Her head hurt when Cati woke up. Confused she touched her head and flinched back. Slightly more awake she took in her surroundings. The dim light emitted by some gnarly roots helped to see the small cave she was sitting in. Not her small room at home with the comfy bed. A bed she should have returned to, after gathering herbs near Mount Rucania. She had headed out further than usual, when the ground gave away.
Looking up she saw a protrusion above. Carefully, she searched for a suitable place to ascend. She wasn’t particularly good at climbing, neither helped her pounding head. It didn’t take her long to realize that she would need help.
She really had hoped to avoid it. Tried to draw it out, procrastinate and conveniently forget. Maybe a bit of preparation would help to dampen the scolding she was certain of getting. It didn’t take much to make her appear even more sorry than she felt, a bit of dirt, ruffling her hair and slightly red eyes. Of course, she didn’t actually cry, but she learned early faking it often helped putting others in a more amiable mood.
Sitting down near a root she gave herself a once over before grabbing her mirror shard. Increasingly panicked she fumbled through her clothing in search of that small shard that should hang on a necklace protected by a small casing. Searching around the cave, then searching through her clothing again Cati had to accept that she had lost her shard. As much as she hated it, it was her only way calling for help. A way to contact her original – Catarina – or how she secretly liked to call her, Cati 2. Even in this situation she got slight satisfaction calling that brat number two. A noisy arrogant self-centered brat that could have contacted others to find and help her out of this cave.
With a shudder she pushed away the thoughts of punishments ordered for losing mirror shards. After all she didn’t destroy it willingly and she currently had bigger problems than a potential punishment. Moving away from the protrusion she made her way through the cave. The walls started to close in and form a tunnel eventually branching of in different direction. Always taking the leftmost option she made her way deeper into the cavern system.
Cati had never thought that such a big underground system was close to her village. The roots dimly illuminated the tunnels and caverns. They probably were roots of moon bushes, which the villagers used as cheap alternative to conventional lamps, except the bushes seemed to have grown to giant trees.
The walls seemed to dampen and occasional a drop of water could be heard. Following the path of water she abandoned her strategy of taking the leftmost path. Eventually the water gathered to small puddles allowing her to take small sips of water and refilling her water skin. The damp walls made it possible for smaller plants and fungi to grow. Seeing a patch of Starmoss Cati started nibbling on the bitter moss, relieved that she wouldn’t have to starve.
Nearing another intersection she saw the markings for the first time. Straight lines were arranged to form patterns she didn’t know to interpret. Probably hewn in a long time ago but still not overgrown by the occasional vegetation. Those were probably signs used to mirror language. She had seen Catarina using and interpreting similar signs, a skill Cati didn’t possess. Letting her fingers glide over signs she admired them, knowing she would never be able to interpret them.
Walking further she saw the structure. A block hewn out of the wall, too small to be a building used for living but big enough to be entered. It was small rectangular with windows and a door. Or at least there probably used to be windows and a door. Speculating what could have been inside was useless as it was empty with no traces revealing its original purpose.
Passing several of these cubes the tunnel widens into a giant cave filled with buildings. Cati was stunned for several moments taking in the view of buildings which were more numerous than any village she has seen. Sure, she could count the number of villages she has visited on one hand, but this was a small underground city not even a day walk away from her home.
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How could no one know of this place, or no stories of old depict this place. Slowly she made her way through the houses seeing sings of mirror language everywhere. How rich must have been the former citizens to plaster the place full of signs and why were the houses still so small. Catarina lived in a mansion and that was bigger than several buildings together. Most of them emptied by time. Occasionally she saw remains of pans, bowls, vases and other utensils made of minerals, clay or glass. Some bowls were intact and she would love to bring them home. How would she explain where she had gotten them, because she wouldn’t reveal this place to anyone. Not even her mother or else this place would be crawling with guards picking this place clean till there was no trace of its existence left.
Cati knew she should return as soon as possible but did a few hours matter at this point in time since she would be late anyways. Hearing the sound of falling water she couldn’t help herself and started to explore this mysterious place. She didn’t discover anything new while the time flew by marveling at signs and the small, cramped streets. Some houses even had stairs made of stone so one could climb to the roof enjoying the view towards the next few buildings. The city wasn’t built on even ground but climbing continuously up.
The simple buildings started to be replaced with houses with several floors. In those she found glazed table ware. The intricate blue pictures depicting scenes from nature. She didn’t dare touch them preferring to marvel at them from a safe distance. Never was she this close to something this precious.
There were more of never before experiences she made in the last hours than in her last 5 years combined. She never knew one could feel so alive. That spontaneously entering buildings of old would make her so happy and the signs marred walls make her so curious.
Emerging of the rooftop of a particularly tall house Cati had a better view on her surroundings. Going further uphill the houses grew even more luxurious their facades showing ornamental stone figurines and patterns. If she strained her eyes, she could even make out a big building, maybe a temple, through the dim light. Like so often she had to stay still and stare, burning the view into her memory.
Turning around to orient herself, she saw the smaller buildings which were normally huddled together space out with moon bushes, well down here they were trees, growing between them. One moon bush towering the others, his branches reaching upwards toward a small waterfall. The Rivulet emerging from a small tunnel. A tunnel which likely would go upwards.
She could continue exploring, she hadn’t seen the truly fancy houses or that temple. Her own sense of time told her that the night and a good part of the morning had already passed and if she wanted to return today, she needed to find her way out quickly. Thoughts of stories her mom told her when she was small flashed through her mind. Of naughty children who got their heart stone eaten. She supposed those stories were exaggerated to scare children. She knew Catarina wouldn’t eat her heart stone that easily. The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach disagreed. Deciding it’s better to not provoke the possibility Cati made her way towards the big tree.
Ignoring her curiosity she soon stood under the enormous tree. Not looking back or downwards she slowly climbed the thick branches. Sitting on a branch she looked over to the plateau the tunnel emerged from. Still not looking downwards she hugged the branch and started robbing towards the plateau gaze fixed forward. A few times her clothes got stuck on the rough bark. Her heartbeat thundering loudly in her ears she slowly and wiggled back and forth to free the stuck clothing. Above the plateau the branch started bending downward but Cati continued to advance as closely to the wall as possible not trusting the stability of the plateau. Dangling on the nearly breaking branch she dropped down. Waiting few tense seconds Cati released a shaky breath.
Entering the small tunnel the water thankfully didn’t even reach her ankles. The light spending roots were so rare that she had to advance in almost complete darkness hands stretched ahead while bending over. The occasional obstacles and tight passages couldn’t stop her, all the physical work she did during her young life paying off.
The dark made it easy to spot the rays of daylight entering from above. Relive washed over her when she saw the sky. Standing up she pressed her hands on the opposite wall and her back on the other as she climbed the last meters like the chimney she had climbed as a child in the past. Wet, scratched up and exhausted she rolled on solid ground beneath the sky.
It was time to go home.