“Careful…careful…okay, ok- gah!” Her perspective tilted, and before she knew it, Mia was face down on the ground again. Fortunately, nothing was hurt, despite landing on nothing but earth and stone.

Getting up and brushing herself off, she frowned, but it wasn’t anger…at least, it wasn’t a LOT of anger. “Okay, okay…walking. Walking is doable. Not so much running.”

Not yet, at least. She’d have to be sure that changed soon.

Mia had spent…well, she wasn’t sure how long, but it had to at least be a couple of hours learning just how to WALK again. It was frustratingly…gah, she couldn’t even really think of the word for it, but for whatever reason, it took her NOT thinking about walking to find herself walking normally. Everything else was kind of a jilted stutter step. Running was almost right out so far. Still, she had made some progress. She COULD, at the very least, walk, and that was enough to be thankful for. Especially because it let her get a better understanding of her surroundings. And THAT kept her mind off of her own body troubles.

The cavern was…well, large was obvious. But it also seemed to be…carved out, somewhat? The best she could think of how to describe it was ‘lived in’. There were signs of old life here- clay pots, many of which that were broken and near useless, alcoves with areas that were clearly for resting…at least, she thought they were. Small statues of figures she couldn’t place. Little else besides that that she could comprehend, however. All else seemed rotted beyond comprehension, or dust.

Speaking of statues, though, she turned her attention back to the one she had woken up in front of. She had no clue what it was intended to be, only that it was broken and torn. Whatever it was, it had a very wide and thick base, almost like a pyramid. It had ridges on the side, but that was all she could make out. Enough to realize that it was something crafted, but nothing else about it. The rubble nearby was worn to near smoothness and entirely unidentifiable.

The other thing that she had noticed- and this, she was much more concerned about- was that she swore she heard running water. The question was, from where? She didn’t see any in her immediate vicinity, but it had to have been close. Nothing like a rushing river or the sort, but it was at least a steady trickling she could hear, like something was leaking out at a reasonable pace.

“Where ARE you…?” she muttered to herself. Whatever she said was only to herself, so maybe it WOULDN’T be such a big deal if she sounded a bit crazy. “Just a little bit wouldn’t be bad, maybe a little cup…”

She wasn’t entirely certain that was wrong.

Maybe if she had some way to detect it properly it’d be less of a hassle, but as it was, she was, quite literally, fumbling around in the dark. Fortunately, whatever else she’d had to worry about, it wasn’t hunger at the moment…or even thirst. Moreso, she knew that she simply needed to find a water source. She wasn’t certain which way was out, and Mia wasn’t so reckless as to go wandering without any sort of supplies. Some of those clay pots weren’t broken, after all. It’d be kinda gross, but she could still use them to carry water in after a bit of washing…she hoped, anyway.

‘Hope it’s not on any higher levels’, she thought, looking upwards. There were clear ledges and outcroppings that didn’t have any obvious way of access…but Mia wasn’t stupid. She knew what spiders were wont to do- climb up walls and other sheer surfaces.

Mia was…not entirely inclined to test her luck right now- a thin, faaar too practical part of her said that she would have to eventually, but she’d roundly ignored that part of herself up until now, and she’d continue to do so for the foreseeable future, thank you.

After some effort, she managed to locate…well, she wasn’t sure, but it at least SEEMED like a ground floor tunnel. Where it led to, she wasn’t sure, but…well, she heard the water in that direction, so perhaps it was safe? There wasn’t anything like torches or the sort available, and well, she could only see so far. A quick glance around showed nothing she could use as a weapon, either.

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea…

But it was then that she heard…something. Some sort of footsteps in that direction. No, maybe not footsteps exactly, but it was SOMETHING.

Almost immediately she backed up, fearful of what might be coming down the tunnel- and proceeded to nearly trip over her own legs, yelping in shock as she came within moments of tumbling down. How she managed to catch herself, even she wasn’t sure- some newborn instinct or the sort, affected by the strange feeling her legs were giving her. But she was at least able to look whatever terror that was approaching in the eyes before it no doubt gave chase. She braced herself, hoping against hope that her lower limbs would actually listen to her and flee like she so desperately wanted them to.

The shuffling steps came closer, closer…it sounded like a multitude now. A horde? Her heart, her body as a whole seemed to beat hard, nerves and panic fighting logic to take over. Before the battle could conclude, however, she was forced to look at her would-be assailant in full…

…and Mia nearly doubled over in relief when it was little more than a fuzzy, oval shaped bug. It was a large bug, to be sure, and perhaps it had a nasty trick or two up its sleeve, but it was clearly slow moving, and with no antennae, pincers, or anything remotely dangerous looking about it, she began to feel a lot calmer. The only unusual thing about it was its size- it was at least a couple of feet long and half one wide. Certainly big for a bug, and likely to weight a great deal to have footsteps that she could hear…but the way it froze and did nothing told her that this creature was likely more scared of her now than vice-versa.

It seemed to verify this hypothesis when it promptly turned around and began shuffling back from where it came. Perhaps a bit quicker, but nothing she couldn’t catch up to by just walking a touch faster.

‘Well, he’s lucky I’m not hungry enough to eat bugs,” she commented to herself- but that alone brought a pause to her relief as she let that sentence roll around in her head for a moment. She wasn’t…for now. When she started to feel hunger pangs…well, she WAS part spider now, right? Would her mind end up changing? Would it suddenly start looking appetizing? Right now it certainly didn’t, but-

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Nope,” she said out loud. “Not letting that train of thought continue. I’ll…I’ll just wait until it’s a bit further away. Then I’ll follow it.” She still needed to get that water, after all. And whether she liked it or not, that was the only lead she had on any.

Turning back, she resolved to at least find a decent pot. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too much time to find one without any cracks…

----------------------------------------

She wasn’t sure how long it had taken her, but she’d managed to locate one, the worst damage being a couple of cracks around the rim. It was of course dusty as all get out, to boot. Not the best, but it’d work for now. Now…

She gulped a bit as she looked down the dark tunnel the…thing…had went. Now to finally get a bit of water.

Amazing that that was such an ordeal now. It was way easier back in her old life.

But, this brought forth an issue that she had to deal with sooner or later. Light. There was enough moonlight shining in from far, far above her that she could vaguely see in most directions, and frankly she was VERY appreciative of the fact that it was a cloudless night. But it didn’t change that she needed some way to see without it.

There wasn’t much around her, sadly. Little that wasn’t rotten and would be poor for starting a fire- if possible at all. She felt her breath quicken. How stupid- how utterly insane would it be to just…go forwards? She couldn’t see in the dark, and this was the only entrance this place had. That meant that this had to be somewhere deep in…somewhere. And what’s more, that the way out was THAT way.

Damnit. She didn’t have much choice if she didn’t want to starve or die of thirst, did she? ‘Well…here goes,’ she muttered.

Her steps as she wandered into the gloom were shaky, uncoordinated. Slow. And frankly, she didn’t mind it. It was both practice and making sure she was careful. Not to mention, her total focus on keeping herself from bumping into the walls revealed something else about her that she’d been wondering.

She was…’feeling’. At least, that’s all she could call it- the hair on her legs (which she had certainly felt but studiously refused to look directly at anymore) was…very sensitive, clearly. There was little wind down here for certain, but she felt it every time she moved. And BOY it felt…weird. Oddly enough, though she registered some ‘texture, as far as she could gather, it was muted. It was kinda gross, but only kinda; the feeling of ‘this is dusty’ or ‘this is wet’ like her hands had wasn’t quite registering. So far as she could interpret her own senses, it almost seemed purely for obstacles. A strange, almost buzz in her head that would briefly go off whenever she got close to something bigger. Not always there, thank goodness, and oddly enough easily ignorable. Still, whatever it was, at least it was useful for keeping her from bumping into things.

But it was only after a few more moments of careful walking that she caught a whiff, and realized that the water had increased in volume. Water! Gently flowing water, thank goodness! Already she found herself speeding up, in the hopes that she would at least be able to get a drink.

And yet more luck, amazingly- there were openings for moonlight here, too! She could now start to see a faint glow in the distance, and raced for it. Within moments she was upon it- and had to stop and gasp.

This…this wasn’t a mere cavernous opening. Oh, to be sure, there was the water she’d heard all the way back there- a small pond of sorts, possibly more of a spring bath, she guessed. But it was what was around it that stunned her.

Signs of what was clearly civilization. More pots, bricks. Outcroppings clearly carved out to form walls. Areas that were clearly excavated to make living quarters, complete with door. There were even some areas that she could only guess were stalls for a market. There were upper levels, hiding who knew what, and more than a few tunnel openings that spoke of other hidden secrets, strange things that could be helpful indicators.

But she had no interest in any of that. The bones saw to that.

And there were so many. So many bones of…people, she could only presume. Although no full skeletons were present, the skulls and various bones of the dead littered everywhere were more than enough to convince her that this had been the location of some sort of tragedy.

Mia wanted to turn away. She wanted to scream. She wanted to do a lot of things. But most importantly?

She wanted out. And she could see that there was an incline- well on the far side of the pond. It led to another tunnel, and shone in the moonlight almost in an ethereal manner, beckoning her to it- just beyond the lip showed it was also an incline. She’d well figured that she was underground by now, so going up towards the surface was more than welcome.

Yes, it would be a much MUCH better use of her time, she decided, to simply get the water and go, rather than go poking around in places she couldn’t see properly. She had no way of knowing if everywhere had natural windows; the fact that there was no torch material nearby either caused her to give that up. No, going up was her best bet for now.

Not to mention, there might be things much more hostile than that worm thing that she’d met earlier. Not that there might not be at her destination, but…

“Gah! I’m psyching myself out,” she admonished to herself. “Just get the water in the pot and go, Mia…”

As she’d suspected, it took a bit of washing before she felt comfortable keeping water in the device- fortunately, the cracks didn’t cause much to spill. So long as she sipped at it, it would hold for…a couple of days, minimum, maybe? She even managed to find something resembling a covering for it. She’d ended up ‘washing’ that off too. The water was still flowing in, and she could only presume that it came from a natural source- and that there was something steadily yet slowly draining it, as well. She’d rather investigate the former- especially as it seemed to follow the incline up.

Refusing to look at the history that lay strewn before her, she began her trek to the opposite end of the pond. Along the way, she had some time to think.

‘People lived down here. That’s obvious enough. But what happened to them all?’ It was a question that she was reluctant to really try to answer. Still, answering it might answer some questions about herself. She wasn’t a fool. They- or at least this area- had some relation to her, most likely. This place clearly wasn’t made for people who operate on two feet. And she was still certain that her life before ONLY had two feet, even if much else was fuzzy and uncertain. Meaning the question was, what? And why?

Did that mysterious voice know? It sounded like they were the reason for her current situation, but why put her in it in the first place? Was it some sort of punishment?! It certainly FELT like one!

Unfortunately, not a single one of those questions had an answer. She shook her head in frustration, almost missing herself starting to actually head up the incline. Huh. She’d traversed the distance much faster than she’d thought.

The tunnel was rather wide, too- three or four of her could walk side by side and still have some room near the edges. Made for a lot of people moving through at once, then…

The journey upwards was almost relieving. Carefully carved rock and stone gave way to paved dirt, and the smell of dead and stale air was replaced by blessed fresh air; she could smell the grass, hear the whistle of wind and the chirp of crickets, and she found her steps moving faster.

There was a single, old wooden door that had somehow stood the test of time, but she only panicked for a moment as she took hold of it, found that it was easily unlockable, easily opened-

-and with a burst of excitement and not a little bit of hope, Mia flung open the door.

Twin moons that shone up in the sky like a pair of eyes greeted her, and she stepped out, properly, into the world.