My eyes shot open to the warmth slowly rising from beneath my body, steam exuded from every side of my peripherals, and I immediately stood up just in time before the lava exploded from the crater I laid on. I hurriedly looked around to find that the environment changed from a quiet, white void to an indescribable hell filled with a scorching temperature.
My breath grew short, and all this smoke that the fire emitted from what seemed like an endless period of burning began to deprive me of breathing room. I coughed and carefully stood to my feet, looking around for any way of escape, but the hell resembled a void. There seemed to be nowhere to go, all that awaits me here is a slow, painful death. That's when I saw a hole embedded against a burning tree, I ran to it, finding it to be smaller than I was. There was no other choice, I was quickly losing breath and there was only a short time before my consciousness fades. I quickly grabbed a rock, and in one large inhale of breath, I began to hit the rock against the bark of the tree, breaking the sides of the hole to make it as large as my whole body.
My palm filled with gashes bled until the hole was big enough. I poked my head through and saw an exit at its bottom, though it's strange that the whole tree was hollow, it gave me a sense of hope. I climbed in and began to fall for a long time as my voice echoed along the darkness. After what felt like forever, my body hit a coldness more freezing than the snowy blizzards of Antarctica. I swam up to the surface of the water and gasped out, my body subconsciously submitting to the cold temperature as I reached for the shore. A shaky sigh escaped and echoed throughout the cave, and the smoothness of the sand beneath my legs felt like heaven.
I observed the area near the vast entrance to the caves, deeper within were more than five tunnels. I exhaustingly sat down at the center of the cave with a dome structure. I eyed the first tunnel, the second, the third, and then the fourth whilst ripping a part of my sleeve with a sharp-edged rock, and wrapping it around my hands.
There is no doubt, if the tunnel I go through is wrong, I could lose my life. My hands are still shaking after enduring the several gashes from that big rock. And I don't have paper with me as well, not to mention a pen to draw directions with just in case I find myself in dead ends.
I scoffed. "This is a dead end, idiot. "
With my self-deprecating rants initiated, the space within the dome cave became even more quiet with my breaths visible now. The body of water behind me became still, and the tunnels increasingly darkened.
I abruptly stopped my self-sermons and turned to the seventeenth tunnel where a single leaf flowed from its entrance. I stiffened and thought about the many possibilities where that leaf might have come from, but I eventually stood to grab it. The leaf was sharp with recurring teeth at both sides, a light blue vein pierced through the middle and it extended outwards until it faded. The rest of it was a beautiful, deep color of sapphire.
It wasn't like any other leaf from Earth, it was of a tree that didn't exist in my world. Could this mean that the seventeenth tunnel is the exit? I swallowed in my hesitance and shoved the leaf in my pocket, carefully walking into the entrance of the tunnel. It was dark, but it was enough for me to see even just a little.
The sounds of my footsteps reverberated through the mostly quiet tunnel, there were no signs of creatures, and no minerals even though it seemed that the cave dwellings would be quite deep into the ground. Rocks seemed to stumble off from the sides of the tunnel, and light illuminated from the end. It was small, but the hope from its small radiance brought me immense excitement. My feet slowly picked up a pace and I ran for the light. I ran and ran until I could touch that scant hope I was clinging to. My breath slowed, but my heart began beating fast, my eyes sparkled as the bright light bounced against the tunnel walls and a small smile began to form upon my face.
The scenery before me cleared. It was filled with glowing crystals, and gem-clustered dust fluctuated all over the silver-stem trees. Escaping out of the stale tunnels would begin my celebratory chant, but as I opened my mouth, I could only gasp as the floor finished with the tunnel. Continuing further was a death sentence as placed between the tunnel and the colorful wall, is a vast, floorless drop. The hope that ignited within me had been extinguished yet again.
"No.. " I dropped to my knees and stared emptily at the colorful scene before me. It reminded me again of who I am, a powerless, hopeless human being.
That deity and that monster could wave their hands at me, and I'd immediately turn to dust.
Freedom was so close, but it still felt far. I closed my eyes and sighed, standing up to return to where I came from. I took a step farther from the edge, another, and one more, before I faced the colorful wall again.
Memories of my mother shielding me from a monster attack flashed through my mind. Her words echoed within my being, and in front of me was her translucent figure. Blood had filled her eyes and trickled down to her cheeks as she coughed out. Still, the pain never caused her smile to disappear. My mother told me during her death, that everything will be okay. That whatever I set my mind to shall unfold before me. And that even after the end of the world, I'd still live on, in her heart and physically, alive.
I dug my fingers deep into my bandaged palms and inhaled, slowly driving out my fear and the feeling of giving up. It didn't sit right with me, nor did staying here and waiting for a miracle to come by. I gradually gathered the courage to take a step forward, and lunged from the edge of the cliff. Time seemed to slow down as I reached my arms towards the other side, but—
I'm not going to make it..!
I stopped in the middle of the huge abyss and felt myself falling down, and as I fell, I imagined catching the edge of the other side. But now, the glimmer of hope completely diminished. I slowly close my eyes.
Silence ensued.
One..
Two..
Three..
Wind suddenly gushed from the bottom and carried me all the way to the other side. I was in a relieved shock. I grabbed a tree branch and plummeted against the ground covered with luminescent sand, watching as the wind remained for almost a minute before disappearing.
A momentary realization then hit me, I grabbed the leaf from my pocket and matched it with the leaves that delicately adorned the tree. It was the same kind. So that's how the leaf managed to reach that dome cave. Another realization hit me once again. A minute of wind was not enough for the leaf to reach the entrance of the tunnel, I squinted at the exit where I lunged from.
The direction the wind earlier went was upwards, vertical. Then if the leaf had managed to flow through the tunnel horizontally in such a long distance..
"There must be another source of wind.. " I looked around, but it didn't make sense to me since there was no other pathway for the wind to pass through than this continuation of the crystal-filled passageway.
Only when the wind from within the crystal caverns began to garner did I realize.
"Shit..! " I ran to the tree and hugged its trunk. Then, the wind violently blew towards the tunnel on the other side of the abyss. The leaves from the blue trees were then carried away, and I barely hung onto the trunk.
I thanked this particular tree for being so strong.
The wind coming from the crystal caverns were much more violent than the one from the abyss' bottom and it lasted a minute more. If I want to pass through the caverns here, I'd need to wait for two minutes before each interval to move forward. All I need now is to figure out how long the intervals last.