The Forgotten Catacombs

Kaisra and Kian stood in front of the bridge. Anthony was behind them with Elise on his lap.

 

“I’ll stay with her,” he said, “her ankle is swelling up like crazy.”

 

“Aren’t you happy…” Elise murmured through closed eyes and a mischievous grin.

Anthony chuckled, but genuine concern shone in his eyes.

 

“We’ll get back as soon as we can," Kaisra assured them. 

 

“We should go one at a time,” Kian suggested, “I’ll go first.”

 

He held his arms out at either side of him to balance himself. He took steady steps, one after the other at a slow pace. Kaisra’s heart relentlessly attacked her chest. Even though she wasn’t moving, speckles of sweat appeared on her forehead from her nerves. Kian took another step, nearing the other side. The bridge swayed.

 

“Kian,” Kaisra squeaked.

 

“I’m fine, I got it,” he replied over his shoulder.

 

He reached the other side. Kaisra’s turn. She did exactly as Kian did. Arms extended. Patient steps. She expected the swaying of the bridge at the end and was prepared for it. With one final hop, she landed on the other side. The pair headed for the entrance that led back into the caves.

 

They made a left. They noticed a path to their right, but decided to keep going straight. The path had them turn right. Dead end. They retraced their steps back to where they didn’t turn and decided to give that path a chance. After a while of walking, they made another right, and a second right soon after.

 

“That’s been three rights. Won’t we just end up back where we started?” Kaisra asked.

 

“Hopefully not.”

 

Up ahead, they saw a path to their left.

 

“There!” Kaisra said, speeding up to a run.

 

“Wait Kaisra!”

 

She turned the corner. She stepped on air. She felt her stomach lurch as the ground rushed up at her. She landed hard on the ground. Kian landed next to her.

 

“Kaisra? You okay?” Kian asked, chuffing in pain.

 

“Stupid gravity,” she groaned, “That scared the crap out of me.”

 

They looked at their surroundings. Underground caverns. Stalagmites forming below them and stalactites forming above them. Water droplets plopped in puddles, echoing through the columns of rock. Kaisra and Kian stood up and began crisscrossing between the cave formations. The humid air stuck their clothes to their backs, their hair to their necks.

 

“Is that a-ˮ

 

“Staircase,” Kaisra finished.

 

They sped up to it and walked down the steps. They entered an enormous space in the caverns. It had many rocks on the ground, large and small. Kian pushed a pile of them over. And another. And another. They saw the skeletons and rusted shackles. They searched further into the catacombs and found one, two, three half broken pillars. The former capital city.

 

The Forgotten Catacombs.

 

Kaisra and Kian looked at each other grinning.

 

“So, where do you think the gems are?” Kian asked.

 

“Somewhere with a higher temperature.”

 

Kaisra scanned the city ruins.

 

“Over there,” she said, pointing her finger to one of the far corners, “I can sense the temperature is highest there. It’s our best shot.”

 

They made their way over to the corner, marveling at the defeated capital and stepping over stones and skulls. When they turned the corner, shimmering green lights immediately caught their eye.

 

“We’ve got them,” Kian said, working quickly to retrieve a gem and secure it in the pouch.

 

“Yes!” Kaisra exhaled in relief and smiled, not being able to contain her excitement.

 

She stopped rejoicing. She felt a chill run up her spine. She heard a third heartbeat.

 

Suddenly she was attacked from behind and pinned to the ground. She heard the jangle of broken shackles. A hand scratched at her face, leaving three gash lines in its wake. She suddenly felt teeth sinking into her ear as nails scratched furiously against her armor. She shrieked and tried to push whatever it was off her, but it only served to hurt her more.

 

Kian grabbed a bone from a broken ribcage and dug it deep into the attacker’s chest. Kaisra was free. 

 

“C’mon!” Kian yelled, grabbing her hand and breaking into a run. Kaisra could painstakingly feel the bite marks on her ear and the stinging on her face. Soon, they both reached the ledge they fell from.

 

“How are we going to get back up?!”

 

“Get on my shoulders! Quick!”

 

She climbed onto his shoulder and leapt onto the ledge. Back at the top, she could see the monster. Kaisra saw it had patches of stringy hair on it's head, a mangled face, and spots all over it's exposed skin. She shuddered, horrified that it ever came close to her. Their eyes locked. It started running towards Kian screaming.

 

“Kian, hurry!”

 

Kaisra stretched out her hand and Kian grabbed it. She pulled as hard as she could as his feet scrambled upward against the ledge to the top. They ran as fast as they could, breathing hard, racing straight through the tunnels to where the bridge was. Anthony caught sight of them.

 

“Hey, I was wondering where you- Kaisra! My stones, what the hell happened to you?!”

 

Kaisra started feeling dizzy. Feeling hot. Feeling weightless. Feeling like she was falling. Kian caught her limped form in his arms, cursing. He made his way towards the bridge.

 

“Hey man!” Anthony yelled from the other side, “You can’t do two at a time! It’s suicide!”

 

“There’s no other choice,” Kian grunted as he took his first step.

 

He immediately felt the wood give out under his foot. So, he ran, and leapt as far as he could. He had just barely made the jump as the bridge fell apart behind him. Anthony looked back expecting an easy exit. But to his disappointment, he looked up at the hole they fell through, the hole that was too high for them to reach. Kian sat down and laid Kaisra across his lap.

 

“How are we going to get out of here?” Anthony said, starting to panic, “There’s no way out!”

 

“There has to be another way,” Kian said, “Just calm down.”

 

They looked around. There was nothing.

 

“There has to be…” Kaisra repeated, squeezing her eyes shut from a tormenting headache.

 

Kian didn’t need to feel her forehead. He could sense her temperature rising.

 

“She’s burning up.”

 

“What happened to her anyway? Why is she bleeding like that?”

 

“We were attacked. Something scratched up her face and bit her shoulder. The thing was animalistic. Like, like it was trying to eat her.”

 

Anthony’s eyes widened in shock.

 

“We’re all dead,” he finally uttered.

 

“No… no you can’t just give up…you can’t,” Kaisra struggled to say.

 

“Kaisra,” Kian said grabbing her arm firmly, “you aren’t feeling well. You have to calm down.”

 

Kaisra thought of the way her father looked at her that morning. He wasn’t scared for her safety at all. He just smirked. She internally beat her head for the answer.

 

“No Kian…no that’s not right…there’s something missing…”

 

“Kaisra…”

 

“Why would he smirk like that? There must be a way-ˮ

 

“Kaisra, stop.”

 

Kaisra hadn’t realized that she was wheezing. Something had happened to her, and it had to do with what that monster did to her. But only one thought reigned her mind: she didn’t want to die. She didn’t want any of them to die. She felt her hands start to heat up. Her fingers sizzled, her palms burned. Soon she felt like her arms, her shoulders her chest was on fire.

 

“Kaisra?” Kian asked, wincing at feeling her body scorching.

 

“It hurts..."

 

“What are you talking a-ˮ

 

“It hurts! It hurts!”

 

Kaisra’s pain was unbearable. She needed to channel it elsewhere. She needed release. She jumped to her feet.

 

She broke right through the wall.

 

Bits of rocks and other materials flew left and right as she barreled through the rocks that had fallen from before.

 

She kept going until she felt a rush of air against her.

 

Once she opened her eyes and saw the lights of the city of Tal, she flopped to the ground unconscious.