Chapter 13: Gyrange’s Cave
1013 Words
Ever been in a dark room—not just any dark room, but one unfamiliar, suffocating, and full of unknowns? You stumble forward, arms outstretched, every step cautious as your eyes strain against the blackness, searching for any hint of light. That’s what it was like for the first thirty minutes inside Gyrange’s Cave after the massive doors slammed shut behind us.
Then came the green rings of light.
They lined the walls, ceiling, and floor of a corridor, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
“It’s hard to tell what comes next. Everything looks suspicious,” Butcher muttered, his eyes scanning the eerie glow.
“We were let in too easily,” he added, tightening his grip on his axes. “Feels like we’re walking into a trap.”
“Let’s just avoid stepping into the circles,” Gidon suggested, his voice unusually serious.
“For once, I agree with Gidon,” Lydia chimed in, taking a deliberate step forward—right into a green circle. She turned to face us, her expression calm. “See? Nothing happened.”
'She’s mocking him,' I thought, my unease sharpening.
A faint clattering sound rose, growing louder with every second.
“What’s that noise?” I asked, my voice tight. My heart dropped when I saw the faint glow beneath Lydia’s feet intensify.
“Lydia, move!” I shouted, sprinting toward her.
I tackled her to the ground just as a burst of flames erupted from the circle she’d stepped on. The heat licked at my back, its intensity enough to scorch the air.
“You never listen!” Gidon roared, his voice trembling with fury as he staggered to his feet, keeping clear of the glowing circles.
“I’m sorry! It seemed too obvious to be dangerous,” Lydia said, her tone infuriatingly nonchalant.
'Her guts will get them killed one day,' Naila grumbled in my mind.
Butcher stiffened, his ears catching something new. “Guys . . . I don’t think it’s over. I think she triggered something.”
The clattering noise grew deafening as the green rings of light began shifting—turning orange, then red.
“Run!” the boss bellowed, his voice cutting through the rising chaos.
The first circle behind us exploded, sending a plume of fire roaring toward us. The air filled with heat and the acrid scent of burning stone.
“Now would be a great time for one of your gadgets, Lydia!” Gidon yelled, his words barely audible over the roar of flames.
“Yes, yes!” Lydia fumbled in her bag, pulling out a handful of small, glowing pebbles.
She chanted quickly, her words flowing in a foreign tongue: “Alu, velmuris ten taita.” With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the pebbles into the air.
The stones hovered, glowing bright before unleashing a gust of wind so powerful it propelled us through the corridor.
The flames chased us, but the pebbles held their ground, pushing us forward with relentless force.
Finally, we reached the end of the corridor and tumbled into an open space, landing hard on a rubbery surface.
“That was close,” I panted, my chest heaving.
“We’re not done yet,” Butcher muttered, eyeing our surroundings warily.
The ground shifted beneath us, one end of the rubbery floor tilting upward.
“No, no, no—” Lydia’s voice was cut off as the tilt turned into a slide, sending us all plunging into a dark pool below.
The water was cold, thick, and oddly viscous. My skin prickled as I surfaced, gasping for air.
“What the . . .?” Butcher’s voice trailed off as he held up his arm, revealing several leeches clinging to his skin. “Ah! There are leeches in the pool!”
“Get them off!” Lydia shrieked, splashing frantically.
“Tuseke alu alu. Tuseke vera alu alu,” she chanted, her hands glowing blue. The energy spread across the pool, and the leeches withered on contact, falling away from our skin.
“How . . . How do you know spells?” I asked, my curiosity overpowering my exhaustion.
She hesitated, her cheeks coloring slightly. “I . . . I’m a genius, remember?”
“Shut up,” I blurted, too stunned to control my reaction. “You mean you can use two types of magic?”
“It’s a rare blessing,” she admitted, her voice quieter now. “No one knows except the Grey Gang and . . . well, you.”
“Why keep it a secret?”
“Because those in power would dissect her to find out why,” Gidon answered, his tone flat.
“They fear what they don’t understand,” Butcher added grimly. “And hate what they can’t control.”
Vzoom. Vzoom. Vzoom.
The sound came faintly at first, then grew louder.
“Do you hear that?” I asked, straining my ears.
“Hear what?” Lydia replied, her brow furrowing.
“It’s coming from over there,” the boss pointed toward the far end of the pool.
Lydia’s head snapped in the direction he indicated, her glasses glinting. “I can hear it now. It sounds like an engine.”
Without waiting, she began swimming toward the sound.
“How can someone so smart be so reckless?” Gidon muttered, following after her.
“She knows you’ll come to her rescue, i***t,” Butcher said with a laugh, paddling next to me.
One moment Lydia was ahead of us, and the next, she was gone.
“Where has . . . bloob . . . master gone?” Blooby asked, his voice tinged with worry.
“Let’s get to the sound first,” the boss said, his calm tone masking the tension in his movements.
"Whoa!"
Suddenly, a powerful force yanked me forward, and the world blurred. In an instant, I was standing in a triangular room, Lydia and Gidon already there, looking equally disoriented.
“Welcome,” Lydia said, seeming too amused for the situation we were in.
- Writer
