Primal Saga Volume 1: The Queen of Silence

Chapter 16: Heart of Darkness

My head broke the surface of the water, I gasped for air, my hands whipped wildly back and forwards in the darkness, reaching for something to grab onto. My hand brushed against a flat rocky surface and I pulled myself onto it. 

Exhausted, I laid on my stomach for a few minutes to catch my breath. All I could hear was the water entering the cavern. I fished through pockets for the fusion lighter, pulled it out, and flicked it on. The bright red beam illuminated the cave slightly, but my heart sank when I realized how steep the walls were. There was no way out of here. The whole cavern was flooded, the only place that was remotely dry was the rock I was laying on top of. Water ran in a continuous stream out of the hole a came in through and into the pool.

"Miyabi!"

My voice echoed in the darkness. No answer. I tried calling her name again in again for several minutes before I finally gave up altogether. She may have been attacked by the creature. I'm so stupid, if I didn't yell at her like an idiot none of this would have happened. Now I am not even sure if she is still alive. I laid there sulking in the darkness for what seemed like an hour. A tickling sensation on my hand brought me to my senses. When I lit up the fusion lighter to investigate, I saw there was a huge leech pulsating on my wrist in rhythmic motions. I recoiled upright and shook my hand but the leech remained attached. I took the fusion lighter in placed it next to it the causing it to squirm and recoil until it fell off my hand shriveled and dead. I felt even more things moving on my skin. To my horror, I realized I had five more on my arms. I promptly burned them all off and then checked everywhere else, my back, my belly, and where the sun doesn't shine. To my relief, I seemed to have gotten them all.

I took a minute to assess the situation again. I had the rucksack on my back. I checked its contents which consisted of the pot and the knife, both useful items but they were of no use to me in my current situation. I looked around the cavern again. Water continued to run into the cave, but the cavern wasn't filling up.

"There has to be an outlet somewhere."

I slid off the rock and took in a deep breath and dove down. I ignited the fusion lighter underwater creating a small cloud of bubbles around the beam. I swam around for a bit, probing the bottom of the pool, then I found something strange. In the wall of the cavern was a staircase leading to a doorway. I resurfaced for a minute, took in another deep breath, and dove. I swam towards the doorway, scaring a group of creepy-looking fish. I entered the ancient-looking doorway and swam down a short hallway. My lungs began to ache. I had to resurface quickly. I continued to swim forward but I was getting light-headed, and I don't think I have enough air to swim back.

 As soon I entered another open cavern and I frantically swam up. My head broke the surface and I went into spastic coughing. I was now resting against a stone staircase that connected to a small walkway. I crawled up the staircase. and stood up on the walkway, taken back by how big this new chamber was.

I walked around looking at the ceiling. There was a hole in the ceiling of the cave that let just enough daylight in. Above me were illustrations ordered in a sequence. Who built this place? The Bavi people uncle Victor mentioned? At the beginning of the sequence was a drawing of what looked like a meteor. The next image was a crater surrounded by burning trees and animals. I continued moving down the walkway. The next image was an alien-looking tree growing out of the crater. The next illustration was of three women drinking something from the tree. The wall had fallen apart where the last illustration was leaving only a fragmented picture of what looks like the three women again. When I reached the end of the walkway there was a broken pedestal.

I walked over to it and touched the area where the top had broken off. It looked like the top would have fallen to the left side based on the pattern of the break. I searched the ground and stopped when I saw something glowing in the water. I reached down and grabbed it and pulled it up into the light of my lighter. It was a small statue the size of my fist. The statue was made out of wood, but it looked like a compressed version of one of the goddess statues we have on campus. Its eyes glowed bright pink. Just what is this thing? I turned it over and saw there were letters in a strange language on its back. Well, I can leave you here, where you can continue sitting in the darkness, or I can take you back to Victor and get you identified. I wrestled with what to do with this weird totem, but I figured this place is obviously abandoned. Nobody would miss it. So I placed it in the rucksack.

Now I just need to find a way out of here.

I searched around the pedestal until I notice water flowing to the back of the chamber. I looked over, below the surface I saw light, I jumped into the water and dove down, praying this was a way out. I swam through a small passage and when I emerged I was outside in a pool surrounded by cliffs. I continued to swim until I reached a small beach.

I was completely worn out but was relieved to have made it outside once again. I turned and looked back at the pool. There was a waterfall that poured from the cliff, into the pool, and then spilled out into a stream that disappeared into the trees further down the canyon. A hidden oasis.

I was going to turn around to explore the canyon when a blade was put against my neck.

A soft voice spoke from behind me. "Don't move."