It was a very dark place. The walls were made of very old bricks, which had strange designs and were blue.

"This place is really confusing..." said to himself a young man, who had black spiky hair, while illuminating the place with a green flame that was on the tip of his index finger. He was carrying a sword in his other hand. "Well... Anyway... Let's keep looking!"

He passed through several large rooms. They were spectacular sceneries: bottomless voids, platforms floating in the air, waterfalls falling upwards.

"This... Really feels lonely, huh?" he said to himself.

"I really miss them..."

"But it doesn’t matter, it was me who decided to do this, after all."

Finally, he arrived at a huge "room," even more than the previous ones... Although it was just a platform floating in the void. There were four pillars supporting the nothingness and, in the middle of these, there was an altar that had a kind of blue orb on it.

"Phew... At last." He took the orb. "Now there are five to go."

"Groaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarh!!!!!"

A very loud roar was heard coming from the void. The young man braced himself for what was coming.

"This is the second time we meet each other, eh, big boy?... (Although... The first time was quite difficult, now I’m stronger than before)." After muttering that, he pointed his sword at... Imagine the "camera" is above him, at a 45° angle, he points his sword there. "Come, I am rea-!"

.

..

...

"...dy!"

Mathias had just woken up. He was sitting up with his left arm raised, as if he were holding some weapon or something else. The mark on his left hand was glowing faintly, but he didn't think much of it, as that had happened to him several times before... Though they weren't such vivid dreams before.

It was 6 o'clock in the morning, but he felt exhausted, as if he hadn't slept.

"...What a strange dream." He went to bed again. "But I kinda liked it..."

"I'm going to sleep again, let's see if the dream continues..." he thought and fell asleep again.

.

..

...

"Mat, wake up already, it's already 10 o'clock!"

"Huh? What?"

"Now, now, go have breakfast, then help me with the chores."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ok, Mom."

He helped his mother until 12.

"Mom, can I go out now?"

"Yes, Mat, but don't be as late as the other day."

"Okay!"

He went out and started walking, thinking about what he should do for fun.

After a while, he passed by Samantha and Andrew's house. He wanted to hang out with them but, as he was about to go, he thought, "No, they got befriended yesterday... I think they're going to want to spend more time between the two of them, so I'd better not bother them." And he kept walking.

He passed the game center. "Playing alone is going to be boring..." he thought and set off.

He wandered around for almost half an hour and couldn't find anything to do (he ran into his old "friends," but ignored them... Although... There was someone missing in it), so he decided to go to the forest.

Being near the banks of the river, while he was observing the landscape, receiving caresses from the soft breezes, he heard something that caught his attention. Not far from where he was, he could hear a pleasant but nostalgic, for some reason, melody.

image [https://i.imgur.com/1Dzx8DM.png]

He approached where it came from, and found a girl, who seemed to be the same age as him, playing a recorder, sitting on a rock. Her skin was dark brown, her hair was black, frizzy, and she was wearing a white T-shirt and black overalls. She was the one person missing from Mat's group of "ex-friends."

She was so focused on playing that melody that she didn't notice Mathias' presence.

Five minutes passed, until...

"It sounds really nice."

"Thank you, wait, what?"

The girl stopped playing to answer, and only then did she notice Mathias' presence.

"I-I... I didn't think there were people around here. Mat, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, sorry... I was just walking around, because I was bored at home, and I found you. You play the recorder beautifully."

"Right? This recorder was my great-grandfather's."

"Really?" Mathias said, surprised not only because of that, but because he struck up a conversation. Moreover, he went over to it and sat down next to her.

"Yes! And he gave it to my dad," she said. "But he... He never used it, I don't know why."

"Ah, I see," he said and did something with his hands.

"And you see... My mom gave me a little book about recorders, she used to read it to me, that's how I learned... Oh, wow."

Mathias had just made a PSI recorder.

"Does it work?" the girl asked him.

"I don't know, try it," Mat said.

...It didn't sound.

"I think it's missing parts," said the girl, and took his recorder apart. "Did you put this on it?"

"I don't think so... I'm sorry," he answered. Then he unmade the recorder and started to put it back together again.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Huh?"

"Anyone can make mistakes when doing something, so..."

"...It's okay, I understand," he said, and finished the recorder. "Look at it!"

"Oh, give it to me."

"Here."

The girl took the recorder and played it, it sounded like a real one.

"It works now!" she said smiling, closing her eyes, she tapped Mat's shoulder with some strength. It hurt.

"So..."

"Yes?"

"C-can I ask you a question?" Mat asked the girl, he seemed nervous.

"Tell me."

"We've known each other for a while and stuff, and... So, um..."

"Yeah?"

"...W-What's your name?"

"..."

"..."

"Erin Brown... Well, Erin XIMENA [emphasis on Ximena] Brown..." she said a little angrily.

"Than..." wanted to say thanks.

"I thought you already knew! I told you once I think, last year, when we first met. Oh, it makes me want to hit you."

"Sorry..."

"Never mind," she said, and smiled at him.

"Ok..."

They talked for a while longer. Erin handed the recorder back to Mat, and mused lightly:

"You know?"

"Wh-?" wanted to say what.

"I don't usually come to the woods, I just haven't been able to play any of my instruments these days, since my mom came home from the hospital and... Now I have a little sister," she told him, smiled and added. "But now I can't make noise in my house anymore, that's why I came here."

"I see."

"But well, I've been here for a while, I'm leaving now." She got up and smiling, she said while leaving, "See you, Mat!"

"Bye," Mat replied, smiling too.

Mat stayed alone for a while, then went home.

"It turns out they're not so bad after all," Mat thought, as he was leaving, about his "ex-friends." "But I still don't know what those dreams are. My uncle says they're because of comics."

Note: Mathias was still learning to read at the time, as previously told, though... his reading retention wasn’t very... how should I put it? Not very good, but he liked the pictures, from the comics. Those were the ones he usually read... Tried to read.