Scarred Heart

Sweat dripped from Oliver's forehead, and exhaustion was obvious on all the teenagers. Carrying that many people was a challenge in itself, and the hellish heat didn't help at all.

Hours passed as they followed Samuel's lead. Various marks were seen on countless trees, and many signs of battle painted the scene like a war zone. At several moments, they came across dozens of snake corpses.

"You guys killed all of this on your own?" Oliver couldn't help but ask. The number of bodies must have been in the hundreds.

"No, we had the others..., but sacrifices were made as we moved forward," Samuel's voice was dry and carried a slight tone of sorrow.

"He probably watched every member of his futsal team and the friends he liked die, right in front of his eyes." Oliver kept those thoughts to himself. Just imagining losing his team was painful.

"I wonder if Windstorm, the Saint, and Demoniza are okay?" This time he let his mind wander and couldn't reach a conclusion. This initiation or challenge was deadly. They started with 22, and now only 8 of us remain. Many died so they could now head toward the portal and go home.

Oliver turned his eyes to Luísa, just in time to see her falter for a few seconds. Carrying two people at once was difficult. Even though their bodies had gotten stronger and they weren't so "human" anymore, exhaustion took its toll.

Oliver hadn't eaten in a long time, and the lack of water was painful. His arm burned and tingled in the process of healing, not to mention he was still carrying David. All of it came at a price, but he was more than willing to pay it.

"What's that bulge on Nikki's stomach?" His eyes shifted to the redhead, and he saw her clutching a white egg. Not only had the girl not destroyed the hatchling, but she was holding it like a mother protecting her child. The egg created a lump just beneath a shirt he assumed Luísa had dressed her in.

The hours kept passing, and despite the sea of corpses, not a single snake came to attack the group. The sun was finally setting, but they showed no signs of stopping. They only rested when the sound of water was heard, and another river appeared in front of their group.

"We'll rest for a few hours and rehydrate. Then we'll keep going even through the night. Otherwise, we won't make it to the portal in time." Urgency and anxiety could be heard in Samuel's voice, but who wasn't anxious to escape this nightmare?

Oliver carefully laid David down and went to wash up in the river. As he drank, his body started to feel cold. A strange chill and a bad feeling took over him. He knew that feeling, it was the same one he had felt that day. Still, nothing made sense. They were finally leaving. Nothing bad was supposed to happen now.

"Am I going crazy? Or maybe I've gotten more used to this place than I thought?" He let his mind drift as he admired the sky. All that vastness didn't even reach 1% of that snake's eyes.

"Where must you be at this hour?" Oliver murmured.

"Are you thinking about your mom, or that best friend of yours?" Luísa's voice came up beside him. It was seductive and still amazing to hear.

"Both… and other friends too." Oliver clearly lied, but he was technically telling the truth. That snake had helped him a lot and could be considered a friend.

"Hmm... I wanted to ask you something..." Her voice came hesitantly, yet still extremely alluring.

"Go ahead," Oliver spoke so softly that the river's current almost drowned out his words.

"Why did you abandon me? One day you loved me, and the next you couldn't be with me anymore... Was I not enough for you?"

The cursed question reached his ears, and a chill ran down his spine. It took him a long time to respond. He really didn't know what words to use, but in the end, he gathered his courage.

"That day, I had qualified for the world tournament final," Oliver began speaking without looking at her face, but the murky reflection in the water showed her brows furrowing as she stared at his back in brutal confusion.

"I came back early because I wanted to tell you how happy I was to finally achieve my dream. We were good... No, we were the best, Luísa. We would've beaten those Asians who'd been undefeated for years and finally brought home a trophy for our country."

He paused for a long moment to gather courage, nearly in tears. He spoke in the most neutral tone he could manage. He had faced so many monsters these past days... it was time to face the one living in his heart.

"So, I went to the classroom. After the second class, while everyone was at the court playing. When I opened the door, I saw you and my best friend kissing. I died in that moment, but I left. That's when I sent you that message.

I wasn't going to cause a scene or commit a crime. That's not what a man does."

A tear rolled down his face, but he was facing away from her. Oliver kept his shoulders squared, and an awkward silence formed.

"I see... So that's what happened. I always thought you just got tired of me." She spoke with a sigh and began walking toward the others.

No apology, no regret, no sorrow.

Her voice came in the darkness like a ghost and disappeared as if it had never been there.

Oliver stayed between the water and the starlight. Alone, cold, but for some reason… he felt light. A lightness that nourished his soul.

Something in him had been stitched up, not restored, as if to erase everything, but patched, preserving the reminder of all that had happened.

He stayed there for a long time until Samuel's voice called out to him.

"Let's go, Oliver. We've got a long way to go, and the sooner we reach the portal, the sooner we can see our families."

"Okay."

Oliver's neutral voice echoed in the silence of the night.

They were finally going home, to discover what had happened to the world they left behind.