Humanity

Five

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I tried everything. Every single thing that the human mind could think of. But it was all forlorn attempts to escape. It was worse than searching for water in the desert. Everything was hopeless.
Although I told myself not to use supernatural powers, or at least not to think of any. I had no choice. So I closed my eyes and I tried to look for something inside of me. Something new. Something colorful as they say. Anything weird that could get me out of here. I kept searching, digging down. I was acting like some guy who lost his mind.
Then I realized there was something I didn't quite think of. I had a knife in my back pocket. I totally forgot about it. And I thought that I was sitting on some rock that was causing me a pain in the ass. I could touch the knife. I pulled it back and it fell right behind me. The problem was that I didn't know whether my hands were tied up with handcuffs or whether they were tied up with a rope. Since they were so numb. So all I had to do was try.
I grabbed the knife, and held it so that it could touch my back. So I could have the power to push and cut the rope. If it was a rope. Or else, I would stay there staring at the ceiling.
I couldn't reach the thing. I tried holding the knife backwards and just pulling it up. I put all the power that I had left to complete this action. Suddenly, I felt like my hands were abruptly driven apart. They were free. I did the same thing with my legs, but with less power. I stood up, but felt like something was hitting my knees. I put a hand on the wall, walking slowly reaching to where the mysterious door was.
I touched the entire wall, I couldn't feel a thing. I even tried the 'open Sesame' thing, nothing worked. Then I remembered that Alfred died while he was going out when Zachary drank his blood. And I remembered that blood was everywhere  and that the door was open. All I had to do was search for the blood, and that must be where I would be able to open the door.
I found the blood, and right beside it was clear. I put my fingers right on the spot and tried to push. I started to think that it wasn't worth giving a shot anymore, but then my fingers slipped in a whole. It was then when I found the door and I opened it.
Every little desperate hope inside of me, came to life again. Like the flowers in the spring, spread joy and colors everywhere. But then there was the winter and the cold that killed everything. I had to find Lea. And I had to find her now.
I was still in the tunnels apparently, but in this part I could see clearly. The sun was shining through the broken ceiling. I could see trees. I couldn't get out it was high, even if I could I shouldn't. I should go rescue Lea.
I tried running straight, but my legs weren't helping me. I started running slowly. Holding myself on. I wanted to go back, but I was already too far since I've been walking for a while. It was so far. And I didn't know where I was going.
I heard a stir not far from me. So I kept moving and moving until something very fast came at me. Some magical thing. Luckily I reached the floor before it could hit me.
"Where is he?!" A voice was screaming. "You'd better tell us you brainless moron!" I stood up and continued my way. The tunnel was getting larger the more I walk. And the light was getting weaker. I was afraid I would walk in the darkness again. Alone.
I arrived in the middle of a fight. A fight that may have caused injured people, and I was more than sure it was because of me. I saw Lea lying on the floor, but held captive by Zachary. And the girl was standing in front of me turning her face to Mary, Gabriel and Jeff and two others. They all looked at me, stopped everything and just stared.
"How did you-?" She looked at my hands and legs, and then looked at the knife that I held in my hand. Then she looked at Zachary. "You worthless worm, I told you clear everything on him. And you really ate Alfred next to the fucking door you fucking idiot!" Her voice turned into an outraged tone that no human throat could have..
"And you, where do you think you're going?"  I wanted to answer her, but my voice got lost.
"Right where he belongs. Let him pass." Ordered Mary.
"Or else?." The girl threw a sardonic smile.
It was until then that the conversations were over, no negotiations anymore. Although, I doubted there were any.
Mary ran to the girl followed by one of the guys, full sprint. Then Zachary went to knock Mary down, but the guy got him first and put him down. It looked like he knew what was going to happen. Mary didn't bother to look what happened to the guy, as if she trusted him. She continued her way to the girl, then jumped and pulled her hand to push her but as soon as her hand got close to the girl, something green protected the girl, leaving Mary's hand stuck on it.
The girl chuckled. "A witch huh? Well in that case." Suddenly, something gloomy was forming around Mary's hand, slowly covering it. The green protection became black, and evaporated as Mary took her hand back but only to sharply punch the girl in the stomach with the dark power that was now surrounding her. The punch was so strong that the girl might have been at the end of the tunnel, even inside the room. Since Zachary was still down and the girl was nowhere to be seen, I hurried to check up on Lea.
I turned her around, her face was covered with mud, so as her hair. I cleaned her face, and put her head around my arm on my wounded knee. She was so beautiful. So flawless. It was the first time ever that I saw her blond hair dirty. It used to be so clean, so refreshing when I used to smell it while hugging her. I was cuddling her hair straight down her forehead; staring at her face like she was some kind of a newborn. Not caring what others were doing, whether they were looking at me or thinking about something. I needed to get us out of there. I tried to remain sanguine as much as I could. I didn't know what was happening to me. I used to be the optimist guy, the one that had a solution for the deadliest problem. But now, everything was changing. Maybe dealing with supernatural situations was slowly taking away my hope, my love, my protection for the people I care about, my friends, my family, my life and my Humanity. Because I would never see myself doing what Mary did. But maybe she gave in, accepted what she was. But what if I didn't? Only then I would be totally powerless, defenseless and meaningless.
Something was moving in my arm. I looked down, and saw that bonny head turn. She was mumbling something. I was trying to understand.
"They are, prio-priorians." The words slipped out of her mouth. Priorians? I remember Diana saying something about that word when she appeared to me; "Dark magic isn't about who's stronger. It's about the deal or the reason you used dark magic. The more important the reason is, the most powerful the person gets. Then he will be called a priorian. As in his goal is a priority to the dark magic." But how did Lea know? She was unconscious when Diana mentioned it. She must have heard a part of it. Or maybe Diana was trying to communicate with me, since Lea was the only person that she saw back then. This wasn't what mattered now. I knew something. Something that could kill us all.
"Mary." Mary was with the guys, they were forming a group at the other side of the tunnel. Probably waiting for Zachary to wake up.
"What is it? Tell me." She left the group and came to me. She realized it was something important by my alarmed tone.
"These guys," I swallowed. "They are, priorians."
The other three guys came and joined us, looking surprised.
"We should get out of here. Forget about the guy. It's a leave or die situation." The four of them were ready to go. I held Lea in my arms, since she wasn't heavy. She had an incredible body. Not now, it wasn't not the time.
We hurried back to the were I came from, because we could get out from the ceiling. But it was a little far, since it took me a while to arrive.
On our way, Lea started moving. I put her on the floor as she stood up.
"Jas, where are they taking us? What's happening?" Her eyes were half opened.
"Don't worry. We're going home." I held her hand and continued our way.
The path was getting brighter as sun light was entering.
"How did you know where we were?" I was still wondering how did they know.
"Diana told us that you were in some tunnel. And Jeff appears to know where it is. Since you know..."
"Yes,  since he was the one who got the shit out of me the other night in these tunnels, and put me in the hospital. But if it wasn't for that," I looked at him. "you wouldn't have found us."
No one added anything, and silence reigned.
All I could think of, was getting out of here. Putting Lea somewhere safe, and checking up on Steph. My God. There was no way she was dead. I would do anything to see her again.
"I assure you now, she is in a better place. She might even be watching over you from now on."   These words echoed inside of me over and over again. I stopped moving. Everything stopped moving. The world stopped moving. Everything just froze. I felt something inside of me just ripped my heart. Like some sharp sword slipped in my heart tearing it into millions of pieces. Nothing else mattered. I would die, if anything happened to her. I always put her first, before everyone else. She had her own special place in my heart.
"Jason what's happening? Are you alright?" My stomach hurts\, so as my knees. I could barely walk.
I could feel the presence of a hand around my waist, helping me walk.
It was Sebastian. And lea was walking close to me. I knew it wasn't the time to play sick we needed to get out, but it wasn't my choice. I was dying.
Mary stopped. We must have arrived. But what was the plan? How were we doing to get out? Being feckless was one of the worst things. I was always the one who manages everything, who plans everything out. I was the responsible one, the one who never needed any help, the one that looked after himself. Now, it was totally the opposite. A guy was holding me so I wouldn't fall because I could barely walk on my knees and I didn't know what happened to me when I thought about Stephanie. We were walking in some tunnels trying to escape, and I was there not knowing what was happening, not knowing where my destiny lies.
Two green circles were moving in front of us. They weren't close but they were so bright. We couldn't see clearly because of the sudden fog. The girl came back. Not injured.
"You want to fight? You're on." She said it in a way that she accepted the challenge to see who was stronger, but she accepted it with alacrity, and a challenging look on her face.
I felt something moving behind me. I turned my head, only to find something moving toward us very fast, taking Lea and disappearing in the dark from where it came.
"Leave her alone!" I screamed so loud that I thought that it was the last time I could ever speak again. I moved the hand that was holding me and went looking for her, but Mary stopped me.
"Jason stay! You won't go, you can't. Jeff is going and he'll meet us. I can't risk your life if you go there. At least I know that Jeff will be safe." As soon as she finished her sentence, Jeff was gone. We turned around to look at the girl, but she was gone too.
Although he went looking for her, a part of me still thought that it would be better if I went. Being more sure that we looked everywhere and brought her back safe.
"Why aren't we moving? Why did you stop in the first place?" It was kind of odd, that we wanted to escape and yet we were waiting apparently.
"There's something weird. Some presence. I can't quite describe it, but it's something dark."
"Maybe because they are priorians?" I didn't understand what was happening.
"No. It's not a person. It's more like a spirit. It wasn't here before." Awesome. We still needed some kind of weird spirits to bother us. More shit to ruin my life more than it already was.
While we were waiting, suddenly we all turned around to see Jeff on the floor. And we looked up, and saw Zachary walk from the dark toward us.
"Where is she?! You'd better tell me or else-"
"Quiet Jason!" Mary whispered in my ear.
"Who? The girl? Oh. She already lost a lot of blood. She was going to die anyway. Don't worry my child, she is with your sister." From the other direction, we could see that the girl came back.
Mud and herbs were falling from the ceiling. Suddenly, an earth quake shook us all. The fog was duplicating more and more, until we couldn't see a thing. But I could feel people around me as we formed a closed circle.
"What the hell?!" Said Gabriel.
"I told you something was here."
The fog started disappearing. Zachary and the other girl were still surrounding us from both sides. And the sun was gone. It was all dark outside. But inside the tunnel, some lights were still on.
Then, four unexpectedly shadows were on our right and left. Forming a square around us. It was like they were either protecting us or trapping us. They were human shadows, just like the one that I saw from my room the other day. Right after, these shadows were forming four separated bodies. We were all left voiceless. Watching what was happening in front of us without having any thought.
All I knew, was that my heart was beating so fast. And that my veins were on fire. I was so mad, so angry, so devastated.
The mist was back, but this time only on the four shadows. Hiding them. Once the fog was completely gone. The four shadows who became figures, weren't human at all. They were more like.. Demons.
I focused on the one next to me, since I was on the left. He was the closest one. That thing, was dressed with a long black robe that was surrounding him on the floor. And it was flapping. I couldn't see its legs.  Not that I wanted to, but because it was floating and not standing on the ground. So I doubted to find any legs. A black cap was covering its head, and its nearly hidden face, but there was no face. All I could see was black fog. No movement, no other thing, except for the fear that it caused me. I've never seen anything like it before. It was something newly discovered by my eyes. It was holding in its hands some long black stick, a thick one. And on that stick some drawings, which I was sure they were Satanic ones; the head of a goat, an inverted pentagram, the all seeing eye, a satanic cross, an upside down cross... And at the head of that stick, something like a ball, but it was red. And glowing.
I tried looking inside the cape, to see what's hidden inside the fog. I thought that I could find his face. But I was surprised to see one eye in the middle of the cape. A red one. Looking right at me. However, I felt that it wasn't looking into my eyes, but straight into my soul.
The weirdest part was, I felt safe. I was terrified, but everything was gone when I looked into that eye, which quickly disappeared.
The four of them turned. Each two facing one our enemies whom were frightened.
They were moving in parallel. Zachary and the girl didn't move. Until the red light on the Demons stick started glowing, which meant they were going to attack. Then everything went into chaos. The six of them were moving so fast that I couldn't catch any of them. Everything was happening so quickly.
I couldn't know who was winning, every time I saw someone falling, then continuing.
At last, I could see the girl and Zachary getting defeated. They were both in front of me, surrounded by the three Demons. "Did I just say three? Wait where is the fourth." I didn't even finish the sentence in my head, when I saw him coming and Lea was behind him. She came running in my arms. Promising to never let go. The girl and Zachary were badly injured. Because of the stick. Bruises were everywhere, covering their body.
After staying in the same position for like five minutes, the Demons were gone. But two other people landed behind us. But they instantly started attacking Mary and the others. They were probably with Zachary.
Lea and I were standing on the wall protected by Sebastian, when Lea had the craziest idea ever.
"I told you no. I promised not to let you go."
"I'm telling you they are dying to take me."
"Lea no please! It's not your fight. I can't lose anyone else."
"Jason listen to me! I'm telling you I'll be fine. "Always and Forever" right? Nothing can break us apart, not even death. Just do it and I'll meet you when you get out."
"Fine. Just please be careful." I hugged her one more time, and gave her a kiss on her forehead. And she disappeared in the darkness.
When I looked at the battlefield, I saw the two guys dead. And Zachary and the girl barely fighting. The plan didn't go as expected, she needed more time. I had no choice but to stick to the plan.
"Mary! Lea ran from that direction." I pointed out, and Zachary and the girl fell for it and ran following her. I just hoped she could make it to the basement before they catch her.
"We should get out. Now!" After telling them the plan, we had to move before something else takes us by surprise. As we were about the reach our exit, another earth quake stopped us. But this one was stronger. Way stronger. The ceiling was crumbling. We were about to die. I was going to die since I was the slower one. If it wasn't for Mary who held my hand so I could walk faster, I would have rotten in that place.
I saw the Demons come back. Going to the other direction, where Lea was. Which meant she was in danger.
"We need to go back! Lea is in danger."
"We can't. As long as these creatures are gone, it means they'll protect her." Mary was still walking.
"What if-"
She stopped and looked at me, "Jason, if you go back I assure you that you'll never come back alive."
She was right, we had to get out. I saw the door of the room. We had arrived.
"We can jump from here before this place falls apart." I could barely hear because of the strong noise. Everything was trembling.
Gabriel, Jeff, Sebastian and the other one jumped and reached the surface. Mary was still with me.
"You can do it Jason. Remember what you are, believe in yourself and jump." The exit was high. No human could reach it. Fortunately, we weren't humans.
Believe in myself? That part was hard. I couldn't jump. I tried jumping but it was a human jump. A weak human jump.
"My knees hurt, I can't do it." I closed my eyes.
"It won't affect you. You just have to believe." I couldn't. All the day I was grumbling how I didn't want all this, how it was taking away all my happiness. Was I supposed in that moment, to just believe and the next day go back to grumbling? What if I did it? What if I believed now, what will happen after that? What will I turn to? Into what monster?
I shouldn't be thinking like that. I should get out of here, check up on Lea, find out who these people are, talk to Diana, and most importantly think of a way to tell my parents about her...
When I thought of her, I knew she was my motivation. That she had to be the reason for me to get out of here, to get some hope. Because she was full of hope, full of life. Almost like Lea. But Stephanie was more like a huge part of me. The reason I'm alive. The reason I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, and the desire to continue my life. She was- she was an anchor. An anchor placed inside my heart, where no one would ever find it. And where it could never be snatched.
I opened my eyes, and saw Mary still waiting for me. I turned back and the ceiling was already falling down. We couldn't wait anymore. It was close to us. Which meant the ceiling above us is the next one to fall down. I closed my eyes, thought of her, and jumped. All I could hear was the ceiling bellow me fall. I did it! I jumped. I believed.
We made it up, but the earthquake was gone. It was only inside the tunnels.
The moon was shining outside. Birds were warbling in the trees. It was like we landed in some other world. I couldn't believe that we were going to die inside the tunnels, and when we got out everything was normal.
Well, at least everything was normal but did not last. The birds stopped singing. The fog came back dominating everything. Mary and the others were lying on the floor before they stood up with warning shots in their eyes.
"Now what?!" Wondered Gabriel looking at Mary.
He got no answer. Nothing was moving, everything was dead. The wind was gone. I could see people coming from the other direction of the tunnels. Walking slowly in the fogs. I could see no face. Only bodies. When they became closer, I recognized them. It was the Demons, they came back. Only this time three of them were coming. Forming a triangle and walking together in parallel. Once they were close to me, they kept the triangle as it was. I was in the middle of it. All the fog was moving inside the triangle, until everything outside the triangle was fog clear. The three demons put their sticks on the ground brusquely, and it glowed red. It was so bright, but then it started transforming. Into black. Once all the red was completely gone. A black line came out of every stick to meet again forming the head of the triangle, which was right above my head.
I couldn't move. I just watched.
Something from the three lines, something dark, fell from the head of the triangle on my head. The three lines combined above me, to form one line. A thicker one. A darker one. When it entered inside me, I felt nothing but pain. A deleterious pain. They were taking my soul away. That was the only explanation. I couldn't take it anymore, I felt like my spirit was saying good-bye, leaving my body. But it didn't.
The power above me disappeared, and the three lines returned to the sticks. And the Demons went back from where they came. They transformed into human shadows, vanishing deep down in the ground.
I was about to fall, but a hand caught me.
"What are these? And what just happened?" Asked Mary so confused.
"They are called 'juies'," Said a voice inside the trees. "They are dark spirits, the darkest." It was Diana.
"And what do they want?"
"They want to make Jason's spirit, a dark one."
"What? Is this why they were defending me? Why did they come back?"
"Because their mission, is to complete the sacrifices. The four sacrifices. As in the four elements of nature. Fire, earth, wind and water. Which means you have to sacrifice these four elements and you will not be a part of nature, you will be a part of the dark side. The first time they came, it was to defend you. But the second time... was to complete the first sacrifice."
"What sacrifice?! Tell me what happened!" I screamed, crying my eyes out.
"The element of earth. As in the earthquake." I could see the worried look on her face.
"But who is the sacrifice?!" She put a hand on my shoulder, I didn't look at her face. I was afraid of the answer.
"The Juies are only able to complete the ritual when someone sacrifices himself. And as for lea, I'm sorry Jason. She chose to die. She couldn't make it."