Subterra Heart

Chapter 11: Tess Ritty

Tess waited until the noises had faded completely before letting out a sigh of relief and switching her light back on. The place she was in was a massive cavern – large enough that her light couldn't reach the ceiling or the opposite wall. Worn, triangular tiles of blue and red darted across the floor. Many were chipped or missing, and the ones that were left were covered in a heavy layer of black dust.

 Tess swept her foot in front of her, pushing aside the dust and revealing the tiles' brilliant colors. She turned around, once more facing the wall with the opening she'd crawled through. It was covered in faded tile murals that stretched as far as her light could reach. Everywhere were cat-like creatures made of blue tile – living, eating, building, fighting, dying...and worshipping. Tess walked along the wall, craning her neck to see the full extent of the murals. Wherever the cat-creatures were, there was always one directing them, ringed in gold with pitch black eyes and surrounded by bowing attendants.

"Whoa," breathed Tess. She found the sound of her own voice a comfort in the uneasy silence. What was this place?

As she followed the wall, her trail took on a slight curve. She figured that this cavern might be one massive circle, but she was struggling to guess its purpose. Then, she came upon a new wall.

But it wasn't really a wall - it was more like a giant carving. A statue of a seated figure. It must have been as tall as the cavern, because her light couldn't reach far past its knees. A stone cloth covered its lap and draped down to the floor, and a set of narrow stairs were carved into its folds. 

On the ground, closer to Tess, a pair of bare feet stretched out into the cavern. Each foot was twice her height, and pale blue under layers of dust. As she followed their length with her light, she saw that they ended in curved claws. Shadows of smaller, Tess-sized statues stood just beyond the reach of her light. Tess turned her attention back to the main statue and wiped some dust off the stone cloth. Underneath, gold gilt shone in her light.

"What in Founder's name...?" she murmured. Who had carved this thing? And when? And why?

Somewhere, up on the statue's lap, a cat meowed. Tess jumped, and then her eyebrows shot up. It sounded exactly like Bug's quick little trill. But that was impossible – what were the odds?

Immediately, Tess mounted the stairs and hiked up them two at a time. She coughed a bit – probably from all the dust – and a vague foreboding nagged at the back of her mind. She quickly shoved it away and let her curiosity drive her on. As she got closer, the air took on a foul stink – like sweet, rotting apples. Tess wrinkled her nose and kept climbing. It didn't take long before she reached the landing, and as it came into view, a few rats and platter-sized cave spiders scattered away from her light. The only creature to remain stationed on the statue's lap was a brown striped tabby perched atop a large stone crate.

Tess crouched on the last step, poking her head up over the landing.

"Bug?" she said softly.

In response, that cat hopped down from the crate with a small chirp and sauntered over to Tess. It was definitely Bug. Tess could recognize that cat's markings anywhere. Bug stopped just short of the stairs and waited, flicking her tail back and forth. She certainly seemed to be doing well. Tess had no idea how that cat had managed to make it here, but she grinned and hopped onto the landing in relief.

"Bug!" she exclaimed, bending down to scoop up her sister's cat. But, as usual, Bug squirmed away before Tess could get a good grip on her. She backtracked towards the crate and began to paw at the side facing the upper half of the statue, peeling away layers of dust to reveal black obsidian stone.

Tess sighed and shook her head. "Fine, fine, I'm coming," she said.

Whatever was in that crate, Bug wanted it. Food, probably. Bug always wanted food. Tess's own stomach grumbled. It'd been a while since she'd last eaten. Maybe the weird cat-creatures from the murals had left behind a tribute of ancient fish-flakes for the statue. 

As she got closer, however, the stink got stronger.

"Probably something rotten," she muttered under her breath. Tess coughed again. Her head was starting to hurt. She rubbed her temples and crouched next to Bug. The cat meowed insistently and pawed once more at a specific spot in the center of the crate's side. Tess shined her light at the spot and tilted her head in surprise. There were hair-thin cracks in the stone, outlining a square panel. She looked down at Bug, who was waiting expectantly.

"You really want me to press this, huh?" she said. Bug just meowed. The weird feeling of foreboding was coming back to Tess, now even stronger than before. She stared down the panel and sighed again, puffing out her cheeks. This felt like a bad idea, but then again, there weren't really any good ideas left outside of Heart. And now, she was deadly curious.

"Founders, dark, and bloodrot take me – please just be bad food," she whispered, and then pressed the panel. Something deep within the crate clicked, followed by silence. Tess looked back down at Bug.

"There, you happy now?" she said. But Bug sat, staring at the crate with rapt attention. For the first time, Tess realized that her normally amber eyes had gone completely black. She squinted at the cat. Maybe it was just the poor lighting from her shae band.

At that moment, the crate rumbled. Tess looked up in time to see a triangular section of its lid folding back towards her on mechanical hinges. Three other sections followed suit, and a twisting cloud of black dust pooled out in snaking tendrils. Tess's vague sense of foreboding turned to cold horror, and she found herself scooting back as fast as possible until she hit the statue's cold, stone stomach. With a wider view of the crate, she caught sight of the side she hadn't looked at. Dead rat corpses were piled up against a narrow crack. Bug glanced back at Tess with a feral grin and leapt into the crate. Then, the scene was overrun with dust. It moved like a living, undulating thing, probing the statue's lap and reaching out for anything alive. Rats streamed up the stone stairs by the dozens to be eaten up by it. They avoided Tess entirely.

Slowly, Tess got her feet back under her and stood. Her knees shook. She pressed her back and sweaty palms against the statue's stomach and held her breath. The stone was tiled and textured under her fingers. Tess ran her fingernails through the cracks in the tile. Even with the scene in front of her, she was curious enough to risk a glance back at the statue, and so she did. Another mural of the gold-ringed cat creature stretched out across the statue's belly. Black, smoky tendrils reached out from it, sucking the life out of attendants that lay prone at the creature's feet. Tess felt sweat drip down her forehead, and she turned her attention back to the crate. Rats were still rolling in, diving into the dust which so far had ignored her. Tess suppressed another cough and began sliding her way back towards the stairs.

"Breathe," she told herself, "Breathe quietly." Every fiber of her body was telling her to run, but she moved slowly, unwilling to alert the dust. It seemed so alive.

Suddenly, the dust froze, and so did Tess. She watched with baited breath as a single tendril tapped along the statue's lap, reaching out towards her. She took another step, and the tendril sped up.

"Move!" her body screamed, and so she did. Tess ran, throwing caution to the wind as she leapt down the stairs, taking them two, three, four at a time. Her bad foot made a poorly timed landing on a rat's spine, and the ankle wobbled, buckled, and sent Tess rolling down the stairs with a yelp of pain.