Grant me the wish...

Where we stood was a completely normal looking cave, one that inside had a ton of stairs going down, the place had torches without light but a simple fire spell from Beatrice made every torch illuminate our way towards the bottom.

Each step felt weird for me, and I think it was for the others, meaning that the end of this journey would be ones we reach the bottom was unthinkable, but when I try to stop, part of me didn’t want to stop, and neither my friends would let me stop, I know because when I stopped for a few seconds, they didn’t stop, and I needed to continue.

The journey of an adventure is a beautiful thing, and the end was fatal. Why was I having all these thoughts at this moment? I guess because I was considering leaving this world, and at the same time I wanted to stay.

I was supposed to have this conflict resolved some time ago, but every time I think about it I was regretting it, I didn’t need to make this journey to prove that but, I cannot run from where I come from, I have some stuff going on in there, but…

As we went down, we could see the floor, it was made of rocks, and from there, there was a space to go straight, in that path, at the end I could see the obelisk and I could see the letters being written in my home language.

When I stood against it, the rest saw me and Alexander push me forward.

“What does it say?”

“Ugh… This is the mark of the end of my journey, I finally found the way to go into another world? Wait what?... That world wasn’t what I expected it, it was really fascinating, but I felt as I didn’t belong in there, I stay in there for a time and met some people, but no one as my dear friends and my beloved Amelia, my sweet and beautiful woman, I have made a way to transport to that world, if someone find this stone and want to visit that world said the following worlds…”

I skipped the other worlds and looked at what comes next.

“To come back in case, it wasn’t for your liking either, just said… I am tired of this world… May fortune be with you. Zachary Rudolf”

I stood in disbelief, I put my hand in my mouth and looked at the other two.

“This person… I thought we were following the steps of someone from my world but… it was from this world… and this stone… was made after he came back from there… so this is the same person that made that portal, but how?...”

“Ryu…”

“What?”

Alexander took off his helmet and he was smiling; he touched my arm and nodded at me.

“Go”

“Huh? What are you saying?”

Elizabeth took my hand and she was holding back his tears.

“Ryu… you are smiling…”

“What? No, I…”

I touched my mouth and I was indeed smiling, I tried to hide it, but I couldn't. I put my hand in my mouth. I was closing it but every time it opened with a smile, I looked at the floor and tears started to drop from my cheeks.

Beatrice smiled at me warmly, making me move my chin up and look at them all.

“I can’t… guys…”

“We discussed this before you could even make a choice, that if you were going to go, we would push you, after all, you came from a world that is different from here, Ryuzaki” —Alexander said.

“Is not that we don’t want you in here, but as you said, you have stuff to do, and it seems you can come back, so what is the big deal then?” —Beatrice said.

“Why do you look so sad then?...”

I said with a raspy voice, I knew the answer, but I just wanted to hear them from them, or rather, I was waiting for a different thought from the one on my mind, sadly, that wasn’t the case, and the person that said it, made it more impactful.

“Because there is a chance you don’t want to come back, or that you know that you can’t”

“…”

I stood in silence, why couldn't it be easier? Why don't you leave a portal open at all times? Why not make something to connect with the people on that side of the world? Why not make us meet each other? Why? Why? Why?

“Why?!”

“Ryu…”

Elizabeth touched my cheeks and came closer to my face. She closed her eyes and put her lips against mine, I was surprised, but at that moment, I didn’t know what to do, it took me a second to open my mouth and kiss her back.

The warm breath from her mouth and the tears going down our eyes was making me clear or something, this was a goodbye kiss, as if we won’t be seeing each other in a ton of time, we don’t know how these things work, and I don’t even know if I can go back with the same method I have before.

I don’t even know where this thing would make me pop off, I separate my lips from the ones of Elizabeth and I look at her, I kiss her again and after being out of breath again I take her hands.

“I won’t be coming with you, Ryu… If I were alone I would… but my family is still with me, and we found new party members… I will be helping my family again until you come back, and I’ll be hanging out with Beatrice and Alexander but as long as you are not here… being an adventure doesn’t have any meaning…”

“I thought your dream was to be an adventurer… don’t stop because of me…”

Elizabeth moved her head from left to right and looked me in the eyes.

“It was… my new dream is being with you and making a ton of memories together… even… no… I better save that from you when you come back…”

“I’ll be taking care of my house and the guys out there, they are going to miss you too, but without you around, it just doesn’t feel right, I’m glad that you made me go on adventures with you, but if some is not, and specially you, the one that accept me along with Elizabeth, then I am done”

“I have plenty of books to read until you came back with us, just don’t make us wait for too long, Ryuzaki Hikari”

“Guys…”

I clench my fists and look at the obelisk, then I look at them again.

“What if I-“

“We told you already, didn’t we?” —Alexander said.

“We want you to go”

All three said that to me again and I took a step back, I looked at the obelisk and without looking at them I said.

“The three of you have made this journey the most successful thing in my life, I had a terrible job, I didn’t have any friends, no partner, no social life, nothing… just money that I couldn’t use… but even with that… I may have someone waiting for me… it is very selfish of me but those are my parents… and I think about them every night, they worry about me… and… I don’t even know what to say at this point just… thank you”

Saying out loud what I thought made me realize that the thing I was about to do was going to be unworthy, that I was making the dumbest treat I could make but I was stupid, or rather, I was curious, without knowing what would happen and looking behind me one more time I look at the stone and stare at it for a few seconds.

My heart was pumping to a very high speed, my stomach was feeling sick, and when I opened my mouth, the words didn’t want to come out. Is this what I really want? But… even if I didn’t want it, they would make me do this, was it for my own good? Why aren’t they stopping me? Do they really want to go?

I bit my lip until it bled and after taking a deep breath and looking at the words in my home language, I said.

“Grant me the wish to be in another world”

I kept my eyes open, I looked at Beatrice, Alexander, and Elizabeth. My eyes hurt, they started to lubricate and tears were coming down again, I didn’t want to close them because I knew then once I closed them, they wouldn’t be with me anymore.

And so, I disappeared.

“That took you a lot of courage, Elizabeth, I’m proud of you”

Elizabeth was holding her fist behind her back, bleeding, she broke in tears, falling down her knees and Alexander couldn’t help but drop a tear too.

“Please come back…”