The flame as a home, the wind as a path, the chains to keep them bound, Existence awakens again.

Whisper

On a day that is supposed to be calm, on a train full of students behaving, well, like students coming out of a week of excess, traveling to a destination that doesn't matter and being the target of a future so strange, unexpected, uncertain, unbelievable...

A silence heavy with fatigue permeated the train car. The most apathetic students were still digesting all the emotions felt during their journey back home. Some were sleeping, others were listening to music or simply reminiscing about this crazy week of excess. Anything was good to pass the time, and with the fatigue accumulating, it was easy, for these young men and women to look forward to their destination.

Jonah dealt the cards.

- It's about time we got there. I'm getting bored with this trip," said Jonah.

Ronan and Lucas exchanged a knowing smile.

- Do you hear that, Lucas? You'd swear he's just been dumped," he added with a visible wink.

- I hear that Ronan! Still, it's bad luck, poor Leila probably needs cheering up, he said with a big smile.

- No, you're confusing Lucas! She's doing well, I haven't seen her so happy since...

- Oh, you two are fine," Jonah interrupted, grumbling. "There's no need to bring that up again. Just concentrate on your cards sooner".

- Don't count on it," said Lucas. "We've got at least three months of this!"

- Why did she dump you again?

- What do I know," he replied, glaring at his. "I'm not in her head" .

- Don't worry, old man, there's no lack of pretty girls in the school," Lucas consoled him.

- True. And at least now you'll finally be able to enjoy student life without having to drag a girlfriend along. It's just a shame she waited until the end of the trip to dump you; you can't even imagine the opportunities you missed!" Ronan added with a knowing look.

Jonah glared and pointed with an imperious finger at the cards spread out on the table.

- I don't need you to tell me about your conquests again. Just play.

- Oh, he can be so grumpy," said Ronan, turning to Lucas. "I've already told you about that brunette there, whose name I've forgotten, but with a..."

Grunting in disgust, Lucas cut him off.

- I agree with Jonah on this one, you've already told us enough.

While his two friends argued, Jonah looked at the cards without seeing them. Underneath his unattainable good looks, he considered himself a sensitive soul and the end of two years of relationships had given him such a blow that his head was spinning, and his headache was unbearable. Unless it was the booze he'd taken last night, who knows...

In any case, his headache seemed to be getting worse, he was even starting to hear a louder and louder ringing in his ears. He winced in pain when it suddenly became louder and louder. Worried, he glanced at his friends to see them also wincing in pain, Lucas even taking his head in his hands, his mouth letting out an inarticulate scream.

The train then entered a tunnel moving at a good speed, when suddenly everything went dark and the train began to move... Screams of fear, of terror, rose, no one could see the people flying over the seats and landing on the ground, or crashing into the windows, those same windows shattering carrying away in a bellowing that seemed final the people who had crashed into them. Everything was nothing but panic and agony, until a silence set in. And then everything stopped, nothing moved, there was no sound, nothing...

*

It was dark, very dark. Leila opened her eyes but could not see anything. Her head ached, but more than anything else she hated couldn't see anything. What had happened? An accident? No way... She felt for her trousers, looking for her mobile phone, hoping it wasn't broken. An irrational fear was suddenly upon her, something slimy had fallen on her head, she wanted to see, absolutely see. Finally, she grabbed her mobile phone, turned it on... And the horror was on.

Her screams stuck in her throat, her mind and body numb... In front of her was the face of a girl, a girl she knew, just her face. Her face expressed so much disbelief that she expected her to speak to her, a face she would never forget. She threw up. It couldn't be, it was a nightmare. She felt that she was losing control, that her mind was going to break... No! She was not going to let herself go! She swallowed the bile in her throat and began to crawl, focused on one goal, to get out of here.

She wasn't looking, she couldn't. It was as if she was going through hell itself. She was not religious, her parents had tried in vain to interest her in their religion, but no, she was not interested. Why did she think of that? She was still crawling around with her mobile phone in her hand like a torch. Yes, her parents, her mother had sent her a message not long before, or was it a long time ago? It didn't matter, she said she was going to cook him a meal to celebrate his return, a good meal like she liked with... she felt a sudden spasm, she felt the contents of what was left in her stomach rise her throat. No! Don't look! Think of home, of your little brother waiting impatiently for her to see the present she was going to give him, think of your parents, of her mother's sweet smile when she would see her arrive.

She took refuge in her thoughts when suddenly someone grabbed her arm, and this time she screamed. She struggled to her feet, terror and horror obscuring everything, and she struck out, touched something. She heard a grunt and then a voice.

- Calm down, it's only me, Mat. If you go on like this, I'll leave you here.

Leila froze and lifted her mobile phone to see the face of her classmate. Yes, it was him, she recognized him. His eyebrow had been cut and blood was pouring down his face. She almost fainted but pulled herself together just before she collapsed unless it was Mat holding her back.

- Follow me, and don't look," he said.

He looked calm; how could he be? But she did as he said and followed him the two metres to the exit of what was left of the train, and its occupants... She touched the ground, but it was still dark, they must still be in the tunnel. Yet the ground was strangely uneven, it was like being in a cave... She did not turn around; she did not want to see the carcass of the train. She couldn't see much because of the dim light from their mobile phones. Because yes, he was also using his mobile phone as a source of light, she only noticed it now, but it seemed obvious how else he could have moved around in the dark, he's not nyctalopic as far as she knew. Thinking about everything and anything didn't calm her down, it stopped her from thinking about what had happened, the horrors she had seen, the smell... Stop, walk, yes just walk don't think about... Suddenly she stops.

- No! Aurora is still inside and...

- She's not inside anymore," he cut her off abruptly, his tone dry, "We already took her out with Jonah. She's fine, she's a bit banged up, but she's had better luck than most. You're the last one, the others don't need our help anymore."

She hated him for these words, she didn't want to hear them, to understand what they meant.

- Is she all, right?" she repeated. "Wait, with Jonah? Who else has...?"

She could not finish her sentence, not yet the shock was too recent. He set off again without saying anything, and she followed him, what else could she do? She would soon have her answer anyway. Leila could see light in the distance, an exit. Just ahead some shadows were moving, too few. Some turned as they heard them approach.

- Leila! Are you alright?" she heard.

Jonah approached quickly, he seemed to have been spared the accident. Because yes, it could only be an accident, of course. And help should be on its way if it wasn't already there.

He took her hands and looked into her eyes.

- I would have come for you, I promise, but Mat convinced me to stay here and take care of the wounded, you know I've got my first aid certificate, and the others didn't want to go back so...

- Everything's fine, more fear than harm, much more. How are the others? Aurora is, okay? And then where are we? It doesn't look like a tunnel here.

- She's here, unconscious, but otherwise, she's fine. She won't have any physical damage. Lucas has a broken arm, Marie and Mustapha have a few bruises and contusions, nothing too serious.

Suddenly speechless, he looked down, not before she could see his tears and the horror hidden deep in his eyes.

- The others did not survive, only us... After a few seconds of heavy silence, he continued. As for where we are, I don't know, but probably not where we should have been, look outside and you'll understand.

She nodded her thanks and then approached the survivors, who looked haggard and lost as if they had withdrawn into themselves. She sat down next to her friend to see how she was doing and then looked more closely at what was going on around her. Jonah was looking after the wounded, reassuring them, and they were sitting around waiting, what? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to, she never wanted to feel that helplessness again, this time she was going to do something, no matter what.

She was going to fight. She continued to observe her surroundings, it seemed that they had not taken anything with them except a few bottles of water. Mat wasn't with the rest of the group, once he'd brought her, he'd gone back in the cave in silence. Now she was sure, she was in a cave as crazy as it sounds. She didn't care what he was doing there, he could do what he wanted if he didn't ask her to go with him.

The light that allowed him to see all this came from the exit of the cave a few steps from where she was.

She stood up, and after a last look at her unconscious friend, approached the exit. Once outside the sun blinded her and while her eyes got used to its glare, she enjoyed the caress of the wind rushing through her long blonde hair and down her bruised body. She was rather muscular, adept as she was at sporting activities, she has used to the gentle pain the body experiences when one gives it all. She took a deep breath and looked around. And for the second time in a few hours, she was shocked. As far as the eye could see, an abundant forest-covered everything, and wherever she looked there were trees of all kinds, some of which she didn't know and whose branches were so high up that they could only have been there for hundreds of years or more. As far as she could remember, there was no such ancient and imposing forest where she came from. Not in her world anyway.

*

Jonah could hardly remember the first few moments after the accident, everything was a blur in his mind. All he knew was that his hands were smeared with Ronan's blood and that when he got out of the train with Mat's help, dragging Lucas along the ground, everything went fast. They brought him close to the exit of the cave and after the shock of seeing that forest, they had returned to look for survivors. Then it was decided that Jonah would stay and look after the survivors. And Lucas, who thought that getting his first-aid diploma was a waste of time, must have been incredibly happy about it now. As far as one could be in this kind of situation of course.

Then when Mat returned with Leila a weight, he didn't realise he'd been carrying was lifted from his heart, she was alive. Since then, several hours had passed, Mat had returned with some things from the train that they would soon need. He quickly described to Jonah what he had seen of the condition of the vehicle, which was cut into several parts as if it had been through a ... Whatever. Some of the parts of the vehicle had simply disappeared without anyone being able to guess where they were, not in this cave anyway, and among these missing parts of the train was the luggage compartment. Great! It was the longest speech he had ever heard from his, but he was grateful that he had taken on the dirty work.

Soon after Aurora woke up, and Leila took it upon herself to explain the situation to him. He didn't know Leila's friend very well, they had known each other since childhood, but living far away from each other they were only reunited once they arrived at the university. Since then, with the recent setbacks with his girlfriend, he hadn't had time to get to know her, she was pretty in a tall, dark, slender way, not his style but Ronan would have liked her.

At this thought, Jonah stands still. Ronan... He could still see the empty look in his eyes, his insides spilling out from a wound in his abdomen. Jonah shook his head violently, attracting Leila's attention, who gave him a questioning look. Jonah gave her a reassuring smile, which he hoped was not to be too shaky.

He had been so worried about her, he thought that now that she was with him anything was possible. It was silly but he couldn't help it.

All they had left was three bottles of water, a few packets of crisps, a cereal bar, a packet of sweets, their clothes, and a few things they had picked up on the train. Added to this was their mobile phone, which was now unusable, its battery has run down at an unusually fast rate.

He got up headed for the exit and looked around the forest again for a few minutes. He made his decision and returned to his comrades.

- Well," he began, "the sun will soon be setting, I suggest we stay here tonight and try to find someone tomorrow to tell us where we are and possibly take us home. Any questions?"

His fellow survivors looked at him strangely as if he had said something horrible.

- Are you serious, man?" said his best friend, incredulous, his first words since that terrible accident, leaving his daze for a few seconds. After these words he touched his head with a trembling hand, his eyes blurring again.

Although concerned for his friend Jonah continued:

- What? We're not going to sit around and wait for someone to come and save us eventually, see yourself out there, I don't know where we are but we're not at home. In our country I mean. I don't know how we got here but with the little food and water we have, we won't last long. If we don't act now, it will only get worse. So, I suggest we rest for a while and then leave at dawn.

Leila stares at him and then gives him a heart-warming little smile.

- He's right, there's no point in staying here and doing nothing, we might as well save ourselves.

Mat then stood up, gave a circular expressionless look, and spoke.

- I'm going to scout around, stay here.

- I'll come with you," Jonah said.

Mat stared at him for a few seconds and then shrugged. The others jumped to their feet and wanted to leave with them, a quick argument broke out and Jonah managed to convince them to stay here. Meanwhile, Mat had not waited for him, which forced him to speed up to catch up. Once outside, the sight of this majestic forest made him feel, wherever he was, it had the merit of being impressive.

They found themselves on top of a promontory which gave them a clear view of the forest. Mat had already left in the direction of the forest. Jonah didn't know him very well; all he knew about him was that he was an outsider. Even though their trip was meant to strengthen the bonds between the students, he had hardly participated in the festivities, preferring to stay in his corner. He always has a sombre air about him which made the other students generally avoid him. Given their situation it didn't matter.

After only a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the forest itself. These trees, some of them must be over 300 meters high or more, their leaves ranging from emerald, green to early autumn reddish brown. The two young men stayed close to the cave for fear of losing sight of it and for almost an hour circled it, mainly in search of water, perhaps some edible berries if they were lucky.

Jonah sensed that they would need all the resources they could get. They didn't find much except a small path through the woods, probably created by the local animals.

They would start down it tomorrow, but now he had better get back as the sky was getting darker. Jonah pointed this out to his companion of misfortune who, after having looked at him, without answering went off towards the cave. Strange guy, frankly. After 10 minutes of walking, they arrived at the entrance, they had gone further than they thought.

Their return provoked some reactions, many questions, and few answers, mostly given by Jonah. The rest of the evening remained tense, Mustapha suggested that they go and get some wood to make a fire, but nobody wanted to go out at night in this unknown region. In any case, Jonah doubted that they would be able to set fire even with Mustapha's lighter. They were city boys and none of them knew anything about living in the forest.

After what seemed like an eternity, he fell into a sleep filled with nightmares and horror that woke him up shortly before dawn not at all rested. It seems that this is the case for almost everyone...

*

They had been walking through the forest for almost two hours and already some were getting tired. Little players. They will run out of food and water soon. If a simple walk in the forest makes them so tired, how will they last when they have to walk hungry and thirsty? No wonder, such a situation must be shocking for them. Leila gave him a piercing look as if she had guessed Mat's thoughts. Was it because of the slight mocking smile he was showing? Her glare only made his smile widen. She didn't like him much. He didn't know why but he was pleasantly surprised by her behavior. She had recovered and was looking at her surroundings with such an expression that he felt sorry for those who would stand in her way. At least, he would have felt sorry if he was a normal young man. Well, in a manner of speaking, of course, if he had been a young man like any other, without his liabilities behind him, that's what he would have probably felt. All this left him quite indifferent. Or at least that's what he wants to make himself believe. It wasn't Mat's style to take on the role of babysitter for some credits but doing so made things really interesting now that they had arrived here.

He wanted to change, he got it, so he would be presumptuous to refuse what fate had given him. Not that he believes in fate, of course, but fate does things well... or worse. He had no friends among his comrades, but he didn't want them to die either, this tragic accident had done a lot of damage. It had brought back memories that he would have preferred to forget. Reawakening things that would have been better left asleep for him and the others. His left shoulder burned again, a bad sign.

- Wait," said Aurora. "It can't be!"

- What's not possible? What's going on," said Leila, suddenly alert.

Everyone froze, Mat looked around ready to fight if necessary.

- It's a Silene Stenophyll," she continued in wonder.

This time even Mat looked at her dumbfounded, impervious to the situation Aurora continued.

- This plant is supposed to have been extinct for 30,000 years, I stumbled upon it when I was researching a paper. I heard that some scientists had managed to revive it, but I don't understand, even if it had spread, it shouldn't be able to grow here, it's not supposed to survive in a climate like this, unless...

- Wait," Leila cut her off, "you're making all this fuss over a plant!"

- It's not just a plant! It's a plant that's supposed to be extinct, to find it here is just fantastic.

She leaned closer, totally disconnected from the incongruity of the scene. After having stranded who knows where with a train carriage in a cave not even big enough to let the carriage in, she still managed to take an interest in an unfortunate plant.

The youngest of her family, Aurora was a friendly and easy-going girl, although Mat had never spoken to her, he had heard of her, she was one of those sunny personalities who made everyone feel at ease and always ready to help. She exuded joie de vivre. Highly smart, she also had an exceptional memory. But not much sense, it seems.

Mat laughed inwardly, once again reflecting on the incredible nonsense of humanity, although in truth it was her total incompetence in understanding others that made her realize this. Then suddenly an indistinct line crossed the air and came to rest a few centimeters away from Aurora's hand. Who, no longer captivated by her plant, yelped and jumped back.

Everyone turned to face the direction from which the projectile had come when a young woman emerged from the thicket with a bow in her hand and a notched arrow aimed at Mat. Of course, it had to be me, he would have said if he hadn't been breathless at the sight of the creature. For whatever it was it was not human, and it was not because of the creature's tapered ears that he thought this, which he only noticed at the very end, but because of its beauty. He had never seen a more beautiful being in his life, and the look in her eyes held so much promise, in this case of death, that Mat was captivated as he had never been in his life. Her hair was silver, and she was almost tall enough to look him in the eye, although she had such a presence that it made her seem much taller. She looked barely older than Marie the younger of them, which her ice eyes seemed to agree with, but there was something more to her that he couldn't quite identify.

- What? A fucking elf now," he heard Mustapha mutter.

She spoke then, in a language none of the young adults knew, with a voice so melodious that if Mat had not heard it he could not have even imagined that such a sound could exist. When she saw their area of incomprehension, her pretty eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes flashed back to Mat as if it were his fault. He was wondering what he had done to her. She let go of her arrow and it flew at high speed a few centimeters from his face. Maybe he shouldn't have smiled at her. She notched a second arrow so quickly that he saw only a blurred gesture and the young man began to worry seriously about his survival when another group of these creatures came out of the thickets all around them, arrow notched and looking extremely uncomfortable. This time it was certain, they were going to die.

- Ah, that's interesting," said Mat, and he grinned.