Let's continue ! Chapter 26 ~

My eyes widened when I saw what I pointed with my flash... the girls were screaming and crying, and if I kept that terrified look too, it wouldn't help at all. When I moved the flash behind, the exit of the cave was closed. "Where the hell have we gotten us into ?", I thought. But the girls were terrified, I had to comfort them quickly. I knelt down, my phone with the flash pointing at us, and I hugged the girls.

"Ib, Mia, listen. Listen, it's Garry, it's okay. We'll get out of here, no need to worry." Ib was calming down, my simple company could make her stronger than any child of her age. Mia on the other hand, was not at ease at all. Ib took my arm and placed it around Mia, before hugging her too.

"Mia, stop, Garry will save us, I promise." ... It finally worked, Mia started to try to contain her tears and was now looking me in the eyes. I took her cheeks before saying :

"I won't only protect Ib, Mia, you're not alone. Just stay with us." She rubbed her eyes and did her best to calm down. I took my phone and added : "Don't look, please. You two." They turned toward the exit and I raised my phone again, in the direction of a cavern, which was... more a catacomb than a cave. Piles of corpses were piled up between wooden pillars, on our right like on our left, and animal skulls were attached on each pillar. The place, of course, smelt like the corpses. We needed to find a way out before I lose the girls. I knelt down and lit us again.

"Listen. We are not stuck here the time we don't know what is deeper in this cave, we have to walk forward, but I need a hand to light our steps. Mia, you hold my left hand. Ib, take my right arm."

"O...okay.", Mia said while taking my hand, Ib taking my right arm. I stood up and we walked in the direction of the corpses. There was an allay between the two piles so we followed it. The girls were too close from me but were shaking of fear... I had to contain my own fear or they will become completely frightened. Arrived on the other side of the allay, we found a wooden door. I opened it with my left hand, which Mia didn't want to release, and we entered. The room was very tiny, the walls always made of stone, and the floor... damn it. I quickly returned my phone, hoping the girls didn't see the corpse in the corner. The door shut behind us and disappeared.

"We're lost... I want my Mom !", Mia started to cry. I gave my phone to Ib and hugged Mia. By the way, she was very cold and needed to warm her body.

"Mia, we're not lost, we just didn't investigate this room." Ib lit up the corpse and shout :

"Garry, here !"

"Ib, don't look !" I took the phone, but Mia saw it before. "Mia, if we don't move, we'll finish like this guy, and we don't want it. Be brave, please..." She looked at me.

"You're not scared ?", she asked, wiping her cheeks.

"Ib and I already went into a situation even more dangerous than here. Don't need to worry.", I told her while patting her head.

"If Garry is with us, I can't be scared.", Ib said while embracing my neck with her arms.

"You're a good girl, Ib. Let's move." Mia stood up, like us, and I started to touch the walls in the bottom of the place.

"Garry, isn't the room moving ?", Mia asked. I also felt that, and the corners of the walls were dusty. Maybe the key of this puzzle were the walls.

"When I move my hand against a wall, it turns. So..." I moved my hand on the wall on our right, and the door appeared again.

"You did it, Garry !", Mia said while smiling at me.

"See ? That was ridiculous." We went outside and saw another door on our right. After crossing it, we were in another room, a little bit bigger than the first one. The door disappeared and I started to light up the place. It was a room with boxes on the ground, at the bottom, 2 wooden pillars in the corners and 2 more on the floor. I lit up the corners next to us and saw the pillar's marks.

"Ib, I need you to light the corner here, after I take the pillar.", I said while giving Ib the phone.

"Okay." She moved it so that I could know where was the pillar, I grabbed it and placed it in the corner. We did it another time and the door appeared again. Ib gave me back my phone.

"That's all ?", Mia asked. I patted her head and answered :

"Do you always think this is scary, Mia ?" She shook her head and smiled at me, opening the door.

"Too easy for you, Garry !", she added. I looked at Ib and we chuckled, before leaving the place. Another door appeared on the same wall, on our right. We crossed it and saw it disappear.

"Where are we now ?", Ib asked while I moved my phone to check all the corners.

"It looks like a bathroom, but everything is always made of stone, except this sink." I walked toward the sink and lit the inside, finding a paper. I took it. "What is it ?"

"Garry, there's a screwdriver on the floor !", Mia said, taking the item. On the paper were instructions, on how we had to stick an item against a wall, using screws and nuts. When I saw which wall was pierced, the roof started to move down. The girls saw it and screamed, before taking my legs.

"Girls, don't panic or we're lost !" I caught the screwdriver and followed the instructions... one screw was placed, one more... done ! The door appeared and we moved out running, before sitting against the wall. Mia and Ib went in my arms again, Mia always crying.

"This one was scary !", she said, sobbing. I hugged her and said :

"We have to move, Mia, if we don't do it, we'll be stuck here forever." Ib was looking at us with a jealous gaze, kinda normal for the girl I used to protect. I caught her hand and pulled her next to me. "Don't be like that, Ib. Come..." We stayed here 5 minutes and finally decided to move.

"Is this the last one ?", Mia asked pointing at the last door, then took my hand with her two ones.

"I hope, yes." We entered the room and started to check everything. Mia fell on her knees next to the position of the door, and I ran to her. "Are you okay, Mia ?"

"Yes, I'll just stay to show where the door was..." She took her legs between her arms, trying to warm her body, and was shaking. Not good... Ib tightened my hand and gave me an angry look, as we had to continue quickly. I smiled at her and lit up the room again. It was a room like the others, a little bit bigger again, and was almost empty; a tiny rock was in the center, a sword right into it. And at the bottom, a knight armor with an axe was standing... what I had to do was obvious, defeat the knight when I'll have the sword in hands. I turned over and knelt down in front of Ib.

"I want you to stay with Mia, and use the phone to light this rock. Okay ?"

"Be careful, please...", Ib said, taking my phone and sitting next to Mia. I took a deep breathe before standing behind the sword, to receive the lights Ib was giving me. I took the sword's handles and pulled it, moving it from left to right... I used all my strengths to move it a little bit, but I was too exhausted to continue.

"GARRY !", Ib shout abruptly. I looked up and then rolled my body on the ground, to the right. The knight was already moving and tried to cut me in two pieces... fortunately, he broke the rock and the sword was now free. Ib moved the flash in the knight's head to disturb it, the time I took the sword and sent it into its head, which rolled toward the girls, and the body fell down. Ib ran to me and tightened me between her arms.

"Good work, Ib. I'm proud of you." Mia came to us with a paper in hands, and pulled my hand to put it in. "What's that, Mia ?", I asked her.

"It was in the head." I sat down, and Ib sat between my legs, forcing me to move a little bit backward... she lit the paper and I rolled it on the floor, between her knees.

"The one who have the power to defeat the Guardian is allowed to be the Guardian of the truth.", I read on the paper. "What does it mean ?"

"I want to get out, Garry !", Mia said with a sad tone. I stood up with Ib and we went out of the room. In the allay between the piles of corpses, a stone table was moving outside the floor, with a book on it. The entrance of the cave was also opened again. After a moment of hesitation... I raised my hand to take the book, and the cave started to collapse.

"Hurry, we move !" We rushed to the passage leading outside and finally went out under the flash of the sun... Ib was on my back, holding the book so that it couldn't wet, and I reached the beach, swimming next to Mia. I realized that the girls were very pale due to that experience, a thing I couldn't see with a flash light. We joined their mothers and I told them to go back home quickly. I rolled Ib in her beach towel and carried her, she was shaking a lot, the poor girl... Mrs Drover and Mia joined their car and followed us all the way back home.

Finally arrived, I didn't lose any second and carried Ib to the bathroom, followed by Mia, and turned the water on. I left the bathroom by telling them to take a bath, and to be careful.

I went downstairs and told everything about that horrible adventure to their mothers.

To be continued... ~