At one end of the chain of the caverns. After crying to exhaustion: Theodor, Shimu, Mushi, and Lutza were sitting shivering from the cold that the storm had brought into the cave. They were hungry, tired and the place, besides being uncomfortable, smelled of urine.
The little ones were sitting around Theodor. The half-human half-vampire had Destroyer in his arms and Elizabeth lying on his legs. Everyone thought that Elizabeth had died because she did not move no matter how much they moved her or called her name. They could have taken her pulse, felt her breath, or just watched her small chest move, but none of the children, no older than three, knew of this.
They no longer had the energy to complain or cry, the abundant light provided by the flora and fungi around them was the only thing that prevented them from entering into hysteria or panic.
Neither dared to propose that they should move. Ahead of them was a tunnel that led down somewhere, but the lack of greenery within it made it darker and darker as it moved away from the cavern.
Returning was not an option either, the hazasayi had fled in that direction and the fear they had of it, make it impossible for them to even contemplate the option of going out there.
During that silent and depressing silence, Elizabeth opened her beautiful golden eyes. The first thing she felt was a headache, the reflective movement of her body alerted and scared the children who had already grown accustomed to silence and stillness around them.
“Eli!”
“¿Eli!?”
“Eli!”
“Eli!”
All the little ones began to exclaim as soon as they heard Theodor, who upon feeling the movement of his sister shouted her name out of happiness.
Still, with a headache, the screams of happiness from her brother and friends only made the migraine worse. Then, as she moved her body, she felt the moisture in her pants. Her face turned red with embarrassment, but she soon noticed that none of his friends cared. Everyone was crying with joy, cheering that Elizabeth had returned from the dead.
“Eli, did you see heaven?” Mushi asked being the first one to calm down.
“Heaven?” Elizabeth asked puzzled.
“Didn’t you die?” Mushi asked again.
" I don't think I died, " Elizabeth replied, sitting down and looking at her hands.
" Thank God, I didn't want you to leave us, " added Theodor, placing Destroyer carefully on the ground and hugging his sister.
“No! I'm dirty.” Elizabeth protested, but her brother ignored her and kept hugging her tightly.
“Lutza happy that Eli well,” said Lutza sipping snot.
“Now, what do we do?” asked Shimu knowing that Elizabeth was the smartest of the five.
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, but the headache made her reluctant to try with all her energy.
“I, I don't know” the little girl answered, closing her fists.
The atmosphere became heavy again, if not even Elizabeth knew how to get them out of this problem, it meant that there was no way out. They would have to live for the rest of their lives in this cave.
At that moment Mushi noticed a movement in the tunnel.
“Another monster!” He screamed in terror.
They all turned to look and out of the darkness a new hazasayi, much smaller than the first, crawled out.
“Aaahhh!”
All the little ones started to scream. Theodor covered Destroyer's badly wounded body, the unconscious little red panda, and although it was not out of courage he instinctively tried to protect his pet's body. Elizabeth hid her head between her hands, closing her eyes as if that would protect her from the insect. Lutza ran from the place to a spot where she could still see her friends. Mushi froze, staring at the filthy, terrifying creature that looked like the combination of a centipede and a fly.
For his part, Shimu remembered the words his father had said to his older siblings in an argument while they were dining.
“A person is only brave when he overcomes fear.”
“But a real warrior is never scared!”
“Latispora, not being scared has nothing to do with courage.”
“Not being scared is simply not feeling it. Everyone is not afraid when they see a fly.”
“But in the most difficult moments: When a warrior is facing adversity, when in front of a dragon or a titan when the same specters of the underworld threaten the lives of dearest people to him and he does not retreat. In those moments and only in those kinds of moments where fear runs through every cell of their being, that a person shows that he is a true brave warrior.”
A look of determination appeared on the little lepiots face. Putting one of his hands in his pants pocket he took out a crystal that was shaped like an arrow. And grabbing it tightly he started running towards the hazasayi.
“Guaaaarrrg!” the little one roared.
The hazasayi was surprised for a moment but immediately launched himself at Shimu. The little mushroom pissed himself seen the monster, but he continued running towards the insect. And using all his strength he tried to cut the Hazasayi.
The elusive insect dodged the attack of the boy and took the opportunity to bite his leg.
“Ouch!” Shimu shouted in pain and with tears coming from his eyes. At that moment he took advantage of the fact that his enemy did not move to bury the crystal on its body.
“Kreee!” The disgusting insect screeched when Shimu stabbed it.
The creature stopped biting Shimu and began to squirm, but Shimu used all his strength and his body weight to keep the piece of crystal buried in its body. After a time, the insect stopped moving.
“I knew it; I am the best warrior of the world” Shimu boasted having defeated his enemy.
“Plop!”
His body fell to the ground exactly afterward.
“Shimu!” Mushi screamed running to his brother.
Theodor, Elizabeth, and Lutza turned to look when they heard Mushi's scream and quickly approached where Shimu had fallen.
“How do you feel Shimu?”
“Thanks, Shimu!”
“You saved us all Shimu you are our hero.”
The little lepiota smiled weakly when he heard his friends recognize how great he was. His once white face was turning grayish, breathing was becoming increasingly difficult, and for some reason, his body felt heavy. On the leg where the hazasayi had bitten him, he felt as if hundreds of insects were tickling him, but he didn't have the strength to laugh.
“I’m going to sleep for a while. We heroes need to sleep once in a while” Shimu said weakly.
Mushi and the others nodded as they cried, for some reason they felt sad even though Shimu had saved them. A feeling inside them told them that something was not right.
<I knew I was the bravest of all> Shimu thought with a smile. At that moment he closed his eyes to rest, the fight had tired him a lot. < I didn't know fighting was so tiring> he thought as he passed out.
