Several grueling days passed, with Theo and Rayn repeatedly delving into the dark cave.
Each visit was a new plunge into the heart of the unknown.
But this time, Theo felt something different; the traps seemed deadlier, as if their intensity had insanely increased since the last time.
This didn't mean they were dangerous, but rather that their difficulty had significantly increased compared to the first times that nearly cost Theo his life.
Nevertheless, for a reason not entirely clear to Theo, he had to start from scratch this round, as if all the progress he had made in the past days had been wiped away in one stroke. He wondered about the reason for this radical difference, was Rayn's presence a factor? Had something unexpected happened deep within the cave that changed its nature? He didn't dwell long on these questions, as the task at hand required complete focus.
Perhaps it really had gotten harder.
But it was also thanks to the knowledge Theo had gained about the nature of these traps and how to deal with them. His movements had become more fluid, his reactions faster and more accurate. And there was no doubt that Rayn's help, though sometimes annoying, was tangibly beneficial.
Rayn, with his physical strength and direct thinking, was able to handle some traps that required brute force or quick reactions, complementing Theo's skills, which leaned more towards dodging and magical control.
And now, as the sun began to dip towards the horizon, sending its last golden rays in a majestic farewell to the day, those rays reflected on the dense leaves of the trees surrounding Eitherville village, coloring the edge of the forest with red and orange hues before the creeping darkness swallowed them.
The cool air coming from deep within the forest carried the scent of damp earth mixed with the fragrance of wild plants stubbornly growing between the ancient roots of the trees.
In this decisive moment between light and darkness, Theo stood before the dark mouth of the cave, his thin body clearly bearing the marks of previous battles, dark bruises that had not yet faded, and superficial wounds that had not fully healed, all testimony to the physical exhaustion he had reached.
Behind him, Rayn stood, watching him with looks mixed with adventurous enthusiasm and a hidden concern for his friend.
His body, too, was laden with injuries, perhaps more than Theo's in their last encounter with the traps, but with Theo's help and his healing magic, he was able to recover faster this time.
At the same time, Theo used Rayn's presence as a perfect cover to hide the truth of his repeated adventures inside the cave from his mother, who watched him with great concern every time he headed towards the forest.
Rayn's hands held a strong grip on a slightly worn iron sword, its blade bearing the marks of blows and scratches it had sustained from constant friction with the cave's harsh traps.
'Damn this cave! I'll definitely kill its maker if I ever discover his identity!' This thought crossed the minds of both Rayn and Theo at the same moment, as a shared expression of the suffering they had endured because of this cursed place. They had suffered greatly, and felt that the cave's difficulty had doubled, perhaps as a reaction to Rayn's entry, or perhaps its constantly changing nature.
Theo took his first steps inside the cave, the darkness slowly swallowing him, as if it were an endless tunnel extending to the heart of the earth. He crossed the threshold of the entrance, and felt a damp cold seep from the rocky walls and touch his skin.
An ancient smell, a mixture of damp earth, centuries of decay, and perhaps remnants of old blood, dominated the place, evoking a feeling of distress and constriction.
He advanced slowly and cautiously, raising his hand, on which he had formed a small ball of fire magic, illuminating his way with a faint light dancing on the dark walls. Rayn followed him in complete silence, his steps calculated to avoid making any noise that might reveal their location.
But Theo suddenly turned to him, determined to deliver a clear message: "Rayn, if you feel anything strange, retreat immediately without hesitation. Don't wait for me, and don't try to save me no matter what happens. I... I don't want to see you get hurt because of me again. Your safety is more important."
Rayn smiled foolishly, a smile that carried a great deal of familiar stubbornness, then said in a friendly tone that hid his determination,
"You always try to get rid of me like this, don't you? Don't worry, Theo, I know how to protect myself well. You're the one who needs to pay attention to the wounds that fill your body now. Do you believe you're still able to walk after all this?"
Theo didn't reply with words, content with a slight nod that expressed his understanding of Rayn's words and his endearing stubbornness.
He continued walking, while his black eyes gleamed with a mysterious, incomprehensible color under the light of the small fire, as if the darkness he mastered was reflected in them.
Every step he took inside the cave caused him a slight pain in his exhausted muscles, but he didn't allow any sigh or sign of weakness to escape his lips.
After several more steps inside the cave, where the tunnel began to widen slightly, Theo suddenly felt a slight tremor in the ground beneath his feet.
This tremor was not caused by wind magic or natural rock movement, but rather as if it were the effect of a being, an entity watching them from the shadows, sensing their presence. Theo raised his other hand, and darkness quickly gathered around him, forming a light but protective shadow shield around his body, in preparation for any potential attack.
"Do you feel something, Theo?" Rayn said in a low voice that showed increasing concern.
Theo nodded in confirmation, then requested in a low, firm voice: "Focus well. Don't make any unnecessary noise beyond the absolute necessity."
At that decisive moment, before either of them could move, sharp blades of wind appeared, as if materializing from the darkness itself, moving at astonishing speed towards them.
Theo raised his other hand, which was empty, and a ball of pure darkness formed, expanding at tremendous speed to create a barrier that effectively blocked the first blades. But some were fast and sudden, succeeding in penetrating the edges of the shadow shield, wounding Rayn's arm.
Rayn cried out in sudden pain, but Theo was faster in his reaction, he grabbed his injured arm and pulled him away from the path of the remaining blades, while the wind blades vanished into the air as if they had never existed.
Theo said to himself, his concentration doubling, 'This isn't just an ordinary trap... There's something, a conscious entity, watching us and manipulating us.'
He turned to Rayn, whose hand was bleeding slightly, and asked him with clear concern,
"Can you continue, Rayn? The wound isn't serious, but if you feel you can't, don't hesitate to go back."
Rayn sighed, clutching his sword even tighter, then replied with a stubbornness befitting him,
"I'm not that weak, Theo. Don't treat me like a small child who can't handle a simple wound. I'm here to help you, not to be a burden on you like a heavy bag, and besides, I assumed we were going to see that mysterious statue you were talking about, as you had planned. What happened to that plan?"
Theo smiled a faint, sarcastic smile, and said to himself with increasing exasperation,
"And do you think I'm the one who knows the reason for this sudden change? Damn it, what's happening in this place?"
The two advanced deeper into the cave, until they reached a larger room, which seemed like a vast hall carved into the rock.
The walls surrounding the hall were covered with ancient and mysterious drawings, as if telling a forgotten story.
The drawings showed fighters of immense stature, several heads taller than his coach Kyle, wearing armor and war tools adorned with strange symbols that Theo had never recognized before, and around these giant fighters, black ghostly creatures resembling shadows appeared, but they were characterized by glowing red eyes, evoking a feeling of dread and mystery.
'Damn it, even these walls have changed! I've been here before and didn't see these drawings! What's happening in this cursed place?'
Theo suddenly stopped, frozen in place in front of one of these walls. "What's wrong? Why did you stop suddenly?" Rayn asked with concern and some annoyance.
"These drawings..." Theo whispered in a voice that held surprise and horror, his eyes fixed on the wall as if under the influence of a hidden force. "They... they weren't here before. But they're saying something mysterious... They're written in a very ancient language, a language I don't know, but I feel like I understand it and at the same time I don't understand it at all."
Rayn scoffed and said with slight sarcasm, trying to lighten the tension, "That's a bit scary, Theo, isn't it?"
Theo didn't reply to Rayn's sarcasm, his gaze remained fixed on the wall, then he carefully bent down to wipe the drawings with his hand, as if an unseen force was pushing him to do so. The moment he touched the wall, a faint sound emanated from within it, it wasn't just an echo or an illusion, but it was as if the voice of an ancient spirit, an ancient entity trying to communicate with him across time and rock.
"You are the future, you are the sacrifice."
The voice returned again, but this time it was much closer, deeper in tone, and clearer and more resonant in Theo's ear.
Theo froze completely in his place, his eyes involuntarily widening with shock and terror mixed with mystery. This was the voice he had heard before, the voice his aunt Celia had spoken of, but now it was here, deep within the cave, calling out to him directly.
Rayn noticed Theo's sudden change and his pale face, and said with increasing concern, "Theo! What's wrong? What's happening?"
"I heard a sound," Theo said in a barely audible voice, then turned to Rayn, eagerly asking, "Didn't you hear it too?"
Rayn stood motionless for a few moments, then looked around the dark room, but he heard nothing but the sound of their accelerated breathing. He said to Theo, trying to explain what was happening with simple logic, "You're imagining things, Theo, maybe your injuries and exhaustion are affecting your mind and senses."
Theo remained silent for the rest of the way, but he raised his guard to the utmost limits, trying to catch any other sign, any sound, any whisper that might indicate the presence of that mysterious entity or the source of the voice.
He thought for a moment about his aunt Celia, who had left to search for answers concerning him a year ago, and still hadn't returned.
Both Theo and Rayn walked forward, their hearts pounding with different rhythms of tension and anxiety. Until they found the same door that was there last time, the door leading to the inner room. But it was radically different now, it was larger, more luxurious, and more terrifying, as if it were a living entity, welcoming his arrival even more, inviting him in so he would never leave again.
As Theo stepped into the inner chamber, he felt a strange and painful sensation; his old scars, previously caused by the cave's traps, began to ache severely again, as if pulsating in sync with the repeated phrase echoing in his mind, "You are the future, you are the sacrifice." In contrast, Rayn noticed nothing unusual; it seemed as though an invisible barrier surrounded the door and the room, a barrier that allowed only Theo to pass, or perhaps targeted Theo alone with this strange effect.
Suddenly, Theo felt a cold and terrifying hand touch him from behind, an invisible hand whose sensation was real and horrifying. "What's wrong? Won't you bring your friend with you, Theo?" the voice whispered, the same mysterious voice, but now very close, directly behind him.
Theo jumped in terror, using his speed to move away from his spot at lightning speed, and turned to look at the figure that had now appeared before him.
It was darkness incarnate, a mass of absolute blackness, darker than Theo's own element, as if it were the embodiment of darkness itself.
Its only visible eyes in that blackness were two glowing red circles, burning intensely in the dark. The entity was exactly Theo's height, possessed the same new sword Theo had recently found, the same shoulder-length hair as Theo, and even the same torn clothes bearing the marks of the cave's traps.
Its body was gradually forming into Theo's shape!
It was Theo, but at the same time, it was not Theo at all. It was a terrifying embodiment of something connected to him.
"Wh... what are you?" Theo said in a broken, trembling voice, his eyes trying to overcome the shock and terror that were currently engulfing him; he had begun to feel true fear creeping into his heart, and his heart began to pound madly, preparing for something unknown to come.
"Me? Even I don't entirely know what I am now, but do you even know what you are?" the dark entity said, its voice an echo of Theo's voice but deeper and more terrifying. "Perhaps I am you who was beaten and humiliated by Kyle? Perhaps I am the part of you that felt greed and envy from your aunt Celia's power? Perhaps..." Theo interrupted him, screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to silence this terrifying voice that read his thoughts and buried emotions: "Silence!!"
Theo said in a biting tone of anger: "Don't you dare say these things in my appearance! Do you dare to continue?"
"Perhaps you mean the part of you that feels annoyed or neglected by your mother? Don't worry, I won't mention that part now," the darkness said, smiling a wide and disgusting grin, its lips formed from darkness reaching its ears.
Theo showed anger as a mask he hid behind, but in reality, he didn't feel anger alone, but rather fear growing within him, and anxiety, and weakness, and many conflicting emotions, but fear was the dominant one, paralyzing his body and preventing him from thinking clearly.
He was even trying at this moment to use the element of darkness he mastered to defend himself or attack, but the darkness itself was trying to rebel against him and possess him! For the first time in his life, he saw his element, an integral part of him, trying to rebel against him, and not only that, but it even tried to completely possess his being now! Theo's terror was growing unimaginably!
'How, how is this happening? Darkness, my element, disobeys me?'
"Hahahaha, darkness won't work for you here, Theo, and of course it disobeys you. Are you really the true Theo? Do you really exist or are you just an illusion? You are just a weak copy of me now," the darkness continued with scathing sarcasm.
"Oh, and don't forget to try using fire magic, because it might explode in your hands now and burn you from the inside."
Theo remembered the provocative warning of the darkness, and in a moment of despair, he indeed tried to use the "Flame Fingers" technique he learned from his aunt, but he felt a burning pain in his hands, as if they were about to melt from the sudden and uncontrollable heat.
'Why, why is fire rejecting me too? Why??'
Those questions, why? Why? Why? Why?
They began to echo in his mind as a loud and painful sound, striking the walls of his exhausted consciousness.
'Why do I always lose? Why can't I get what I want so badly?'
Theo's mind was already filled with madness, and he began to babble strange, incomprehensible words, a mixture of ancient language and confused thoughts. His breathing accelerated greatly, as if his body was preparing to collapse.
Negative thoughts began to invade his mind mercilessly, reminding him of all his moments of weakness, all his failures, everything he tried to hide and deny from himself and from others.
Theo was very talented, a natural talent that might never appear again in future generations, but in contrast, his mind was very weak, fragile in the face of psychological pressures.
He always used to repeat words like will and determination and some encouraging sayings, but in reality, he used them as a mask to cover his mental weakness, as a shield to protect himself from confronting the reality of his inner weaknesses.
"Hahahaha, look at yourself now! You are so weak, Theo!" The dark entity began to move slowly towards Theo, its shadows stretching to wrap around him as if preparing to swallow him. "Now it's time for you to return to your true origin, Theo, to where you belong in the darkness."
The darkness devoured Theo slowly, swallowing him into its absolute blackness. The helpless and weak boy, deceiving himself and running from the truth, found himself drowning in this blackness that was once the source of his strength.
"Now it's time to get rid of some annoying obstacles." This was the last thing Theo heard, the voice of the dark entity, before the darkness completely covered him and he lost consciousness, drowning in the depths of unconsciousness.
At the same moment the darkness swallowed Theo, the cave walls began to shake violently, as if the whole place was protesting what had happened. Outside, Rayn was still shaking Theo, who stood before him, his body frozen in place for a full hour, his eyes closed, unresponsive to any attempt to wake him or move him.
'Damn it, what's happening now! Something happened inside! I have to move!' Rayn cursed his bad luck and felt despair seeping into his heart, he had to make a quick and decisive decision, in a moment of truth, he decided with a heart aching with pain.
'Sorry Theo, forgive me, I'll take good care of your mother in your absence.' Then he made his decision to quickly flee the cave.
Rayn looked back with a trembling heart as he ran with his weak, exhausted body towards the remaining exit. He saw the door that Theo was inside slowly closing, not by an external force, but by a strangely shaped rock wall appearing from the ground, growing to completely seal the entrance.
But he saw for the last time, before the wall completely closed, that Theo was still and stable in his place inside the closed room.
Seeing this strange stability, despite everything, gave him a little reassurance amidst the chaos and terror; he found nothing falling on or around Theo.
Rayn rushed towards the outside, running with all the strength he had left.
Rayn did indeed exit the cave, and spent several days in the surrounding forest, hiding and healing himself as best he could.
His progress in healing was slow and very difficult without Theo's help and his healing abilities.
Slow and heavy days passed, until a full week had passed since Theo and Rayn disappeared from the village. At the end of the week, Rayn emerged from the forest, rushing towards Theo's house, carrying a paper in his hand that he had found by chance in his clothes while searching, and tried to write a few words on it with a pen he found on the road, hoping to calm Theo's mother's anxiety.
'I never thought hiding Theo would be this difficult! Damn everything!' Rayn thought anxiously as he rushed, then slowed down a little and thought carefully about the words he would write, trying to imitate Theo's way of speaking to make the story seem convincing.
Rayn finally reached Theo's house, to find his mother Elena already standing outside the house, waiting for him with extreme anxiety. Her body seemed more fragile and weaker than the last time he saw her, and signs of worry and exhaustion were evident on her face. 'Damn it!' Rayn cursed again to himself, and felt the weight of the situation. He ran towards her with all his remaining speed.
"Auntie, Auntie, how are you?" Rayn returned to his usual persona, trying to hide his tension. But Elena didn't give him a chance, she grabbed his collar firmly, her eyes sharp as a blade, screaming at him in a tone filled with fears and despair: "Rayn! Tell me now, where is Theo?! Where is my son?!" Elena's eyes burned with worry and anger, and Rayn felt intense fear engulf him, he almost forgot all the warnings he had prepared in his mind.
"Ah, please, Auntie, wait a little and I'll tell you everything," he said, trying to resist Elena's strong grip until she calmed down a little.
"If you don't tell me where he is now, you'll regret it, Rayn, truly regret it!" Elena tried to pretend to be calm, but her voice and trembling hands revealed her extreme anxiety.
For the first two days, she felt the usual anxiety about Theo's delay, but by the beginning of the fourth day, the anxiety turned into deep terror. She stood waiting outside the door for three continuous days without entering, worried that Theo might return seriously injured and she would be late in providing him with help and treatment.
"Finally you've calmed down, Auntie. Theo actually found a strange cave, and I was with him at first. Oh, and don't worry, those injuries you see on my body are not from any monster, but from Theo himself, as I was threatening to tell you what he was doing and he got angry with me and hit me," Rayn said, looking at Elena out of the corner of his eye cautiously, and found her calming down a little and believing him. Then he continued to lie with unexpected skill: "In fact, he has now found, I don't know how to explain it exactly, but he says it's like a spell or a very powerful new training method, and this training method requires him to be inside the cave only for a period. He will return as soon as he finishes it." Rayn said, hiding the distorted paper in his hand, realizing it wouldn't help at this moment.
Elena was still at the peak of her anxiety, and had not completely calmed down, she said in a firm tone that would not accept discussion "If he doesn't return within two weeks from now, you will take me to him, Rayn!" Then she looked at him with greater threat and her eyes burning "I will tell your family that you will stay with me for these two weeks until Theo returns, and don't worry, I will feed you and take care of you, but you will not leave the house except to go with him to the cave."
Rayn felt an intense threat, stronger than any trap in the cave, "Auntie, I can promise you that there will be no real danger to Theo inside-" Rayn said trying to alleviate her anxiety, but Elena interrupted him with clear anger and concern "Silence! I told you you will stay with me, and you will go to Theo daily to help him and take care of him!"
Rayn cursed his extreme bad luck at this crucial moment, and surrendered completely, not daring to object for fear that other worse plans might appear in Elena's mind in the following sentences.
'Damn it, what do I do now? You have to come back soon, Theo, you have to come back before I die here because of your mother's worry and stubbornness!' Rayn thought in absolute despair, accepting his new fate as Elena's forced companion and Theo's personal assistant, who knew nothing of his current state in his mysterious cave.