Beyond Eternity

DAY 6

Awakening early, the boy set out for where the prison was, coming back to the ramparts, he continued walking left from where he previously found the letter, eventually arriving at what seemed to him like a ruined stone structure.

“The plot thickens.” He said out loud.

It only took him a short while to find the entrance of what seemed to him to be the prison's. It was a set of stairs leading down below him.

“Ah, so it heads underground I see, would there happen to be any lamps nearby I wonder?”

Just as he said that, he spotted one at the floor along with a piece of flint and iron. “Exactly what I needed.”

The boy struck the flint on the iron, letting sparks fly towards the candles' wick, he did this a few times until the wick lit up and had a stable flame burning.

“There we go” he said. Lifting the lamp and holding it in front of him, he began his descent into the dark halls, with nothing to see beyond a few feet and nothing to hear besides his own sounds.

The mossy flooring, the cracked walls, the ceiling that gives way to vines, all these only so recently disturbed showed signs of a long dead past. The silent halls of stone echo the sound of a pair of shoes, a dim lamp is the only thing that gives off light, the small lone figure holding it only keeps walking, clearly scared of the deep darkness beyond his lamp, of the deafening silence of the labyrinthic paths and the fact that he is alone, in complete isolation, yes he is greatly affected by all that.

“This is all too creepy.” He said to himself, his voice filled with fear. “I've only walked straight but now I feel like I couldn't leave even if I wanted to, I fear that the lamp will lose light before I leave this place.”

He kept walking silently, creeped out by the echoes that he makes when he speaks out loud. The boy found a fork in the path which headed to his right.

“Nope, not going there, no.” he said as he walked straight ahead.

The boy kept walking until he passed by a broken wall which led to a horizontal path. “This place looks like a sewerage.” He said to himself.

“I thought going straight would actually get me out of here?” Although scared, the boy surveyed his surroundings.

Just on the wall ahead of him, he saw his next lead “Ah, another letter!” he exclaimed.

He got closer to it, not caring about his feet getting wet and read it. “From here, head left, then right, then straight ahead, then right again, climb the ladder you see there.” the boy read. “Okay, I guess I'm still a ways off then, how frustrating.”

He began walking the path beside the waters until he reached a fork in the road, he headed left, reaching the next one, he headed right, finding his next fork, he walked straight ahead instead of heading left.

He was finally nearing his destination when all went dark. The candle from the boy’s lamp had died down.

The boys' fear turned to terror, he breathed deeply and his heart raced, however his feet was too shaky to move. The darkness was suffocating, there was no light that could be found. Despite how the boy tried to compose himself, he couldn't, instead, he slowly falls into despair the longer he stayed there.

His dread grew with each passing second, His hands and feet grew cold as he could no longer bear the darkness, he forced himself to move by walking clumsily to the path that kept extending towards him, with one of his hands in front of him. His legs were shaken and felt weak yet he forced himself to move them as much as he could.

He stumbled several times, occasionally into the water making it hard for him to pull himself out each time he fell. His sanity now shaken, the boy began to have unfounded fears of something chasing him, of the darkness pulling him back, the echoes of his voice didn't help either, the sounds that came back to him seemed distorted in his mind and only increased his fear. It was as though his very fear sapped him of his energy.

The boy, now at the last of his strength, pulled himself one final time before eventually dropping down completely exhausted and devoid of hope. His trembling self could no longer support his own weight and the pitch black made it seem as though he didn’t have any progress with walking. Tears began rolling down his eyes.

“I guess I'll die here now” He thought to himself. “Perhaps I shouldn't have believed the letters, how foolish of me... I didn't think my death would happen at a dark sewerage of an isolated island of all places.”

“I can’t move”

“I can’t see”

“I don’t want to stay here”

“I hate the dark”

The boy was now sobbing, fully succumbing to his fear and despair.

In a fit of desperation, he began bashing his head on the floor, partially hoping that it would force the rest of him to move, partially hoping that it would kill him. He did this a few times until his head began to bleed, he opened his mouth to let out pained screams but there was little voice, only a raspy, dry sound.

“Stop it!!!” The boy suddenly heard.

At this he looked ahead to see a faint light glowing, getting nearer by the second. “Who's there?” the boy said in a dry whisper as he heard the echoes of footsteps.

It wasn't long before the source of the footsteps could be clearly heard and the light had drawn itself in front of him.

“Oh no, what have I done, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He then heard the voice say.

Looking up with tired dead eyes, the boy saw the face of a girl, no, the girl.

She had tears rolling down her face and in her right hand, a lamp of her own. At this, the boy too kept crying, but it was tears of joy, his deep despair was replaced with a ray of hope. Though bleeding, bruised, wet and tired, the boy found in him to smile then, the girl saw this as she lifted him on her back and smiled as well.

“You'll be okay now, just stay with me a little longer okay?” The girl, lifting the boy, walked straight ahead and headed right upon reaching the next fork in the path. Soon, a ladder was within sight.

“We're here, just stay alive now...” Said the girl as she lay the lamp on the floor and began climbing upwards with the boy still on her back. She managed to go all the way and lay him on the floor above ground.

Looking at him, she realized he had fallen asleep. “it must've happened after I began carrying him, I should patch him up.” She thought.

The girl took some bandages and medicine from the supply meant for the former guards stationed there and used those on the boy, after making sure the bleeding from his head and his other bruises have been properly taken care of, the girl lined up a few chairs, lifted the boy and lay him there.

She walked towards the hearth that the tower had and took a large metal pan that was held above the flame by the conveniently shaped stonework, she took a bowl and poured vegetable soup on it from the large pan that she prepared beforehand.

“Good thing I had this on the ready.” she thought to herself.

It was already nighttime when the boy opened his eyes, he woke up to the taste of soup and saw the bowl just beside him on another chair. In the distance, he saw a figure he recognized to be the girl. He smiled for a moment. As his vision began clearing, he saw the girl draw nearer and fed him another spoonful, he opened his mouth and swallowed the soup.

“Oh, you're finally awake.” said she, “It was kind of a drag to feed and move you around just so you can swallow.”

The boy looked into her eyes. The girl only resumed feeding him. It took a short while for the bowl to be empty.

“Do you want more?” asked the girl. The boy merely nodded sideways.

“Then I guess I'll save the rest for tomorrow.” she said as she put away the bowl, spoon and pan.

A few moments later, the girl returned and sat beside where the boy lay and said “Um, I’m so sorry… I didn't think your light would run out before you arrived here.”

At that, the boy responded in a faint voice “It’s okay, really.”

“Although I admit, that was something I never wanted to experience.” He continued.

“Do you resent me for doing all that I did up until now?” asked the girl. “You see, it was me sending those letters and-”.

“and playing the lute for me right? I assure you, I'm not mad. Also, there's nothing that you did that needs my forgiveness, but if you insist, you have it.” The boy said, abruptly stopping her.

“R-really?”

“Of course, I promise you that.”

He held up his right hand and closed all his fingers but his pinky, he tried to stretch his arm to reach the girl, but before he could, she grabbed his arm with both of hers.

“You're still unwell! Please do not overexert yourself!”

“Listen.” said he. “wrap your right hands' pinky around mine.”

“Um, okay.”

“Now this here is called a pinky promise” said the boy, “have you heard of it?”

The girl replied by shaking her head sideways.

“You see, when one makes this promise,” said the boy “there is now a rule that when one side breaks that said promise, their pinky would be cut off.”

“That's pretty morbid.”, the girl replied jokingly.

“Well, in this case, I promise I am not mad,” said the boy “it’s just me who takes the risk in this case, you're safe though, there's nothing for you to break.”

“No, that can't be fair.” said she. “Then I too, shall make a promise, I swear upon my right pinky that I'll mend you up until you're completely healed.” and smiled.

“Well then,” said he. “The deal has been set.” and moved their hands up and down. He smiled back at the girl.

“Then, I suppose it’s time for us to rest.” said the girl. “I'll be sure to tell you everything after you're good to go, okay?”

The boy nodded in agreement and closed his eyes with a satisfied look on his face. The girl wrapped him around a blanket and sang him a lullaby until she was certain that he was asleep. Then she too lay down to rest, on a nearby pile of hay rather than atop the tower like she usually would.