A Young Ambition

The young boy takes deep breaths, consoling himself softly phrases about staying brave and vigilant.

The kid smiles. "You really are kind."

Taihen lets his guard down, "Your leg..."

"My leg is fine!" the kid lets out a big smile, raising the once-injured leg to show him. "See-? OW!" the leg suddenly ached.

Taihen sighs as he picks up his bag and stands up. The kid makes an effort to call his new companion, but his eyes suddenly shifted pale in struggle. He clinches his fist, murmuring phrases in his mouth in which Taihen doesn't seem to hear.

"I won't leave you here. We'll go together."

Again, the kid struggles. "N-no... I mean... I was going to say my companions are waiting outside."

Taihen's eyes wandered as his fingers pinched his chin. Noticing this, the kid takes a few steps towards him and taps his stomach. His attention is now back to him.

"My companions are nice. They won't hurt you."

Taihen kneels, scratching his wrists confused as he held onto the kid. "Nobody came in with you?"

"Oh don't be like that to them mister..."

He stands up whilst sighing.

Beside them was another tall cliff to climb upon, about 50ft high. Alone, Taihen could climb this with ease. But with the kid, it starts to become a near-impossible task.

"I left my rope up there. It's tied to a spiky rock." the kid states, recognizing something from Taihen's baffled gaze.

"You didn't use it?"

"There are really scary scorpions up there." the kid says, rubbing his injured leg once again. "They were chasing me so..."

The kid breaks eye contact and stares directly at his own leg. Taihen blows and sighs as he exchanges stares at both the young boy and the cliff.

» » ------------- ¤ ------------- « «

Hanging from the top of the final cliff, Taihen throws his bag and lifts himself to the surface. After that, he lies back flat tired.

"Are you there yet?!" the kid shouts.

"Hold on!" Taihen stands up and irritatedly replies.

He later spots a long, thick rope line loosely tied to a nearby stalagmite, tightens it for a firm grip, and throws the other end off the cliff. When the rope hit the ground, it made a loud clapping sound, signaling both of them that it was already set.

"Do I go up now?" the kid loudly asks.

"I said wait!" Taihen grips the rope using both of his hands as a means of keeping the rope still. "Now climb!"

"Are the scorpions still there?"

Taihen, whilst stationary, looks around and uses his sensitive hearing to check for any nearby threats. So far, the only sounds he could hear are those that are far away.

"I don't think so!" Taihen assuredly replies

The kid walks up to the rope and pulls it three times from left to right in which the rope barely moved an inch. He then grabs the rope and lifts himself up, climbing the rope quickly and with ease.

Reaching the end of the cliff, the kid peaks over with squinching eyes, keeping himself hanging tightly on the rope.

"Come on!" Taihen repeats whilst almost slipping his hands on this heavy rope.

"Are you sure they are gone?" the kid asks, slightly trembling like a sick man in fear.

"Yes! It's safe!" he debates, with an irritated tone.

As the kid attempts to lift himself up, his whole body trembles, shaking as if stuck in an ice-cold bath. "Okay..."

With his head filled with second thoughts, he still manages to get himself off the rope. His eyes wandered as his body froze in fear.

Taihen finally lets go of the rope, shaking his now numb palms as he walks towards the kid. "What are you doing? The scorpions are gone."

The kid responds silently with only a stare of his watery eyes. Taihen, although still reluctant, gently wraps his right arm around the kid and softly pulls, making the kid feel safer.

"You said people were waiting..."

The kid takes a deep breath and looses his frown. "...yes. I can do it." he coughs, covering his mouth.

Taihen's brows drew together for a brief moment and relaxes it the next to look over and lightly brushes the kid's back. "All well."

Taking small, frail steps, the kid hugs Taihen's arm to keep himself locked into safety. Taihen, in his stead, takes a small flashlight from his bag and uses it for the kid to be able to see through the darkness.

» » ------------- ¤ ------------- « «

After what seemed to be hours, they finally reach the last straw of their journey towards the exit with only a kilometer's length of uphill walk left according to the pad. The kid's eyes widen as this was the area he recognizes the most. Along the path, Taihen glimpses an unfamiliar object lying on the floor just a meter away. He bats an eye of disinterest, but the moment the kid notices, he scampers towards it to pick it up.

"Careful-!"

"It's still here!" the kid rejoices, followed by a few coughs as he kneels. Even so, his smile never vanished.

Taihen walks over to clarify for himself what the item was. He appears to have found a rather thin silver pendant, holding it close to his chest while smiling contempt. In a while, he wears the pendant for himself and scampers back to Taihen's grasp. But before he's able to do so, his cough distracts him from running, and he nearly falls face down. To his luck, Taihen got ahold of his waist.

He winces whilst brushing his clothing. "Ahh... I said careful..."

The kid continues to cough raspy. Taihen's brows burrow as he glances at his mouth. There, he notices that blood violently splattered every time he let's out a cough.

He rushes to kneel and place both of his hands on the kid's arms. "Hey, hey. Kid, look at me." he calls as he taps the kids cheeks. "What's wrong?"

The kid fails to reply immediately as his pale expression partnered with constant bloody coughs continued. "I... just a little headache."

Taihen quickly takes a napkin from his bag wipe off the excess blood scattered around the kid's mouth, along with the ones that got to his face. Inside a small container he had were more of the orange pill that he had used earlier to subside pain, so he takes one and hands it to him.

"Swallow this pill. It'll get rid of your headaches." he worriedly offers.

The kid looks at this strangely colored item with a subtle scowl, but keeps himself much composed to endure swallowing it. So far, the kid's brows have lifted.

Taihen stands up. "Let's take a break for now."

"No no no, I'm fine. We're close to the exit. I can do it." he replies, smiling whilst in heavy breaths.

"Right..."

» » ------- ¤ ------- « «

Ten minutes have passed, and one can feel the soft presence of light by the slight brightness of the walls around them. The kid's face lightened up. As for Taihen, he seems to have winced a tad.

"Everyone!" the kid calls towards the far exit. "I'm close!"

Despite the echo reaching as far as the exit, not one reply was heard back. The kid tries again, "Everyone?!", but to no avail.

Taihen looks at the kid with his cheeks lightly stretched down in pity. This silence has left the kid a bit tense and worried, subtly shaking as his eyes got a little watery.

"Maybe... they..."

"Maybe they can't hear us." Taihen interjects. "We have a bit to go still."

"Y-yes. You're right."

The lapse of coughs and hacks continued on for ten more minutes, seemingly getting louder and raspier as time went by. Now that this area of the cave is significantly brighter, Taihen closes the flashlight.

As they reach the exit, "Everyone! We're here!" the kid calls. Taihen smiles constrained as no reply was heard once again.

The air has become warmer, which made Taihen flinch a little. Soon, they arrive at the cave's keyhole, and both were left standing speechless.

What they were greeted with were endless, empty, lifeless dunes. The winds passing by carried grains of sand, some even getting into Taihen's rather thin skin. Nauseating heatwaves were visible, causing the view of the surroundings to wobble like a river stream. Taihen's brows raised, eyes widened, and fists clinched as he takes a step aback in distress.

The kid lets go of his arm as he walks outside the cave's safe shade, his mouth gradually shivering even though it's extremely humid. "Brother Owais?!" he calls, hoping for this certain someone to appear, yet no response.

He turns around in every direction multiple times. "Sister Nazia?! Brother Vihaan?!" he calls once again.

Then, this steady walk he once had turned into a jog, in which every step of his right leg brought him aching pain. His face clearly frowned every time it hit the ground. Taihen, from the confines of the shade, notices this from quite a distance and tries to leave the said shade, only to stop the moment his finger prances on the edge. Fear settles in, so he calls instead.

"Don't go running! Come back here!"

The kid fails to hear this as the separation between them got increasingly wider. "Sister Nazia! Brother Owa-!" his cough intervenes, leading him to fall to the bed of hot sand, now given a bright red color from his own blood.

"Kid!" Taihen screams as if he was the one in agony.

At this point, Taihen felt helpless. His knees could give out any moment. A reminder of his past. He looks at the ring he was wearing, and looks back at the kid. The kid was still there, coughing.

"Brother Vihaan..." the kid murmured as his eyes slowly watered.