The land of the Renegades: A new generation

Chapter 16

  Caty was admiring an object that looked like an antique vase. It was on a small table in a corner. I hadn't noticed it until I saw her heading that way.

  I also marveled at the ancient object, which was different from what we now call a vase. I allowed myself to touch it in order to turn it around and in that moment I heard a noise. The table began to move to the side, and that corner disappeared, revealing some stairs.
When we went down, we discovered a new room, dark as we expected. Attached to the wall were several torches, and we lit them all to better light the room.

  When it got fully lit and we saw what was there, we were shocked. A room filled with all kinds of riches, gold coins, diamonds, jewels, all of which were spread out on a marble structure, and on one side of this building was something written in their ancient language.
Only this time was different, as Karina had told us it was a curse written in blood, a sign that our pharaoh, although a good person, was very greedy.

  It didn't take long until Caleb, with his keen eye, spotted a lever on the other side of the room, revealing a new set of stairs. We all went down with our torches lit. Only this time we went down into a room where there was a lot of humidity, so the torches couldn't stay lit.

  Seeing this, Caty told us all to stand behind her as she was going to create a light shield. It was a double benefit: we had light and we were also protected from possible dangers.

  Advancing cautiously, with small steps, we saw something pass in front of us. We were afraid, as we did not expect to find anything there, the more so as the treasure was in the other room, and this one was empty.

  We slowly approached where that shadow was headed, and in a corner we saw a creature moving. As we moved toward the corner of the pyramid, the shield light revealed a hideous creature, a combination of a large turtle with a cock's head, a snake's tail, and spikes on the top of its head and along its spine.

  We knew right away that it was the creature we were looking for. The basilisk stood in the corner, as if it was afraid. We were all watching it and none of us knew how to approach it.

  At one point the creature raised its head and I could see the wonder on its face:

  -Melina, my dear, is that you?

  We were also amazed. Could this creature talk? None of us knew this.
Caleb answered the creature:

  - There is no Melina here. We are the descendants of the Shadow Council and we need your help.

  -How could I help you? My only weapon was taken from me. They took out my eyes, threw one into the Nile river, and the other into the Etna volcano. My venom is still effective, but how could I see who I'm killing?

  - We can help you get your eyes back if we're sure you won't kill us and you'll help us.

  -Oh, I would never kill my mistress, I would do anything for her. She gave meaning to my life and saved me from death. And now she came after me to save me, I am so honored! Ha, and they were saying she was dead too.

  Caty and I looked at Caleb in confusion, who acted like he hadn't heard anything strange. At one point, our eyes met and he, seeing our confusion, immediately added:

  -Oh, Melina is the princess of one of the seven kingdoms of hell. As for the basilisk, I told you the connection between them.

  And with this explanation, I still felt that there was something more to say, that he left out some very important aspects.

  Relieved that we had found the creature, we decided to return to the Brotherhood to sleep. But before that, Karina summoned a demon and forced it to protect the creature, even at the cost of its life.

  And she did well, because this demon saw us and wanted to take the creature back to hell. We were to return early the next day with fresh forces and begin the look for the most important weapon, the creature's magical eyes.

  We were very tired when we got back, it was understandable why Caleb didn't want to sleep with me. I settled for just a kiss on the forehead and a "Goodnight!" warm and went to bed.
 
  That night I had the strangest dream: I was in ancient times, in the midst of a huge crowd of people.

   I was wearing a very puffy dress, my head was heavy and when I put my hands on it, I noticed that I had an extravagant hairstyle.

  Compared to the other people, in that dream it seemed that I was part of a noble family. When I looked ahead, I immediately realized that I was participating in the public execution of the great monsters.

   I slid through the crowd and reached the front rows, where I saw the creatures lined up, bound with silver chains. They had in front of them some kind of mirrors made of shards painted on the back with black paint, and several people were trying to pull out their eyes one by one.

  I felt an unusual attraction to those creatures. I felt hurt by what was happening to them and felt the need to help them escape.

   I was very angry that those creatures were going to be executed, but something inside me told me that if I resisted I would end up like them, or maybe worse.

   I was very emotionally attached to a certain basilisk, which was at the edge of the makeshift pedestal made of nailed boards.

  I also went to the edge of the crowd of people, and the creature, with its eyes pulled out, raised its head, feeling that I was there.

  I caught myself whispering to it, against my will, to not be afraid and to not do anything unusual, and it was whispering back to me: "Melina, my mistress, help me! Take me with you!".

  I immediately realized that it was about the basilisk that we found the day before and it seems like I was in the shoes of its owner.

  Unable to control my actions, I raised my hand and the chains it was bound with broke into many pieces.

I found myself, then, whispering:

  "Go and hide, run and do not come out until I come to you."

  After the basilisk ran away, the dream ended suddenly and I woke up with tears in my eyes. It was such an intense dream!

   And the strangest thing, after that experience I myself created a bond with the monstrous creature.

   I looked at the clock, it was four in the morning. I tried to sleep, thinking that it was very early, the sun hadn't even risen, but I couldn't.

  I had many questions about this Melina, many thoughts that did not let me sleep.

  Thinking of her, I decided to go to Caleb's office and start searching through all the books there, maybe I would find something useful.

  There were many books and I didn't know where to start. I thought there might be some myth about her, like there was with the basilisk.

  I began to look through all the books of myths and legends, but nothing.

  Then I moved on to the history books. Perhaps she was an important person for this unseen community.

  Browsing through all those books, I didn't even realize how quickly time passed by.