Chapter 07: Looking for Asmith – Part 01
The sounds were gradually located, it was possible to hear the sound of something liquid hitting the floor, the sound of a drop that seemed to echo through the place, emitting a painful sound for him.
Gradually the drops were heard even more frequently, realizing that it had become a rain that hit against something that bothered his hearing.
His sight was still dark, but little by little he could see a slightly lit black ceiling that seemed to be made of stone, as the sensations returned, he felt the hard floor he was lying on still confused.
Gradually his eyes opened and his senses were coming back to the fore, feeling a heat and a burst of flames.
The sound scared him and made him get up still terrified, putting his hands on the ground he felt the icy stone, but without wasting time he walked away from the source of heat without questioning what it was, moving away until he realized that he had hit something.
Soon after that, his breathing became heavy and he realized that he was still tired, but what most caught his attention was an agonizing pain in half of his body and soon after he felt his side burning as if he were being pierced by thorns.
He grunted feeling the pain and looking at his colored arm he realized that he had burn marks, red parts and others still without fully recovering, looking at his hand he realized that half of his face also had that feeling and turning his eyes to ahead, he realized that the source of heat he had fled was just a fire.
After a few moments, he situated himself and had memories of what had happened, looking around and questioning himself, seeming bewildered.
"What happened?"
The silence continued and he looked for some presence while his vision had not completely cleared, soon he noticed a shadow sitting and leaning against the wall next to where he was.
"Woke up, I'm sorry, I couldn't do much more than give you a potion."
His sight was finally recovered and he realized that sitting against the wall of the cave was Arthur, who looked tired and shirtless, wearing only his pants with some burnt parts, his boot only remained part of the foot and was wearing two necklaces, his now empty potion and another with a golden ring.
Still seeing Arthur, he moved and felt his body again, then feeling a blonde lock take part of his vision and Christopher finally realized what had happened, the memories soon surfaced and he understood that everything that had happened was not a nightmare.
Looking at the cave entrance he saw only the night sky with the entrance with some signs of grass, looking where he was he noticed a stone pillar, but he didn't know which direction of the village they were.
"Where are we?"
"In a cave, the same one we played in when we were younger... we needed shelter because of the rain, that cloud on the horizon at least warned us that it was coming..."
Arthur tried to speak in a good-humored way, but soon the smile on his face disappeared, returning to the serious or perhaps sad expression he was, hearing that, Christopher leaned back to be able to look at Arthur more clearly.
His memories came about the cave, it was a place relatively close to the village that allowed him to go there to play, as it was not so deep and relatively safe, it used to be their hiding place.
Silence remained for a few seconds while Arthur looked at the floor, but soon after Christopher questioned.
"How long did I sleep?"
"Some hours..."
"..."
"..."
"Nobody left?"
"No, I tried to go back, but the heat was unbearable and the flames were starting to burn me..."
Lifting his eyes, he realized that some parts of Arthur's body were slightly burned and bruised, his shirt was lying beside him looking more like a rag than a shirt, but then he got up and went to his backpack that looked wet with something. .
From there, Christopher saw him take some pieces of meat and stock them with twigs, placing them in front of the fire to warm them up.
The blonde felt strange seeing that fire and moved to the back of the pillar, putting his back to the fire and lowering his head to think.
"What do we do?"
"I don't know yet, but Oliver told me to go to Asmith."
"The Iron City? Is that where the army entrance test is supposed to be taken, does he want to take us there for enlistment?"
Arthur listened to Christopher's question and with a branch he moved the wood that was on the fire, soon after he returned to face the flames.
"I don't know, but how do you know all this about the draft?"
Christopher was taken aback by the question, but soon raised his head looking at the dark ceiling of the cave, seeming to have memories as he answered.
"Because I always wanted to be a knight, my inspiration was your father, but… is that really important now?"
Soon after the blonde lowered his head again and looked at his burns, seeming to still be absorbing all the information, meanwhile, Arthur watched the blonde's back and soon returned to face the fire that continued to crackle.
"It's been a while, but… I want you to explain Chris. What you saw there? What do you remember?"
Upon hearing Arthur's question, Christopher remained staring at his burns, but soon after he squeezed his arm, seeming to remember what had happened as if they were lapses of a vivid memory, his eyes imagined as if it were still happening in front of him and then he would answer.
"It was shortly after you left, I don't know how, but in moments the city had changed from a state of standard calm to sudden despair..."
While the blonde spoke, Arthur remained in his place staring at Christopher's back who began to remember memories of the same day, while narrating.
"We heard a loud sound and suddenly a heat set in... everyone from the dojo went to look out the window to see what it was and we realized that they had set fire to the Cleric's temple, but not with any fire... it had been a giant sphere and concentrated that I had achieved."
Memories of him continued to come and with his eyes he saw clearly through the glass the temple in flames, some people ran and screamed scared while the young people of the dojo wondered what had happened there.
Christopher remained confused until he looked at Master Evans who had a serious look, but as soon as they went to the entrance, they realized that there was a presence there, wearing a long black robe that seemed to float while he could only see a smile under the hood that it was on a face decorated with a white beard.
The hooded man who had appeared turned to Evans, who was still facing him with his sword sheathed, taking his hand to the handle of the weapon ready to fight, but before he touched, the hooded man smiled and raised his hand that materialized a ball of fire in moments.
In moments everything happened, Christopher saw a figure approaching towards him without having a chance to react other than widening his eyes and trying to defend himself, but soon he felt everything being blurred and his vision was taken as he saw himself in mid-air, after an explosion that happened.
Still in the cave, Christopher looked down and spoke.
"When I realized... I had been thrown by your father who tried to protect me, I went through the glass window but even so the explosion came and..."
His mind transited between a pain that made his whole body burn and his skin melt, the memories made him squint his eyes and bite his lips, still having memories of the pain while he remained in his reverie.
Arthur listened intently as he stared at the fire, the flames reminding him of earlier that day as he tried to run and search for more survivors.
"Sorry, Art. I couldn't do anything, even after so much training I couldn't even move when I saw that hooded one... I'm so sorry..."
Christopher spoke and lifted his knees, leaving his arms under them as he buried his face in the space he had created and seeing that, Arthur closed his eyes and lowered his head crossing his arms.
"No, I wasn't there, but even if I had, if even my father couldn't do anything... I..."
It seemed to be a comfort that soon brought tears to Christopher's eyes as he continued to keep his head down.
The flames crackled and the rain remained, drowning out any sound that could come from outside, leaving only the sound of the fire and the silence that remained in the cave after Arthur's sentence, who remained with his head down while opening his eyes a little red and teary .
Even though he wanted to comfort Christopher, there was nothing to be said, just remaining silent until he realized that the meat was almost done.
Arthur moved his body forward and rotated the skewers, after which he said.
"We're leaving early tomorrow morning to avoid the dangers of monsters and we're going to try to find a dirt road, there we'll be able to guide ourselves and find a map of the region. For now, let's eat and then sleep to have energy for tomorrow..."
Looking at Christopher, he only saw the blonde confirm with his head and then he looked to the side as if staring at the meat, but still without approaching.
Arthur stared doubtfully and spoke.
"You can eat… I made it for both of us."
Even after Arthur's sentence, Chris remained in his place and looked forward facing the wall as he saw the flames light up and show his shadow on the wall.
Seeing that, Arthur got up and took one of the ready skewers near the fire and stopped next to Christopher, showing the skewer to his friend who looked and in a moment took the meat, taking it to his mouth to eat, seeming to be hungry.
Arthur smiled when he saw that and soon went back to the fire to take part of it, eating it too.
Time passed and at night both were already in bed, Arthur was turned with his back to the fire but still reasonably close by the cold night, he was silent despite the rain outside and the crackling of the flames.
Turning back, he saw the pillar of the cave that didn't hide only Christopher's legs who seemed to be hugging his own body to warm up instead of the fire.
Arthur squinted his eyes and realized now a certain aversion to the fire and heat of his companion, without having to do anything, he just turned to the wall and closed his eyes.
"Good night, Chris..."
A silence continued after Arthur's sentence, but soon he heard a sniffle seeming to be swallowing something and then a crying voice as he tried to hide it.
"Goodnight, Arth."
And after listening, Arthur bit his lips uncomfortable and clenched his fist trying to sleep.