Hector was a weird kid. I met him the day we went camping. We are both the same age, about 16, but we are as different as the other kids at camp.
Almost all of us were expelled from home against our will. At least that's my case, I'm a gamer kid, from being stuck in my darkroom playing Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Silent Hill; well mostly hardcore and horror games. My parents decided to get rid of me by sending me camping with different guys in the summer.
Anyway, Hector was the only one who approached me to talk to me. His enthusiasm was pouring out of him. A boy a little taller than me, with a skinny body, but athletic, due to his track and field sessions.
“We're heading for adventure," Hector's voice was strong and energetic, even encouraging. “Imagine all the monsters that will appear!”
“But what are you saying?, Hector," I replied skeptically. -What monsters?
Hector's smile became more engaged.
We had already entered the mountainous zone, there was no turning back. The mountain range paraded before my eyes, pine trees and rivers appeared soon after. As well as the sound of birds and insects.
“Don't you read the news? Here in this region, many children like us have disappeared” I opened my eyes in amazement. “Their bodies have never been found, no cries of abduction are heard, nor do they ever reappear," the rivers, mountains, and prairie no longer seemed beautiful to me.
“And why on earth are we going to such a dangerous place?" I replied, ready to stop the bus.
The rattling sound indicated that we were entering the camping area.
"Because we are destined to purge those monsters!"
Hector was crazy.
Immediately upon arrival, I went to one of the coordinators. I asked to be returned to my home to not be in such a threatening place. Not only did they tell me that both children and adults had disappeared in that camp, but they also assured me that the level of insecurity had decreased and that the supervisors' guard duty had been doubled. That left me on tenterhooks.
For the next few days I had to live with fear, but little by little it dissipated with Hector's presence. Truly, his inexhaustible source of optimism was contagious. He urged me to do things I would never have thought of doing: climbing, rafting, mountain running, and kissing girls. I kept forgetting about my friend's missing and supposed monsters.
Until one night they decided to have a bonfire.
It was huge and the light radiating from the flames was mesmerizing. I sat next to Hector who was chatting with other companions. The evening seemed to end excellently, there was singing, gossiping and of course, horror stories. It was when the wind intensified, making our bonfire unstable. Although it did not go out, its flames took the shape of a giant bat.
People began to retreat before the creepy figure emerging from the fire. The creature spread its wings and with astonishing speed snatched a boy who was running terrified towards the tents.
“Move on!" I heard one of the supervisors shout.
That's when I realized that I was still motionless watching the scene. And I noticed a huge bull coming out of the trees, the size of the canopy of trees in the neighborhood of the coordinator's hut, the only source of communication with civilization. His roar echoed through the camp, muffling the screams and sobs of the crowd. In a matter of seconds, it was within a few meters of me. The beast reached out to grab me, but before it could reach out to touch me the beast was knocked down.
“I told you it would be an exciting adventure," Hector stood, looking like a mythological hero.
I glanced at the monster, it was lying motionless on the ground. His huge body seemed horrifying to me, it was not normal that a gigantic hairy being with huge horns could live in my world. However, less normal was Hector who had managed to kick the beast to the ground.
“We must rescue the boy! Follow me," my friend was not giving up.
So I blindly followed it. We walked through the forest, it was clear where the creature was going, it left a trail of fire in its wake. As we went deeper into the night, the trees were no longer normal, in their barks a sinister smile returned our gaze, at any moment they could take a step towards us. The only light that guided us was that of my phone since Hector was only guided by the glow given off by the burnt wood.
“How could you defeat that giant bull?" I asked to dispel one of my many doubts.
Hector shrugged his shoulders as if taking down a huge creature was like jogging 5 km in the morning.
“I could always handle the big guys, no wonder I could handle that monster," he said.
Not that it was very much reading body language, but I did know he was saying it as if in passing, another would have bragged about his abilities.
“So tell me, how do you have the guts to face those creatures?" I tried to put myself at his level to see that he wasn't lying. “Not just anyone faces a being like that.”
“Look," and his hands pointed me to a valley where a large campfire stood.
The big bat was nowhere to be seen, but instead, a legion of huge bulls rolled around the fire. Some held a huge log as a weapon and others wore a kind of toga. In the center of the fire was a large pot, the water was boiling ready for a broth. I located the kidnapped boy who was next to three other young men. They would be the meat ready to be cooked.
“He is the leader," Hector kept his eyes on a hooded figure that seemed to be praying. “Minotaurs are dumb creatures, they would never manage to compose themselves in such an organized way. Nor send a squadron of elementals to kidnap people.”
My face reflected a thousand doubts.
“The fire bat was a fire elemental. That guy is a sorcerer," explained Hector, kneeling down and carefully observing the disposition of the troops. “I think he wants to summon a major fire elemental with those three bodies.”
I knelt as well.
“Hey, hey, hey! How do you know all that?" too much drama, "And if they're just going to cook the kids, then they're going to cook the kids.”
"No, he is going to sacrifice the youngsters in boiling water. It is one of the rituals to use boiling water with a fire prepared with pine wood... You need, in addition, minotaur hair and of course, young people between 13 to 15 years old.
I put my face on the ground. I was incredulous, that is, I was the gamer boy, sounding like a crude fantasy video game.
“But according to the news, several people have disappeared. Shouldn't they have appeared some time ago? “ I said without raising my head, a terrible headache plagued me.
Hector shook his head.
“The last ingredient is to have a begabt," he added, knowing that I would not understand anything. “It's someone with a spell inside them, it's hard to explain, they are like wizards who can only use a specific spell to their advantage. Many don't know they have it, others grow up with it and take advantage of it.”
Now things were making more sense, so Hector was a begabt.
“What do I do?" asked a doubtful Hector.
As I knew I would not leave those boys to their own devices, I looked at the battlefield. Strangely, it seemed like a game to me, I saw the possible moves and possibly missed opportunities. I saw angles, possible moves, and anticipated victory. I don't know what happened to me, but I whispered a plan to my partner.
...
At the top of the hill, I stood ready to face my plan.
“Hey everybody!” my voice echoed through the uncanny valley and spread through all the beasts. Each one of them raised its furry ear. “I'm a Bega... a vegan... there's a talented boy.”
I don't even know if they understood me, but a horde of animals came out towards me. So much dust they kicked up that I never knew if all the traps set worked. I didn't have to move, I had full confidence in my partner. During the battle, I heard the echoes of the fall of some minotaurs, among them the opening of a few pits.
When the dust cloud had dissipated I saw the wizard fleeing in the direction I had predicted. Hector was by the campfire and had used the water from the pot to smother the flames, without fire he would not be able to call his fire soldiers, which was the main problem we would have to face. After that, he had to intimidate the enemy with his might and he did so masterfully by defeating the two strongest minotaurs that were left guarding the boys.
The rest of the army fell into several pits that Hector had carefully constructed in a matter of minutes, as well as traps among the trees such as logs or rocks hooked to a thin thread.
The wizard was struck in the forehead by a rock as he activated one of the many traps he had designed.
“You are also a begabt. I knew it from the first moment I saw you," exclaimed Hector from afar.
Great! Now I had to find out what a quagmire I had gotten myself into in this senseless camp.
