Freedom

I on my knees right next to him, looking at him with a lot of emotion behind my eyes. I started shaking him, doing anything to wake him up.

"Wake up! Please!" I screamed in his direction, I heard something coming from his mouth, words, and blood. Both at the same time were flowing out from his mouth in a quiet tone, a whisper.

"Run… Hayden, I am sorry that I could not help you enough, I wanted you to escape, please, fulfill my wish. Live, Hayden." This was his last breath, then, his breath stopped. I once again put my hands on him, it was his chest trying to search the beat of his heart. But there was no beat, no warmth as well in fact. Tears started going down my face, slowly reaching the hard ground of the village. People were looking at us, at Lucas who was in a pool of blood now. Their faces terrified, mine, sad. I swallowed the sadness and went further. We helped Marcus walk together with Estel. We entered the long hall of memories…

Walking through there, it will take longer than it would when we were riding with that thing before. The worlds… I remember the time when I saw it for the first time, now, the memory is the same with the only difference being circumstances and mindset. I was unaware, not even scathed with anything besides pain. Now, I am dirty, I am someone else, I am… Not me anymore. This is someone new, a new person residing in a body of my own. We were walking through the hall, the different worlds as always completely incredible.

"I never noticed, but… I was there for 10 years, I was in that place for 10 years. And I had not noticed that on my own, only once he said it, all the memories came to me. Now that I think about it, those two years felt really long, a lot longer than anything. I don't know what to think…" Estel's face was clearly confused, we passed through a realm of sand dunes, one that looked almost like the one from the weapon world.

"That means… I wasted around five years here, at this point, my parents might be dead, maybe even my country was taken over by someone else. Where do I go then?" Marcus was hissing while speaking, he was tired and very afraid of one thing that might not be something very far. Death, he seemed to be scared of dying.

"I… I lost over a month here. The whole city of mine must've already forgotten about me, my own family, and… Anyone else I knew before coming here." When I said this, both of them looked at me concerned, somehow, they were more concerned about where I will go than I myself. Because, I don't really have anywhere to go. I can only stay somewhere far, somewhere where no one comes somewhere where I can fulfill the thing I have to. The great change I want to bring to this world may be a lot harder than anything else. Just finding a place where I may survive.

"Guys, my leg hurts. Very, very much." Marcus exclaimed while hissing, even more, blood was dripping down his leg, only then have I noticed that the broken leg was an opened wound.

"We have to leave first, then we may rest. Please, Marcus, stay with us until then." Estel said caringly, I looked in front to see how far we are from leaving the hall. It was still a long way. A thing in front of us, it was another carriage, just like the one I was on when I came here.

It was right in front of us, we went to the left to avoid hitting it or getting tackled by it in any way. When I looked at the back of the carriage, there was a young man there. A man young just like me, not a man even, a kid.

"Don't go there, it's all finished. You can head back." I said to the carriage driver who ignored me completely and went to the end. After another minute of walking, I heard the horse of that carriage in a wild rush, faster than before. That kid… He survived the hell of existing in that place, he is saved, he is the first person I have saved. Even though I was a cause of death of even more. The carriage was almost falling over from the speed.

"Well, they didn't listen to first. How far is it still? I feel like I am losing sight." Estel scarily said while closing his es and to see further. Try to see beyond what he can see, far beyond the distance his eye can traverse.

"I think we are a little over halfway through, how is your arm?" At least Estel's right arm was broken and not left, because my left is and if he wouldn't have the right one. We wouldn't be able to help Marcus walk otherwise.

"It hurts like hell, I feel weaker with each step and everything looks nauseous. I feel like I will throw up in a second or something." He answered, I looked back behind us. A long trail of blood, right behind Marcus's leg, right from the entry of the hall of memories from the prison's side.

"Guys, I don't feel my side from the waist down, I am about to fall down… I-I can't go any further." We sat down against the wall with one of the worlds behind us. It was the world of the dark forest from my dream, exactly the same. Marcus was huffing and hissing, even more, sweat was pouring down his forehead in buckets almost. His face was red, and his eyes seemed to start closing on their own.

"Marcus, we can't let you stay here. Come on, we have to go." I quickly told him, reassured him, tried to give him some assurance that we won't leave him like that. That we won't just leave him here to die from blood loss or worse, if they catch him.

"Hayden is right, what if they will catch us? We need to leave the hall of memories before you can rest." Estel complimented my assumptions and overall wanted to move on further even though he himself is getting worse.

"Just… Just leave me here, please, I can't see you getting slowed because of me losing blood. Just… Just go, please." When he said that, I stood up together with Estel. We looked at him once again. "Don't lose yourself out there, go, the longer the farewell, the more pain it creates. Just go!" He screamed at us, we then turned on our heel, I looked at him the last time as I saw him now sitting in a pool of blood. His face went completely pale and his eyes closed. Both of us, me and the elf, were crying for the lives lost. For Marcus, Matthew, Lucas, Lupo, Lambert, Bog, and Finn, those are the people I knew, the people I had the chance to learn and meet inside of that hell. The people that helped me become who I am in one way or another. Now… Only me and Estel are still standing. We were about to leave the hall of memories once I spotted the world I was in the last time, the world of dark pillars.

"Hayden, my vision is getting blurry, can you help me walk?" I can't lose him, I can't lose Estel here, he is heavy. But I can do it, I have to help him, I don't know how I am in a worse condition than he is but I am feeling a lot better than he does. But that one elf is the most important person for me now, the person I have to save as he did before. Several times, the most important man for me, the man whom I value over my own life.

"We are finally out! God… It's, it's so beautiful here. I hope that those who died in the valley see this now, the snowy forest. Not the same as the one on the mountain, but more friendly… It's cold here, but not too cold. Estel! Do you see this!? It's… It's just so outstanding." I asked him but then I felt that his body was losing strength, he was slowly going down and only standing up by using my body to walk. Completely relying on me.

"I-I can't see, I only see white, the white color of snow, it's cold… But I don't feel the cold anymore… I can't feel anything at all anymore… Can I sit down somewhere?" Estel asked me, I felt the cold and fresh air of the outside world. I felt him falling down, I was screaming inside my mind. I was crying already for some time, the entire time since we left Marcus, now I want to scream. I am scared of being left alone. I don't want to lose him…

"Estel, don't leave me please! Don't leave me alone!" I screamed loudly, I saw the gate behind us, the gate to the place we just left. That hellish thing, I see the hall of memories that now, now, is a bad memory. I lost… Everyone I knew to get here. To achieve freedom, is that really freedom? Is that really how it feels to be free? A feeling of emptiness...