Juno took deep breaths as she stood at the top of the dark staircase. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her pulse hammering at her temples. After a few seconds of breathing, she wasn’t any less terrified, but she could at least work on getting out.
“Okay Juno, we’re locked in a tunnel, and the door is made of stone. Step one of not being a horror movie character is try your phone.”
Juno clicked the power button on her phone, blinking at the brightness. At the top of the screen, four empty bars mocked her. She sighed in frustration and shook herself.
“No phone signal, that’s okay. Maybe there’s a hidden lever or something around here.”
Even as she tried to keep herself positive, she could feel her hands shaking as she navigated to the flashlight. The circle of white light it cast at her feet showed gray, pitted stone. Less than five feet from where she stood, the first step dropped off into the darkness. Juno shivered, remembering stories her father used to tell her about things that lived underground. Turning her back to that gaping maw went against all her instincts, and she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched as she turned to inspect the door. The stone was cool to the touch, and slightly damp. She ran her hand along the bottom, top, and sides of the door, feeling for some sort of crack or seam and finding none. As she began to inspect the walls immediately to either side, her phone’s light began to flicker. The first time, she thought it might be just a trick of her nervous mind, but after a minute, there was no denying that her light was growing dimmer with each passing second. Her heart rate skyrocketed, and she could feel her scalp prickling from fear. She tried to search more quickly, but found nothing. A few minutes later, her flashlight went out completely.
“Shit.”
Juno winced when her whisper sounded like a shout in the dark, enclosed space. Each time she breathed she felt like she could hear it echoing back. Her heartbeat was like thunder in her ears. Keeping one hand on the door, she turned to put her back to the wall and sat down heavily. Even in the featureless darkness, she felt like she could see where the steps began. That open space to her right seemed somehow darker. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Everything was completely silent, as if she hadn’t just come from a busy train station. Despite that, there was a moment after each breath, the slightest sound. When she tried to focus on it, it slipped away, but it returned when her concentration slipped. Her thoughts returned to her dad’s stories of underground things, but, for some reason, it didn’t give her a threatening feeling. Instead, it felt more like a distress call. Juno closed her eyes and settled into a meditative stance.
In her mind’s eye, she could see herself as a vaguely person-shaped cloud of energy surrounded by an expanse of darkness, with faint connections extending from her off into the distance. The signal came intermittently, though in her mindscape it appeared more as a subtle pulse of light. Every few seconds it flashed from somewhere below her. Gingerly, Juno reached out towards it. It felt like swimming almost, the closer she got, with waves of energy pushing and pulling against her. Something below her had a level of spiritual energy that she’d never encountered before. By the time she was close enough to ‘touch’ the energy signature, she felt like she was standing in a storm. The shifting spectrum of energy it gave off was hypnotizing, and she reached out to it. Touching it was like being struck by lightning, knocking her out of her trance. Every hair on her body was standing up, and she could feel her shirt sticking to sweat on her back.
When Juno opened her eyes, she noticed a change in the air. A gentle breeze was coming from lower in the stairwell, cool and smelling of rain. She could feel it swirling around her, lifting her. It was pulling her up, trying to move her towards the spot where she knew the stairs began. Juno placed one hand on the wall to steady herself as she got up. Whatever the something at the bottom of the stairs happened to be, it clearly wanted her here, and she had nowhere else to go. She checked her phone. Still no signal, and still no flashlight. She took a few shuffling steps towards the first step, with one hand on the wall and the other outstretched. Her first step down felt like willingly stepping on a landmine. The bottom of her foot tingled as her imagination conjured up images of all manner of things she might be stepping on. She was almost disappointed when she landed on ordinary stone. The second step was easier, faster, but she still kept a hand on the wall. Soon, she could no longer feel the open space of the entrance at her back. After what she thought might have been a few dozen steps, she started to notice something different- something was casting a dim light in the stairwell. Looking up, she saw glowing blue clumps interspaced where the walls and ceiling met. Juno reached out to poke it, but stopped herself when she realized that it might not be her best idea ever. Now that she could see a bit, she was able to move faster, but the stairs seemed to stretch far further than should have been possible. The deeper she got, she started to notice changes to the stairwell. Firstly, there was more moss- she assumed the blue stuff was moss- that was glowing more brightly the further she went. The top of the stairs had seemed rough, and could have been natural if each step weren’t so even, but down here the stairs were smooth, with divots in the middle from whichever ancient people had built the place. She noticed faint carvings in the walls, pictograms of humans and animals over rows of unintelligible script. She traced the symbols with her fingers, feeling the smooth grooves in the stone. Some of the pictograms glinted under the blue light, like they all had once been lined with decorative, or sacred, materials. The air grew heavy with the smell of ozone, as if lightning were about to strike. Juno began to see a brighter light coming from ahead, and she sped up slightly. The bottom of the stairs led through a stone arch inscribed with symbols, and on the other side was something she never could have imagined.
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A garden. Juno gasped in surprise. She was standing in a circular room that was bursting with life. Every inch of ground was populated with flowers and plants that filled the air with the scent of herbs. In the ceiling, a square hole was somehow letting a ray of sunlight suffuse the room with a warm glow. There was absolutely no way for sunlight to exist this deep below the surface, nevermind all the buildings that should be blocking it on the surface. On the opposite side of the chamber, a stream of water poured from a hole in the wall, splashing down into a channel that ran to a small pool in the center of the room, where it split and ran to opposite sides. In the center of the pool, a short, twisted pine tree was growing from a small island. Halfway up the trunk, the tree was cracked in half by a jagged black scar, like it had been struck by lightning. There was a pressure in the air that she could feel in her ears and her skull. Whatever was inhabiting this area, it was the most potent being that she had ever experienced. An idea started to form in her mind. It was probably stupid dangerous, but if there was a chance…
Juno took careful steps to the edge of the pool, trying her best to avoid stepping on the plants, and knelt at the water.
“Thank you for bringing me here. It is very kind to allow me in this holy place.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out her bottle and her lunchbox.
“Please accept my offering in exchange for a blessing.”
The tiny island was close enough that she could reach out and place the sandwich and apple that were going to be her lunch. Hopefully whatever spirit was here liked peanut butter. As she placed her makeshift offerings, she felt the pressure in the room decrease; the water in the pool glowed a faint blue. Hoping that she was reading the signals right, Juno filled her bottle from what she hoped was blessed, and not tainted, water. A wind sprang up in the chamber, whipping around the tree and spraying water onto her lap. It was shockingly cold, and she bit back a yelp.
“Thank you.”
She placed the bottle of water back into her bag with care, and pushed herself back to her feet. Wind was still swirling around violently, kicking up dust that obscured the edges of the room. she squeezed her eyes shut tightly,against the flying debris, tucking her face into her shirt. After a few-seconds, the wind died down, and Juno was able open her eyes again. Where the staircase was before, a solid-looking wooden door now sat in the entryway. She knew the door must be incredibly old, but the wood gleamed like it had been polished recently. She carefully approached the door and put her ear to it, but no sounds leaked through from the other side. Juno lightly tested the handle, finding the door unlocked. She had no idea what she might be about to walk into, but the alternative was doing nothing at all. So, with a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped through, bracing for whatever might be on the other side.