In a Sea of Doubts, What Drives You? (F)

In a sea of doubts, what motivates you?

After that mysterious and empty speech, Thanatos disappears, leaving a message written on the ground in blood: "You better be prepared."

Afonso and Sebastião question among themselves what he could be planning:

"Look, Afonso, I have no idea what that creature is up to, but..."

"But what?"

"I have a feeling we should keep our families away from this."

"Yeah, you're right, but listen, I think we should take advantage of this evening to go to the bar, try to forget about this, and relax, right?"

"ARE YOU CRAZY, AFONSO? HOW CAN YOU THINK ABOUT RELAXING AFTER THIS?"

"Ah, I don't know, that creature didn't seem so strong. I knocked him down with a single punch. I think we can handle him just fine."

"You have a point, but I think that's exactly what he wants, for us to think he's weak."

"That could be true, but does he have some kind of special power or something like that?"

"Look, I don't think so. Those things don't exist."

"Well, it's kind of hard not to believe in anything after what we just witnessed, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. I guess I'm a little paranoid about this. Let's go to the bar."

"Let's go, then."

When they arrive, Afonso orders the cheapest beer, but Sebastião interrupts him:

"Hey man, stop that. Tonight's on me."

Sebastião orders the best and most expensive beer in the bar, which was kept in a vault for special occasions.

"Wow, are you sure, man? Where did you get so much money?"

"Ah, remember I was abroad? Well, the currency is worth more, don't you remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, so let's go!" (Both laugh.)

At the end of the night, in the early hours of the morning, they take a taxi and go to Afonso's house. Drunk and barely able to stand, they arrive and collapse, Afonso falling to the floor and Sebastião onto the couch.

Afonso wakes up after a while with muffled hearing and desperately hears Sebastião calling him:

"WAKE UP, AFONSO! FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

He wakes up with a start and is faced with a terrifying and horrifying scene: Thanatos holding his wife and son by the neck one in each hand,saying:

"MAKE YOUR CHOICE AGAIN! (MUAHAHAHA!)"

Before he can answer, Thanatos kills his wife and disappears with his son, leaving behind a sea of doubts about what had just happened.

Sebastião and Afonso look at each other, and Afonso screams and cries, holding his dead wife in his arms, overwhelmed by despair and concern for his son. He believes it was all Sebastião's fault.

"Damn you, Sebastião! If we hadn't gone out... this... this wouldn't have happened, man. WHAT A TRAGEDY, WHAT A DISASTER!!!"

"My God, what's happening!? Why all of a sudden!?"

Driven mad, Afonso tells Sebastião to leave:

"Get out of here, Sebastião..."

"But man..."

"JUST LEAVE, DAMN IT... BEFORE I KILL YOU TOO!"

Sebastião is puzzled by the word "too," but he leaves, hearing the incurable screams and cries of his best friend who now has no idea what is coming next.

Two years have passed since the incident. Sebastião was on a day off from work and had no more contact with Afonso, as he had been blocked and his number changed. However, he still knew where his friend lived. Since that terrible night, Sebastião had been haunted by nightmares.

He could no longer let that horrific night continue to torment him, so he went to Afonso's house. When he arrived, he saw that the door was dirty, and the doorbell wasn't working. After knocking and calling out with no response, he kicked the door open, not too hard, since the wooden door was already rotting.

Inside, he found his friend lying on a moldy couch, with flies buzzing around an old beer can. Sebastião walked over and woke him up:

"Wake up, Afonso, what the hell is this? Have you given up on life?"

"Wha... what? How did you get in here, Sebastião?"

"Well..." (Sebastião points behind him with his thumb and makes a guilty puppy face.)

"Well, you weren't answering, and I saw the door was filthy, so I decided to break in."

"What do you want?"

"Did you really think I would abandon you and let you disappear like your son?"

Afonso stands up, grabs Sebastião by the collar, and speaks close to his face, his breath reeking of cheap, expired beer:

"Don't say a word about Vinícius, you... you..."

"Calm down, I came to help you with this. I've been thinking about what happened, and I came to a conclusion."

"Alright, spit it out, man."

"Well, from what we've seen, that creature appears when we are either alone or when we are together with people we love, right?"

"So far... yes." (He looks down, remembering what happened.)

"Then we have to sacrifice someone we love to make him appear..."

"No, man, we're not sacrificing anyone else. I don't want to be involved in this anymore, period. I'd rather drown myself in booze and die here, alone, since everyone I ever loved is gone..."

Sebastião slaps Afonso across the face and says:

"Don't you get it? You can change this outcome! We are the men from Dante's prophecy, remember?"

"But I have no motivation to fight anymore..."

"Yes, you do... Your son... I had a vision in a dream..."

"Seriously? Tell me now!"

"Well, that's one of the reasons I came here. So, listen up. I saw that your son is imprisoned, but it looks like that creature is taking care of him. However, he's starting to believe that his life belongs there and that you are dead."

"But, but I'm alive..."

"Exactly, and that's why we need to go after him and save him from Tânato!"

"Alright, you're right! Let's finish off that bastard!"

"Let's go, but we need help, right? And I know just the right people for the job..."