Oracion's POV
"So?" I ask to Ira despite staring the entirely different direction.
"So what?" He responds back with sass.
"They're both late, it's raining, and the day hasn't exactly gotten any warmer." I comment, slapping him on the back of his wet clothing to make a point.
His face ceases up from the shock, staring back at me with nothing but hate just before he raises his hand in retaliation against my smug look. "Sorry!" Requis yells from the back, forcing Ira to retract his arm as he folds it behind him.
"W-we were just waiting" He stutters, dropping the façade once she throws some warm clothing over him. "Thanks"
Freya places a backpack on herself while explaining, "We didn't mean to take that long, there were just some essentials that I wanted to bring along." She finishes.
"Essentials like what?" I ask.
She gestures for me to lean closer, in which I do. Only for her to whisper in my ear, "Spoilers". Jumping back to a little skip in front of me and towards the outside. "C'mon!" She cheers, not even waiting for us as we stare between each other with a tired sigh.
Ira unfolds his arms, looking around just as we try to catch up to her, "Why are we doing this again?"
"Xandier said some groups have been losing members, and he's scared that they've been inside these caves whether it be to get away from their jobs or an honest mistake." I explain.
"Oh yeah some from my group haven't been coming to practice" Freya informs, reminding me of her own leadership.
"Wait...three of you lead your own group, what are they supposed to do without you while we're here?" Requis looks between us as we pause, sharing the same look before shrugging.
"It shouldn't take long, right? Hours at max?" Freya suggests.
Not really knowing how to respond, I just go along with it. "Sure, hours."
-
"This?" Ira wants to confirm.
"Yep" Requis responds.
"You sure?" He asks again.
"Ya" She nods harder.
"Nope" He turns around, only to be grabbed by the collar and caught off guard by Freya.
"Yup!" She laughs before aggressively tugging him downward into the cave, albeit careful of her steps.
"FR-" He attempts to scream but I cover his mouth with my hand. From the little glimmer of light, I could see he wasn't impressed by it, but the very cave itself began to rumble from his slight pitch...I wasn't taking that chance.
A clicking causes us to look around, noticing sparks releasing from what I assume to be Freya. One...two...three I count until it sparks alight, showing off her glowing expression of happiness from being in the light of her torch.
She extends her hand out to me, I accept it while Ira holds my own and he tethers to Requis to ensure we don't lose each other. For each tug I make, I try to direct Freya back to the room we met Xandier in. Hugging the left, turning to the right, making any action that may feel right.
After what feels...too long, we get to an opening that looks similar to where the door was. I briefly break my hold with Freya in order to walk ahead, grabbing the torch from her and swapping places to hold Ira's hand. I walk up to where the door seemingly should be, finding nothing more than wood and stone merged into one. Pieces that look like a collapsed doorway but a wall that looks untouched.
I lean my head out from our line, staring back at Requis as she makes the same face back at me. 'Wrong way' I thought to myself. Turning back but going a little further along, a left, a left, a right and into the middle from a three way path. 'Why would anyone with sanity actually enter this tomb.' The thought lingers through me as I eye the lines of the wall.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I'm not sure what told me the pattern, but quite frankly I'd choose anything that was different from what we've been seeing. And my instincts caused my to choose the middle...something that I'm slowly beginning to believe was a little bit too different. The moment we touched the edge of the entrance, the flame flickered as if in response to a breath.
The shadow of our bodies line the wall, bringing what seems to be text carved into the walls into a standout view. I pause the group, walking up to the text and placing the torch closer so our shadows disperse. I began reading within my head as the others stared at me with strange curiosity, 'There's a place where it was born, a place where it was grown and a place it died. They birthed it, they grew it, they could not kill it. What is it? Where is it? Where. Is. It. Hiding.' It reads.
I look back at the others with a concerned look, receiving one back but for some reason I don't feel like it was for the same reason.
I continue our pathing, each step in front of me shortening, slowing until completing halting. I can't explain what I'm feeling. I can't talk, I can't even move. The hall's filled with nothing more than the audible flickers of flame, there's absolutely nothing here, there's nothing that I can see. 'So...why does it feel like something's staring at me?' My own voice echoes within my head.
I can feel Freya's tug, causing me to look back at her as she's probably wondering why I stopped. I smile a little bit, concealing my own feelings before noticing more etched lines within the wall that I was just about to pass. 'I eat what gathers, I eat what the others want, I eat what the others need.' It finishes.
A step forward, a step forward, that's all I'm taking. One at a time, one at a time, that's what I'm telling myself. An action that would make me seem psychotic from any view but my own, one that could be seen as a dance from an angle, one that makes me mimic the flickering torch's hesitant glow.
Again Freya tugs my hand, pointing my attention to the torch. My stomach sinks. But it wasn't the concerned expression of her, it wasn't the stained ceiling of blood, and it wasn't the disfigured corpse we've all but skimmed with our feet. But behind the torch...was the answer to the previous riddle..."I eat the light" I accidentally whisper out loud.
Eerily waiting for the cave's response, I cover Freya in hopes of protecting her if it falls down. Ira does the same for Requis as we both patiently wait for any sort of sign to release the tension from our muscles, the very thing stopping us from breathing as our bodies tighten and ready for impact...but it never falls.
Our light dies out just as I begin to remove my frame from Freya, instead handing her the torch as she searches through her bag for something to relight it with presumably, "G-guys?" A man calls from the place we were facing.
We don't respond.
"P-pleas-e" He sounds scared but the voice seems closer than it was before with nothing less than a thud from his direction.
"It-s me...Ash" He states calmly as I feel someone tug on my hand.
"He-y Ash, how are you?" Freya responds back through the dark, possibly a member from her squad.
"Good!" He shouts, once again another thud resonating from him.
"We'll come get you now, okay?" She states, fluxing emotions within me as the hand gripping me is doing nothing less than pulling me in the exact opposite direction.
"No..." He responds.
"What do you mean no?" She asks.
"No..." He confirms.
Freya practically forces me to move as rocks stumble behind all our steps with each movement through the dark,moving as silently as we can. "The truth is Ash...you died a long time ago, didn't you?" She asks him with complete solemn.
"Yeah...So you're coming to get me, right?" Another thud.
"For sure, we'll be right there." She continues answering him while moving in the opposite direction.
"I-t doesn't...look like you are, Freya." We pause as a cold chill runs through us...'He can see us' my mind practically screams through my entire nervous system.
"...Freya." He asks but she doesn't respond this time.
"Frey...a." He croaks as we all begin racing back down from where we came from.
Blindly, we push ourselves to go forward. Feeling like we've made turns we didn't take before, but somewhere that was anywhere but here. "REQUIS!" I shout knowing she's in front but rumbling behind us drowns it out. The legs along whatever it is, sounding like a frenzied scramble of legs and mass, something that I didn't dare even try to look back on.
"LEFT!" I hear her shout just before our short line takes a cut, barely grazing my face across stone...forcing me to look back upon the pearl eyed figure within the dark, resting high along the ceiling as it races towards us.
"FUCKING OPEN!" She screams, barging her whole body through what seemed to be a wooden surface. Causing us all to fall within a room full of glowing plantation, giving us some sort of comfort as we release our hands and roll off each other. Quickly getting to our feet as we notice the oddity within the room, the silence.
The twisting green, blue and red haze of the plants light up the door as we stare at the eerie darkness that tries to seep through. Nobody sees it, nobody hears it, and nobody dares to go near it. But...we know it's still there.
"I...there..." Ash's body lowers in front of the door like a fleshed out puppet, his eyes, bones and clothes all removed as maggots crawl along his rag dolled flesh.
"I'm sorry." Freya interrupts him, "I didn't realise you were here this entire time. I really am." She admits to him.
"There's lig-ht dow-n the-re...I came fro-there's...some-else...who fea-rs it.' He ignores her as the same large thuds boom through the tunnel, pulling his body back a bit but still within our view, confirming that he's attached to something far larger, and yet still hidden. "Good-bye" He comments, but continuing to linger there as if wanting to watch us descend.
None of us speak, through the sound of twisting leather as he dangles there. Following each other side by side as we keep eye contact to him while descending into the unknown of the Ruins.