The Labyrinth Of Hermes

WELCOME TO THE LABYRINTH

There we were about to cross each other on that narrow sidewalk, she to one side and me to the other. We came closer and closer, aware of that encounter but indifferent to any sensation of attraction or rejection. We waited to meet on the same line to observe each other while that closeness became a new goodbye to distance us again. There she went behind my back while I walked away behind hers.

Suddenly, an immense ray of red light fell from the sky like a great column of fire while people turned to appreciate this strange phenomenon. As if it were only the song of the wind, a sudden and unwelcome charge of energy began to drag that girl towards the great light while I, responding to my sentimental reflexes, ran towards her as fast as possible to save her from any dangerous fate. that it was hidden in that immense column.

I jumped expeditiously while she looked at me with the hope that I would rescue her from that moment of helplessness; his body was already almost inside the flash. I took hold of her foot as subtly as possible as the column began to suck us both into that immense red glow.

When I noticed it, it was already too late, an endless adventure of challenges began there that I was not yet willing to discover.

The algae of the small lake radiated great waves and puddles towards those margins where its waters culminated. It was an immense cave, one of those of the old crusades, those whose absolute silence kept them rigid on the exorbitant balanced columns. Out of the little stream in that fearsome darkness, a beautiful oak tree grew into the vast heights of the gloom while curious rays of light, coming from nowhere, created a beautiful luminous effect on the various movements of the water. The ceiling seemed to be made up of gigantic stones threatening to fall from there at any moment, and yet they remained firm and stable.

Only the small sounds of water seeping through the leaves and algae that floated on the dark surface could be heard. The ripples moved more and more abruptly as the young man struggled to escape from those depths. She continued swimming towards the shore while I, shaking my hands a few meters from her, argued with my stubborn common sense to understand what was happening.

Hey, wait till I get out of the water!" I'll help you out too, I yelled, interrupted by the sound of splashing. I held on with both arms to the edges of that tank and finally withdrew from those waters. There she was, swimming around, trying to figure out what was going on in her turn. It was difficult for him to leave the prey, I still didn't understand why.

The girl avoided looking at me standing there in front of her, however, her faith only managed to run into my stubborn presence.

"I can't get out of the water!" she complained wrapped in algae and small waves. I was still leaning forward, reaching out with both hands to finally pull her out of there.

"How come you have clothes on?"

What do you say? I exclaimed somewhat confused. He was beginning to understand part of what was happening.

I have no clothes, I'm naked. I'm not going to get out of the water in these conditions, he explained to me in a very veer stile tone. The surprise on my face was mixed with a grotesque laugh. I stopped learning towards her body and, pondering on me.

After a few seconds, I turned to the pond a little more serious than before.

"Okay, I'm not leaving you here to catch pneumonia. I don't even know where we are and I'd rather we find out together.

-What are you doing? she asked as she watched me remove my sodden t-shirt and pants. I wrung out my clothes a little and left them by the shore, keeping only my underclothes. I moved a few meters away from that dam and turned around so that it finally came out of the water.

"He turns around while I'm getting dressed and I'll kill you!" she threatened behind me, letting the sound of small drops fall as she came out naked from the small lagoon.

" Seriously, please don't turn around, " she added shakily. I answered with a small laugh as that childish personality did not lose its obviousness even in this remarkable emergency situation.

I turned once I had heard the zipper on my pants close. The T-shirt was still soaking wet, and with the absence of a bra, much of her privacy was visible against the light. Ignoring my bare chest, I smiled heartily at her so she wouldn't feel so awkward after all.

"Well, my clothes look pretty good on you." I must say that, fortunately, we are almost the same height.

She was still serious, scared. We didn't know if we would ever see the surface or our planet again; somewhere safe, maybe. We still didn't know where we were and my calm caused the girl to fear more and more intensely. All that remained was to discover the path and, after it, our way out to freedom. "I don't understand how you're so calm. We are stuck here not knowing where we are or where to go she grumbled approaching me slowly.

She was suddenly in front of my eyes once again, only this time, she didn't disappear behind me.

Something told me that we would be trapped there for a long period of time.

She was wringing her hair unsteadily as I continued to watch her there dressed in my clothes. It was really confusing for me to treat her like that, as if she were the same person, around my tastes and my own personality.

"Why did you jump to rescue me?" she replied, setting off a series of questions that, unless it was all a long drive, she knew would never end. I took a few moments to answer him.

"I didn't know it was about you." I watched that light drag a girl into it and...

-Do not lie to me! We met a few seconds before and you knew perfectly that it was me, she interrupted, dissatisfied with my answer.

I extinguished the stillness of my face affirming that lie and, finally accepting the reality of that strange situation, I stared into her eyes ignoring that curious scenario.

"How bad could anything have happened between us to let you go just like that?" Nobody deserves to fall alone in this place.

"But you didn't know where that light led. We could have dead or even disintegrated , she assured.

"That's true, I didn't know that, but you know what?" I preferred to find out instead of staring, perplexed, doing absolutely nothing, just like the rest of the people. My answer was honest, although his face confirmed that mischief; I knew perfectly well why I had rescued her, and yet I needed to ask myself.

We both looked at the place from end to end. The cave seemed to have a kind of exit, a tunnel, in the distance. I was calculating each strategic point when, suddenly, an immense tremor once again awakened our senses.

Wow! What was that? -I exclaimed scared while she complained with a simple and sonorous "Ouch". Finally beginning to understand what was happening, I took her hand tightly. "Start running RIGHT NOW!!! I yelled at him excitedly, tugging at his arm to reach that tunnel that awaited us in the confines of that gloomy cave.

THE LABYRINTH OF HERMES

do by two great roars; Huge stones began to fall all over the sector, threatening to crush us like little ants. I dodged each of those falls, holding her tight, while she continued screaming in fear.

My senses were alert, at a really high level, between the rock-strewn ceiling and the exit; the slightest mistake made and we would be crushed to death. I picked her up with my arms holding her firmly, and began to run with all my might.

A rock there, another falling from behind. Very little was missing. Some impacts resonated louder than others.

From there we could hear the sound of those gigantic stones skimming the air, falling eager to bury us in that mysterious cave.

I let out one last intense jump and we were finally out of danger. The dust from the rocks began to encase us both under a confused cloud of earth while i covered my mouth so as not to poison the air in my lungs.

Oh! Now that was close, I exclaimed, relieved to see both of us clearly safe. The girl coughed for a moment.

finally regaining consciousness.

"We almost killed ourselves!" This is the second time you save me, what can I say? she murmured, avoiding looking me in the eye. My shirt was full of dirt. He shook it out a bit and wrung my pants once more to get the moisture off them.

"If it bothers you so much that I saved you, I can take you there again." I think stones will continue to fall for a

long time I challenged her, open to any kind of discussion. It's not that I'm not thanking you.

It's just... well, It doesn't matter, she concluded, leaving that conversation in suspense points.

"Okay, it doesn't matter anymore. Let's find the exit once and for all, I don't want to spend another second here.

I let our disputes remain hidden behind our silence. The dust had almost completely descended and I could then understand that new scenario unfolding in front of our eyes.

It seemed to be an endless tunnel full of strange symbols and small torches protruding from its walls every fifteen meters.

"Okay, let's start walking." I don't know how long it will take us to go through this ," I exclaimed, determined to find our way out at the end of the road. The tunnel continued downhill as she tried to decipher each of those symbols carved into the walls.

"Isn't that ironic?" I mean, no matter what I do, you're always around me. It didn't imply that you're chasing me, of course, but it does draw a little attention, don't you think? she questioned, finally breaking that annoying silence that was walking next to us.

"Why do you stress the same thing all the time?" No matter what happened years ago, now is now.

Things they have turned out like this, call it fate, chance or whatever you want. When we find our way out and are safely in our respective homes, then you can make whatever assumptions you want. Until then, don't waste your time.

"I'm not blaming you, fool, we're just talking, " she corrected herself. His proposals were beginning to become certainly compromising.

"It's just that I never understand your intentions, you know?" Do you do it to scold me? Find out things? Or is it that you like to

hear from my mouth certain confessions or some comment that can increase the level of your self-esteem?

There is no strange intention in my questions.

Anyway, don't listen to me, she apologized again while I watched her with some resentment. I was there for her and she hadn't even bothered to thank me. I took one of those torches from the wall and, holding it tight, I held it close to our clothes to dry us a bit.

You look cute in your shorts." I would gladly return your clothes but... you have already noticed that I am not wearing anything underneath, she exclaimed, looking at my bare torso.

The appearance of my body was merely close to that of any athlete. I liked to leave my hair short and show off the blue of my eyes that way.

The strength of my muscles gave my nudity an extremely attractive touch, of course I wasn't going to be embarrassed about it. "Well, then you can give it back to me, I won't have any problem seeing you naked, I joked, trying to disguise with humor that fear that chased us through the tunnel; I knew that surviving there would be a true miracle.

"Don't be too smart. You better get us out of here.

Forgive me? Who do you think you are, the authority between these walls? I risked my life to save you and you haven't even thanked me! You are a real ingrate. If it wasn't for me you'd already be crushed under the rocks back there. I was never in your debt. If you're in a hurry to get out of here, there's the way. Good luck to you, i yelled at him angrily, pointing my finger toward the end of the dark passage. He pushed me against that wall behind me and walked away weeping uncontrollably to the opposite corner. I watched her with pity and benevolence, with an inexplicable sense of guilt running through my veins trying to blow up my brain. A guilt that, apparently, had crossed that column of red light with me.

I was dragging her with me like a great steel shackle whose weight made it impossible to carry. A guilt that he had already had for several years; times that I could hardly retain in my memory, not until that moment. I watched her there crying, hidden

next to that corner where she managed to bury her tears under that soil of virgin land that no man's footsteps had yet managed to conquer. right then I was able to remember the whole story.

A story of tension and misunderstanding in which we were both protagonists, victims of a fate that I had built years ago.

Every story has a beginning, a main conflict with its respective outcome and, after the uncomfortable and intense collisions, a

decisive ending. My story is important because it never had an ending. It is a beginning where the end

of conflict is nothing less than the absence of its end. maybe, that labyrinth that we still had to go through was the product of that non-existent end; that end that time had already devoured over the years. The end of a legend that screamed from the past as if it had just been abandoned in a corner. I finally understood the crying of that girl, her anguish, then I was able to remember everything.

A NEW LIFE

I was waking up from a long voyage over the Atlantic Ocean. I no longer remembered where I came from or where I was going; I only knew that my name was Denser and that I was already safe, out of danger, fears and insecurities. I knew that I was facing a new world, a new adventure whose characters were still as unknown as my past. From where was I escaping, where was I seeking refuge? The plane had arrived so late at its destination; I couldn't remember how I got to that little hotel. There I was, lying on a comfortable but humble bed, observing the tiny room that separated me from that uncertain city that waited on the other side of those walls to meet me once and for all. A powerful new world. Powerful enough to hold my senses and faith on a fine line of personal insecurity.

No matter what my challenges, my goals or objectives were, I would meet them by calling on all my

positive thoughts. Nothing a fifteen year old couldn't accomplish.

Harradine was a small city located to the north of this new world to know. There the widest knowledge of life and death awaited me. An adventure that, despite its simplicity, lacked anything but magic and reality. It was a new beginning, a new life strategy that, without doors or windows, transformed my universe into an endless desert almost impossible to traverse.

Together with my parents and my sister, we rented a spacious apartment facing the sea; the view was simply beautiful from the windows of that living-dining room, a comfortable and subtle four bedroom room located on the corner of the first floor.

From there they could weigh the waves and the small sailboats that rambled through the swells of the sea, while the tide slowly rose and fell. My room did not point I did that landscape, but it consisted of a silent and incomparable tranquility in which I could let my ideas and my artistic impulses sprout. I liked music and the study of harmonies. Swimming between chords and notes looking for poetry wherever there was a melody to discover.

My guitar and my piano were one of those many musical Hu who accompanied me on that artistic journey.

There they were always waiting for me in my room, ready for those moments of inspiration in which music became one of

those inexplicable magics that never ceases to reach our soul. I let myself be carried away by my feelings, pouring out emotions on old sheets of paper that, old and worn, became carriers of poetry, of intense lyrics full of fantasy. Sheet music decorated my room from end to end, creating a mess that was as chaotic as it was creative.

There, hidden in the corners of my room, some other diploma decorated the walls with old legends of life, memories

that remained hanging there retaining my identity, still remind me who I was.

That city was certainly perfect. Its simplicity, its tranquility. I remember running away from home hundreds of times just to walk into those sunny streets that colored my eyes every morning. There the urban movement began just a few blocks from my building.

Small shops and commercial stalls that delved into the weekly routines to create that popular song that adorned the streets of Harradine. Pizzerias, restaurants, clothing and appliance stores. Clearly nothing was missing. The town was fairly small and, although limited in size, its warmth and comfort of life never ceased to stand out.

I managed to enroll in the only school there. Some people decided to study in other schools; outside the city, in other areas or sectors. I was only a few blocks from that one, I didn't need any transportation and the distance there was a short hurdle that my feet would always manage to overdo.

I met a lot of people from my class there. People who, like me, ignored their past to find there other courses of life, other goals. People who struggled to adapt to that change, to that new life. Lost souls in which I could also reflect myself to find my own path. One of them was Frederic, a rather interesting boy, whose personality was at that time a constant intrigue. A young man with a certain attractiveness although very withdrawn and, although this was not one of his most notable characteristics, it is worth clarifying that intelligence was not one of his virtues. In any case, his company was part of those luck that destiny brought with it. We would get together in the courtyard after school and catch up on those insignificant novelties that, although merely interesting, adorned our talks with little traces of general culture. Also James used to join us in our various activities.

A very intelligent and quite bold young man.

He was very fond of sports and his neatness and perfectionism never ceased to be noticed. James lived in the newer part of Harari nay, an area with sports fields and recreation centers. There we used to enjoy the three of tireless tennis matches. We played for hours and hours until nightfall and we couldn't see anything anymore.

I remember Frederic lending me one of his extra rackets since I didn't On some occasions, if the courts were busy, we would

escape to the recreation centers to settle for at least one table tennis. Of course, that wasn't the same as running from end to end trying to catch those balls that went through the air to escape from the court, but the purpose of the game was fulfilled anyway.

I loved talking about girls, those out of my reach, schoolmates I glimpsed from my desk imagining fantastic stories.

I imagined a great earthquake threatening the city and I rushed in through one of the living room windows to unexpectedly save the day. Stories of heroism and adventure, always in those moments where boredom managed to embrace me suddenly, even while the teacher repeated over and over again the same explanations.