Blackrift Gate

by Parijat Mukherjee

  “Lets go.”He nodded.

  Before we went, I passed glance at the weather outside. Mighty Rtur was raging his wrath on the forest in the form of storm, breaking the bad branches and uprooting the bad trees, while mother Limbaa kept on with her clouds, soaking the trees with much rain so that new branches and new trees can grow. But they were overdoing it this time. The rain was too much, enough to flood the river tonight completely. Already, I saw water flooding through the forest at the foothill. The water was flowing through everything, washing the tall trunks that stood up from the muddy water that drowned the short bushes. I saw a snake trying to swim and stay afloat.

  At that moment I thanked our luck that we were inside the cave.

  “Pity, could eat it.”Lud said, looking at the snake hungrily.

  I was also having the same thought, but it was too far away, flowing away too fast for us to get down and catch it. Besides, it seemed venomous and I was not good at catching one that it not on the ground.

  “Maybe we would find something inside.” I looked into the cave, sighing.

  “You think?”Lud’s eyes sparkled.”I am starving.”

  The cave appeared to be quite deep and spacious. We did good to check this out before spending the night. Since we had no fire, it would have been impossible after the night falls. I was also hoping to grab a rat or some other rodent, or maybe a snake or two for food, though my hopes were not too high. Other than spiders, I did not see any other sign.

  As we went in, the cave appeared to be larger than I thought. I had not seen anything like it. The walls were growing apart, and they suddenly seemed to become smooth…smoother than nature, but rougher than the surface of a polished rock knife. I did not understand why, but it seemed to me that people lived here. I did not get any sign of it recent dwelling. There was no smell of fire or the familiar scent of people. Not even charcoal or remains of raw bones if it was one of those superstitious backward tribes of far highlands that still think fire is an evil magic.

  If it was ever dwelling place of people, it must have been long in the past, as this wall was too smooth to be natural, and it seemed like it was made this way intentionally with a lot of care. But contradicting my own thought, I was feeling like this place was too old for people to be living in. Of course, all the caves were old, but there was just something that I could not fully express. This cave was just smelling of ancientness, a smell I found in the deep places of the caverns of the eastern mounds that lead to the underground sea… I loved that place during the ceremonies, but in those times we were with other people. This place was different. The smell of ancientness was not likable here..it seemed oppressive and unwelcoming. But I could not possibly tell this to Lud, as he would certainly make fun of me. There seemed only one opening through which we came in, and we could see straight behind, so we decided to go on for a while.

  The place was surprisingly visible considering the light was only coming from the entrance we could see from far, at the end of the tunnel. The storm sounds could not be heard at all at this length.

  Still it was dark enough, and in that darkness I felt I saw something shift in the shadows, just beyond the peripheral vision.

  “Who?” I asked, readying my spear, almost instinctively. There was no reason for me to think it was a person, but it just felt that way, that we were being watched by something that possessed intellect greater than that of a beast.

  Lud also readied, but we could see nothing in that direction other than shadowy outlines of awkwardly shaped rocks, and the eerily smooth wall of the cave behind them.

  “What?”Lud asked.

  “I think I saw something.” I said.

  “I can not see anything”.

  “Be careful now.” I warned him, even though I was not sure that I actually saw something in here. But as it is said, it is better to be a careful fool than a careless corpse, I decided to check the cave a bit more. So, cautious and on guard, we moved further in. Here the stones seemed to have some faint glow, just like some parts of the great caverns under the eastern mounds. The rocks became more luminous as we went in, just barely enough to make up for the loss of outside light.

  “I think I can see something, maybe.”Lud said. “Something smallish. It went deeper.”

  “Let us go back.”I said.

  “What?”Lud groaned.”We should hunt it. I am starving.”

  “This cave does not give me good feelings. This is too straight.”I said, looking at the smooth walls of the cave. Now it was as smooth and polished as a well made knife. This was definitely not normal, not to mention the faint glow from the walls. The glow was making it possible for us to see further in, which was why Lud possibly had seen that creature.

  “Maybe there was water here. Water can do this to the wall. I know.”Lud said, caressing the smoothness of the wall.”I love smooth walls. I want to go in.”

  “I am going back.”I turned back.”I do not want to be lost in a cave behind some weird animal. It can be an evil spirit trying to trap us in.”

  “I am hungry.”Lud said.

  “You would not be if you were dead.”I started to walk back.

  “I will tell all in the tribe that Huj is a cowerd.”He said, trying to taunt me.”Fihy and all females will laugh at Huj.”

  “If you tell this to tribe, all shall see how idiot Lud is.”I said.”We just want shelter from storm and get back to tribe when sun rise.”

  Lud groaned.

  We went back. Cool air greeted us as we reached near the entrance. The storm was still going on outside, but it was now more like a strong wind, and the rain still poured on, but less intense. The clouds were half broken, and the moon was shining through them, with its pale light making bright and dark patches over the stretch of forest we could see from our high ground.

  “I am staying watch now.”I said, and sat on a rock with my spear. It was good that it rained so hard. If any predator might have had our scent, it would not be able to track us with so much water over the straight rocky plane we climbed to get here.

  Lud said nothing, and lied on his side with his back turned towards me, hugging his spear. He did this when he was annoyed, just as he always would be if he needed to sleep in empty stomach. But I was not ready to risk our lives for some chance bite. Not that I had much faith in being able to get it either. Chasing a small animal in this cave is a hopeless task, as it would most certainly get into some crack or burrow from which we would not be able to get it out.

  As my turn finished, I went to get Lud to take my place, but he was not there. Neither his spear. Only way he could have went in was inside.

  I was angry. Angry on Lud that he was stupid enough to go down into the cave alone without minding his safety, and on myself that I did not think that he would do something stupid for food. He completely lost it when he was hungry.

  Cursing, I went after him. If he was okay, I was going to break his head for it.

  Soon I came to the part of the cave where it stretched out in an atrium, with its weird smoothness of the walls and the faint glow that made everything visible. Now that my eyes were more accustomed to darkness, the cave seemed brighter than before.

  “Lud! Lud!” I called out, and the cave echoed back, like it always does. Lud did not answer back. Maybe he was too far, or purposefully did not answer me, or worse. Though I was not really thinking that at the moment. Idiot as Lud is, he is good with his spear, and unless it is actually something big, it is unlikely to harm him seriously.

  Soon I went deeper into the cave. The walls seemed to be warmer than usual, still it was not too hot, as I felt a strange draft of cool air coming from deeper in the cave. There must be some other opening to the cave, I thought.

  I soon came to a yet larger part of the cave, where it had branched out. As I was thinking which way Lud must have went, I felt the draft to be coming from one of them, and I instinctively wanted to follow it. I realized, unless Lud had found some trail, it was likely he went this way too.

>   So I went in there. The cave was now going deeper into the earth, with a downwards trend. I was contemplating going back, and coming back tomorrow with some help from the tribe, was when I heard Lud’s cry for help.

  “I am coming!” I cried out, and ran after the sound, not wasting a moment. It seemed to be going away, so I ran faster and almost stumbled upon something. It was Lud’s spear, broken in half. There was something on its blade, something slimy and sticky. I could not see its color, but it was not blood. Smelled nothing like it.

  “Lud!” I cried out, knowing that if his spear is broken he must be in deep trouble.

  “Here, Huj! Help!”He cried out from somewhere, deeper in the earth.

  I went after him carrying his half spear. If it is some animal it would help to have two weapons. I ran, stumbling over the rocks and minor deformities in the cave floor, which was otherwise exceptionally smooth, and somehow became slippery at places, as if some slime molds were growing on it. I had no time to pay attention to things and I was only focusing on not falling over and cracking my head. I was also angry on Lud . He and his stupidity was at the root of all this. But perhaps it was not the time. I would get plenty of time to get mad at Lud after I find him and get back to the tribe..if he is still alive that is. These slimy trails seemed to be the tracks of some beast behind disappearance of Lud, if it at all was some beast. I never heard of any beast that does this. Besides snails. But who has ever heard a snail attacking a grown hunter and taking it with it? I did not know what to do.

  Lud was not calling out to me anymore.

  I called out to him again and again, but he did not answer. There was a stench that was steadily rising in he , a sort of pungent odor..that I had never smelt before. I was pondering if I should go back and try to get help from the tribe, but I also knew if I leave Lud now he will most definitely die.

  Then I heard Lud again. He was alive! I was relieved for a moment, but then it seemed to me slince was better than this.

  He was not talking or crying for help. He was laughing like a maniac..singing nonsense things…and at times screaming at the top of his lungs.

  I celled him many times..but it seemed he was no longer able to hear me. He kept on yammaring his nonsense and laughing and screaming time to time. It was most eerie, horrifying scream I ever heard, as if something was eating him alive. This was not an animal or some other hazard..this could not be. I remembered all the scary stories I heard from the elders of the tribe…Stories..legends and tales of evil spirits that lurk in the forbidden mountains and highlands. I felt an irresistible urge of leaveing everything then and there and run away but I forced myself to go forward.

  I went for a few more paces, after which I suddenly came to a halt. I was almost about to fall trying to listen to the contents of his blabbering.

  The entire cave suddenly came to an end in a cliff, where down a steep incline, the faint glow went out into abyssal darkness. It was down in there from which Lud’s sound was coming. There was also a stench that I could smell from here, some sort of smell that sent chills down my spine for some reason, and I had a most uncomfortable goosebump.

  I did not know what was happening to him. He was screaming at times, and at times he was laughing like a madman, and sobbing in the next moment. I tried to find a place wherefrom I could climb down, but the cliff was too steep for me to go down and return. I had to find a rope or a vine, unfortunately I had none of that with me.

  Even worse, he had stopped screaming. It was suddenly silent.

  “Lud!” I cried out, fearing the worst.

  No response.

  “Lud!”I cried out again.

  “Hey Huj!” Lud said. He seemed exceptionally calm for his condition. It did not seem for a moment that he had been screaming and being delirious a moment ago.

  “What is happening?”I failed to see wherefrom he was calling.”Where are you?”

  “I do not know yet, Huj.”Lud said.“I am here, come join me!”

  “What are you saying?

  “I do not know, Huj. Come join me.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I know many things now, Huj. I am knowing many things from it. You will know too. Come to me.”

  “You must have hit your head. Where are you?”

  “Down here, Huj.”

  “Are you injured? I will come back with a vine.”

  “I do not need it, Huj. I do not want to go back.”

  “You are not making sense. Are you injured? I will come back with help.”

  “I do not need help, Huj.”

  His voice started to gain a quality that I can not describe. I had not heard anything like it before. It sent me into a spell of intense discomfort.

  “I now know things that even the most wise of elders do not know. They are mere imbeciles to me now. Even the wise oracles of the Eastern Mounds, the gatekeeper of the caverns below do not know enough as much as I do.”

  “If you are not injured, stay there. I will bring a vine. Just stay there.”

  “Do you know what the stars are, Huj? They are burning balls of gas. Up in the sky…there are countless of them. Our land is sitting on a globe of soil, which is floating in nothingness.”

  “Oh Lud..you poor thing!I will return with help as soon as I come back.”I thought, and turned back. He must have cracked his head. There can be no other way he can say such nonsense. Still, maybe if I can get a lot of vines and somehow start a fire, I may be able to get him out of here.

  “No, dont go.”Lud said.

  There was a such a sense of melancholy that I stopped. Maybe he is too gravely wounded? Maybe he realised he does not have a long time after all. I did not want to let him die alone so I stayed.

  “What, Lud?”

  “If you go, you will not find me again. I will go with it.”

  “It?”

  “It is what has been there in this cave. There are such wonders down here, Huj..I can not describe them. Our thoughts are so crude, and our tongue is cruder. It made me think differently. It opened my mind.”

  “What is “it”? I think you have been caught by an evil spirit. Do you still have the special panther tooth that the shaman gave you?”I said, as I hurriedly cluched my lucky amulet that hung from my neck.

  Elder shaman made it for me, after a lot of praises and bribing. I was pretty proud of it, though I told nobody that it was something special.

  Elder shaman told me that while my amulet might look just like a ball of threads, very unprofessionally interwoven together, but inside it lied a shard of luminous crystal that grow in the depths of the caverns under the eastern mounds. He told me that the one he used for my amulet was taken from the shores of the underground ocean, beyond which lied the land of the dead and demons, so it was most effective deterrant for the demons and evil spirits that so often haunt the woods and the marshes.

  It was for these crystals that they can not come into our world. Shaman said that a touch of it would sting them and burn them. Lud’s panther tooth was not on par with it when it came to repelling evil spirits, but still it should have been somewhat effective. Or so I thought.

  “Do not be ridiculous, Huj. How can a panther tooth harm an evil spirit? Shamans have no clue about the beings that lurk unseen beyond our senses. They dupe you, and everyone in the clan, when they act all wise. The shamans know very little, and what they know is often wrong, because they are just humans. These beings… and their acts can seem horrifying from the perspective of humans such as I used to be..I can now see that they too fit into the big picture of everything oh so nicely.”Lud said.”Everything is there for a reason. What is evil anyway?”

  “Evil is what is not good for you and what is not good for the tribe. Evil is what shamans tell us not to be good, and what we can see through common sense.”I said.”And what is not good is that you are stuck inside this cave saying nonsense.”

  “I am not speaking nonsense, Huj. I am about to be part of it. I have made a pact, since I want to p
ass some of my knowledge to you. It will be digesting my body as I finish speaking with you.. With it, I will become one with the greatness that which it possess, and I shall know the many wonders and truths that is out there.”

  “What is that with the digesting your body?”I said with utter discomfort.

  “Can not you smell, Huj? It’s food! It must sustain its magnificient self! So it has sent out its minions, to capture and bring prey here. It has digested so many animals, and the remains are all here. But it has never gotten a human. We know much more than the animals. It wants to know, Huj! It wants to know about our world, so it is giving me an opportunity to be one with it as it takes my body for sustainance.”Lud said. “I was horrified too at first, but now I see that it is a pretty cheap price to pay for what I am to be gaining. Yes, I shall be gone, but I shall also endure till the end of time. But as you were my friend, and I still feel a love for my tribe, I wanted my knowledge to be of help. I wanted to tell you some very important thing before I am gone.”

  “I call the Mighty Rtur and the great mother Limbaa to strike the evil spirit that taken Lud, man of my tribe. Mighty Rtur be storng, and strike with his club. Great Mother Limbaa be merciful and heal Lud. Make his muscles strong, and his blood red and warm.” I said, holding my amulet.

  “Stop that, Huj. Listen. The storm have already ceased outside. When you shall go back, you need to make a few things. First, you need to slice a log.”

  “Slice a log?”I asked. Poor Lud.

  “Yes, slice a log from the sides. Now you will see that it will roll. This is a thing for which we have no name yet, but you may call it a wheel.”

  “A wheel? What shall I do with it?”

  “You can roll it on a pointy stone and make better pots. You can attach more logs on it and make a cart.”

  “Cart? What is a cart?”

  “Unfortunate! It is so unfortunate! So unfortunate that you would not understand a thing, and I would not be able to make you. I know so many things but I can not teach you before I go. This is one regret I have, more than anything else in the world. So much knowledge I have, so much I want to tell you before I go away, and you can not take anything!”