Aegis: Catalyst Grove

by Nathan Roten

  Damien was the first to tumble. Graham and Kel were not far behind. The hill seemed endless as all four of them tumbled down the embankment like small coins bouncing down a staircase. Side over side and head over heals, they continued to fall towards a large ravine. Each one scrambled for anything that would help them stop falling, but there was nothing to grab onto. Kel fell into a small patch of bushes. As she hit, the obstruction slowed her momentum down just enough to steady her pace and allow her to the ability to shift over on her back. Waves of panic closed her throat and stiffened her muscles as she caught a glimpse of the trees near the bottom of the hill and the huge gap in the ground beyond them.

  Instinct kicked in as Kel pushed both arms in front of her. A strong pulse of energy bursted from her hands and penetrated the ground in front them. The earth shook and rumbled, then exploded twenty feet beyond where the blast had entered the ground. Small trees blew out of the ground, the force of the blast propelling them through the air. They corkscrewed towards the bottom of the hill, until crashing to the ground, bridging the gap of the ravine.

  They all continued to tumble side over side until they spilled into the huge crater in the ground made by Kel’s blast. They all descended into the crater, then bounced out, but at a much lower velocity than when they entered. Each taking a few more rolls, they eventually came to a stop just inches away from the exposed root systems of the trees now bridging the large gap in the ground.

  The disorientation of the fall made them nauseated. The whole forest was still spinning just as fast as their stomachs were churning. Graham and Kel stood to their feet under weak knees, looking around for Damien and Ailey. They too were struggling to stand without falling back down. Graham wobbled over to Ailey to help her stand. Grabbing her left side with her right hand, Kel found Damien laying in-between the two trees that provided the way over the gap. Limping and wincing from the sharp pain in her side, she walked over to Damien. He was turning over onto his hands bracing himself against the trunk of one of the trees. He shook his head slowly trying to level out his equilibrium.

  Graham and Ailey ran over to the fallen trees where Kel and Damien were. Graham wrapped his hands around Ailey’s waist and lifted her on top of the fallen tree.

  “Its not a big tree, but it should hold us,” said Graham. Its gonna have to.

  Still holding his head, Damien did the same on the 2nd tree. The two trees were farther apart on their end than on the other side, but they were still close enough to where they could hold out their hands and balance one another. Damien leaned to the right to take hold of Ailey’s hand. Her grip was shocking strong for an 11 year old. Damien made eye contact and said, “On three, ok. On three we will start together.”

  Ailey shook her head up and down.

  “One…two…three.”

  On three, Damien held his left foot out in front of him and waited for Ailey to do the same. He timed his steps with hers taking the first few steps with ease. Damien’s eyes bounced back and forth from the tree, then to Ailey, making sure she was ok.

  “You are doing great, chica.”

  Ailey smiled, but did not take her gaze from her tree.

  Kel looked at Damien with a hint of jealousy in her eyes. She had noticed that Damien took to Ailey right off the bat, but why? Ailey was her responsibility.

  Graham tried to read Kel’s expression. Why was she staring at Damien like that? Was she scheming? This split second allowed Graham to think about what just happened. Cavaness had just pushed some kind of energy in the ground, making it erupt. Kel had just done the same thing to these trees. This can’t be a coincidence. She was one of them. She had to be. As he stepped up on the tree behind Damien, he could hardly stand the thought of holding his hand out, waiting for Kel to place her hand in his. Kel reached over and took hold. Her hand was soft. Much nicer than his rough, calloused hands. They were like silk. Come to think of it, this was the first time he had ever held a girl’s hand before. Graham actually felt his cheeks blush a little. Come on Graham, get it together, his mind told him. She is the enemy and you are literally running for your lives. Deal with this later.

  “Are you ok? Still dizzy?” asked Kel.

  “Uh, yea. Yea, I am still dizzy from the fall,” lied Graham. Better to seem dizzy than giving away his distrust. He could not let on. “You ready?”

  “Yes. Right foot first?”

  “Sure.” Graham held his right foot out to time his steps with Kel. Looking ahead, they saw that Damien and Ailey were about 3/4 of the way there. Graham and Kel were able to take their second step before they felt the ground shake. They both looked back just in time to see the ground under the roots of their trees give way and crumble underneath, as beams of light poured from the cracks in the ground. Before loosing his footing, Graham saw Cavaness at the top of the hill with an outstretched hand. He had just fired another wave of energy into the ground.

  The bottom of the trees fell a couple of feet before hitting ground again. The decent of the tree combined with the jolt of the roots was all it took. The tree only fell a foot or two, but it seemed like a mile and lasted an eternity. They tried to steady themselves against one another, but it was too much. The roots falling back on the uneven ground made the tree roll to the side dumping all four of them over the edge of the ravine. They all clawed for the tree, screaming as they fell into darkness.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Uncharted Waters

  The decent took only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Grabbing at air, the walls of the ravine amplified their screams as the echoes. Their vision was limited in the darkness with no way to know what was at the bottom and no way to tell when to brace for impact. All they could do was hopelessly fall into the sheet of black, waiting for it to be over. An overwhelming sense of dread came over Graham. Thousands of memories flashed through his head making it seem like they had been falling forever, but in reality, it only took seconds before they plunged into the icy water.

  The sting of the frigid river contracted every muscle in their bodies forcing them into the fetal position. The river was deep enough so they did not hit ground or rock. Paddling upwards, or what direction they hoped was up, they all eventually bobbed back up to the surface as the current swept them downstream. Kel came to the surface first, followed by Damien, then Graham. The chill running through Kel’s body faded, being replaced with fear as she looked for Ailey.

  “Ailey! Ailey where are you?!”

  Graham and Damien looked around them, but did not see her.

  “AILEY!!” Kel was in full panic, to the point where she could hardly keep her head above water. “I don’t even know if she can swim! Oh, please God, where is she?!”

  The three of them frantically looked around them, but it was almost impossible to see anything down there. Small shafts of light could be seen from the sky above, reflecting off the water’s surface, but it was only enough to see a few feet at a time.

  “THERE! Over there!” screamed Damien. “I see movement!”

  Graham and Kel looked ahead to see little arms flailing against the current. Kel went face first into the water swinging her arms in perfect strokes. She swam to Ailey in seconds, grabbing her under her arms. Ailey’s eyes were as big as dinner plates. The corners of her mouth were pulled down under the strain and shock of the frigid water. Ailey looked over to Kel with a mixture of relief and panic in her eyes.

  “Its ok. I’ve gotcha. We are going to be ok,” said Kel, pulling Ailey close to her chest.

  Ailey pulled away so that she could look directly into Kel’s eyes. Raising her eyebrows and shaking her head ‘no,’ she pointed up to the sky. Everyone looked up and saw that the gap in the ground was closing. The walls of the ravine that were once parallel with each other were now moving closer together. The river was about to go completely underground.

  “Oh no,” whispered Kel.

  “Grab on to each other!” said Graham, bracing to go underground.

  They paddled through the water to
wards one other, each finding an arm or a shoulder as they passed the threshold of the cavern entrance into complete darkness. It took every ounce of energy they had to time their breaths so they could inhale air in-between the waves of water hitting them in the face.

  It was as if they were in rapids. The current grew stronger and the river began to take twists and turns. Kel was able to keep her grip around Ailey, but the jerking back and forth tore her away from Damien, and Damien away from Graham. The river turned to the left, then a sharp right. They were like pinballs as they slammed into the cavern walls. All they could do was tense their bodies in anticipation of the next impact. After a few more turns, the riverbed dropped a few feet making them all plunge back under water. Graham’s arm hit the jagged cavern wall, ripping his shirt and making him twist into a barrel roll. He pulled his arms out straight in an attempt to steady himself until he re-surfaced.

  Damien was somehow able to keep his head above water the entire time. He didn’t even have to kick his legs or arms to remain afloat. For some odd reason, he actually felt abnormally comfortable in the river, outside of the freezing temperature.

  Once at the bottom of the drop off, the current slowed down, allowing Kel and Ailey to come back above the surface. They both breathed deep and wiped the water from their eyes. It was still too dark to see anything, but they all felt very uncomfortable in the sudden calmness of the water and the silence that clothed the cavern.

  “Damien, Kel, Ailey….are you all there?” asked Graham. The echoes of his voice carried through the cavern making it seem like there was a crowd of people.

  “I’m here, amigo.”

  “Us, too,” said Kel.

  “Thank God.” Graham paddled towards their voices. He could tell from the splashing water that they were doing the same. Now together, Graham continued, “Are you guys hurt?”

  “I don’t know. Define hurt,” said Damien.

  “We are not fine, but we are not hurt either,” said Kel.

  “Ok, at least we have that going for us. Ignoring the gash in his arm, Graham kept thinking of the next move. “I think we need to swim over to the sides to feel for a place to get out of this river. Maybe there is another cavern or cave we can crawl into.”

  The plan must have sounded good, because they all started to paddle away. Graham turned over and started making his way to what he hoped was the cavern wall. Arm over arm, he swam away from the others until his hand hit rock. Turning back around, he cupped his hands around his mouth. “Just yell if you find something.”

  “What?” yelled Damien.

  Raising his voice, Graham repeated, “I said yell if you find anything.”

  “Speak up. I can’t hear you,” Damien yelled.

  The sounds of crashing water was so far of in the distance that it was hardly noticeable at first. It was so subtle and faint that it went unnoticed. It wasn’t until Graham had to repeat himself for the fourth time that he became aware of the increasing noise. The current was growing stronger as well.

  Graham’s heart skipped a couple of beats as he realized what was ahead.

  “Guys, we have to find a way out NOW!”

  The urgency in his voice was enough to carry over the noise of the waterfall ahead.

  “Why is the water getting faster?” yelled Damien. “I think we may be going through some more rapids or something.”

  Kel swam to the side of the cavern like her life depended on it. The crashing of the water was so strong now that it made her head hurt.”

  “It’s not rapids. It is a wa-ter-fall. We are about to go over a waterfall!” yelled Graham.

  The same wave of panic that Kel experienced hit Damien as well.

  “Graham! I think we are about to go over a waterfall!”

  “I know! That is what I just said!”

  Graham could scream all he wanted, but it was pointless. The pounding of the water was too loud. Kel clawed at the sides of the cavern with one hand, holding Ailey tight with the other. Graham and Damien both tried to swim against the current, but the force was too overpowering. There was light ahead in the opening of the cave. It looked like an open mouth waiting to consume them in one bite. In a flurry of strokes, they all pulled and clawed at the water against the current, but the power of the water’s pull was too strong. All at once, the current pulled them over the edge. They tumbled head over heel as the waterfall threw them from the top. Blurs of light surrounded them as the fell fifteen feet into the large pool of water below. As they plunged below the surface, the force of the waterfall pushed them all further down. Damien found his bearings and shot straight up towards the surface, but the others were completely disoriented. Damien broke the surface taking big gulps of air. He looked around hoping to see his friends doing the same, but he was the only one. As the seconds ticked by, Damien grew nervous.

  He took a deep breath and in a quick and fluid motion, dove back down in pursuit of his friends. It was too dark to see anything under the water, so Damien swung his arms around, feeling for anything. He was getting desperate. It had been too long. They had to be running out of air. He continued swimming down with breast strokes then pausing to feel around, then a few more breast strokes. No luck. If only he could see! Still moving his hands around, Damien’s wrists began to glow in the pattern of the golden bands. With a slight tingling sensation, two balls of light sprang from his palms, propelling down towards the bottom of the pool. It was then that he could see three bodies struggling frantically to find which was up.

  Damien stopped swimming. They were still so far away. They were moving upwards, but not fast enough. He was beginning to run out of air himself. Without thinking, he twisted his body so that he was upright, with his feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart to keep him steady. He extended both arms out in front of him, elbows slightly bent. His fingers were spread and extended. He had no idea what he was doing, but in a very instinctual way, he did. Something deep inside, almost like the silent voice of his conscious was telling him that this was going to save his friends.

  His hands began to shake. Streams of bubbles escaped from the sides of his mouth as he strained and grunted. His wrists began to glow again, this time with more intensity. The entire pool started shaking and bubbling like the whole underground lake was boiling. Creating a type of vacuum, Graham, Kel and Ailey started being forced upward by a current. Holding his position, Damien strained harder, letting a large cluster of bubbles pour from his mouth as he yelled. His wrists were glowing like iron rods in a furnace. The force of the current grew stronger, propelling all four of them up to the surface with such intensity, that they shot out of the water a couple of feet into the air like playful dolphins. They all fell back into the water, emerging a few seconds later flailing about and heaving air into their lungs amidst gagging coughs.

  Once they realized they were not going to drown, they were able to calm down and begin to look around them. They had lights. Not natural light. Electric lights. There were large flood lights mounted around the perimeter of the cave spaced out every thirty feet or so. Over to Graham’s right, he could see a wide open area beyond the edge of the pool. A flicker of light revealed a small room carved into the rock on the other side of the stone floor.

  “This is part of it,” Graham said as they all waded over to the edge of the water. They all put their hands on the rocky ledge and pulled themselves up onto it. Exiting the water, they stood to their feet, taking in the construction of the cave.

  Everything was. Their compound stretched out well beyond that warehouse. The entire section of forest between that warehouse and Portfield Manor must be part of Catalyst Grove. Aegis had gone to great lengths to carry out their experiments.

  “It doesn’t matter what we do or where we go. They have rooms everywhere. It is like we are in one big rat maze,” Graham continued.

  “Whatever they did with Casey, they are apparently still doing. How in the world were they able to build all this without anyone knowing about it?” said Damien
.

  “I guess money can buy anything. Even silence,” said Graham. Mr. Alexander was the richest man in town. He could do whatever he wanted.”

  Graham’s mind flashed back to the photograph from the warehouse. He could still picture Mr. Alexander posed with his hands on the lapel of his overcoat. His large top hat. The radiant smile shining from behind his large beard. Something kept bugging him about that picture; about his face. It was more than the fact he recognized him from the portrait at Greenwood. There was something else about him. He could not put his finger on it, but it was as if he had seen him somewhere else. It had been grating on his mind ever since he saw that picture.

  Ailey shuffled over to Kel and wrapped around her arms around her waist, trying to keep the trembling at bay. Kel wrapped her arms around Ailey and began rubbing her hands up and down her back with pressure so that the friction would begin to produce some heat. It was not as cold down in this cavern as it was above ground, but it was still pretty cold, especially when soaking wet.

  Graham was shivering, too. He walked towards the room carved into the wall of the cave as the light flickered on and off. Maybe there would be something of use in there. It looked like an office from the warehouse, with the same type of door and large window. Before he reached the entrance to the room, Graham looked to his left to see a small metal table against the rock with three oval mirrors hanging above it. They were the very same mirrors that he remembered seeing in Portfield Manor. They even had the same four divots carved into the wood along the right side of the glass. Graham reached out his hand and placed his four fingers into the small oval divots in the wood.

  “Well isn’t that cute. They even coordinate their decor in every room,” he mocked.

  Walking back to the door, he checked the knob. It was unlocked. He looked above the door, looking for any sign of a siren. No red lights. No speakers. He twisted the knob and opened the door. Silence. He then proceeded inside to take a look around.