Enemy in reflection

My name is Elary Donal, I spent my entire realized life deep underground in a city called Orinis. We have not seen sunlight since birth, worked on plantations, mined ore, exchanged it for clothes and food. Our day began with work and ended with it, a guard walked through the streets, who kept order and prevented any conflicts. We knew only this life and none of us suspected the existence of another. Exactly until the moment when one morning I did not wake up from a sharp pain in the back of my head. With my cry, I woke everyone who was in the room, in particular my friend Tyr Nekwood. He jumped up to me with a worried expression on his face and shook my shoulder.
“Elari, what happened?” You woke everyone here. Wake up already, come on — he did not stop shaking me, but I couldn’t react at all. I had a vision. I saw a man very much like me, but it was difficult to examine the face, the pain did not allow me to concentrate. The man held a long sword in his hands and fiercely waved it, fighting off the crowd of enemies. His blurry silhouette radiated strength and perseverance, but there were too many enemies, they surrounded him from all sides and began to squeeze into a ring.
“Yes, wake up you,” cried Tyr.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around incomprehensibly. The worried expressions on the faces of my roommates, a frightened Tyr held my hand.
— What happened? — I barely squeezed out of myself.
“We were all sleeping, but then you suddenly started screaming all over the room.” As if the guards were not attracted, otherwise they would have to work for a week just like that.
— Sorry, I had a nightmare.
— Let's sleep. And yes, by the way, happy birthday. I don’t know if today is the exact same day, but I congratulate you today. And here you go. — He climbed into his closet and pulled out something small, round, but very beautiful. “Found it the other day at the back wall.” I have no idea what it is, but I decided that you would like it.
— Thanks, Tyr. — I shook his hand and patted him on the shoulder. — Let's sleep.
In the morning we set to work. Our room worked in a forge, processing metal that others brought. We made tools, nails, dishes and many other little things that are needed for life here, underground. Throughout the day, the man who was in the vision did not give me rest. I wanted to know as much as possible about him, but there was no one to ask. I felt a connection between us, but could not find it. And, for some reason, I was sure that we would meet again. The next night everything repeated. Wild pain in the back of the head and again that man who is desperately fighting against a crowd of enemies. Only now I looked at this action from the other side, it seemed to me that he was protecting something, but because of the pain and blur it was difficult to understand anything.Tyr shook me again in an attempt to wake me up.
— I am fine. The same nightmare again.
— What are you talking about? What do you see?
“I'm not sure I understand it myself.” Someone is trying to fend off the crowd of soldiers and so far in his nightmares he succeeds, but how this will end remains to be seen.
Tyr looked at me thoughtfully, as if trying to remember something.
“Maybe you can ask old Hels?” What if he can help?
“This crazy tramp Hels?” I don’t think he will be able to say anything to me about this.
— What can I say?
One of the guards appeared at the door. Evening tour and security check.
— About nothing, we decided to ask the tramp why he had come to such a life. Tyr said with a smile.
“Once he was normal,” the guard said bitterly, “only after the court sentenced his only daughter to exile in the lower part of the city, and he was forbidden to see her, he went crazy. I searched for justice for a long time, tried to persuade the judge to send him to her, but always received a refusal. And as you know, you can’t enter the lower part without an invitation, it will kill you. Thirty years later, Hels went crazy and now wanders around the city in the hope of forgiving his daughter for what he did.
“What did he do?” — Tyr could not resist.
— Once upon a time everything was different, the guard did not have such power, murder was a common occurrence. Alice, his daughter, was visited by a guy who seemed to have serious intentions, but Hels suspected that something was wrong with him and decided to find out. It turned out that Kinar was a rapist and a murderer, and he immediately told his daughter about it. The daughter did not take her father’s words seriously, until Kinar got down to business and tried to kill her. According to the rules of the court, there should be witnesses to what was happening, but at that moment there was no one, and Alice broke his head with a pickaxe. Hels tried to prove to the court that she was defending herself, but the rules are the rules. For the murder, she was sent to the bottom.
— And what is there, at the bottom? I asked curiously.
— There is no law, no rules, each on its own. Daily killings, blood and revenge. Surviving is almost impossible. Duris is in charge of everything there, but he is already the tenth in my memory who is trying to maintain power. Below is chaos and no one controls it. You cannot enter or exit. Only by court order.
We listened to the guard with an open mouth, how much we live here, but we only heard about this part of the city that those who get there no one returns.
— Okay, I see everything is fine with you. Have a rest.
“Elari, just imagine what’s going on there.” I would not want to be there.
— Yeah.
That night, as soon as I closed my eyes, I again heard the sounds of battle, the cries of dying soldiers and the furious roar of a man who was trying to fight them off. This time I saw something else.I had never before seen such tall bushes and that the light was everywhere, although no lights were visible. The light was just there. In Orinis, lanterns are constantly on, there is no other light, but everything was different in the vision. I don’t know how to explain what I saw. The huge animals on which the soldiers are sitting, the man on the same, his clothes were made of metal, rope pulled long hair. The man shouted something, but the words could not be made out. I just heard him say the name — El.
In the morning I remembered everything I saw and tried to draw it to explain to Tyr and Hels what I saw. It turned out clumsy, but recognizable.
“Come with me,” I dragged him to the wall where Hels usually sat.
We got to Hels rather quickly and, as expected, he was sitting by the wall looking at the void. It looked like an old man, gray hair disheveled, a beard covering almost his whole face. His gaze is directed upward and a barely noticeable mumble under his nose.
“Hels, hello,” I turned to him, “I want to show you something, maybe you can explain to me what this means.”
The old man slowly turned his head towards us, his eyes cleared, but then something happened that none of us expected. He jumped up to me and tore off Tyr's present from his neck.
— Where did you get that? He croaked.
“Hels, calm down, I gave it to him in honor of his birthday.” And I found it at the back wall. Do you know what this is?
Without saying anything, he did something with that thing and it opened. Inside was something like a drawing, when I examined the faces of those who were pictured there, I dropped my outline from the visions. The same man. On the other side was a beautiful girl, she radiated warmth and purity. I have never seen anything more beautiful.
Hels looked at my drawings, squinted at me and only asked.
“Have nightmares already begun?”
I was even confused and did not understand how he could know about it. He only nodded in agreement.
— Let's go to a quieter place, I will tell you everything that I know and still remember.
We walked along the wall and took refuge in a corner where there were no people and no lights.
— Have a seat.
We obediently sat down on hastily made sunbeds made of rags and pieces of leather from underground animals.
— Many years ago, someone named Coras gathered a huge army and led them to capture other lands. The world that you have seen throughout your life is only a small part of what is beyond these walls. Now we live deep underground, but up there, ”he raised his finger,“ a huge world. ” There it is light during the day and no lights are needed, and it is dark at night. There are sky and stars, the sun, trees, rivers and oceans. It cannot be described in words if you have not seen. Coras was a very cruel man, but also extremely cunning.He built this city and sent here small children who can be commanded without their knowledge. Here you do what you do. Here you two, you work in a forge. In addition to the little things for everyday life, you also did other things, strange, right?
We nodded, indeed, from time to time we forged wheels with teeth, arrowheads, knives and plates for armor, although we never saw the guard walking in them.
— All this goes up there. For arming the army. On the surface, few people know about this city, and the enemies of Coras even more so. They only know that he never runs out of weapons, armor and provisions. Because of this, everyone is afraid of him, even their own. I was one of those who helped him found this city, but then they took my daughter away from me and said that if I spoke to someone they would kill her. But now she is dead and I can tell you. The pendant that Tyr found is the pendant of your father, Elary. And next to him is your mother. Coras took you from them and locked you here to serve him without asking unnecessary questions. You cannot escape from this part of the city. Only through the bottom. I wanted to get there after my daughter, but they did not let me in. Alice, at the cost of her life, passed this pendant here so that you know the truth. She believed that the day would come and you would destroy this city and avenge all who had suffered here for so many years.
— But why me? What is so special about me? And why do I see these visions?
Hels grinned.
“Because you are the rightful heir to the kingdom that Coras has captured.” Your father fought for you until the last breath, and already dying, he tore off this pendant and put it in my hand. Yes, I was there and was involved in the death of your father, but then there was no other way. Dying, he looked into my eyes and whispered: "When the time comes he will remember his legacy and ascend the throne."

Honestly, at that moment I had difficulty believing what this old man was saying, but there was something in his words that left no doubt. Once again I looked at the faces of my parents. A sudden pain in the back of my head made me unconscious. I woke up in another world, a blue sky, a cold wind blowing under my clothes, and a bright light blinded my eyes. I saw my father walking towards me, he was smiling, but in his eyes I saw grief and unshakable strength.
— My son, I have been waiting for this meeting for a long time and even if it is not in reality, but I'm glad to see you. Hels told you everything he needed to know. He has a good heart, he will help you get out of Orinis. You must bring peace back to our lands. There are dozens of such cities and children suffer there, who were taken from our people. Get to the bottom of the city and find support there. Together you can defeat the guard and the court. And Hels will show the way out. Your people need you.
— Father, I don’t even know how to fight. Nobody taught me. How can I beat them?
— Do not worry, the blood of a warrior flows in your veins. At the right moment you will gain your strength.
I listened to my father and with every word he felt, how I became stronger, how images appear in my head one after another, my father showed me the horrors of war that are happening on the surface, I saw dying women, children and defenseless old people. The war spared no one. Clutching my fists tightly, I decided to break out and restore peace. The memory of my ancestors returned to me and I knew for sure what I would do.
“Elary, can you hear me?” — Tyr called me.
“I hear I'm fine.”
I got to my feet and looked carefully at Hels and Tyra. Judging by their facial expression, I realized that they saw the same thing as me.
— Come on.
— Where?
“We will kill them all ....”