David was in almost complete darkness. The only hint of light was a dim white glow from something about 100 feet from him.
“We’re safe now right!? This is the place?”
“YES. I USED THIS CAVE AS A PLACE OF REST WHEN I WAS STILL ALIVE. THEY CANNOT TRACK US HERE.”
“What the hell is going on Kleymon? Who just tried to kill me?”
“I WILL TELL YOU WHAT I KNOW, BUT FIRST, A BIT OF LIGHT WOULD BE HELPFUL. DO YOU SEE THAT GLOW IN THE DARKNESS?”
“Yea I see it.”
“WALK TOWARDS IT.”
David took out a flashlight from his backpack and shined it ahead of him as he tread across the rough floor. As he got closer, he saw that the source of light was a pure white orb. It looked like something from a sci-fi novel, hovering in midair at the height of his chest.
“What is this thing?”
“IT IS A CONDUIT OF SORTS. TOUCH IT.”
“Uh, alright.” He hesitantly put his hand on the orb. Physically, it felt like a large piece of chalk, but there was something else too, almost like a current was flowing between them. The sphere gradually began to shift from white to a reddish black color.
“Wow.”
“HMM, IT WAS NEVER THIS SLOW WHEN I USED IT.”
When the orb had turned completely red, flames erupted from torch holders on the walls, lighting the whole cavern. It was the size of a large city square, with a roof of sharp stalactites and several dark tunnels coming from the walls.
“What the f***!?” Did it just absorb something from me?”
“IN A WAY, YES. IT REPLICATES THE ABILITIES OF THOSE WHO TOUCH IT.
IT IS AN INCREDIBLY RARE PIECE OF ORMER CRAFTSMANSHIP. I DOUBT THERE ARE EVEN 100 IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.”
“And… you use it to light your home?”
“WHAT ELSE WOULD I USE IT FOR?”
“I dunno, fighting… I guess?”
“HAHAHAHAHA. YOU COULD, I SUPPOSE.” Kleymon’s laugh reverberated through David’s mind; he found it deeply disturbing.
“So, I get my explanation now?” David sat down against the wall closest to the orb.
“OF WHAT I KNOW, YES.
THE CREATURES IN THE FOREST WERE NIVEN. THEIR CHANTS ARE UNMISTAKABLE. I GAVE YOU A VISION OF ONE OF THEM AT YOUR HOME.”
“Why was this group of Niven after me? How did they know I’d go to that clearing?”
“ON THAT, I CAN ONLY GUESS. THERE ARE CREATURES THAT CAN TRACK OTHERS. IT IS POSSIBLE THEY LOCATED US THE MOMENT WE ARRIVED. THIS CAVE HAS SAFEGUARDS AGAINST SUCH ABILITIES SO WE WILL BE SAFE HERE.”
“Are you saying I can’t leave this cave?”
“FOR NOW. WHEN YOU ARE READY I WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO MASK YOUR PRESENCE OUTSIDE THESE WALLS .”
David hated how reliant he was on Kleymon. He needed to learn his abilities quickly. Maybe when he mastered them he could sear the voice out of his brain.
“Portal making and fire manipulation. Are those the only abilities I inherited from you? I must have better senses too if you were able to hear that group of Niven from so far away.”
“I WAS ABLE TO HEAR THE NIVEN CHANTS BECAUSE I HAVE A SMALL UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR LANGUAGE. WITHOUT THIS THEY WOULD BE SILENT EVEN IF SPOKEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.
I DID HAVE SUPERIOR SENSES AND STRENGTH WHILE ALIVE, BUT THESE THINGS CAME FROM THE STRUCTURE OF MY BODY. PORTAL CREATION AND FLAME MANIPULATION COME FROM…SOMETHING ELSE. IT IS UNLIKELY YOU INHERITED ANYTHING BUT THESE ABILITIES FROM ME.
HOWEVER, OUR NATURAL LAW IS AT TIMES UNPREDICTABLE. THERE CAN BE ABERRATIONS. PERHAPS A TEST IS IN ORDER.”
“A test?”
“YES. INSIDE THE MANY TUNNELS THAT CONNECT TO THIS CAVERN IS A COLONY OF RASKERS. YOU COULD TEST YOUR SENSES BY LISTENING FOR THEM, OR MORE LIKELY, SMELLING THEM. EVEN IF YOU DO NOT POSSESS MY SENSES, IT IS VALUABLE TRAINING TO REFINE YOUR OWN.”
“And raskers are what exactly?”
For a few moments there was silence.
“I SUPPOSE THEY ARE MOST SIMILAR TO THE SQUIRRELS OF YOUR LAND.”
“Not dangerous then?”
“NO, NOT DANGEROUS.”
“Okay, I’ll try it out.” For now, it made sense to follow Kleymon’s advice. This was basically an alien planet, and judging by the short amount of time he had been here, there was no chance of survival without his guidance.
David stood up, and his joints protested the effort, creaking like an old wooden staircase. He did not feel like someone who had inherited the power to burn a whole forest down.
All of the cavern tunnels appeared fundamentally the same, so he chose the one closest to him. It was about 10 feet wide, and pitch black inside. He flicked on his flashlight and began to carefully step inside, holding onto the rock wall on his left. After walking for maybe two minutes, his nose was assaulted by what smelled like rotting flesh. Or what he assumed rotting flesh would smell like.
“What the hell are these squirrels doing in here, Kleymon?”
“SHHH. STOP AND LISTEN.”
David stopped abruptly.
Tsst.Tsst.Tsst. There was a scuttling sound echoing softly through the cave. David continued forward, and as he did, the sounds grew louder. Tssst.Tsst.Tsst. When he felt close to the source, he pointed the flashlight away from his feet and towards the center of the darkness. There was nothing but dark rock, though it looked slick with some kind of clear…gel? He wasn’t sure. He moved closer to inspect the gel. It seemed to be dripping down from the ceiling.
TSSST. TSSST. TSSSST.
F*** F*** F***. David sprinted down the tunnel as fast as his legs would carry him. The scuttles followed him. Oh god, oh god. He was gonna die, he was too slow. The entrance to the cavern was close now, a few feet away; he just hoped it would be scared of the light and not follow him. There, he was almost…f***. He tripped on a rock and fell flat on his stomach, lying half in the dark tunnel and half in the light of the cavern. He turned onto his back just in time, as the rasker lunged from the ceiling on top of him.
Up close, it was far more horrifying than he had glimpsed in the tunnel. Its body was like a squirrel’s, hairy and fat, only the size of a large wolf. Its face resembled much more closely some kind of freakish bug, with giant eyes that took up half its face, and huge razor sharp mandibles protruding from the sides of its mouth. The mouth was the worst part. It had giant teeth made for murder, and a horrible clear ooze it drooled onto David’s neck.
He couldn’t lift it off him. His arms were barely keeping the mandibles from slicing his throat open.
“KLEYMON! KLEYMON TAKE OVER! KLEYMON I CAN’T…KLEYMON PLEASE.”
There was no response.
“AGHHH!!” The rasker snapped its jaw onto his right arm and flooded his mind with red hot pain. The parts of his brain evolved for survival recognized that this might be his only opportunity. He let go of the mandible with his right hand and thrust his fingers into one of its eyes with as much force as he could muster. No real damage was done but it screeched with pain and let go of his arm. “PLEASE JUST…” He thrust his hand again at its eye and broke the flesh slightly.
“DIE!” He drove his fingers forward again and this time a light orange flame formed around them. They punctured through the rasker’s eye and into the soft flesh of its brain. It screeched a deafening cry of pain one last time and then fell limp onto his chest. His hand was still stuck inside its head.
“I…did it.” The flame surrounding his hand was the last thing he saw before he fainted.
