I looked back to see Itzel's silent tears falling down her face as Arya's blood splatter stared at me in disdain. I couldn't believe what had happened.
Itzel fell to her knees as she wept and held the half of her body that remained, and her body was shuddering and shaking. I began sprinting back, knowing we had to go.
"Itzel, I… we… errrm,"
I couldn't find the words to say. What words could help a girl who had just lost her mother? I didn't have the answer. What would I have told myself after my grandad died? No words would comfort me after losing my world. Either way, I knew that I would have to drag the poor girl from her mother, we were still being hunted after all.
I put my arm on her shoulder to comfort her as a tear formed in my eye
"Look, Itzel, I'm so sorry for everything, but I made a promise to your mum, and I need to get you out of here."
She stared back at me like I'd stabbed her in the heart. Her face contorted in anger, and as she opened her mouth to yell at me, just as quickly she looked back to her mother and whispered
"I love ya ma," she said between the sniffles of her cries and got up to finally leave this place.
We began to find our way through the maze that was this building.
It didn't take a genius to see how upset she was as we continued down the corridors, and as we ran, she threw up more times than I thought a girl of her size could. Despite us having to stop, we were making good ground. I could tell she wanted to blame me for her mother's death, and she would be entitled to, after we made it out. Back in the caves, death was always around the corner; it was common to see loved ones die, and it was just as common to go back to Katabasis the next day. We continued to work; we felt it gave our lives purpose. There was often little time to mourn while trying to survive everyday life. It was good for productivity, but it meant we often didn't confront death. In this moment, I feel like it's a weakness, despite having spent my whole life thinking it's a strength. I didn't know how to help this girl. I would have to deal with that as soon as we make it out of here.
As we made it through the corridors, I continued to think about that, and I dreaded it. I also thought about Vidhya, I failed him, my first friend that I made on the surface. How would I even get to tell him? I was selfish for ruining this family. I shook my head, knowing I couldn't think about this at the moment, and continued to run ahead following the way that we thought it was.
Eventually, we made it to a room with a button labelled 'shutter'. I considered whether to press it, and eventually decided we should. They would know, through direction, that we ran to, and that Vidhya could only hold them in one place for so long. As I pushed it into a metal cage, the door locked.
After that, we continued forward, albeit slower than before. Itzel was tired to say the least; I couldn't keep just pushing her to her limits. Slowly, we finally found another sign for an exit and lights leading to a door. Cautiously, I began to approach as Itzel was close behind me. I breathed deeply as I opened the door, my Talons Edge drawn and ready for danger, and found myself in a large, bright square room. Opposite me was a door labelled 'exit', and between us was a thin, pale man sitting, sharpening his blade with a light smile across his face and a platinum blonde fringe half-covering his eyes. He hummed jovially to himself as the sharpening of his weapon made a high-pitched shink that echoed throughout the room, almost as if the very particles surrounding us were warning us of the danger of the weapon. My grip tightened at the handle of my blade, and I protectively covered Itzel. I had already failed to uphold one promise; I would not fail Itzel, too.
"Why are you guys so nervous? Relax a bit, come on, you guys made it far already, have a bit of faith."
The man smiled at us, almost kindly. His look shocked me. This guy was different to the rest we'd faced. He was the only one who looked my age, a teenager, and yet a man grown. I circled the man, trying to get as close to the exit as I could. He sighed loudly as I stopped.
"Look, I'll give you an option if you want: you can let that little girl go. I don't want to have to kill a little girl, but I will if I must. It's unlikely she'll make it out after leaving this room, but it's more likely than her surviving in this room with me and it'll put you at risk; so it's a win-win situation I don't have to kill the girl, and she has a chance to escape with her life while you fight me without having to protect the girl too. So… what will it be?"
I contemplate and look at Itzel as she's shaking, still traumatised by the death of her mother. She won't survive out there alone, but maybe if I beat this guy and can meet up with her, we have a chance. But it all depends on how strong he is. For all I know, he could beat me in an instant. What would give her the best chance? No, this guy could definitely kill her, that's a fact, there isn't more to think of it, either she dies here or has a slim chance of survival outside. The choice was clear.
"Itzel, I'm sorry for failing you and failing your mother. Leave, follow the plan we have, and I will try to meet you. Don't wait for me; keep going forward no matter what. If you can't do it for yourself, do it for your mother. Don't worry about me, I'll fight like hell here, and if I die I'll pay for my mistakes." I didn't look at her or the expression on her face, and I didn't hear her walk up behind me. She must've been hesitating. However, as soon as that happened, I heard her crying again as she whispered.
"I'm sorry," and shakily began walking toward the exit, leaving without the man even attempting to intervene.
"So now that it's just us two, why are you doing this charade. You people are all untrained; there is no hope of you beating me here, so why do this?"
"Say that to the last person I fought here," I said as I flashed him the blood on my blade. However, his expression didn't change.
"Whoever you killed was weak; those people are all weak. They can't even understand how this world works. Gods, all they do is sit around, stuck in Hypnos all day. They feel superior merely because they have people below them to crush beneath their boot, but they fail to even realise what is above them, like ants who fail to gaze upon the stars. They are all fools who don't even understand how pitiful they are. I see it though, I have always seen it, that the people of this world should not be afraid of admitting the truth and realising we should reach higher, that is the pur…"
I lunge at him, blade drawn, straight for his throat. However, it seemed that he was not as unprepared as I had hoped. His feet made him float away gracefully, still smiling.
"That's incredibly rude, you know, actually, I doubt a person like you would know, lesser beings do not know what it is like to have the grace of a true warrior."
I whirl and slice at his leg, and he dodges again, making it seem easier than the last. However, this time he also lashed out with his blade sharply, as he cartwheeled over my head. I was forced to turn my spin into a slide. If I didn't, the blade would have cut straight through my skull. Instead, he cut my cheekbone with his chokuto. Even his arm moved faster than any I had seen. However, I did not back down; I continued forward. I knew from our first exchange that he was faster than I; however, my curved blade was slightly longer. I would need to find the sweet spot with my range, while also somehow dealing with his speed. In practice, though, his strikes were swift and precise. They were beyond me.
I was riddled with tiny cuts, each leaking blood. None were deep or severe; they reminded me of the cuts I would gain in the mines. The blows weren't what worried me. It was the fact that I had yet to land a significant strike, and, more importantly, that time was running against me.
"Your mistake was made before we even began fighting. No one is ever defeated unless defeat has been accepted as reality. A famous fighter in Old Amerika had once said, and I believe it to be true." He smiled smugly at himself as if he saw an answer that no one else could. His pretentiousness was beginning to bleed out, and it was fucking annoying to hear. I breathed in deeply, knowing that I would need to defeat him by any means.