Chapter Four: The first floor
Tia passed the rest of the night uneasily, seated on the cave floor with her back to the wall. Even when she closed her eyes she could feel the old man – the cave corpse as she thought of him – staring at her. Finally, when Tia thought that she could stand the cave no longer, Dekar and Lexis roused.
"Dawn," Lexis observed with a glance at the door. Weak sunshine flashed through the curtain of rain outside the cave.
Dekar rose and stretched. "Remind me not to sleep with rocks against my back next time. I don't think I slept a wink."
"You were snoring loud enough last night," Tia teased him. Already she felt more cheerful. Soon they would be leaving this creepy chamber and the cave corpse behind. "I bet you slept more than you think."
"Are you ready?" The cave corpse asked Lexis. "If you are, it will be ninety gold for the three of you to enter."
"We're ready," Lexis said with a dubious look at the old man. "I can't believe you charge people for this," he muttered, digging out the money.
"It's business," the old man stated defensively. He held out his gnarled hand and snatched the coins. "Right this way, please." The cave corpse shambled off to the double doors leading to the heart of the Ancient Cave. The pale guard at the doors had fallen asleep at his post. He was leaning partly against the doors and partly against the earthen cave wall. When the old man roused him, the guard snapped awake. "Open the door!" the cave corpse hissed.
Wiping at the smudge on his face, the guard complied in shame-faced silence.
"How many times have I told you not to just nod off like that?" the old man berated him.
The guard mumbled something inarticulate under his breath and then said, "Through these doors is a warp tile. All you need to do is step into it, and you will be transported to the lower halls of the Ancient Cave. Good luck to you," he said with a bow.
The room containing the warp tile was too small for the three of them to enter together. Lexis went first, followed by Dekar. Before Tia could enter, the cave corpse seized her arm with his skeletal, yellowed fingers. She gasped in revulsion. "Beware," he said to her. "I know you are different from the company you keep." His sour breath wafted into her face. "Know this," he hissed. "This cave recognizes the faint of heart. Be strong in your resolve, or the cave shall eat you alive!"
Tia finally succeeded in twisting her arm out of his grip. The double doors shut behind her once the old man had left the opening. She leaned against the wall for a moment, recovering her breath. Her arm was red where he had grabbed her. The marks burned with cold fire. Shuddering, she examined the warp tile. Its surface was a tarnished mirror, a cold gray hue that reflected her face in sinister, dim hues. Tia took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and stepped into the warp hole. Chimes rang in her ears; her entire body seemed to vibrate as if it was suspended in wind-tossed water. When she opened her eyes, she had materialized between Lexis and Dekar.
"What took you so long?" Dekar asked.
"Well, you know… It's been a while since I've been on an adventure," she said hastily. "I was a little hesitant to enter."
Lexis smiled broadly. "That makes two of us. Looks like you'll have your work cut out for you, Dekar."
"No problem," the warrior said. "I am the strongest man in the world, after all." He puffed out his chest importantly.
"Well then, we're in good hands. Shall we be off?" Lexis said.
"Let's go that way…" Tia pointed across the vast expanse marble-white tiles to the doors at the top of the room.
"OKAY!" Dekar's eyes were fairly glowing with excitement. When the party reached the door, Dekar smiled apologetically. "I would say, 'Ladies first,' Tia. But...since I really don't know what's behind the door…."
"Oh get going, Dekar," Lexis interrupted. "Really, at this rate, Artea and Guy will probably have to wait for us at the bottom of the cave. And…" he added, "you know how Guy will gloat if he and Artea make it to the bottom first. He'll think we had trouble or something."
"I'll show him a thing or two…when we make it to the bottom floor first!" Dekar said. He aimed a kick at the heavy double doors. They flew open with a cranky creak apiece.
Tia and Lexis looked at one another and rolled their eyes. Dekar, meanwhile, bounded into the next room. "Hey, look, Lexis! Monsters!" Tia looked over Lexis's shoulder. Sure enough, two blobs of blue jelly were oozing at the edges of the room. "A profound observation, Dekar," Lexis said. Suddenly Tia felt the burden of the fear that had accumulated since the night before lighten. She had fought jellies before with Maxim.
"They're just babies, though," Dekar scoffed. "I'm going to leave them so they can get big and strong."
Lexis coughed. "Whatever you say, Dekar. Let's hurry and find the stairs."
They set off through another door to the left of the one they had entered. As they traversed the floor, Tia noticed that the "Ancient Cave" was not like a cave at all. Each floor was meticulously tiled, sometimes in vibrant reds, blues, or green. Even the acres of white tiles were scrupulously clean, as if some unfortunate person spent hours scrubbing them. Fastidious pillars rose from the floor to the ceiling, part of a forest of marble.
Finally they reached the stairs. Pitch darkness encased the spindly stairwell. As Dekar clanged to the bottom, the spiral stairs began to sway. Lexis caught hold of the rusty handrail with a curse. Tia was almost thrown into the scientist before she could regain her footing. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. To what hell did this horrendous stairwell lead? However, when she emerged into the light again, the room resembled that of the floor above. White marble stretched onward for many paces, overshadowed by pillars.
"So it is true," Lexis whispered as Tia rejoined him and Dekar.
"What is?" Dekar asked.
"The stairs lead only downwards… As we descend, the way upstairs vanishes…"
"What?" Dekar whirled around. Where the hazardous stairs had been, like a dark stain bleeding across the white tiles, there was now a wall.
Tia's flesh prickled. Dekar appeared similarly astonished. He did not remain stunned for long, however. Out of the corner of his eye, the warrior spotted several beetles the size of Tia walking along the wall. "Hey, more monsters! Those are more my size I think…"
"Dekar wait!" Tia shouted, remembering too late the words of the sign.
"Don't worry about him, Tia," Lexis said. "He's not being too conceited when he says he's the strongest man in the world."
"No, Lexis, you don't understand! You didn't read the sign on that old man's counter…" She grabbed him by the sleeve of his lab coat and dragged him into Dekar's fray.
"Glad you could help," Dekar grunted. "I know this sounds ridiculous," he said, kicking one of the beetles away from him, "but I seem to have left my sword upstairs."
"Hey! Where's my figgoru?" Lexis shouted in dismay. "Oh well," he muttered, driving his fist into the beetle Dekar had just felled. Black blood squirted his knuckles. The scientist grimaced and backed away. "I must really be out of practice," he said. "I don't remember mere beetles being this hard to fight."
"They're not," Tia said frantically. "The sign on the old man's counter said that all items and experience vanish once you enter this cave."
"WHAT?!" Dekar exclaimed, missing his mark. The beetle he had targeted scuttled aside clumsily.
"How is that possible?" Lexis gasped. Sweat dripped from his glasses. "It just can't be!"
"But the evidence is right in front of you! Neither of you have your weapons, and these beetles that we know are weak are making you sweat!" Tia argued.
Dekar sent another beetle hurtling into the wall. Its shell split with a sickening crack. The remaining beetle fled to the opposite end of the room.
Dekar wiped his fists on his pants. Lexis stared at the blood crusting atop his knuckles in disbelief. "This is so strange," Lexis admitted. "My whole head is buzzing…like all my mental energy is going into remembering what I forgot."
"Same here," said Dekar, nonetheless retaining his typical vacant stare.
"Tia, are you feeling anything?" Lexis asked.
Tia shook her head. "Nothing. I didn't fight, though… That must be the reason."
"In any case, we can't go on like this," Lexis declared, shaking his hand in an ineffective attempt to get the blood off. "This can't be sanitary."
"There's a treasure chest over there," Dekar said. "I'll go see what's inside."
Tia followed him to the chest, which shimmered as if it were made from molten rubies. Dekar lifted the lid. "Terrific," he muttered. "A fry pan."
"Give me that," Tia said. Dekar raised an eyebrow but gave her the shiny pan.
For the next few minutes, the party traversed long stretches of windowless hallways that wound round and round, and back and forth. They saw no treasure chests nor did they encounter any monsters. At length, they reached the second floor stairwell, which was darker than the first.
"It would be really nice to have a light for these places," Lexis grumbled.
"Oh come on," Dekar yelled as he bounded down the skinny steps. "That just makes it more fun-OWW!"
"Dekar!" Tia shouted.
"Are you okay?" Lexis called.
Dekar cursed loudly. Tia forgot her fear that the stairs would snag onto her dress and trip her. She hurtled down the stairs brandishing her frying pan. She was nearly at the bottom when the staircase began to tear from the ceiling. "Eek!" Tia screamed. An enormous buffalo had rammed its head and shoulders into the gap between the stair railings. Clearly it had tried to charge Dekar as he gallivanted carelessly through the dark. Dekar saw Tia coming with the fry pan and ducked. Tia flew over his crouched figure, smashing the fry pan into the buffalo's face. As the beast struggled, more of the staircase gave way, shrieking and squeaking. Dekar straightened and swung Tia over the side of the stairs. Then he jumped over the edge to land unharmed.
"I need a weapon," Dekar growled under his breath. He dashed into the lighted chambers beyond the stairs.
"Dekar wait!" Tia screamed. "The stairs will disappear! What about Lexis?!?!"
A dim shape, Lexis fell almost from the very top of the stairs. He hurtled to the ground beside Tia. Meanwhile, the buffalo hurled itself from side to side, its thrashing growing more and more frenzied.
"Tia, let's move out of the way!" Lexis shouted. They fled the stairwell just in time. Before the stairs disappeared, Tia had a fleeting sight of the black iron toppling, ripped from the ceiling like the blighted roots of a dead tree.
"Lexis! You're not hurt!" Tia marveled.
Lexis rubbed at the back of his head. "Overmuch…" he corrected her. "It seems that I had the good fortune to land on some leaves." He held out the gray-green leaves for Tia's inspection.
"Terrific! You're both alright!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "Look what I found!" He swung his splendid new blade in the air.
"Dekar!" Tia fumed. "You left Lexis on the stairs while that buffalo was tearing them out of the ceiling! How irresponsible!"
Dekar lowered his sword, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, Lexis," he said. "Are you unhurt?"
"I'll live," Lexis answered wryly. "Remember to save us once in a while, okay Dekar?"
"Sure thing," Dekar said. "Here's something that will baffle your scientific mind, Lexis. What are plants doing inside the Ancient Cave?"
Lexis shrugged. "Beats me. Why though? Do I still have leaves in my hair?"
"Nope. Look." Dekar waved his hand. Gray-green vines trailed from the walls like strands of rotted hair. Shrubs of a similar hue eclipsed the floor tiles.
Lexis stopped and stared at the peculiar greenery. "Oh my goodness! I really don't know why they are growing here of all places…" He spoke slowly as if his mind was elsewhere. "I do know, however, that from the Ancient Cave, we should expect no less than the unexpected."
Dekar and Tia silently agreed.
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Excerpt from Lexis Shaia's log:
Today Dekar, Tia, and I entered the Ancient Cave. We reached the tenth floor at the end of the day. We are spending the night near the stairs to the eleventh floor. If we continue to progress at this rate, we will attain the bottom floor in nine days.
I do not trust this cave… It rather reminds me of a living entity, though I have little evidence to support the point. I have made several observations today, which, though phenomenal – scientifically speaking – are also disturbing. The cave changes shape with the dawn. No two shapes are said to be alike. What causes the cave to change its shape? And just what determines the shape that it takes? Is there a pattern of some sort? And if so, is it magical, mathematical, or a mixture of the two? The halls and chambers are infested with monsters, both herbivorous and carnivorous. There are plants in this cave, which grow in the absence of sunlight. Their color is ghostly…peculiar as a rule. The presence of monsters and vegetation leads me to this question. Who or what made this cave? What purpose did they have in making it? The coincidences are too perfect to be wrought of chance. I can only conclude that this cave is one of the more worthy – though overlooked due to its danger- scientific marvels of the world. I am both honored and apprehensive to explore it, for I dread what I might uncover…
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Author's notes: I am going on vacation very soon…which is to say that updates are unlikely until mid-June. Terribly sorry about that. Anyhow, I will be working on this fic while I am away (the old fashioned way though – pen and paper -), so Doc, please don't get too happy with that whip, okay? Oh, and Doc… Thank you so much for your wonderful, motivating reviews!