Chereads / Climbing The Well / Chapter 16 - Contract. - part2

Chapter 16 - Contract. - part2

As he was forced to watch the whole scene unfold, tears streamed down the face of an Arthur who was a little more mature than the little boy, when he looking at his younger version who was running while carrying Sophie, and at his mother who was slowly turning into an ice sculpture while still maintaining an affectionate expression for her son, he slowly stopped crying while continuing to sob; the few tears that still flowed from his eyes stopped in mid-air, and as they did the color of the room gradually faded and everything except Arthur himself turned gray and became still, little Arthur's tear-streaked face, Beatrice's gentle smile as she watched the backs of her running sons, and even Loki's fight with Cocabiel became static. The whole environment was still and there was no sound, as if it were a painting, there were only shades of gray that demarcated everything Arthur could see suspended in the air. In all the gray scenery there was only one color that stood out, and this was the color that Arthur's body took on when the world turned gray, it was a color extremely similar to the space he was in before he insulted Zeus, as if he were formed by flames, Arthur looked at everything around him observing mainly his mother's gentle smile; observing that smile he kept trying to move in the same way he had tried from the beginning, he tried to propel himself downwards to get closer to his mother, and this time he actually managed to get closer; Responding to his desire to get closer to his mother, a flame rose from his feet and led him to his mother. Looking at his mother's gentle smile in the ice, he raised his hand to her face, but before he could touch her, her mother disappeared and everything around her became black and he could no longer hear anything. Looking around in a daze, he tried to float again for a while, but all he could see was still darkness. - Do you miss her? - Arthur looked around, but couldn't find the source of the voice; he spent a few minutes trying to find something different in the total darkness and desolation that surrounded him, but he found nothing and ended up just leaving it to continue wandering aimlessly without really understanding why he was still moving around in this place, so a few more minutes passed in his opinion before he heard the voice again. - Do you want to avenge her? - Arthur remained silent, but this time the voice didn't stop, it kept asking if Arthur wanted revenge.

- Who are you? - After listening to the same question for a few minutes, Arthur became intrigued and frightened, and ended up asking in the midst of his nervousness.

- Do you want the power to kill him? - Ignoring Arthur's question, the voice continued to incite him to revenge, causing Cocabiel's image to appear in that spot for a few moments before disappearing again.

- Can you give me the power to kill it? - Arthur was curious and simultaneously frightened, but as he recalled the entire scene of the demon's appearance, anger and the thirst for revenge gradually welled up within him.

- I can give you the chance to have that strength... - The voice said and disappeared, Arthur tried to ask what kind of strength he would receive, but there was no answer. After waiting a while, Arthur, who seemed to have noticed something, asked. - What's the price?

- Your soul, however, you only have to pay after you die, of course. - The voice became more strident and there seemed to be a pressure inside his skull, he even felt a slight jolt in his brain for a moment when he heard the voice, it made him dizzy and stunned making it impossible for him to respond immediately, it took a few moments before Arthur managed to stabilize himself again and after processing what he had just heard it was possible to see anger emerging in his expression, as his anger increased he instinctively clenched his hands and questioned with an obvious anger contained in his childish voice. - Are you a demon? - Although there was anger in his voice, it was also noticeable that there was fear.

- Does it matter? Just answer, do you want power? - The demon's voice softened again, and instead of answering Arthur's question he asked him if he wanted power again.

- Would a demon give me the power to kill a demon? - Arthur forced a smile on his face trying to disguise the fear on his face as he looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from, but before he could see any sign of its presence, he heard the voice again. - Don't you want to avenge her? And your sister, don't you want the power to protect her? - The voice fell silent again, Arthur was frightened, everything around him was black making it impossible for him to discern where he was, or how long the silence had been going on, if it wasn't for the glow his body was giving off Arthur wouldn't have been able to tell if his eyes were open or closed, even now, he didn't even know if he was awake. Arthur decided to just ignore the demon's question and continued walking in a random direction, with time he had the feeling that days had passed, and loneliness began to creep up on Arthur causing a feeling of despair and helplessness that only continued to increase, but he still continued wandering without responding to the occasional provocations that occurred, he just continued following his instincts ignoring the demon and the indefinite passage of time in this desolate place; after his perception made him think that years had passed he gave up wandering, even though his instinct demanded that he continue he decided to ignore it, after all, he didn't even know if he was really moving in this place, he ended up standing in the same place where he had the feeling of several days passing, and with time he began to shout into the darkness, he shouted insults and tried to incite the demon to show itself, but that didn't show any results either, so he just stopped and looked at nothing demonstrating his giving up. For a boy as young as Arthur, this feeling of exclusion, which seemed to have lasted for decades, had completely destroyed his will; at the moment he no longer felt anything, not even fear of the demon that had incited him several years ago; Arthur felt only loneliness, an infinite loneliness that he desperately wanted to end, strangely the idea of taking his own life never crossed his mind, not even for an instant, even though he had given up completely for some reason that even he didn't understand, he was still waiting.

- Do you want power? - The demon's voice tempted him, but unlike before, Arthur was pleased to hear a voice other than his own; for a few seconds he said nothing and just kept his eyes closed, a few seconds later he opened his eyes again and to his joy he saw that the dark space had disappeared, he was now in a flowery field, a beautiful landscape that would be worthy of a painting. Arthur looked around his new surroundings with a smile and started walking, it took him a few minutes to reach a tree that he spotted in the distance, but as he got closer his smile became a little crooked as his eyes widened; the tree was at the top of a hill, so when he got there he could see and hear what was on the other side, and there he saw his mother who was as beautiful as ever and unhurt, looking at the scene a smile appeared on his face when he saw that she was pushing a swing where his sister, Sophie, she looked 5 years older than he remembered, and had a beautiful and contagious smile on her face as her swing was pushed by Beatriz. Arthur watched the scene for a few minutes enjoying this peace and happiness, it was only after making sure that this scene would remain etched in his memory that the boy decided to approach, he initially tried to approach in a calm and composed manner, But when he saw his sister smiling at him with genuine joy on her face, he couldn't help himself and jumped up to hug her, here his sister who could walk perfectly and showed a happiness that he had never witnessed in recent years; As he was about to hug his sister, the image before him disappeared and returned to the static scene of him carrying his little sister while his mother looked at him tenderly, that same scene that Arthur witnessed years ago before being taken to that place consisting of nothing but darkness. Looking at his mother's smile again and at his sister, he began to cry like a child again, and at that moment, when his vulnerability reached a perfect point to offer help, he heard the voice again. - Cocabiel has taken everything away from you, thanks to him there is no possibility of seeing those smiles or even your mother in the real world, now your mother is dead, and your sister can't even walk normally let alone run and play like this... So, answer me, don't you want to kill him? Don't you want him to pay? -- The demon's voice disappeared, and the whole environment changed again, it was completely dark again, but there was a tree with a white flame, Arthur approached it like a moth attracted by the light, and when he was only a few steps away from the tree something fell right in front of him, it transform into an object resembled a ball, and this ball rolled up to Arthur's feet before finally stopping.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."