Time moved so slowly that darkness and night felt almost eternal in this world.
The cave entrance was bathed in a faint, cerulean glow coming from outside. The cerulean trees cast their soft light inward, making the creatures' shadows even more terrifying and bizarre.
The white creatures kept trying to slip past the edges of the fire, where neither its light nor its heat reached, but every attempt ended in failure.
Their horrifying sounds echoed through the cave—a mix of screams and screeches that could drive anyone who heard them insane, all while the clicking noises they made reverberated off the walls.
Whenever one of the creatures got close to the fire, trying to cross, Soli could make out parts of its grayish-white body.
It stood about three meters tall, with long, pointed ears and a mouth full of fangs. Its long arms reached the ground, ending in four fingers of different sizes, each tipped with a sharp claw. Its head and neck were covered in messy, grayish hair, making its appearance even more monstrous and horrifying.
— Fwoooosh!! —
Soli placed the fourth piece of firewood into the flames. Only one log remained.
As time dragged on,the fire's intensity had waned from what it was initially.
Soli was adding one piece of wood at a time, trying to keep the fire alive for as long as possible until morning.
But this wasn't enough to stop the creatures. It only gave them a hint that the fire was almost out, making them more cautious and tense.
Meanwhile, Soli kept watching them, his anxiety growing with every second.
Soli's eyes shifted to the gray boy.
He was still strapped down,his eyes wide open, staring down in silent horror.
His body trembled, and his feet pushed uselessly against the back wall even though his back was already flush against it.
The air in the cave was cold, yet the boy was drenched in a panicked sweat, pouring down his face and neck, mixing with his sheer terror.
— Craccck!! —
The fire... its light began to fade, bit by bit.
Soli gripped the final piece of firewood in his hands,staring at it for a long moment. Then, he looked at the dying flames, and then at the creatures waiting with hungry patience for the fire to go out.
His gaze returned to the gray boy, lingering on his terrified face for several long seconds.
There...in those wide, fearful eyes, he saw his own past.
He remembered his son, who had died at around the same age—that young face which had never left his memory, despite the centuries that had passed.
When Adam was the one in control of the body before Soli, he had many children.
During his long periods awake on Earth, he had married seventy-three times, fathering eighty-six sons and daughters.
He still remembered them all...every face, every laugh, and every single one he had lost, one after another, across the long stretch of time.
One of his sons had died around the same age as the boy before him, maybe even a little younger, because of a misjudgment.
His son had been kidnapped, and the kidnapper had demanded a massive ransom they couldn't pay.
Even though the father possessed immortality and immense power, he couldn't track down the kidnapper himself, nor was he wealthy enough to pay.
On top of that, he kept his heroic identity a secret from everyone, except for a few trusted individuals. So, he turned to one of his friends who knew his secret and held a high-ranking position.
The police set up a tight plan to trick the kidnappers and catch them: they put tracking devices with the money and surrounded the house with snipers and police forces.
But because the kidnapper was so tense and scared, the unexpected happened—the son was shot and killed.
In the courtroom, the killer was on trial for his crime, and the death sentence was passed down.
The room froze as the verdict was read, and the killer began to cry and scream hysterically.
Suddenly, a person entered through the courtroom doors, carrying a large white envelope. He walked straight to the judge and handed it to him.
The old judge opened the envelope and began reading its contents.
but he suddenly stopped and looked at the murdered child's father with a gaze of pure contempt.
— Tap! Tap! Tap! —
The judge set the paper aside and said in a firm voice:
"The final verdict is hereby amended."
A stunned silence froze the entire courtroom.
The killer's final sentence was commuted to 15 years in prison, in accordance with the father's wishes, with the court relinquishing any legal responsibility for this modification.
Adam's wife froze. She looked at her husband, her eyes filled with a torrent of anger, grief, and pain.
"What is he saying?... Is it true?... Answer me?!... IS IT TRUE?!"
Adam didn't answer her. He wasn't the one who had truly made the decision. It was Soli who had told him to do it after learning about the killer's background.
And Adam always followed Soli's lead in everything; to him, Soli was the wise one who could never be wrong.
The killer was a widowed father with a critically ill daughter. The ransom money was intended for her treatment, but the situation had spiraled out of control, leaving the desperate father with no way out.
That's why Adam used his connections with his high-ranking friends to ensure the killer's sentence was reduced, acting out of humanity and compassion for the man's daughter.
When those in the courtroom heard this decision, angry, condemning whispers and looks were directed at the father, filled with fury and disapproval.
But the father remained steadfast, resolved to see his decision through to the end.
And so, his thirty-fifth marriage ended, and with it, the secrecy of his identity. After his last wife left him, she revealed his secret to the world in an act of revenge, exposing to everyone that he was one of Earth's superheroes.
She didn't stop there. In the aftermath of the scandal, she took her own life, leaving him drowning in guilt and branded with a title he never sought: the hero who couldn't protect his own son... and who let his justice slip away.
***
Soli leaned back against the cold, damp cave wall. He tilted his head up, closed his eyes, and tried to think... How could they get out of here before the fire died?
Heavy seconds ticked by. Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
He had finally decided.
He would free the boy first. Then, he'd create a distraction, lure those creatures away to give the boy a chance to escape to safety.
As for himself... he would lead them as far away as he could until morning—or until the night consumed him. He wouldn't think about his own safety, only focus on avoiding serious injury. The consequences would be dire if he failed.
He stood up slowly and moved toward the boy. He knelt down beside him.
The boy was trembling, so terrified he hadn't even noticed Soli approaching.
When Soli's hand touched him, he flinched violently. His eyes snapped up, wide with sheer panic, and he scrambled backward, only to fall onto his side.
"Stop moving!"
Soli's voice was sharp.The boy didn't understand the words, but he understood the tone. He froze, but his wide, shaking eyes remained locked on Soli.
Soli held him firmly and pulled the gag from his mouth—it was made from strips of his own clothing and the tree leaves.
He then looked at him with exhausted eyes and said:
"I don't know if you understand me... but you will run when I distract them. Understood?"
The boy stared back with a look mixed with fear and confusion. It was clear he hadn't understood a word.
"Ah... damn it!"
Soli growled inwardly. He decided he would just do his part of the plan and leave the rest to fate.
He pulled the boy closer to untie his hands, but when his fingers brushed against the arm guards, he suddenly noticed them.
He leaned back, his eyes shifting to the leg guards on the boy's feet, and an idea sparked in his mind.torches. He will make torches with boy guards
If it failed, they would lose their only source of light.
But if it worked...they might just hold out until morning.
It was a mad gamble, but he had no other choice.
So, he was going to bet everything on this one idea.