A dream? Reality? He didn't know which was which. Events from the day before played in a distorted manner. They would stop and start at random intervals. Sentences and voices muffled in the background.
One moment. One instant, however, was as clear as day.
The fall.
The wind blowing past his ears. Anxiety sinking into his stomach. The cold embrace of death inching closer and closer.
Moments before he hit the ground...
WHAM!
His eyes burst open. He jolted upwards in a cold sweat.
The boy looked around in a panic. It was dark. He could barely see anything. He wanted answers but he couldn't find any. Did he die? Was it all just a dream?
"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down everything's okay."
That voice. It was Crystal.
He looked to his right and saw her standing next to the bed.
"You finally woke up. I was starting to get worried."
"Do you feel better now?"
The boy could only look at her in confusion. His memories were still foggy.
Crystal picked up on the boy's confusion and refreshed his memory.
"Remember what happened? Mama put you in my room so that you could rest."
Oh, right. So that's where he was.
Remembering the events from yesterday, the young boy blew a sigh of relief.
Now that they were both on the same page, Crystal asked again.
"Do you feel better by any chance?"
That's something he wanted to know too.
The boy started moving about, flailing his arms, neck, legs, etc...
He still felt groggy from waking up but overall, he felt fine.
The headache was gone entirely, and his muscles felt strong and agile. The only thing he had was a sore neck and a few bruises.
The boy nodded with happiness.
"Great! You should probably get up then. Mama is in the living room; she wants to talk to you."
The boy promptly got out of bed and put his shoes back on. He had many questions that needed to be answered. The quicker he got them the better.
As he tied his shoelaces though, his neck kept bothering him. He couldn't turn it properly without it feeling stuck.
So, before leaving he decided to take care of it.
He grabbed his head and twisted it to the left...
CRACK!
Then to the right...
CRACK!!
Aah...much better.
Those loud booms startled Crystal; it sounded like his bones were shattering. Just the thought of that gave her goosebumps.
"Uhm...try not to do that too hard ok? You could hurt yourself."
Basking in the comfort of his free neck, the boy gave her a thumbs up.
Now time to go!
Just before they left the room, Crystal caught a glimpse of the boy's face and saw how messy his bed hair was. She chuckled at how ridiculous it looked, but it did remind her of something.
"Now that I think about it, you should probably wash up before talking to Mama."
Let's do that first actually. The boy was in such a hurry that he completely forgot he had to go to the bathroom urgently. Besides, he also needed to rinse his face and brush his teeth.
"Follow me, I'll show you where the bathroom is!"
The two youths got out of the room and walked to the bathroom.
"This is it! Take as long as you need."
"We also put your hoodie in there, it was dirty, so we washed it for you."
The young boy smiled, gave Crystal a thumbs-up, and entered the bathroom.
Click.
The boy turned the light on and looked around. It was a small but simple bathroom. It had a sink, a toilet, and a shower. Everything a normal bathroom should have. Nothing out of the ordinary here. The smell of fresh lavender permeated the boy's nose.
All of that's useless, though. All the boy cared about was calming the raging storm in his bladder. It could be the vilest bathroom ever, so long as he could use it, he was happy.
The young boy unzipped his pants and relieved himself. Close call. Too close for his liking.
With catastrophe avoided, the boy moved on to the sink. He washed his hands with soap and rinsed his face. He could feel the grogginess fade away with each splash of water. One good look in the mirror, hmm...good as usual. Sweet.
Onto the final step. Brushing his teeth. The boy noticed a cup with three colored toothbrushes on the edge of the sink. Assuming the family used those he avoided them. So, he started searching around the cabinets to find a spare one.
He opened the first cabinet he saw and...it was full of toothbrushes. Like seriously, it had nothing but toothbrushes.
Perhaps this bathroom wasn't as normal as he thought.
Nevertheless, he had what he needed. After thoroughly brushing his teeth, the boy was finally ready to leave. He took his trusty hoodie from one of the wall hangers and dressed himself.
Right where it belongs.
Tchak.
The boy closed the door and made his way to the living room.
When he arrived, everyone was already sitting down at the dining table, waiting for him.
"Good morning my child. Did you sleep well?"
The young boy waved and nodded.
"That is great to know. Come and sit down with us, we will explain everything to you. I am sure you have lots of questions." The mother pointed to an empty chair in front of her.
The young boy pulled his sleeves up and sat next to Crystal.
"Okay...I should start by where you are currently."
"You currently reside in the Underground, a place situated below Mt. Ebott."
"The Underground is a vast kingdom inhabited by hundreds of thousands of individuals like ourselves."
There's a whole kingdom inside this mountain? Why live here in the first place?
The boy was already not understanding a single thing the mother said. But he kept listening.
"Long ago, before we called this place home, we all lived on the surface with the humans above. Banquets were held daily. Festivals and celebrations bonded us together like a family. Peace and harmony ruled over the earth."
"One day, however, everything changed."
"Soon enough the humans waged war against us, and we were too weak to rise victorious. Beaten and defeated, we were exiled here, for we were perceived as too monstrous to live among them on the surface."
"That was 200 years ago, and we have been living here in silence ever since."
No... No, she must be lying. A war? Exiled at the bottom of a mountain? It's a joke, it has to be. The boy never read anything about that in any history book. Teachers at school never brought up anything even remotely close to what he just heard. Why would someone even imprison other humans on a mountain? Couldn't they have just put them in prison?
Nice bedtime story, but he wasn't falling for this one. The boy looked around to see everyone's reactions. He expected at least one of them to be laughing, but...they were all serious.
The father stared blankly at the table with his hands crossed. The mother kept a straight posture, and Crystal looked at the boy silently.
Can that story really be true? If it is, why did he never hear about it? Shouldn't it be a well-documented event? How could such an important thing be forgotten?
Then a thought crossed the boy's mind. 'Perceived as too dangerous and monstrous to live among them on the surface'. If these people were truly seen as monsters, wouldn't it be better to erase their existence from the world altogether?
Trap them in the middle of nowhere and pretend they never lived. It works just the same.
Everything clicked. This war wasn't forgotten.
It was erased.
Evidence and documentation must've been destroyed to make it seem like it never happened. And by the looks of it, they succeeded.
In the eyes of the outside world, these people never existed.
Ok, but what made the 'humans above' believe they were that dangerous to begin with?
As far as the boy could tell, they looked like normal humans. What did they do for a war to be waged against them?
"You may be asking yourself what their reason for trapping us here was..."
"It is far easier to demonstrate than to describe, so I will just show it to you. Besides, our interaction yesterday must have given you a rough idea of what it is already."
Right after saying that, the mother clasped her hands and closed her eyes.
Suddenly her appearance began to change.
Strange runes started forming on the mother's body. Starting from her hands, they traveled through her arms and onto her neck, stopping at her cheeks. They glowed with a fiery orange light that fluctuated in intensity. The runes varied in shape and size, however, they all had one thing in common. They resembled live flames.
It didn't end there. Her straight, silky hair began floating. Hundreds of strands clumped together erratically, forming a thick mane that flowed in unison. The hair's delicate snow-white complexion became tainted with a yellowish hue, developing into a vibrant orange color. The mother's hair was set ablaze.
The boy should have been shocked, but instead, he fell in awe.
The woman before him was now flaring like fire. For a moment he doubted that he had woken up from his dream.
"We are not regular humans like you, my child." The mother's crimson-red eyes locked onto the young boy. "We are what we like to call 'Magical Humans'. As the name implies, we are humans who possess magical powers."
"There are many types of magic, ranging from basic elemental types to reality-altering ones." The mother kept explaining while playing with a tiny flame in her left hand.
"I possess fire and healing magic." Emerging from her right hand, a sphere of green energy glowed and sparkled loudly.
The boy recognized that energy from yesterday. That same sparkle and harmonious melody.
So that's what it was.
The spells she mentioned yesterday were healing magic all along.
In hindsight, he could've just put two and two together and figured it out himself, buuuut that nasty tumble didn't do his problem-solving skills any favors.
"My husband possesses light magic." Using his wife's sentence as an alley-oop, the father showcased his magic by generating several spheres of light and twirling them around him.
The boy (understandably stupefied), turned to Crystal.
"And I inherited Mama's healing magic and Papa's light magic!" Crystal's hands lit up with both types of magic.
The boy kept staring in awe, analyzing every detail he possibly could. Magic truly exists. Every concept, every science he ever studied. Their legitimacy crumbled instantly. What he thought only existed in comic books and fantasy novels now stood veraciously before his eyes.
As the boy admired Crystal's glowing hands the father whispered to his wife.
"Psst...honey, should we not have introduced ourselves by now?"
"Oh dear! I forgot about that! I got so carried away with telling our story that it completely slipped my mind. Where have my manners gone?"
The mother quickly undid her magic, returning to her normal state.
"Ahem. Although it is quite late for this, now that you know who we are, let us formally introduce ourselves, my child."
She then placed her hand on her chest.
"My name is Tori Dreemurr, and I am the queen of the Underground."
"EEEEEEEH!!!!"
The boy screamed out in shock. QUEEN?! He's been talking to the queen all along?! Who forgets to tell that kind of information because of a story? Shouldn't a ruler mention their status as soon as a newcomer arrives?
"Pfffhahaha, quite a revelation, huh? I just really wanted to see your reaction, my apologies." The mother covered her mouth while giggling.
"You are going to shock the kid even more that way honey, haha."
"Sorry, sorry, hehe."
The two snickered some more before the father turned to the boy.
"I might as well be next at this point" He stood up proudly, and with a bloated chest proclaimed...
"I am Goreas Dreemurr, king of the Underground! It is a pleasure to meet you, young one."
One surprise after the other. The young boy slowly turned to Crystal, already knowing her answer.
"Yup, that makes me the princess!" A blinding smile formed on her face.
Huh... Who would've thought the boy fell straight into the Royal Family's abode? Completely by accident, he managed to meet the most influential people in the entire kingdom. In his misery, he also found some luck.
All he could do was laugh in astonishment. This was all too absurd to believe. Yet, his doubts were proven wrong time and time again today. His whole view of the world shifted in less than an hour. The two youths laughed for a while. One out of confusion, and the other out of joy.
Although the kids were having fun, the mother soon took on a serious expression.
"Now that the introductions are over, there is one last thing we must tell you, my child. We kept it for last not only because we did not want to sour the mood, but also because it affects you directly."
Her voice turned cold and stern. Crystal and Goreas quickly caught on and went quiet. The atmosphere of the room became tense. A faint sense of worry sat on the boy's chest.
"I will explain how they managed to keep us trapped here for so long."
"Our race was never a stranger to discrimination, even during times of peace we were judged and disdained by many. It grew to the point where even our people joined the mob. These traitors were small in numbers but despised us more than anyone else. They hated their flesh and blood and wished to purge us."
"During the war, the traitors gathered to form a plan. While everyone else was fighting, they secretly allied with the humans above. Both parties shared a common enemy, so they joined forces."
"The traitors pretended to aid us in the war, and once we lost and got thrown under Mt. Ebott, they aided the humans in creating a powerful barrier all around the mountain."
"Anything can come in..."
"But nothing can get out."
The boy's heart sank into his stomach.
"The spell the traitors cast was so strong that even the combined strength of the entire kingdom was not enough to break it. After the barrier finished setting, the humans above broke their deal with the traitors and slaughtered them all."
"The deal implied that the humans above would allow the traitors to keep living on the surface in return for them imprisoning us. Their alliance had always been one-sided, thus ending the war with one last act of betrayal."
"I am really sorry to tell you this, my child, but..."
"There is no way for you to go back home."
"From this day onwards, you are bound to live in the Underground forever. There is nothing that can be done. However, we discussed this while you were sleeping, and we are willing to take you in. We do not have much, but I promise we will do our best to look after you."
"...I promise."
The boy kept his head low. A turmoil of emotions stormed in his mind.
Fear. Despair. Anger. Hopelessness.
His chest tightened so hard it felt like his heart had just been stabbed.
How did it come to this? Was this punishment for his actions?
Part of him felt like he deserved it. He knew what he did was wrong. Guilt ate at him from the inside. Imprisonment only felt right.
No, he couldn't accept it. This isn't what he wanted! He ran away only to be trapped again! Unethical or not, it needed to be done!
Opposing emotions clashed with one another.
Frustration boiled over. He gripped his legs so tightly tiny cracks could be heard.
Why? Why him? Why is it always him?! Why?! JUST WHY?!! WHY!!!
...
Does it honestly matter in the end?
He had no place to go, he had nothing with him. Whether he ended up free on the surface or trapped underground, barely anything changed.
The boy made a choice, and it led to this. So, he was going to live with it. He didn't have the right to feel angry or sad. He'll lock those emotions back in his heart.
It's not like he planned on ever going back anyway. The barrier only finalized his decision.
The young boy nodded.
"Huh?"
CHAPTER END.