Beyond the Glow

Chapter 30

It's dark here. Darker than most of the places in my home. I welcome the darkness, call it closer. Now that that annoying Genie girl is gone, the crystals have calmed down, and all is peaceful again.

Alone.

But that's what matters right?

I miss the noise.

Quiet you. I don't; the noise is annoying. 

But I do. It's lonely down here. Nobody to play with.

Grow up. We have a job remember?

Okay. But I think we're about to get fired.

What makes you say that? 

Master's on their way. How are you going to hide this? You know the rule, no visitors under any circumstances, and if people do find us, we have to get rid of them. Push them so deep in the ground they can't come back and tell people about this place.

Stupid Genie.

We can't tell Master about this, not if we wish to stay here.

She shivered, if the Master found out about the girl, she would surely be kicked out. Master would send her to live with the others. With their prying eyes, and questions. But that wouldn't even be the worst part, oh no. The worst part was the noise.

She had left the cave once, with one of the air crystals, just to see what it was like outside. At first it had been great, the grass was so much softer than stone, although it was rather dry. The breezes had felt wonderful, their refreshing air never making it down into her hollow, it had been like a dream until she left the forest.

The first town she stumbled upon wasn't tolerant of strangers, and they had made her leave a mere day after arriving. She walked along, finding another, and another, but one after the other, they all rejected her. She was too strange for this land, and knew nobody. Had no idea what they wanted when they spoke of 'money' or 'coin'. Their noise had been incessant, constantly assaulting her ears with words and gibberish, crying babies, loud animals.

Eventually, after she was run out of town for the fifth time, she didn't try again. They didn't want her, and she didn't want them either. She dedicated herself to her time in the darkness, honing the use of the crystals, and the Master was pleased. She even made new discoveries for him, after which she was given praise and gifts, well; after he punished her for leaving in the first place.

The master was the only one she trusted. Nobody else ever cared, that was why she had to stay here. To be happy. To keep the Master happy.

Maybe you're just afraid.

What do I have to be afraid of?

No answer.

She sat in the dark, the water lapping around her ankles. Although she couldn't see, she knew the caves like the back of her hand. With hardly a thought, the earth crystal in her hand began to twitch and shake. Behind her the wall began to rumble, and she got up, turning to look. After a moment, the crystal quieted, and she stood in front of a small room. It was filled with small trinkets, collected from the various people who had managed to find her over the years.

Shiny baubles, most of them. But here and there was the odd lucky coin, old rusted locket, or anything else she managed to dig up after the unlucky person had been brought back up from the ground.

In the corner was her cooking fire, she could catch fish occasionally, and she hadn't been lying to the girl when she said things fell in from time to time. She reflexes had been honed to perfection over the years because of it, but she still needed to cook whatever it was. Eating the animals raw had gotten her so sick once that Master had needed to get her actual medicine to feel better. A rare act of kindness, or, perhaps he just didn't wish to have to find another girl to work with and harvest the crystals.