We travelled the whole way pretty much in silence, except for basic stuff. She was quite experienced in killing sectioned, rather, they were, the spider whose name I learned to be "Meru", did most of the job, she was definitely one of the strongest sectioned I'd seen so far, fast and with a venom that could kill prey smaller than her in minutes.

It was the twelfth fade when we started to talk more. The girl was called Mina, she didn't told me about how circumstances brought her to the tunnels, but she did tell me about Meru. Apparently, she tried saving Meru by throwing a rock at a sectioned that was trying to eat the spider when it was smaller, which seemed to be enough of a distraction for Meru to poison the attacker and run, killing it. She's been following Mina ever since, which the girl doesn't remember how long ago that was.

A pretty weird story to believe in, but after everything, I could imagine it happening.

"Does it really exist?" she asked.

She was laying on the side of Meru, which didn't seem bothered by the girl's weight, not that she could really express any emotion with her "face".

"What?" I said, setting up a small fire.

Zanir had taught me how to make and maintain a fire in those caves. The best places were the ones with a high ceiling, like the cave we were in now, I had to find a good place to dig two holes, one for the fire and another a few centimeters away for the air to flow, then connect both holes through a tunnel. If I didn't follow this process the fire could spread through the whole place and make it rain again, which was a source of water I didn't want to waste, that white grass on the ceilings was quite sensitive to smoke or heat. I also didn't want to attract any sectioned, I was close to the wall but the place was too open to be safe.

"The place you said you came from, the 'sun' and 'moon'," she continued.

I had told her about aboveground, like Zanir, she didn't seem to have ever left underground.

"It does, the sun is very bright and hot, while the moon is cold but really beautiful. Both shine every... day."

"What is 'day'?" she asked.

Hard to explain.

"Hm... something like two fades, the sun shines in the first fade, then the moon on the other. Keeps repeating."

"Really!? It's almost like Tamir!" she said, a smile on her face.

"So I've been told."

"I wish I could see this 'sun', it must be wonderful."

"You really never left this place, did you?"

"Of course not, no one has. everybody knows that there is no end to the tunnels," she said, "and there are the sectioned too, many soldiers died while fighting them, strong ones. If there really is a way to leave, I probably wouldn't survive long enough to even get close."

I could see how that could be, as we got closer to Arness, the size and number of sectioned was increasing. Now, it wasn't rare for me to come across sectioned the same size as the beetle had been. The worst had been just a couple of fades ago, it was in one of the larger sections of the cave, I'm still not sure of what I saw, it was dark and the ceiling and walls were so far that the dim crystals were no more than dots covering everything around me, but on a distant wall, I saw something moving, so massive that the silhouette blocking the light of the crystals couldn't have been smaller than ten meters. I had been so scared that I didn't even think of running. Maybe I was dreaming, or the lights playing some kind of trick, either way, whatever it was, it went away.

The roots were also getting scarce, meaning less fruits. luckly there were still some of that white grass that secreted water, and sometimes we'd find water dripping from some rocks—though it was rare, it only happened twice—but if we didn't get to this place soon enough, we'd either die of thirst or hunger.

"I have to get out, so if you want to come along, I wouldn't mind."

Though I'm not sure what would happen to you once we're outside.

"Em..." she said.

It was less, but we kept talking throughout the remaining way, usually starting with her asking about outside or me, never talking about herself. We soon reached a wide tunnel with little to no vegetation when Mina stopped me.

"Slow down, they'll shoot you if they see you," she said.

"Why?"

"Here is Grak," she said, pointing to her throat when I gave her a confused look, "where sectioned attack from. Where raks la drumzi."

"Could you repeat that last part again?"

"Uh, where... bad people is drumzi."

Bad people, I thought.

Zanir's book that I read so many times came to mind. I still didn't get that last part but it wasn't hard to figure it out, I didn't know how big that kingdom was, but the criminals had to go somewhere, and I didn't imagine they had unlimited prison space.

"Hm, I'll try not being seen, then."

If that was the only way in, I had no choice, I waited far too long to find this place. Couldn't back down now.

"I guess... you are free to go, now," I said. I did feel a little sad, I started liking her during our short time together, and it would be nice having someone guiding me inside there, but I couldn't force her to come, "thank you for helping me."

She just stared at the floor.

Was that ok? leaving her in those tunnels filled with dangerous creatures? I knew she wasn't my responsibility, that her life outside would probably be just as hard without parents, but it could get better, it wouldn't if she stayed here.

"Do you... wanna go with me?" I asked, making my mind up as I said it. "You said you wanted to see the sun, right?"

She nodded, still looking down.

"Then-"

"I... I can't go back to that place, he'll find me and... I can't."

I could feel it in her voice, breathless, weak, wavering. She was afraid to her core.

She raised her head, looking straight to my eyes, then asked, "You're not lying, right? Tamir is really real?"

"It is," It was the truth, but for some reason, it felt wrong saying it, heavy.

She stared in the distance for some time, considering, then looked at Meru, and back at me.

"I'll go," she said.

She walked towards the spider and gave her a long hug, before coming back. The spider disappeared into the tunnels behind us.

"Where is she going?"

"They would kill her, there," she said.

Right, giant spider. Dumb question.

"Is it okay? where did she go?"

"I told her where to wait for me."

Wait.

"You can talk to her?" I asked.

"Yeah. Is it weird?

Was it? I did talk with my axe, after all.

"I'm not even sure anymore." I said. "Let's go."

The "Throat" wasn't a very long tunnel, I could soon see the entrance. I knew it was the entrance due to the very obvious indicator in the form of a massive wooden wall, or door—It didn't really have a door shape, it was more of a giant rough circle made of wood. There was a number of carcasses on the ground near the structure, the biggest reaching halfway up the tunnel, somewhere around seven to nine meters tall.

As we got closer, more details became visible, the door wasn't all man made, there were roots tracing its frame from all directions, like a very unnatural, natural shield. They were only growing around the door.

Another strange mix of feelings hit me when I saw a number of people on platforms on top of the roots along the door, it was good seeing more people, but at the same time unsettling, too. I was conscious of my heart beating faster in my chest. This was definitive proof that there were people living here, which turned what before was just a possibility, into reality. Why were they here? How could no one know about this place? At least not the general public. And the most daunting question, why didn't they leave?

"It's around here somewhere," said Mina in a low voice.

We stopped, hiding behind one of the many sectioned bodies that lay there. The smell was quite strong, but I could handle, I had to endure worst before. Mina didn't see bothered by it either.

"There," she said, pointing to a small hole in the wall to our right.

It wasn't far, three or four meter of exposure to the guard's sight. She dashed quickly and I followed, they didn't seem to notice us, or they didn't care.

"Is it long?" I asked.

"No, three nads," she said, going in.

"Wait, three what?"

"Shh," she said, "someone might hear us."

"Who?" I asked, quietly, but she was already too far in.

The passage was very small, there wasn't much to it, it was a tunnel in the wall. Mina went through with ease, but It was a bit of a tight fit for me, I'd have to worm my way through it, and I hated being unable to move freely.

"Damn it," I murmured, going in.

Dirt was crumbling all around me as I squirmed through, falling on my eyes and mouth, there were bugs that eerily resembled roaches and maggots at the same time, which didn't help with the panic—though, at least they were small.

It must have taken a couple of minutes to reach the end, but it felt like almost an hour before I got out, and there wasn't any light at the end of that tunnel.

In the caves, two things gave off light, the flowers and the crystals, the glow from the flowers wasn't enough to do much, so the light from the crystals was the major source of illumination. There were some rare ones that shined very brightly, and some that were almost imperceptible, but most of them shone in a faint but reasonably strong way, creating a certain consistency—making the lighting somewhat even in most places.

My lightkeeper had no light, and for the first time since I arrived at that place, I was in utter darkness.

Reaching with my hand I could feel Mina as she helped me out of the tunnel, feeling the walls, I could tell it was a small space, enough to fit two to four people. The only exits of the place seemed to be where we came from, and an opening above us, except it was blocked by an iron grid. Digging our way around the grid wasn't an option because unlike the hole, the rest of the wall was made of hard rock.

A cell?

"... here for one fade already! They should be here by now," said someone to our left, a male voice.

"Keep it down, Len, the guards will hear your," said what sounded like an older man, diagonally to my left. "Do you want them to fail before even getting here?"

" All I'm saying is that they're late, we don't know how's the situation out there, they might need our help. We can take these guys down, Alma just have to break the locks when they're distracted," continued Len.

"I won't risk it Len, there are seven guards and only four of us, these guys aren't elite warriors but they are still trained and armed. Do you wanna risk dying?," said who I assumed to be Alma, diagonally do my right.

"I'm sure he has no problem risking our lives," said another woman, same direction as Alma.

"Shut up Rimni, you bi—"

"Len," Cut in Alma.

"Ugh, fine. You better be right about this," ceded Len.

"Don't worry, this was expected. We just have to wait."

So I waited. From what she said, someone was supposed to get there and rescue them. A prison break, it seemed.

There was the sound of faint footsteps coming our way, then a sound resembling rough stone sliding on stone.

"Get back! Get back," said a man to our left, the voice was coming from a higher place, outside the jail holes.

"Quickly, close it!" said another.

"Anyone with essence left?" said one more, a rough voice.

"I do," someone answered.

"Go get the arda girl, she's probably their target."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don't get enough for this, just let them have her, I don't wanna die over this, just open the door."

A man stopped outside our cell, putting a lightkeeper above us for a few seconds before proceeding to the right.

"Stop it, Nard!"

"Please! Did you see their weapons? they'll blow this door open!"

"Stop it damn it! We have a job to do! To protect the people, to protect the king," said the rough voice.

"Fuck the job! Fuck the king! You think they give a shit about us!? Open the fucking door Tengi!" shouted Nard.

A crack sound, followed by silence, then a gasp and coughing. Ending with a thud, as something fell.

"Why... what did you do?"

"He would've killed us all by opening that door."

A thump came from our left.

"They're here," said one of them.

"Hold your positions, they can only attack from one direction, we can also use the girl as hostage if necessary," said Tengi, "Frel, get the girl already!"

"Sh-shes not here," said Frel.

"She has to be here, check again, it might be dark but she has fucking horns damn it! Not that easy to miss."

Another thump.

"But—"

"Check again!"

There was the sound of glass breaking, before the light faded out.

"What happened?"

"Frel?" asked Tengi.

"You guys are so fucked, now," said Len, laughing.

Another thud, something fell, someone.

"Backs to the wall! Ready your weapons, she—"

One more thud, followed by three more, with intervals in-between of gasps, cries of pain and wheezing.

"No no no, please, I surrender, just let me live. I don't even like this job! I'll fight with you guys, anything, plea—"

Another one.

"Damn girl, are you sure you still have feelings?" said Len, no longer in his cell, judging by where his voice was coming from.

"That's rich, coming from you," said Rimni.

"So young, you didn't have to kill him, he surrendered," said the old man.

"We have no need for cowards," said Alma. "More importantly, there's someone else here with us,"

"We know, you killed them all, remember?" said Len.

"In the cells," continued Alma, unfazed by his remark.

Fuck.

My plan was to wait them go, then break the lock using my hammer. If she really just took out seven—apparently armed—men, I didn't want her finding us. Would she follow us if we went back down the hole? Not that I was willing to go through that again.

"How? We checked the cells when we got here," said Rimni.

"There," she said.

Again, fuck.