Zain couldn't believe what happened a second ago. His mouth was opened and his eyes did not blink, his heart skipped. as he broke into a cold sweat, just now Joey was pulled by the hand through the fire. right in front of Zain, Who Froze in his place, While holding Alicia's arm in one hand and Ryou's in the other. Pulling them to him to prevent them From going near the flames as they are not Themselves for now. They had this kind of dreamy eyes which are blinded by clouds and illusions.
He gazed at where Joey was standing a minute ago, Horrified and in disbelief. He Couldn't move a step.
After another minute or two, he began to cough as he was suffocated by the smoke, and so were Ryou and Alicia, He began to collect his mind again, he thought for a moment, that he didn't hear screams or burning sounds when Joey was pulled. He didn't know if the fire is real or an illusion. but what he was sure about. was that Joey was not here anymore.
While he thought of this, He heard someone calling his name out loud
"Zain!"
He heard someone calling out. Zain felt this was an unbelievably familiar voice, He looked right and left with coughs maybe between every action he made, Alicia also started to lose consciousness and fell to her knees Coughing unable to take any more steps. Ryou was also coughing badly, Zain needed to do something.
Suddenly the voice called out again and someone crossed over, Zain pulled his dagger in defense, But his face lighten up once he saw the man's face, It was Joey, Zain's lips draw a slight smile on a side, He left both of Alicia and Ryou slowly on a save ground and ran towards him until he was close enough to him he was being cautious :
"You ...You jumped into the flames!...how...you!!." Zain stuttered in a worried, shaky, and slightly relieved voice as well.
"The flames are not real, there is nothing behind the flames, it's just a mirage, You have to stop your fear of them and pass through it, I think it's a part of the test!" Joey said panting.
"No, no, this is impossible!.. You want me to throw myself into the fire with my own feet ?" Zain huffed sarcastically putting his hands on his waist and turned around. he started to cough again.
"I crossed, too, right?" Joey said to Zain, then walked towards Alicia and Ryou.
Zain followed him, not believing what Joey was saying.
"You! ..Has your mind been manipulated with too ?!" Zain yelled at Joey, infuriated.
"Look. ... it happened in front of you ... this shadow that appeared moments ago..."
Joey took a deep breath before he continues
" It appeared in my test before we met, and it saved me twice... And look around you, you will die either suffocated or burned. you chose!"
Zain remained silent, apparently not convinced, but at the same time, he felt that Joey is not lying either.
Zain kept looking at Joey, opening his mouth, not knowing what to say, while Joey helped both Ryou and Alicia, who were currently unconscious but could walk somehow.
As soon as Joey started taking his steps forward, Zain stood in front of him, "I don't know. But we don't have a choice. I just feel that I should trust you."
They locked eyes together in trust and excitement, then Joey nodded.
Zain grabbed Alicia and supported her so she could walk. That's where Joey caught Ryou and they all started taking steps towards the flames.
Zain and Joey noticed that with every step they take, the fire only gets worse and bigger!
This made Zain take a step back in fear and hesitation, he stopped in his place, and when Joey noticed it, he took the lead to reassure him. He stopped and looked behind at Zain.
After seconds of silence, "Zain ..." Joey called before Zain interrupted him,
"When you crossed a little while ago this didn't happen, Why now?".
Joey thought a bit about it, he got the right to be afraid, Who wouldn't! Joey took another step towards the flames, exactly where he crossed, and with fear and hesitation, he raised his hand till it touched the flames, Joey closed his eyes in fear and waited to see the result of his action. but felt no pain, he opened his eyes and looked and saw his hands through the fire but not burned, he took it out again and looked at his hand, And found it just fine with no burn or scratch, he smiled, raised his hand for Zain to see, looking at him:
"Think of it as an exam and someone is trying to give you the wrong answer just to baffle you, right now, You stand you die, you must walk through it to survive," Joey said in confidence, he smiled " Trust me," he said lastly.
"This ain't a high school exam for the hell's sake Joey!" Zain said starkly, he knew the Underworld is manipulating, he studied it his entire life, and he can not believe that a dark creature would come to their rescue, but Joey saying they helped him twice till now, is something new, He has never heard of such cases. Hesitation is now his biggest enemy. he doesn't know what to do.
Joey didn't know what to say more to convince him either, time isn't on their side, so he wanted to show him and took a big step towards the flames, and when he was about to touch it, Zain pulled him by the arm:
"Wait! .. What you are saying is not logical, but what is happening here is not logical either, so it is not logical to deal with it with reason in the first place..." he looked at him helplessly.
Zain took a deep breath, closed his eyes, And they finally took a big step towards the flames together at the same time.
Zain opened his eyes slowly, he blinked a few times before he opened them completely, he looked around as he found themselves in another land, Not injured or burned, they looked behind them and found a circle of flames, which started to fade gradually as soon as they got out, so it was a part of the test indeed.
they were coughing and panting on the ground when another voice interrupted them.
"You finally heard me.?" a voice said, but it was not a strange one, it seems rather familiar to Zain.
Zain turned around to see a pale-skinned man with cold metallic eyes, standing in front of him with his head high and a confident look as always with the look of I don't care about anything. this is how Zain sees his childhood friend, "Aran!" Zain called out happily,
" Man long time no see!" Zain was about to stand when he felt a stung with a wet sensation.
" Zain!" Joey called out to him, he pushed himself tiredly from the ground and rushed to him," Your wound is reopened!"
Aran walked toward him " What Happened?" when he was about to kneel to check on him his eyes fell on the unconscious Alicia beside him.
His face darkened, he got up quickly and rushed to her side" what happened to her she!".
"Yeah I am fine it's a daily thing to see your friend bleed!..." Zain said as Joey started to open the bag and get the bandages out, while Zain hissed in pain and tried to sit probably, As Joey helped him sit under a tree, Zain continued as he close his eyes resting his head on the tree: "I can not name the condition she is in now, Just treat her as if she is Hallucinating"
" Hallucinating!? And You let this happen to her?" Aran said with anger and a cold voice.
"I hope you are seeing what I am doing now, I'm not bandaging my leg, am I? She is not the only one injured here" Joey said politely and steadily but in slight anger, As he bandages Zain's wound.
Aran smirked and stood up after checking Alicia's condition. He walked closer to Joey and looked him in the eyes: "Well, Who is Your new friend Zain? He seems judicious".
Joey smirked as he kept looking at the bandage as if he doesn't care.
Zain felt the tension in the air between them, He laughed "Yeah! This is Joey Yang...we met and went through a lot together lately so don't worry, He is a friend okay? And Joey I assure you that Aran is my best friend and we are all in the same boat here!"
Joey smiled "Mr. Aran I did not mean to be impolite or cause you discomfort, I just don't like it when people accuse each other while they weren't even in the same situation, as I know Zain and her are both your childhood friends, Am I wrong?" Joey said quietly as he stood up.
Aran smirked, looked away, and crossed his arms: "You are something..." Aran put his arms on his waist, raised his head, and took a deep breath to clear his mind, then he looked at Joey who stood before him confidently, " You are right, I was wrong when I let my emotions control me and talked without thinking through." Aran said with a steady gaze.
Joey loves this kind of civilized discussion. he smiled and reached out to shake Aran's hand, and Aran happily did too.
"Wow, you have a kind of influence on everyone," Zain said to Joey while he held his shoulder as it had worsened, he inhaled
" Aran, How did you know that the flames aren't real?"
"Because a lot of people failed the test by Hallucinating، My test ended in a near area, And after I finished I walked for a bit when I found this fire, I was going to ignore it, But I heard some screaming from people who seemed to be trapped inside of it, Non of them survived, I heard they calling another people's names and approaching the flames then never heard them again. When I heard a sound of burning and screaming, I started to call out and tell Everyone that it was fake but they never listen".
" Oh...my head ..." They all turned to the Voice's source and found out that Ryou had woken up holding his head in pain.
Joey smiled and walked closer to him and sat by his side " how do you feel ?"
" Bad...I feel bad. .." Ryou said with a pale face.
"What happened?" Alicia woke up brushing her beautiful hair strands to the back with her hand.
Aran walked towards her and sat on his knees beside her: "You okay now?"
"Yeah..kinda," she said in a hoarse voice. while he reached his hand out and helped her stand up.
"You had been Hallucinating," Zain said to her.
"Hallucinating? by what? " Alicia said in shock.
" Flames " Zain answered " but we are now out safely because of Aran and Joey"
Joey looked around them to see where will they head, where could they possibly find any source of food or water and how long will they stay there. His head was full of the same fears and thoughts of their survival possibilities.
Joey looked at Zain, who he knew was not okay, his injuries need hospital care, he stood and walked closer to Zain and sat beside him " You...how is your shoulder? "
" Ha...fine..." he huffed, Then he closed his eyes while sweat goes down his forehead.
Joey knew he was lying, he put his hand on his forehead "You are having a fever again and cold sweat" then he looked to the other side then continued "You are not okay, Just.....Hang on".
Zain smiled tiredly, closed his eyes and raised his head .and did not reply.
"What beautiful roses! it looks like the ones my grandma used to grow at home!" Ryou said happily looking at some white and red colored roses.
Then proceed sadly: "Really, I hope to go home soon."
"These are words that only a little kid would say," said Aran, crossing his hands and leaning over a tree that Zain was sitting under, closing his eyes from the pain.
"So...what are we going to do now," Alicia said in a blank voice.
They were above what looked like a hill, it wasn't high but they still could see some landmarks from above.
"Look, There is a river there, I can see it from here. There must be fresh water to drink and fish to eat...we will find something for sure, better than here anyways" Joey said.
"Have you ever thought about it ... I mean, you know where we are right?" Said Zain, speaking in a low voice, and with less effort.
"What do you mean? ... We are in a test made by the head police station... What do you mean by saying you know where we are?" Ryou said confused and anxious.
"You are naive ... it means the place where the test is being held. Do you know where are we?" Aran said coldly.
"Is this the underworld?" Joey said looking at them.
"I knew you are smart enough," Aran replied smirking.
"You can say that ... all the things that you have seen here, Its just samples of what you might encounter in the real underworld, like the fake fire and shadows, you can say that we have the geology and climate of the earth but with abilities and mostly low ranked creatures of the underworld, that it is as a mixture between them to create something similar to the underworld but less dangerous," Zain laughed "Commander Bai must have planned all of this for years!"
"The evil or external aggression, Which he talked about, that needs a special test to get special people ... What would it be like if the test itself is like this?" Alicia wondered. in a dark and low voice.
All of them were confused and non could say they are confident or fearless, this was the biggest problem, no one knows what would happen next.
Alicia closed her eyes, "let's go to that river before darkness comes."
"I don't know if the rules of time are subordinate to the underworld or not," Zain said.
"What is this?" Ryou said, then looking at the roses he talked about moments ago, it's wilting and turning black.
"The....the roses it's wilting! "Ryou said in shock.
"How?! that fast?" Alicia asked in disbelief.
Alicia looked under her hand after she felt that the plants under her hand were getting rougher, and when she looked at them, she found that they wilt quickly too as their green color turned to dark gray quickly!
"Is it getting colder or is it just my fever?"Zain said wondering looking around.
Aran and Joey both noticed that it was getting colder. They looked at each other then looked around them.
"What the hell is going on ?!" Zain said, and then they heard the sound of many birds above them, they all looked up to find thousands — of starlings flying together in a whirling, swarming with loud murmuration sound.
"This is not a good sign!" Ryou said as Zain slowly stood up " What are these birds fleeing from?" Zain asked loudly, while they all looked around searching for any other sign, After a few seconds of silence.
The ground under their feet shacked violently like an earthquake, A roar with rage. was heard loudly, It was a roar that shook the earth itself, ripping across the air through the place like thunder.
The roar struck their ears like a wall of pain. They all stopped breathing as their heart trembled.
Once The Roar stopped, it was followed by loud screaming coming from behind the thick trees in the woods.
"What the...!!" Ryou screamed in fear as his knees went weak.
"People screaming!" Alicia said in anxiety and fear.
Nothing was clear from their screams, except for one word that crossed Zain's ears. And it is " It's a Nuckelavee run!!!! "
As soon as he heard this word, His pupils shrank, his body shivered, and he stood like a board.
Everyone froze from the cries that they heard, "We have to help them!" Joey said and was about to run towards the screams.
But someone grabbed his wrist tightly, "We ... have to... run to the river!" Zain said stuttering, his brows lowered, and his jaw clenched with anxiety and fear, his grab tightening on Joey's wrist,
"What is happening what is this thing!" Ryou said in a fearful and trembling voice.
"If it's the same thing Mother told me about in books, ...then this test is out of human control now!" Zain said.
End of chapter 8.