0046 The Family
"Haa ha hahaha! Burn! Coof! Cof! Burn, damn hands!!".
*"Thomas! Please! Return to normal!"*.
A crater almost half a meter deep and 10 meters in diameter, the floor of the crater was burned in several parts, some trees should have been nearby, but now there were only a few pieces of the base of the trees and some parts of roots on fire.
Several other trees around were on fire, and the wreckage of the previous trees was thrown so far that a good part of that dry old forest was burning, a small fire started in that area of the mountain.
Coming out of the center of the crater, Oscar was dragging a body along the ground, the body was all burned, some parts were really black and others were full of burn blisters.
Despite the state Thomas' body was in, Lucius was still laughing as he pointed with a black finger at pieces of black hands scattered everywhere, as if mocking the worst enemy in his life.
*"You'll be fine Thomas, I'm healing you! I know how to turn off pain momentarily, to heal serious injuries..."*.
*"Aaagh! Aaaaaagh! Coof! Coof! What Thomas?"*.
For the first time, Lucius looked at the person who was dragging him along the ground, the healing acting on his body made him feel again how much his body was destroyed, slowly the pain left his body and he felt numb, but not only that, a little lucidity helped him to calm down and observe the place he was with attention.
*"Hey, boy... Cof! Coof! Cof! I really blew up those hands, right?"*.
*"Boy? You do not remember me? Have you lost your memory Thomas? I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."*.
Lucius felt his heart tighten as he saw the face that was already sad before, crying even more, shedding a few drops of tears on his own face, due to how the boy was dragging him across the ground, but even crying, Oscar kept pulling him out of the growing fire.
*"Hey boy, why are you crying? You're helping me here aren't you? It's all right! Everything will be fine!"*.
*"No, Thomas! It's my fault for using my healing magic to try to take your headache away!
Uncle told me many times not to do this, and yet I did it to you! Now you're crazy and you've lost your memory!"*.
Oscar kept crying as he blamed himself, he just wanted to play with Thomas, and he thought that by helping him, maybe Thomas would have some time to play with him after everything was resolved, but now, everything went wrong, and it was his fault and his will to play.
Lucius was thoughtful trying to connect the dots of what was happening with what he remembered had happened, he remembered this boy scaring everyone outside that house, then he remembered the fall and that everything went dark, he went into his nightmare and started going crazy against the damn hands.
*"Your name is Oscar, right?"*.
*"Yees! So do you remember?"*.
*"Calm down, let's go by parts...
... I remember I was falling, and then I don't remember anything...
... Can you tell me what happened?"*.
*"Yes, Thomas, I saved you from the fall and brought you here, actually, on that side over there...
... We talked about you having to sort out some issues going on and then I healed your wounds... That's when..."*.
Oscar recounted how he watched the explosion, and how, with difficulty, he managed to reach Thomas during the seconds of the fall, and that after the healing, Thomas went mad.
Lucius quickly understood that the real Thomas had taken control of the body and that's why he doesn't remember any of those moments.
^"Ooh! Shit! Could it be that if it weren't for this boy, I would have disappeared completely?"^.
*"Well... It's not your fault..."*.
*"How not? I messed up with your head..."*.
*"Calm down, if I tell you the truth, will you promise to keep it a secret?"*.
*"Yees! I keep! Tell me!"*.
His body in better condition, Lucius rose from the ground and staggered away from the fire with Oscar at his side, he chose a tree to lean on, where Oscar continued to heal his body, taking a deep breath, he decided to tell everything that had happened to him and this guy Thomas to whom the child seems to have a lot of attachment.
For minutes of conversation, Oscar was surprised and by the time Lucius finished telling him everything that had happened, Lucius' body was already fully healed and Oscar was extremely tired.
Oscar then told the part of him noticing the white light in the sky, up until the moment he arrived at the Leader's house and then when he saved Thomas from the fall, resulting in the current moment.
*"Incredible! I know superficially some magics that can do something like this, it has to do with the studies of the head and mind... But I don't know anything about it yet..."*.
*"I thought you would be surprised and annoyed that I took over your friend's body...
... But in a way, you saved his life and mine, thank you..."*.
Lucius smiled and patted Oscar twice on the shoulder, and Oscar, who normally doesn't receive thanks and praise for his accomplishments, was very touched to see Thomas' smile, or rather Lucius' smile.
In fact, Oscar was worried about Thomas, but Lucius' thanks made him have a good impression of him, and despite Oscar's mature mindset, he was still just a kid.
^"Maybe this Lucius will help Thomas to be more humorous and less serious... I'll keep this a secret from his uncle for now..."^.
*"Lucius, right? Did you say you were trying to run away from everyone?
If you want I can take you to an exit and activate it for you..."*.
*"I don't know if when I leave, I'll be surrounded by people or other dangers, and I won't be able to activate the return ticket... Could you go with me?"*.
*"No, I can't leave the City of Ashes..."*.
Listening with interest to Oscar's words, Lucius noticed the dismay in Oscar's last words, and when looking at the boy, he saw him with his head down pretending to be cleaning his clothes to not let Lucius see him sad.
*"Could you tell me why you can't leave?"*.
*"It's not a secret but... Just like you, I died too...
... But uncle managed to bring me back, and I can't get out of here until I learn to control and use the high-level Gray Magics...
... Besides, to everyone out there, I'm still dead..."*.
The two were silent for a few seconds, Lucius thought about how important Thomas was to Oscar, and not just to him, but to others, like that cranky Maycon, Sara and possibly many other people.
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*"You know, wanting to run away at all costs to save my friends out there, I ended up acting like an idiot with some people...
... If I leave now and abandon those people here, I'll become a person I wouldn't want to be..."*.
*"So you intend to go back to the caves?"*.
*"Yeah, I don't know if I'll be able to use that fire magic again, in fact, I might die if I used it again!"*.
*"Yees! Hahahah! What was that? Thomas knows how to use fire magic, but I've never seen an explosion like that, I almost died of fright!!"*.
Oscar and Lucius laughed at the suicidal magic Lucius used, the two reviewed how crazy everything Lucius had done and then got up off the ground to walk away once more from the fire that was already getting close to them.
*"Shit! I'm naked! How can I appear in front of others like this? Ooooh! My stuff! I destroyed everything!"*.
Laughing at Lucius' embarrassment, Oscar felt happier and guided Lucius elsewhere, after a few minutes, Oscar pointed to some clothes on the ground.
*"There! There's some clothes from the boring uncles... Get some clothes, it'll be fun when they see you wearing their clothes..."*.
*"Thanks... But I'm really sad that I missed some important things... I was really dumb..."*.
*"Which things? Ah! Thomas threw some things on the ground near the precipice..."*.
*"At where? Wait! I'll pick out some clothes here first!"*.
Lucius ran to the clothes and chose a black robe, he felt uncomfortable being naked under the robe, but realizing that there were no pants among the clothes, and the smell of some shirts was unbearable, he gave up looking further and was left with only the robe.
After getting dressed, Oscar took him to the objects that Thomas threw on the floor, there he found what he wanted most, his cell phone, but he was glad to see the other objects together.
He decided to go back to the Werehyenas' clothes and chose some shirts to rip and make strips of cloth, with the cloth strips, he tied the rebars to his forearms, took a thick branch from the tree and used the diesel oil from the broken bottle to make a torch using the lighter to light the fire.
The other bottle, the cell phone, and the knife, he tucked into the inside pockets of his robe, and as he did all this, Oscar watched with interest.
Oscar didn't care about the lighter he saw Lucius using and didn't even pay attention to the other objects, he just observed how good-natured and carefree this Lucius seemed to be, little by little, he was enjoying getting to know this person.
*"Did you say you and Thomas became cousins today? Is some sort of wedding going on at the castle?"*.
*"No, it's not a wedding, it's a ceremony...
... A ceremony where my uncle and Thomas' father become one, something like what happened to you and Thomas..."*.
Finishing his preparations, Lucius decided to get some more information about this place and its owner, but his question resulted in an answer he could never have expected.
Surprised, Lucius realized that maybe he could learn a little more about what happened to him and Thomas, he feared disappearing for good if Thomas regains control of the body, but he also doesn't want to be in this body forever.
*"But then, one of the two disappears forever? Or do the two switch between who will control the body from time to time?"*.
*"The uncle said that if people are too different from each other, one steals control of the other in moments of extreme emotions, and over time, both people go crazy...
... When there are some similarities between the two, it is possible for the two to come into contact with each other, so, they can fight each other for control of the body, or have a friendly exchange interaction, but still, memories are mixed slowly, and at some point, one may think it's the other, causing several other problems...
... When the two are very similar in ideas, thoughts and life experiences, it is possible for both to be in control of the body at the same time, as they think alike most of the time, they take the same action without conflict, and in time, the two become one..."*.
Hearing all of Oscar's explanation, Lucius couldn't help but thank him once again, with many new details he could plot some plan to try to get in contact with Thomas, and make some sort of deal to avoid disappearing in the future.
But still, the three consequences seem pretty murky to Lucius, he doesn't want to get crazier than he already thinks he is, nor does he want to be bombarded with other people's memories, let alone have his mind merged with the mind of another unknown person.
*"You seem to know a lot about this... Is it part of the Gray Magic studies you mentioned?"*.
*"Yes, they are part, but I'm still far from studying these things...
... The truth is that I had to learn about it because of my body, I sustain my body with my healing magics, but if I let it deteriorate further, I would have to switch bodies to another, healthier body...
... So, I have to know about these things to prepare myself for the day I need to switch bodies...
... Also, that's one of the reasons I can't leave here, because if something happens that I can't solve, Uncle helps me..."*.
Looking at the sad expression on Oscar's face, Lucius sighed, he needed the information, but it seemed like a pretty cruel subject to look into with a kid who's been through some tough situations, quickly, he decided to change the subject altogether.
*"You said that my eyes turned violet, and that those hands emerged from violet vortexes, is that right?"*.
*"How sinister! Those hands are very treacherous! Ooooh! Buuoooh!
But, yes, and it seems that you yourself made them appear..."*.
Talking, the two were walking towards the entrance of the cave, Lucius was confused about how the hands got out of his nightmare to the real world, and hearing the question, Oscar jumped to the side pretending to dodge one of the hands, making Lucius rub the boy's hair while laughing at his jokes.
*"And could you tell me how it works and what this violent color represents?"*.
*"No, I learned nothing but the Gray Path, and I have no idea how you did it! But I would like to learn too...
... If my Smoke Clone already scares the kitchen aunts, imagine what treacherous hands like these wouldn't do to them!!"*.
*"You like to play a lot, right?"*.
They both laughed at Oscar's pranks and as soon as they arrived at the cave entrance, Lucius asked the question that made Oscar sad again, Oscar turned his face away to hide a streaming tear and decided to run away from the conversation.
*"Yes I like to play... Lucius, I'll help you find them, and then I'll leave...
... I'll do what Thomas asked of me and warn you about what happened here... That fire will make those uncles pull their hair out heheh!"*.
Lucius took one last look at the fire spreading further and further, he couldn't do anything about it, it's best to wait for the people responsible to sort this problem out, but he really doesn't want to be here when they arrive.
Even so, he didn't let the melancholy of the child by his side go unnoticed, this Oscar helped him a lot, both saving his life and offering him important information, and now he would still help him find the church group.
If he's to start a new life in this world, he can't be more attached to what he could do, or what he could have done, if he wants to help, if he wants to solve some problem, this time he will do it, without doing injustice to others.
At least that is the desire and the will he feels in this moment.
*"Little Oscar... Have you ever played RPG?"*.
*"RPG? What is this? I've never played RPG..."*.
Having successfully attracted the boy's attention, Lucius bent down to be at Oscar's height and smiled at him like a game junkie showing his favorite game to his new friend.
*"Well, in short, it's a game where we act as heroes, fight monsters and bad guys, and save people in danger...
... If I teach you along the way, would you like to play with me?"*.
With Lucius' summary, Oscar got even more excited thinking about who he could play with in such an amazing game like this, but as soon as Lucius said he would teach him and invited him to play, it was as if he had been given the best gift ever.
*"Yeeees! Teach me, pleeease!"*.
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"Please, let's get some rest, I can't walk anymore!".
"All right, we've been walking and running a lot during the last few hours, we really need to rest...".
"Harris, stay here with Peter, he doesn't look very good...
... Lucas, let's go up that hill over there, maybe we can see somewhere to spend the rest of the night...".
"Yes, come here Peter, lie down on this grass, I'll do a light stretch on your leg...
... You need to hold on a little longer, until we're sure we're in a safe place...".
"I know... I know... Just that... I need to get some rest...".
Andrew, Lucas, Harris and Peter walked and ran without stopping, they were all extremely tired, Peter was almost sick from pain in his legs and sweat pouring down his entire body, but Andrew still didn't want to stop, the place is unfamiliar and potentially hostile to them.
Although they were tired too, they were very active police officers who exercised daily, unlike Peter, and because of that, they were still able to walk for a while longer.
Peter followed Harris' directions, and Harris pulled Peter's legs back and forth, starting his stretching exercises.
Andrew waved his hand for Lucas, and the two walked towards the nearest hill to them.
From where they are, you could still find a few hills, as well as few scattered trees, most of the environment is covered by grasses and bushes.
During the trek to the present location, the southern forest grew further and further south from the main road they used as a reference, so the initial idea of going along the edge of the forest had to be abandoned after a few hours of walking.
"Andrew, we left that farm about 6 hours ago...
... Apart from those people in white that we saw on the way as soon as we left the farm, we didn't find anything else and nobody...".
"I understand what you mean Lucas...
... We have to consider that we still have to be exposed to the unknown for up to 6 more hours before dawn, depending on what time we get here and what season this place is...".
On Lucas's watch, the time read 15:51 in the afternoon, after considering the time that had passed, he rubbed an arm across his face to wipe away the sweat and swallowed hard, feeling thirsty.
The two continued climbing while talking about the possibilities of finding a safe place, but when they reached the top of the approximately 80 meters high hill, they glimpsed something that excited them.
In the distance, the silhouette of a city wall timidly reflected the lights of the moons.