Chapter 1

—Shit…
That was the only word that crossed his mind in that moment. Joel, a young man of only twenty four years, had just been fired from the bakery where he worked. The reason? Not even himself knew; they just throw him out to the street as if he was carrying all the blame of some tragedy.

He knew there was nothing to do. Only thing left was walking back home and give the news to his grandmother: once again he was fired. It wasn’t easy to say it, and even less now… this would be the third time in the year.

—I guess I have to search for job again… —he murmured while moving along a crowded street. A sigh escaped from his lips, lifting just a little the strands of his black hair. —I’ll go to the plaza… that idiot Juan still owes me a favor —he thought, raising his eyes and showing the heavy dark circles under them.

He continued his way with the shoulders down and a hard expression, like someone who doesn’t expect much of life anymore. That was just another day in Joel’s existence, a young man who barely thought about himself: the only thing he really cared was the well being of his grandparents and his two cousins, who he considered like little brothers.

The road was getting more lonely, and with it, his mind. He remembered what he had lost: that work accident that took away his father and his uncle… and how, soon after, his aunt decided to end her life because she couldn’t handle the responsibility of raising her two children. He tried not to think about his mother; he never met her, but he was convinced she was a good woman. For anyone, that past would have been devastating; for Joel, the tears had already stayed behind. Now his family depend on him, and he couldn’t afford to fall apart. One way or another, he had to keep moving forward.

His thoughts dragged him until, without wanting, he bumped into someone. Joel got startled, but he apologized quickly and keep walking. In the distance he could already see the entrance of the plaza. When he finally crossed it, he let out a long sigh of relief. For some strange reason, that place bring him good memories; it was like whispering to him that, despite everything, he still could go on.

—Well… life is not for crying, it is for working and forge a good future —he said in a low voice, with a renewed spirit that almost made him forget his tiredness.

But life rarely goes how one plan it. And for Joel, everything was about to change.

In just one instant, time stop around him. Everything, absolutely everything, stay still. Not the cars, not the birds, not the people moved. At first, Joel didn’t notice, but the silence, an unnatural and scary silence, force him to.

—W-what… what is happening? —he murmured with a broken voice, looking around without understand anything—. H-hello? —he asked foolishly, as if waiting for an impossible answer.

Anyone with a bit of knowledge in science fiction or anime would have thought several theories, but Joel not. He passed, without knowing, through the classic stages of panic.

The first: alert state.
He was looking in all directions, searching something that move. The people stay frozen, like living statues. He dare to touch the face of a man who was stopped next to him, waiting for any reaction.

— I guess that… I’m safe —he babbled, even if he didn’t understand nothing. He took a few steps back, slowly moving away from that unnatural scene.

The second stage: interpretation.
His mind, desperate, was looking for a logical explanation, anything to not break apart.

—Sure I had some accident —said Joel, with a shine of hope in his eyes, like if he had found the answer—. Yes… maybe a truck run over me and now I’m in the hospital. —He stay silent a few seconds, processing the idea—. Damn… if that is true, we cannot pay the bill.

The worry wrapped him even in the middle of the impossible, holding tight to the idea that everything had to be a nightmare or, even worse, a tragedy too real.

And so came the third stage… panic.
Until that point, Joel had tried to convince himself in a thousand ways, but there was no excuses anymore: it was obvious that he was not dreaming. Everything that happen was real. That certainty disarmed him completely. His breathing accelerated, his legs tremble, and he ended shouting, crying and asking forgiveness to nobody in particular, like if in that way he could wake up or make everything return to normal.

Hours later, exhausted and with red eyes, he reached the last stage: acceptance.

—Well… maybe I’m trapped in some science fiction event… or I’m the only one who is passing through this and the world keep going without me… —he murmured, sitting in some stone stairs in the middle of a park. His hands cover part of his face while he was looking at the ground, confused and with the heart shrunk. 

Then it happen. A shiver run through his back, like an instinctive warning that something horrible was about to happen. And it did.

A deafening roar shake the skies. Joel raise his eyes slowly, and what he saw froze him in the place: up there, in the highest, was floating a female figure of impossible proportions, at least the size of a small building. Her eyes, dark like abyss, were watching everything with indifference.

—What the hell is that…? —he babbled, standing up immediately, without take away his sight from the terrifying scene—. It’s… a woman?

Before he could react more, huge rings of light emerge from the hands of the colossal figure. They surround her body and expand so much that it looks like they cover all the city. As soon as that happen, Joel didn’t doubt. He start running, looking where to hide, while a primitive instinct was screaming that this thing mean absolute danger, a horror that he cannot face. 

Joel was lock inside the bathroom of a clothes store. He had run there just after saw that impossible figure in the sky. He lean against the cold wall, panting, while his mind was full of dark thoughts: memories of his life, mistakes, regrets, guilty. Everything come back at same time, like an unstoppable torrent. No matter how much he try to stop it, he can’t.

—What’s happen… what’s happen… what’s happen? —he repeat between his teeth, holding his head with both hands.

It was like that presence in the sky was about to make him crazy. The air feel heavy, his skin was bristling. Suddenly, without realize, his eyes start to cry.

—No… I’m not sad… I don’t feel nothing… why…? —he murmured, trembling. Maybe he don’t feel nothing consciously, but there was something deeper, something hidden inside him, that was crying without stop, like if his own soul was cracking.

The panic was eating him. Every second in that bathroom make him closer to madness. His breathing was a broken pant, his nails scratching the wall, and the certainty that he will lose his mind become unbearable. Until…

Something break into his mind. A voice.

It was not human, but not cold either; it sound serious, firm, but also with a strange kind of affection. From the deepest of his head, it scream to him:

—Stand up, idiot! You have to go back home with your family!

Joel shivered. Never in his life had listen that voice, and still, it feel real, warm. And as strange as it was, it full him with strength. 

He slapped himself, take a deep breath, and with one kick he open the bathroom door and go outside.

—Heeeyyyyy! —he scream with all the air in his lungs, looking up the sky—. I don’t know what you are, but I don’t fear you! You hear me? I DON’T FEAR YOU!

His eyes, red because of tears, now was shining with a wild determination. The terror that had control him before was no longer his owner. The fear of his past… neither. For the first time, Joel was standing against the impossible, trembling but firm, ready to face whatever come.

But what come after… never, never had cross Joel’s mind.

Suddenly, everything turn black. An absolute darkness, without shape, without sound. It didn’t last more than few seconds, but enough to feel the vertigo of an endless abyss. Then, a brutal hit shake him, like if his body was throw against the floor of the entire world. The impact make him unconscious immediately. 

Maybe hours pass. Joel wake up with a diffuse pain all over his body. The ground under him was hard, rough and dusty. A heavy gloom surround him, only break by the weak light of a cellphone shining the place.

A cave.

In front of him he could see several people: a man around fifty, a woman about thirty, two teenagers not even seventeen… and an old lady, sitting on a rock, crying without stop.

—W-who are you? Where… where am I? —Joel ask, voice broken, looking to the older man.

—Calm down, boy. We all are same confused —the man answer, walking a little closer—. Tell me… do you know anything about what happen?

—N-no… —Joel stutter, searching in his pockets like if some answer could be there—. I only know that time stop… and then that woman appear in the sky. That’s all I remember.

—It’s the same we saw… —the man sigh, frustrated, letting his body fall to the ground—. We don’t have any idea. I only know that… I need go back to my daughter…

The air in the cave was suffocating. All of them look scared, trapped in the same despair. Joel understand that there he would not find answers. Still, he couldn’t ignore the old woman crying, nobody near to comfort her.

—Ma’am… please, calm down. We need to stay strong —Joel say careful, walking slowly to her.

The old woman repeat again and again, between sobs, that they was in hell, that God had punish them. For a moment, Joel feel maybe she was right. But he shake his head, hold on to calm, and with simple words he make her crying stop little by little.

—Now you are more calm, right? —he ask, putting one hand over the old woman’s shoulder.

—Yes, young boy… thanks —she answer with trembling voice. Then she pull out an old wallet and show a photograph—. You don’t see my husband, right? We argue during a walk… he go to the park and I was in a store. You didn’t saw him anywhere?

Joel look at the face of the old man in the photo. He swallow hard.
—Me… I’m sorry, I didn’t see him. —He refuse to lie. Then he add, with firmness—. When we return, I will help you to find him. Okay?

The woman look at him in silence, sad, and then fix again her eyes on the photograph. Joel say nothing more; he just move away and let his body fall over a near rock. He turn on his cellphone. No signal. No messages. Nothing. 

Some minutes pass in silence, until it was the teenagers who break it. They introduce themselves: José, fourteen years old, and Liam, sixteen. That make the others also share their names: the old lady, now more calm, was Berta; the man, Marco; and the woman, Sofía. Joel introduce himself too.

After that, nobody say anything for a while, until José suddenly stand up and turn on the flashlight of his phone.

—I can’t take this anymore. We must find a way out, —he say, fixing his backpack with determination.

Liam follow him, pushing up his glasses like a real nerd.

—He’s right. If we stay here, we will die of hunger. There’s a wind current… that means there must be an exit, —he add, with a tone almost didactic.

Joel and Marco look at each other, doubting. They knew the boys was right, but they wasn’t sure if the old lady and Sofía would accept. The answer come sooner than expected.

—I think the same, —say Sofía, standing up with some clumsiness. She was wearing party clothes, not good at all for this place. She leave her high heels at the side and adjust her purse—. Besides… I’m freezing.

Joel doubt only one moment, then he stand up too. Marco imitate him, and finally Berta, with effort, get on her feet with the help of the others. The group was decided: they need to get out of there. Nobody know each other, but in that instant the only thing they could do was trust one in another.

They start walking through the twisted tunnels of the cave, following the weak current of air. The path become more hard with every step. Sometimes they had to carry the old lady to move faster.

It look like the exit was close, until José stumble with something.

—Ouch! —he shout, rubbing his foot.

When they light with the phones, they discover what was on the floor: a rusty sword.

—Wow! We found a real sword! —say José, surprised.

Liam bend down and look the weapon with fascination.

—It looks… like a roman sword. But it’s too well conserved to be here.

Marco take it without doubt.

—I will carry it. If some wild animal try to attack us, at least we can defend ourselves… even if I don’t think it works much, it’s pretty damaged.

Nobody opposed. Marco was the strongest of the group and, after all, he didn’t look like a bad guy. Even if Joel and Sofía exchange a look of distrust, they decide to keep going.

And then, they saw it.

Just a few meters away, the exit open in front of them. The teenagers run excited, while the adults and Berta move more carefully. When they go out, they stay speechless.

In front of them extend an immense forest. Trees so high they almost touch the sky, a cold breeze raising goosebumps in their skin, and a pure air, so different from the city they knew.

Nobody know where they was, or how they arrive there. But everybody understand the same thing in silence: this place was not Earth.

The proof? Very simple.

Far away, a colossal mountain rise up, literally cut in two.

End of chapter one.