocoon and burn in the lava, and the same end would befall him after being tortured for a long time. If it weren't for the cobwebs around me, I would have fallen straight into the hot pool without doing too much ceremony.

Around me, there were various monsters and all with a desire for revenge against us. A pair of archers stood on either side of Samuel's "prison" and stood guard, tormenting him more than the image of the loss of a friend could.

He, sitting on a plank in the center of it, with his legs dangling in the void, was devising a possible solution in his heart, a way out that would secretly guide us out of there. And at some point, he had hope of succeeding in his intent.

Samuel

Monsters surrounded us. An archer had hit me in the shoulder, but I didn't feel pain or bleed. I couldn't help but watch Gaia as she slowly glided along a cobweb, wondering why they had chosen her first and not me. After all, I had accompanied her there in search of our comrades whom we considered missing.

It will be an ephemeral death, I thought.

The brain tried to recall as many ideas as possible to oppress those hideous ignominious and inevitable thoughts.

After her, it will be my turn.

We will both lose our lives.

Francis

Before I said anything, Jane had already taken me by the arm and without thinking too much about it, she had tried to drag me zigzagging without a precise destination, to find an exit from what had turned out to be a whole. of caves, all adjacent, connected by long and narrow corridors, ascending and descending. The opening to the cavern from the road we had created was completely blocked by a collapse: gravel and rocks prevented us from passing.

Every time we stopped to recover our strength, we were forced to flee, sometimes we were forced to cross thick brambles and thorny tangles causing cuts scattered around the body. Monsters were everywhere and always ready for the assault, so we abruptly changed paths, hesitating before turning into some new unlit entrance and constantly changing direction, and so I don't know how many times, too many for me to remember them all.

By now exhausted, we had come to a narrow passage, probably a crack in the wall two meters by one meter high.

At the end of this, there were green-colored torches, which did not emit enough light like normal yellow ones but released spark-like particles into the air, they were creepy to see and smelled of sulfur.

We walked slowly and silently down the narrow corridor.

The girl squeezed my hand in a completely unnatural way and unconsciously she didn't feel like proceeding. For this reason, I had decided to "reverse the roles", opening the way, gently touching the damp and rough wall with my right hand, as if it were a guide to follow and holding my partner with the other, who seemed to be slowly becoming more rigid plan, it sometimes loosened its grip, leaving me with a strange and inexplicable feeling.

I hadn't noticed that the torches were intermittent: they went in time, following a regular rhythm.

When we reached the end of the alley, we heard screams of pain and it was there that I looked up.

What we saw that night marked us for life.

I suddenly turned to Jane and with a quick gesture of her hand I asked her to continue listening in silence: there was a piece of strange background music. I turned back to that horrible scenario and what I saw ...

I will never be able to tell it in detail.

I moved slowly leaning my back against the wall so that Jas could get close to me and observe what was happening: she slid forward, almost falling on her face, stiffened completely.

"Francis," she said suddenly, with a tone of voice completely different from hers.

With a nod, I asked her to lower her voice slightly.

"But they ... Those guys there ...

They are Gaia and Samu, right? " she asked me in a faint voice, starting to tremble strongly.

I nodded, closing my eyes, resigned.

Jasmine

"Franci," I said, all in one breath, with tears in my eyes and my heart in my throat

"But they ... those guys there ... are Gaia and Samu, right?" I was incredulous at the sight of the two and barely managed to look away and hold back a scream, putting a hand over my mouth even before breathing out.

Gaia was attached to the ceiling with cobwebs, inert. Samuele was locked up behind bars, with arrows stuck in various points of the body.

I could feel the same pain they did.

My most hateful empathy.

The monsters all around were happy and feasted in the light of those hateful torches.

I felt my skin crawl and my blood ran cold. My face was sore, I was sweating cold and my fists clenched at my sides as if I wanted to break something that wasn't there.

My mind began to feed me every single thought that might prove inadequate at that moment, just to make the situation worse.

I am a brave person, I thought.

I always have been. But my friends right now are the dearest thing I have left, I don't want to lose them. It can't be them, those two there. God, let this be just a joke. I'd rather have a hallucination a thousand times. But is it possible to suffer for people I hardly know? They cannot abandon us. Not now, not ever. They shouldn't have followed us, I understand, maybe they were worried, but it was a stupid choice. I shouldn't have dared to play video games late. Those monsters, I hate them, I HATE THEM ALL.

"Jas"

that monosyllable had awakened me from my useless thoughts and, without realizing it, hot tears ran down my face.

"Don't worry," the boy assured me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

«How can I be calm in this situation? Our friends are hurt! " I announced with some disapproval.

«They are suffering, yes, it is true. However, if you look closely, you will see that they are still safe for now. '

I could hardly believe it.

"How can you tell? I see them ... blurry, "I said because it was. I could not see well, a little 'for astigmatism and a little' for tears.

"Oh my God Jas, I forgot you wear glasses"

"Don't worry," I replied calmly, hinting at a smile that was as awkward as myself, thanking in my heart that boy who had a couple of tenths more than me.

How I wish I had my glasses here.

Suddenly I remembered a poem I had written on a few pages of my humble journal the first time I had put on my glasses.

"Now,

I look at the world differently.

Maybe they are my lenses

to further distort reality,

or, maybe,

I'm growing up too fast

to adapt to the world

and its perpetual changes ".

Maybe I wanted to remember that moment,

because basically, I was amazed how a pair of lenses could improve my life. For me they were indispensable. I used to get up in the morning and feel the nightstand for my glasses. I had to wear them until the evening when I went to sleep. I was so attached to them, who made the objects around me clearer, that sometimes I dreamed of having to put them on to see something clear, otherwise I was lost.

«Anyway» began Francesco «I have a plan, good enough and not too difficult to follow, to get them out of there».