Flames of Destiny

Chapter 2

Thousands of glowing, luminescent crystals line the rough edges of the cave walls. They come in every color, from blue to yellow to gold to grey. Lighting up the rest of the cave, the crystals are scattered everywhere, even on the floor. The sound of water droplets falling onto stalagmites echoes throughout the entire cavern.

The ceiling is at least fifty feet tall and glows brightly with multicolored crystals. The floor stretches out in each direction, probably having a radius of twenty feet. The strange thing is that it's a perfect circle with a strange archway in the middle.

My footsteps reverberate around the monstrous cavern as I walk around. I gaze in awe at all the beautiful crystals and columns of rock. Now that I think about it, the rock formations actually look like pillars. I spin around in the middle taking in my surroundings.

Yes, the rocks are pillars. They're placed in a circle around the center archway and all seem to tilt inward a bit. And when I look closer, the crystals on the floor make up intricate designs, that look strangely like dragons.

I walk slowly through the archway, sliding my hands along its oddly smooth surface. It's cool to the touch and feels more like metal than rock. It has no bumps or ridges, and is a darker grey than the rest of the rocks in the cavern.

"Welcome."

Again I jump, as the voice echoes around the inside of my head. Its sweet tone sounds as though it's coming from the archway.

"Welcome to the Cave of Unboedia."

"The Cave of what?" I mumble to myself, and probably to the voice.

"The Cave of Unboedia," The voice repeats itself, sounding somewhat annoyed. I can just imagine it rolling its eyes at me, "Watch."

I look intently at the archway as a tiny speck of light suddenly pops into my vision. It starts out small, but rapidly grows bigger and bigger. Finally, the light has become an enormous swirling golden vortex. The light from the vortex is reflected by all the crystals, making it extremely hard to see anything.

"Come."

"No!" I scream back at the voice, shouting over the wind created by the vortex. "I have no idea what this thing is! Why in the wide, wide world would I walk into it!?"

I try to turn around and try to walk out of the cavern, but somehow, the immensely strong winds pull me back to the archway. Desperately trying to suck me in, the vortex brightens with the struggle. Before I'm pulled into the light, I grab one of the surrounding pillars. The sharp edges of the rock bites into my hands, drawing blood. The slick liquid makes it very hard for me to hold on, and I can feel my fingers start to slip.

"Let me go!" Yelling at the voice doesn't seem to have any effect on the swirling light, just inches from my heels. "Please!"

"No! You are coming with me!" The voice suddenly gets very loud, almost deafening. I've never heard it this mad before. This makes me hold on even tighter. But my blood covered hands are too slippery and I feel myself slide away from the stone pillar. As I fall into the light, I call out for help, hoping that someone would hear.

I wake up on a cold, rocky floor, face down. My hands have scabbed over and are no longer bleeding. As I look around I'm surprised to find myself in the same cavern full of luminescent crystals. The only thing different is that I'm on the other side of the archway, and the pillar I was holding onto isn't covered in blood anymore.

Standing up, I try not to weight my hands too much as the flesh is still raw and tender. As I walk towards the entrance, I hear a loud roar from outside. Freezing, I listen intently for another one, hoping I might be able to identify the creature.

As I listen, I can hear the somewhat distant noise of flapping wings. Deciding I was just hearing things, I begin to walk outside once again. I'm going to head back to the apartment and tell Emily all about what happened. She usually likes to hear about my little 'adventures'.

She'll listen intently, gasping at all the dangerous or exciting parts, her green eyes widening. Just thinking about makes me want to go home even more. But when I walk outside, it's my amber eyes that are widening.

I'm surrounded by enormous mountains, filled with lush, green forests. The rock on them has a slight purple tint, especially right now, at sunset. The golden sun casts brilliant beams of light yellow and blood orange on the clouds. The only confusing part is that I left in the morning and now it's almost night. Was I really knocked out for that long?

The sky is filled with graceful birds, soaring through the pale green sky. Wait... Green sky? That doesn't make sense. The sky is blue, not light green.

As I look closer at the sky, one of the birds starts to spiral down towards me. Before I can tell what's going on with the sky, the giant bird zooms past me. And I realize, that it is way too big to be a normal bird.

I dodge out of the way before it can hit me again. It's huge! Bigger than an elephant. Which makes no sense again, along with the sky. I run back into the cave, hoping I'll find some clues as to what's going on.

Before I can make it inside though, the flying creature lands abruptly in front of me. Startled, I trip on a rock and fall face first onto the hard rocky ground. I can feel the cuts on my hands reopen, and blood comes trickling out of the wounds.

I look up slowly to see the beast looming over me, its neck arched gracefully. Its dark red scales glitter brightly in the setting sun. I'm at eye level with the creatures razor sharp, long black claws. It's blood red wings are spread out around its body, making it seem much bigger and stronger. Giant curled black horns stick out from its enormous head, giving it a menacing look.

But the worst of it, is the beasts face. Piercing golden eyes stare down at me from above, narrowed in anger. The jawline almost seems to be set in a frown. Then it does the unexpected. It talks.

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1104 words

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