"Please let it be good news." Danny mutters as he rubs out the last traces of sleep from his eyes.

"The history books did have something about the cave we're in." Jen says, "And you were right Danny, its got something to do with the natives."

"Yes!" Danny fist pumps, "Some luck at last. Was it a holy place?"

Jen frowns as she keeps reading the tome, her expression growing steadily worse, "Uh, sort of. This place is complicated, to put it lightly."

"Damn it." Danny deflates all at once, "I should have realized things wouldn't be that simple."

"If it was, Xir wouldn't have walked away from the first ritual our dear neighbor performed here." Jen agrees, "Anyway, the cave is natural, but the natives dug deeper and carved out that artificial cavern later on. Anyone angling for wealth, long life or a promotion in one of the warrior societies would be sent here for a spot of meditation and to meet the spirits."

"A vision quest?" Danny asks rather surprised, "That's holy sure, but nothing unusual. Plenty of tribes conducted vision quests. Its hardly anything secret or sinister."

"Oh, I agree." Jen nods while patting the large tome by her side, "According to the local historical society, that's what the cavern beneath us was used for. Perfectly innocent vision quests."

"Makes sense. Its isolated and quiet." Danny prompts, "But there's something else isn't there?"

"There's this." Jen waves about a trashy looking paperback from the pile of books, "The Secret Histories of Maine. At least that's what this piece of crap claims itself to be. Most of the book is conspiracy theories and urban legends, but our cavern is mentioned inside it."

"And what is the 'secret history' of the cavern then?" Danny quips while doing sarcastic air quotes.

Jen begins thumbing through the weathered paperback as she speaks, "Remember I said that the cavern was not always there? Before the cavern was dug up by the natives, they suffered, get this, a plague."

"A plague?" Danny murmurs, feeling a strange sense of foreboding creep over him.

"Strikes a bit too close to home, huh?" Jen smirks bitterly, "But yeah, there was a plague that was annihilating the entire community. The tribe was desperate and under the advise of their wise man, they enacted a desperate plan to turn things around."

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this." Danny comments, his hand reaching for the gun given to him by the Sheriff, turning the weapon into a sort of safety blanket.

"So, get this, the tribe thought that the plague was caused by a witch." Jen continues the story, "And they had no idea who the witch was. The wise man's big plan was to get all the suspects into a secluded spot with him and they would undergo a big vision quest together, trusting that the Great Spirit would finger the proper suspect."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"I think I get it. The cavern was dug underground, so no one could interrupt this big ritual the shaman was planning." Danny nods in agreement, "Though I'm guessing the vision quest didn't help any with the plague."

"Actually, no. The plague stopped." Jen furrows her brows, "The ritual worked. The problem was that the wise man emerged from the cavern covered in the blood of every single other person sharing the space with him."

"Shit!" Danny curses, "Were the suspects injured, or ...?"

"Dead. The wise man killed everyone during the ritual." Jen says grimly.

"But the ritual did work in the end, right?" Danny presses, "The witch was killed and the plague stopped."

"Sure, but it was just the start of another set of problems." Jen continues the story, "Some time later, the wise man went berserk and killed the chieftain during a quarrel. Guess what happened next."

"The rest of the tribe dog piled the loony and strung him up?" Danny shoots back with an optimistic guess.

"You wish." Jen snorts, "No, what happened was the wise man tore off the cock and balls of the chieftain in front of everyone. And then continued to rule the tribe as tyrant. The end."

"Uh ..." Danny mumbles, completely speechless.

"Sounds familiar doesn't it?" Jen quips, "But there's a postscript to this tale. Apparently the tribe did manage to get rid of the wise man. They trapped the wise man in the cavern and drowned him somehow? I don't see how that would work though."

"Yeah, there's no water here." Danny confirms, "The story might be garbled. Or simply a pile of bullshit."

"Anyhow, the cavern was used by the tribe for a few more years after all that ugliness." Jen concludes setting the book down, "The vision quests continued, but with a twist."

"Twist? Meaning more drugs were used to wash away the horror of what had happened?" Danny laughs, but there's no joy in the sound. In the back of his mind, he could hear Luis going "Duuuuude" in that stoned voice of his.

"Nope. Aspirants would come into the cavern to meditate," Jen explains, "but anyone who wanted could come in here to interrupt the process."

"Why? Wouldn't that go against the purpose of a vision quest?" Danny protests in disbelief.

"The interruptions were part of the vision quest." Jen yawns as she makes herself comfortable, "You could challenge the aspirant and if you killed him, you would inherit whatever the other guy was praying for apparently. The entire thing had evolved into a trial by ordeal."

"Nasty." Danny huffs. That's all that could be said, really.

"Yeah." Jen agrees, "I'm beat from doing all that reading. Mind keeping watch for awhile?"

"Sure." Danny responds absently, his mind churning with the implications of the tale Jen just related. And as the gears of his mind grind away, Jen drifts off into sleep ...