Chapter 34: Instinct to save him
At the summit of the mountain, there was a very old tree with twisted branches spreading as if to touch the sky. Next to the tree, there was a small hut with a single table, a single chair, and a single person in it. Dressed in white mourning clothes, a man sat there in the midst of scattered jars, drinking wine by his lonesome.
He sipped the wine and stared at the endless sea of red clouds. His gaze was quiet, his eyes were like deep wells of water, so deep that there seemed to be no end.
It was daytime in the Netherworld and yet Ravi felt as if he was perpetually in the dark. He had eyes but he could not see, shadow danced at his irises as he lowered his head, his long hair falling across the table.
"Ravi, See what I found in the library. A way to make a kind of wine, Jino wine, is made from the dried roots of kola. Bitter but it is so good, you will love it." A young man in green clothes and pointed ears sat at his table, a huge smile on his face.
Tired, exhausted hazel eyes looked at the image, Alya said that there is nothing wrong with seeing hallucinations of those he lost, but he should never reply. She was right again.
"What kind of kola tree, Leto?"
He should not be doing this, talking to an illusion but Ravi craved any kind of connection, to hear the voice of his friends, no matter how brief, how imaginary, he would take it.
Ravi held the pot of wine and emptied it in one swing. Loneliness was more than emotional, it was a kind of physical torture, as if the silence and quiet around you were slowly smothering you to death.
He raised his hand and a leaf from the old tree floated towards him, turning into yet another pot of wine. And it was his fault, his world only had his friends and he had lost them, he had damaged his own core, almost dying just to save people he had no connection to. He would never do it again, never sacrifice his life for another. This was a promise.