by Zy J. Rykoa
Chapter Fourteen
Survival is for the strong, the lucky and those with heroes.
January 20, 997 R.E.
Jaden coughed loudly. Over the previous day of travel, his sickness had worsened. The two highest peaks were not far away now. He was getting closer to his second destination point, getting closer to the cure. He wondered if he had the strength to go on for another day. He had to reach it soon. His muscles already ached and his bones felt as if they would collapse with each step. He had to reach the stream with the water his grandfather said was good. His life depended on it.
Raquel walked up ahead, several yards in front. It had been like this for most of the way, as if she wished to avoid any conversation by paying him no attention. They had spoken little since the night she had given him the crystal. She had comforted him without words and he had fallen asleep with her hands on his head and chest, but that was all she would do. She was distant in her mind, in a faraway land that he could not even imagine. He had tried to ask her questions; where the other Daijuar were, how long she had been with them and why she was going north, but she held her silence, speaking only about which path she thought they should take and pointing out food when she spotted it.
Jaden had taken some of the fruit with him and wondered at why Raquel hadn’t. It could have been days before they were able to eat again. They needed to plan ahead. At first he thought the answer was simply that Raquel had travelled this way many times and knew where she’d be able to find food, but there was something else that hadn’t seemed right, something that had bothered him ever since he had met her in the clearing that strange night.
‘How do you walk so far without eating or drinking?’ he asked. He had never seen her touch food or water in all the time they had been together.
Raquel stopped where she was, but she did not turn to him. Instead, she directed her gaze above them, through the hole in the canopy that had opened in the trees.
‘A storm is coming, we must hurry,’ she said.
‘To where?’ asked Jaden.
‘To find shelter. Come, as fast as you can.’
‘I can’t,’ protested Jaden. ‘I need rest.’
Raquel had already begun a brisk walk up ahead. ‘Hurry!’ she called back to him.
With what little energy he had left, Jaden made an attempt to chase after her. But the further they went, the faster her pace seemed. Soon she was in a slow jog, and then a run, flickering in and out of sight as Jaden fought his way through the shrubs she had run behind. The forest around them began to sway loudly as the wind increased in strength, causing loose branches to break free and crash to the ground. A distant clap of thunder rolled over the land, followed by a few drops of rain.
‘Hurry!’ Raquel called out again. She was still out of sight. ‘The storm comes!’
Out of breath, Jaden slowed for a moment, putting his hand against a tree.
‘I can’t,’ he panted, as if he expected her to still be able to hear him. ‘I have to rest.’
The sky lit up with a flash of lightning. Jaden breathed as deeply as he could. The sickness made it hard to take in the air he needed. A second flash came from right above, striking a tree nearby. The deep boom of the thunder hurt his ears a second later, and a mighty gust of wind bent the trees to the point of collapse. Jaden was forced to hold on tightly with one hand so that he wouldn’t fall as he covered his ear with the other. He then saw the storm that was approaching—a mass of darkness that made it seem night had already fallen. He understood now the urgency in Raquel’s voice and ran as fast as he could to where he had last heard her call.
As he ran, the Alliance uniform he wore caught on several branches he hadn’t seen, forcing him to slow down. The storm was continuing to close in, lightning strikes and strong wind gusts becoming more frequent. With a final burst of energy, he made it through a small mass of tangled vines to see Raquel running to the other end of a bridge made of wood and rope. It seemed old, made decades ago to allow travellers a way across the river beneath. Jaden hesitated at the edge. The water was flowing quickly to his right, where he could hear the sound of it crashing far below over the cliff only thirty yards away.
‘We must hurry!’ Raquel called out from almost the other side. ‘We don’t have long!’
Jaden stepped carefully onto the bridge, trying to find his balance as it swayed erratically in the wind. He then looked up at Raquel at the other end and started to run across as she had, but he had not noticed that many of the planks were missing and broken. He jumped one hole only to land in another with his right foot, his left striking the next plank hard and breaking through it.
‘Help!’ he yelled, grabbing onto the rope as his legs dangled in the water.
Raquel turned to come and help him, but his strength was already at an end. His fingers slipped with the rushing water taking his legs away, and he fell backward into the river. He went under, tumbling through the water as he struggled to find the surface. He managed to kick off the stones underneath and then swim upward, where he was able to glimpse Raquel for a second, standing helpless and searching for him from the bridge before he went over the edge. For the next seconds, his chest seemed to deflate and his heart seemed to enter his mouth. He was falling fast with water all around him. He couldn’t see or breathe, sure that he was now plummeting to his death.
He hit the surface below with a splash unseen among the falling water. The water pushed him downward as he sank deep into the river. Although the impact should have rendered him unconscious, he was still aware and in control of his movements. He used the last of his energy to hold his breath, waiting for the currents to release him and allow him to float upward. As he felt himself nearing the surface he let his breath out, and then swam gradually toward the closest bank.
As he climbed out of the river, Jaden felt a rush of adrenalin. He had made it! He had fallen from the cliff top all the way down and had remained alive, somehow. But he had lost Raquel. She would think him dead and go on without him. He began coughing loudly, from the sickness and the water in his lungs. What was he to do now? He had to try to find her again, but she was so fast. To keep pace with her was hard enough. To outrun her seemed impossible. All that he could hope for was that she would take time to try to find him, giving him a chance to make some ground of his own.
He made his way clumsily through the trees, stumbling across the uneven ground as he pushed himself to go on. The storm lit up with a series of flashes, reminding him that it was still a danger to be feared and urging him onward with its thunder. He reached a mountainside a minute later, mainly of grass and rock but littered with small groups of trees offering a little shelter on the way up. The top was far above him, but it was a smooth slope, without too many steep areas or cliffs. If he followed it north, he would be able to get back to the same height at which he had last seen Raquel. He would need to be swift, but at least he could get there. She might even be waiting for him, he thought, but knew it unlikely. Even the Daijuar would not expect someone to survive what he just had.
The wind roared loudly as he reached halfway, pushing him to his knees. The storm was almost right above him now. He could see the rain falling in waves only a few miles away. He would be out in the open, at its mercy as he waited to bear the full brunt of its force. He turned over to lie on his back, watching the relentless lightning strikes crisscrossing the sky. He knew he had to go on, but he did not move. He had heard the voice on the wind again, whispering to him, calling for him, speaking words he could not understand.
A fit of coughing took over him as he curled over, placing one hand on his chest and the other on the ground for support. He felt sharp pains in his sides, like the strange spears he had encountered at the waterfall in Callibra and in the dreams. The world around him spun as the earth seemed to clutch at his legs and hands. He rolled over to escape but his back was gripped in the same manner. He felt himself being pulled into the earth as if a shallow grave was opening up for him.
He coughed a final time then all went quiet. Lightning still lit up the sky, the wind still rushed through the trees, but he could hardly hear them, as if they were figments of his imagination and he was now trapped within his mind. A strange sensation had overcome him. He could feel the land around him, could feel the power of the storm. He was free to move, not only his body, but anything he wished—rocks, trees, even the storm itself. He turned over to lie on his back once more, facing the blackened clouds coming his way. He put his hand out as if to push them away, his hand feeling as if it were on fire as he did, but in that instant, lightning struck one of the small groups of trees nearby, startling him out of his trance and sending shards of splintered wood and stone flying toward him. He put his arms over his head to protect himself, allowing the fragments to strike him with full force.
He stood when no more fell. He had been cut on his head, shoulder and back, but suffered no major injuries.
The wind died down as rain began to fall. Jaden quickly ran to find shelter but the trees were too dangerous and the rocks offered little resistance to the storm. Where the lightning had struck he found the most suitable place. It was an opening, small but large enough for him to wedge himself into. A boulder had been locked into the ground here, but it had been smashed by the strike, leaving an indent in the wall of dirt, deep enough for Jaden to cram into.
The trees in front would block some of the rain. He would have run to find a better shelter if he had the choice but he stayed there for the remainder of the storm, watching as it crept over him and left him in darkness. His only hope was that Raquel had also found shelter and would wait until morning before she continued on her way. This would give him a chance to rest at least. He was hungry and thirsty too, but it was rest he needed now.
The rain became heavy, blanketing the land and causing mud to slide down on him and he was soon completely wet. He closed his eyes, trying to think of somewhere better, but was brought back to this cold, dark place as each cold drop met his warm skin. He opened his eyes, squinting through the muck spraying about him, trying to curl up further into the hole to conserve what little warmth he had left. It was then that he noticed it. There was a golden glow emanating from his right wrist.
He lifted it up toward his eyes. The loh-korah was glowing faintly, enough to light the dirt wall. He could see the symbols inscribed upon it, each giving its own glow. In all the years it had been in his family, he had never known it to glow as it did now. It gave only slight warmth as he held it to his chest, not enough to protect him from the cold, so he took it off his chest to view it again, the light his only source of comfort as the storm raged on.
It had been his favourite gift from his grandfather.
He curled forward at the thought, in sudden agony as he felt the claw-like grip take hold of him again from the ground. He sensed the storm once more, as if able to control it but then the ground as well. He was able to feel everything that touched the land—the creatures hiding in their burrows, the trees rooted deeply into it, and two moving things, almost humanlike, moving cautiously nearby. Their footsteps felt as if they were on his skin rather than in the distance, but they too soon disappeared, and he was released from the grip.
He fell completely forward, putting his hands above his head as he tried to hit the wall of dirt with his shoulder. But his shoulder met with nothing and he rolled into another opening. His head had hit the side that he had his feet against, but his legs had landed somewhere else. He used the glow of the loh-korah to investigate. He could see the earth that made up the lining of the hole, but nothing beyond it. There was only darkness, and a tunnel leading further into the mountain, where the glow of the loh-korah couldn’t reach.
Carefully, Jaden made his way into the small opening, crawling deeply into the tunnel before waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. At last, he was safe from the storm outside in a dry and strangely warm place. The air had the scent of earth, but it was not musty or stale. It almost seemed fresh. He sat patiently before exploring any further. He knew the tunnel went deeper, but he could not tell how much more.
As the minutes went by, he soon gave up. His eyes would not get used to the darkness. He would make sure he was in a safe place only with the faint glow he had with him. He crawled for an hour, finding nothing of harm and no end to the tunnel. He realised then that this was no ordinary tunnel. He was soon able to stand fully upright.
The tunnel around him became visible as the loh-korah’s light strengthened and was gaining in brightness with every step he took. He then entered a passage twice his height. The loh-korah lit the rocky walls around him that became smoother as he went on. After two more minutes of walking slowly forward, he rounded a corner and was met with a wall of carved stones placed on top of one another, as if by human hands. He studied the phenomenon in as much detail as he could before the light of the loh-korah went out, and he was left in darkness once more.
He turned around, expecting something to be behind him that had caused the loh-korah to lose its glow, but there was nothing in the passage. He must have been deep into the mountain now. Even the sounds of the storm were silent from here. He turned back to the stones. Some of them had been loose. If he used enough force, he could probably push them out of place. The more he thought about it, the more he had to know what was on the other side. Where could this strange tunnel lead? Why would it end with a wall of stones?
Jaden pushed the first stone out.
More darkness.
There were others that were loose now, and he pushed several more until he was able to put his head through the opening. He had thought he had seen a light inside, but he couldn’t have been sure without a better view. Now he had confirmed what he had thought. With new inspiration, he started to push as many of the stones out as possible. Each crashed down heavily onto more stones on the floor. He had seen a corridor that must have been made by humans. Nothing else could have explained it.
Jaden jumped through the opening he had made with new excited anticipation. It was too dark to see where he was, but the light ahead was strong, almost seeming as if the sun shone on this very place deep inside the mountain. He raced forward, symbols engraved on the wall ahead catching his attention. He knew those symbols. He had seen them before. But they were forgotten as he rounded the final corner, where he stood in awe of what greeted him.
The mountain was hollow inside and circular in shape. It harboured perfectly groomed gardens all about, stone shrines high on the slopes that water flowed between and around, and a giant temple at the very end. All was lit by a bright caged sphere in the centre of the cavern’s roof, as brilliant as the sun as it burned noiselessly above against a rounded metal plate. The light did not harm his eyes as he continued to look around. To his left was a grand stone stairway coming from two doors up at the top and leading all the way down to the courtyard below, where the water met with a small pool and a fountain threw the water high into the air.
Jaden walked to the grand stairway and followed it down. The stones were polished completely smooth, allowing him to see his blurred reflection in their grey surface. All of the stone had been polished in this way, including the great temple at the very end. It was like a pyramid in design, made of four different sections with a wide base and a small top. There was a stairway up to the second level leading to two doors made of thick steel. Each door had the same engraved symbols as he had seen on the walls, and above them, on the centre of the third level, was a large symbol that looked like two snakes facing the right, their tails entwining together twice at the end to the left. Two thin, black, crystal obelisks flanked the symbol, twenty yards to each side, rising above even the fourth level, where there existed little more than the flat top made of stone.
Jaden thought hard about the symbols; he was sure he knew them, yet he had only seen them minutes ago. He brought the loh-korah up to his eyes, scanning over the many symbols that were there. They matched, all except the symbol of the two snakes. Was this the plac
e his grandfather had meant for him to find? He had to find the water that was good, so that he could heal. He walked down to the fountain below, where a curtain of water sprang out from ten feet above and arced over in perfect sheets, hiding what was within a little with a slightly transparent shield. As he neared the edge, he could see two figures inside. They were human, statues of a man and a woman with their hands on each other’s necks and their foreheads pressed together. They looked strangely familiar, but he could not place them. He then looked at the water underneath them. It sparkled in the light as its many ripples spread out toward him. It was beautiful, too beautiful to bathe in, he thought. He was still covered in the mud of the tunnel and did not want to ruin the water in case the caretaker was still here. He could not see anyone, though. The place seemed deserted.
Perhaps they would not mind if he took a little drink to help heal his sickness.
After rinsing his hand a little by splashing water out of the pool, Jaden took a mouthful. It tasted pure, smooth and without any grit or chemicals. He took another mouthful, and then two more, feeling now just how thirsty he had become. It relieved the irritation in his throat a little, but he still had the urge to cough. The water was not what would heal him, he decided, and stood to go and explore the temple.
He had walked up no more than ten of the twenty steps when he stopped. He felt tired all of a sudden, nauseated and with an overwhelming need to rest. He fell to one knee, but forced himself to go on, climbing another five steps before coughing violently. His throat felt as if it had become completely dry. His muscles ached as if they were being crushed in a vice and his head spun uncontrollably. The sickness was taking control of him.
The water, he thought. What had it done to him?
He pushed on, climbing another two steps where he was able to lay his head down. He could feel the pain then, gripping his entire body as the strange spears began to fly around him. He wanted to fight it, wanted to be free, but the sickness combined with the water was too strong, and he was too weak, unable to fend off the virus any longer.
With eyes opening and closing slowly, the hollow of the mountain faded away, and he climbed the final step where he rested against the railing, slipping out of consciousness and into a tormented dream.