A few hours later, Temma and Xavier arrived at a cave deep in the jungle of Morr. It wasn't natural. The salamanders dug it with their own claws when they still had the strength to do so. The entrance was about two meters wide. Total silence reigned around the place; not even the bugs could be heard. The silence was like a warning to those who dared to approach. They entered the cave without delay; it was very dark. Xavier used the stolen equipment of the mercenaries to make a torch.
'Oh no!' cried Temma.
Of the eighteen larvae that escaped the disaster in their world, only four survived. Where his brothers once were, Temma could only see a bunch of ashes that distinguished themselves from the dark color of the land in the Morr jungle.
'Moger, Moger, wake up.' Temma was trying to wake up one of the dying salamanders.
'Temma, is that you?' The salamander opened its eyes but couldn't see.
'Yes, it's me; hold on a little; I've brought help. You'll be fine.'
'The others, the younger ones, are dying; help them.' Moger lost consciousness again.
Moger was the second-oldest salamander after Temma. His body should be able to withstand more than the others. Although, seeing the situation, Temma had some doubts. To his surprise, two of the surviving larvae were quite young. Uruk was one of them.
'Uruk, wake up. Uruk' But Uruk did not answer. His breathing was superficial, almost imperceptible.
'Xavier, can you help him?'
'I will try, but remember, I don't know how this works.'
Xavier approached the unconscious salamander. Its skin was as red as blood. Xavier put his hand over the throat of the creature. It was not difficult to find the stone of life; it burned more intensely than that of Temma when he was dying. Without wasting any more time, Xavier began to use his shadow magic on the stone. The reaction was more violent than the first time; his arm was burning, his chest burned, his magic energy was exhausted in seconds, and he barely managed to separate from Uruk's skin, but his arm continued to burn. A strong cough invaded him, and with every cough, the pain and heat in his chest became more intense. A mixture of that pestilent black substance and fresh blood flooded his mouth. Like the previous time, Xavier lost consciousness. His body began to contract to the ground, and his limbs moved erratically.
'Xavier, Xavier.' Temma called for him several times. But Xavier didn't answer. Finally, his body stopped shaking, and he fell asleep.
A day had passed since they arrived at the cave.
"What happened?" Asked Uruk to himself after recovering consciousness.
The cave was well lit. Temma had gathered wood outside the cave, and using the fire of the torch, a small fire was now burning. At some distance from the fire, Xavier rested unconscious.
"A Human," Uruk thought, terrified. After overcoming his initial shock, he tried to stand up and attack. His legs failed; he had no strength. Uruk looked around.
'Temma, a human, kill it fast.' Uruk yelled.
Temma stopped looking at the other salamanders and approached Uruk.
'Uruk, are you okay?'
'I'm better, but it doesn't matter; kill that thing.' said Uruk.
'Listen to me, Uruk; if you touch this man, our brothers will die. He saved us.' Temma told Uruk about everything that had happened outside the cave in the last few weeks.
'Impossible; it makes no sense.' Uruk refused to accept the facts.
'Look, he's unconscious for helping us. And yes, it can be. Do you remember those life stones? They were different from all the others. The grandfather always gives us what we need. Remember? Our race will not die, Uruk, at least not yet. You should rest now, you'll be able to move soon. Eat something. You must be hungry.'
The body of a medium-sized basilisk was resting on one side of the cave. Temma bit it with his mouth and dragged it toward Uruk. Then he proceeded to throw a little more wood onto the fire. Uruk chewed and ate the flesh of the giant snake without losing sight of the sleeping man.
Another day had passed. Xavier was still unconscious.
One of the salamanders began to sream.
'Lefer, hold on. Just a little more; stay alive just a little longer.' Temma and Uruk yelled at the shaking salamander. Their encouragement had little effect. The body temperature of the salamander continued to rise gradually. The creature lit up spontaneously and burned until it became a pile of ashes. Now, only Moger was left.
Xavier woke up a day after Lefer's death.
'What happened?' he said, trying to get up. The world started turning around. And although he hadn't eaten anything, he began to vomit. A black, tar-like substance with an aweful taste came out of his mouth.
'Are you all right?' asked Temma as he approached. Uruk kept his distance.
'I don't know. I'm not sure; something's wrong.' Xavier vomited again. This time it was normal stomach acid, without that repulsive black stuff. A feeling of oppression remained in his chest, it was different from that produced by miasma disease but equally unpleasant.
Xavier took a look around him. The red salamander had recovered, but the last one left was in very bad condition. He would swear that its body looked blurred, like when something was very hot and the air around it waved. It was a salamander with a blueish skin tone, or at least it gave that impression under the light of the fireplace.
'Moger is the last one; Lefer died yesterday. Can you help him?' asked Temma.
Xavier looked at his left arm; this time it was black to the elbow. Not only his veins, but his skin seemed to have burned, producing a slight pain.
'I don't know if I can. I'm not feeling very well.' Xavier was still looking at Moger. He had the feeling that he was taking more risk than was necessary; apparently, the experience with Uruk had been more traumatic than beneficial. Xavier looked Temma in the eyes; he was begging with his eyes. You didn't have to be an expert on salamanders to realize that Moger didn't have much time left. He probably wouldn't survive at the end of the day.
'Let me eat something and rest for a few hours. Then I'll try.' Xavier said.
Uruk made the attempt to say something, and Temma looked at him with a gesture of reproach, with which Uruk retreated and returned to Moger's side. Xavier ate some of the rations; they were close by, along with his things, right next to where he rested. After eating, he rested for a couple of hours. His magic energy had recovered, but he didn't feel well at all. When he got up, he lost his balance a little; he almost fell.
"He is not doing well at all," Temma thought with a certain degree of shame. He had two choices. Let Moger die, or let Xavier try and risk his own life to save him. The man had already saved two salamanders, asking him to risk his life for a third; maybe it was too much.
"What am I doing?" Xavier thought. "I'm risking my life for some beasts from another world that no longer exist, and why? what for? I've spent all my life surviving, and now I'm willing to lose everything to help a bunch of reptiles. I don't even know them. Since when am I like that? What is this nonsense?"
Without realizing it, he was already at Moger's side. Xavier looked at the dying creature.
"Perhaps for this, I have survived until now. The truth is, I'm tired. So tired. And what if I die here? What else is there? At least it's a better way to die than to be a thief, murderer, or die slowly of miasma disease." Xavier put his right hand on Moger's skin; it was hot, almost burning. Even without using his shadow magic on the stone, he felt the heat almost burning the palm of his hand.
"This is going to hurt a lot," he thought. "With this, I have paid for my sins." He clenched his teeth and let his magic energy flow.
As in previous occasions, the stone inside the salamander began to absorb its energy and then returned an excessive amount of heat. Xavier could feel his right arm and his chest burning; the heat went up to his throat, as if he had swallowed boiling water. It felt like he was burning alive. All the "redemption" and the ideas of "an honorable death" went out of his head.
"I want to live; I want to be alive; I don't want to die here." He pulled his hand with force, and managed to separate himself from the salamander.
Xavier fell to the ground; he couldn't breathe, and he began to cough. A stream of blood came out of his mouth and spread to the floor. With every episode of coughing, he was projecting blood out of his mouth. His body became stiff and began to tremble; blood escaped from his nose and his mouth as he lost consciousness. He was asfixiating with his own blood.
Temma approached and turned his body to the side with his front legs. The blood came out of his mouth, and Xavier seemed to be breathing with some normality again.
'Uruk, come here.'
'This is what he has done for us. He's a human, but we owe him our lives. I'm not saying you treat him like one of us, but we owe him some respect. Make sure he doesn't drown in his own blood.' Temma left Uruk in charge of Xavier and approached Moger. His body temperature was dropping, and his breathing became stronger and more rhythmic.
"He will survive," he thought, looking at Xavier. "Thanks"