Leaving the house, everything seemed a lot more alive, there were more people walking on the uneven streets, but there was still a faint gloom about the scenario that I couldn't quite pinpoint one reason, maybe the fact that despite the number of people walking about, it was ominously quiet. It wasn't completely silent, there was some noise, but it sounded all very faint and distant, which was strange given the size of the place.

Most of the people were using robes of a brownish color, with different garments on top of it, but aside from that and the fact that they were content on living underground, there was nothing out of the ordinary about them, though some did look a bit scrawny.

Now taking a better look at the place, it was truly amazing, there were almost no crystals on the ground, but the ones on the roof strongly resembled the night sky, giving the place a perpetual moonless night. The houses blended in a fantastical way with the landscape, with some having their entrance down near the paths, while others were on upper areas, or on top of other houses, all shaped in a rough way that gave a "natural" feeling to them, most of the wooden houses were on top of elevated wooden platforms or on the huge branches crossing through the cave above us, with wooden bridges interlacing them. There were candle flames burning inside some of the houses, I could see them far, even in the giant pillars of the cave, and I had seen many more from above, before, which meant that an insane amount of people lived there, not knowing about the outside world, not even conceiving it as a possibility.

"It's here," he said, stopping in front of one of the houses closer to the ground and knocking on the door. "it's Drak."

One of the pretend soldiers opened the door, Drak's companion, the one that had confirmed the authenticity of the pendant, Nambu. The house looked almost exactly like the one before, except there wasn't any carpets, and was a bit more spacious and with a few more candles. There were three more soldiers inside—all whom I remembered seeing in the prison when I first got to Arness—Alma and two other men that were probably the residents, by how they were dressed.

"What happened?" asked Alma.

"What are you two still doing here?" asked Drak, adressing the two men. "Don't you have to work?"

"No, yes, we-we were just going," said one of the men, hurrying to the door.

"Excuse me," said the other when passing by us.

It was only after they were gone for a minute or two that Drak spoke, "Hadrum is dead," he said.

"What?! What are you talking about?" Asked Alma.

"Your friend here wanted to be the hero and fucked everything up," said Drak, "I told you not to bring him, I told you this was a bad idea. And now here we are, our guarantee into entering the capital is dead."

"Hold on, what exactly happened?"

"I was just trying to save them," I said, trying to maintain my tone composed.

Why was he acting like I was in the wrong? What was I supposed to do, then? Let that family be tortured and die?

"Oh, is that so? And how did that go? Tell me again how many people are alive in that house."

"I did what I could to save them," I said.

"No, you did what you could to make yourself feel better about something you can't change."

"What did you want from me, then?! To do nothing and watch them die?!" I shouted.

His fist came fast to my face, I fell, more because of the surprise than the impact, though it did hurt.

"Enough, Drak! I'll handle him," said Alma.

"Shut up! And keep your voice down, none of this would've happened if you didn't bring this guy along for no fucking reason, now we'll do things my way," he said. "Answering your question, Mika, that's exactly what you should've done, nothing. You weren't even supposed to be here in the first place."

In that, we can agree, I thought.

"I just want to go home," I said, wiping the blood running down my nose.

"You can go wherever you want, after we finish what we started," he said, "and now that the prince is dead—"

"You were the one who killed him."

"—because of your mess, I need you as part of our new story to pass through the gate. Don't try me again, people will inevitably die because of what we are doing, but it's a necessary sacrifice, and I'll impale you myself before letting you jeopardize everything."

"You weren't there."

The more obvious anger on his face vanished, leaving a cold stare of subtle hate.

"No... I wasn't, but you were, so why is that girl laying faceless on a pool of her own blood, while you are here, feeling pity for yourself and coming up with excuses as to why?" he said.

I couldn't find the words to answer.

"That's what I thought. Shum, bring Setros here," he continued.

"Do I really have to?" asked the soldier laying on the ground, a tall man with a long face and an uniform that barely fit his body, he had slightly pointed ears and a sickly pale skin, "can't Yina go?"

Drak just gave him a sharp look.

"Fiiine," he said, with a sigh.

"What now?" asked the woman that was standing by the wall near Drak, she had light brown skin and hard features that still managed to look very feminine.

"When Setros gets here, I'll tell you all our new plan, then tell the others as opportunities arise."

"How bad is it? Now that we don't have Hadrum," she asked.

"Bad."

Alma crouched near me and asked, "What happened?"

But I couldn't bring myself to answer, all I could do was lay there and question if it was really my fault, imagine scenarios where things could have gone better, what I could've done or shouldn't have done. The scenes kept repeating in my head, the boy was the first to die, there was nothing I could do about that, it was too sudden; then the father, maybe I should've stopped them then, maybe that Len guy could've saved him. Why didn't I do something? Was I afraid? I shouldn't have hesitated. Even when I did act, I failed, the girl ended up dying, and all I did was watch. Could I have done something if it was Asha?

Asha.

"—you hearing me?" said Drak.

When I came to, Shum was already back with Setros and they were gathered around me.

"What?"

"Pay attention, wether I want it or not, you're a part of this now, so I'll explain the plan from the beginning for you to understand," said Drak. "Shum."

"What now?"

"Stand guard, I don't want the only hope for this people to be ruined by curious ears among themselves."

"But don't I need to hear it too?" asked Shum.

"Do you want to?" asked Drak.

"Em, guess not."

"Knock if one of the guards appear," said Drak.

"Sure thing."

When Shum left and closed the door, Drak began speaking.

"We've acted suspicious enough for one fade, so pay attention because I have to be fast and I'll only explain it once. I'll say this not only for Mika, who's apparently completely clueless as to what we are doing, but to remind you all why we are doing it," he said. "The people of Arness might not be aware of it, but their future relies on this mission, on us. We are the ones shouldering the weight of their hopes, the fuel to prevent humanity's fire from fading."

He looked at each of us in turn, pausing longer for me.

"If we fail, humanity will continue to suffer until there's no one else to die. If we succeed, we may be able to find another home, a safer home, bigger, where we won't have to sacrifice anyone ever again," he said, then looked at no one in particular. "Whether we succeed or fail, one thing is for certain, by the end of all of this, I'll have the king's severed head in my hands, and this is how we're gonna do it..."