Love not Asia, but Robert!

I looked around, but the darkness hid everything. No sounds, no obvious signs that we could get out of here.

"But if this is captivity..." I began, not fully believing my words, "then who is holding us?"

Robert didn't answer right away. His gaze was deep, and he seemed to be trying to process what he had said. But instead of answering, he simply squeezed my shoulder.

"We can't be here of our own free will," he said finally, almost inaudibly. "And if someone is holding us, it means there's a reason for this. We have to figure out who or what it is."

His words cut into me like a knife into soft meat. We were captive, but not in the usual sense of the word. This was a different kind of captivity, not physical, but something else that filled us from the inside. We couldn't get out, couldn't get rid of this weight. And I realized that Robert was right: there was nothing left for us to do except figure out what was happening.

Silence hung in the air again.

"Let's go!" I said loudly, trying to break this frightening silence and force myself to act.

My words echoed through the void, as if they had not met a response.

Robert didn't move, his gaze still fixed on something in the darkness, as if he was waiting for something to happen, for something to explain all these strange feelings we were experiencing.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" he asked, and I felt his voice waver, almost inaudible, disappearing into the shadows.

He didn't move from his place, his body remained frozen like a rock, but there was an uncertainty in his words, an anxiety that couldn't be ignored.

I shook my head, as if that would bring any clarity. My hand clenched into a fist, and I tried to gather my thoughts again. We were still standing in this strange, dark world, not knowing what to do or where to go.

"There are no shared dreams," I answered, trying to be sure, but not feeling it inside.

I knew it was all real. It couldn't be a dream. But Robert continued to doubt, as if he was still searching for meaning.

"Let's go!" I repeated, trying again to make him move. My words now sounded like an order, like an attempt to make us move out of this immobility. But even in these words I did not feel decisive.

Robert finally stood up. His movements were slow, almost distant, as if his every action was detached from reality. He looked tired, as if he didn't know where to go. We both didn't know.

I stepped forward, cautiously, afraid that the ground beneath my feet would change shape again, that we might end up somewhere else again. I looked back, but there was nothing in the darkness to tell us the right direction. And yet I kept going, despite the feeling that we were getting lost, that we were losing every step.

Robert followed me, and though he said nothing, I knew he still couldn't figure out where we were. He couldn't figure out what was going on. We both just walked, step by step, in this strange, ominous world that didn't want to let us go.

"Anton, this is pointless. Let's go back," Robert said, his voice tired and growing alarm.

He stopped and looked at me, his eyes glittering in the dim light as if he were searching my gaze for understanding.

I looked away, feeling something heavy wrap around me, like I couldn't move, couldn't leave. But I couldn't just give in.

"Where?" I asked, knowing that the words sounded empty, as if we were both looking for a way out of a labyrinth that had no walls, no beginning and no end.

Robert turned to face me without moving.

"Where we came from. There's... a lake," his voice was quiet, but there was something in those words that made me feel like he was right.

Perhaps the only thing left to do was to go back to where it all began.

I stood there, hesitating to take a step, but suddenly I understood. We couldn't move forward because we didn't know where to go. There was no landmark in this emptiness, no point to aim for. The lake... yes, it was familiar. It was the place we could call the beginning, although we didn't understand why.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, trying to somehow get rid of this heavy silence, although I understood that it was not important now.

Robert lowered his head, pursed his lips and said:

"I'm dying of thirst, I can barely speak. I've had enough. Let's go back."

These words sounded like a final confession. I saw how he was shaking, how his body could no longer bear this weight. He was right - in this world where the air seemed to be impossible to breathe, where everything seemed unreal, we were both on the edge. And if this was the end, if this was unbearable, then all we could do was go back to where we came from.

I stepped towards him. Everything was covered in this strange silence that we could not break. And despite all the doubts, we went. Step by step, slowly returning to that place that at least seemed familiar to us, at least there was water there, a lake that once gave us comfort.

His face twisted and something wild appeared in his eyes. He screamed, his voice shaking with tension:

"Stop lecturing me! I know, I know, we must behave sensibly, I must be reasonable and careful..."

I felt something cold pierce me. The words came out with a fury I hadn't expected from Robert, but they didn't make me back down. I sighed and tried to speak calmly, despite the storm that was already beginning to rise in my chest.

"Don't waste your energy shouting," I interrupted, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "We have nothing to despair about yet; nothing bad has happened to us and..."

He didn't listen to me, his words were bursting out, and I realized that his irritation knew no bounds. His gaze became more and more desperate.

"Of course. Yes, I know, SHE cares about us. Please, let HER know that we cannot live without water and food. We will die here, and SHE will shine for us."