Eternal Darkness (The Cimmerian Cycle #1)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“Hey!” she said pulling back.

“Kiayani?” Mik’s voice came from outside.

“Mik? Is that you? I need your help,” she said as she watched him crouch down to look through the hole. He let go of her hand.

“How did you get in there?” he asked.

She shook her head and said, “Long story.”

“It’s not like you are going anywhere,” he said.

She sighed, he was completely right and maybe if he knew what happened he would have a better chance of finding her.

“When the fog came I thought I saw yo-someone walking. I followed. I don’t know why but I just did. It was like it was controlling me,” she said, “anyway when I got close enough to touch it, it vanished. It disappeared just like that.”

“That’s funny because nearly the same thing happened to me,” Mik said more to himself than Kiayani.

“What happened to you?” she asked forgetting about telling her story.

“Never mind that. You were telling me what happened?”

“Oh. Yes, well when the shadow disappeared a wind blew past me a cleared a path in the mist. Up ahead I could see this strange kind of light. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. It was like a floating orb of light. Anyway I followed it until I found the huge wall covered in thick vines. I followed it because there was nothing else I could really do,” Kiayani pushed some hair out of her eyes, “at the end a found this massive garden filled with courtyards and benches. All sitting there rotting and collecting dust. At the far end of the gardens was a building sitting there right up against the side of the mountain.”

“The temple,” Mik said, his eyes showing his sudden understanding.

“Yes,” she said, “I went in and found a giant statue of someone called ‘The Mother’. Have you ever heard that name?”

Mik shook his head, “no sorry.”

“It’s okay and then- and then…” she didn’t think she would be able to explain what happened next.

“Then?” Mik prompted her.

“Then there were lots of spiders, lots and lots of spiders,” her eyes went wide with fear.

“Spiders aren’t so bad,” Mik reasoned.

“They weren’t ordinary spiders though. They were massive and the dropped from the ceiling. I thought I was going to die. Mik they were going to kill me.” Her voice shook.

Alarmed, Mik took her hand from outside and held it in the small gap in the rock, “how did you escape?”

“I backed into a corner because they were coming right for me. I tried to pull a torch bracket from the wall above me to try and defend myself with and then I fell.”

“You fell?” Mik frowned.

“The bracket was some kind of lever. It dropped me into a room below which is connected to this cave by a tunnel and a hallway. And in here there is a giant wall painting of  a mountain and angels. I think it is a realm crossing.”

“Interesting…” Mik said scratching his chin.

“So what happened to you?” Kiayani asked with apparent interest. She wanted to know what he had seen and done.

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

Kiayani’s eyes widened, “What’s wrong?”

He choked slightly before talking, “As I walked it was as if I was relieving memories. Painful memories too,” his voice became suddenly more monotone, “the more I tried to walk away the more they came, the more they kept replaying.”

“I’m so sorry,” it was her turn to be sympathetic, but she was curious too, “how did they stop?”

He spluttered his answer, “I had to just sit there and watch the memory run start to finish. It was terrible.”

Kiayani patted his hand in a friendly way, “It’s over now.”

He suddenly regained control which was very unnerving to Kiayani, “It’s not over until we can find a way to get you out.”

“There is no other way,” she said sadly, “I’ve looked.”

“There is always a way.”

Kiayani didn’t agree but she kept her mouth shut. She was in not a position to start arguing with him. They both sat in silence for a few minutes both of them thinking hard. Kiayani was sitting with her back to the rock and her knees up at her chest.

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