After Sarah and Zaki disappeared inside the portal, they found themselves falling onto hard, damp ground beneath a light rain that poured down upon them. For a fleeting moment, flowers and blossoms sprouted from the earth, only to wither and vanish moments later.
Sarah (screaming as she fell):
"Where are we?! Where has he taken us?"
Zaki (falling beside her, then sitting up and wiping the dust from his face):
"I don't know... but I'll kill that man when I get back. I swear."
He then turned toward her with a look of annoyance and added:
"And I'll kill you later."
Sarah:
"Damn you, you wretched bastard!"
They looked around and saw nothing but thick darkness. Above them lay a gray sky without stars or moon. On the distant horizon, two red eyes flickered briefly, then vanished.
Sarah (in a trembling voice, though trying to her composure):
"Did you see that?"
Zaki (with a seriousness unusual for him):
"I see it... and I don't think it likes us."
Sarah (sarcastically):
"I don't think we'll find anyone who likes us in this world."
She then tapped Zaki lightly on the shoulder in a teasing manner:
"Besides, there's no one who likes you back in our world either."
Zaki (staring at her, then smirking sarcastically):
"It's enough for me that you love me."
Sarah:
"Who told you that I love you?"
Suddenly, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching slowly, followed by a deep voice whispering with difficulty:
"Fresh flesh... its smell... different."
Sarah (whispering to Zaki):
"Tell me this is a dream."
Zaki (sighing):
"If it were a dream, I would have dreamed I was somewhere else... with someone else too."
Sarah (glaring at him with anger, even in that moment):
"You're rude even in the face of death!"
Zaki (smiling faintly):
"At least that proves you're real."
Suddenly, everything went dark. The darkness turned into a thick liquid that engulfed them. When their vision returned, they found themselves before a red throne adorned with three skulls, and upon it sat... Bololo. But not as they had expected. Only two red eyes stared back at them from a distance...Only two red eyes stared back at them from a distance.
Sarah (whispering in a terrified voice):
"He's looking at us. Can he see us?"
Zaki (holding her arm gently, without lifting his gaze from the throne):
"Don't move. Don't even blink. I've heard that... he sees fear."
Sarah:
"And how do you know that?"
Zaki:
"I don't know. But my body told me. I feel like someone is searching inside me for something... for fear."
Suddenly, the two red eyes flickered, growing redder like the color of fire. Then they heard a deep voice emerging from the darkness, not like before, but more resonant and harsher:
"Why are you not afraid? Everyone who came here was afraid. They screamed. They begged. But you... you are calm."
Zaki tried to step forward, but Sarah grabbed his shirt from behind.
Sarah:
"Don't approach. Please... don't approach."
Zaki (whispering):
"Don't worry. I'm just..."
He didn't finish his sentence. Suddenly, a faint light appeared in the distance, coming from behind the red throne. A small flame, from an old lantern hanging in the sky for no reason. That light revealed part of Bololo's body: a huge shoulder covered in thick black hair, then a back from which medium-sized thorns protruded, glistening as if made of black stone.
Sarah (covering her mouth with her hand):
"Oh my God... what is that thing?"
Bololo (in a deeper voice, mixed with a dry laugh):
"Thing? I am not a thing. I am Bololo. I who made nations tremble. I who... will return."
Zaki stood firm, even though his knees were trembling. He raised his chin high and said:
"I'm not afraid of grandmothers' tales. I'm not afraid of night devils."
The darkness around them suddenly stirred like a cold wind. The two red eyes approached at terrifying speed. Then everything stopped.
"You're not afraid?" Bololo repeated in a voice that suddenly sounded closer, as if whispering in Zaki's ear.
"Then let me show you what your eyes have never seen before."
A faint thunderbolt struck the ground without a trace, and suddenly the scene flipped. They were no longer before the red throne, but somewhere else entirely. A dead forest. Leafless trees, rivers of ash, and a sky weeping blood.
Sarah (screaming):
"Zaki! Where are you?"
He was not beside her. She was alone. Then she heard a strange buzzing, and felt eyes watching her from everywhere.
Bololo (appearing suddenly before her, but in his human form that white Irish form with yellow hair and hazel eyes):
"As for you... your fear is different. Your fear is sweeter. Let's play a game."
Sarah replied with anger, despite her trembling:
"I don't play with devils."
Bololo laughed a soft laugh, then stepped closer.
"That proves you love to play. All women say that."
In the dead forest world, Sarah stood alone facing Bololo in his human form. Her brown eyes defied fear even as her heart nearly shattered.
Sarah (raising her gaze steadily):
"You're not scary. You're just an old whore feeding on people's illusions."
Bololo stopped suddenly. His red eyes flickered from behind his human mask for a moment. He hadn't expected this insult.
Bololo:
"What did you say?"
Sarah (growing bolder):
"You heard me. An old whore. You can't hurt anyone without their fear. And you know that. That's why you're here with me... trying to scare me. But I am not afraid of you."
Bololo laughed, but his laugh was different this time. There was resentment in it. Suppressed anger.
Bololo:
"Not afraid? Then why are your hands trembling?"
Sarah looked at her hands. They were trembling indeed. But she smiled at him.
Sarah:
"That's not fear of you. That's anger. I am furious because a wretched creature like you thinks he can control me."
Then she added:
"And also because of that bastard who thinks he's the center of the universe."
Bololo:
"Are you talking about your lover?"
Sarah:
"In his dreams? He's not even on my level."
Bololo laughed out loud, then took another step closer. Now only an arm's length separated them.
Bololo:
"Let me see what's inside you. Let me taste your soul."
He extended his long white hand toward her face. His fingers approached her cheek. But Sarah did not step back. Instead, she spat on his hand.
Sarah:
"Taste that."
Bololo pulled his hand back as if stung by fire. His red eyes blazed with fury. His human form wavered for a moment, trembled, nearly returning to his true body.
Bololo (in a voice mixed with pain and rage):
"You wretched daughter of Adam... I will make you regret this moment for eternity."
Elsewhere, deep in the dead forest, Zaki found himself kneeling before a broken mirror. But the mirror did not reflect his face. It reflected something else... his past.
He saw himself as a small child crying in a dark room. Then he saw a man hitting him. Then he saw himself as a teenager fleeing a house that could never be called a home.
Zaki (whispering in a hoarse voice):
"No... not now. I don't want to remember this."
Bololo's voice came from behind the mirror, calm this time, venomous like a serpent:
Bololo:
"You see? I don't need to frighten you. You carry your fear with you wherever you go. You carry your old wounds. I only... shine a light on them."
Zaki (shouting):
"I am not afraid of my past! I am not afraid of you!"
Bololo:
"Perhaps. But you are afraid of the future. Afraid of remaining alone. Afraid that no one will ever love you."
Then he added:
"Even your beloved said about you: 'That bastard who thinks he's the center of the universe.'"
Zaki fell silent. Bololo's words pierced his iron armor. He felt something strange in his chest... for the first time in years, he felt weak. Real.
Suddenly, the white light returned.
Not ordinary light, but a powerful, pulsating light, like the one that had saved the world from Bololo centuries ago. It came from nowhere, from everywhere, from the sky and from the earth.
Sarah screamed and closed her eyes. Zaki staggered and fell onto his back.
Bololo (screaming in pain they had never heard before):
"No! Not now! Not yet!"
Bololo's human body cracked like broken glass. White rays emerged from within, burning him from the inside. He retreated backward away from Sarah, and part of him turned into liquid darkness that melted into the ground.
Sarah slowly opened her eyes. She saw the red throne again. She saw Zaki barely standing on his feet. And before them... a portal. A portal shimmering with iridescent light, like the one that had brought them here.
Zaki (rising with difficulty and reaching out his hand to Sarah):
"Come on. We're going back. Now."
Sarah looked at him. His hand was trembling. But his eyes were steady.
Sarah (taking his hand and whispering):
"I'm... sorry for what I said about you. You're not a bastard."
Zaki (smiling tiredly):
"No. I am a bastard. But I try not to be. Sometimes. And also... I am the center of the universe."
Sarah (with anger mixed with surprise):
"Did he tell you that? I'll kill him!"
Zaki (with faint sarcasm):
"Yeah... as if I would believe that."
Sarah and Zaki ran toward the portal before it disappeared. But the moment they touched it, they heard Bololo's voice for the last time... not angry, but calm, like one who had lost a battle but was ready for war.
Bololo:
"Run. Run back to your miserable world. But remember: the red eyes never sleep. The red eyes are watching. And on the night your dreams fall asleep... I will be there. In the corner of your room. In the shadow of the moonlight. Waiting."
Then the voice faded. And the portal swallowed Sarah and Zaki.
They found themselves on an ordinary pavement, on an ordinary street, under an ordinary sky. The light rain still fell. The clock hadn't changed. As if they had never left.
Sarah (panting as if emerging from underground):
"Is... is it over?"
Zaki (looking at the gray sky, then whispering):
"No. It hasn't ended. It hasn't even begun."
She took a step toward him. But he stepped back.
Zaki:
"Let's go. We shouldn't stay here."
Sarah:
"Where to?"
Zaki (holding her hand even though he had stepped back a moment before):
"Somewhere far away. Somewhere the red eyes cannot see us. I will protect you. Even if it costs me my life."
Sarah stared at him. For the first time, she saw him not sarcastic, not rude, not angry. She saw him human.
Sarah:
"And who said I want protection?"
Zaki (smiling his usual faint smile):
"No one said it. But I will offer it to you. And you don't have to accept it if you don't want to."
Sarah walked beside him, her step lighter than before.
Sarah (in a faint voice):
"... Thank you."
Zaki did not reply. But his fingers pressed against her hand slightly. Just slightly.
In the distant world of Monaro, Bololo sat on his charred throne. His true body was slowly returning to him, but he was wounded, tired, exhausted.
He raised his red eyes toward the gray sky with its pink orb.
Bololo (muttering in a deep voice):
"Wait... you people of earth. Wait. For I... will return. But next time, I will not come alone. I will come with an army. With all the creatures that dwell in the shadows. And after I take your world... I will take your dreams as well."
He laughed. A heavy laugh rising from his belly, filling the entire place.
Then he whispered to himself, in a voice heard only by the spiders in the corners of his room:
"Just... wait."