We were already ready to leave this cave, even though there was nothing there but the children we had to carry.
The cave was dark and gloomy, with torches that barely lit up a corner, but even so, it was safer than the unknown.
We set off, walking toward where a stone wall lay.
"Aren't you going to wear any clothes?"
"A pair of pants is enough, and besides, there are no clothes for me to wear here other than the dirty ones you're wearing."
"Hey, I..."
I couldn't finish my sentence as we left the cave; I saw a landscape that left me speechless.
— Upon leaving the cave, Oberon saw no vegetation, only a vertical abyss of impossible proportions, where stone walls rose and fell until the view was lost in a cold, bluish mist. There wasn't even a sky.
Spanning this abyss, massive, bare stone beams stretched out like railing-less bridges connecting the different sections of what appeared to be a colossal prison. Narrow, dangerous paths where a single misstep meant an eternal fall into the dark, shimmering water lying at the bottom, reflecting a light whose source was impossible to see from that distance—.
If in the cell the silence was absolute, here the silence is vast. The sound of the water down below and the echo of my companion's breathing beside me were the only things breaking the stillness of this stone labyrinth. It was a structure reminiscent of the geomantic figure of Carcer—The Prison—scaled up to a monumental size: a place where every bridge was a decision and every wall an insurmountable boundary.
I had never felt so small until that moment, and my companion's silence didn't help.
"Nice view, don't you think?"
I said to calm myself down a bit; I've always hated the unknown. After all, it's normal to be afraid of something you don't know—it's simple survival instinct.
"Well, if you think this creepy place is nice, you can stay here."
"How do you manage to be so unpleasant every time you open your mouth?"
We kept walking for quite a while—a couple of hours. I was admiring everything around me. It was true that it was spine-chilling, but even so, I couldn't help but feel like a child entering a cathedral; that feeling of being so small made you marvel at how grand the place was.
Finally, after hours of walking, we reached the end of the path. What was at the end was quite disappointing.
"Just a simple door—it feels like a bad joke"
"Maybe they ran out of ideas, haha"
I replied, laughing at my own joke.
"Open the door—both my hands are full"
"Step aside"
— When Oberon opened the door, he couldn't believe what he was seeing; it was a sight that defied the laws of physics he'd learned in class. It was one thing to be with an anthropomorphic being that could even transform, but it was quite another to see that there was neither up nor down in the landscape before him.
There was grass on the path as he'd hoped, but there were several paths crisscrossing from top to bottom, from right to left; it was a veritable visual labyrinth. It looked more like the structure of a poorly built beehive, but it was also something that shattered Oberon's hope of an easy way out —.
"This must be some damn joke?"
"It's no use getting angry, let's get going; I have a feeling this is going to be a long journey"
And he wasn't wrong; the journey was damn long and tedious—even more so when you're carrying a child's corpse. How did he manage to have so much energy? Oh, right, I was the only one of the two who was on the verge of dying of thirst.
Before, he'd admired how magnificent the landscape was, but at that moment he only had questions—countless questions:
How do the paths hold themselves up? Is there no gravity? Did someone from the outside do this?
Questions that were once again answered with silence.
I didn't want to ask him, because first, I knew he probably didn't even know which direction we were heading, and second, I didn't want to hear another one of his sarcastic comments.
"Hey!! We've been walking for hours now, let's take a break—my feet can't take it anymore"
— Kaelen sighed; I couldn't say no. I knew how hard it had been for Oberon to survive since he appeared —.
"Alright, let's take a half-hour break"
"Oh God, thanks"
I gently set the boy down on the ground and sat down as if I were finally taking a vacation. We'd already been walking for almost half a day, or so I thought; since there was no sun, it was impossible to tell, and the light illuminating the landscape was constant.
Even so, it was pleasant, but the expression on his face seemed too serious for me to enjoy my rest.
"Hey, now that I think about it, I don't know your name. Exchanging names would be the least we should do."
"Kaelen, Kaelen of the Serif tribe."
"Ohh! Okay, I'm Oberon—Vesper Oberon or Oberon Vesper. Do you guys say your first name or last name first?"
"I'll just call you Obi. You have a pretty unique name."
"Speak for yourself, just…"
At that moment, before I could finish my sentence, Kaelen covered my mouth.
"Don't say another word—we're not alone."
That sentence was enough to make my heart race like an engine that had just been started, but seeing Kaelen already get into a fighting stance while looking behind me was the last straw.
I turned to see who this guy was who had put Kaelen on the defensive.
"You seem to be lost."