The Killer and The Cave ~ Chapter Three

         Raphiel and Marcelo were the best of friends. They knew each other since childhood, and were inseparable ever since. Their personalities complemented each other very well, and they cared for each other. However, that didn’t mean they never fought. It was kind of their way of telling each other how fond they were of the other. They were best friends, after all.

         “If they leave us behind it will be your fault! You’re always late and I always have to come get you!” said Marcelo, noticeably irritated.

         “Oh, come on!” started Raph. “We’re still on time.”

         The Clock sounded, its ring echoing on the hollow formation of the city, announcing the arrival of the night.

         “Yeah, we’re on time,” spat Marcelo with a sarcastic tone. Of course, now that the clock rang they could be sure that they were late. Both of them started running through the small alleys and the wide streets of Luccia, passing children, men and women on their way home. Even at full speed, they still had to go on for about fifteen minutes until they could arrive at the South Crack.

         “Thank you, Raph, now we have to run all the way there.”

         “Don’t be such a baby; I’m the one who doesn’t like sweating”

         “Next time, be on time, and we won’t have to run…or sweat”

         “Shut up,” and with that Raph pushed Marcelo a bit. Marcelo, impulsive as he was, pushed Raph back. Unfortunately, Marcelo pushed Raph a bit too hard and he stumbled, crashing head first with the ground. Marcelo slowed down a little but when he saw his friend quickly standing up and preparing to give chase, he started running as fast as he could.

         “You always go too far!!” Raph screamed at Marcelo while he dusted his shirt and ran after him.



         Fifteen minutes passed quite quickly. Raph ended up catching with Marcelo when he slowed down a bit to catch his breath. Raph tried to show how mad he was, but as always he couldn’t be mad for too long and they both ended up laughing about everything. And before they knew it they were already at the South Crack.

         Being one of the four ways out of Luccia, the South Crack was a direct road to the Upjoints, an enormous and vastly unexplored system of caverns best described as a labyrinth. Only a few people had explored it and there even was a path out to the surface if you knew your way around it. Marcelo and Raph walked quietly until they were in front of the large opening in the wall of stone. They looked around, but there was no one.

         “They left us!” said Marcelo to himself.

         “Guess it was my fault… Sorry…”

         “Well, yeah. It was your fault!”

         “Heey…” started Raph. “You’re supposed to say “hey, don’t worry about it, maybe next time”, not “well, yeah”. You’re supposed to make me feel all right because I’m supposed to feel guilty.”

         “Well, excuse me for telling you the truth”

         “Shut up.” Raph looked around and frowned. “Hey, this is weird…There’s no guards here.”

         Marcelo shrugged and walked forward. He touched the stone wall and looked back at his friend. His face showed a little bit of disappointment under the cool light of the starpebs in the rocky sky of Luccia. Suddenly, he had an idea; however Raph guessed it just by looking at his face.

         “Don’t even think about it,” said Raph slowly in a serious tone.

         “Oh, come on! Nothing’s going to happen. Besides, we’re just fifteen minutes late, how far inside could they be? We’re gonna catch up to them in no time.”

         “No! Are you crazy? We don’t know what we might find there? I am not going to put my life at risk and neither am I going to let you. It’s too dangerous.”

         “We have weapons and we are well equipped. What could possibly go wrong?”

         “Lots of things could go wrong!”

         “Well, I am going in anyways!” and with that Marcelo walked inside the crack and lost himself to the darkness inside in no time.

         “Why, you-!” Raph walked up to the entrance and stared at the crack and the darkness that filled it. Even when he didn’t want to let his friend go alone, he was still reluctant about it. Suddenly, a hand came from the darkness and grabbed his forearm from inside the cave.

         “Stop thinking about it and let’s get going! We both know you’ll end up coming!”

         “Ugh, I hate that you know me so well!” said Raph, before letting himself be dragged into the cave by his friend.



         It was very cold. After some minutes of walking, both Marcelo and Raphiel started having goosebumps. The cave was as dark as darkness could be and it was after about twenty minutes of blind, silent walking that they reached a place where there found some starpebs, incrusted into the high rock ceiling and the walls.

         “I hate this place,” said Raph as he took some starpebs and put them away inside his leather bag.

         “Took you long enough,” said Marcelo amused, as he did the same as Raph. “But don’t worry, with these starpebs we’ll be able to see our way and find the group in no time at all.”

         “Hope so…”

         They filled what space they had in their bags with starpebs and then took off through an entrance to another part of the cave. Now that they had light, they walked faster, confident that they would find and join the group. However, after an hour they found nothing more than tunnels and more tunnels that divided into even more tunnels. After taking two rights, a left and a right at the middle of one tunnel, they found themselves at bigger room that divided itself into five more tunnels.

         “Which one?” asked Raph, rather impatient.

         “Mmm… I’ve got it!” said Marcelo confidently.

         Raph looked at his friend, trusting his judgment.

         “Eenie, meenie, my-nee moe! In which of these tunnels should we go? Right or-” sang Marcelo, pointing at each tunnel with every passing syllable, before being interrupted by an annoyed Raph.

         “Is this your ingenious plan? Give me a break!” said Raph irritated.

         “It’s true, it’s true…” said Marcelo understanding, although he was actually saying it to bother Raph.

         “Ugh! You can be so annoying sometimes! Let’s just take this one!” spat Raph.

         And with that, they took the fourth tunnel, left to right. They walked for several more hours, taking turns at random, completely lost in the caves. After some right turns, they stopped to rest for a moment.

         “With the group in no time, huh?” started Raph, a bit annoyed but in the mood to tease his stubborn friend. However, Marcelo completely ignored his comment; he was trying to hear something.

         “Do you hear that?” asked Marcelo. Raph listened hard.

         “Yeah…" he whispered, nodding slowly.

         Echoes of muffled screams could be heard in the tunnel where they were, but pinpointing their position was impossible. Either way, both Marcelo and Raph started running to the tunnel ahead. At first, Marcelo thought that those were screams of happiness. Maybe it was the group celebrating that they had found the exit to the surface, but as they closed in to the source of the commotion, he understood that those screams were not of happiness, but of something different: fear and horror. A burst of light came from a tunnel, making both men stop in their tracks. They heard people talking, so they walked slowly to the tunnel and hid behind some rocks. Starpebs were spread along the floor, and there was a man standing, although his face was unrecognizable.

         “Idiotic children. Luccia is a haven, a grotto of peace and happiness. You should learn to appreciate more what you have. Did you ever stop to think what the surface has to offer for people like you; ignorant and arrogant fools looking only for thrills. What good has this search do for you? None! Actually, it has brought your doom.”

         The familiar voice walked closer to the wall where members of the group were rounded.

         “You turned your back on your families, your friends, your city and your world. You are charged with high treason and sentenced to death by my hand,” said the mysterious man, raising his voice to a severe tone. Then he raised his hand. It started shining and a sphere of red light formed on his open raised palm. The orb of energy lit up the whole room.

         Marcelo and Raph were in shock. Blood was splattered on the floor and some of the walls of the cavern. Unconscious, or perhaps dead, bodies lay strewn around, and Raph even thought to have seen Z’s body stretched on the floor. The remaining members of the group were all in panic, on a side of the cavern against the wall. Another shocking fact was that the man guilty of all this chaos was the one who was inciting them to search for thrills and go on the trip to the surface: the red- haired man from the reunion.

         “Bye…” he said grinning before releasing the sphere of energy upon the scared men. The blast rumbled throughout the whole cavern and the blinding light illuminated the whole place. However, all was quite again in a second, and smoke filled the place. Raph and Marcelo got out of their hiding places and ran to the direction they came from, taking cover in the smoke, fearing a fate similar to those who they longed to find, but the voice of the killer made them stop in their tracks.

         “Where are you going so fast? You wanted to reunite the group, I assume? I can join you with them…hehe”

         Raph and Marcelo made as to run, but the deep voice stopped them again.

         “It is useless to run away from me here. I know the Upjoints like the palm of my hand. You’ll only tire yourselves running away from me until I trap you and kill you like the treacherous, imbecile cockroaches you are.”

         Raph and Marcelo knew that the shady man was right. They didn’t know their way around the Upjoints. Running around would only make them lose all sense of direction, confusing them even more than they were now. But what else could they do, as they were surely no match for the strange powers of this man. Or were they?

         Marcelo spun around, and with a sudden move he threw a handful of starpebs at the red-haired man. The man took the hit of the small pebbles without flinching.

         “Really? Come on!”

          Marcelo was already running where the man stood, the starpebs he threw before lighting the cave and helping him see his way better. The man, however, didn’t move, waiting for Marcelo to strike. Seconds later, the man moved swiftly to dodge Marcelo’s punch, that missed his face by inches. Marcelo’s lips curved upward.

          Out of the darkness, Raph jumped at his target, broadsword high in the air. The man, focused on Marcelo, failed to notice Raph’s attack until it was too late. Raph’s arms swung the sword downward with crushing force, but the blade didn’t strike anything but a puff of smoke and the grimy and blood stained ground. Both Marcelo and Raph looked around and they saw the man that was standing in front of them a second ago several feet away.

          The man patted his long coat, and looked at his prey with an amused face.

          “I did all this alone,” he said, pointing at the dead bodies spread around the cave. “Did you really think that you two could kill me? I have to admire your courage, or foolishness, though. Many of these kids ran away when they saw they had no chance. You two saw it, and still tried to pick a fight with me. But, oh well! You’re just eager to die.”

          The man raised his hand and the red energy orb started forming on his palm. Marcelo and Raph started running at him immediately. The man smiled slightly and disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind them. However, Raph and Marcelo didn’t stop running; they continued on their race and entered a new tunnel at the other side of the cave. The red-haired man was amused and sent the energy blast at the mouth of the tunnel, where the two men were running. The cave trembled and the powerful blast made them fall. Nevertheless, they stood again and ran away once again, hoping to be protected by the smokescreen the blast had created.

          Blast after blast followed them, crashing at the walls and the ceiling of the cave, making the whole place shake while they ran with all their might, hoping to lose the man on their tails. However, the tunnel did not have any other openings, it was straight all the way. Suddenly Raph and Marcelo, saw a light coming from a side of it. It was still far, but maybe that was an opening to the surface, and a way to escape the lunatic following them.

          They ran even faster, excited at the hope of an escape route. However, the man also saw the way out and understood their intentions.

          “Escape is impossible!” he yelled with all the strength of his lungs, and then laughed. “You are as good as dead”

          Raph and Marcelo kept running, dodging the incoming attacks and traveling the hazardous terrain of the cave in almost complete darkness, the remaining starpebs in their bags easing the task. Very soon they were at the exit they desperately ran at. They exited the cave.  And they fell.