A lesson of life with that who had been felled.

Dark…Dark and Damp… Where am I?

Too dark… is it midnight? Couldn’t be. There’s no moon up there nor are there any audible clicking from crickets anywhere.

“Live.”

“!!?—”

That voice!?

…. Goddess?!

I was looking around in the darkness when I heard a whisper from the tunnel ahead. It was dark, a hint darker than where I was but I wasn’t sure what it was still but I still ran towards it, hoping that there’s someone there.

I continued running and running without a thought about the world, towards the whisper. As I was about to come into a senses, I bumped into something… no someone— taking me off my feet.

Then the voice became clearer. A raspy, wizened voice.

”We walk alone, travelers on an empty, desolate desert—”

I looked up at him bewildered. Just where did he come from?

“with nothing but a bag of supplies, a map, a compass and a will to see what lies ahead—”

The old man continued to speak, as he held up an oil lamp to my face lighting up the dark tunnel while offering a hand and led the way. All the while he kept muttering words.

“—Hoping to reach the mark on our map that exaggerate a city”

“—Sometimes we’ll meet other travelers in our journeys as well… but most end up as farewells since they have a map to follow as well.”

He paused abruptly and brushed his bony hands against the walls. With a click— a little room with a few seats appeared, it was barely lit by an almost melted candlestick that hung by the ceiling.

“There’ll be times we come across a few Oases, Some are spots to rest and shelter us —others mirages, delusions, taking away our maps and luring us into being content with “just” enough or even “barely” enough.”

“Those will strong wills shake their heads at these delusions and continue moving through the heat. While the rest, stay.”

Picking up a broken piece of wood. The old man held it up near the oil lamp’s flame— setting it ablaze and then throwing the burning piece of wood into the room.

While the room danced ablaze, I stood there bewildered, not long before the old man dragged me by the hems of my clothes did I realized that the fire had already crept up to me.

“Those who continue take a gamble, one where a small breeze of wind can change everything and all the stakes are in.”

All the while. I just followed. Not one question, not one word —not like I can speak, I already tried to. I just can’t. So listening to what the old man was saying was all that I can do.

“But eventually they’ll reach the mark on their maps.”

“A third of those who reach have marks that have buried treasure, some of those treasures are dreams made reality, while the other third are broken, lost, those who gambled and lost.”

———

For what I can consider half a day, Our journey repeated itself in a monotonous manner. The old man would slide his hand across the walls looking for hidden rooms before burning then using the oil lamp in his hand. With nothing to do but to listen to his slow words I started to count the amount of rooms we passed and burned.

Third…. Seventh… Ninth… Eleventh…

After a long while of walking —It had been an hour since the last room if I remember, but to no avail no rooms have been found since.

Not long, I could see a faint glimmer of light by the corner of my eye.

I could see it! Light! The light at the end of the tunnel!

I almost ran full sprint towards it before the old man took hold of me by the hems of my clothes. I looked at him with anger and surprise for all I see was him shaking his head in disapproval. I moved my eyes to look at his eyes to my surprise, I saw no reflection of light in his eyes coming from the curtain before us.

“Only a portion of those who're are lost are willing to continue further.”

He picked up a small rock by the side and threw it into the light, a moment later the area where there was once light —shattered, like glass.

”To go beyond the map and forge their own ways, not inheriting something rather —forging a way that others can inherit—”

As it shattered. The old man turned around to me and nodded his head then to the side and continued walking deeper into the darkness and after a while I had just noticed —the longer we walked, the weaker he seemed to become.

Earlier when I bumped into him, he was walking with a scholarly gait, but by the curtain of light he was already limping.

Not before long, the old man was already crawling down the floor. Heaving deep breaths that seemed to try to chase life back into his old body.

He beckoned me to come closer —since earlier we met, he hadn’t stopped talking about the story and still continued until now.

“And that my friend— is Life— here I am now in front of you to make sure the path I made is inherited. Now go child. Continue and if you don’t see the end of the map, make one.”

He finished speaking the story and I listened to everything.

“I know you, but you don’t know me. After all, I am just an old man, someone who guides those who have died into their new one.”

He rummaged the insides of his clothes, taking out a few trinkets and such. Whilst he was rummaging his person, I noticed it! His hand looked similar to that of rotting—Necrosis and Gangrene. So those was the reason.

“People have called me Destrimethies since time immemorial, a God, One of those who had Fallen from above. Afraid of me they run, trying everything to escape. But you followed unafraid. My little friend, accept this lantern, these few scraps and continue. Your new life awaits ahead.”

Following the old man’s words, I picked up the lantern and the scraps that he gave and continued on.

Our journey together was brief and silent—well only I was, but next time we meet. I’ll make sure we can talk about this new journey for a while.

“—Or does it continue to echo until the other end, Hoping that someone hears the message on the other side?”