The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

4- The Origin

After some time, Helena finally woke up. She had a terrible headache, and her memories were still a bit confused. It felt as though her body didn't exist; she felt lighter, as if something was missing inside and around her. She felt as if she was in a world where didn't belong.

Then her mind finally understood... she wasn't in any world. She was just on a platform of glowing stones, in the middle of a vacuum. Helena remained horrified, seeing that. It didn't make sense—what had happened to everything? It was then that she remembered her companions; they were all lying on the ground, unconscious. The swordswoman checked each one, relieved that they were still alive.

With the tenderness of a mother, she grab the first one by the shoulder, who happened to be Pedro, and with the brutality of a bear, she shook him forcefully, making him wake up immediately.

"PEDRO! WAKE UP!" She yelled loudly in the man's ear, who had regained consciousness.

"I'M AWAKE, CRAZY WOMAN!" Helena then let him go and went to the next one, repeating the action until everyone was awake, except John, who still had a fever and lay on the ground.

"Where are we?" Clark asked, looking around. Everyone was confused as well. The children stayed close to each other, scared. Soon they gathered in a circle to talk.

"So... can anyone explain what's going on?" Stuart  asked, being the only one besides the children who was conscious and had no idea what was happening. "Who was that guy? What was that book? What happened? Where are we?"

"In space?" Lysa guessed, looking at the dark expanse around them while leaning on Emily, who was also scared. It was as if the previous situation no longer existed; Emily hadn't kept it in her heart, and Lysa was too confused to care about it now.

"AH NO, WE'RE GOING TO DIE WITHOUT AIR!" Pedro screamed at the thought of being in outer space. He placed his hand on his throat and acted as if he were actually suffocating. The two girls started crying, and a commotion began among the three, which Helena stopped by hitting the man.

"You're breathing fine, you idiot. Don't scare the girls like that."

"And it doesn't make sense for us to be in space." James commented, scratching his chin as a distraction. "I don't see any stars."

"Not just that." Clark continued while holding his knife and moving it from side to side. "Not only does the fact that we're above some kind of terrain prove that we're not purely in space, but if you notice, we can only see due to these stones here. There's no sun or moon, nothing like that. It's as if we are the only things that exist."

"More importantly, look at this..." Stuart swung his hammer forcefully towards Clark. The man felt nothing unusual and looked at the other one confused. Stuart sighed. "There's no breeze, no wind. It's as if there's no air at all."

"That doesn't make sense." Helena interrupted. "How are we breathing then? How are we talking?"

"Guys, what's that?" Emily pointed out. In the distance, something seemed to be approaching. It was hard to tell for sure due to the light coming only from the ground. Everyone stared at the unknown object, concentrating. Gradually, it became clear what it was. No one remained neutral about what appeared—it was a human.

But he looked to be over 100 years old. His skin was covered with wounds, spots, and blisters, as if it was infested with diseases. His mouth moved, but no sound was heard. Pedro picked up the two girls who were paralyzed with fear and took them close to the feverish archer.

Helena and Clark tried to grab the floating body, but it continued without them being able to interfere. It was as if they were in two different realities. It continued to float and drift until it was lost in the shadows again.