Twenty: Core

Eight days of non-stop jogging and running, we reached Zimbabwe. The wind also picked up speed as the temperature continued to drop rendering the ice forming on our hairs and faces. I would melt it once in a while but it would form again after sometime so I just let it do its thing and stick on my face. 'Just a bit more and we'll reach it." Elliot was a walking icicle. On that course of eight days, he did nothing to lessen the snow piling on him so, when the wind blew stronger, his case worsened. 'We should just keep going." The thought of Nathan's goons—and himself—probably waiting for us at the mine had me worried for my friend's safety. I could protect myself but he couldn't and he was still willing to come. Another two days of trudging in the chest-deep snow while battling the wind going on our opposite way. The place's silence was not what I was expecting when we got there, as well its emptiness. And of course, the deepness of the mine was jaw-dropping. The wind swirling inside it was making a howling noise so deep that it could pass as a monster waiting for a lost stranger to enter its lair. 'You could just drop down and you'll reach the bottom." I looked back at him. 'You're kidding. You want me to just drop down to my death?" Unbelievable. 'Nope, I am serious. You could fall from a fifty feet height and you will be just fine." 'But that," I pointed at the hole. 'Is more than fifty feet." 'Let's go." He walked past me and started to climb down the mine's wall. I followed him. It got darker as we went lower and my eyes adjusted as the place got dimmer. 'The entrance to the mine is just right there." He pointed at a small hole a few meters from us. I think this was where we part. 'Elliot, you need to—" 'Yes, my friend, I will be staying here and will wait for your good news." He walked away from me and sat on a rock. 'Just go straight and jump down when you see the hole." He reminded. He was sitting there like there wasn't an imminent danger coming after us. 'Hide when you see them." I didn't move from my spot, still staring at my friend. Elliot didn't say anything and just smiled. And I went. Inside the mine was total darkness that my vision had a hard time adjusting, it was cold too and I think it was colder than outside. There was no ice but the ground was kinda soft—clay-y if one would describe it. So this was what ordinary eyes saw when there was no light, but little by little shapes started to appear and I could see again—not as clear but it would do. I went straight, if I ever saw another tunnel entrance I ignored it because without a doubt I would get lost if I so much veered from my path. I sneezed for the third time already. I couldn't help it, it was so dusty and who knew what other particulates were swirling around. I kept on walking and eventually got tired of the unendingness of the tunnel that I decided to run. It was too late when my right foot stepped on a void space did I realize that I fell and was falling for who-knew how deep and a few seconds later, I splat back-first on the ground. It hurt like a motherfucker and my breath left me for a short while but I think the rest of me was okay. It was just a theory though as I was still laid flat and unmoving. But then I heard my left knee snap back into place, so did my right hip. Turned out I was not okay. I fell and broke myself when I landed. I waited for a few more moments because as my body didn't hurt, I couldn't feel anything at all. I heard more bones click back into their original positions, muscles twisted to their right angles and my vision clearing up—well, as clear as it could get from this darkness. I got up like nothing happened and looked around. No other tunnels were there, not even a small hole. I guess this was it? Should I start heating? Okay. I put my hands on the ground and concentrated a good amount of heat in them, it didn't do anything. More heat and same thing happened, nothing. Hmm. A few breaths and I began to form my heat wall on the ground. Still nothing, if else, it got dustier. The soil began to crumble and fall apart—it kind of became like a powder that was flowy. Should I dig? Well, how else would I get to the core closer? And I dug. And heated and then dug again. I wonder how Elliot is doing upstairs. Were my thoughts as I continued to dig. I hope he's safe. I dug faster. Fucking—I thought this mine was close to the Earth's core? Shouldn't there be magma flowing already—or at least rocks of nickel—after I'd dig a hole thrice my height? I'd be here for a while then, and I hope Elliot's holding his end keeping himself safe. I was lost on time on how long I was digging but I was sure far from where I started. My vision had adapted and I could see clear again. Nails were seated with dirt so was probably the rest of me but that didn't bother me as I continued my venture to get closer to the planet's core. I kept a steady pace because I knew I was far from reaching the— My knees suddenly gave out and I felt my breathing slow down. What was happening? I felt like I just wanted to curl up and sleep due to the abrupt light headedness. My heart slowed its beating, why? Shivers ran through my whole body and I just noticed that I was...cold? I had never felt cold before. Limbs trembling, I got up and resumed my digging but I was slow, far slower than my regular pace. Is it because it was too cold that my body was beginning to hibernate? Did it grew colder as I went down? The core was iced. Even through my pre-freezing state, I couldn't help but let out a shaky snicker. We wouldn't have that. I still have my goal to live my unclaimed normal life with my friend, so we wouldn't have that. I began projecting heat—not to the soil but to myself. I swallowed when my heart began to regain its normal beat and the cold I was feeling slowly dissipated. I continued to dig but faster this time because I apparently cannot melt soil. After a few minutes of high speed digging, my hands met with something hard, like a wall made of concrete. A rock? Have I gone past the Earth's crust? Will these melt then if I heat them? I don't know, let us try. And I did. It took me a while to project heat though because the cold feeling came back and it was not pleasant. I finally melted a rock, but it started to harden and lose its glow not even a minute after it was reduced to a semi-liquid. It needed to go hotter for it to combat with the cold temperature. My second attempt was easier than the first one because the rock melted faster. Should I push through? I should. I took a step and pushed the narrow wall of heat that I made. The magma began to harden as soon as the heat left them. This would take a very, very long while if I still travel down to the core. I only projected heat close to my body and never tried to make it travel or go at a certain distance before. What if I try that now? It was a risk that I was willing to take but didn't guarantee a certain result. If it doesn't work, then I would go back up and check on Elliot—make sure he was safe as well as ask questions—before returning. I let the wall float, while I generated steady waves of heat to make it move away from me little by little. I kept doing it until the wall was probably three feet from me and assured that I could generate enough heat to stabilize the temperature or make it go higher. As it went farther away from me though, it got harder to maintain the consistent flow of temperature because as it added distance from me, it needed more heat. I groaned and increased the temperature of the surge. The beam-like appearance its path had created intensified its red-orange glow. My ears and my back started gaining temp too. The rock I was standing on rapidly turned soft, almost mud-like. Was it working? It probably was because I heard a loud crack of something breaking, possibly the frozen mantle. The leather trench-coat that Elliot gave me a while back was long gone, melted, carbonized, and disappeared. How far does the wall needed to get? Another loud crack. Even though it was getting difficult, I decided to widen the wall to cover at least some more space. I felt slowly getting depleted, but I couldn't give up. I had come this far to give up now. But I was feeling tired already, I had never projected heat this long. Maybe that was the reason why I couldn't sustain it. I can't. No. No. Liquid from my eyes started flowing out, for some reason, I was starting to hate myself. I hate that quitting was even grazing my mind and that I knew I couldn't keep it up anymore. Was this the strong being that Elliot was talking about? Because I didn't felt like one at the moment. I felt pathetic! Where was that heat like the sun's? Why couldn't I make it and wake the godfuckingdamning core once and for all? Shaking hands still raised midway, I let out the last surge I could with a long scream. I did see a blue light traveling to where the wall was before my vision started to form black spots. That was it. That was my all. My legs gave out and before I fell to the magma, I think I was caught. 'You shouldn't give up now, you're so close." I whisper in my ear. 'Come one, raise your hands." It urged. Everything of me was out of it with the exception of my consciousness. The only thing that was holding me up was the ring that suddenly appeared on my mid-section. 'Come on, Thirty-Five." This annoying whisper kept disrupting when I was about to succumb to sleep. Something grabbed my hand and raised it the way I did when I was making the wall mobile. 'Who the heck?" I managed to say while trying to turn around. 'It's Nathan." That fucking gave me a surge of energy to turn and backhand him on the face. 'Traitor." I gritted. Somehow my energy is coming back at a fast pace. The hit didn't faze him as he just looked down on me. Huh, he grew taller. 'You can hit me and call me anything you want but you have to finish this." I frowned at him. He was right, but who was he to say that to me when he betrayed us? Elliot! 'What did you do to Elliot?" My hands were heating up again, this time I felt more... at ease? 'Nothing, I left him sitting there—" 'If he so much has missing—' It was so fast—he was so fast that I didn't see it coming—he took my face in his big hands and closed in his face. 'Focus, Thirty-Five. Your dear Elliot is alive and well outside the mines, so do your best and heat up the core." His voice has gotten deeper, manlier than the child-like squeaks he used to make. He turned me so I was facing the hole the wall had made. 'Focus." He said one last time before he raised his hand beside me and mimicked my form. He, too began projecting heat but it was in a form of a sphere and it grew larger as it distanced from him. 'The hell are you doing?" I resumed my nearly cut-off work. 'Helping you, that's what." I stayed silent and focused on projecting heat to the wall. Maybe it went passed my attention before but there were ribbons of blue flames going with the orange ones I was sending. We heard several cracks since we started and the sound got softer and softer as we stayed longer. That tired feeling came again after Nathan said that we should get out. I was still sending heat when the ground shook sending me toppling over. 'We should go, the core is waking up." 'Is it enough? What if it freezes again?" He took my hand and pulled. 'Trust me." Hah, that's rich coming from you. I wanted to retort but he was already hauling me back to where I came from. We jumped back to the rails and he hurriedly directed me to the direction of the mine's entrance. Elliot looked as confused as I was when I first saw Nathan and went back and forth on looking at me and him. The ground was still shaking my friend pulled me to his side and immediately took off his shirt. He didn't hand it to me, he dunked it on my head and when my head was safely out of the neckline, he dragged it down to my mid-thigh. 'We should go, lava is going to burst any moment now." Nathan without another word took me by the waist and jumped. The ground was rumbling like it wanted to let something out. Elliot was fast on his heels and was close behind us. And true to his words, we watched from the mouth of the mine as glowing red liquid sprayed and flowed out. Could the planets temperature start to normalize after this? We could only observe. For now.