Can a battle crazed hero be the savior of humanity?

Carolynn Jonas

Carolynn

Father had asked me to go outside the dome and pick up materials and Minerals for new weapons. When I was younger, he’d usually take me outside the capital with him whenever he wanted to get materials. He started trusting me to go by myself and even taking his interns with me recently. However! I didn’t see this development coming!

I had to go outside with that impulsive idiot Gin. One little mistake from him could get us killed, the outside was too unknown to act stupidly.

I had warned Gin before leaving the academy with him. I knew he wasn’t listening, I just had to satisfy my own conscience. I’ve known him since we were children, his father had good relations with mine, Naturally we saw each other a number of times.

By the time we left the capital, I could see the child-like amazement on his face, he looked like someone seeing the world for the first time.

The forgotten zones of Fritia, they were way different from the Dome city, Fritia’s capital.

I watched his face go from amazement, to shock, confusion and then disgust. Few interns act the same when they saw. How the poor who couldn’t afford life in the capital lived.

“These people, why are they being treated this way?” He asked, after being quiet for most of the journey.

“Some are fortunate, some are not. Isn’t that the nature of things?” I replied, not looking at his face because I could tell that he still had that look of disgust on his face.

“Does it have to be like this?” He asked again. His voice shook.

“It’s just the way things have always been. Deal with it” I said, walking ahead of him.

“Deal with it? It’s the way things have always been? Who made them this way?! The gods?! Or we humans. The way we act, it seems like we hate each other. We’re our own enemies. How could you even be so relaxed talking about something like this?!” Gin asked, pulling back my shoulder. I stopped.

On a normal day, I would have punched him so hard that he’d swallow his own teeth. For some reason, I didn’t get as upset as I usually did. Maybe it was because the questions he asked were questions I had asked myself time and time again.

“Well well, look at the power obsessed Gin getting all philosophical with me” I said. After a pause and a deep breath, I continued.

“Gin, you might think you know me, maybe you do know me. But not as well as you think you do. You have no right, absolutely no right to talk to me about being relaxed on the subject matter. My mother died out in these slums when my dad couldn’t afford to move our family into the capital. You didn’t know that, now did you? Take your hand off my shoulder. We should gather these materials and get the hell out of here” I shot him a cold glance and walked off.

For the rest of the journey, Gin walked slowly beside me. I knew him well enough to know that he felt sorry. He just didn’t know how to say it. I was okay with that, I didn’t want anyone’s sympathy. Especially not him.

The materials we were to gather were special gems from cave bodies.

According to the books, the caves weren’t always there. They formed around certain ruptures.

After a while of walking, we had found the first cave to search.

I looked at Gin, who had never been in a cave in his life.

“You need to stay close” I said.

He snickered “yeah, of course” he said.

“For once in your life, just once, can you try not to be an asshole? We don’t go deep into these caves, we don’t know what they hold. A little-“ I said,Gin interrupted my speech.

“I know, I know. A little carelessness could lead to a brutal death. Mr. Jonas already told me all of this.” He said.

“You know how to understand words, good. I’m just making sure you don’t get me or yourself in trouble” I said, walking into the cave.

Gin and I went back and forth for quite some time, but he finished getting the gems I instructed him to get.

I had him carry the backpack filled with the gems and other materials I picked up on the way out.

As we left the cave, I could hear an echo. By the second, it got louder and louder. It sounded eerie.

“Gin, did you hear that?” I asked.

“Hear what? I don’t hear anything. Sure you aren’t crazy, Carol?” Gin asked.

“I know what I heard. I think some other people might be in the deep parts of the cave. We have to go” I said.

“Why? What if they’re trapped?” Gin asked.

“Gin, sometimes the people here get violent when they see people from the capital. Do you think they are happy with the way they live?” I said, trying to pull him all.

He didn’t listen to me. Again, his stubbornness had gotten to him and he’d put himself, if not the both of us in danger. He threw down the backpack and ran inside the cave. So fast, his reflexes didn’t seem like that of an average human. I wasn’t surprised though, that was what the Sofiaso’s were like.

“Gin!!! Get back here!” I cried out but that didn’t stop him, I couldn’t catch up to him.

It was easy to locate him within the cave because of how the gems lit up the cave.

It happened so suddenly, in the blink of an eye. I could no longer see Gin whom I was chasing after. What I saw instead was a strange portal-like construct, similar to the ones transport mages used for their spells.

I stood confused in the moment, my knees trembled. Two things were sure, Firstly the structure in front of me was definitely a rupture. Secondly, Gin had gotten himself killed on my watch.

There were cases of people disappearing into the ruptures and never coming back.

Never had anyone come back from a journey into a rupture.

My lips shook. I couldn’t bring myself to accept the sight I had just seen. Screaming would have done me no good, so I didn’t.

I had always thought I was brave and strong. I thought about going in to get him. My feet just wouldn’t move.

“What just happened?” I muttered.