Greeting: In today's chapter, it is the time to follow Rachel's instinct and descend into a dark cave.
Anything could be down there. What will they find? Now we shall find out!
( Rachel, Doug, Ray and the Smiths. The descent)
As the bus and the children were left behind, the animatronics got alerted.
Milla wasn't able to see much but she was, in fact, less scared than Rachel or Doug. The sky, still above their heads, didn't provide much light at all.
The animatronics could see well in the dark and Milla's eyes were adjusting quickly. Rachel was with Ray and Doug was with the Smiths.
The way, the sinkhole had formed, was too convenient to be a coincidence. The stone formed an almost perfect staircase to the bottom.
There was water dripping down the cold walls and wind was blowing from below.
It was slippery and they had to walk slowly.
" Do we really have to go all the way down? Maybe the thing, you're looking for, isn't at the bottom", Ray suggested.
Rachel glanced at him. Her eyes were certain and devoid of all doubt.
" No. It's at the bottom. There is nothing above it. This cave is close to bedrock. I just know it. Nobody has probably been down here in centuries", she answered Ray.
The raccoon wasn't certain if Rachel was only joking or if she was serious.
There was light coming from below along with the wind. The breeze brought echoes with it, they hit Ray's ears.
It was not just a cave, he could feel it too. Ray understood why Rachel had wanted to go down.
He knew that Rachel wanted to flee too. It just.. felt wrong to leave.
" Bless us", Ray whispered silently and did the sign of the cross.
Wherever they were descending, Ray was afraid of it. If it hadn't been bad enough before, Milla began to whistle happily while walking.
Doug felt calmer when he was with the Smiths.
Ray, on the other hand, found Milla's whistling very annoying.
" Could you stop that? You're driving my nerves nuts", Ray asked Milla.
He sounded like he was trying to hold back anger.
" Why? Silence makes me nervous. You wouldn't understand. Silence is the worst thing ever", Milla told Ray.
Her time in the closet, in their house, had made her afraid of silence. She needed to whistle in order to keep the ghosts at bay.
" At least whistle more quietly", demanded Ray.
They descended into the cave and the light, below, got brighter.
" Rachel!", a voice shouted from above.
Rachel, Ray and Doug jumped in fear. The Smiths just glanced up calmly.
" What, little boy?", Fritz shouted to a boy who standing on the edge.
" I want to speak with Rachel. Is she down there?", the boy asked Fritz.
It was dark down there and the boy couldn't see a thing.
" Yes, sweetie. I'm right here. What's the matter?", Rachel responded to the boy's voice.
" Will you be back soon?", the boy wanted to know.
" Very soon, little one. Don't worry", she smiled even if the boy couldn't see it.
That calmed him down.
" Okay. I'll go tell my friends", the boy said gladly and left.
Rachel looked at the others.
" Kids", she shook her head and smiled.
They continued and hoped that nothing would happen up there. The monsters were gone for the time being but they might come back.
Though, Rachel doubted that. Milla and Fritz had really scared them off.
The last circles around the hole were scary. Ray expected anything to jump out at any time.
Nothing did in the end but Ray was terrified. There was no light source at the bottom, the light was coming from the walls.
It looked like phosphor. The cave continued towards the north.
It was perfectly circular, man-made obviously, and the walls were beautifully flat.
" This doesn't look so bad. It seemed way darker from the top", Milla jumped around joyfully.
She stepped into a puddle and her shoes got wet.
" Shit", she cursed and got out of it.
" They could invest into plumbing though. It's not hard to install sewers", she added.
They moved further. They lost the sight of sky, it got claustrophobic.
" No one has been here in centuries. They didn't have sewers back then. I don't think this was built to be lived in either", Fritz told his daughter.
" It's like a tomb", Doug shivered in fear.
" A tomb for whom? Neither Indians nor colonists buried their dead like this", Fritz shook his head in confusion.
Rachel shivered as a drop of water fell on her head. It got sucked into her fur and her metal was safe from rusting.
The cave was shining like glitter.
Rachel looked at the walls and the cave drawings on them. It looked like the early people built it but it was too perfect to be dug by them.
The walls were full of those cave drawings. There was some figure with golden eyes and a sword. The eyes were glowing and it roused humility in Rachel.
Other figures were pictured as smaller and they were kneeling by the looks of it.
Some leader perhaps?
Some figures were standing on two legs, which was not weird. They had tails too, which was rather strange.
" Animatronics?", Rachel whispered to herself.
It looked like a huge battle with many lost warriors. It was all over the walls.
Death, screams and children.
Rachel knew they were children because she had lived with them for a long time.
The way, those tiny, human figures cowered behind the animatronics, was familiar.
Other animatronics tried to kill the children while others protected them. The golden-eyed figure was killing so many things in all the pictures.
Maybe that was his tomb.
The depictions of animatronics were giving her the chills. Animatronics hadn't existed centuries ago.
Rachel became more and more certain of them being there for a reason.
The cave ended ahead. There was what appeared to be a large room. The cave was a hallway of sorts and it lead to the main room.
Fritz, Ray and Milla were ready for a fight. The room had something in the middle of it.
Rachel beckoned the rest to remain calm and slow down. Rachel reached the end of the stony hallway and wanted to be the first to go.
" I'll check it out. If there are traps, I will trigger them", she told her friends.
Doug was reluctant to let her do it but Ray patted his shoulder. Rachel knew what she was doing or at least felt that she was doing the right thing.
The room seemed empty more or less. Rachel didn't believe that anything would drop on her.
She took a step forward and left the safety of the hallway.
The room's ceiling was now above her frail head. If anything attacked, she would be in danger.
Doug had closed his eyes in fear. He expected to hear something like Rachel's scream for instance.
Rachel's voice was what he heard.
" It's safe. There's nothing, just a stone ceiling with glowing text on it", Rachel comforted her friends.
It made Doug jump as it was Rachel's voice like he had expected.
For a second, Doug thought that he had been right. Rachel had said that quite loudly.
Ray patted him on the back.
" It's okay, Doug", he told the dog.
Doug opened his eyes, looking like a scared puppy. Then he calmed down.
Rachel was fine, walking deeper into the room.
The place was fascinating. There was a wide platform in the middle of the room.
There was also, on top of that, a podium in the middle of the platform. They, together, formed an altar, made of two layers.
There was text on the side of the platform. Rachel couldn't understand it one bit.
Those letters were not something she could read. They kind of looked like Arabian or Sanskrit letters.
Rachel knew they were neither but that was what Rachel thought when she saw them.
" Fascinating. Truly fascinating", Rachel whispered to herself.
Whatever was on that podium had been important to the builders. The room was empty apart from the altar.
Someone had put effort into building it. The surfaces were flat, the edges were sharp.
If she hadn't known better, she would have said that they had been made using a laser.
" What could have made this?", thought Rachel.
She couldn't see what was on the top of the podium. It was too high.
If Rachel walked onto the platform, she would see the object.
The top of the podium was too small to hold a corpse unless it was in an urn. Whatever it was, seemed like the whole place had been built for it.
There was literally nothing else it could have been built for.
She admired the builders' dedication.
There were two statues at the frontal corners of the wide platform. They were sitting at the edges and facing the hallway.
Rachel saw two more at the rear corners, they were facing the back wall. All four were sitting in a lotus position, with their legs crossed in other words.
They looked like monks with their eyes closed.
" What the..? That's creepy", Rachel whispered and shook her head.
They were anthropomorphic animals, not a surprise.
At least the two at the front were. A bunny and a bear.
The others were looking around the room. Fritz admired the statues at the back.
They looked like ballerinas. The other one had a cool hair style which Milla wanted for herself. Both had stony skirts and cold skins.
Rachel didn't go to the back of the room. She looked at the animals, at the front.
The statues looked like some guardians of the altar. Rachel desired to see what the altar was about.
The statues were weird but Rachel was not interested in them. She stepped onto the platform and walked forward, towards the podium.
The others weren't paying much attention to her. Doug was the only one who didn't like her idea.
" Rachel!", he whispered.
The bunny looked at him.
" Come down. I don't like this. Let's just go. The children must be worried sick. Nick should have fixed the bus by now", he reasoned with her.
" Calm down, Doug. No one's here. I'll just check this out and then we'll leave", Rachel promised him.
Doug was close to tears of dread. He was scared out of his mind, he couldn't help it.
Everything, about that place, was unnatural.
The statues were unnatural, the room and the scriptures were unnatural. Doug wanted to leave already.
Rachel snorted at the wimpy animatronic. She was just going to take a look.
Even though even Rachel herself knew the truth. She was going to take the object, no matter what it would be.
The podium got closer as she walked forward. Doug looked at the hallway and the light, on the walls.
No one was looking at Rachel right then. The Smiths were too focused on admiring the scriptures.
Ray had sat down in exhaustion.
Rachel got closer to the podium and the object was starting to loom inside her eyes. Its reflection was inside them.
She wanted it more than anything. It was long and sharp, just like Rachel's gaze.
The sword, on the podium, was extraordinary. Beautiful jewels had been sunk into the gold and the silver.
The handle was pure gold and the blade was silver. The edges were shining in the light.
There was a bright lump of the shining substance in the ceiling and the light was coming from it.
The sword had its own spotlight and Rachel wanted it for herself.
" It's even more beautiful than I could have imagined", Rachel thought by herself.
Deep within, she had known what she would find.
" Take me. Let me be born once again", the sword encouraged Rachel.
" Oh yes. I will. You are mine", Rachel thought, alone.
She was too concentrated on the sword. Someone was behind her.
Something had felt her presence and come for her. The sword was welcoming Rachel with open arms, she needed it.
That beauty had been waiting for her all those years. Rachel was neither scared nor confused.
She wanted to touch it quickly. That was her fate. That was her purpose.
Cold feet came towards her as she reached for the sword. The thing was standing right behind her, still like rock.
" Come here, my baby", Rachel was excited to feel it in her hand.
She was sure that it would fill the void inside her.
The thing reached out for Rachel and she reached out for the treasure. Rachel's finger was almost touching the precious blade.
Suddenly, a black hand grabbed hers and stopped it in place.
" I wouldn't do that if I were you", a foreign voice told her.
That woke her up and made her jump. Rachel jumped to the right and turned to face the owner of that black hand.
She let out a startled scream and the others noticed her and the other being.
Rachel stopped in confusion. It was the rabbit statue, staring at her with its white pupils.
The eyes were wide, which led Rachel into believing that the other rabbit was afraid too.
Rachel had been about to do something horrible. The black rabbit didn't let go of her arm.
The others surrounded the platform and got their weapons out. The black rabbit remained calm and looked at Rachel.
" I'm sorry. I'm so sorry", Rachel apologized to the other rabbit.
The white pupils got smaller as Rachel looked into them.
" Me and my friends forgive you, strange rabbit", the black rabbit said with a weird voice.
" What friends?", Rachel asked her.
The others looked at the rest of the statues.
" They are alive too. Wakey, wakey!", Milla went to one and knocked it on the head.
The strange, taller of the two, ballerina opened her eyes and stood up.
" Is it the time?", she asked Milla who didn't answer.
" That was an unnecessary act, my friend", said the black rabbit.
The two other statues woke up too. All seemed confused at first but then they calmed down.
Rachel ripped herself out of the rabbit's grip.
" Well, I'm sorry about that. We just stumbled across this place. We thought you to be statues", Rachel told her.
The black rabbit looked at her friends who came to her.
By all accounts, the black rabbit wouldn't have wanted to wake them up.
" Did she touch the sword?", asked the male bear.
He didn't know anything about the visitors but the sword was what he was concerned about.
The two others were concerned too. The dark rabbit shook her head.
They really were guardians. Rachel looked at them confusedly. The rest were surprised too.
Those weren't statues at all, they were animatronics.
Weird, black and made of stone perhaps but animatronics nonetheless.
" Why did you try to touch it?", the bear asked Rachel and got very close.
He was a tiny bit more aggressive than the rabbit.
" It was shiny and I wanted to feel it in my grasp", Rachel answered quickly.
" They are not here to steal it. They aren't her majesty's enemies. No Legends here", the black rabbit told the bear.
" Actually. Who are you then?", the rabbit added, looking at the visitors.
Rachel knew the answer was expected to come from her mouth.
" I'm Rachel. There's Doug, Ray, Milla and Fritz. We aren't here to harm you", she said, pointing at her friends.
" I know you aren't here to harm us. Otherwise, you'd be dead already", the rabbit stopped her.
" You are wiser than most in that case even if you are foolish to come here in the first place", the bear added.
" Shadow freddy. Remember the manners. They are lost and afraid. Respect another animatronic as you respect yourself", the black rabbit said.
" Shadow freddy?", Doug asked suddenly.
That was weird.
" Yes. I am Shadow bonnie. Those two are Baby and Ballora. We guard this sword with our lives. He can't leave until it is his time", explained Shadow bonnie.
That seemed weird to everyone. Shadow bonnie spoke of that sword like it was a person.
Milla began to talk with Baby about her hair style.
Rachel looked at Shadow bonnie.
" You have no fur", Rachel told her, staring at her cold, furless skin.
" And you do yet I don't see how. That is not organic, at least it hasn't been in a long time", replied Shadow bonnie.
Rachel let Shadow bonnie touch and touch her fur.
" It's plastic faux fur. You know, made of oil", Rachel told her, weirded out.
" Oil? Plastic?", Shadow bonnie admired it.
Rachel couldn't see her expression but she was pretty sure Shadow bonnie had raised her eyebrow.
That cold thing had no idea of what Rachel was talking about. Shadow freddy joined in and petted Rachel's back like it was a new coat.
" Hey. Let go of her", Ray came to stop them.
" You have plastic fur too. Fascinating", Shadow bonnie moved onto touching Ray.
The raccoon pushed her hand away.
" You haven't seen the outside world much, have you? You also look like animatronics but you aren't. You are made of stone", Ray told her.
Shadow bonnie was confused.
" But animatronics are made of stone. With a soul and magic, we become something more. You have a soul too but your body is different.
It's more complicated than ours and it has no magic in it", Shadow bonnie told him.
Ray sighed.
" Are you ready to leave, Rachel? I don't want to have anything to do with this", Ray looked into Rachel's eyes.
She understood his point clearly.
" Don't get me wrong, Shadow bonnie. You seem nice and all but this scares me. When were you made?
Did people live in castles when you went to sleep?", Ray asked her a few questions.
Shadow bonnie wasn't offended but she saw nothing scary about the situation.
The sword was safe so everything was alright.
" People don't live in castles. Castellans live in castles. Witches built us to protect this sword. It belonged to our queen. She was a wonderful girl.
Children are lovely even if they are meant to be queens", Shadow bonnie was happy.
The talk about magic and witches meant nothing but confusion to Ray.
Fritz reacted to it though.
" Oh. You are connected to those guys. Witches are still a thing if it comforts you.
These guys don't know anything about their makers though", Fritz pointed at the animatronics.
" Witches have become a legend. You are scaring the shit out of them", he added.
It made Shadow bonnie sad or at least that's what it seemed like.
" Well. It's not our problem. The sword is safe. It's not going anywhere", Shadow bonnie smiled.
Her white teeth were shiny.
" But we are. Let's leave. Everyone! Let's go", Ray shouted to the others in his group.
The animatronics and Milla got ready to leave. Shadow freddy spoke to Ray a bit and made him promise not to tell anyone about that place.
" We have certain enemies that would do anything to get this sword. If it ended up in the wrong hands, it could bring doom upon us all", Shadow freddy told Ray.
" I'll keep that in mind. Even though doom sort of is here already. Just don't come to the surface", Ray responded.
Rachel was still by the sword as the others entered the hallway. The shadow animatronics looked at her.
" Are you ready to go? Your friends are leaving", Ballora asked Rachel.
The bunny nodded to her.
" Come, Rachel", Doug beckoned her to come.
" Okay. I'm coming. Just one little thing", Rachel promised.
" What thing?", Shadow freddy asked her confusedly.
Rachel's eyes became grim.
" This", she said angrily and grabbed the sword.
It felt good in her grip, not heavy at all. Then she took off running.
" No!", Shadow bonnie's voice echoed in the room.
That had come out of nowhere.
" Run!", Rachel shouted to her friends who followed their instincts.
" Kill them! They can't take him!", Shadow bonnie screamed in agony.
The animatronics were almost on the other side of the hallway.
" Let it go! What are you doing?", Doug asked Rachel.
" I need this. It wants me to take it", Rachel answered him.
As they reached the other room and got ready to run up the stairs, Rachel heard something. It was a scream.
She looked at the other room and saw Shadow bonnie running like Sonic the hedgehog himself. The others started climbing but Rachel stopped.
Shadow bonnie was too fast. Rachel decided to stop her by striking her with the sword.
" You can't have him!", Shadow bonnie shouted as she charged at Rachel.
" Yes, I can and I will!", Rachel cut her with the sword.
Shadow bonnie blocked it with her hand but something happened. The sword struck her with energy and she gasped.
Shadow bonnie flew backwards and a series of pictures flew past her vision. She got scared.
" I'm sorry", she apologized to Rachel and watched her leave.
Rachel ran after her friends. The other shadow animatronics came to Shadow bonnie.
" Wait! Let them leave", Shadow bonnie got up and stopped her friends.
Rachel ran out and straight into the bus. The others had come sooner and told Nick to start the bus.
Fritz and Milla had gone into their own car and started it. In the bus, Ray was angry at Rachel.
" We'll discuss this, Rachel. You are insane", he told her as the door closed.
Rachel was going to have a lot to explain. Both vehicles took off and drove away.
The shadow animatronics came to the surface but it was too late. The vehicles were too fast and too far away.
" He's gone. That cursed rabbit took him", Ballora fell to her knees.
" Shadow bonnie. Why did you let her take him? Mother will be so angry", Baby weeped.
Shadow bonnie herself was calm and happy.
" He showed mother. Why are you weeping, siblings? The time has come", she smiled, looking in the horizon.
" It has? We didn't fail?", Shadow freddy raised his eyebrows.
Shadow bonnie looked at him.
" We haven't. Mother has a new form. He wants to get to her. That bunny will take him to mother, our queen.
The world has fallen and the final decision awaits", she replied to him.
" Well, good luck then. Hopefully she doesn't fail him and our queen. She is just a bunny", Ballora sighed.
" She is an animatronic. Strong and mighty. She won't fail if she keeps her head and the sword doesn't consume her.
Ornica, the queen, will have him", Shadow bonnie said with determination in her voice.
Farewell: Unfortunately, these animatronics won't follow us any further. We have enough animatronics already.
Hopefully you liked this chapter even if it was pretty slow paced with a quick ending.
THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE IS TO WRITE.
