Anthriel

by C. R Corbin

"Is there something wrong?" he asked in reaction to my constant staring. I shake my head.

  "No, nothing at all. Sorry about that." I muttered and he smiled, turning away and resting his head on his bed roll.

  "Well good.....just good." he joked, there was no night or day down here and I giggled at his tiny attempt at levity. A boisterous warrior that held a bit of wit behind that brutish facade, I was wrong to have doubted him.

  He lays there for a while and I keep my gaze on him. The flame flickers and every inch of his back muscles light up, the curves and the cracks of his strong physique were revealed in the soft orange light as I watched him. He murmured slightly in his sleep, that black hair swaying as he rolled around in his slumber and I bite my lip while his entire body tightened up, all of that muscle, so much power, he could hold me down and....God what was I doing?

  I was ashamed to admit that I was getting more and more...bothered by his physique. There was an incredible heat and slickness growing in between my legs as I watched him, an incredible amount of excitement brewing as I kept my gaze on him. That jumpsuit didn't leave much to be imagined but my eyes ventured to the spot that still held quite a bit of secrets. The way that black bodysuit clung to his bulge....oh god I imagined how thick, how it would feel while swelling and dashing across my grasp. How he would fill me with it while rubbing my curves with his hands, his fingers pressing into my mounds as he slipped all the way in and shot his heat all over my insides.

  "Get a hold of yourself Cass." I muttered and shook my head.

  He was becoming a friend....at least from what I could tell. I didn't want to make the entire process awkward again by suddenly becoming sexually attracted to him, that would be disastrous, he might not have felt the same anymore and besides...this wasn't me! I didn't think about boys! At least I haven't for a couple of years! We were here for one thing and one thing only, to get out of this damn cave and make it home alive, that was it, no amount of lustful thinking could dissuade me from that path.

  Still....he was enticing.

  I shook my head and glanced into the dark, there was something amongst all of that shadow. I could hear something, a distant growling that made me shake a bit. It was far but when I listened closely I could hear this growling, this snarling, my eyes rolled over and I shook my head in fear. Perhaps it was just the sleep deprivation getting to me so I popped an anti-sleeping agent into my mouth.

  "What life could lurk down here? It was impossible wasn't it?" I asked myself and glanced over the shining rocks, there was light here along with chemical energy...it wasn't impossible. There couldn't have been actual walking animals down here though. Surely someone would have seen them before....surely.

  Through the rest of the night I can do little but fret in fear at the sounds that were coming from the corridors. I wanted to wake him but he needed to rest, he was the only one that could have a chance at stopping them and not only was that....he my friend, someone I trusted at this point in time.

  He was a warrior, I knew that much. But beneath his exterior I got a deeper sense, a sense that he was hiding a side of himself that wasn't so easily revealed. An intellect that he rarely showed due to the shame he would receive but it was that trait that I found the most enticing. Perhaps he was insecure about it? Maybe that was why?

  And perhaps he and I were similar in nature as well.

  All my life I clung to my work, clinging to this image and this facade that I was an intellectual first and foremost. The times that I tried to venture out of my shell and try something new like...explore or date, I have been rejected, turned away. Maybe it was the same with him, an image of a warrior that he clung to in order to avoid confronting his true self, a true self that had been locked away for a long while now.

  "Is it true? Are we birds of a feather?" I asked aloud, biting my lip.

  The night goes on a bit longer and I find myself losing ground to sleep, not even fear of that noise could keep me going at this point. My eyes fluttered and I watched him, soon my thoughts ventured back to Steph and the others as I slept. I tried to pick at what memories I could. Were they inside the cave or outside when it collapsed? How far from the boulders were they and what sort of thickness were we talking about when we measured the amount that collapsed? How severe would their injuries have been? All of this and more. I find myself thinking that they had perished and shake away the sudden wave of despair that I washed me over. There was a noise in the back of my mind that was telling me: "You're never going to find a way out of this. You're going to die in here."

  And then when I watched him, all of that doubt washed away and was replaced with hope, a glowing hope that I saw each time I looked into his eyes and spoke to him. It seemed incandescent, a perennial sunshine that lasted in the depths of these caverns.

  These were the thoughts that rushed through me before my willpower gave out and I fell asleep.

  I awoke sometime later he was kneeling beside me and stroking my face when my eyes fluttered open before he suddenly backed his hands away. I smiled at him and he blushed before responding with his own smile.

  "Hey." I muttered and he nodded.

  "Hey. Are we good?" he asked me and I gave him a thumbs up.

  "Yeah we're good." I said and he beckoned for me to stand.

  "I hope I didn't disturb you. You were right, I feel much better today, didn't need to sleep that much though so that's good, those years of battle did me good in getting used to sleep deprivation. How are you holding up? Hope you didn't strain yourself." he said and I shrugged, smiling.

  "I'm fine, nothing I can't handle. Humans are tough too." I muttered and they laughed.

  "Well I suppose that this cultural exchange actually taught me something after all and I laughed at his quip.

  We gather our things and ventured further down. We had already marked the spots where we had been with marks on the rocks with his axe so we didn't retrace our steps. I find that we were venturing further and further, the temperature was increasing once again, a peculiarity that I hoped meant that we were getting closer and closer to an exit.

  "Wind." I remarked.

  "What?" he asked me and I held my hand out.

  "You feel that? That's wind. It's coming from somewhere." I muttered and held my hand out, following the breeze closely as he tailed not too far behind.

  We venture for a while through the cave, the smooth stones caressed by the breeze that blew our way before I happen upon the source. It was another dead end, kind of, it was a large hole that led downward.

  "Looks like this isn't an exit, thought it might lead somewhere." he stated and gazed down the hole, there was light down there so those fluorescent stones were present...from my shouting I could also tell that the room down there was large and spacious so....

  "Come on, let's go down." I said to him and he nodded, I tossed a rope down the hole and had him hold the other end. I gripped onto it and ventured downward, gazing around at the room that I had landed in. he hops down soon after, his power suit guarding his body from the fall.

  "Well it's a start." I muttered.

  It was large and expansive with a large pool of what I assumed to be water in the middle of the room. The entire room was spherical in shape, a large dome. The rounded walls were covered in those glowing rocks, I ventured towards the pool of water and dipped my fingers inside, gazing at the fluttering surface.

  "What....what the hell is this place?" I asked myself, there were so many secrets to Medama. If it was known that the web of caverns was this intricate then surely there would be more trips inside.

  "How did this point from? What formed it?" he asked me.

  "That's the question i'm trying to ask. Usually there's a stream....must be from the groundwater, but it never rains here. How is there any water down here? Must be an ancient deposit." I observed before he glanced at the wall and called me over.

  "Cassandra! What is this? Some sort of human symbol?" he asked me as I walked over t
o the wall. I gazed at the wall and observed the pattern, three dots.

  "I.....no that doesn't really mean anything where I come from." I muttered before surveying the walls completely, there were more patterns, lines, shapes, the works. Guess that dispelled the notion that these three dots were just some sort of freak occurrence.

  "Where do you think they came from?" I asked him.

  "I don't know, one thing's for sure though. We have to get out of here." he stated and I nodded.

  "Yeah, this is giving me the creeps." I muttered and followed him as he ventured through one of the many hallways that stretched out from this corridor.

  The paths were getting littered with more and more rock, the smooth stone was covered under layers of pebbles that were..uncommon. There was no real weathering force that lurked down here so I wondered how such things could occur. There were more and more signs that there was actual life down here, something lurking. I could see that Anthriel was keeping a hand on his axe.

  "I never should have become a scientist I swear. Should have just stayed at home." I laughed and he smiled, some of tension was alleviated.

  "And do what differently? This is just a freak occurrence and we were unlucky enough to be caught in the fraction of people that were exposed to the cavern caving in. The rest of your job sounds so much easier than this." he joked and I shook my head.

  "Sounds easy to you maybe but there's a lot of thinking that goes into it you know? Not that easy." I muttered.

  "Why did you come a scientist then? The thinking part?" he asked and I shrugged.

  "Because when I tried to do anything else I got made fun of. This was the only thing that I was even remotely good at." I observed and he nodded.

  "I can understand that. When I was younger I wanted to be a painter....too bad that didn't turn out." he muttered.

  "Were you any good?" I asked and he paused for a moment.

  "Alright I suppose. Not as good as I am bashing in heads." he observed and I smiled.

  "I didn't really know what I wanted back then...I guess I wanted to be a lot of things. A soldier even. But that never panned out." I said and his eyes widened.

  "You a soldier? I thought you hated violence." he said and I paused once more.

  "Maybe hate is not the right word you know? Maybe a more appropriate term would be...I don't know. It's sort of been long time since I thought about it but the aspect that always drew me in was the exploration, the excitement. I guess that's what I wanted to do with science as well and I certainly got my wish." I spoke and gazed into the abyss, my hands shake as I thought back to those noises that had occurred last night.

  "When I told Koghu and the rest of the men in my old unit about my dreams of painting they laughed and teased me endlessly. Don't get me wrong, I liked battle but I would have liked some options you know? It all turned out alright though. Military honors, venturing deep into scary caverns, meeting beautiful women, you know the works." he joked and I blushed.

  "Oh I uh...." I struggled to find the words to say and he only laughed.

  "Just joking. I know better than to make things awkward after the last couple of nights." he smiled and I nodded, although a part of me wanted him to confirm it.

  "Surely you must have gotten a wealth of male attention back home." he observed a few seconds later but I shook my head.

  "Not with this body, too big for their liking I guess." I stated and he rolled his eyes, muttering "Their loss." under his breath, it made my heart flutter with some strange joy.

  We venture further along until we come to a large crevice in the path. There was a single stone bridge leading across it. I look back at him and his hands are shaking, I giggled and he only scowled.

  "I hate heights." he said.

  "Come on you can make the jump surely, then you could hold a rope for me to get across." I said and he shakes his head.

  "Fine, here goes." he muttered before leaping across, he barley makes the edge and lifts himself up onto the rock before glancing back at me.

  "Your turn!" he hollered and tossed the rope back over to me, I grab the end of it and stepped onto the bridge, stepping over these stones with great care before I felt them begin to crack. I panicked and began to run across before leaping to grab his hand at the last moment before the last stones gave out. I struggled up the rope but he pulls me up and grabs my hand to pull me back to safety.

  "Jesus." I muttered while gazing at the rocks that clacked against the stones walls, the crevice seemed to stretch on forever.

  I noticed that I was on top of him, in between his legs in fact. Although he was still wearing his armor I blushed at the thought of being near his body in such a manner. I could imagine those layers of rippling muscle underneath the armor plating, they flexed and tensed, his thick hard manhood next to where my hands were resting on the ground.....god good I needed to back off. I stand up and blushed and he shoots me a similar look of embarrassment before changing the subject.

  "Wow.....well I suppose there's a first time for everything. Never jumped across something like that before. You alright?" he asked me and I nodded.

  "I am, I am." I said, standing and dusting myself off.

  "Shhh.." he suddenly uttered and my eyebrow raised.

  "What? What is it?" I asked him.

  "You hear that?" he asked and I listened in once again. It was that strange noise from yesterday only...more intense.

  "Yeah I can hear it." I muttered.

  "Keep your guard up and stay close. I don't want you in any danger." he said in a commanding voice and I nodded, staying close behind him.

  "I'll be sure to keep close." I muttered and hugged his back

  As we venture down another dark corridor framed by smooth grey stones, I began to hear it. It gets louder and louder and he grabs the axe on his back, turning it on and allowing the blades to retract before I finally hear the murmurs spike. Just as something leapt from the shadow he swings his axe in front of him and blood splatters across the walls. He grimaced and growled as he tugged the axe away.

  "What the hell is that!?" I asked, it seems to be bald humanoid with six legs. Six! All of them had opposable thumbs! The mouths contained an assortment of jagged teeth, it had an incredibly muscular physique and from what I could tell there were no sexual organs at all. What a strange creature.

  "I don't know what the hell that is but one thing's for sure. We need to be on high alert.' he muttered, I was still quivering in fear.

  "Oh my god I know....fuck that was creepy." I muttered and knelt beside it.

  I reached out and stroked the skin, it was cold and pale, just like what I would expect down here. The variety of fangs indicated a diet of mostly flesh but...there wasn't anything else down here was there? Nothing to eat in the way that it tried to consume us. I stepped away from the pool of white blood that was floating from it, shaking as I gazed at the pale from twitching on the ground.

  "Alright, it's alright, holy shit that was scary." I said to myself.

  "We have to go, come on." he said and dragged me along. I follow him deeper into the caverns, there was still no indication that there would be any escape down here but the more we ventured...the more abnormalities we encountered.

  "What's this?" I asked myself and stepped forward, there was a single tree growing out of the rocks of one of the large corridors. Some glowed above, an artificial collection of crystals bundled together that shone a bright light down onto the tree.

  "Something made this." I muttered and gazed at the bundle of crystals. Anthriel furrows his brow, stepping up to the tree and stroking its trunk.

  "This is of human origin." he observed and gazed back at me, my mouth opened slightly.

  "Someone was here.....this must have been a marking left by them." I observed and he nodded.

  "That seems to be the case....this area seems safe. I don't know but something tells me that we can rest here for a bit, come sit." He stated and sits with his back a
gainst the trunk, I join him and keep my size upon the darkened hallways but he rests a hand on my shoulder.

  "Don't fear. There's nothing that can bother us. I just know it and besides i'm here. There's nothing that I would let happen to you." he stated and I smiled.

  "Thanks.....shit I was just getting the jitters. God that thing was...wow I don't think I've seen anything that horrific for a long while." I muttered and he nodded.

  "I know....the last time I saw something like that was on an expedition out to the frontier of the galaxy.....I was on mission into one of the grasslands there when I saw this strange beast with a carapace harder than steel....it was not a memory I relish. It turned out that in the end someone was actually creating them. A crew that crashed on the land and tried mutating some of the creatures that they had found for food but....it ended in disaster." he muttered.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Anthriel

  I didn't know what I could do to get her mind off of these creatures. She seemed to be so focused on them that she was having trouble eating her midday meal. I bite my lip and gaze at her, her eyes widened in fear as she thought over all the possibilities for the origin of these creatures.

  "Hey." I called out to her and she looked at me, turning ever so slightly and nodding.

  "Yes?" she asked and I capture her in my arms, holding her and stroking her back. She seems a bit shocked and sets her tray of food down, it was still unopened.

  "I swear I won't let anything happen to you. I swear it, that's a promise." I said and she pressed her face into my chest, the cold armor did her no favors but I could tell that she was a bit more comforted.

  "God I must seems so stupid to you. You've been in wars and here I am just cowering at the idea of wild animals in a cave." she stated and I shook my head, stroking the back of her head and humming into her ear.

  "Hardly. I'm scared too you know? There's nothing wrong with being afraid of this." I muttered and kept her there. She was nodding ever so slightly and I steeled my expression as I gazed out amongst the darkened cavern. They would be coming again and I would need to be ready for her, we would need to ready. I needed to find a way to drive them off, something other than battle.