Disclaimer: TopCow owns the Witchblade. The rituals and social practices represented in this story are purely imaginary. The cavern does exist (without the cave paintings) - Kartchner Caverns in Arizona.
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Down, down, down, into a blackness heavy with time. Little puffs of dust rose from their footsteps in the still air. Sara fancied she could see footprints from visitors in times past. Sometimes the tunnel opened wider, sometimes it was nearly too narrow to pass through.
Quiet, it was so quiet. The Witchblade had started to hum to itself. It seemed to be singing greetings.
Finally the tunnel opened up into a large open void - a cavern. The cavern was so large that the flashlights couldn't illuminate the far walls or the ceiling. Incredible blocks of stone lay on the floor of the cavern.
The blocks looked like they had just fallen yesterday, the edges were unweathered. But stalactites and stalagmites had grown to meet each other from the ceiling to the blocks. Tens of thousands of years had passed since that ceiling fell. Bones of some long ago lost critter were frozen in a limestone waterfall.
Sara had never before felt claustrophobic but she could understand it now. It was bizarre how such a large open space could feel so confining.
Lasar led her out into the cavern for aways. Here she could see cave paintings - horses, bison, antelope were recognizable. Mankind *had* been here just yesterday - in geologic time.
Finally they came to an area where a small campfire was near a 2 foot round rock. The rock had dark stains on its surface. On a nearby boulder was the First Blade symbol - 3 concentric circles with the jagged line.
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Down, down, down, into a blackness heavy with time. Little puffs of dust rose from their footsteps in the still air. Sara fancied she could see footprints from visitors in times past. Sometimes the tunnel opened wider, sometimes it was nearly too narrow to pass through.
Quiet, it was so quiet. The Witchblade had started to hum to itself. It seemed to be singing greetings.
Finally the tunnel opened up into a large open void - a cavern. The cavern was so large that the flashlights couldn't illuminate the far walls or the ceiling. Incredible blocks of stone lay on the floor of the cavern.
The blocks looked like they had just fallen yesterday, the edges were unweathered. But stalactites and stalagmites had grown to meet each other from the ceiling to the blocks. Tens of thousands of years had passed since that ceiling fell. Bones of some long ago lost critter were frozen in a limestone waterfall.
Sara had never before felt claustrophobic but she could understand it now. It was bizarre how such a large open space could feel so confining.
Lasar led her out into the cavern for aways. Here she could see cave paintings - horses, bison, antelope were recognizable. Mankind *had* been here just yesterday - in geologic time.
Finally they came to an area where a small campfire was near a 2 foot round rock. The rock had dark stains on its surface. On a nearby boulder was the First Blade symbol - 3 concentric circles with the jagged line.