04

I started to surround the space from the top, sneaking into the narrow trail around the cave. The trail ended right on top of the exit, so I would just need to jump and face whatever the ground was outside. I just hoped they weren't stones anymore, or I might as well hit my head.

However, the biggest danger was in what I was doing at that moment since I needed to hold on to the wall of sharp stones and balance my tired feet on a path that was no more than a few centimeters so that only the tips of my boots could touch the trail.

I held against the stones as if my life depended on that, and I was advancing little by little. At the pace I was in, I would need Vraxlon to cut the whole creature so that it could not reach me, and that was in fact what was happening.

Even with each cut of the deadly sword and strong enough to cut the animal, another membrö always grew in place, making it incompatible. And he continued without the slightest sign that he was getting tired, although the prince-warrior who attacked him so little showed this sign.

It was a fight that could last for days. And my arms were already more than sore when I was almost about to reach the end of the wall, biting my lip to avoid making any sound, because I knew that the animal could decide to kill me and Vraxlon couldn't do more than cut off one of his legs, just so that it would grow instantly again.

The animal kept screaming, agitated, although it continued to advance against Vraxlon, who, in turn, invested with cold and accurate blows of the sword.

Every time the blade touched the animal, a cloud of black smoke came out of its wounds, an effect of magic against its supernatural existence. I knew it would catch fire if it was still alive, but, dead, it could only lose its limbs.

Vraxlon kept fighting as I sneaked through the stone wall, controlling my breath or any tremor in the muscles that could make me fall with everything on the stones below.

It would have been much smarter to try to run between Vraxlon and the animal, but also much riskier. The animal would only need a single blow to throw me against the stones, and any fall would be deadly without magic to heal.

It was remembering this that I was startled when I heard the sound of metal breaking, and I turned to see Vraxlon's armor open against his chest, where the animal had managed to hit a punch. The steel opened, bending against the skin of the prince-warrior.

And I'm sure it would hurt if he could feel the pain. That the steel rubbing against his chest in every movement, so that his blood would flow over the darkness of the armor, would have caused him to release his sword and surrender to his wounds. But he couldn't feel the pain. He wasn't even shaken by the animal's attack.

I finally reached the end of the wall and pulled the edge of the exit hole, putting my head out. It was clear, and the vegetation on the ground didn't seem to be the same world we were in, so discordant. So, I turned my back to the exit and took care to put myself at the end of the trail against the wall, ready to throw myself.

"I got it," I shouted at Vraxlon.

The animal didn't even have time to turn its head to watch me, because Vraxlon got up from a jump and managed to cut it off. The animal fell, stunned, and Vraxlon passed over him in an agile race and made all his armor produce terrible sounds as the muscles tightened and relaxed.

The animal raised its head again, now grown again, and ran after the prince-warrior to prevent him from passing. When he was already a jump away, I jumped on my back and threw myself against the cold and lonely air of Purgatory.

Vraxlon caught me in the air, and I let out a scream by the startle. The fall would be ugly, but at least there would be a path of green grass to try to reduce the impact.

Far away, as if coming from another world, we hear the cry of the creature sound, enraged for having been deceived. Vraxlon put me on the ground, and his armor opened once and for all against his chest when he straightened out again.

"We still have a long way," he warned, and, observing the way I was looking at his armor, he added: "Don't worry about me. I can't die. You can.

"But I created a weapon that can kill creatures like you," I said, referring to the sword he again sheathed. "What guarantees that someone else can't have created something like that?

"The guarantee is that the person will have to go through that thing. "Vraxlon indicated the creature on the other side of the opening. "And I hope he takes much longer than us, and maybe we'll be far from here when he arrives with a gun like the one you made.”

"I would like to know how I made this sword, to begin with, "I reflected.

Vraxlon raised his head, watching the trees that surrounded us, and climbed what could be another mountain, now made of nature and all its dangers.

"You can ask the Oracle directly when we arrive," he said, then lowered his eyes again, and pointed to a path on the slope of that mountain. "I see a cave there. Maybe you can rest before proceeding.

I observed the cave that was hiding under some trees, the entrance taken by nature, with creeping plants and climbing plants that did not leave much in sight. And I looked again at the top of the mountain, whose trees remained still and silent. No sign of wind or sound of animals over there. It was scary.

"Yes, I need to rest," I agreed, turning my eyes back to Vraxlon.