Sands 2

And thus I slept until the next morning , the man woke me up at about five in the morning, and I stared at the ceiling for ten minutes then I exited the room that they gave me to sleep in.

I went to their kitchen, and the man was preparing an omelette, he even made an extra one for me, I sat down on the table.

"Hey so," I said, "what's your name?", "My name is Lazarus Dent" he replied "But don't talk while eating for food is sacred", I said nothing but a nod.

After we finished eating he went to wake up his daughter, and he said "stay here okay?", "Okay" she answered while simultaneously following us outside.

He pretended to not notice her until he reached the door then he surprised her by turning around quickly, "wahh" she exclaimed as she started crying saying "I don't want you to leave", "I'll come back I promise, by night I'll be back", "I don't want" she answered "I want you to stay with me", "okay let's make a deal, I'll do that thing that you like and then you will stay here until I come back, okay?", "Okay" she said smiling as the dad carried her and starting spinning around, the dad smiled nothing like I had ever seen, a smile so happy I didn't think was possible.

I smiled.

And then we left the house and the girl kept staring at us leaving through the window, I waved at her, she waved back and we left the village.

The man led me to the well and then removed the note which was on the well revealing a button, he pressed the button and we fell to what seemed like an empty void.

When I landed, the surface was very soft and bouncy, and when I finally stood up, I fell down.

Lazarus chuckled as he effortlessly got to his feet. "Careful," he said. "Gravity's a little weird down here."

I tried again, planting my hands on the soft surface and pushing myself up. It felt like standing on a massive cushion that pushed back with every movement. "Where is this place?" I asked, glancing around. The void wasn't completely empty—dim, glowing patterns pulsed beneath the surface, shifting like veins of light inside a living thing.

"This," Lazarus said, adjusting his coat, "is the Underway. It's where the old world still breathes beneath the new one."

I frowned. "That doesn't explain anything."

Lazarus grinned. "Good. Explanations are for later. First, we move." He turned and started walking—though walking was a generous term. Each step sent him bouncing slightly forward, and he adjusted like he had done it a thousand times.

I took a step and immediately stumbled. "This is impossible," I muttered.

"It's only impossible until it isn't," he said without looking back.

I clenched my jaw and tried again, this time letting my body move with the strange resistance of the ground rather than against it. After a few tries, I found a rhythm. It was like walking on a trampoline covered in silk.

"Not bad," Lazarus said.

As we moved forward, the glowing veins brightened, reacting to us. The air smelled... different. Not clean, not dirty—just strange, like something ancient had been trapped here for centuries.

Then I noticed them. Shadows, shifting at the edges of my vision.

I stopped. "We're not alone, are we?"

Lazarus sighed, reaching into his coat. "No. We're never alone down here."

A shape peeled itself from the darkness, its limbs too long, its head tilted at an unnatural angle. It made no sound as it moved, but the glowing veins beneath it dimmed as if being drained.

Lazarus pulled something from his coat—a blade, but it shimmered like it wasn't entirely real. He glanced at me. "Time for your first lesson."

I swallowed hard. "Lesson in what?"

He smiled, but this time it wasn't the warm, fatherly smile from earlier. This was the smile of a man who had survived too many battles to count.

"Lesson in survival.", he said, "whatever threatens you but doesn't attack, you must terminate for someday, they will kill you"

The shadow began walking towards me, but without a second thought, the knife that was in Lazarus's hand was suddenly under the creature's neck, his blade flew the same glow as my Cultro.

He knew how to use Sefor.

He the light around his blade somehow surrounded the shadow and slowly shrinked until only a bit if light could be seen, and then the shadow exploded.

The explosion didn't make a sound, but I felt it. A rush of energy rippled through the air, bending the glowing veins beneath us like wind through tall grass. The remaining sliver of light fizzled out, leaving nothing behind.

Lazarus flicked his blade, and the glow faded. He turned to me. "You saw what I did?"

I nodded, still processing what had just happened. "That was Sefor."

He raised an eyebrow. "You know about Sefor?"

I hesitated. "I… I think I can use it."

Lazarus studied me for a long moment, then suddenly tossed the shimmering knife at me. I barely had time to react, but the moment my hand closed around the hilt, I felt it—power, humming beneath my fingers, waiting to be shaped.

Lazarus smirked. "Then prove it."

A second shadow peeled itself from the darkness, moving with the same eerie silence as the first. Its limbs stretched unnaturally as it advanced toward me.

I gripped the knife tighter, feeling the energy inside it. I didn't fully understand how Sefor worked, but I knew one thing—I had to act.

I focused. The blade pulsed, its glow intensifying. The moment the creature lunged, I slashed instinctively.

A wave of light surged from the knife, wrapping around the shadow just like Lazarus's had. The creature struggled, its form flickering, shrinking—until, just like before, it collapsed into a single point of light and vanished.

I exhaled sharply, my heart pounding.

Lazarus crossed his arms. "Not bad."

Lazarus clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Come on. That was just the beginning."