Blackrift Gate

by Parijat Mukherjee

  “You sure this is safe?”

  “This has been abandoned for I do not know how long.”Elder shaman said.”But if the legends are true, this must lead us to the valleys. It is not safe here either, so we must haste to get out.”

  Strangely, Lud seemed much more comfortable in this tunnel. He did not make a sound and followed us.

  The torch in Fihy’s hand cast strange shadows of us ahead. There was a draft coming from below, as we were going deeper. I could guess the plan of elder shaman that the tunnel would lead us to the valley of eastern mounds, where we would rejoin the path along the stream, avoiding the dreaded things in the canyon.

  “Be careful where you step, Huj!”Elder shaman said as I stumbled upon a hole. The floor so far seemed to have been lined with dirt and a sort of oily soil material, but it was smooth enough till now. But now, there were holes going out of it, small tunnels that were too small for a human to fit, but big enough to trap your foot and twist your ankle, which could mean death in such a dangerous place.

  I went carefully now, feeling where I step with the spear. Sometimes I felt I heard sound in the small tunnels, but then forced myself to think that these were my illusions.

  There were other openings in the tunnel too. These were smaller, and sometimes I could feel they were moist and oily for some reason. We could hear sounds. Faint sounds, which I could not really place into anything I might have heard.

  “We will get out of here fast.”Elder shaman said, breathing hard.”We have to.”

  “Is there something dangerous in here, shaman?”Fihy asked faintly from the back.”This tunnel looks different from before.”

  “Yes. This tunnel was not made by the ancients..it was made by horrid things that had driven them out. “Shaman said.”Be alert. We are not alone here.”

  That we could all feel. There is a distinct feeling one develops when they are around living things. We were hearing sounds in the walls.

  We walked as fast as possible, trying to feel the holes in the floor,and holding each other’s hands as good as possible. Fihy suddenly cried out.

  “Something is stuck to my leg!”

  I went back immediately and took the torch from her. It was some sort of fuzzy, slimy creature sticking to her leg, that looked like a giant black leech, that was somewhat amorphous and had a lot of spider like legs and hairs that were sticking out from it. There was an odd smell coming off from it,and it seemed slippery, soaked in some sort of viscus oily substance. I observed these features as I was busy scraping and pulling it off from Fihy’s leg. By now she was crying in pain, saying that the creature was stinging her. I did not waste a moment as I separated it from her, and stabbed it with the spear.

  “No you fool! Do not kill it!”Elder shaman cried out as I repeatedly stabbed it.

  It made a screeching sound as my spear pierced its body, and there was a peculiar smell.

  “I think it would have been better if we just pushed it in a hole without killing it.” Elder shaman swallowed, and looked around.

  “Why?”I helped Fihy stand up again.”What was that?”

  Just then I realized that the entire tunnel looks like a giant anthill from inside, and realized what the elder shaman wanted to say. It was just a part of the swarm.

  With that, we could feel the rocks were vibrating. As if many, many tiny feet were striking the rocky walls. And there were sounds, buzzing sounds.

  “Run as fast as possible.”Elder shaman said. I already understood what was happening, so I almost pulled them with me as we went down. There were some of those creatures around this place, coming out from the holes in the floor or the walls. We tried to avoid them as good as possible, but it was difficult to keep up a good speed. We already ditched all the baggage we were carrying, but Fihy was limping a little, and we had elder shaman and Lud with us so we wwee not fast enough. The sounds in the back were catching upto us.

  Soon we could see some light at the end of the tunnel. There were very few openings in this part of the tunnel. But the creatures were almost upon us and it was still far away.

  “Use the torch! Throw it behind you when they get near and run!”Elder shaman cried.

  “We would be out of light!”

  “Do as I say. This is the only way.”Shaman yelled.

  “You go ahead. I am doing it.” I said and snatched the torch from Fihy, giving my spear to her. I looked behind us for the creatures, shoving the others ahead of me. I can catch up to them.

  In the faint light that dimly lit the uneven walls of this tunnel, in the juncture of the shadows that gave way to the darkness we left behind, I could see them approaching. A moving pile, a horde of most repulsive dark bodies, all coming together making a angry droning sound through the tunnel, uncountable small appendages tapping on the rocky walls. Coming closer. Closer.

  I threw the torch right before the creatures, and a bone chilling, deafening otherworldly shriek filled the cave, as flames violently engulfed them and their oily body. The entire mass chasing after us was now in flames, and the other creatures were pushing the ones before them.

  “They are burning! They are burning!” I ran, and soon caught up with the others, moving towards the end of the tunnel. There were very few holes in here, but the burning smell and the horrible sounds were coming closer, and the land was very slippery, as if slathered with oils.

  “Run! Run!”Elder shaman cried out, as he panted for breath, running to the best of his capacity. He was trying to fish out something from his pouch at his waist. I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me as I passed him, seeing that he had taken out a tiny bag from his pouch in his other hand. The insect like things were slowed down due to the fire, as the ones in the front were dying or trying to push back, but still they were approaching by the sheer mass and numbers they had.

  We all ran towards the end of the tunnel, chased by the burning pile of horrors, and came out just at the right moment. The elder shaman chucked the small bag into the tunnel, and we ran away from the gaping opening. The fire burst out from the opening very violently, and there was a tremendous sound, like a roaring thunder. The rocks and splattered dark mucus came out from the tunnel opening with a furious force, and if we did not move out of the way, we would be swept by it too. In the next moment, the roof of the tunnel caved in and the tunnel entrance could not be seen anymore among the debris.

  Catching our breath, we sat around on a slanting ground that slowly went down from the highland behind us. We crossed the bordering highlands! We were finally at the eastern mounds!

  “What were those?” I asked as I looked behind us.

  “I do not know…seemed like these are things that had driven away the ancients.”Shaman sighed, catching his breath. “Nothing of these make any sense. None of these are supposed to exist anymore. I have been through these paths countless times and never seen anything. “

  “Are we safe here?”I asked, looking at the caved in tunnel. The debris and boulders that crashed down with the explosion had completely blocked the path.

  “It will take them days to make another entrance. We are safe for now.”Elder shaman said, massaging his back.

  “We lost all the food!”Fihy sighed, as she caressed her leg. The area looked a bit discolored and sore.

  “We will collect again. Forget food, how is your leg?”I asked.

  “I can walk.” Fihy got up, taking support from the spear I gave her.”Just a bit numb and tingly, is all.”

  We still had some time left till the sun goes down. We were on the foothills of the boundaries of this valley, and the ground slowly sloped down from here, thus we could see the entire valley from here. There was still some mist in the valley, where uncountable mounds and hillocks made waves after waves of landforms, as if many turtles are resting here since the world was created by mighty Rtur and mother Limbaa. The saddles between the mounds were full of bushes and other shrubs, and occassional patches of trees, some of which stood solitary on the mounds themselves.

&n
bsp; We slowly got down from the raised ground of the boundary and went towards our left, where the stream went into the canyon.

  “We need to gather supplies and there is not a lot of time. “Fihy said, limping a bit as she walked, using my spear for support.

  “It hurts, does not it?”I asked her again. I could help her, but she insisted she can walk on her own. Really being stubborn about it.

  “No, just a bit numb and tingly, that’s it.”She said, even though I could see her wince at times.

  “After we get into the trail to the entrance we will rest.”Shaman said.”I will need some special herbs to use on that wound. It is not too far. See if you can collect anything in the way, but we will not stop here.”

  We soon reached the stream, and found the trail.

  Fihy was happy to see that there still berry bushes growing near the river. We did not go too far along the trail, and set up camp. Only a shelter with branches and twigs, and no fire. Shaman did not want to risk being seen. By the time I worked on the shelter, Shaman collected some herbs from near the river, and some from his pouch to make a paste that he applied on Fihy’s leg. He said it was good that the creature was not able to stay attached with her for long.

  We had a meagre meal with whatever we could gather before we could no longer differentiate between berries and leaves. Then we all went to sleep.

  It was a restless night for us, though it had been hard work. In the early night, Lud had started to utter nonsense again looking at the sky, so we had to tie him up well and use whatever cloth we had to gag him. And then just as we tried to sleep again, we all were rattled by a sound.

  It was a strange sound, unlike anything I had ever heard. Initially I could not trace from where it was coming, except that it was behind us, and somewhat upwards.

  Then with the second one, we were sure it was coming from the sky. But it was not a bird call. The loudness and depth of the sound was unlike anything, and there were many sources.

  “What is that sound?” I eyed elder shaman.

  “I have no idea, but it seems to be coming from the side of the canyon.” He said, looking at that side of the sky.

  “What are those things?” Fihy cried out, panicking, pointing at the sky.

  “By the name of Rtur!” Elder shaman mumbled, as we all hid under the shelter and tree branches, trying to stay still.

  A large number of tadpole like giant shadows were passing through the sky, going from the canyon towards the middle of the valley.

  As these passed above us, Lud seemed restless, trying to free himself from his binds. But he was tightly secured, and all he could do was to thrash on the ground like an oversized jackfish.

  We watched as these beings crossed the sky without any wings, their tendrils and undulating tails waving like some sort of fish, or water snake.

  “Where are they going?”

  “I think it is where we too are headed.”Elder shaman sat down, sighing.”Doing their part from the legends.

  “What do you mean?”Fihy asked.

  “I guess I should tell you about it.” Elder shaman said.”Sit down.”

  We both sat around him, as elder shaman fished out some of the dried herbs and tinder. He loved to smoke this when he told stories. It reminded me of the times when we three and some other kids would huddle around him near the fire pit, and listen to stories, sometimes roasting yam pieces or having berries if we could manage to get them. I was missing the fire pit dearly. Wish Lud was normal.

  Elder shaman seemed to be at ease after those things have flied away towards the middle of the valley.

  “This was told to me by the shamans before me, who learnt it from the shamans before them. The origin of this legend is not known, and perhaps it is best we do not know more.”He lit the dried herbs in a rolled up leaf, and started to smoke them.”Before the humans have walked this earth, before the first buffalo and mammoth set their foot in this land, there were the Ancients who lived and ruled over this world. Those who made the earlier tunnels we were in…and many other hidden things. Wonderful and dangerous things.”

  “They were not humans?!”I asked.I was pretty sure that the ancients must have been some really big and wise tribe.

  “No. But nobody hardly has any idea what they were like, other than what we could know from what they have left eons ago. The Ancients were as old as the world, and they knew magics of the world better than anyone. They have come from the Old Water, from which this world was born.

  “What is Old Water?”Fihy asked.

  “Old water is not really the water we know and drink. Most people do not know what it is like, but it is older than time, the sun and the moon. It is not wet like water. It is like the sky, but there is no stars in it. Crazy things live there, fabulous and treacherous things float in the undarkness and unlight of the Old Water. It is hard to have an idea about it without being in there. One can not be there without some mushrooms and herbs; or if you are dead or dreaming, and very lucky, or unlucky.” Shaman sighed.”Never the less, that was where the world was first born.”

  “But you said it was created by the Mighty Rtur and Mother Limbaa! You said it many times!”

  “That is how we can only understand things, kid.”Shaman took a big puff of smoke and let it out.”Things are easier to understand when they are simple, and when they are not understood, they scare people. Mighty Rtur and Mother Limbaa were older than the ancients, maybe the Ancients too worshipped them before they were driven off. ”

  “Driven off?”

  “By the things that came after. The horrid things that descended from the stars. You already have seen their signs. The monolith in the marsh and their twisted worshippers, the dreaded guardian of the marshes, those horrible dark things in the tunnel that chased us, and lastly those sky fish things.”Shaman said.”But it is said that far worse was what had come with them. It was said that the hideous monstrosity that had come with the things from the stars had brought them all from the old water too, and that was why they were able to match against the ancients. The things that had come from the old water did not want to rule this world, they wanted to tear it apart. They created many things to win against each other, but ultimately neither side could win. They did spectacular things that we can not imagine, and the world fell into great turmoil, came into the verge of destruction. The war between the ancients and the things from the stars raged on for times worth many lives of us humans. Many animals and plants perished at that time. Do you recall the great bones we found during our southern journeys? In the southern passes?”

  “Yes, I remember.”I said thoughtfully.”The giant bones, and the forbidden ruins atop the mountains.”

  “Yes, those ones.”Shaman chuckled.”I told you two to not go climb up there. But you and Lud were always foolhardy.”

  “It was him who went after that mountain goat. I just went to bring him back.”I said.

  “Now please carry on!”Fihy said.”Who had won the war?”

  “Nobody.”Shaman said.

  “What do you mean?”Fihy said.

  “Finally the things from the stars gave up, and most of them either left for the Old Water, or were destroyed in the war, or sealed by the ancients. But in the aftermath of this, the world had changed far too much for the Ancients. Already many of the ancients had left during the wars, or had died, and what were left were weakened. This world was no longer suitable for them, so they all left, leaving behind things hidden in places, and their signs all over the world for the wise eyes to find. The caverns of the eastern mounds were one of the last bastions, where their essences still remain, but all these are now part of the ancient lores and legends, that took place eons before humans even came into place.”

  “How did you get to know these, shaman? If humans were not even there when they left..”

  “We shamans have our ways.”Elder shaman chuckled, his smoking herbs almost at their end.”The Ancients have left, but they still influence this world. The primal forces and gods are
still out there, just their voices and signs have become obscure in this changed world. There are whispers you can hear when you learn to listen closely to the silence. Besides, we can dream.”

  “Everybody can dream!”Fihy said.”Last moon I dreamed of a giant berry. It was as big as a man.”

  “Yes, everybody can dream. We just can dream a bit better. We learn it. ”Shaman took the last puff of the herbs and put out the fire.”And that is why, I knew something has become very wrong with the world much before we witnessed the old horrors come back to life.”

  “How did this happen? How these things are everywhere all of a sudden?”Fihy said.

  “I do not know for sure. But it seems like something happened in the cave with Lud that has awakened the remaining Things that came from the stars. He might know something, since he came in contact with the dreaded thing in the cave, but to know that, we must take him to the underground ocean beneath the caverns.”

  “What will you do with him when we get there?” I asked, looking at Lud. He seemed fast asleep.

  “I will do what I can and what I must. The ancient’s magic is the strongest there, so it is the best place to try remove the evil influence on Lud.”Elder shaman said.”Let us try to sleep now. I would not be able to sleep right away, so I shall keep watch. You two had a hard day, so get some rest. Huj, you bring me a good, straight branch from a tree before you go to sleep.”

  “Wake me in the midnight.”I went to sleep with Fihy after I brought him the branch.

  It was not midnight when I woke up. There was a tremendous sound from the middle of the valley, along with tremors.

  “What was that?” I asked the Shaman. It was like an explosion.

  “No idea.” Shaman said, starlight faintly illuminating his wrinkle ridden face. The sounds happened again, and the sky above the treeline and undulating horizon lit up again and again, with violent flashes of light that looked like lightning, but were clearly unnatural. There was sound of explosion, again and again.