Midoria's Heart

Midoria's Heart 26 - The Darkness Inside

Sorry for the delay in uploading, I really can't give you an excuse, other than that I was busy. But oh well. I'm uploading now, so who cares?! :P

Hopefully you enjoy this chapter... I find it pretty interesting...

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Chapter 26 - The Darkness Inside

"Wow."

"Its... amazing."

I agreed wholeheartedly with Lisimi. It had taken us the rest of the night to reach the mountain; as the sun rose we had dropped into the sheltered safety of the bottom of the mountain. The boys had suggested we stop to rest, but more importantly come up with what Jay called "a game plan."

Now, the brilliant morning sun was rising triumphantly over the crest of the mountain, flooding light back into the stillness of the world. We sat at the base of the mountain, discussing what we had learned the previous night, and the chance of there being men still up there.

Not being particularly tactically minded, it hadn't occurred to me that there would probably be danger simply in walking into the mountain. We weren't even sure what we were supposed to be doing here, but Lisimi had pointed out that as we had passed over them she had seen a cave. Our plan was to start there.

Unfortunately, flying to the cave posed a problem; it left us open to attack on almost all sides, and considering that the mouth of the cave was not large; we would be left defenseless and vulnerable. That led to the boys' charming decision to walk up the mountain.

Less than thrilled with this plan, we set off nonetheless, hoping to get to the general area of the cave before midday. It was tough going, the mountain was steep and covered with large boulders that we had to climb over and around. Jay helped me as much as possible, while Daniel helped Lisimi, but I guiltily caught him shooting Jay several dirty looks as the day wore on. Lis, for her part, seemed perfectly happy to have him pull her up and to safety.

After hours of continuous climbing, we reached the mouth of the cave. The jagged edges protruded both outward and inward, blocking our view of what lay beyond. I frowned; there was a horrible aura filling the air, so thick it was almost tangible. It was tainted - evil, and incredibly strong.

I glanced at Jay, and he frowned in reply to my silent question. Daniel, behind him, began to unpack the bags that we carried with us, pulling out swords, shields and other weapons. The rest he stowed away behind a boulder near us; it would be too cumbersome to carry in the cave, and would probably hinder us.

He and Jay began to strap weapons to themselves, pulling on rough armor-like shirts. They handed Lisimi a bow and a dagger, and me two swords. We were ready, but as one we hesitated in the face of what lay ahead.

This was it; this was the moment where we found out if our kingdom had any hope at all for survival. The fate of everything I knew seemed to rest, perfectly balanced, on the tip of a pin. We had one chance; one shot to fight for justice. This was our last moment in the light. Bracing ourselves, we walked forward, into the darkness.

~♥~

As soon as my eyes adjusted slightly, I knew that something was wrong. We had only taken a few steps away from the mouth of the cave; yet turning back I could see nothing but endless blackness, where I should still see light. Looking ahead of me... I could see nothing. No movement whatsoever, not even Daniel, Jay or Lisimi. Frowning, I stopped, straining my eyes as hard as I could. But I couldn't see them.

"Daniel?" I called out into the nothingness. No reply came back.

"Jay? Jay, where are you guys? Lisimi? Come on, you're really freaking me out here!" My voice grew weaker with each call, as I gradually realized that wherever they were, they couldn't hear me. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself down before I hyperventilated. There had to be an explanation... didn't there?