I woke and saw that my energy bar was almost full. I stared at the ceiling of the cave, thinking how far I will go in the next attempt and how long would I be trapped inside this prison. I wondered if ever I will be successful in leaving this place or be like Eric's mother, forever trapped inside the abyss of dreams.
Although I have been trapped here for almost a day now, the lack of sunlight or any light for that matter makes you confused of what time of day it was now. The only source of luminous light I could see was Eclaireuse's barrier. Although I was given the power to see in the darkness which I only noticed after being trapped inside this dark abyss and since I could not freely use my power in the real world, for that I was thankful or I would be utterly blind navigating inside this prison with a dangerous guard just outside the confines of the cave.
The monster, the prisoner was still wallowing in the black goo. Was it asleep? Or preparing for its next attempt to escape? The fact is that if I will be seen by such creature my demise would be imminent.
It was rather odd that En was quite in this whole endeavor. He might be trying to contact the powerful being in order to help me or he's just busy with trying to block the maddening whispers that were trying to invade my mind. I scratched my ears as the insistent buzzing due to the miasma made my ear itchy, like listening to an ASMR but instead of sweet nothings all you could hear were maddening screams of those who were taken and there urge to join them in there maddening cacophony.
I leaned my back towards the walls of the cave as I hugged my knees. I'm starting to miss my parents since it was too long since I last saw them. I hope they were alright.
Thinking about my parents, I strangely smell my mother's cooking, I could hear the rhythmic tapping of a kitchen knife as it sliced through some vegetables on a wooden chopping board. I looked around the cave and saw that there was a light that was coming from outside it, it shone a white light that was not too bright but not too dim as well. I was familiar with this light, since it was the same light that father installed when our house was newly built, I could still remember the time when he called for me to help him fix it, I ran towards him carrying the massive bulb but tripped and fell, the bulb shattered as I closed my eyes waiting for my father's reprimand and slap, but that did not happen, he walk up towards me and slowly picked me up, and with worry in his eyes he asked me if I was okay.
Tears started to flow in my face; I stared towards the exit, towards the light, towards the familiar smell. I know I shouldn't and I hesitated only to smell the scent of a lit cigar and old books, the rhythmic sound of chopping slowly turned into a sound of a mechanical typewriter. The clacking couldn't be any more familiar, like remembering the time when you heard the song that your mother used in order for a rowdy kid to sleep, like the song that whispers in your ear and brings calm inside you chaotic heart. It brings you peace and you had been longing to meet it once more for a very long time.
I need to go, towards that light, towards the person that was making that noise, I want to see his smile again, those gentle eyes. I want to ask him why he left, leaving me behind while he vanished without a word.
I started running towards the light with my hand reached out. I was getting near, I could not help but smile, my loneliness will end as I will see him once more, I will hug him and try not to cry in his arms telling him not to leave me anymore.
The exit I could see it now, just one more bend and I will be face to face with the light, I panted as I ran a fair distance but the smile on my face could not be any clearer.
I sprinted one last time, ready to jump towards the light but something tripped me and I fell on the ground, hard.
I was in all fours after falling down the floor hard, my nose was bleeding due to being the first thing in my face that hit the ground, thankfully it was just bleeding and not crooked, I sighed and started to smile, one stumble but I was close towards the light. I raised my head towards the light, but my smile quickly turned into a frown. The light was gone, replaced by the deep dark, miasma slowly billowing like a smoke as it entered inside the cave like it normally does.
I was confused and watched my surroundings. Not far from me was a sextant that was left on the floor, I knew then that the sextant was the cause why I tripped and fell. I glanced around me again and saw that the golden barrier was not present anymore; my eyes went wide as I dove towards the sextant, and the miasma was like poison that would slowly and silently corrode your body, without the barrier I am in great risk.
With the fully recovered energy bar, I decided to transfer half of it to the sextant that was unresponsive. The arrow of the compass started spinning as more energy was infused towards the artifact, after a few moments a barrier of golden glow started to flicker in existence.
"Kid? Ugh…Sorry I passed out there. My energy bottomed out and I tried to call for you, but it was as if you could not hear me and after a few moments you started running towards the exit. I want to stop you but I think I passed out."
"Sorry for that Eclaireuse. I think I was hallucinating. I started reminiscing about my parents then something happened trying to beckon me towards the exit."
"No worries kid. Thankfully you are okay. I don't want this place to be the place where I will slowly rot and die."
"Hmm…Same here Eclaireuse."
I nodded and agreed. I also don't want the abyss as my resting place.
Anyway, why would a hallucination affect me? What was En doing that I could be affected mentally by the miasma?
I slowly made my way back to where I had fallen asleep, deep inside the cave, far away from the exit and from the monster that was the prisoner. I tried calling for En but he didn't answer, I tried multiple times with a span of a couple of minutes but it was all the same, En didn't answer.
I was mad and thought that he has left; he left me inside this dark and terrifying place all by myself.
That blasted snake, did he try and convince the being to separate from me in order to live by himself. I clenched my fist and punched the wall.
"You okay Kid?"
The rough feminine voice of Eclaireuse echoed inside my head. I slowly calmed down and glanced at the floating sextant that was in front of me. I breathed out, thankfully Eclaireuse is still here and I am not alone, or I would have turned mad by now.
"I'm okay Eclaireuse…Just had something inside my mind."
I started to carefully think of it and realized that it was impossible for En to escape by himself; he was a very good partner, well for someone that was a voice inside their mind at least.
I'm finally back, at the place where I had fallen asleep. I watched at my energy bar that was slowly filling out.
"Eclaireuse. How's your energy and how long would it take to empty out again?"
"Not that good kid. Half of your energy only replenished a fifth of my soul force. And I say about 2 hours of run time? Maybe an hour for a safer estimate."
I frowned hearing Eclaireuse's words. I decided it was safer to fill her soul force to full first before attempting to head up once more since it would be dangerous to pass out due to exhaustion and having Eclaireuse near empty during that time.
After approximately 15 minutes my soul force was full once more. I used 20 points of energy this time and filled Eclaireuse's soul force, she told me that she was a third full now; I was still unable to contact En after this time. I was not that mad since I at least have a direction to go to and that was up. Although it would take much longer time since I need to fill all of Eclaireuse's soul force before every attempt to go higher.
I sighed, when suddenly I heard a voice inside my head, I smiled thinking that En has finally returned.
"Huhuhuhu, Hahahahaha, HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Um…En?"
"I AM NOT ENTHYMEMA BOY! TREMBLE IN FEAR AS THE GREAT FEROX HAS ARRIVED."