While they were walking deeper in the forest, her grandpa recalled vividly the night he ventured into the forest, driven by desperation and the need to find his daughter. The shadows of the trees seemed to close in on him as he made his way deeper into the forest, each step echoing with the weight of his fear and determination. The forest was eerily silent that night, a silence that felt almost alive, pressing in from all sides.
“Hey grandpa, are we getting closer to the cave?”
The old man looked at her and said,
“Didn’t you figure this out yet?, the tree back in the clearing, it was the entering, this forest is in the cave, but yet we’re looking for a cave inside a cave”
-This forest sure holds its secrets, I just hope that within its depths lay the answers I sought. Thought Mary-
An enveloping aroma started to rise, it was a sweet vanilla scent that seemed to caress his senses, offering an almost hypnotic comfort.
“Smell that darling? We’re near the cave”
Mary started to shrug, but she was more than eager to make this, all their answers were gonna be there. The deeper they ventured, the stronger the scent became, they were finally there.
“Mary, I introduce to you, the cave of butterflies”
The old man’s voice trembled as he was saying this…
“Oh no, we’re in trouble!”
Mary listened intently, her heart heavy with the gravity of his words.
They finally found the cave, but something found them as well, a pulsating entity wrapped in mystery and danger emerged at the entering of the cave and stared at them menacingly and suddenly the sense of time felt warped.
“Quick Mary, the amulet, open it now!”
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Her mother’s silver amulet that her grandpa gave her was more than that, when she opened she found out it was a beautiful pocket watch. The front was adorned with a sapphire cabochon at its center, surrounded by a web of delicate filigree that spirals outward in an intricate pattern, reminiscent of the threads of time itself. The filigree seems to shift subtly as if alive, responding to the proximity of the wearer’s hand.
When the cover is opened, the face of the watch reveals no numbers, only a single, thin, elongated hand that moves not in circles, but erratically, pointing towards hidden paths or distant places unknown. Instead of gears, the interior mechanisms are composed of tiny floating crystals, suspended in mid-air by an invisible force, spinning and rotating in a complex dance. These crystals emit a faint, pulsating light, each pulse echoing the heartbeat of the wearer and the back of the watch is engraved with letters. E.M.A
“Mary, that pocket watch has the power to manipulate time and space in mysterious ways. ”
Mary was holding the silver pocket watch, mesmerized by it.
“Mary, those who possess the watch can alter the course of time itself but at a perilous cost, for the watch demands a price for every second stolen from the threads of time. but not only that. That watch was capable of measuring paradoxes. Now pull the knob now, or we’re gonna die!” Said her grandpa.
Confusion clouded her thoughts as she stared at the magical watch at her hand. She definitely knew it was special. When she pulled the knob the time around suddenly stopped.
The warmth and allure of the vanilla scent was gone and replaced by an unsettling chill.
Her grandpa looked up to see if the figure was still there…
“That thing is still here!” He said.
Mary shouted at the apparition, pleading for it to leave, but her voice was swallowed by the oppressive silence of the cave. The creature—if it could be called that—began to writhe and scream. The sound was a horrific cacophony, a piercing noise that seemed to reverberate through his very bones. It was a sound of pure anguish, and it drove them to their knees.
As the creature threw them to the ground, took out the stone it had taken from her grandpa. It blinked directly to her grandpa’s feet. It was getting ready to attack, the creature flinched and it started twisting and shifting as if in pain.
The light from the stone grew more intense, and the creature’s form dissolved into a swarm of butterflies, scattering into the cave’s depths. The old man scrambled to his feet, his heart racing. He snatched up the stone and, driven by a primal urge, ran to the cave. He didn’t look back, the terror of the night propelling him forward through the dense cave.
"Wait, Grandpa, don't abandon me," Mary pleaded as she hurried toward him, leaving the forest behind... At last, they entered the enigmatic cave.
TO BE CONTINUED...