Would you don't mind me asking you, what do you think happened after I had the cage on last swing and jump as it finally fell?
Who do you think, out of the three, was the one who was on the other hand of the cage and broke my fall?
That's a hard question, isn't it?
Well, you can rest assured because I'm about to tell you, but first know that even now I'm still surprised how the hell did I manage to survive and come out alive, though I had scratches and bruises all over me.
Remember my dramatic over-the-edge scream, warning Odessa to move out of the way?
So here's what really happened. After the cage finally fell, gravity was so unkind to me. At first, I thought that because I did that, I was going to have one of those movie overselling moments where the hero was going to come to the rescue in a very cool and awesome way.
But none of that happened. Instead, I think I broke my butt bone—if it even has a bone. Thanks for lying to us, movies.
After the cage fell, I really did not have any idea who was going to be the person who was going to break my fall, because I really don't know what happened. I really thought horror movies were so dramatic when they allowed the victim to freeze and not run away before they get their head chopped off or their intestines cut out.
Because that's what Odessa and the two brothers did—they didn't move. They just froze in the exact spot that they were in when they realized that the cage was getting loose and was going to fall. They were looking right up at me.
Which, by the way, I'd like to believe that it was a really cool image. Who am I kidding? I was screaming my lungs out, because the cage's force was so fast, and having Odessa just stand there like a deer staring at a car's flashing headlights—huh, talk about the hero who is supposed to save the world.
But don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming her. I understand she was scared, which made her paralyzed in that moment. I only cared about her well-being and not those two jerks. When it came to them, I really didn't care if one or both of them died.
I'm going to have moments where I feel like I'm useless, and lucky for you guys, you're in the front seat for that. The reason I say that was because there was nothing I could do in that moment. I couldn't use any form of magic to move her away—not that, but if I did, I was not going to be of help anyway because I think I was fire-related magic type. So there was no way I was going to move her out of the way.
But then hey, I would have burnt her to move her out of the way. Darn it, why didn't I think of that? I'm such a dumb, dumb.
But I couldn't do all that because apparently, and I just discovered this not so long ago, our kidnappers were smart enough to not only put us in mana-inducing cages but the chains that they chained us with also drained our mana.
Looking at the eyes of scared little Odessa, I knew I had to come up with another plan. And get this—I also was scared for my life. I just caused a steel cage to fall and I had no idea how bad the end was going to be like.
And so, since my hands were tightly gripped on the cage bars, I came up with a plan to keep hitting the cage with my shoulders—which I felt afterwards. I won't be able to tell you exactly how many feet was the fall. After all, it's not like I'm good with maths or numbers at all.
But one thing I can say to you is just know that it was a very long but short fall at the same time. I don't know if you get my point—after all, we were in a cave.
Going around hitting the cage with my now dislocated shoulders in all directions once again proved to be effective, 'cause the cage was going in the direction that I decided.
I really don't know what happened, but right after I was about to land on the ground, my cage did something I never thought in a million years a cage could do. Maybe I was losing my mind or something, but I swear to you and the deities that you worship, the cage flipped.
Which made me not land with my feet but actually land with my back against the cage.
Boom!
That was the effect it caused after the cage reached the ground, and I didn't think it was possible for a cave to have dust, especially with its rock-hard ground.
The dust had covered the whole thing, making it hard to see or know what really happened. All I heard was the cage falling on top of someone—but who was it? That's the answer I was not going to be able to tell you.
Just know that I didn't hear any sounds, so what happened next was just as surprising to me as it is about to be to you when you find out that, when the dust settled, all I felt was wetness behind my back.
I kicked the cage's gate open and I came out crawling like an ant out of its hole.
"Ouch, I'm definitely going to feel that in a couple of minutes," I groaned.
To my surprise, Odessa was still in one piece and unharmed, along with the guy who had a grouch voice—who I now realize that I didn't actually tell you guys how he looked.
He was a very beefy person. Everything about him was meaty. He looked like he hardly had a neck, and the way he was dressed—this guy wasn't wearing any clothes. He wore, I don't know what those things were, but they were like straps in a form of an X, meaning that they were crossing his body like suspenders. I don't know if that makes any sense.
On his bottom, he wore what looked like a brown leathered kilt and fur boots that looked like they belonged to a bear. Yeah, this world had bears too, but they are a bit different from the previous world. The color of the boots was grey-ish.
And he had bulging eyes, which I saw when he held Odessa with a knife around her neck. The one with the coarse voice was nowhere to be found.
It took me about a minute to realize where he actually was.
"Hey, where's the creepy-looking skinny dude?" My head was still ringing.
I really don't understand why those two gave me that kind of look. Instead of telling me where he was, I followed their looks that were directed exactly on the ground under the cages.
"Oh shoot, I'm sorry." I put my hand on my mouth—not because I was pretending but because I was genuinely surprised.
That's when I felt his blood all over me. I wanted to throw up in that very second.
"What have you done to my baby brother?" The guy with a grouch voice sounded like he wanted to cry.
"I'm sorry, man, but at least he's in a better place," I said.
Maybe I shouldn't have said that because I think I saw something in him shift or break. Man, I don't know—I just suffered a back and head-hitting crash, so I wasn't so sure, alright?
"You are dead! All of you are dead!" the guy with a grouch voice said angrily.
He tightened his grip around Odessa's neck, and something was starting to be off about him. He was breathing heavily as if he was hyperventilating. His voice began to change from being grouchy to being monster-like.
His eyes were now looking like they were about to pop out of their sockets. Everything about him was changing. Already, he was huge, but now he was getting worse. His body was also bulging up with veins—it was a really frightening sight to witness.
But the part that disturbed me the most was when his mouth and face started to stretch out and his teeth growing externally.
This guy was becoming a monster, and he was transforming right in front of us. I'm not completely sure that he finished his transformation or what, because he was interrupted.
"I leave you for one minute, and you want to eat the goods," a mysterious voice said.
It was hard to make out who said that because the guy—or should I say the monster—standing right in front of us blocked our view.
He turned around to see who was talking to him. Still, we didn't see anything. All that Odessa and I saw—more like felt—was his head getting chopped off and his whole body exploding, with his blood splattering all over us.
While the blood was still splattering everywhere, I managed to make out a figure wearing an all-black cloak, like the ones from before who took us away from our home.
He was putting back his mask, and since he had a hoodie on, I couldn't see who he was or how he looked like, but I still saw the color of his purple eyes glowing.