A Love In Dark Times

1 don't see guys, that reminds me of the time I drank that adulterated drink. -Luis formulated, trying to grab somethings he wouldn't fall over.

1 heard that story, what happened is that your friends played a joke on you by turning off the light. -Luisa laughed, tryin to turn on her sword.

-Guys, I remember this, we must wait a while for our eyes to get used to it, then we can use our power to guide us. - Francisco recovered his memory, for him it was a magical moment, it seemed like a dream, not even remembering what i was called.

The cold is also unbearable, I feel like I'm going to get hypothermia. -Angie was also waving her sword around, looking fc warmth.

Little by little her eyes began to distinguish shadows, it was a landscape of grey and that a grey circle in the sky seemed illuminate everything, a city in ruins was her destination, a noise could be heard as if hundreds of woodpeckers were piercing a forest.

Look, what is that? -said Luisa, showing a shadow that was destroying a building.

Run, run for your lives! -The shouts seemed to come from shadows running past.

-Let's follow them, quickly, we need time for our eyes to adapt to this darkness. -Francis proposed.

They followed them with difficulty, colliding with motionless shadows, they entered a cellar, rolling down what seemed tc be a flight of stairs that they could not make out the steps.

“They must be blind. Voices that seemed to come out of nowhere made their hair stand on end even more.

“What's going on here? -asked Francisco, addressing the horizon.

“How is it possible, blind gentlemen, that you do not know about the cruel war that has been raging all over the world fo centuries? -A voice full of scepticism questioned them.

Yes, of course, what happens is that my father suffers from memory, he is somewhat senile on the edge of limbo. -Angie interfered quickly before they were discovered, they didn't know if they looked any different from these beings and coulc therefore be persecuted for that fact alone.

-A bomb also exploded nearby, leaving him somewhat disturbed. -Luis added, blinking hard, trying to focus, but in that dark basement he couldn't even see his hands.

-1 don't understand why this war won't end, at this rate we're all going to die. -opined Luisa, looking for a conversation. -Miss, it's that Mr. Mephistopheles provoked it by challenging the old sovereign and now the war is being waged against h dissidents and a certain gloomy general, someone that nobody has seen. -A voice answered him and in the background explosions could be heard.

The grim general is to blame for the terrorist attacks, he is all the evil that exists, so bad that he did not want to negotia because the great sovereign wanted to reconcile. This time they could see that the sound came from a medium-sized shadow.

-1 heard that Lord Mephistopheles is obtaining a weapon of great power with which he will destroy his enemies with a single blow, we will be the victors at last. -Another shadow waved his arms.

-No, my children, we have always been in these dark wars, if it is not one thing, it is the other, it seems to be the nature o this world, since we were little we learned to run, to the shelters and to eat leftovers. Besides, when the recruiters come, they can take whoever they want to do whatever they want to do to them, I will know that I lasted two hundred years on the front line, I survived by making the best of my heart and using suffering as a pillow. I assure you that war has nothing of ideals, it is only about killing not to die, I got used to see corpses, even of acquaintances, in a moment I became a stor without feelings to only want to perish in battle and thus end my pain, that's why I survived. This time they could see a trembling grey shadow.

“We have to do something, we should unite and fight to end this eternal war. -Luisa in her recklessness uttered somethin highly dangerous that was punishable by death.

Those are stupid things, girl, everyone knows that you can't fight against the regime and neither can you fight with the others, we civilians are condemned to crossfire and to be cannon fodder. Our greatest honour is to give our lives so that our leaders can manage our resources from their palaces or to die in a damp shelter like the one we are in at the momen The voice seemed to come from beneath them, it was very strange.

-Listen to that, be silent and perceive. -It was a shriek of a small shadow.

“We didn’t hear anything. -Guio answered.

That's why, the bombardment is over, we must go to harvest. -The shadow passed in front of them, going up the stairs, followed by several others.

“May the harvest go well. -Francisco wanted to appear sympathetic in order to get some help.

-In a few hours they will return with rations, weapons, clothing and other items they can find for the fallen in combat, as well as whatever is under the rubble. -Again the trembling grey shadow spoke to them.

“You're like scavengers, you have to go and steal from the victims of battle, don't you? -Guio, the reckless one, asked with an affirmative.

Yes, of course, but it's very dangerous, they can come across a bomb that hasn't exploded or be stabbed by a wounded person who refuses to let them take their belongings, that's why they take those clubs with them, to minimise those situations. The grey shadow moved nervously, but became more solid.

Please, we need to go to the leader Mephistopheles, it is a delicate matter, the truth is that we are messengers from another government who bring him the weapon he is looking for. -Angie didn't want to spend time locked up, she needec to find her mother, she wanted to find a way to get to her mission.

-1 understand why you seem to know nothing, you must be of the elite classes that live locked up in your mansions surrounded by armies that protect you, ignoring the rest of the world, if I had heard that some of you didn't know anythi about the war, I didn’t imagine it was true. -The old shadow also seemed to cough.

Yes my lord, it is something like that, please show us the way, I promise we will reward you,” Angie took the lead.

“You have to walk east two blocks, when you arrive at a beautiful church, you will have to walk two hours north, you will arrive at that sumptuous palace where his perfect greatness resides, the giver of life and protector of this world, the lord Mephistopheles.

They had to climb like cats, groping the stairs with their hands, feeling those rough surfaces full of dust and splinters.

1 don't understand what kind of idiot sends blind men on an important mission, it must be a major one or they just wanted to get rid of you, the same thing happened to me once, when I could no longer carry the heavy war equipment. M commander sent me with a letter that had a valuable message for a general, I thought I was a hero, I walked day and nigt I endured storms, my skin was toasted by the sun, at the end I was about to reach my destination, I could already see the town on the horizon. That's when I saw her, a small young girl hanging from a cliff, with a screaming baby in her arms. Without hesitation, I jumped down the cliff, took off my leash, tied it around her waist and with great difficulty I saved them, I even almost fell. This did not happen with the letter, which ended up at the bottom of the cliff. I was so distressec that I didn't even listen to the girl's thanks, I looked for the way down, it took me a long time to go down those slopes without climbing equipment, I slipped once, fortunately I managed to grab hold of a bush that grew between the rocks. Nothing stopped me from retrieving the letter, then it was also an odyssey to get out of that hole, as the girl had left whe climbed up. I continued my way to the village, and with surprise, I saw her near the entrance, where when I turned aroun she recognised me stretching my belt, with a smile of gratitude, there I felt that some ships were approaching, I looked a the sky, reaching to see how from their entrails they were throwing up bombs the size of a cow and that cost a thousand them. I ran, knocking down the lady and her daughter, who gave me on top of them, covering them with my body. The terrifying noise made us burn, breaking our modesty, we even stayed that way after the horror was over, she cried for her family, including her husband, who were in that city. I set off to the next city to find another general to receive my letter, only to lose my senses, shrapnel embedded in my back. The next thing I remember, I woke up in a hut, where she and sor other ladies were looking after me. One of them showed me the metal blades that I removed from my back. It took me a few days to recover, I didn't let go of the letter from my chest and at the same time I felt that this woman wanted to enter until that moment I discovered that if a woman decides that you will be hers, you have already lost. That's how it was, I I myself in her beauty and sank into her flesh, discovering the sweetness of being next to a loved one. I even began to see the child as my own, I imagined taking him to school by the hand. The moment I was well, I went to the other village, whe I met the general, who almost shot me for bringing him a blank letter, only that he mocked me when he took off my blindfold, he told me tersely: “soldier, your commander wanted to get rid of you, that bombing we all knew what would happen, better go to the countryside to raise cows”. I cried all the way, full of rage and impotence, after all my years of risking my life for my country, they offered to pay me in that way, I even saved my commander several times, I was shot i the arm for covering him and his retribution was to send me to a bombardment. When 1 arrived at the house it was the harshest landscape I have ever seen, worse than the massacres of the war. The women were dead, naked, my wife too, sti breathing. She told me with her last breaths that a group of soldiers had raped and killed them for resisting and that the child had been taken away. After burying them, I followed them like a bloodhound, they were not far away, I arrived, slit the guards’ throats and one by one I eliminated them. I found no trace of the baby, until I turned back, I heard some cryir on top of a rock, I went up to rescue him, the little one was crying restlessly, clinging to existence, but the cold, the lack o food and the blows he received when he was thrown to that place, won the battle. My tears washed him completely away and 1 took him to bury him next to his mother, now I am looking for my commander to take revenge for that deceit. -The shadow seemed to weep, even small gloomy drops stained the grey of the ground.

-Don't worry, sir, we will take revenge for you, we promise you that we will make this dark world a better place. -Luis grabbed his shadowy hands, his own looking the same way and even darker.

They followed the man’s direction until a group of soldiers surrounded them, pointing their rifles at him, ordering him: “Stop, spies, one false move and you will be shot.

The bullets didn't seem to hurt them as much as the sight of the old man’s shadow accompanying the soldiers, pointing them and receiving a bag of coins in return.