Chapter 10: The Descent
949 Words
The water hit me like a sledgehammer.
It was ice cold, stealing the breath from my lungs. I was tossed around like a ragdoll, slammed against rocks, spun in eddies, and dragged deeper into the earth.
I tried to swim, but the current was too strong. It pulled me down, down, down.
My head broke the surface for a second. I gasped for air.
"Iron!" I screamed.
I saw him. He had jumped after me. He was flailing in the white water, his massive bulk fighting the current.
"Grab my hand!" he yelled.
I reached out. My fingers brushed his.
Then, a rock slammed into my shoulder. Pain exploded in my arm, blinding and white-hot. I lost my grip.
"Iron!"
I saw him swept away, tumbling into a dark fissure in the rock, vanishing into the deep.
"Iron!"
No answer. Just the roar of the water.
I was alone.
The current dragged me through a narrow choke point, scraping my back against the stone ceiling. I thought I was going to be crushed. I thought this was it.
And then, suddenly, the water spat me out.
I fell.
It was a drop of maybe twenty feet. I hit a pool of still, black water with a bone-jarring splash.
I sank. My lungs burned. I kicked my legs, fighting to get to the surface.
I broke the water, gasping, coughing up river water.
Silence.
The roar of the waterfall was gone, muffled by distance. I was in a cavern. A massive, silent cavern.
I swam to the edge, hauling myself onto a ledge of wet stone. I collapsed, shivering violently. My shoulder throbbed, a dull, sickening ache.
I lay there for a long time, listening to the drip of water.
Han Batou?
I didn't know. I didn't think he made it.
I clicked my flashlight. The batteries were dying, the beam weak and yellow.
I swept the light across the cavern.
It wasn't a natural cave.
The walls were lined with shelves. Thousands of them. Carved into the rock, rising up into the darkness like the stacks of a library.
And on every shelf... was a statue.
They were life-sized, made of gray clay. Soldiers. Officials. Musicians. Dancers.
The Terracotta Army.
But these weren't the ones in Xi'an. These were different. They were smaller, more detailed. And they were all facing the center of the room.
I stood up, my legs shaking. I walked toward the center.
In the middle of the cavern, there was a pool of mercury. A perfect, silver circle.
And floating in the mercury, on a boat made of gold, was a coffin.
It was made of jade. Green, translucent jade.
I walked to the edge of the mercury pool. The fumes were toxic, I knew that. But I didn't care.
I looked at the jade coffin.
There was an inscription on the lid.
I leaned in, my flashlight trembling.
The characters were clear.
Here lies the King who conquered Death.
I stared at the words.
Conquered Death.
I remembered the faceless things upstairs. The men with no faces.
I remembered the skeleton in the tomb. The one that had vanished.
He didn't die, I thought. He changed.
A sound broke the silence.
Squelch.
It came from behind me.
I turned around slowly.
Standing at the edge of the light, among the clay soldiers, was a figure.
It was wearing a tattered sheepskin coat. It had a limp.
It was Han Batou.
But his face... his face was smooth. Like an egg. No eyes. No nose. No mouth.
He took a step toward me.
"Boss?" I whispered.
The thing that was Han Batou raised a hand. It was holding a shovel.
I backed away. My heel hit the edge of the mercury pool.
I had nowhere to go.
The faceless thing lunged.
I didn't think. I reacted. I grabbed the heavy flashlight and swung it with all my remaining strength.
It connected with the thing's head.
CRACK.
Clay shattered.
The head exploded, not into blood and bone, but into dust and straw.
The body collapsed, a pile of broken terracotta and old clothes.
I stood over it, panting, the toxic fumes of the mercury making my head spin.
I looked at the jade coffin.
The lid was sliding open.
Slowly.
Inch by inch.
I should have run. I should have found a way out.
But I didn't.
I walked to the pool. I stepped onto the golden boat.
I looked inside the coffin.
It was empty.
Except for a single object.
A mirror. Made of polished bronze.
I picked it up. It was heavy and cold.
I looked into the mirror.
I expected to see my own face.
But the reflection showed the cavern behind me.
And in the reflection, the clay soldiers were moving. They were stepping off the shelves.
I spun around.
In the real world, the soldiers were still frozen.
But in the mirror, they were marching toward me.
I looked back at the mirror.
My own reflection was standing in the front row of the army.
But I wasn't looking at the camera.
I was looking at the coffin.
And I was smiling.
I dropped the mirror. It shattered on the floor.
The sound echoed like a gunshot.
And in the darkness, I heard the sound of stone grinding on stone.
The exit was opening.
I didn't look back. I ran toward the sound, toward the fresh air, toward the surface.
I left the mirror. I left the gold boat.
But as I ran, I knew one thing.
I had taken something with me.
The hunger was gone.
But the cold... the cold was inside me now.
And it would never leave.
- Writer
