Chapter 26 – From one world to another
Crow's POV
"They are getting closer, and we are trapped in a dead end," I sneered squeezing my fists.
Ruka took a deep breath saying with hurry, "Alright, we have two options; we stay here and get caught or we get into this light to somewhere unknown."
The sounds of the monsters were getting louder and louder as they approached and we all stood there, trembling. Ruka sounded quite sure that this light was our only option and for an unknown reason, I trusted her.
"I vote for the second option," I lifted one hand in the air.
Only one corner now separated us from the monsters and my heartbeats were growing every second. Aki threw us a confused look.
"Me too," she hurried to agree with me in the end.
"Into the light then!" Rika shouted, without carrying if the guards were going to hear us anymore.
I hurried to march closer, following her.
"We found them!" we all heard a cold voice of one of the guards.
"And lost them again!" Ruka snapped at the same time she covered the remaining distance between the light and herself with one last step.
I had no idea where she founded the guts to react like that, but I smiled. Hah! Take that, you stupid monsters.
"Run!" I heard Aki exclaim and I threw myself into the light, causing a small flash.
The feeling was strange and immediately I realized that our fears were all correct; the light was another portal. I couldn't see anything but I felt warm and cold waves touching me for a split second and the next time, my feet landed on the hard soil of another world. I blinked my eyes, but this time I couldn't see anything but black, like I was lost in the darkest realm ever.
I heard Aki landing behind me, quietly gasping for air, like she held her breath for some time. I cracked a smile; I did the same when I dove into the light.
"Where are we?" Aki wondered and I turned to her voice's direction, still unable to see anything but dark.
"I can only assure you that we are far away from the desert," Ruka replied.
"Damn!" I cursed, gritting my teeth. "After all the light from the three suns, I can't even see my nose in this darkness."
"The blindness will leave soon," Ruka comforted.
I blink my eyes until I manage to start seeing some forms. We definitely were far away from the desert, as Ruka informed us, and this time I saw high outlines from mountains all around us.
"Where…" Aki started but I caught more noises out there and immediately I pointed her to stop.
"Shh!" I said in a hurry. "Listen."
"Voices," Ruka whispered and I felt her warm arm on my shoulder. "We have to get out here, we don't know who they are," she suggested and I nodded, even if she couldn't see me.
Now I was able to see more things, as my eyes were familiarizing with the lack of light. We were somewhere high up, in one flat section on one of the hills of the mountains all around. I turned to look at the girls over my shoulder and I bit my lips. I was the only male here, I had to keep them safe, and I thought I did it great so far, but I couldn't rest myself; not yet. I would when we were in a safer place.
"I will take a look around. You stay here," I said flatly and I was ready to stand up when Aki grabbed my arm.
"This is too dangerous, don't try to play hero," she whispered as she gave me an angry look.
"But…"
Her gaze became softer. "I know you are exhausted too; we all are. You already did a lot; we escaped because of you but you don't have to press yourself that much, we will stay together."
I stared at her, speechless.
"We are exhausted from the previous dimension," Ruka affirmed, "we walked for countless hours without food and water; we were attacked, escaped and found another portal to another world. We need some rest, all of us."
I sighed. "You are right. But before we rest we must find a shelter." I scanned the area, narrowing my eyes in the dark.
My eye caught something among the mountains; there was a small passage, like a path, between the ridges. Apparently I wasn't the only one who spotted it when Ruka approached, showing it with her finger.
"You think we can take it?" she asked.
"Hmm," I hummed, unsure but I gave up; we hadn't many options. "Ok. Follow me and keep your eyes open. We are not alone in this place," I ended up saying.
Both of the girls nodded and I proceed cautiously, slightly stooping, trying not to expose myself in public view, as I lead the three of us from the small path, into the ravines of the mountains. At least there we would be outside of view.
"We can stay here for the night," I announced, showing the girls a small opening in the rock of the mountain, like a natural cave sheltered from the wind or the rain, away from prying eyes and spacious enough to accommodate us all.
"Looks cozy," Ruka commented and I smiled. "After the tunnels on desert's mountains, I think this one looks really cute."
We gathered some firewood and I lit a fire; it's a good thing I knew some survival tactics from my growing years in Satellite. We ate some of our supplies and drunk most of our water. We were more than lucky to those supplies and I was more than worry over thinking that it won't last for long. I let the girls get some sleep and I stayed awake, being the first guard. I sat pensively next to the fire and I listened around me, looking carefully at the sky above me.
The sky was a deep black, not like our sky illuminated by the moon and stars, but this one was simply black. A black that you can only see when it's night and it's raining and you hear footsteps behind you and they get louder and you scream and nothing's there, except it is even blacker than that, because you know that something is there and they're waiting for you to leave.
I stood there on standby, with eyes and ears wild open, but except some normal night sounds and my heartbeats, nothing else caught my attention, until I woke up Aki to guard next and I finally let myself slip into the dream world.
I woke up after feeling someone shaking me lightly and I moaned as I spun in my place.
"It's still night?" I yawned, rubbing my eyes.
"Yes and no," Ruka replied and I lift one eyebrow. "It's been hours, but no sun appeared in the sky," she explained, seeing my confused expression. "I think this is one of the strange things of this word, no moon, no sun."
"I see," I muttered and I stand up on my feet stretching myself. "Well, let's see the good side, with less light, we can easily hide ourselves."
I tried to smiled, but I failed.
"We have to keep going," Aki suggested and gave me some of our food, "I don't know how many hours we spent here but time flies really fast, and after Regulus' warning…" she paused, trying to hold back a sob, as she sniffed her nose.
I placed one hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could assure you that everything is under control, Aki, but I don't know anymore. We can only hope," I said apologetically.
"I'm not doing anything else," she muttered and I saw tears in her eyes when she shook her head. "I just hope that everything will be ok, but then Regulus said we have only some days… I don't know… I'm so confused…" she paused herself, looking away and I saw her rubbing her eyes, no doubt she was crying quietly and I felt useless, unable to make her feel better; and not only her.
"The Dark Necrofear said you looked like another man he saw," Ruka whispered, "and the guards said-" she swallowed with difficulty, "-I think it was Jack and Rua."
Now I saw tears in her eyes too and I felt my heart tightened.
"But we left that world behind, we can't go back and search for them and with time against us, we can only wish that Jack and Rua are safe and unspoiled. We can't lose a minute to anything else, but what Regulus said; we must find a portal to Spirit World."
Aki marched toward Ruka and hugged her on her shoulders to comfort her. We were on the edge of a knife. We couldn't go back and search for Jack and Rua, we had to keep going from one word to another, hoping that we would manage to get into Spirit World in time and save Yuusei.
Both of the girls knew that already. That was the reason why Ruka didn't focus on her brother only and why Aki was showing all this strength. None of them complained because we were tired or hungry or because we had to spend the night in a cave on the mountains with less rest. I was more than relieved for that, but extra worried, having two girls in my responsibility, but right now I was feeling sad, really sad. I couldn't help them with their fears, because I was feeling the same. I was worrying about Rua and Jack, about Yuusei, about the whole world and every world. But we didn't have time, not even to think about our worries, let alone let ourselves suffer in our own sorrow.
I took a deep breath. "Come!" I tried to keep my voice calm; I was ready to weep myself too, if we stayed like this for long. "Let's have a look around these mountains, shall we?" I suggested and both of the girls nodded.
We took the same path as the previous day, or night, since in this world there was no day, and we kept walking, unsure of what else to do. We just found ourselves in another realm, darker and scarier than the last one, without a clue of what to do; only what we had to do.
"Any idea of how are we going to find another gate?" I asked when we took a small brake between the mountain and some big rocks to keep ourselves hidden.
"Ummm," Ruka looked like she was about to say something, but kept on deciding against it. Finally, she couldn't take it and took a deep breath. "Guys, do you remember when we were lost in the tunnels and I insisted to take the other direction?"
"Yeah," I said, slowly recovering the memory.
I narrowed my eyes; back there I didn't pay much attention as we were running from those monsters. When I saw her being so sure, as she insisted to go back because we were following the wrong tunnel, I just let her lead us and we were able to find the next portal. Now I was wondering, why she was so sure about it?
"Well, I had a feeling about it," she explained, answering my thoughts.
"A feeling?" Aki reiterated, knitting her eyebrows.
Ruka nodded. "I had a premonition since we reached on the mountain roots and started climbing. I was feeling we were walking into something good and bad at the same time and now I know why. We were marching straight to the next passage, but also into the lair of those monsters back there."
I nodded, a little confused by her revelations.
"After we escaped, I was still feeling weird. At the beginning I felt like something was pinching my heart and as we were getting closer, that presage was getting stronger. That's the reason why I was so tense to follow the other path. I just didn't know why."
"That's good," I said after a long pause, absorbing her words. "At least we managed to escape because of that."
"Does that mean that if you are feeling a similar sense, then a portal would be near?" Aki asked and I blinked happily at Ruka's dissection with hope.
The younger girl nodded her head with a warm smile.
I breathe out in relief. "This is the best news I heard after our travels," I muttered. "And I'm really glad, since that will make our quest easier. We can ramble ourselves here and there with Ruka as an antenna," I joked and both of the girls laughed joyfully.
"Until then, let's get some rest, shall we?" Aki suggested, leaning herself above the mountain wall, closing her eyes.
But she didn't have the chance.
To our surprise, the wall tumbled and burst above her weight, revealing an underground gallery. Aki didn't have time to get caught from somewhere and fell backwards with the broken pieces of rock and stone.
"Aki!" I exclaimed and marched at the edge of the cavity, looking down. She landed a few yards away with a loud thud.
"Damn!" she cursed, couching as she was into a cloud of dust.
"Are you ok?" Ruka asked with worry.
"I think so," she replied, trying to stand up on her feet, looking around confused trying to realized what just happened to her.
"Stay there, we are coming!" I informed and I helped Ruka to jump down and in the next minute, I landed beside her.
"What happened?" Aki asked, still confuse and rubbing her butt.
"You smashed the mountain with your weight," I teased her and she gave me a death glare to make me shut up before she turned her attention to the cave.
It was actually a tunnel, but bigger than the tunnels in the desert world's mountains and definitely not abandoned. It was illuminated with lamps, while rails were on the ground and judging from the condition of this place, it was in constant use. Not good.
"We have to get out of here as soon as possible," I said immediately and Aki nodded in agreement, but Ruka was stood still, froze in her place.
"Are you alright, Ruka?" I was beside her in two steps.
"I can feel it," she murmured with her eyes lost.
Aki was near her in no time, too. "Feel what?"
"Something is near," she explained.
"Is it good or bad?" I asked immediately, pulling her with me at the side of the tunnel.
"Both!" she answered my question, scared and worried at the same time as I heard sounds of wheels approaching us.
We exchange a worried look and hurried to hide ourselves behind some wooden boxes. The sound became louder as it passed behind us and faded. I peeked and I saw a big wagon, with two winged beasts pushing it quickly. I turned to the girls and saw their expressions, and I could tell that they saw the beasts, too.
"Come," I suggested, "we must find a way out and soon."
Aki nodded with wide eyes from terror. "Sure."
"Are you ok?" I asked her, staring at her for a while.
"I just fell into a hole, inside some tunnels, filled with creepy Winged Beasts," Aki said with a hint of sarcasm. "You think I'm fine?"
"No," I shook my head and she rolled her eyes.
"We have to be careful in here," Ruka warned us, looking around.
We started walking inside the tunnels, feeling déjà-vu somehow. We were walking into some tunnels a day ago, and here again we were marching-
My thought cut immediately when I felt the ground shaking and disappear under my feet, with a muffled sound. A small scream escaped my lips and I heard Aki and Ruka screaming by instinct too, from the sudden fall. I fell to a lower level, with my back and gravel along with bigger rocks fell above me too and I gasped form the dust, trying to catch my breath and I moaned form pain.
"Are you ok?" I asked my friends but instead of answering, I heard a menacing snarl and I blinked, trying to focus my gaze; one of those scary big Winged Beasts was before us and I froze. Now we were doomed.
"What do we have here?" the guard whistled, lowering his weapon.
I shut my eyes, getting ready to feel the pain. But the same time I heard a strange sound, like something was on fire and I felt an extremely warm wave flying above me and I opened wide my eyes, looking confused as the winged beast fell back, screaming and holding his face. Some smoke came out from his clothes, which made me realize that the wave of fire I felt some minutes ago must have hit it in the head.
I heard flames lighted up behind me again, and another wave of fire hit it with force, pushing it against the wall. That impact, along with the hot hit, made the winged beast let out another painful cry and fall to the ground, unconscious.
I was looking at the whole scene happening before my eyes, holding my breath and I needed some seconds to realize what just happened. I huffed in relief, turning my head at the source of fire. Clearly someone saw us and was strong enough to fight with that beast, and I was right because my eyes caught a short human form.
"Thanks for saving us," I thanked and I gasped as my mind edited the images my eyes showed me.
This chapter had no answers, but I hope you still like it.
My thanks to: IHaveAMessedUpSenseOfHumor, Gotta be Annoying, cr1o5thepolarbea, Karlina101 and YugiohObsessed, for their reviews. And my special thanks to Pure Red Crane, IHaveAMessedUpSenseOfHumor and EndlessNight025!
If you liked it, review! If you don't, review anyway… ^_^