The flame as a home, the wind as a path, the chains to bind them — Existence awakens once again.

Whisper

On what was supposed to be a calm day, a train full of students returned from a week of excess, heading to an irrelevant destination, facing a future that was strange, unexpected, uncertain, and unbelievable...

A silence heavy with fatigue pervaded the train car. Even the most apathetic students were still processing the emotions of their journey back home. Some were asleep, others listening to music, or simply reminiscing about the wild week. Anything was good to pass the time, and with accumulated fatigue, it was easy for these young men and women to anticipate their destination.

Jonah dealt the cards.

"It's about time we get there. I'm getting bored with this trip," remarked Jonah.

Ronan and Lucas exchanged a knowing smile.

"Do you hear that, Lucas? You'd swear he's just been dumped," added Ronan with a visible wink.

"I hear that, Ronan! Still, it's bad luck. Poor Leila probably needs cheering up," said Lucas with a big smile.

"No, you're confused, Lucas! She's doing well. I haven't seen her so happy since..."

"Oh, fuck off," Jonah interrupted grumbling. "There's no need to bring that up again. Just concentrate on your cards sooner."

"Don't count on it," said Lucas. "We've got at least three months of this!"

"Why did she dump you again?"

"What do I know," he replied, glaring at his cards. "I'm not in her head."

"Don't worry, bro, there's no lack of pretty girls in the school," Lucas consoled him.

"True. And at least now you'll finally be able to enjoy student life without having to drag a girlfriend along. It's just a shame she waited until the end of the trip to dump you; you can't even imagine the opportunities you missed!" Ronan added with a knowing look.

Jonah glared and pointed with an imperious finger at the cards spread out on the table.

"I don't need you to tell me about your conquests again. Just play."

"Oh, he can be so grumpy," said Ronan, turning to Lucas. "I've already told you about that brunette there, whose name I've forgotten, but with a..."

Grunting in disgust, Lucas cut him off.

"I agree with Jonah on this one. You've already told us enough."

While his two friends argued, Jonah looked at the cards without seeing them. Underneath his unattainable good looks, he considered himself a sensitive soul. The end of two years of relationships had given him such a blow that his head was spinning, and his headache was unbearable. Unless it was the booze he'd taken last night, who knows...

In any case, his headache seemed to be getting worse. He was even starting to hear a louder and louder ringing in his ears. He winced in pain when it suddenly became louder and louder. Worried, he glanced at his friends to see them also wincing in pain, Lucas even taking his head in his hands, his mouth letting out an inarticulate scream.

The train then entered a tunnel at a good speed, when suddenly everything went black, and the train started to move... Screams of fear, of terror. No one could see people flying over the seats and landing on the ground or crashing into the windows, those same windows shattering with a seemingly final bellowing of the people who had crashed into them. Panic and agony filled the air until silence set in. And then everything stopped. Nothing moved, there was no sound — nothing.

*

It was dark, very dark. Leila opened her eyes but couldn't see anything. Her head hurt, but more than anything else, she hated not being able to see. What had happened? An accident? No way... She fumbled in her trousers, looking for her mobile phone, hoping it wasn't broken. Suddenly, an irrational fear overcame her — something slimy had fallen on her head, and she wanted to see, absolutely wanted to see. Finally, she grabbed her mobile phone, turned it on... And the horror began.

Her screams were stuck in her throat, her mind and body were numb. In front of her was the face of a girl — a girl she knew, just her face. Her face expressed so much disbelief that she expected her to speak to her, a face she would never forget. She threw up. It was not possible; it was a nightmare. She felt like she was losing control, like her mind was going to break... No! She wasn't going to let go! She swallowed the bile in her throat and began to crawl, focused on one goal — to get out of there.

She wasn't looking; she couldn't. It was as if she was going through hell itself. She was not religious; her parents had tried in vain to interest her in their religion, but no, she was not interested. Why was she thinking about this? She was still crawling around with her mobile phone in her hand, like a torch. Yes, her parents — her mother had sent her a message not long before, or was it a long time ago? It didn't matter; she said she was going to cook him a meal to celebrate his return, a good meal as she liked with... she had a sudden spasm, she felt the contents of what was left in her stomach rise to her throat. No! Don't look! Think of home, of your little brother waiting impatiently for her to see the present she was going to give him, think of your parents, of her mother's sweet smile when she would see her arrive.

She was taking refuge in her thoughts when suddenly someone grabbed her arm, and this time she screamed. She struggled to her feet; terror and horror clouded everything. She struck out and touched something. She heard a growl, then a voice.

"Calm down, it's only me, Mat. If you keep this up, I'll leave you here."

Leila froze and lifted her mobile phone to see the face of her classmate. Yes, it was him; she recognized him. Her eyebrow had been cut off, and blood was running down her face. She almost fainted but pulled herself together just before she collapsed, unless it was Mat holding her back.

"Follow me, and don't look," he said.

He looked calm. How could he be? But she complied and followed him the two meters to the exit of what was left of the train, and its occupants... She touched the ground, but it was still dark; they were still in the dark. They were in the tunnel.

Yet the ground was strangely uneven; it felt like a cave. She didn't turn around; she didn't want to see the carcass of the train. She couldn't see much because of the dim light from their mobile phones. Because yes, he was also using his mobile phone as a light source; she only noticed it now, but it seemed obvious how else he could have moved around in the dark. He had no night vision, as far as she knew. Thinking about anything and everything didn't calm her down; but, it kept her from thinking about what had happened — the horrors she had seen, the smell... Stop, walk, yes

Stop, walk, yes, just walk; don't think about... Suddenly she stops.

"No! Aurora is still inside, and..."

"She's not inside anymore," he cut her off abruptly, his tone dry. "We've already taken her with Jonah. She's fine; she's a bit banged up, but she was luckier than most. You're the last one; the others don't need our help anymore."

She hated him for those words; she didn't want to hear them, understand what they meant.

"She's fine, isn't she?" she repeated. "Wait, with Jonah? Who else has... ?"

She couldn't finish her sentence; the shock was still too fresh. He left without saying anything, and she followed him; what else could she do? She would soon have her answer anyway. Leila could see light in the distance — an exit. Just ahead, a few shadows were moving; too few in number. Some turned as they heard them approach.

"Leila! Are you all right?" she heard.

Jonah approached quickly; he seemed to have been spared the accident. Because yes, it could only be an accident, of course. And help must be on its way if it wasn't already there.

He took her hands and looked into her eyes.

"I would have come for you, I promise, but Mat convinced me to stay here and look after the injured. You know I have my first aid certificate, and the others didn't want to leave, so..."

"Everything's fine, more fear than harm — much more. How are the others? Aurore is fine ? And then where are we? It doesn't look like a tunnel here."

"She's here, unconscious, but otherwise she's fine. She won't have any physical damage. Lucas has a broken arm; Marie and Mustapha have a few bruises and contusions, nothing too serious."

Suddenly speechless, he looks down, not without her seeing his tears and the horror hidden in his eyes.

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"The others did not survive; only us..." After a few seconds of heavy silence, he continued. "As for where we are, I don't know, but probably not where we should have been. Look outside, and you'll understand."

She nodded in thanks and then approached the survivors who looked haggard and lost, as if they had withdrawn into themselves. She sat down next to her friend to see how she was doing and then looked more closely at what was going on around her.

Jonah was looking after the injured, reassuring them, and they were sitting there waiting, for what? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to; she never wanted to feel this helplessness again. This time she was going to do something, no matter what.

She was going to fight. She continued to observe her surroundings; it seemed that they hadn't taken anything with them except a few bottles of water. Mat was not with the rest of the group; once he had brought her, he had returned to the cave in silence. Now she was sure; she was in a cave — as crazy as it sounds. She didn't care what he did there; he could do whatever he wanted if he didn't ask her to come with him.

The light that allowed her to see all this came from the exit of the cave a few steps from where she was.

She stood up, and after one last look at her unconscious friend, approached the exit. Once outside, the sun blinded her, and as her eyes adjusted to its glare, she enjoyed the caress of the wind as it blew through her long blonde hair and down her battered body. She was quite muscular, adept as she was at sporting activities; she got used to the gentle pain the body felt when you gave it your all. She took a deep breath and looked around. And for the second time in a few hours, she was shocked. As far as the eye could see, an abundant forest covered everything, and everywhere she looked, there were trees of all kinds — some of which she didn't know and whose branches were so tall that they could only have been there for hundreds of years or more. As far as she could remember, there was no such ancient and imposing forest where she came from. Not in her world anyway.

*

Jonah could barely remember the first moments after the accident; everything was a blur in his mind. All he knew was that his hands were smeared with Ronan's blood and that when he'd got out of the train with Mat's help, dragging Lucas along the ground, everything had gone very quickly. They had brought him close to the exit of the cave, and after the shock of seeing that forest, they had gone back to look for survivors. Then it was decided that Jonah would stay and look after the survivors. And Lucas, who thought that getting his first-aid diploma was a waste of time. He must have been incredibly happy about it now. As happy as one can be in this kind of situation, of course.

Then when Mat returned with Leila, a weight, which he hadn't realized he was carrying, was lifted from his heart; she was alive. Since then, several hours had passed; Mat had returned with some things from the train that they would soon need. He quickly described to Jonas what he had seen of the condition of the wagon, which was cut into several parts, as if it had gone through a... It didn't matter; parts of the train had simply disappeared without anyone being able to guess where they were — not in this cave anyway. And among those missing parts of the train was the luggage compartment. Fantastic! It was the longest speech he'd ever heard from him, but he was grateful to him that he'd done the dirty work.

Soon after, Aurora woke up, and Leila took charge of explaining the situation to him. He didn't know Leila's friend very well; they had known each other since childhood, but living far apart, they only met again once they reached university. Since then, with the recent setbacks with his girlfriend, he hadn't had time to get to know her; she was pretty in a tall, dark, and slender way — not his style but Ronan would have liked her.

At this thought, Jonas stands still. Ronan... He could still see the vacant look in his eyes; her insides spilling out of a wound in her abdomen. Jonah shook his head violently, catching Leila's attention, and she gave him a questioning look. Jonah offered her a reassuring smile, which he hoped wasn't too shaky.

He had been so worried about her; he thought that now that she was with him, anything was possible. It was silly, but he couldn't help it.

All they had left were three bottles of water, a few packets of crisps, a cereal bar, a packet of sweets, their clothes, and a few items they had taken from the train. On top of that, they had their mobile phones, which were now unusable; the batteries had run out at an unusual rate.

He stood up, headed for the exit, and looked at the forest again for a few minutes. He made his decision and returned to his comrades.

"I suggest we stay here tonight and try to find someone tomorrow to tell us where we are and maybe take us home. Any questions?"

His fellow survivors looked at him strangely, as if he had said something horrible.

"Are you serious, man?" his best friend said incredulously — his first words since the terrible accident, these words leaving him dazed for a few seconds. So, he touched his head with a trembling hand, his eyes blurring again.

Although concerned for his friend, Jonas continued:

"What? We're not going to sit around and wait for someone to come and save us eventually; you see out there, I don't know where we are, but we're not at home. In our country, I mean. I don't know how we got here, but with the little food and water we have, we won't last long. If we don't act now, it will only get worse. So I suggest we rest for a while and leave at dawn."

Leila stares at him and gives him a comforting little smile.

"He's right; there's no point in staying here and doing nothing; we might as well get out."

Mat then stands up, gives a circular expressionless look, and speaks up.

"I'm going to scout ahead; stay here."

"I'm coming with you," Jonah said.

Mat stared at him for a few seconds and then shrugged. The others jumped up and wanted to go with them; a quick argument broke out, and Jonah managed to convince them to stay put. Meanwhile, Mat had not waited for him, which forced him to speed up to catch up. Once outside, the sight of the majestic forest made him feel that, wherever he was, it had the merit of being impressive.

They found themselves at the top of a promontory which offered them a clear view of the forest. Mat had already set off in the direction of the forest. Jonah didn't know him very well; all he knew of him was that he was strange. Even though their trip was supposed to strengthen the bonds between the students, he had hardly participated in the festivities, preferring to stay in his corner. He had always had a somber air about him, which meant that the other students generally avoided him. Given their situation, it didn't matter.

After only a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the forest itself. These trees, some of them must be over 300 meters high or more, their leaves ranging from emerald green to the reddish-brown of early autumn. The two young men stayed close to the cave for fear of losing sight of it, and for nearly an hour, they walked around it, mainly looking for water, perhaps some edible berries if they were lucky.

Jonah felt that they would need all the resources they could get. They didn't find much except a small path through the woods, probably created by the local animals.

They would start using it tomorrow, but now it was best to return as the sky was getting darker. Jonas pointed this out to his companion who, after having looked at him, without answering, went off in the direction of the cave. A strange fellow, frankly. After 10 minutes of walking, they arrived at the entrance; they had gone further than they thought.

Their return provoked some reactions, many questions, and few answers, mostly given by Jonah. The rest of the evening remained tense; Mustapha offered to go and get some wood to make a fire, but nobody wanted to go out at night in this unknown region. In any case, Jonah doubted that they would be able to make a fire even with Mustapha's lighter. They were city boys, and none of them knew anything about life in the forest.

After what seemed like an eternity, he fell into a sleep filled with nightmares and horror that woke him up shortly before dawn, not at all rested. It seems that this is the case for almost everyone...

*

They had been walking in the forest for almost two hours, and already some were getting tired. The little players. They will soon run out of food and water. If a simple walk in the forest makes them so tired, how will they cope when they have to walk hungry and thirsty? No wonder; such a situation must be shocking for them. Leila gave him a sharp look, as if she had guessed Mat's thoughts. Was it because of the slight mocking smile on his face? His angry look only made her smile wider. She didn't like him very much. He didn't know why, but he was pleasantly surprised by her behavior. She had recovered and was looking at her surroundings with such an expression that he felt sorry for those in her path.

He thinks he should have felt sorry for them. But all this left him quite indifferent. Or at least that's what he wants to make himself believe. This whole situation, from the field trip to their adventure in that forest, was taking him out of his comfort zone, even though Mat was an adaptable person. If it wasn't for the extra credit for his degree, he wouldn't have even agreed to be a supervisor on this field trip. And now this. Things were getting really interesting now that they had arrived here.

He wanted to change; he had agreed to this, so it would be presumptuous to refuse what fate had given him. He had no friends among his comrades, but he didn't want them to die either; that tragic accident had taken its toll. It had brought back memories he would have preferred to forget. Reawakening things that would have been better left dormant for him and the others. His left shoulder was burning again, which was a bad sign.

"Wait," Aurora said. "It can't be!"

"What's not possible? What's going on? "Leila said, suddenly alert.

Everyone freezes; Mat looks around, ready to fight if necessary.

"It's a Stenophyll Silenus," she continued, amazed.

This time, even Mat looked at her, stunned; impervious to the situation, Aurora continued.

"This plant is supposed to have been extinct for 30,000 years; I came across it while doing research for a paper. I heard that some scientists had managed to revive it, but I don't understand, even if it had spread, it shouldn't be able to grow here; it's not supposed to survive in a climate like this, unless..."

"Wait," Leila cut him off, "you're making all this fuss over a plant!"

"It's not just a plant! It's a plant that's supposed to be extinct; to find it here is just fantastic."

She leaned closer, totally disconnected from the incongruity of the scene. After having been stranded who knows where with a train carriage in a cave that wasn't even big enough to let the carriage in, she still managed to take an interest in an unfortunate plant.

The youngest of her family, Aurora was a friendly, easy-going girl; although Mat had never spoken to her, he had heard of her, she was one of those sunny personalities who made everyone feel at ease and was always willing to help. She exuded joie de vivre. Very intelligent, she also had an exceptional memory. But not much sense, it seemed.

Mat laughed inwardly, reflecting once again on the incredible absurdity of humanity, although in truth, it was her total incompetence in understanding others that made him realize this. Then suddenly, an indistinct line crossed the air and came to rest a few centimeters from Aurore's hand. Aurora, no longer captivated by her plant, let out a yelp and jumped back.

Everyone turned to face the direction from which the projectile had come when a young woman emerged from the thicket with a bow in her hand and a notched arrow aimed at Mat. Of course, always him. As usual, he had let himself get lost in his thoughts. He had allowed his guard to slip. Even when you try to escape your past, it always catches up with you. How he despised himself for not being able to keep his thoughts in check. The only thing he felt in that moment was the anger within him, which he immediately repressed.

The woman looked at them from head to toe, scanning them as if she could see their very souls. Her gaze finally rested on Mat, and for a moment, they locked eyes. Aurora, still frightened, was the first to speak.

"Who... Who are you?"

"What? A fucking elf now," he heard Mustapha mutter.

Then she spoke, in a language, neither of the young adults knew, in a voice so melodious that if Mat had not heard her, he could not have imagined that such a sound could even exist. When she saw their incomprehension, her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes shifted back to Mat as if it were his fault. He wondered what he had done to her. She let go of her arrow and it flew at high speed just a centimeter from his face. Maybe he shouldn't have smiled at her. She nocked a second arrow so quickly that he saw only a blurred gesture and he began to worry seriously about his survival when another group of these creatures came out of the thicket all around them, arrow nocked and looking extremely uncomfortable. This time, it was certain, they would die.

"Ah, that's interesting," Mat said laughing.