Rutilius’s men wouldn’t take five minutes to reach them.
Five minutes… and their children would be taken away forever.

“Hurry up!” Elena shouted, unaware that her voice was no longer that of a humble widow, but that of a cornered wolf.

But then, the mountain roared.

Not thunder.
Not wind.
A roar.
Deep. Ancient. As if something gigantic had awakened beneath the very foundations of the Sierra Madre.

The seven children stopped dead in their tracks.

“Mom… Mom…” Lucia stammered, pointing towards a huge shadow in front of the path.

It wasn’t a man.
It wasn’t an animal.
It was the entrance to the cave.

The Cave of Lamentations .

The one that no one, not even the village’s drunken old men, dared to look at directly.
They said that souls who never found rest lived inside, creatures that fed on fear, or perhaps on sin.
That whoever entered… never came out.

Elena swallowed hard.
The storm now seemed to be pushing her toward that dark abyss as if the mountain itself were forcing her to choose:
enter or be hunted.

And behind them, the dogs barked closer.

“If we’re going to die,” Elena whispered, unable to hold back her tears, “let it be together…”

And he pushed his children into the darkness.

Toño was the first to enter, dragging Ana along. The others followed, stumbling and trembling. Elena entered last, clutching Mateo to her chest.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the world changed.

The wind stopped howling.
The noise from outside died away as if someone had locked a giant door.
Inside the grotto, a silence so thick it almost hurt.

“Mom?” Maria whispered. “I can’t see anything…”

Then Mateo, the baby, let out a strange moan… not of fear, but of fascination , as if he saw something that the others could not see.

“What’s wrong, my love?” Elena whispered, leaning in.

And he saw it.

Deep inside the cave…
faint as a dying firefly…
a blue light.

Elena narrowed her eyes.

It wasn’t fire.
It wasn’t a torch.
It was something… alive.

The light throbbed, as if it were breathing.

“Don’t move,” Toño ordered, trying to sound brave. “Mom… what’s that?”

Elena didn’t answer.
Because right at that moment, the light expanded like a silent flare, completely illuminating the interior of the cave, revealing the walls covered in ancient symbols…
and a body.

A human body.
Hunched over.
Chained to the rock.
Covered in dust and gray hair.

Ana screamed.
Maria covered her mouth.
Pedro backed away in fear.

But Elena…
Elena fell to her knees, trembling.

Because he recognized that withered face, those pronounced cheekbones, the scar under the left eyebrow.

—No… it can’t be…

His heart stopped.

It was Manuel.
Her husband.
The man everyone thought was dead, swallowed by the mine.

But he wasn’t dead.
He was alive.

And what kept him alive…
was the blue light that enveloped his chest as if it were feeding him.

“Elena…” whispered a rough, broken voice.

He raised his head.
He looked at her.
He recognized her.

And what he said next made the walls of the cave seem to tremble:

—You shouldn’t have come in here…
The mountain claimed me… and now… it has claimed you too.

Elena felt like her world was splitting in two.

“Manuel…? But… you… you were buried…” he stammered.

The man opened his dry lips.
The blue light that surrounded him pulsed, as if responding to his voice, as if it were an animal breathing through him.

“It wasn’t a collapse…” Manuel murmured. “It was Rutilio. He knew what was here… he wanted to get rid of me before I found out.”

Toño, his eyes blazing with fury, took a step forward:

—And what’s here, Dad?! What’s that light?

Manuel lowered his gaze.
The chains rattled with a damp, cavernous sound, as if the rock itself were breathing behind him.

“The mountain… is not empty,” she said in a whisper that chilled everyone’s blood. “It is alive.”

Lucía began to sob. María hugged her arms, trying to stop trembling.
But Ana… little Ana… gazed at the light with childlike fascination.

“Mommy, is it an angel?” she asked innocently.

Elena shook her head firmly, swallowing her fear.

“We’ll get him out of here,” he said determinedly. “Toño, help me with the chains!”

But as soon as he touched one of the links, the cave roared again.

It wasn’t a human sound.
Nor an animal one.
It was something too vast, too ancient.
A wail that came from all directions at once: ceiling, walls, floor.
As if the mountain itself were protesting what they were trying to do.

The blue light contracted violently.
Manuel screamed in pain.

“No!” he gasped. “Don’t touch me! I’m bound to her… The Light keeps me alive, but it also watches over me!”

The walls began to vibrate, kicking up dust.
A piece of rock fell near the children, making them scream.

“We have to get out of here,” said Toño, grabbing Ana. “It’s going to crush us!”

“We can’t leave,” Manuel whispered, his voice breaking. “Rutilio is outside. His men. The dogs. They’ll kill us.”

And then Elena heard something that shook her to her core…

The torches.
Shadows could be seen approaching from outside.
The dogs were barking louder, more wildly.

Rutilius’ men were almost at the entrance.

“There!” came a shout muffled by the rain. “They’ve entered the cave! Get ready!”

Elena held Mateo close to her chest.
Warm tears fell on her son.

They were trapped.
In front of them, a living mystery that fed on her husband.
Behind them, the executioners.
And the cave began to close its stony throat.

Manuel looked up, desperate.

—Elena… there is a way out.
Elena’s heart skipped a beat.

-Where?

“Further in…” he said, looking into a dark tunnel that not even the blue light could reach. “But it’s not a path… it’s a pact.”

Elena frowned.

—A pact with whom?

Manuel swallowed.
The blue light pulsed again… this time more intensely, as if it were listening.

“With the mountain,” Manuel whispered. “With her .
” “Her?” Toño asked, taking a step back.

“The ancient goddess who sleeps here,” Manuel replied, his voice trembling. “The mother of darkness. The protector… or the devourer. Only one of us can receive her mark and open the exit.”

Elena felt a primal, animal panic climb up her back.

—What happens if he doesn’t accept the agreement?

Manuel closed his eyes, as if he didn’t want to say it.

—Then… it will swallow us all up.

A deathly silence fell over the family.

The footsteps of Rutilio’s men already echoed at the entrance.
They could see the shadows moving through the rain.

Elena exhaled deeply and then stood up, her eyes burning like embers.

—So tell me, Manuel…
what should I do?

And from the deepest part of the cave, where the darkness was as thick as clotted blood…