V
She was on the road once again, the storm had just begun, the winds were becoming more and more hostile but they were nothing that she couldn't handle, the journey was steady the danger was being ignored. But then everything changed with the appearance of the tornado at the end of the road. There was no way of her to change directions by know, so she had no option but to be consumed by it.
Ailine opened her eyes from the terrible yet predictable nightmare, all of her thoughts of last night returned as instantly as she saw the trees that surrounded her. It was already morning and she quickly realized that Da Speller wasn't longer there, but the remaining pieces of the bike were still under the tree, so she knew that he could not be too far away. She stood up and began to look for him.
"Da Speller? are you still here?"
She walked a few meters and she quickly found him. He nailed down facing the ground, she didn't understand what he was doing but as she approached he could saw. He had buried Oly with his bare hands. He spent all the night digging the hole with his hands and he had finally buried his friend.
"Da Speller?"
All covered in dirt, he stood up tired as hell, his task was over. He looked exhausted, but with a great calm and serenity.
"You had a good night sleep?" he asked her.
"Heh... not exactly, but... forget about me, are you okay?"
Da Speller smiled; it was a tired but sincere smile.
"I'm just fine"
He began to walk away from the site of the grave.
"I suppose that they won't be looking for us by now" he said.
"I... I don't think so, they must have concluded that we died in the fire" responded Ailine as she followed him.
They returned to the same site where Ailine spent the night, Da Speller returned to the same tree where he had left the remaining pieces of the flying bike, he picked them up and began to observe them closely.
"What are you ... planning to do now?" she asked him, thinking it was a bad idea to say that so soon.
"I have a plan, I thought about it all night" Da Speller responded without looking at her. “I can't do, what you told me."
Ailine didn't know what he was talking about, suddenly she remember, the flying bike.
"You... you can't reconstruct the bike?
Da Speller laughed a little bit.
"Of course I can reconstruct it. In fact, I'm going to upgrade, the old design will look as a damn chance compare to this new one. But I cannot give it to you just like that, you must earn it in some way." Da Speller responded.
Ailine didn't understand what he was trying to said.
"Earn it? What do you mean by that?"
Da Speller was still analyzing the pieces; he was already sketching in his mind the way that he was going to reconstruct the bike.
"Do you want the same thing that happened to that biker happen to you?" He asked her.
"No, but... that happened to him because he didn't earn that bike?"
"Of course!" screamed Da Speller "The goddess only grants an opportunity at those she seem worthy, how the hell does someone expect to be worthy by climbing that mountain with a stolen bike? The Gods hate stealers."
The Gods were more conscious and present than Ailine previously though. She though that they were just mighty and invisible beings that just appeared or acted at random times, but soon she found out that there was nothing random about them.
"So, what do I have to do? How can I become worthy?" she was dying to know.
Finally, Da Speller looked at her with a penetrating view.
"Ailine!, I didn't want to give you this chance, but it seems that I have no other choice. In two months, I'm going to organize a big and mortal race; the one who wins the race will get my bike".
It seemed like a good challenge but there were so many details absent.
"If you want to, you can participate in the race, the entrance cost is $200,000" he said.
"But why are you organizing a race at this precise mom..." when she finally heard the number, she didn't need to ask further.
Da Speller began to look at the sky.
"There's a big part in me that is craving for a change, a great change. I think is time to say good bye to this part of my life, move on. And I need the money to move on."
Ailine was completely amazed as for how he took his own tragedy. He had no idea how he had done it, a great part of her wanted to know. But then she concluded that they were extremely different after all.
"But... how are you planning on organizing that race and how many bikers are going to compete?"
"I just have to leave that to my brother, he will market the hell out of this idea; after all, everybody will want this bike. He will probably contact all the gangs in the region, since they are a lot, only one member of each gang will be allowed to be a racer. Independent bikers can also join in, if they have the money."
The idea was becoming more and more frightening for Ailine and that was exactly what Da Speller was trying to do. All of the gangs were going to be there, so there was no question that it was going to be a big and violent race and she didn't even know where it was going to be.
"Where is it going to be held?"
Da Speller smiled and said:
"The Gray Canyon"
Ailine's face turned into the color of the canyon itself. She knew where that was. She didn't think that it was possible to held a race there, the gray canyon was infested with an eternal mist, it was almost impossible to see anything ahead while driving there, you had to use all of your instincts to sense the curves and the rode itself, otherwise, you would fall into the abyss. Ailine was amazed by the challenge that this was going to be, she was scared and she felt lost for a second, but for her, there was no other option, she had to do it, there was no other way.
Da Speller felt that he had finally talked Ailine out of the idea of pursuing that bike and that mountain. But soon, he found out that he was wrong.
"How much you said it was the entrance cost?"
That question left Da Speller in shock, she couldn't believe this girl's obsession, there was nothing good in it, but he figure that there was nothing that he could do about it.
"$200,000"
"Ok" she said, her voice was full of determination.
"Are you sure that you'll get the money by that time?"
Ailine had already something in mind, but she needed to get her bike back.
"Yeah, I will"
Da Speller felt sad for Ailine's response, he was trying to scare the girl off by making the challenge even more ridiculous, but his plan didn't work at all. In fact, Ailine seemed even more focused than ever.
"This ain't gonna be pretty, Ailine. Chances are that you hadn't seen a race like this before. A lot of people tend to die, I don't really recommend..."
"I've heard enough warnings" said Ailine, interrupting her "I'm sorry but they are not going to do the trick, I'm going to be there."
And that was the end of the conversation. There was nothing left to say for the two of them, they weren't going to see each other again until the day of the race. They could only wish each other farewell. Ailine began to walk away to the exit of the woods and Da Speller returned to Oly's grave. He stood in front of it, clenching his fist, biting the pain as it remerged once again.
Ailine was already reaching the road, then he heard a scream.
"Ailine!" it was Da Speller, screaming at her without taking his sight out of the grave.
The mechanic had one final phrase for her.
"One must accept one’s losses!"
The phrase arrived as an echo to Ailine. An echo she ignored, holding tight to what she considered to be hope.
With the wind erasing the words, she continued walking, leaving behind the man who had lost everything.
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