The Red Nights

Two days later after Jamal had proposed that idea of a duel between Carla and Andre, both challengers were brought in a prepared field where they could confront themselves.

The place was an old field of football so it was quite spacious.

With the help of Brad and some few friends, Jamal had taken some wooden planks which had at least two meters height, the width of two men normal of seizing, and had a thickness of three fingers. They placed them vertically all over the terrain following a specific pattern to make it look like a labyrinth but way less complicated. And to finish Jamal personally set some traps here there as he liked when things are not too easy.

In the city, everyone heard about that competition opposing the two people, they didn't know though what was the real purpose of that match but they were still excited about it as there were not many distractions in the city and thus an event like that was not something they would like to miss. Even Brad and his coworkers, who were with Jamal during the preparation of the terrain, were not aware of the reason for that duel. At a moment, the former had questioned Jamal concerning that fight but the latter didn't give him a clear, he just told him that Andre had something to prove and that he just gave him the chance to do so, then Brad expressively showed him that he didn't understand his point but he didn't add a word, instead, Jamal just patted his shoulder before leaving him with an enigmatic smile.

In the end, the young man decided to not mind it too much and he returned to work, [ he must have his reasons to not telling me ] he thought for himself.

Before he even realized it himself, Brad greatly changed from what he used to be and the amount of trust he had developed for Jamal should have been the first hint. When he firstly to the city, due to the sense of guilt and regret he felt because of the wrong and unforgivable decisions he had taken in the past, he directly decided to be helpful and would always ask Lina if there were some tasks he could do and it didn't take long for him to become one Lina's close employees or how she liked to call them "her subordinates". He initially tried to impress her with his devotion and hard work but before he got aware of it became a habit for him to always be the first one to step up whenever they would need volunteers to do a job and he could feel that he wasn't doing that due to the sense of guilt anymore, that altruistic behavior was rather becoming part of his personality.

...

The mayor had decided to hold the event in the last hours before the sunset when they were sure that everyone would finish their works for the day, though they have finished the preparations even before noon.

Jamal reunited the workers in a side of the field and he started to pass by and to give each of them a bottle of fresh. The sun was taping hard for a few minutes and they didn't hide the fact that they were quite tired Jamal figured out that they would not explicitly tell him so he decided to take the lead and relieve them a little.

" Good job everyone," he told them after distributing the last bottle, " you have been a great help, thank you. You can pass by the city hall's office tomorrow to go collect your remuneration ".

Hearing about remuneration, the workers started to glance at each other with smiles on their faces. When Jamal asked them they thought that it would be a benevolent job and so they didn't expect to gain anything, Jamal was pleased to see that announce made them happy.

" Does that mean we are done for the day? " Brad asked while plugging the empty bottle in his hand.

" Yes, as you can see we have already finished placing the planks according to the plan what left is to clean the field but I will do it myself " Jamal responded, " you guys can go ahead and have some rest I know you are exhausted. I will be arbitrating the match of this afternoon, so we may meet again if you come " he let them know.

" I will stay and help you to clean so like that we will be done earlier " Brad announced him. That proposition didn't surprise Jamal as Lina talked to him much about how reliable he was as he would always be the first and most of the time the only volunteer whenever there is a work to do. And Jamal had been able to witness it for the few days since he came back.

" No need to push yourself too hard, it's okay I will take of it " Jamal tried to turn him down gently though he could clearly see that Brad would not give up too easily.

" I still have the energy," he said with enthusiasm but then his face changed a little, turning into a sad or rather culpable expression " and I... I have nothing else to do at this hour ".

Jamal understood what he meant, he heard that his girlfriend had taken sessions with Dominic and together they were working to get her rid of her addiction and cure her traumas as well. Jamal could suppose that she must, at that hour, be in her daily session with Dom, that was why Brad said what he said.

Presented like that Jamal could hardly tell him no. He sighed and said, " alright, do as you want the quicker we finish the better it is ".

They were about to return to the terrain when they noticed that the others weren't leaving but stayed where they were looking at them, they seemed like they wanted to say something but were too shy to say it, Jamal looked at them and directly asked: " what's wrong? ".

They glanced at each other as if they were trying to decide who should respond to him and finally a guy stepped forward and said " well... we have been thinking that we, too, should stay to help finish the job ".

" But guys... " Jamal giggled a little before he could continue his sentence as he found the situation very amusing, " the job is already done, the only thing left is to clean so no need to force yourself to stay when you know you are already exhausted ".

" We are not forcing ourselves " the same guy replied, he looked back at his friends to check that they were agreeing with him and after seeing them nodding he continued " I mean... we do want to stay, we are not that much tired and the more we are the earlier we can finish, no? "

Jamal lowered his head and chuckled " alright alright, you win. Let's go finish with that once for all ".

•••

Jamal went to meet Lina and Natasha to the hospital after he had finished with his work and passed by his apartment to take a quick shower.

The two women were sitting on a bench next to the door of a room and they both stood up when they saw him coming.

Without saying a word, Jamal looked at them, and just with the expression on his face they immediately understood what he wanted to ask. Lina shook her head negatively, she grabbed his hand and pulled him gently towards the door. The three of them entered the room to see Matteo as he was lying unconscious on his bed.

" The nurses said that he has been in this state since the last time we came to visit, " Lina said after a short moment of silence.

" Did they notice any movement or reaction of him? " Jamal asked without taking his eyes off the boy.

" They couldn't stay all with him but they said that he would keep the same quiet expression whenever they would come to check on him " she responded.

Jamal walked forward and went to sit beside Matteo while keeping staring at him as if he knew that the boy would open his eyes at any time soon and he didn't want to miss that. The two women glanced at each other looking sorry as they knew what he was thinking at that moment, he hated to see people suffering while being unable to help them that was one of the reasons he preferred to carry out, the most time, the missions and tasks all by himself.

[ Seeing a young boy innocent putting his life on the line while being powerless to help... that must be unbearable to him ] Natasha thought while staring at Jamal.

" Looking at the situation we are now I was thinking that about the duel- "

" We will maintain it " Jamal suddenly said while interrupting Lina before she could finish what she had to say.

The woman waved her hand as she said, " why would you do that? I know you want to keep your promise but you see that Matteo's state is more priority, don't you? Besides, that fight is not that important, you can just postpone and stay here to watch over him until he wakes up ".

Jamal didn't answer her immediately, he kept for a short while and as Natasha started to think that he would just ignore as he sometimes did when he took his calm voice and suddenly told her " we have here two kids who are yearning to prove to us and especially to themselves their legitimate right to stand where they want to be... Lina, don't you think it would be disrespectful to pass the combat of someone over the other one's as if his ambitions were meaningless in comparison, hmm? "

Lina had a short moment of hesitation as she once got proof that she had still difficulties considering people's emotions while taking a decision. " No that... that is not what I was trying to say. It just that, you know Matteo needs us to be with him to support him as he is fighting that threatening and mysterious enemy " she slowly said, not totally convinced by the strength of her arguments.

" Matteo has already taken his decision which to fight. The best we can do for him is to trust him and to have faith that he would soon come to us victorious " he paused and slowly stood up, " but, besides that, we have another duty to fulfill which is to be present and watch Andre as he has, too, choose to fight. To my concern, I don't have any doubt about the victory of the former but when what concerns the latter, I have to be there and see the result of that duel with my own eyes ".

As he moved and reached the door of the room Natasha announced, " I will stay here with Matteo until he wakes up ".

Without turning his head to look at them, he bowed down his head a little, he smiled and said " thank you " before he walked out.

" W-wait " Lina shouted to him, she grabbed Natasha by her shoulders, kissed her on her both cheeks, hugged her, and thanked her too before she went off the room to run after her lover.

Then, Natasha calmly went to have a seat next to the unconscious boy and started staring at him while wondering what be happening inside his head at that moment.

•••

Even though a quite long time has passed since Matteo voluntarily put himself in a deep sleep in order to face the mysterious person who tortured him the last time, in his subconscious mind it was like he just spent a couple of hours.

When he had finally come up with a plan to defeat his enemy he had decided that he would finish with her in as fast as possible but in the end, he couldn't do better than those hours.

When he fell asleep, as expected, he found himself in the same dark place the mysterious person had trapped him, and the only difference was that instead of her waiting for him Matteo was now the one waiting to ambush her.

He didn't have to wait too long before she appeared before him.

" I have to admit, you are quite courageous to come here by yourself," she told him, her face hidden in the shadow of her hood as usual, " but I can guess that for you to be the first to take the first step, you must have come with a plan to defeat me, am I wrong? So what is it? "

Matteo knew that it was pointless to try playing the brave as she could easily see how scared he really was but he still didn't intend to reveal anything to her yet.

He was completely aware that she was suspecting to prepare something that was why she was trying to distract him. [ I have to focus and not let her break my concentration ] he kept repeating to himself. The thing he had only one plan in mind moreover he wasn't even sure that it would work but he knew he had to give a try because he knew that if he hesitated or stepped back now he would be running away all his life.

He closed his eyes to make abstraction of the mysterious in front of him and started to initiate his plan.

The latter seemed to have realized the potential of the danger of what he was about to do and she decided to stop fooling and quickly stop him before it's too late.

She jumped forward towards him and used her invisible cords to tie him up just like the last time but way more quickly. " I don't know what you were thinking when you came here but it's useless now you can't escape from me and this time I will make sure to totally break your mind for good," she said while approaching him slowly, she made appear her metal sticks and just as she was about to pierce the body of the boy he raised his head and smiled at her making her understand that she was the one who fell on his trap.

The moment after she found herself standing in the middle of a curved road surrounded by buildings on both sides of the road. She turned around scanning the surroundings to find Matteo as he suddenly disappeared while mumbling and cursing between her teeth.

She couldn't believe that he has been able to figure out the potential of power he had in that dimension in such a short interval of time. The first time they met she had been careful to not leave him any hint of how to use his power there and though she was fully aware that he was very attentive and smart as she witnessed it herself but she was anyway sure that he would still need some more time to figure out how to manipulate that dimension yet in just one first try he has been able to transport her in another space.

She realized that she had to quickly catch him and take the total control of that dimension otherwise she would be in a very bad situation.

She was sure that Matteo was hiding somewhere near as he had already figured out that her time there was limited he was trying to gain as much as he could.

[ Don't underestimate me boy ] she said before she placed the palms of her hands on the ground and began to scan the zone. She deployed her senses as far she could and she finally got the position of his hideout.

Matteo was sitting on the floor hiding behind the counter of an empty store, hoping that the mysterious person's time there would run out before she got his localization, but of course, he knew it wouldn't be such easy.

" Here you are ", Matteo suddenly turned his head and found his chaser standing on the counter behind him. This time, she didn't even bother hiding her emotions, Matteo could see how irritated she was as her face was tight while she was clenching her teeth hard.

He tried to run away by the side but she was obviously way faster, in an instant she caught up with him, she kicked him hard on his ribs sending him flying away, making him passing through one of the store windows and crashing down in the middle of the road.

He normally should have had many ribs and members broken as well as other injuries but it was an immaterial body in another world, not his real one. Thus, in that dimension, he could only feel the pain but he wouldn't take any damages and he had figured that since their first encounter.

He tried to stand up but with some difficulties as the pain didn't want to fade away but before he could sit up his enemy appeared over him. She pushed him to the ground, crushed his left arm under her foot, and nailed his right hand to the ground with a metal bar she just summoned. She bent over and pressed her neck as she was moving her face closer to his and that was only then that Matteo saw that she was wearing a purple mask hiding the upper half of her face.

She curved the corners of her lips to reveal him, probably, her most naughty and malicious smile. " Did you really thought... you could escape from me in my own domain? " she mocked him.

" No... it's not... and you know it " Matteo managed to articulate despite the pressure on his neck. These words made her victorious smile slowly disappeared and it was time to show her his. " It was a real pain... to figure out... since you didn't leave many hints... I had to think a lot but now... now I know it's, in reality, my domain ".

Suddenly, the scenery changed again and they were now on the top of a building. The hooded woman standing alone on the side with her metallic bar in her hand while Matteo was standing in one knee and was rubbing his neck.

" You made your possible to make me think you had the control over this space but it seems like you have made some kind of mistakes " he continued to explain enjoying the fact he has now the higher ground.

" You know you can't defeat me," she said after a short moment of silence, it seemed like she was trying to come up with a plan, " you are too weak so what are you gonna do? Continue to run away until the end? Because if that's the case let me tell you that I won't let you go I will keep coming, again and again, night after night, whenever you will try to find some sleep I will be here waiting for you I will keep chasing until I finally break your mind, you hear me kid? " she sneered between her teeth.

She then jumped to him as fast as a lioness jumping on its prey but she could catch him she found herself transported in small parking and Matteo was now behind her. She slowly turned around and told him " you can't run away forever, I will end up catching you and let me tell you that day I will make you regret being alive. All those teleportations consume a lot of energy, I'm sure you can already begin to sense how tired that body of yours is ".

And that was right Matteo was panting as if he has been running for a long time, however, he had already anticipated the case that so many transportations would exhaust him and so he slowly stood up to straight to his enemy and he told her " you're right only in one part which is that I can't keep running away forever but where you are wrong is that I have never intended to ".

" Do intend to fight me? You know have not the slightest chance to win, don't you? " she asked while still being on her guards as she knew that the boy was very cunning and thus she couldn't know what was he thinking.

" Oh no, I don't plan to fight of course " he replied, " but as I have told you I'm the master of this dimension and as such I'm planning to use my rights as I want ".

" What you- "

" Let me explain to you " he interrupted her, " remember earlier, the reason why I let you capture me with your invisible cables and get close to me was just to verify your status in this dimension and guess what? You are just an intruder " she frowned as she began to slowly understand what he was trying to say " I have been able to verify it in my first teleportation as I have been able to send you in a place other than where I sent myself " he paused, " but as you have said it consumes a lot of energy to do that so I was hoping that I could keep escaping from you until our next encounter but I'm sick of running I rather take the risk and end with this right now ".

The hooded woman seemed to be alarmed by something, her senses were running wild as she had the intuition that Matteo was plotting something dangerous. " W-what are you doing? " she asked worriedly.

" Isn't it obvious? " the young boy replied before he closed his eyes to concentrate, " you are just an intruder and as the master of this world I'm on right to expel you from here indefinitely ".

She didn't wait for the end of his explanation and ran towards him while screaming all her rage, [ I can't let him do that... I can't let him do that... I can't let him do that... ] she kept repeating to herself. She was normally fast but not fast enough to stop him, she threw her bar of metal as a spear but before it could touch him it was too late, she had been already expelled.

•••

Natasha was putting a plate of food on the small table next to Matteo's bed when he suddenly woke up and sat up in a scream making her almost flipping the plate.

He started to make big signs pointing his neck and immediately Natasha understood that his throat was dry and he needed water. She hurried herself to serve him a glass of water, she placed it on his lower lip, put her free hand behind, and helped him drink. He emptied the glass and released a sigh of satisfaction before he let himself fall on the bed.

" W-what happened? " Natasha timidly asked as she was afraid of shaking him too much after the traumatic situation, she supposed, he just went through.

Matteo turned his head to look at her, a delicate smile slowly appeared on his face as he told her " I won ".