Novels2Search

E107-The ladder

The two kids entered the well and started descending the stairs to an uncertain destination. As soon as Apolo placed his hand on the stairs, he noticed with astonishment how the cold metal bars of the stairs pulsated like a very agitated heart. However, nothing more unusual happened, so the young man attributed the abnormality to the magic of the well and continued descending in search of Helena.

After a few minutes of descending what seemed like an endless staircase, Apolo began to notice that with each step he took, the staircase became colder and colder. It reached a point where he had to warm his hands with a faint flame so that his palms wouldn't stick to the steps. Simultaneously, with each step the children took, the heartbeat that could be felt from the metal bars became slower and slower, as if the "heart" inside the staircase was calming down.

The young continued descending for a few more minutes, feeling their bodies freezing. At this point, the environment had become so cold that Apolo and Homero couldn't stop shivering, exhaling white mist from their mouths. Nevertheless, they didn't stop and kept descending the staircase until the heartbeat coming from the metal bars stopped completely, and the opposite began to happen: the steps of the staircase started getting hotter and hotter as the brothers advanced. Meanwhile, the heartbeat from the inside of the cold metal bars started getting faster and faster, as if the "heart" inside the bars was awakening from its slumber and resuming its normal rhythm.

While this was happening, the temperature in the tunnel was improving, and the insistent heartbeat kept increasing its rhythm. It was then that Apolo realized the tunnel's exit was getting closer, and there were only a few more steps to climb the stairs: Climbing the stairs?!

—Since when did we stop going down and start going up?—Apolo asked, noticing the abnormality of the situation, stopping on one of the steps, unsure whether to continue climbing or not.

—No idea, it must be some kind of magic well: Don't overthink it, just keep climbing!—Homero replied, pushing the rear of his older brother, urging him to keep going.

—But wasn't the original idea to go down? Are we accidentally returning to the cave's surface?—Apolo asked, still unsure about what to do, trying to ignore his brother's insistence to think more calmly about what had just happened.

—With the few steps left, it's better to go up and see it with our own eyes: if we're wrong, we can try again!—Homero responded, pushing his brother's back more energetically.

Annoyed by the pushes, Apolo continued climbing the stairs, approaching the end of the magical well. As he climbed, Apolo noticed that at the bottom of the well, there was a metal hatch identical to the one at the entrance, although this one was closed, even though they had left it open. At first, when Apolo saw the closed hatch, he thought they had been deceived and left trapped in this magical well. Fortunately, Apolo noticed rusty lamps on the sides of the hatch that he had never seen before, indicating that this was the other exit of the magical well. Upon reaching the end of the well, Apolo tried to lift the hatch, but he immediately realized that there was a big problem: the hatch was closed and couldn't be opened!

—What's happening?—Homero asked with concern.

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—It won't open!—Apolo shouted, violently hitting the hatch. There was nothing more frustrating than going through all of this trouble just to find the exit door locked.

—Stop hitting the hatch or you'll break the lock, you ignorant brat!—Homero yelled angrily, his voice sounding quite distorted, as he hit Apolo's back.

—Did you bring the key?—Apolo asked, looking at the sides of the hatch to see if there was a spare key hidden among the rusty lamps.

—Of course, I brought the key, let me climb up to open the hatch!—Homero said confidently, though he was actually quite nervous. Drops of sweat had begun to trickle down his face, falling into the infinite darkness of the bottomless well.

—How do you plan to get in front of me? The well is too narrow: give me the key carefully, and you better not drop it while passing it to me—Apolo said, extending his hand downward, expecting to receive the key.

—Mmmm...—However, Homero didn't hand over any key to Apolo. Instead, he stared at his older brother as if he were a bit dazed, thinking about how he could get out of this giant problem without revealing to the boy that this was all a dream.

Getting to this point had taken the masked child months of research and work. However, the effort had paid off, and he had finally found the entrance to Helena's subconscious with the remnants of memory in the rusty ring. Patience had given the masked child the perfect opportunity to execute his plan: Apolo had gotten so drunk that he passed out, making this dream deep enough for the boy not to realize how distorted this "reality" was.

However, the masked child couldn't risk ruining all his effort due to Apolo's interference. So, he wanted to keep the dream as close to reality as possible, thereby preventing Apolo from "waking up" by discovering that this was just a dream. At least, that's what the masked child aimed for until he could uncover the secrets hidden in the rusty ring and successfully plant the seed of "truth" in Apolo's heart.

Nevertheless, to discover the real story of the rusty ring, there were still several defenses to overcome, such as this annoying hatch. For the masked child, these defenses were quite simple to overcome. The real problem was navigating all these defenses in a way that Apolo wouldn't be aware of what he was doing, thus ensuring that this entire dream would remain imprinted in the young noble's subconscious like a ticking bomb that the masked child could detonate at the right moment.

—Did you bring the key or not?!—Apolo shouted with annoyance when he saw his younger brother freezing and staring at him like an idiot.

—I did, I'm just trying to remember where I put it...—Homero said calmly, closing his eyes while opening his mouth quite wide. Immediately, a flash of light emerged from his mouth, blinding Apolo's vision temporarily.

Before his brother could recover his vision, Homero pointed his finger at the metal hatch and it began to stretch violently, passing through Apolo's body and entering the lock of the metal hatch. The edges of the hatch flashed with a blue light. Without wasting a second, a thin, blue flame emerged on one of Homero's fingers. Without any hesitation, Homero used the blue flame to cut off the stretched finger, causing it to fall and disappear into the infinite darkness of the bottomless well.

—What foolishness have you done, idiot?!—Apolo complained, holding tightly to the stairs as he waited for his vision to return to normal.

—Can't you see the lamps around the hatch? Clearly, they are a memory aid; the light is the password to open this hatch!—Homero explained, burning the severed finger to prevent too much blood from spilling and Apolo from realizing that he had mysteriously lost a finger.

—How the hell is light going to open a hatch?—Apolo yelled angrily—Anyway, couldn't you at least warn me about what you were going to do? I almost let go of the stairs out of fright!

—We don't have much time, and worst-case scenario, you'd fall on top of me, so nothing would happen to you...—Homero replied in a low voice, trying to calm his older brother—When you're done complaining, try to open the hatch: I'm sure my idea worked.