It was a further fall than Kya had expected.
Peering into the narrow crevasse from above, it had seemed like a small space. At most the size of a broom closet or something like that. She had been thinking to maybe hide out until the tiger gave up on her and sought easier prey.
But rather than tuck herself away like a turtle in its shell, she entered a whole new world. Not literally of course, she had done that trick already and wasn't looking for an encore. No, she fell at least ten feet and landed hard on her ankle, causing a shooting pain to erupt up her left leg like bolts of lightning.
"God-Fucking-Dammit!!!" She yelped out, falling to the ground and clutching her ankle. It wasn't broken but was at least sprained. Maintaining pressure on the wound with one hand, she was about to reach down and get out a health potion, but felt her ankle begin to mend itself. The pain fell off with each heartbeat, until it was only a dull ache as she stood. It had only been minutes earlier, but she remembered downing a health potion to stave off the heat and dehydration just before she saw the tiger.
Happy that it had done something more for her, she looked around and caught her breath in wonder.
She had fallen into a cave to make Aladdin jealous.
There weren't forbidden treasures piled around her, a display of ostentatious wealth, but still, this was marvelous. Large deposits of gemstones, each the size of a baseball or softball, dotted the walls and ceiling of the cave. They were predominately dazzling pinks, deep reds, and lustrous silvers in color, but searching about, there was a whole rainbow of colors and crystals, each radiating a soft light of their respective colors.
Staring around in awe, it reminded Kya of the northern lights dancing in the sky. It was a solid minute before she had a shift of temperament. These were truly stunning, but she would not be taken in again. If she let her guard down, these gems could each wake up and start attacking her. Or maybe they were all releasing a poisonous light and she would die if she stayed here too long. She had no idea, and that was the problem.
Looking at the nearest crystal, a small silver one with shades of black to resemble almost a storm cloud, she started to correct that issue.
- - - - -
- Item: Wind Crystal
- Rarity: 1-Star - Common
- Description: A crystalized form of air mana found in an area of high magical saturation. Useful in rituals and air related spells.
- Enchantments: N/A
- Requirements: N/A
- - - - -
Then to a larger red one with sparks of purest white flashing throughout, she again focused.
- - - - -
- Item: Flame Crystal
- Rarity: 1-Star - Uncommon
- Description: A crystalized form of fire mana found in an area of high magical saturation. Useful in rituals and fire related spells.
- Enchantments: N/A
- Requirements: N/A
- - - - -
So, these were all mana crystals then, each color being of a different type. With a sudden surge of greed, Kya began to fill her storage space with each and every crystal she could find. She left several of the smaller, common rose (which she identified as spatial stones similar to her staff), fire, and air crystals so she wouldn't be plunged into darkness, but otherwise began exploring the cave and mining the treasures as she went.
All in all, there were several varieties of mana stone. The rarest one she had found, and one that paradoxically only came in the common variety, was a small vibrant green and faintly silver crystal that was solidified life mana. However, 'rare' was a relative term down in the caves. as she explored, they seemed endless and wandering, like an ant colony built for people. She never worried about getting lost though, as there were constantly small cracks and openings into the sky above, meaning she wouldn't need to get back to the same one through which she'd entered.
The others she'd found told something of a story with their rarities, thought Kya. The most numerous crystal she found was a void black crystal that would have been impossible to see if not for the flecks of radiant gold dotting its surface like stars, identified as a death crystal. Space, Fire, and Air were a close second. Of course, there was also a golden crystal for earth, being underground that wasn't remotely surprising. Most telling were deep crimson crystals, with black spots moving sluggishly within evoking a lava lamp, which were designated as crystals of war.
She began to paint a picture in her mind of the barren wasteland above. A large-scale battle must have been fought here in the past, causing the vegetation and landscape to change drastically. She began to consider, truly, what magic would mean for a world. Her world had developed weapons of mass destruction through science, trial and error, and once-in-a-lifetime geniuses working together to find the best way at killing the most people at once.
What if a random guy on the street had flamethrowers for hands? What if whole armies could summon hurricanes, or tear holes in the fabric of reality at a whim? It wouldn't take secret codes and entire governments, a random group of determined individuals, if powerful enough, could sink a continent like it was Atlantis.
A crater on the surface and scorched earth for a mile in every direction would be child's play. She was 3 days into this world and could already kill monsters and manipulate basic laws of physics. Give her a year? Ten years? The possibilities were staggering... and worrying.
She knew it wouldn't be that easy to acquire power. Politics and economics would be different here, undoubtedly, but there was no way a wealthy elite wouldn't, to some degree, control magical materials and power. She again cursed her simple lack of knowledge and understanding about the world in which she found herself and knew that she would need to be very careful on entering the city.
For now, however, she would continue looting the cave. Her storage pouch was very nearly at capacity, the image in her mind of a small warehouse looked like a hoarder's nightmare. The spiders, may they rot in hell, had been extremely lucrative for her. As she'd been credited with most of the kills for some reason, she had been granted a small potion from each spider, along with a coin and a crystal. Well, multiply that by the thousand spiders and, well, she had A LOT of stuff now competing for space.
She'd take care of inventory management later. She wanted to make it to the city with as many supplies as she could carry. Whatever culture or customs these people had; one thing would be certain. If she came bearing valuable supplies to sell off, she'd be welcomed quite happily by the merchants. Especially if she had no idea what something was worth, and they could acquire it at a bargain.
As she carried on taking crystal after crystal from the caves, she notices several tunnels sloping steeply down further into the earth.
She had to weigh several things in her mind before making her next choice. The idea of a large ant colony kept coming back to her, and after her ordeal with the spiders, wasn't something she took lightly.
However, she felt it unlikely that this place housed any large-scale colony for some monster. She had been down here taking crystals for close to half an hour and hadn't seen or heard any other living thing. Moreover, there was possibly the most powerful creature in the forest stalking around just outside what she assumed to be the main area of the tunnel's exits. Not a great place to take up residence if one needed to go out for food.
Of course, it was possible there was some crazy mushroom monster that survived off of soil and crystal light, but Kya was curious to see the rest of the tunnel. Also, possibly, a little greedy for better crystals than the mostly common ones near the surface.
"Fuck it" she muttered under her breath. She'd be cautious and keep her guard up the entire time and would leave a trail of the rubble from the temple to find her way back.
Breadcrumb style.
With that, she took the plunge, and went deeper into the caves.
~ ~ ~
Kya felt... disappointed. There had been little mushrooms down here, which she scooped up and threw into her bag because why not, but more excitingly mushroom monsters as well, just as she'd speculated!
. . .
They had been common rarity pests the size of a water bottle, and she'd crushed them with her boots, not even needing to draw her new dagger. As reticent as she was to be once more forced into combat, she was itching to try out her new venomous offensive tool.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
What kept her from backtracking immediately was the soft warm glow of what she swore to be fire light just up ahead. She had seen it first several minutes ago, and cautiously been moving towards it ever since. Fire in the bottom of a cave likely meant people, or at least semi-intelligent creatures who'd learned to use fire. No matter what, she was interested in seeing the cause.
But she was starting to suspect that something was off.
She had been walking towards the light for, again, several minutes. and yet it seemed no closer, and not further away. Just there, off in the distance of the cave tunnel, right around a bend in the rock.
She peeked around the corner of the cave wall, and immediately, her stomach did a little twist.
There, sitting directly in the middle of the narrow tunnel, was one of her temple stones.
Looking back, she saw that yes, the last stone she'd placed was still there about thirty meters back.
Turning back and walking up to it, she hefted it with both hands, confirming it was hers. She had yet to find anything that was as dense as these temple stones, being so heavy and yet so small had made them perfect missiles so far, and she had been quite happy with them.
But now, she wasn't sure what to do. Leaving this one where it was, she back tracked to the earlier stone.
However, the moment she rounded the corner of the cave to try and find it, she saw right in front of her, the stone she'd just tossed down again. The dust was still puffed out and settling to either side as she'd dropped it.
Sighing, Kya walked up to the stone, and standing over top of it, looked left, and then right.
In both directions, the cave turned sharply off to either direction, so what had been a narrow, but sprawling cave her first time through, was now a short corridor only about fifteen meters in length. Just to try her luck one more time, she ran quickly to the left and immediately upon turning saw the same section of cave, and the same small temple stone.
"Well damn" thought Kya, sitting on the rock and putting her chin in her hands.
She knew this was some sort of illusion trap. She had no idea why it was here, or even how it was here, but she did know, at least for now, she was trapped.
- - - - -
Quest: Climbing the Ladder
- Objective: Kill 10 monsters above common rarity.
- Progress: 8/10
- Time Remaining: 9hrs:40min:24sec
- Reward: Gloves of the Spatial Mage - 1-Star - Uncommon
- - - - -
Dismissing the quest screen, she at least consoled herself that she had time to figure it out.
Sitting and staring at the wall trying to come up with ideas, she suddenly saw a shift in the shadows.
Jumping up and whipping her dagger to point at whatever was moving...
She saw the empty cave and nothing more.
Warily looking from side to side, she walked over to the far side of the cave, and still nothing. She tapped the blade of her dagger against the wall just in case, but it was simply stone. Nothing more, nothing less.
Kya even carved a little "K" into the wall just to be sure, before walking back over and sitting down once more on her small rock stool. This one, being slightly larger, was still only the size of a deflated soccer ball, and not very comfortable with its jagged edges. So, after another minute of suspicious glances to either side, she took out one of the banners, folded it into a cushion, and sat on that.
Now much more well situated, she sat looking out at the wider cave as a whole. This time, nothing happened. She waited and waited, but nothing. Not to either side, not on the walls or ceiling, nothing.
So, turning back around to where she had seen the first shadow move, she began to look only at the wall a mere three feet in front of her.
And the shadows began to move.
Once more jumping up, Kya stared wildly about trying to see what was moving...
But she saw the empty cave, and annoyingly, nothing more.
"Hmmm" she toned contemplatively, before turning and sitting back on her now padded stool.
This time, as the shadows moved, she simply stayed in place, watching. They began to take shapes. Buildings and vehicles and people. She thought she recognized it, but it was like something out of a dream. It tickled at her memory, mocking her inability to identify what was being portrayed.
All at once, it became clear as drops of color began to fall on the shadows with ripples of water as on a pond. It was faded, it was pale and insubstantial. The people remained clouded and indistinct in their forms of shadow, the buildings slowly took on a reddish hue, giving Kya the impression of bricks. But what finally caused everything to click into place was the sky turning a vague pastel blue, and the sun taking shape as a worn out and rusty yellow. The sun.
This was her world, earth.
This was her home. This was where she had grown up, where she had returned to visit her parents when on leave. There was the ancient, gnarled tree in her front yard with a little swing. There was the mailbox she'd run into when she was six and learning to ride her bike, she'd needed four stitches from that, she thought with a laugh.
It wasn't like she'd been away that long either. She had just been able to go home for Christmas and New Year's. The wall obligingly replayed these images, flashing into the house to show the simple, halfheartedly decorated tree. It showed the four silly stockings hanging over the fire, each with a little stuffed animal sticking out of the top.
It had been a hard visit. They always were since her sister, but this one had been bad. They'd been so quiet, and then so... loud.
The indistinct shadows now took on forms, they showed her mother and father. The three of them standing and yelling, her father trying to appease and calm, but her mother being so, so angry.
Kya could handle gun shots, she could handle trucks and helicopters and planes and yelling, so much yelling, from anyone else in the world.
Not from her, not from her own mother.
She saw herself, the images growing more and more clear on the cave wall until she almost forgot they were shadows to begin with, apologize to her dad, overtop her mother's screams and shouts, and burst out the front door, peeling out of the driveway in her rental car.
She would come back, she knew. She would visit again, and she would talk to them, make her mother understand. Not today, today she would drive back to the airport and request an early flight back. Her phone started to ring beside her, it was her dad. She should pull over and pick it up. She knew she should, but just... couldn't tonight. Not with everything that had been said, not with everything that had just happened.
Kya did pull over though. She couldn't see well through the rain on the cloudless night, no matter how fast her windshield wipers moved. She sat in silence, trying to take deep breaths through the sharp, shallow inhales, and listened to the drops hit her seatbelt.
Eventually, she pulled out some makeup from her purse, and pulled down the sunvisor to look at her reflection. She wouldn't go back into the airport like this, the USO might not even be open this late, and she'd have t-
Why did she look like that?
She looked down and checked herself, still wearing the same normal clothes, still in her car.
But in the mirror, she was... different. It was her, but it also wasn't.
The reflection had no makeup, unless you counted mud and sweat. Her hair was a rat's nest of tangles and knots, and it looked like a chunk on one side was completely missing. She had small bruises and little cuts, and a whole host of new scars. It looked like she'd been hit by a truck, and then healed miraculously well from it before the next truck hit her as well. She was healthy, but she had been through hell.
Her eyes were hard but pleading. She saw in them a person trying so hard to maintain control, but on the edge of losing everything. There was a spark though. Defiance and pride, responsibility, determination, no, she wasn't trying to maintain control, she was control. She would not be broken by her instructors. She would not be broken by her parents, and she would not be broken by some altered image she saw in a mirror.
But... the mirror wasn't showing her an altered version of herself.
The mirror... wasn't real.
Then the mirror cracked.
Then the illusion cracked.
Then the cave wall cracked.
Light began pouring through the newly made cave entrance, and Kya turned to see a small mushroom hopping away from her, and from the light.
Walking over, she smashed down a kick, obliterating the tiny thing without a second thought.
- - - - -
- You have defeated Mentalist Mushroom - 1-Star - Uncommon.
- Progress on Climbing the Ladder updated:
- Kill 10 monsters above common rarity, 9/10
- - - - -
"Of course, it was a goddamn mushroom monster, I hate this fucking forest" Kya muttered, walking back over to the light.
But something was off. The sun was way too low in the sky, she had only been down in the cave for... FIVE HOURS?
- - - - -
Quest: Climbing the Ladder
- Objective: Kill 10 monsters above common rarity
- Progress: 9/10
- Time Remaining: 4hrs:12min:37sec
- Reward: Gloves of the Spatial Mage - 1-Star - Uncommon
- - - - -
"God damn it, what the hell happened?" Ky thought, before cursing some more at the B.S. of that mushroom keeping her in a cave for five hours straight. She almost leapt out of the cave right then, before remembering the giant grim reaper of a tiger that might very well be prowling in the nearby area.
However, as she thought about the night she'd had with the spiders, about the vision she'd had of home, of her family, and the eyes of the reflection she'd seen... She thought a tiger skin cloak would make a perfect addition to her wardrobe.
Readying her poisoned blade in her right hand, her staff in the left, Kya stepped out into the craggy wasteland at the heart of the rose forest and yelled at the top of her lungs "I'm right here! Come on, face me you coward, face me and fight!"