"Andvari?" asked Hefri to break the draining silence.

Andvari froze. Staring at the floor, he moved his ears. After a few seconds he understood who calls him.

"What?" he said.

"I won't let him win either," muttered Hefri. She raised her eyes, trying to ignore the gruesome scene. "Thanks for everything."

Sighing, she lowered her head. She couldn't look any longer at her friend, who was about to bleed out to death soon.

Frail tears welled up around her eyelids but she lifted the corner of her mouth. "Even for that punch in my nose," she stuttered.

The clomp in her throat stifled her voice and suppressed her breath. Her jaw trembled when she struggled to restrain the tears. She didn't think much about her own death because she worried about Andvari, and then about Erilaz. They both had to depart from this world in such a dishonourable way. They were doomed to suffer for hours before they bleed out or before the guards charge in. The only tool they had was a shard from the floor that couldn't quickly slash their veins.

When the horrific visions drained all her vital energy, she lost control over her hands and legs. Her limbs trembled when she struggled to keep them still. Whenever she took a breath, her nose and throat seared as if she was swallowing sulphuric acid. A few drops dripped from her nose. She wiped her mouth on her knee and tightened her eyelids.

Andvari, you better hurry up! she rushed him in her mind, pressing her knees with her forehead.

Erilaz stealthily covered his ears and gazed at the wall. All noises sounded too loud and strident to him. He listened intently to the blood swooshing in his brain and the heart that rammed his ribs. The cacophony of sounds from his body let him lose himself for a minute before the bench under him began to feel too hard. He fidgeted and scratched his back. Despite correcting his hunched position, his joints and nerves still pulsated with dull pain. His hands trembled for quite some time, making his muscles tingle as if hundreds of ants bit his flesh.

When he couldn't move his numb toes, he sat with his legs stretched out. The warm feeling spread to his knees and pelvis but once he regained sensation in his body, a few harsh impulses ran through his nerves. As they faded, the aching overwhelmed his limbs again.

So that's how going crazy looks like... he told himself. No matter what position he took, his body couldn't stop trembling.

He pressed the wall with his back. It left a soothing, limp sensation in his torso.

What's next? he wondered, closing his eyes. When do I start hearing voices? Or seeing things?

He sat with his back bent. The effort he put in pressing the wall took his breath away. He clenched his fists, expanding his lungs with all his strength until the burning ache stopped him.

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Am I dying? Now? No...

Erilaz's primal instinct took over his mind. The deepest dread overwhelmed him, jamming his trachea. His eyes ran all over the room but wherever he stared, he felt a presence behind his back. His stunned brain interpreted it as death itself. He gripped and tugged his lethal collar to make some space for the air. The harder he panted, the less power he had in his muscles. The collar slipped out of his wet fingers. Sweat soaked his back, leaving a large, grey spot.

Even after he witnessed the gruesome death of his father, he couldn't recall a similar fear. It put down roots in his brain, far beyond the rational part of his mind. The dread in him reached his most primitive instincts, forcing him to imagine the dark tunnel without any light in it.

No! Shit, not yet! he screamed in his mind, trying to outshout the echo of his raging heartbeat.

When something brushed against his back, he jumped to his feet. Hefri and Andvari froze, staring at him with surprise. Erilaz leant against the wall to keep his balance. The hyperventilation made him feel as if he just drank a large bottle of vodka. His skull felt spongy, and his brain floated inertly inside. The view of grey horizontal and vertical lines swayed in his eyes. His legs behaved like an independent organism that just struggled to support the unwanted mass.

"What the... hell?" asked Erilaz, opening his eyes and appeasing his rapid breath.

His friends didn't respond. Erilaz turned around and bent over the bench. A little back pouch lied on the floor. He guessed this touched him a moment ago. He raised his head. There was a narrow air shaft under the ceiling. Erilaz rubbed his eyes, attempting to connect the dots. The pouch had to have fallen out of this hole.

Moving sluggishly, he knelt on the floor and glanced under the bench. He grabbed the pouch and opened it.

It contained a sizeable handful of black balls in the size of berries and a piece of paper. Erilaz unfolded the paper. Raising his eyebrows and blinking, he read the message.

"Sorry for playing with your toys Andvari. Green triangle hatch. Then Xalmecka," he muttered under his breath, twisting his mouth. "Now... run?"

Erilaz read this again. He shook his head. The next stage of madness had to finally reach him. "Seeing things..."

He stood up and turned towards his friends.

"Andvari, stop!" he called.

"Let him do it!" growled Hefri, swaying in a hunched position.

"No, look at this." Erilaz approached her. "There is a message and some... balls."

At that moment Andvari froze. He moved his ears, questioning his senses. Opening his eyes wider, he stared at the thing that Erilaz held in his bluish hands. Andvari lifted himself from the floor and dropped the shard. Tilting his head, he peeked inside the pouch.

"Murderberries!" he cried.

His friends looked at him questioningly.

"...What?" asked Erilaz.

Andvari's previously dead eyes flared with fervour like a supernova. "I made them a few months ago. Little bombs. I called them murderberries," he recited, gasping after every sentence.

Hefri jumped from the bench. "What are you doing?" she whispered, narrowing her eyes.

Andvari grasped his bleeding forearm. "There is hope," he breathed, pulling the pouch out of Erilaz's hand. "Just a little hope... but that's something!" he added, and his voice regained its vibrancy.

Hefri shook her head, wincing with contempt. "You think we can escape this place? Even with your toys?"

"No." Andvari poured out a few balls on his hand. "But we can die trying." He looked at her and shrugged. "It's still something, right?"

Hefri just arranged a response in her mind, but Andvari bundled her a handful of bombs.

"Take some," he instructed, tapping the bomb with his nail. "Stick your nails into them and throw."

Erilaz opened his mouth to ask for some more instructions when loud, fast steps echoed in the corridor.

"They saw us," hissed Andvari. He spread his arms, blocking his friends' way. He lowered his eyebrows, boring his eyes into the door and tensing his ears. "Brace yourselves..."