The Great Yohan

Chapter 1 - The Cavern

Muffled voices echoed from behind the prisoners as a large slow shadow gracefully glided over the jagged cavern wall before them.

Everyone's eyes fearfully flapped shut, their rusted chains and neck braces tinkled as their bodies trembled. The approaching voices grew louder, then softer as the silhouettes passed.

Moments later, the voices began to fade away. All that remained was silence.

From the far end of the line, Kalif's old creaky voice called out, signaling it was safe to see again. Each prisoner breathed a sigh of relief upon noting their personal safety.

Yohan, one of the youngest prisoners in the group sat near the end of the line dreaming. He thought to himself about how he, along with all of the other prisoners in his tribe had been chained in the same place for their entire lives. Never in his life has he seen anything beyond just the cavern wall, as his head and body are braced in place. Never before has he tasted anything beyond the salt and slop that dripped from the stalactite above him.

"I wonder what it would be like to be chainless?" Yohan murmured to his neighbor Rozell.

"What again?" Rozell probed.

"I said, I wonder... what it would be like... to be chainless?"

"Why would you want that? The deity made us this way, we are meant to live like this!", Rozell's chains jingled with disinterest. "Besides, without these chains, we would be easy pickings for the shadow beasts. The deity made these to protect us."

Yohan hesitated. "Sure, but haven't you ever wondered? The shadow beast has never killed a single soul! Hell, we've never even seen the shadow beasts true form. How do we know he is even evil?"

"I am not about to have this conversation with you again Yohan. The fact is, this is your life, you should learn to love it, just like me! Plus, if Kalif heard you saying all of this, we'd never hear the end of it. You know how he feels about those who try to corrupt the people's minds."

"Corruption? Pffft... Hardly! Just think Rozell! If we were chainless, we could have this conversation face to face! Wouldn't you want to know who it is that has been speaking with you all this time?"

"I bet you're uglier than the shadow beast, and my bets are never wrong!" Rozell joked. "I'd rather stay exactly where I am."

By this point, Kalif was already taking roll,

"Johari?!" he called.

"Here sir!"

He called another, "Alek".

"I'm here."

"Johnass... Andri... Philee... " he continued down the list, calling each name, grunting with each satisfactory response.

Yohan zoned off. What was it that everyone was so afraid of? It's not like we've ever lost anyone.

"Yohan..." Kalif called.

Yohan still off in another world pondered. I wonder what would actually happen if I peaked my eyes open... Just a little. He had heard the stories from Rozell about how the dark creatures could swallow a man whole if they knew he could see them.

"Yohan..." Kalif called again.

I imagine that the story has got to be wrong somehow, Yohan thought.

The prisoners now becoming restless whisper to their neighbors, "What if he was eaten?!".

I mean, if you think about it, Rozell must've heard the story from his neighbor who heard the story from his neighbor. There has to be a...

"YOHAN!!!!" Kalif now screaming at the top of his lungs.

Yohan's heart skipped a beat. "Ah!" he yipped.

The other prisoners began snickering and laughing as Yohan affirmed his safety in the tiniest voice possible.

Yohan embarrassed tried to wince, but his chains tightened as he cringed.

"You stupid moron! Can you not hear me!? Eh!? For all we would've known, you could have been eaten!" Kalif roared. His torments continued for what felt like ages, Yohan taking every verbal blow with intense resentment towards himself.

Finally, the cursing subsided and Kalif moved along to the next person.

Yohan hated it when Kalif was angry. His loud booming voiced always reverberated infinitely across the cave wall disrupting any thought he'd been pondering.

Who could have known that the power of one man's anger could kill an idea like that?

Slop began to drip off the stalactite and onto Yohan's upper lip.

Dinner time! Yohan grinned.

He always loved the taste of rock slop. In all honesty, anything beat the salty drippings that constantly fell throughout the day. Yohan, hating the drippings, would attempt to lean as far back as he could as to avoid getting some into his mouth. Unfortunately, the water would drip down to his wrists causing the iron cuffs to become uncomfortable and rough over the years.

But now it was slop time. Yohan excitedly grappled towards the falling food, flapping his arms forward to thrust himself under the fountain. Ching..! Ching..! The chains between his cuffs screamed. CHING! CHING! Yohan thrust his chest forward. CHINGG! CHIK! SNAP!

WHAP! Yohan's arm flung outwards crashing into Rozell like a hammer.

A cloud of powdery brown rust exploded in Yoahn's face.

AHHHG! Rozell yapped with pain! He was stunned.

Yohan also stunned, wildly flung his arms around. He could barely control them, for they were free! With just a little practice and dexterity, he was able to pull his hands to his face. Before his eyes were a set of pale skinny knives that looked like the supposed claws of the dreaded shadow monster.

He began to tug at his neck brace with as much force he could muster. The weakly bound plates of rust quickly began to pry apart. The bolts holding all the chains together dissolved into a fine powder.

The other prisoners hearing the commotion began to hyperventilate. They couldn't tell what was happening, but they knew it wasn't good.

Yohan looked to his right. A whole line of prisoners, all facing towards the wall sat before him. At the end of the line sat Kalif. However, unlike the rest of the prisoners, he was not facing the wall, he could see much more than the rest. Kalif stared at Yohan with a cold manipulative stare. His eyes darkened as he contrived a way to benefit himself from Yohan's escape. Suddenly he smirked.

"YOHAN! It's YOHAN! He's the SHADOW MONSTER!" Kalif hollered. His smirk got larger.

"No!... Everyone! NO!" Yohan refuted.

But it was too late, everyone but Kalif's greedy eyes slapped shut. Yohan's stomach churned like spoiled milk. He could see everything now. Kalif lied.

To the right of Yohan was a short wall. Behind that lie an old beaten path which was brightly illuminated by a massive fire. Yohan could barely see, the light was so bright, it was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. With all the commotion, Yohan ran. He stumbled forward falling face-first into the stone floor. He struggled up, but only to almost immediately lost his balance again, this time landing sharply on his back.

"AGGGH!" he cried.

The prisoners all winced in fear.

Kalif just watched as Yohan pathetically flailed. Yohan dragged his entire body over the wall and into the path. The light of the flame burned his eyes. He crawled his way towards one of the egresses of the cavern when suddenly, a shadow began to form.

Like a cloud of black smoke, the shadow quickly filled the room. Loud deep voices could be heard from down the tunnel, but Yohan couldn't understand what was being said. He stammered towards the closest boulder where he hid as the shadow grew darker and darker.

Kalif's skin bleached as the voices grew louder. Yohan began to tear up.