Cave

Cold. Dark. In the distance, small drops of water falling can be heard. Strange air, a little damp, a little... sharp? It's hard to say exactly how it feels, but there seems to be something unnatural in it. His consciousness gradually wakes up, and Damian begins to emerge from the twilight of sleep. Do you know that feeling when the line between reality and illusion is extremely thin and not noticeable? You seem to have woken up, but dreams are superimposed on what you see now, thoughts are confused, and even some kind of mysticism is felt a little as if everything is both real and not so real at the same time.

But, like everything in the world, this state also ends sooner or later, and the cold, rational consciousness begins to work in full force. A drop smoothly fell on the boy's forehead, which instantly made his head wake up, driving away the mystical feeling.

"Where. Am. I."

The boy felt the cold water on his forehead. For him, that tiny drop felt like a bucket of ice water. He tried to turn his head in order to look around and at least understand where he was. His gaze darted in different directions, trying to find at least something to cling to in this pitch darkness. Pretty quickly, with peripheral vision, he noticed that some kind of light was visible on his left side. He tilted his head in the direction, which, I must say, was much more difficult than he expected. In the distance, he saw how trees, the sky, and stars could be seen from a small hole.

It only stirred Damian's recently awake brain. Oh, how beautiful this little window into the world looked. A small piece, just a fraction of what was outside now, looked so reassuring. He realized that he was in a cave, and his only hope for salvation lies in that very hole.

And the boy reached for hope, awkwardly, tossing and turning, he tried to get up and walk.

First try

Failure

Second try

Failure

Third try

Failure

Fourth try

Failure

On the fifth, nevertheless, it is worth noting that he managed to roll over from his back to his stomach, and what was his surprise when, instead of his usual body of a teenager, he saw small arms that were not much longer than one of his hands, from those times when he was still in control of his own body. They were all covered in dirt and pebbles and looked rather untidy.

Those small, harmless, even cute hands had an utterly devastating effect on the morale of Damian, which was already not very calm. From within him, from the depths of his subconscious, an animal cry of pure horror escaped, but, as it turned out, this was not the worst thing. His animal scream of pure horror was, in fact, a childish squeal. Once again horrified by what was happening, the little boy tried to utter elementary words. The word "Farah" flashed in his head.

"Awa….."

Interestingly, the word "Farah" was the first ever word Damian was able to utter in his life. Oh, and how obvious the horror was on his face when he realized that even this word he was not able to pronounce. The heart is beating like crazy. The body is shaking as if in a spasm, and the look is frantically darting. The panic was so overwhelming that after a short time, he simply lost consciousness.

After lying for an indefinite amount of time in a damp cave, he was able to wake up, and it is worth noting that such an emergency shutdown generally served its purpose. Although the boy was as tense as possible at the moment, there was no longer any panic. He was able to make rational decisions or at least something that was close to them.

In fact, it didn't really have any meaning. He lies in a cold cave, waiting for his own death, listening to water droplets rhythmically fall to the ground. Attempts to move were doomed because of his childish body. All he had to do was slowly wait for his own end. The landscape changed in the aperture. The stars, sky, and trees were covered by a strong storm. From the crevice, you could hear the whistle of the wind, so strong was the storm outside. Damian lay, staring at the tiny picture of the blizzard outside, listening to the wind, and waiting. He himself didn't know for what exactly he was waiting. How did he get here? Why is he in the body of a child? What is this cave, and why is he here and not on the threshold of the University? In his strangely desperate situation, he seemed to have come to terms with his own death.

He thought for the first time in a long time. About his life, his decisions, and his actions.

"Maybe I shouldn't have separated myself from my father like that…."

Many thoughts crossed his mind. In normal times many would call them sad, even depressing. But now they looked more like a report, a dry result of life. Damian Witt lived his not-so-long life in a cage of hatred and fear, and there was nothing he could do about it for now. Of course, part of the responsibility for this lies with his parents, but inside he understood that he himself was not the one who would actively try to change something. But now, in the end, boy couldn't care less who was responsible for what. Oh, how happy he would be if he knew that in just a couple of minutes, his suffering would end.

Lying and reflecting, the boy heard some rustling in the direction of the exit from the cave. And he himself noticed a small moving black dot. The first reaction, of course, was fear. Who is it? What's this? Is it a wild animal? What's happening? But rather quickly, fear was replaced by understanding. If nothing changes, he will definitely die, so it is quite rational to at least try to seize the phantom opportunity. Damian, with all his strength in his stiff childish body, began to scream and squeal heart-rendingly, trying to create as much echo as possible. His goal was what children do best - attract attention. Without ceasing to shout, he was visited by an interesting thought.

"Hmm, can children hoarse? Never heard of hoarse children"

His thoughts might well have been confirmed soon if he had not seen a human figure approaching him. A man dressed in a fur cloak approached Damian carefully, quietly, and with a bow at the ready. The archer himself was a tall, stocky man with a thick dark beard, a straight nose, surprisingly wide eyes, and rather unremarkable legs. Although outwardly he was not particularly attractive, for the boy, he was more beautiful than any fashion model from his world because, right now, he is the embodiment of his hopes and desires for salvation.

The man, finally noticing the child in the darkness, carefully approached him. Damian stopped yelling as soon as he realized that he was noticed. Now, he can only hope that he will be helped.

The potential savior examined the child for some time, checking whether any threat may come from him. After he had checked everything five times, he decided to start staring at the child's face, actively thinking about something, and at the very end, he sighed heavily and nevertheless took the child in his arms with him.

Damian was overjoyed. He had never experienced such despair in his life and sincerely hoped that this was his last such experience. Now, of course, it would be worth thinking about what to do next and how not to die already outside this huge cave, but the boy was too happy for such thoughts. With a joyful grimace on his face, he calmly waited for what would happen next.