I awoke on the bed of moss I had fallen asleep on hours before. The soft glow of the bioluminescent fungi was just enough to light up the alcove in the rock I had claimed as my own. I saw a gloworm crawl within a crack on the floor, and couldn't held but be envious. That thing had the agency to escape these dastardly caves my ancestors were forced into by the surface people; I however, was just as stuck as the rest of my peers.
We were called the Venomari. One of supposedly five tribes of Serpentine. Our scales were colored primarily in green. Some of us had large rounded heads with wide hoods, and others heads that were more flat, darker colored, and with horns. I was like the majority of my tribe: somewhere in the middle. I had the flatter head, but didn't have the horns. This was what most of us looked like, and at first glance, someone who hadn't had much experience around us would probably have trouble telling us apart.
Today was like any other day. Most of the others who had shared my cave for sleeping had already left, but Zenich was still dosing off. He was always the last to get up, which made his snores all the more obnoxious. I decided to ignore him and find some breakfast.
I entered my wing's kitchen, which was mainly a counter carved in the rock next to a fire pit, and saw my other roommates, Kiev and Gricken, sitting around the fire.
"Ah, Veti! Good morning!" Said a large-hooded Venomari.
"Good morning, Kiev." I replied.
He held up a pot and told me, "I made some salad, want some?"
"Sure, what's in it?" I asked.
"Iceberg, Frog legs, and you know those dim mushrooms I've been growing?"
"Yeah." He'd been working on his garden for months now. At first he'd insisted on putting it in the sleeping cave, but his bioluminescent mushrooms kept us awake, so we told him to move it or we'd destroy it. I think he would've grown a forest in there if we let him.
"So I took those and put them in there, but I combined their juices with burtleberry juice, and it made a nice dressing."
"He's right." Gricken chimed in. He and I shared the same head shape, although his eyes were a little higher up than mine. "It's actually really good, you should try some."
"Alright then." I conceded. I plated some of the salad and took a bite. It was strange, the dressing had a slight bitterness to it, but it wasn't overpowering. Combined with the frog legs it made a unique taste that I was surprised to find I adored.
"Wow." Was all I could say.
"I know, right?" Gricken shot back.
"So I take it Zenich is still asleep?" Keiv asked.
"That's how it usually is." I answered.
"He should seriously get up earlier, he misses most of the day. I'm honestly surprised he manages to keep a job."
"We all are." Gricken retorted. "One day he's gonna get laid off and I'm gonna laugh."
"If he gets laid off that means a few weeks where he probably won't leave the cave at all."
Gricken opened his mouth as if to speak, but then closed it with a defeated expression. "Good point." Was all he could manage to say.
I finished my salad and left in a hurry. I had worked under our tribe's Seer as a bodyguard and didn't want to keep him waiting. Of course, he had more than one bodyguard, that was how I was able to live with my roommates instead of with him, I simply took a morning and afternoon shift. This arrangement also let me hear him tell of his visions before they were disclosed to the public. We were on good terms, so he was more than happy to share them with me, as long as I held promise to keep them in secrecy until they were released.
Today the caves were bustling with action. Venomari moving about the marketplace with purpose gave the place a very unique energy today. To my right I heard an argument as a walked by, something about a price being too high. As I didn't want to make eye contact with either one of the participants, I gazed up at the ceiling for a few moments. It was surprisingly high ceiling for an underground tomb. It stretched up nearly 75 feet in to the air, it was no wonder this grand cave was used for the market as well as most tribe gatherings. I personality liked to think that as far as being imprisoned underground went, we were doing pretty well for ourselves.
After reaching the end of the grand cave , I entered a small hallway, and took a left, and then a right into a path that led upwards. The Seer's cave overlooked the grand cave, as did most of the wealthier Venomari's caves. I reached the door and gave it a knock. Out came a female Venomari with horns. She looked tired. I felt bad for her; her shift began in the evening and stretched into the early hours of the morning.
"Morning Veti." She said, clearly in need of sleep.
"Morning, Telia. I take it the old man is inside?"
"He's meditating. Anyway, I'm exhausted. Have a good shift." She didn't wait for a response, she was already off towards her cave.
I entered and closed the door behind me, allowing the scent of the incense the seer always kept burning to fill my lungs. I didn't mind it, and it helped me keep calm, so that was a plus. The Seer's caves were lavish, to say the least. Providing visions for the tribe had its benefits, and it showed. His caves were decorated withbright tapestries and lined with precious metals. Despite the flashy foyer, I knew that I would most likely find him in his meditation room, which was just on the left and down a hall.
I tried to enter the meditation room quietly, but I wasn't sure of how quiet I was, what with the creaking of the door. The Seer sat in the middle of the room, with a stick of incense burning on both sides of him, creating a thin ring of smoke around him. Not wanting to disturb the Seer, I simply sat down and joined him in meditation. Unfortunately, I was never really good at it, and so my thoughts wondered to the Seer's previous vision. It told him of a tunnel's collapse, which incidentally came to pass a month later. But it also told him that a whole new sector of caves which would be uncovered while clearing out the collapsed tunnel. Sure enough, while clearing it out, a new stretch of interconnecting underground passages was found. It was quite the discovery, allowing pressure put on by population to be relived.
I wasn't sure how he did it, how the Seer managed to catch glimpses of the future. Whenever I ask he usually gives me vague answers, like "Focus your mind," or, "Become empty that what is to come will fill you." I've tried in the past to reach that sweet spot of meditation, I just can't.
Suddenly the Seer gasped and opened his eyes. I looked up to his horned face, he was breathing heavily.
"Seer? Are you alright?"
"Veti..." He said between gasps, "I... King Mambo's ghost, I've just had a terribly worrying vision."
"What? Hold on, can I get you anything? Are you okay?"
"Just listen, Veti." He said with a grave expression, "I saw us. All of us, the whole tribe. We were outside. We were on the surface!"
My eyes went wide. "Seer, that's incredible!"
"There's more. It wasn't just us, it was all of the other tribes, too. The Hypnobrai, the Fangpire, and the Constrictai too. And what's more, there was a lone Anocondrai at our head, leading us out into the surface."
I couldn't believe my ears. Freedom. A way out of this prison I've known for all my life. "So... what about the vision is worrying?"
"Because there was more to the vision. Not long after we emerged, a great darkness covered the land, and we all retreated back to the underground world, but the Anicondrai remained to face the darkness alone. I am afraid that this Anicondrai will spell both our salvaion and our doom."
"Well if it means we leave for the surface, you have to tell the tribe, right?"
He looked down and shook his head. "Some things are too much for some to bear. I am afraid that if I share this vision, a mass hysteria will emerge within the tribe. I cannot do that to all of the people and I cannot do that to Acidicus; how would he manage the tribe with a crisis like this on his hands? No, it is too much for our people to bear, and I forbid you to speak of it."
I thought for a moment. "So what if Acidicus knew? He could plan for the tribe's future, and then you two could break the news to the tribe slowly."
The Seer stroked his chin, "That could work. Then we would have ample time to work it out. My only worry then is that it should come to pass before we disclose it to the people. But I suppose that nevertheless, Acidicus should know all the same. We leave for an audience now, this cannot wait."
Without another word the Seer was off, and I trailed behind him, on the way to see the tribe's General.