The Metaphorical Key Book I- Call of the Raven

Chapter XVI.II

This is a continuation of the previous chapter. However, for book clubs, it can be counted as a separate chapter!

Apparently, caves tended to throw hissy fits and push you down if you insulted them.

Aiden pictured falling down the entire descent, at which point his short life would be tragically cut short. The rest of the group sobbing over the cave and hoping he had a quick death, having to go back and tell The Ravens that a cave had eaten their friend.

What was below him?

Aiden shifted and found that he was lying on the floor of the cave, and aside from being slightly sore from his rough landing, he was unharmed.

He looked up and immediately felt the world tilt.

The light of the outside world seemed so far away, yet the three people screaming his name sounded like they were little more than five feet above him.

He smiled.
"Not so loud!"

He heard Dulcie's shriek of surprise, then Curtis' trembling voice.
"Aiden? How'd you survive that fall?"

"It's not that far!"

He could practically hear the disbelief in Pollux's voice.

"What do you mean, not that far? I can't see the damned bottom!"

"I don't understand it either, I guess... you know what, come down!"

Aiden backed up, and Pollux dropped to the floor.

Even in the relatively dim lighting of the hole, he could see Pollux's mouth fall open.

"Woah, no way."

Dulcie came rushing down next, landing nimbly before stumbling and crashing down onto her face.

She stumbled a little and rubbed her face, looking up.
"Wow. Freaky."

The young teenagers watched Curtis comically climb down the wall, which would've been a feat had the ground not been five feet from the pit's opening.

He squinted.
"The mezr?"

He was talking to nobody but himself, and seemed to realise what he'd just said, because he started to explain.

"The mezr. Illusionary magic, making something look like something it's not. We have to be careful down here if we don't want to run into any walls or... other things."

Aiden nodded grimly and turned to go down an entrance.
He walked into a wall

"Ow."

Curtis groaned.
"What did I just say?!"

Aiden ignored his comment.
"Walls hurt."
Curtis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Yes, walls don't much like idiots."

Aiden continued on, touching entrances before trying to go through them. As the cavern went on, the number of illusions shrunk until everything was real.

But, of course, the minute Aiden let his guard down, he walked into a wall.

He grumbled and kicked the wall, checking every single entrance this time.

Eventually, the group was met with another door, much smaller and lacking a clock.

It was, to Aiden's relief, unlocked.

They stepped into the second room and as Aiden's eyes adjusted to the sudden light from several torches hanging off the ceiling, he could easily see several pillars. The walls were decorated with images of various rulers throughout Chodels' history, with dates and names inscribed below them.