A loaf-some mistake

The word settled into a horror scene, a grimoire depiction of the worst that humanity had to offer or at least that’s what Kato thought. He wanted to scream; he was at the bottom of a crater, an all too familiar crater.

“Back here, trapped in this hellhole” he was angry and lashed out, punching the curved slope hard. His knuckles split adding a splash of colour to the surrounding grey.

‘Got to think positive’ he thought firmly to himself, ‘I've left once before I can do it again… the orb of course!’ He looked around for it, there where he’d left it lying in an indent below him, dull, lifeless, and lacking the light Kato had believed was his saviour before.

Kato wasn’t very superstitious; he didn’t believe a lot of stuff like that; it was just hearsay to control how he lived. But this, this was a bad sign if he’d ever seen one. He half expected the familiar caw of a crow to break the subterranean silence but of course, it did not.

He frantically reached out to the grey, pallid sphere as lifeless as the world around him; he clutched it to himself, waiting for the world to blur. But just as he feared, it did not. He shook it violently bringing it to eye level. “Why aren’t you working?” it stared back at him inert and deliberately obtuse, unresponsive to his pleas.

Kato muttered darkly under his breath, stuffing the good-for-nothing orb in his bag.

He took a deep breath, ‘now is not the time to despair; I’ll never get anything done.’ With that somewhat bleak outlook, he forced a smile onto his face and began making his way out of the crater. This place would not beat him.

He scrambled up the side of the crater, it was only a short climb back to the top around 20 feet or so, yet he was panting, doubled over, with his hands resting on his hips when he reached the top. His right hand pulsed with pain, in time with his beating heart, he was starting to wish he hadn’t punched the wall.

‘Clearly, I’m not as recovered as I thought I was’ Kato was visibly trembling, the earlier effects of whatever the voice had done to him not leaving.

The most obvious problem when Kato finally recovered from the short journey was that he was lost, if you could get more lost in this place. He took a deep breath then another one, if he went the wrong way here, he was in trouble.

He didn’t know which way he had entered the room from originally, and there were no obvious markings.

It was at moments like this that he wished he had carried a loaf of bread, scattering breadcrumbs along his journey. But in his heart, he knew that even if the Gods had seen fit to give him one, he would’ve eaten it, and been in the same predicament. He just didn’t have the foresight that some random children had in a childhood story he couldn’t remember.

But that wouldn’t be him now, his fist clenched, and he looked to the rocky expanse above him, “I will beat children” he growled his voice echoing in the silence.

There was a long stillness that followed, and he felt his face begin heating up.

“Uh in case anyone’s listening, I didn’t mean it like that, there were these, uh book characters, and they uh” he trailed off not able to think of the words. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips, this was a hard one to justify.

While embarrassed he was still resolved, he would not find himself in this situation again, at least he hoped he wouldn’t. The darkness was nowhere near as oppressive as it had been the first time Kato had found himself wandering in these caverns, he was pretty sure he could mark the entrances with his blade, and he would be able to spot them again in the future.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

With no reason to stay, Kato looked miserably between the two exits from this room, he stood in this situation for several minutes, his eyes flicking from one to the other. “Cogul, guide my path” he muttered under his breath, and circled his chest. It was a gesture born more from need than genuine belief Cogul would listen, let alone help.

He clenched his jaw, examining the openings, desperately trying to jog his memory. Searching for any signs or patterns he recognised.

After far more time had passed than what was reasonable, he started to move. There was no use in delaying the inevitable, he strode towards one of the openings seemingly at random and with a heavy sigh he carved an X with his blade on its left-hand side, his hand still trembling.

He walked inside for a few minutes, there was no flashy sign telling him this was the right way to go, it looked just like the rest of this forsaken place. A grey desolate landscape with no sign of changing exactly as it had been before. Doubt gnawed at him; he’d made a mistake, he felt it in his gut. Turning back seemed futile but the alternative was at the very least equally unappealing; after all he had no good reason for choosing this passage.

‘What am I doing?’ he thought to himself. ‘It’s worth checking both of the exits. He turned back and went to the other one, sick with anxiety, he couldn’t afford to waste more time. After a couple of minutes of walking down the other exit his decision was immediately vindicated. A skeleton lay propped against the cavern’s walls, its white inhuman skull staring blankly at him. As creepy as this was, it meant he was no longer backtracking.

He was elated, “take that children!”

Kato carved another symbol on the wall denoting his passing, he didn’t want to be caught out like that again, before examining the skeleton. It appeared to have been stripped of all its worldly positions, if it had any to begin with.

A nervous bead of sweat rolled down his forehead he really hoped whoever this had been hadn’t been going in the way he had just came from, searching for their own way out.

Kato continued on, his pace noticeably brisker, that would not be his fate.

He walked for what felt like hours, at the same punishing pace, but not one thing changed. He didn’t even know how tunnel systems like this could be formed, He thought the randomness of nature itself would have dictated at least interesting, different scenic views sculpted by the planet itself, but no. Just more of the grey he’d grown accustomed to. Occasionally he would look over himself to make sure he could still see colour, and that it hadn’t all been drained to who knows where.

He kept this up until a subtle shift in the air caught his attention, a peculiar scent weaving through the previous stale and dull air of the cavern. The air was noticeably, cleaner and crisp, it smelt like moss after a downpour. Earthy, damp and fresh. But more importantly it was different.

‘Finally, something new’ the thought shot through Kato’s mind. As he continued down the corridor, the aroma grew stronger and stronger with each step.

He could practically believe he was outside walking through one of Redusk’s large communal gardens, the sun on his skin as he rushed through it on a way to one job or another. The memory was so vivid it felt like a betrayal to the subterranean expanse’s very nature.

He heard a faint dripping somewhere ahead. it wasn’t just a phantom smell, like the illusions he’d encountered before, it was real! He began striding forwards, his heart pounding with anticipation.

The oppressive cavern walls began to recede opening out into a wide natural paradise, the previous darkness giving way to soft, diffused light.

Moss carpeted the once lifeless floor, a waterfall spilt gently over an overhang on one of the cavern’s curved walls feeding a stream that cut across the centre of the wide natural realm all encompassed within the familiar stone that had been a constant companion of his, ever since he left the crater.

Kato stepped on the mossy floor, it was soft and easily gave way to his foot, a welcome change to the hard stone floor that been demanding on his tired feet. He paused for a moment just enjoying the feeling. ‘Its all looking up’ Kato hadn’t vocalised the thought, but he soon wished it had never crossed his mind.

The moss went deep, a lot deeper than Kato had thought possible, he was sinking. His breathing quickened as he struggled to get out of the moss. He clawed at the dense, green undergrowth tearing large fistfuls of wet, clammy moss away and flinging them to the side.

Panic surged through him, no matter how much he tore away his descent and ultimately his fate seemed certain. The moss was swallowing him at a constant rate. It was already up to his waist and showed no signs of slowing down.

Until finally he stopped, chest heaving. Kato struggled to breathe against the weight of the moss pressed up against his ribcage, half of his upper body had been buried in the treacherous foliage. This wasn’t a paradise he’d found it was a monster in disguise; and he was just another meal.

A worse thought crossed his mind, this was only the entrance and already he had nearly died.