Then, the old man looked at the young one in astonishment. Adam could only now see the old man's face, though the dim red light didn't help to see him properly. The young man managed to observe that the old man had few teeth in his mouth and a few white hairs on his head. However, what stood out the most were his completely black eyes; a darkness that seemed to suck your soul just by looking at them.
Adam got scared seeing those eyes and sought shelter in the shadow of the old man. Luckily, it was still there; otherwise, the old man might have been tempted to attack him due to their opposing karma, as he had researched.
While holding the old man's gaze, Adam focused more on his ears: no one else seemed to have heard the old man's scream. After checking for a while, Adam gave the following order:
—Pick up the books from the floor, and if you can't carry them, put them in the pockets of my robe. While I keep an eye on the old man, don't make too much noise and let me listen carefully.
The two children said nothing and started filling Adam's pockets with the scattered books on the floor: there were a total of 12 books, so their pockets and those of the children were filled, and they struggled to carry the others. When they finished, Adam signaled the old man to be quiet as he put his glasses back on.
—Are you a hero? May infinity embrace you!— the old man whispered very softly, massaging his forehead; he probably knew that Adam could hear him like this— It seems that fortune finally smiles upon me. Save me, young man: if I manage to escape through the mirror, I'll be able to get out of this infernal place. We were attacked by an inkwell, and we tried to defend ourselves, but we failed.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The old man wanted to keep convincing the young man in the white robe, he knew that being that age and having those eyes was impossible: so the hero could probably get him out of here alive. He hoped that the hero could get him out of there alive. But the old man noticed that the young man silenced him with a gesture, so he remained quiet.
After a while, Adam carried the old man on his back, which wasn't too difficult. The young hero was 20 years old and climbed and descended at least 800 stairs every day to go to school, so he had enough strength and muscles by now.
The old man thanked Adam for carrying him and stayed silent, understanding that he shouldn't draw the creatures' attention. From the back of the redhead, the old man looked at the children, especially at their robes. He hadn't seen that robe color in a long time, so he felt happier since rare robe colors meant complex stories, and complex stories meant higher chances of survival.
Wearing his glasses again, Adam continued moving through the hallways. Unfortunately, the footprints seemed to be increasing as they got closer to the mirror, but the distance to it also seemed to be getting shorter.
As he moved, one of Adam's hands was used to hold the planks while the other held the old man more securely. Thus, the young man couldn't hold the children's hands anymore, which made him uncomfortable because not only did the children gain courage when they felt accompanied.
When there were only a few more hallways to reach the mirror, Adam noticed that the footprints kept increasing. He murmured to Apolo and Hermes:
—Remember: if I tell you to grab a bookshelf, hold onto it no matter what happens. At this rate, we'll definitely encounter an inkwell. Drop the books you're carrying if that happens and don't worry about them. Just focus on the bookshelf you're holding until I tell you to let go.