Keira did not swim often. Her only memories of doing so were from when she was younger and learning. Apparently her parents classified not drowning as a useful life skill. So she could pinpoint what she was feeling right now. When she had gotten too tired, or the pool was just about empty, she had developed the habit of laying on her back and relaxing into the water. It was one of her favourite things to do. There was that distinct sense of… floaty-ness right now. Yet it seemed to last forever. A cool embrace. It was rather soothing. Maybe that was why she was hesitant to open her eyes.

She did though. Because she couldn’t remember what happened after her mind went blank. It would be bad if she was ditched in a lake. When she tried to open her eyes however, nothing happened. It was equally as dark as it was beforehand. She didn’t feel any water on her eyes either. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, she couldn’t feel her eyes at all. Or her body. It was as if her mind itself was nestled within a pool. What the fuck? Where was she? How was this possible?

She felt her panic spike and tried to open her eyes again. Whether or not it was intended, the emotion behind that did cause a change in her environment.

Maybe it was in response to her, or maybe something decided it had enough of watching her squirm, but the abyss fell away. Possibly a more accurate comparison would be that it melted into another black mist, though this revealed something about her immediate surroundings. Blindingly bright rips, opening and closing all around her, creating spotlights of pure white. Then everything began trembling. A melodic hum that led into a crescendo of roars and screams, whispers that echoed in languages that Keira wasn’t sure even existed. They stuck in her mind like an earworm. Another onslaught of panic hit her, which made her realise the calming effect the light had on her. The rips in reality seemed to follow a knotted pattern that flowed like a stream. Even if it was hard to track due to the continuous shifting, she could still tell that it went beyond her line of sight. Perhaps infinity.

Before terror could seize her mind though, a searingly hot feeling overcame her. And then she was violently tugged. It felt like she slammed into a physical body moments before she actually slammed into a stone floor.

She took a moment there. Panting heavily and waiting for her heartbeat to calm down.

What just happened?

Keira leaned back and sat down properly. She had landed on her knees and that had hurt. In fact, her whole body hurt. After a moment she decided to fully commit to the rest and laid down to shut her eyes. The floor was cold and made a nice soothing presence to counteract the remnants of that searing heat and her pounding body. It was a welcome reprieve. Eventually it had to end though, as she was in a strange place with no idea how to leave. Keira sat up to take note of her surroundings.

It was pitch black. Keira tried not to react to that too much, especially since she wasn’t sure whether her main emotion was exasperation or fear. Patting herself down she realised that she still had some of her stuff on her. Everything but her phone, which was rather disappointing, and a little weird. Still, while it meant she couldn’t take pictures, it did mean that she had her torch on her. It was one of many of the same model, as she sold them to raise money for a trip next year. It also provided ample light to look at her surroundings with. She was in a cave.

She felt her heartbeat pick up again and had to consciously tell herself that if someone had dumped her body in the cave, it couldn’t be that far from an exit. What happened before? A nightmare spawned from her situation. That had to be all. With a light however, she was able to notice things on the walls of the cave.

Specifically detailing. They were a very dark colour, though not entirely black, and they looked very old. Prehistoric. However, she didn’t have enough knowledge to identify them better. It didn’t stop her from admiring them. Despite the simplicity, and small number, they had a certain charm to them. Humanoid figures marching along the ground, details like the ground and the spears were lines but the figures themselves were made of the fingerprints. Round limbs and faces, every single one. And they were marching in a single direction.

With nothing else to do, she followed them. As she did so, she noted that there were more varied figures, not just amongst the humans, but there were also animals. Since they were also made from the round finger marks of humans long since passed, Keira had trouble identifying them and the more she found, the more she didn’t believe any of them existed. Sizes too disproportionate to the humans and themselves, a couple of them even had a limb too many to be proper mammals. There were also lines that were obviously trees, sticking out every now and again in between the small processions.

After a while, she noticed that the figures were increasing in size and frequency. What was once sporadic families morphed into almost continuous parades. Then she started to reach where forks in the path met. Where the streams of people from various other systems met and merged into one endless line that was heading to a single destination. A circular chamber.

Stepping into it, she noticed a huge change. One of the more obvious ones, was the fact that the air that she was breathing suddenly felt fresher. That might be more indicative of how stale the air was beforehand, but it was certainly a good sign. The second was a little less obvious, but still noticeable if she was paying attention. It was the small gusts of wind coming from another tunnel in the cave, the one directly opposing her. They carried those same whispers that she heard in her nightmare. Before instantly heading there, Keira decided to inspect this cavern a little more.

Sweeping her torch around the chamber revealed a few things to her. The first was that it was very large, for a cave at least, and the second was that her tunnel, and the one opposite, weren’t the only ones leading into it. There were a couple of others, but the vast majority of the cave walls were taken up by the largest mural she had seen yet. The figures in this chamber were different. Instead of standing, they were all kneeling in rows with arms laid upon the ground. All facing a singular figure, one which loomed over Keira and the tunnel where the whispers were coming from.

All of the other drawings were either lines or made of fingerprints, but this one was made of hands. While it did look vaguely humanoid, it also seemed to have far too many limbs, hands which reached out to touch the heads of the peasants beneath it, to place facing the sky, or to hold open as if ready to embrace her. Its main body wasn’t smooth, it didn’t look like it had any shape at all, she hoped it was just due to the fact that its silhouette was warped and deformed by the method of painting. The only exception to this rule were the two sweeping smudges of paint trailing down either side of the crack, framing it. When taking a step closer, she realised that the hands were from different people. It seemed many were responsible for this.

As there was a slight gust coming from the tunnel, she guessed that it was where there was an exit. Though the small size of said tunnel did not make it look very enticing. There was a concern that she would get stuck, and that would be the worst situation. Trapped inside the earth slowly dying, most likely from dehydration or exhaustion. Thinking along those tracks brought another weird fact to Keira’s mind. Throughout her entire expedition, she hadn’t even felt tired. Or hungry. Or thirsty. Was her body not registering it due to the situation? Maybe she should take a small break. She had been through a lot recently and collapsing while being almost out of the cave seemed stupid and avoidable. If there was air blowing through the crack, she could be close to the surface. Then she could find her way back and then, finally, she could be done with everything. So, deciding against it, she began to edge through it. If she truly needed, she would just take a break later.

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True to her estimations, the tunnel was a snug fit, but she made it to the other side unscathed. She shone the torch on the wall and immediately noticed a change in the drawings. Now the figures were made of the same lines the spears and trees were, lying horizontally and merging with the ground. The only exemption was the fact that the heads were a hollow circle. There was a line of deep crimson beneath the ground. Dribbling down until it touched the cave floor.

Keira turned around to leave but found that the entrance was no longer there. It was just a solid wall. She resisted the urge to yell at it, to break down. All she did was let out a shuddering breath and continued down the tunnel. There was no point in breaking down now. There was still a path in front of her. Just move on.

Carrying on down the cave, the drawings didn’t get better. In fact, they seemed to get worse. The volume of the figures increased, until it was only the heads. Whatever little blank space that was between them was filled by limbs until the entire wall ceiling and floor were countless holes all blending into each other. She got the same feeling from them as she did from those spotlights that were in her nightmare. That feeling of being watched. She knew that calling what happened a nightmare was a lie, but at least it was a believable one. A comforting one. The longer this went on though, the harder it became to rationalise it as such. Maybe this whole experience was a dream. Ha. Wouldn’t that be a relief. Becoming more uncomfortable Keira decided to move faster.

Then once again she came across forks in the path. She took one side and carried on. When she came across another fork in the path, she took the alternative. Keira was beginning to get used to the layout at least. Before it was countless branches of tunnels merging into one main room, this felt like the opposite. She was beginning to zone out of what was happening, as she really couldn’t keep up with the paths she was taking anymore. The walls still felt like they were watching her, but other than that nothing was happening. Until an orange glow peeked around the corner of her current passageway.

It was a warm light, as if made by a lantern flame. Her heart skipped a beat, and she ran to it, yelling something incoherent. Then she stopped as she came face to face with what was making the light. There was a small procession in front of her, led by a wizened old man. His eyes were looking at her, but they weren’t actually seeing her. His robes were obviously religious, but she couldn’t recognise which culture they came from. Behind him he had a priest following of four, each carrying the corner of an ornate gold box, large enough to carry a human.

The head priest lifted his hand, the one that wasn’t holding the gold chain that the lantern was hanging from and reached for her. Speaking in a language that she couldn’t understand. This seemed to echo throughout the tunnel, compounding into those familiar whispers. All telling her to run.

Keira had been looking for someone to help guide her through this maze, and to move to the surface, but here and now she wasn’t sure what to do. She was scared, but the one thing that made her turn and run was the fact that the lid of the box moved. And a decrepit hand reached around the edge, this time looking like it was from a corpse. Her brain didn’t get time to process it. She was running down a different tunnel. Hoping to lose them. It wasn’t hard to. The cave system was a maze. Her sight was now blurred, tears only just starting to form. No, she had to keep it together. As she couldn’t really see, she tried to instead follow the whispers. They seemed to get louder the further she ran.

Then she hit a cavern.

And silence.

It was dark. The type of impenetrable dark that her torch couldn’t light. And from it came a voice.

“Are you lost, Youngling?” Keira swallowed and tried to back away, but then she found her feet glued to the floor. As if something had locked her in place. “Of course, you are. I sense another world on you. As well as another being.”

“W-what?” Her voice was strained, and it was more of a statement of confusion than a question, but the creature took it as one anyway. It responded. Though it wasn’t sound she realised. It was more of an idea, planting itself in her head and then blossoming.

“You are not of here. And neither is that foul aura around you.”

“What?”

“You are confused. Understandable. As you are also lost. Would you like me to fix that for you?” Keira almost agreed right then and there, but she had enough of a grasp on sanity to be sceptical. Though it seemed like some part of her mind was intent on smothering it. Spreading a warm calm though her body. She felt oddly relaxed there, as though everything before was just a fever dream, even parts of her life from before that were difficult to recall.

“Why would you do that for me?”

“A good question, for one who knows so little. All help has a caveat. I help you and you help me. And I give you this option because we are friends.”

Keira had been more baffled by this being than she had through her entire journey. There was only a single response that she could think of that suited the situation, and it had already proven to be a good default. “…What?”

“Yes. We have a mutual acquaintance. The originator. Our ancestor. It did not like that foul thing clinging to you, nor did it appreciate you leaving its company so soon. Alas, it always has more company, so it feels forgiving. And so I feel forgiving. What will you say?”

“…What caveats will there be?”

“There will only be two requests I have for you upon your return to your realm. One, you allow me to remove whatever is clinging to you like a disgusting little parasite, and two, you help me ascend with you.”

“If you can help me leave, why can’t you help yourself leave? And why am I here?”

“Ah. Questions that I would normally mind answering. But we are friends, aren’t we?” There was a pause and then Keira nodded her head. It felt right, and the comforting feeling that spread through her mind confirmed this. “Yes. Quite simply we are between two spaces. My home and yours. I can easily return myself to my own, but I cannot move to the other. The same goes for you. With my help, you can easily leave. The why is difficult to answer. Not because I do not have the answer. Information between us beings can be very valuable. All I shall say is that someone intended to gift you to… my kin, the company I mentioned the originator having, and someone else had stopped that from happening.”

“What- who stopped it?”

“I do not know the who child. Do you remember, or even know, the names of all the ants living in your garden?”

“Okay… then how did they stop it?”

“Information dear. And unimportant information at that. I will give you all the protection and help you need until our deal is complete.” It seemed as though that well of information had dried up. She could have pushed it but she was losing focus. She just needed to stay on track.

“How will I help you ascend?”

“There is a ritual that you will need to do, the list of ingredients is relatively small and the ritual itself will not put you, or any one you care about at risk.”

“That sounds good. What do you need me to do?”

“The first thing is for me to remove the cyst. I can do that now. Then I will implant a piece of myself onto your soul. You then use that to create a vessel and bind me to it. Then our brief acquaintance will be over. I will give you more details on how to create a vessel once you have left.”

“What’s a vessel?”

“A body for me to take control of it doesn’t have to be anything specific, it just needs to fulfil some basic requirements, such as being capable of movement.”

“Does it have to be human?” Amusement cut through the bleariness. It was the only feeling it had shown her throughout this entire conversation.

“No.” So any old animal will do? Gruesome, but pretty favourable overall. And a good trade-off for escape.

“I accept those terms.” Then a long hand protruded from the darkness. It was like it had seen hands in the past and tried to draw it from memory. Everything about it seemed a little too off to be natural. Keira shook anyway, ignoring the cold lumpy texture. A symbol burned its way onto her wrist, and she hissed.

“W-what-“

“Remember child. I have given you a swift exit from this place, so I expect swift action once you return. My kindness is not easily given, so repay it. And do not spread this information. It can quickly reach undesirable ears. You will arrive when help does. As long as you continue your wandering through this buffer.” Keira looked up to ask more questions, maybe get some answers on what those priests were, but when her eyes were supposed to meet the pitch black, they instead met with more cave.

The thing did say to continue wandering, so maybe now all she could do is walk. Accompanied only by that now ever present pressure in the back of her mind.