The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#15 Descend

[Sophia]

The farther I went down the hole, the faster I let myself fall. But I made sure not to go too fast or I'd break my legs when I hit the bottom. I tilted my wings as I glided downwards to avoid hitting the sides of the wall. I could hardly see the top of the hole that I came through. It was just a bright, white light above me.
Eventually, I landed.
Crash land, but at least I didn't break any bones. As I pulled myself up, I looked upwards. The light from above almost looked faint from where I stood, but somehow it left me a bright spotlight that illuminated the area.
"Well, at least this isn't a pit full of monsters. That'd be a bad way to go," I said to myself.
I began looking around to see if there was anything interesting. As my head turned around, a cold breath of wind blew in my face, making my hair fly up and I spun forward. A darker hole stood in front of me, blacker than the ditch I was already in. My first thought was that I must have run into a cave of some sort. The wide opening definitely suggested that that's what it could be. But something about seeing it felt a little strange.
Just looking into it gave me a weird vibe. And somehow, I gathered the courage to approach it. I told myself I'd just take a quick peak, then fly right out of here to continue looking for Apollo, like I originally planned.
But when I finally made it mere inches to the entrance, my vision began to adjust, and I saw that this wasn't just a random cave.

As I looked further in, it was actually a tunnel.
A long, deep, dark tunnel.
Maybe there's something on the other side, I thought to myself.
I took a deep breath, and slowly put one foot in front of the other. The light behind me began to fade and I crept closer and closer into the darkness. But my curiosity compelled me to keep moving forward.

As I continued to look around, I began to think about how weird this whole thing was. Seriously, here I am walking into a dark tunnel, at the bottom of a very deep hole that sits practically in the center of a massive, mutant strawberry field. And here I was, both bravely and foolishly exploring everything because I really wanted to. I really hoped I'd find something cool down here. But at the same time, this was probably stupid. I thought about all of this as I walked further into the tunnel, observing the rocky walls, and started to notice something. The way this tunnel was shaped, it didn't look like it was naturally formed this way. It almost looked like it had been... carved out. But I wasn't completely sure. I wondered how long this had been here. My eyes didn't pick up anything of interest. Just carved rock.
And more rocks. A couple rocks on the ground.
Another gust of wind flew towards me and I froze. And there was a sound. Like a low, almost inaudible hum. I slowly inched my way forward. I felt more wind at my back, which unsettled me a little more. It felt like it was pulling me in. As I tried to look further ahead, I noticed that at the end of the tunnel, there was a spot of darkness. Much darker than the tunnel itself. 

Is that the end? Or is that...

I began to slow down, making sure I wouldn't fall over anything, and made my way to the edge of the tunnel. I heard more things. Was it the wind? My footsteps echoing off the wall? No, it couldn't be...

Whispers. It felt like only my ears could pick up the frequency. Quiet as the wind pulling me forward, but still there with me. Floating around me.
I stopped suddenly when I reached the end of the road. I saw nothing but more darkness ahead of me. I gave myself a moment for my eyes to adjust, but it was becoming more difficult to focus. But as I peered over the edge and looked further into the darkness, I was amazed at what I saw. A large underground cave stood before me. All over various sides of the wall, I was able to pinpoint more tunnels that probably went on and on. I crouched and looked below me. My eyes couldn't adjust to the depth, so to me, it looked like it just kept going downwards. I felt wind from all around me now. The whispers were a little louder. All around me.

Almost instantaneously, I had forgotten about what I was supposed to be doing as curiosity overtook me. I couldn't help but want to explore this place further. I looked around to see if there was another path that I could take to look around a little more. I didn't even bother looking back. To my right, there was a narrow path that led to another tunnel that was only a few feet from me. I turned my feet horizontally to fit the small path and started shimmying my way across to the other side.

Maybe I'll find loads of crystal gems!

A part of me hoped so, but I also doubted I'd be able to find any so easily.
I carefully slid my way across the gap as wind blew up from below me. I felt goosebumps on my arms and I began to hear that same deep hum And again. And another time. But each time, they sounded different. Like it was singing a note. Sounding as if it was humming at a frequency only I could detect. I listened closely, paying attention to something that might as well be invisible. When I reached the other side, the humming stopped but the wind was still there. I stepped over to the side of the edge and crouched down again to see if I could see the bottom. Apparently not. My eyes couldn't adjust any further.

I didn't even know if there was anything down there. But it felt like there definitely had to be something.
Whatever it was.
I stood up and looked at the tunnel ahead of me. I began to take a few steps forward, wondering if there might be something for me to find within it. If there even was a-

I heard a loud thud from behind and it startled me. I quickly tried to turn around, but I suddenly felt something smack against the side of my head and I fell over on the ground. I felt the fresh wound throbbing as I struggled to stand up and see, but I felt the darkness beginning to surround me.

"You think I hit it too hard?"
"No, I think it'll be fine. You're lucky you weren't caught."
"You're lucky you weren't seen."