A creature stood before me. It was much like a panther, its head low to the ground as it studied me, likely deciding if I was fit for prey. The animal's fur was dark, almost as black as a void, yet the sheen made the light from the luminescent plants in the cave bounce off of it, creating a confusing image of a half-invisible cat. Its whiskers were long, so long they fell and nearly touched the ground with its head held high. Now, as it slowly prowled closer, they glided across the rocky cave floor, helping it move effortlessly forward. It almost seemed to glide on air, its head never wavering from its fixed position, glinting silver eyes locked on me.

I sat motionless, my back against a wall and unable to process what was happening. Why was I here? Why did I decide to come here? I was simply there to document the cave layout and return the findings to the publisher that contracted me. I had heard a cry from a child, and venutred too deep. I knew better, I knew there were mountain cats that mimicked the sound of a crying child. I'd watched countless videos of mountain lions appearing from their camoflauged hideouts and ambushing the unsuspecting. There was just no way I could take the chance a missing child could be found, even in this remote of an area...

This cat was nothing like I had ever seen, and its mouth opened to reveal pincer-like mandibles from behind jagged teeth. My heart dropped as saliva dripped from its jaws, sizzling as it hit the floor. What on earth is this thing?

I glance to my right, where a pool of crystal clear water lay between myself and the opening through which I had entered the cavern. Lumincescent moss coated the entirety of the bottom, causing it to almost look like a glowing beacon. It was the brightest point of the cavern, the mushrooms that glowed throughout the rest of the area being much dimmer.

It was a stupid move in hindsight, but it was the only thing I could think of. I clenched a fist full of sand off of the ground and slung it in a spray before me. The panther howled as it made contact, shaking its head vigorously back and forth as it pawed at its eyes to get the debris out. I sprung from my position and booked it toward the pool, where I jumped in just as the cat righted itself and was regaining its surroundings. 

Growing up on the coast, I was a strong swimmer and I was good at holding my breath. There was another pool similar to this one farther back the way I had come, and I was almost certain that somehow they were connected. Most cave pools were connected by the same source, and it wasn't so far that I doubted my ability to make the swim. I just hoped it was far enough to throw the predator off and allow me to escape.

Unfortunately, I heard a muffled splash as the creature dove into the water. I turned my head to see its black, shining figure awkwardly paddle itself after me. The fear powered my resolve, and I swam as fast and as hard as I could. The fear also began making my heart beat faster, using more oxygen than I anticipated and I began already feeling as if I needed to rush to the surface for air. There wasn't any turning back, however, for the insect like jaws of some mutant mountain panther awaited me if I did.

My lungs were burning as I reached what looked to be the deepest point of the pool, where there was a crevice that fueled it. The opening looked large enough to fit a person or two through, and I hoped my pursuer would either run out of air and turn back, or not be able to fit through it with its awkward shape. I used the uneven rocky walls to propel myself faster, my untrained arms screaming at me almost immediately to stop. The sound of my heart racing flooded my ears, and I counted the beats as it got darker and narrower. 

The flashlight I carried with me hung around my neck, and I quickly turned it on and shoved it in my mouth to illuminate my path ahead. At this point, I was struggling to keep cool as I tried not to think about my aching lungs begging for air. 

Quickly, the tunnel began widening and I could see an abrupt upturn, where the other pool certainly was nestled. My hand slipped on one of the rocks I grabbed to propel myself forward, and at that moment I felt a wrenching pain in my ankle, causing me to unclench my jaw and drop the flashlight. I swivelled my head around to see the cat struggling to claw its way through the narrowest part of the tunnel, having swiped me in an attempt to break through. My delay had let me sink enough for the cat to be able to land another swipe on me, claws digging through my jean shorts enough to pin me.

The cat curled its paw inward and began lowering me closer to its opened, gnawing pincers as I struggled against it to break free. After a few moments, the claws were then digging into my flesh and I knew I would not be able to break its hold. A solemn moment of frenzied thought brought me to the decision to take a breath so I would at least be unconcious while being eaten.

Suddenly, a bright flash went off right in the panther's face, causing it to retract its claws in shock and let me go. I swivelled my head back the other way to see a fiery glow, almost like a boulder sized flare, floating towards me. I immediately swam towards it, hoping it would start spewing more light to disorient the cat. Even as the flare offered more light missiles, the panther wildly swiped its claws as it grew angrier, managing to hit me a few more times before I was fully out of its reach.

The water was quickly heating around me from the projectile flares, and one even grazed my leg as it shot past. It burned, but no more than the wounds I had from the fury of claws. And, finally, my lungs could wait no more. The delay in getting to the surface was enough that I gasped. The water was so warm now, it was warmer than my body, and even as the rest of my body panicked from the lack of oxygen, it filled me with a comforting feeling like an embrace.

The last thing I saw was a figure emerge from the giant flare, like an angel appearing to take me away. 

Then I was coughing, spouting and heaving water out from my body, gasping over and over like my I couldn't get air fast enough. Everything about me burned. My lascerations burned, my muscles burned, my lungs burned, my stomach burned from the heaving. It left me so exhausted, I couldn't bring myself to move for several minutes. Finally, when I felt like I was done being mostly dead, I opened my eyes. I lay on a small patch of grass in a rocky clearing, mountains reaching upwards to the sky immediately before me. Turning my head, there was a steep slope in the other direction that descended roughly 300 feet, a winding path etched into it that lead into a dense forest that stretched as far as I could see. Beyond that on the horizon was a large blazing sun that was beginning to fade below the horizon.

Then, of course, there was the small group of men staring at me incredulously.

The first was tall, thin, and tan with graying hair. He looked weathered, and wore a shiny set of solid metal armor. His eyes were uncannily narrow, though his posture let off the air that he was the most vigilant and experienced among them. 

Next was a man roughly the same age, but he looked much less rough. He wore a lose beige robe adorned with several golden tassels, was much shorter, and much fatter. This was a man clearly used to having a desk job, and looked sorely out of place among the other men.

Then, there were several young men wearing armor similar to the first. They weren't nearly as shiny or well kept, and the scratches that flecked the metal told me they had seen a lot of action. These men were all rather tall, taller than the first man, and much more muscular. They all had varying skin tones, but all of them had extremely unsettling eyes. They all seemed to burn with a soft glow, some yellow, some green, some blue. But all of their sclera were black, and had varying shapes of horns sprouting out of their heads above their long, pointed ears.

Then there was the last man. He towered above them all, at least a staunching 6'5", and was the bulkiest. His armor was dark plate, and a fiery glow was slowly receding beneath its joints. His right arm, instead of the plate, was covered from shoulder to his hand in a black rock-like coating. It made it look larger than the other, and the shoulder had a rough, pointy display. His hair was black like his plate, and long. A breeze caused its soft waves to caress his armor. He had horns like many of the other men, that were rough, almost like they were made from the rock on his arm, and that curved back away from his face like a ram. And his eyes were a startling, fiery red set against his black sclera. He was by far the most intimidating of them all.

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The man with the narrow eyes stomped forward and landed a blow with his fist to the chest of the scary one. "How dare you disobey your orders," he growled.

Scary man remained stoic, no expression, and offered no response.

Narrow eyes turned to face the other men. "Disobeying orders is NOT part of the training. You are all servants of the Sanct, and all orders from the Sanct shall be carried out fully or end with death. Do I make myself clear?!"

The other horned men silently lifted their hands to their heads in a salute, remaining as stoic and expressionless as their larger comrade.

"In all fairness, sir, uh, I do believe that he was doing his divine duty," the short fat one squeaked. 

Narrow eyes whipped his head around to look at him. "Excuse me?"

Fat man cleared his throat shakily. "The only reason a divine guardian is to disobey orders is when it directly contradicts the safety of The Divine...and he has never once disobeyed an order in the 50 years he has been servicing..."

Narrow eyes narrowed his eyes even further. "Are you telling me that you believe this person is 'The Divine'?"

Fat man hesitated, glanced at me, and nodded his head quickly.

"This is a woman," narrow eyes stated bluntly.

"Yes," fatty stated just as bluntly.

"The Divine is a man."

Fat man cleared his throat shakily again, pulling out a small, extremely well worn notebook from his robes. "Scripture does not dictate gender, and never mentions that The Divine has to be a man. Just because there has never been a female divine, doesn't mean--"

Narrow eyes raised a fist to fatty as if he was going to deck him, causing him to flinch and hold his notebook up in defense. He clenched his jaw and angrily lowered his fist after a moment, and whipped back to face me, as well as scary man who essentially formed a wall between myself and everyone else. "If this is The Divine," he nearly spat. "Let us test it, shall we? You!" He pointed at scary man. "Make a move, and I will kill you where you stand." He then stomped over to me, sneering down his annoyingly pointy nose. I cowered beneath him, which made his smirk grow larger, and he reached down and clenched the collar of my t-shirt and physically lifted me off of the ground by it. Even for someone his size, I was impressed at the ease with which he dead lifted 230 pounds with one arm. It also scared me more than I had been with the cat...

 "What's your name, woman?" he asked coldly.

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

Narrow eyes grunted. "Pathetic." He raised his free hand in a fist, and I clenched my eyes shut in anticipation of a blow. Nothing came but the sudden jolt of me hitting the ground. When I opened my eyes, I was met with a sight of scary man on top of narrow eyes. Flames absolutely poured out of every crevice of his armour as he had narrow eyes pinned with his left arm, his rock arm raised with a blazing ball of hellfire in his palm as if he were going to shove it down his throat. It threw any thought that I had run into a group of cosplayers out the window.

"Alright, worm, I get the point," he snarled, shoving scary man's arm off of his chest. Scary man's flames slowly died down, leaving his plate red hot, but he made sure to position himself between narrow eyes and myself, and not once took an eye off of him, and remained tense. Narrow eyes threw a look of hatred and disgust over at fat man. "I'll only truly believe it when she's ordained," he growled at him, taking a position over near the other men. "CHANGE OF PLANS, YOU LOT OF GRAVE DIRT! Every single one of you are to protect the cargo with your lives, and we are to return to Station. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

All of the men, aside from scary man, raised their hands in another salute. 

"Did you not hear me, you sorry piece of spinder shit?" Narrow eyes stomped over to him, putting his face right up to scary man's. It was almost comical at their size difference, narrow eyes having to stand as tall as possible to even be close to being level with scary man.

"D-uhm, uh, sir," sputtered fat man, pulling out his tattered notebook again and flipping through the pages. "A divine guardian, once duty is initiated, no longer is obligated to follow an order but given by The Divine..."

"So, you're telling me he can follow my orders, but chooses not to?" Narrow eyes clenched his fists so hard, I could hear the metal of his gauntlets creak.

"With all due respect, sir, Scripture dictates that The Divine is the ultimate authority, and no order shall oversee them."

Narrow eyes swiped the notebook from fatty and threw it on the ground. "Damn the scriptures!" he bellowed. "Fine! You," he shoved a finger in my direction. "Order him to follow."

"Sir, you shouldn't speak to The Divine like th--"

Narrow eyes grabbed fatty on his mouth, stifling his words, not taking his eyes off of me. "Do it."

I looked at scary man. Clearly, Scary man was the alpha here, and narrow eyes thinks I'm going to just bark orders at him? All I could muster is an incredulous look at him in response. There was no way anyone could order that thing around. The only other person there even remotely close to being on scary man's level was him, and even he couldn't tell him to do anything!

He seemed to get the hint I was intimidated by scary man, and moved his hand over to scary man's mouth and used his grip to shake his face roughly. "This is your tool," he said. "That is all he is. You own him. He is nothing without your words. Use him."

Narrow eye's words roiled a fire within me. Just 'a tool'? He clearly was a thinking human being. Was this just some cult who trained people to be emotionless husks for disposal? I hated people who used others like their lives didn't matter. What kind of leader 'uses' his men like that? "He's a person," I managed to get out between clenched teeth. "Treat him like one."

Scary man looked over at me at my words, but his expression remained blank and gave nothing away to his thoughts.

"Hah! Hardly," narrow eyes laughed. "Everyone knows a Drath is only as good as the service they offer."

I managed to drag myself into a standing position and hobble a few steps over to him. "Treat him like a person, or I'll use the order you want me to give him so much to teach you the lesson you clearly need."

Scary man immediately tensed and grabbed narrow eyes by his chest piece. Narrow eyes backed down and put his hands up in defeat. "Fine, as you say, Your Grace." He nearly spat the last part. Scary man let him go and stepped over to me, taking a place right by my side. The heat that roiled off of him was tumultuous, almost like a furnace. His armor was still too hot to even touch, and I wondered how he didn't burn up in his suit. He also towered over me, the top of my head barely reaching his chin. I found it hard to believe that a man this truly intimidating ever took an order from anyone.

"Everyone, move out!" Narrow eyes motioned towards the steep mountain path, and began to lead the way. Fat man waddled behind him, then the other armored men followed suit. Scary man didn't budge.

"Ah, should...should we follow them?" I asked him timidly.

He looked down at me, his face no more readable than it had been before. 

"Uh, okay then," I said sheepishly, taking a few steps forward. I looked back at him, and he had taken a few steps to trail closely behind me. I felt smug with myself. "See? No one has to boss you around anymore. You should stand up for yourself more. You're allowed to have feelings, too, you know."

Something about scary man's expression changed, yet somehow remained perfectly stoic. He regarded me with some form of emotion, just quietly and behind a mask, almost. Apprehension is the best I could make of it, as I'm sure he was entirely unused to being told he's allowed to be a person. I made a slight frown at him, which made him tense slightly. That made me even more sad. What kind of place did these people come from? This has to be some sort of cult. They way they spoke of scriptures and divinity, I was almost certain it was. How many other people were being treated like this? Were they trapped? Brainwashed?

Looking around, re-examining the area, I was nowhere near where I had entered the cave. The topography of the mountain was completely different than the area of Appalachia I had originally come to. I had no idea where this was, or even what direction was north. The rock the mountain was made of didn't even look the same. I had no choice but to follow these men back to their lair if I wanted any chance of finding my way back. I looked after them as they effortlessly scaled the steep path down into the forest, hesitant to actually follow. I then turned my gaze back to scary man and studied him a moment.

"You will protect me?" I asked him quietly, almost a whisper.

Astoundingly, his expression changed to outright determination and he gave a curt nod. Alas! He responds! Step one has been attained in retrieving his smothered personality! Just as quickly though, he seemed to catch himself and went back to being as expressionless as ever.

Determination filled me. The need to help others got me to this place, and almost killed by a rabid mountain lion. The need to help others was probably going to get me in even deeper from here. Oppression is, however, no joke, and the road to freedom always starts with just a spark. Maybe I could be that spark for these poor people.

I timidly reached for his hand--the one covered in rock, the metal on the other was still far too hot--and wrapped my fingers around it as best as I could. His hands with the armor were easily three times the size of my own. He looked down at the touch, almost quizzically (I'm sure he had little kind touch), and gently closed his fingers around mine as I started to pull him with me. It felt like he was afraid to put any pressure on me, like he would hurt me if he gripped too hard. He probably wasn't used to being gentle with anyone, either. The thought made me so sad on the inside...how many people are going to be just like him?

"Let's go," I nearly whisper, and we quicken our pace to catch up to the group before they get too far.