The door creaked as the boy with the dagger swung it wide open, revealing a deep flight of stairs, covered in mold and moss. Inside, a multitude of tiny particles, mold and God knows what else, saturated the stale air.
He looked back at his friends, as the spark of adventure filled his eyes.
"Layla, light up that torch you've got there. We're going down!"
The little girl nodded, as the matches she'd stolen from her father's equipment lit up the flame. As she passed the lit flame to Kona, she couldn't help but stare at that profound black they were about to venture inside of.
Gunn, in the back, felt his legs turning into jelly at the sight of the deep darkness his friends wanted to explore, but he wasn't about to make a fool of himself. No, he had to show them he was a real man! A real adventurer, ready to face whatever danger was waiting for them in that rancid crypt!
Gunn was, however, terribly wrong.
As he gulped, the trio started descending in the depths of the ruins: Kona, carefully placing his feet on the cramped steps, was leading them down, torch and dagger filling his hands, and the flame revealing a straight narrow passage, that descended in the bowels of the ground.
The sunlight slowly abandoned the kids, as they slowly plunged in the depths of that forgotten crypt that time had wiped off the maps of adventurers, until only the flame's blaze was left.
As they dove deeper into the ruins, making their way through cobwebs and dust, something started to feel off.
Gunn was the first one to mention it:
"Guys, I... I feel a little sick. I think it's this place's air, it's full of dust. Dust makes me sneeze."
"Yeah, guys, I'm feeling a little sick as well... There's something wrong here...": Layla's head had started spinning, her steps were losing that initial confidence that Kona's determination had given her, and her legs had started trembling.
Kona, just like the other kids, wasn't feeling exactly in shape. He had this weird feeling of contrasting sensations all bunched up together. He really couldn't put it into words.
It seemed as if a weird tingle had invaded their senses, something new, a sensation never before experienced. It felt like diving into cold water for the first time - thought Kona - but, at the same time, it also reminded him of the comfortable heat of the fireplace during rigid winters. Like tasting a new food for the first time, but also just the same as getting a whiff of his mom's famous carrot soup.
A brave adventurer - thought the kid with the dagger - always knows his limits.
"Guys, I think... I think it's time for a strategic retreat. We need to bring some equipment to protect our noses and mouths. This dust is weird."
His friends, quite relieved by this decision - especially Gunn - nodded in agreement.
"Alright, let's get out of here."
Gunn was probably feeling slightly worse than he'd thought. So many emotions and memories had started flowing over and over through his mind.
That weird atmosphere... It was messing with his brain.
As he turned around, the big wooden staff Layla had borrowed for him happened to be just a tad bit too long: right as the boy was about to take the first step back up, the wood got stuck in a crevice among the passage's bricks, a small gap created by time and wear.
The spinning motion of the staff turned against him, shifting his body unexpectedly, and making him lose his balance.
Unfortunately for the kids, Gunn was now the first in line.
Suddenly the kid, feet in the air, was tripping and flying down the firm stone stairs, cascading on his friends like one of those big avalanches they once saw in the south east mountains.
Screams filled the gloomy air, as the three twelve-year-olds went crashing down the passage: an intricate mass of bruised bodies, rolling down, screaming, stumbling, tripping and crying.
They landed in a small room, at the bottom of the passage.
They remained there in silence, lying on the cold dirty floor, bruised and hurt, but alive.
By some miracle, no one had been stabbed by Kona's dagger, and somehow the torch had remained lit.
Nonetheless, it definitely wasn't a pleasant experience.
Kona touched his head, feeling it pulse: looking at his hand in the dim light of the torch, he saw it covered in blood.
Frowning and trying to get up, the kid mentally cursed Gunn: he was quite clumsy, that was clear already, but did he really have to trip over them like that!? And look where they ended up!
Kona stood up, his head covered in that dark red liquid, which had started pouring over his left eye.
"Crap, Gunn! You gotta be caref-"
The words died in the boy's throat.
Turning around in that deep chamber, under the gloomy light of the torch, the eyes of the white-haired kid encountered his.
For a moment, the room froze still, and only the torch's crackle could be heard.
In front of Kona stood a kid, with long hair the color of hopeful clouds, and skin the same as cotton.
But it wasn't this resemblance that shook Kona.
Oh, no.
It was the eyes.
His empty, pale pupils, shining with an unsettling bright light, struck a menacingly clear gaze, that penetrated the dark room like war spears.
His sight locked with Kona's, and an intense shiver ran down the village boy's spine.
At that moment, before he could even open his mouth, Kona realized something. In his head, now much more than before, a roaring storm of thoughts and sensations was stirring up the mind; but as the boy fell to his knees, letting go of the new kid's gaze, he understood it. Whatever that sensation was, it came from him. He was the cause of it.
That kid, there was something clearly wrong with him.
He wasn't like them. And what the hell were those radiant eyes?
Kona wasn't the only one who'd noticed the presence of that mysterious creature: Layla and Gunn, a few steps ahead of him, were frozen on the ground, holding their heads like they were about to blow up.
Layla, although barely able to think, had understood it. That thing, it was dangerous.
At that moment Gunn, despite the raging hurricane of thoughts, knew one thing, and one thing only. He had to run. He had to run up the stairs, and get the hell out of there.
Calling upon all of his might, and clenching his fists, Gunn tried pushing himself up, towards the feeble light coming from the entrance.
In that instant, a dazzling flash of light filled the room.