A Light in the Darkness (Solo)

[Maya Frostfawn]

Timestamp: Fall 40, 523 AV Gillar's Nano Challenge Scenario: Number 2 The day was young, the first of the sun's rays just beginning to peek out from behind a sea of deep grey clouds. The last of their once heavily-laden bodies drizzling onto the earth, onto Maya's exposed skins, like the tears she could no longer shed. Silently, she hoped, as she made her way through the city's streets, which were becoming more and more familiar to her with each passing day, that her makeup wasn't running. And if it was, she hoped it wasn't much, for she could not afford exposure in a city such as this. As she continued in her travels, she felt her shoes sink into the damp earth, her step squelch against the mud. Her skin felt cooler than usual, and the city, she found, was noisy in a way she found atypical. The last of the rain must have been drowning out the screams and shouts she had grown accustomed to. As she walked, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and continued on her way, into a portion of town she had never visited before. She wasn't quite sure which it was, exactly, since it was entirely new to her, but it was far more open than where she had come from and littered with a series of caves. Some had a sort of wooden gate around them, others had a wooden shack nearby, and Maya wondered if these were some of the old mines Sunberth was famous for. Maya moved past them in silence, until something entirely unexpected caught her eye. A light in the darkness, a glimmering from deep within its depths that stopped her dead in her tracks. She blinked water from her eyes as she stared at the light, wondering what it could be. Had she been alive, her heart might have skipped a beat or she may have stopped breathing entirely, for a time. But she was no longer alive, and although largely devoid of emotion and increasingly more so the more distant she grew from the life she had once known, she found herself drawn to this cave opening and its eerie light. She found her feet moving toward it of their own accord. Once she had made it to its deep grey maw, walked into its mouth, she began to realize just how far back the light was. Perhaps it's one of those mystical mushrooms I've only heard about in stories, she thought as she moved farther into the cave's depths, following a largely horizontal path, that hardly wavered any more deeply into the earth as she moved farther into the cave, hardly drifted left or right. When she had made it a few hards into the cave, the earth began to tremble and she was thrown against her side. Luckily, she didn't hit her head on anything sharp, and avoided a more serious injury than what she assumed was the scraping of her palm. She felt a sharp searing pain course through its length as the earth continued to grumble, and she groaned as she looked over her shoulder and took note of the dying light. A waterfall of earth and stone was pouring over the entrance, obscuring her view of the outside world, before covering it completely. Maya didn't even try to make it out in time; she knew she couldn't have. And as a cloud of dust drifted toward her and she descended into darkness, she felt nothing. She had no need for food, water, or sleep. She did not need to breathe either. And for once, she found her current state of existence far more suitable to this situation than the body she had held in life. Although it was stronger, it had its weaknesses. Its needs. Needs she had shed when she taken her second body and every one that had come after. But this body, too had its shortcomings. Physically, it was weaker. And she had injured her hand. And just as would have been the case had she still been in her original body, she could not see in the cave's darkness. But that was a problem for later; she needed to tend to her hand, lest even more of her precious ichor seep out. Since she could not see it, she would have to rely on feeling and her medical knowledge to bind it. There was no use trying to stitch it in this impenetrable darkness. Thus, she lifted herself into a sitting position and raised her left hand, the injured hand, so the palm would be facing up. From what she could tell, the pain was radiating outward from the center of her palm, suggesting that the injury was somewhere in the middle of her hand. She should be able to feel where her skin was slit if only she touched it... she raised her trembling right hand to the left, brushed her cold fingertip against her skin until she found the ridge. Then she traced it slowly, over and over again until she could see the shape of the injury in her mind's eye. She found the sensation of her nail against flesh tickled, that it helped push her ichor away. Now, I need something to bind you, she thought as she started to pat herself down with her injured hand. All she needed was a tear, something that would make it easier for her to rip her clothes and make a bandage. She could tend to herself better when she returned home, when she could actually see what she was doing. For now, a simple bandage would have to do. Unfortunately, she found no tears, but she thought she felt some loose threads, so she tugged and tugged on her simple clothing, around where she thought she felt the thread loose, until she heard the familiar sound of fabric ripping. She kept at it until she pulled off a piece she hoped might be big enough to wrap her hand, and awkwardly, tied the makeshift bandage around her injury to keep the ichor from seeping out. It was loose, but it was something, and should be enough to staunch the flow of her ichor as she tried to make her way out of the place. With that in mind, Maya rose to her feet, brushed herself off. She knew there was no point in turning back; the cave entrance was covered in a mixture of earth, rock, and rubble. All she could do was go forward. Head toward the light. The only thing she could see, taunting her from the distance. She set her uninjured hand against the wall. Other than her eyes, it was the only thing she had to guide her. Word Count: 1,122 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya began to move steadily toward the light, the glimmer that had called to her. She stepped carefully over the earth, moving slowly so as not to trip on any uneven terrain and hurt herself further in a place she knew she could not find a body to step into if the situation became dire. A place she knew she may not escape from. But she kept that final idea from her mind to the best of her ability and just kept on walking, it was truly, all she could really do in a situation such as this. As she continued moving through the cave, she found that the damp, earthen smell intensified the farther she traveled. As did the cold that crept over her skin. A silver mist drifted through the air, encasing her body in its ethereal vapors. The sound of her steps remained a steady drum against the earth, and the light remained an unwavering presence in the distance. No matter how far she traveled, it never seemed to get any closer. It was always several steps out of reach. She was not sure what to make of this discovery, or the next that tickled her ears. A slithering against the earth, and the sense that something was watching her. Stalking her. She could feel its eyes boring into her back, but when she turned to look over her shoulder, she could see nothing in the darkness. Not the deeper shadow of another shape in the gloom, a set of glowing eyes looking back at her. Nothing. There was only the emptiness filled by the dark. And when she turned back around to continue her journey, she found that the light had vanished as though it were a candle that had been snuffed out. The burning sensation that tickled her skin from the unseen eyes intensified. It was as though she had cast it into the fire and taken far too long to take it back out. But the rest of her was cool, like ice. As though the cave's icy fist had finally gotten a hold of her in her entirety, with the exception of that single, damned spot. For a moment, she remained trapped in place. Waiting for the inevitable, or that damned, mysterious light, which had gotten her into this mess, to return. But nothing happened. Nothing deadly, at least. The silver mist continued to drift through the air, and the light failed to return, just as the sense that she was being watched failed to pass. Getting ahold of herself, she realized there was nothing she could do but move forward. There was no going back, her path had been cut off at a point, but there may be a way out if she continued her descent into the cave's depths. So, she began to move toward where the light had been only moments before. Toward the place she could see it glowing in her mind's eye. Her uninjured hand trailing along the length of the cave, helping to guide her steps in the darkness, which nearly masked the slithering of something against the earth. Its body sliding through a puddle in a delicate splash that came almost as quickly as it went. It was so swift, a large part of her wondered if she had simply imagined it. But its trail, she could still hear it slithering through the darkness, stalking her. A flash emerged in the distance. The light had returned, its glow wavering like a dying candle. For a moment, Maya picked up her pace as she moved toward it, only to find that it was snuffed out a moment later. Again, she slowed as she moved through the darkness, but whatever was stalking her from the endless shadows, had not. She could hear it moving faster, stepping over stone and hard-packed soil as though it had just pulled its body off the earth not only so it could move faster, but so it could frighten her with its imposing form. But it was a shape she still could not see as she peered over her shoulder into the darkness, so its form did not matter, and she quickly turned back around and kept on moving through the cave toward where the flickering light had once been. As she moved, she truly began to wonder what it could be. What could have drawn her in the first place, and what could act in a fashion such as it. Could it be a pile of gold glinting in a light that changed with the flow of clouds and sun in the sky? A flickering candle, as it had appeared before? And if that were the case, who kept moving it, or lighting it each time its illumination came and went? Could it be the mark of a monster whose name and face she did not know? A lure meant to guide her into the darkness while its ally stalked her, hunted her, caught her so they could both feed? Or was it something else entirely? She simply did not know. She could not know. And there was something about this, the complete absence of her full understanding of the situation she currently found herself in, that tickled her mind unpleasantly, pulled on it, demanding her to unravel its secrets and make sense of it all. Word Count: 894 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

As Maya continued to creep through the cave, her mind wandered, considering everything the light could be. Everything the creature that was stalking her could be. The possibilities, she found, perhaps because she was a fairly imaginative creature, were endless. And though this should have worried her, she found that it did not. There was no use in fretting over something she could not change, she felt, as she continued on her path, which began to wind its way into the earth. As it did, the mist that surrounded her thickened until it became a fog that enveloped her body in its cool touch, and the light, when it reappeared, became a hazy yellow streak that penetrated the silvery darkness. For a moment it would last, before whispering out, and the second set of steps that lay somewhere in her distant wake, would fade alongside them before re-emerging as it came back into being. With her injured hand, Maya tried to part the mist with a wave as it drifted up her nostrils, carrying the scent of damp earth deeply into their depths. But the mist, which parted temporarily with her movements, only swirled back into place a moment later. A later dancer that mocked her as she took step after step through the darkness, toward a place she did not know and a light that constantly wavered. Came and went as it pleased. As she traveled for what felt like the better part of an hour, the cold seeped into her skin and she began to tremble with each of her steps. Her body grew stiff and she found it increasingly difficult to keep walking, to keep moving forward, but she forced herself one step at a time. As she moved, she found that the steps that trailed in her waked slowed when she slowed, stopped when she stopped, sped up in the few instances where she managed to pick up the pace. And the eyes she were convinced were boring into her back, seemed to be burrowing deeper beneath her skin. Not only did their gaze burn, and somehow cut through the mist that shrouded her, but it had begun to itch. And she found that although she tried to scratch, it was an itch she could not get out. Even so, she dug her nails into the damp fabric of her attire and scratched and scratched, trying to get the spot out. To tear it from her skin. But it was no use. No matter how long she scratched or how hard she tried, the itch would not subside. As she dug her fingers into her clothed skin again, the light in the distance thinned, then went out. She tried to part the mist with her injured hand again to see if it had just been an illusion, as the other worked at the itch, only to find that the light came back as soon as the thought crossed her mind, as soon as she blinked. And that is when she realized she had taken her hand off the wall to work at the itch, and instantly replaced, scraping her palm against stone. Not enough to raise the skin, not enough to draw ichor, but enough to truly absorb the rises and falls of its body with but a brief touch. To know the contours of the rock that surrounded her. And how cold they had grown from the mist, the darkness. She tried to soften her touch as though caressing it, not only to spare her skin, but to keep as much cold from seeping in as she stepped, carefully, over a rise in the earth. Only to stumble, struggle to catch herself as the light winked in and out again, and again, as though signaling it was there and she was almost there, even though it had not grown any closer in all the time that she had spent walking toward it. A relatively straight path that should have guided her directly to it some time ago. She extended her free hand toward it, the thin, hazy line of gold it cut through the fog, tickled it with the edge of her finger before taking ahold of it, only to find that doing so snuffed it out, as though she had choked it within her grasp. Maya grit her teeth as she kept treading over the earth, doing her best to ignore the steps that mirrored her own. The itching. The eyes that wouldn't stop staring at her back. Occasionally crept up to her neck as though seeking a vein. Why won't you come out? she wondered. Does my smell discomfort you? Or are you simply confused as to why something that smells as though its life has already come and gone continues to walk the earth? A pause then. Come. Come and find out, she thought as she continued her wandering. Her uninjured hand brushing stone, guiding, as she moved through a series of shallow puddles, whose moisture sank into the depths of her shoes and chilled her feet, as her injured hand returned to her side, having realized there was no point in trying to part the mist, it would not be separated from its kind. Again, the light flickered in the distance, guiding her on, and again she heard footsteps and something else. A sharp snap, as though the creature that trailed in her wake had made the mistake of stepping on a twig, forcing it to split in half beneath its weight. What are you? she wondered. And why won't you come? Why won't you stop trailing in my wake? Stop chasing me with your slow, calculated steps. Why won't you just come out and face me? she wondered as she shot another glance over her shoulder, only to find that just as before, she could see nothing in the darkness. Nothing in the gloom that was beginning to seep into her still heart. Word Count: 998

[Maya Frostfawn]

Feeling foolish, the nuit turned her head back around and continued walking. As she moved farther into the cave's depths, she found that the mist started to thin until it ebbed out of existence. Although she could not make them out, she could feel them each time she blindly stepped into one. A sort of soft, green mossy plant that cascaded from the ceiling toward the floor, dripping gathered beads of moisture onto the soil by her feet. Dampening the cold earth. She wondered if it had any medicinal properties, and, since she had all the time in the world, stopped dead in her tracks and blindly reached for the cave's ceiling. She waved her injured hand around a bit until she found a strand of the plant and pulled. She could hear the plant's roots being wrenched from the earth, feel several grains of soil trickle onto her head like earthen rain. She brushed it away, quickly gathered more of the plant and stuffed it in her bag before moving on. As she did, she realized that she could no longer hear the steps that had once trailed in the wake, sense the creature slithering over the earth. There was nothing more than her own footsteps, the flickering light in the distance. Even the pain of the creature's eyes on her body had stopped, as had the itch she hadn't been able to scratch out. Feeling better than she had in quite some time since becoming trapped in the cave, Maya continued on toward the flickering light, finding that it was the only thing that hadn't changed. It still came and went as it pleased, and grew no closer no matter how much time she spent walking toward it. Since the cave had yet to branch and she knew there was no open way back, she continued toward it, following the wall with her hand and stepping carefully over the uneven earth. Some time later, she felt something she hadn't truly before, a nagging sensation at the back of her mind. And with it, came a steady itch, which intensified with each step she took toward the light. Each step the creature, which had begun trailing her again, made toward both her and the light. She could hear it again, its steady step, mirroring her own descent into the cave. And again, she looked over her shoulder, only to see nothing as she had so many times before. Again, she turned around and kept on moving, past the plants that hung from the ceiling into an even cooler part of the cave, although its temperature remained stable and grew no cooler than it had been before. She narrowed her eyes a little against the chill, stretching the line of light in the distance. It winked out. The footsteps that followed in her wake stopped, but hers did not. She kept on moving. It felt like an eternity before the light came back again, for but a brief moment before it blinked out of existence. It was so swift, its coming and going, that for a moment she doubted it had come at all. And as it came and went again, staying longer than it had previously before going out, she realized that she steps that trailed in her wake had resumed again, as had the itch she hadn't even realized had subsided prior to its return. She nibbled her lower lip, bit its sickly curve. The itch was getting worse and worse. She wanted to scratch it, but fought the urge. Her hand trailed along the cave's walls, the stone shifting beneath her touch with each step she took. Rising and falling over and over again. Molding into shapes beneath her palm. Face after face. An endless series of eyes. Always, watching but unseen. She could feel them. Feel them all boring into her. Watching her as she moved. Stalking her with their gaze, which trailed after her with each step she took. For a moment, she took her hand off the wall, but when she nearly slipped again, she put it right back. And in that moment when she was falling, stifling the gasp that threatened to escape her lips, she could hear it, moving faster. Moving toward her. Its steps growing louder and louder against the cool earth. The light flickered again; then its glow was snuffed out. She gasped as something cold and wet dripped down the length of her neck. Word Count: 746 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya stopped dead in her tracks. Raised her trembling, injured hand to the moisture, which sent a chill down her spine. Her fingers scraped it off her skin, rubbed it between their pads. It was so cold, so... sticky... Maya grimaced in disgust and flicked it away. Turned around to peer into the darkness, expecting to see a shadow within the shadows. But there was nothing. "Show yourself!" she shouted, her voice ringing in the darkness, echoing off the cave's walls. "I know you're out there!" her eyes moved steadily from left to right, dancing over the darkness. A glow hung over her shoulder, winked out. Casting shadows over her skin, before drawing them into the black. "You've been stalking me for hours," she growled, although she had no idea how long it had been. Her eyes kept roving through the dark, although there was still nothing to see. And as she strained to listen, she realized there was nothing to hear either. The steady drizzle drifting from the cave's ceiling had stopped. Her own footsteps had stopped, as had those of the creature. And she had no heartbeat. There was no thundering against her chest. No breath, hitched and panicked in the air. There was nothing. The cave was dark and still, and she was beginning to realize, she was scared, and even though the cave was silent now, she knew she was not alone. Slowly, she turned back around. And as soon as she did, she heard them again. The footsteps. "Enough!" she yelled, as she turned around again, only to find that the steps had stopped as soon as the word had left her lips. "Enough!" she said again, although it was quieter now. "Enough." A whisper. She turned back around, maybe there was nothing there after all, maybe it was all her imagination, playing tricks on her. But as soon as she started walking, she heard them again, and knew that was her mind's lie. That the steps were a lie, that there was nothing there. For there was definitely something there; she was definitely not alone. And whatever this thing was, it had an accursedly playful nature, one that insisted it stalk and taunt its prey, as it had been doing to the nuit for hours. Resigned, she grit her teeth and kept on walking, her palm firmly resting against the wall, guiding her forward toward the flickering light, which had just winked out again. How much longer can this go on? she wondered, before one, if not all of us, meet our end? Another step forward, and then another, more tentative. She could hear the footsteps slowing to meet hers again. The gaze of the mysterious creature boring into her back again. The itch she couldn't get out. She scratched it absently, but only once, fearing that she may break the skin if she hadn't already. At least, her clothes should naturally staunch the flow of ichor, if that were the case. But she couldn't afford it all the same, not without access to a fresh body to jump into. When you finally show yourself, I swear I'm going to ram a rock through your skull, she thought, although she doubt she had the strength for such a feat... or a nice rock with which to complete it. And if not a rock, then a fist. I always have those on hand, her mind continued as she kept on walking, the steps mirroring her own. The creature's gaze trailing from neck down the length of her spine, and back again, as though trying to decide where it would be best to sink its sharp teeth into. Maya shuddered, but whether it was from the penetrating eyes of the beast, or the cold, was entirely unclear. As the light winked in and out again, taunting her from the distance, which hadn't become any less distant in all the time she had walked, she kept on moving steadily, as did the beast that stalked her. It can't be much longer now. Much farther now. This all has to stop soon. This song and dance. Every song and dance must come to an end, and it seems as though my ballad's end is upon me now... there's so much I wish I could have done. So much I wish I knew. So many questions I want the answers to. Like why... What sounded like a twig snapping cut through the air, drawing her out of her thoughts, just as the light in the distance returned, far brighter than it had ever been before. Beckoning her closer with its ethereal finger, taunting her. Promising, no pretending, it was just within her grasp. Word Count: 789 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya continued moving toward it as the beast continued moving toward her. And she found, no.... She narrowed her eyes. Squinted into the shadows. Was the light actually getting, closer? Her eyes narrowed further, scrutinized the distance that lay between her and the light. It... is? It was, if only by a hair's breadth, with renewed vigor, she and her pursuer continued toward the light in the distance, which had begun to flicker madly alongside each step that she took. She raised her injured hand from the side, stretched it toward the light as though to grasp it before it came and went again. But she was still too distant, even though it seemed as though she were finally, almost there. Even so, she could not lower her trembling arm, which caught the light between its open fingers, casting shadows against her skin each time it came and went. Still, she could not stop thinking, hoping, dreaming, that she would catch it soon enough. Come upon it and hold its warmth in her hands. And know the truth, its nature and what she had been chasing all this time. What had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Her desire to get there sooner, her marginally renewed sense of hope, spurred her to move faster. And as though sensing her emotions, the beast picked up the pace as well, trailing endlessly in her wake. The itch its eyes cast against her skin nearly forgotten in this new light. As minute after minute passed, step after step was taken and suddenly, she was there, where she had wanted to be all along. The light was an orb sitting on a stone that looked like a perfectly carved plateau in the rock. Its outer layer was nearly, clear, but delicately tinted blue like ice. And the light it radiated was warm like the sun. Unable to pull her gaze away or stop moving toward it, she approached the light. Brushed the tip of her extended finger against it, and found that it burned as though she had just cast her finger into a fire. Startled, she pulled her hand away, examined the finger she had burned, only to find that her skin looked no different than it had before. It hadn't reddened or become mottled by a burn. It was as though it hadn't touched anything hot at all. Perplexed, she frowned and began to circle the stone and its treasure, examining it from all sides. She wondered not only how it managed to produce light, but how it remained so hot when the cave was both so dark and cold, who had made it if anyone had, how it had come to be in this place and numerous other questions as the footsteps that had trailed her finally stopped. She could tell that they were at the edge of the light's reach. Maya turned to face her assailant. "Show yourself," she commanded. A moment passed in tense silence, before her stalker finally stepped into the light. Her eyes widened. It was her, a perfect copy in slowly decaying flesh and bone. Same sunken eyes with deep bags beneath, same nose, same discolored lips and slender face. Same black tongue. Same dark clothes bearing the robe her mother had given her countless years prior. "How is this possible?" she whispered, as the clone of her simply stood before her. Staring into the light. It said nothing. Did nothing. Just stood, eerily. Watching. Waiting? But for what? "How can we both be me?" she whispered, as she approached her figure, spurring it to take a step back so it was partially shrouded in darkness. A moment and she moved back to where she had been prior, and the figure moved back to where it had been before it eased its way partially into the dark. "Are you known as Maya also?" she inquired, as its face started to shift to the one she had worn before she became a being that walked between the worlds of life and death. As its skin twisted and moved as though it were being manipulated by a sculptor's hands. Until it finally brightened, its body filled out, and its eyes began to shift rapidly between various colors. Violet. Emerald. Sapphire. Ruby. The green of evergreen trees. Maya extended her uninjured hand toward the being as though trying to grasp it, and found that the being had begun to mirror her movements, as it had so many times before when they were moving through the cave together. "What are you?" she asked, as the creature's body finally stopped shifting. "And why have you come to this place?" she asked. It wasn't but a moment before the creature's lips started moving, but it produced no sound. And Maya could not read them in the way she could a book. Word Count: 814 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya frowned. "What are you saying?" she asked the being that looked like a version of herself from years passed. She could see its lips moving, but still, there was no sound. Still she could not understand what the being was trying to convey as they held their hands out toward one another. As her fingers twitched with a feeling she could not quite discern. A moment spent in silence before the being's eyes settled on a deep violet, another before they started to shift again. And as they shifted, Maya found that she was flooded with bursts of emotion. It was as though a dam had broken within her, the thing that had held her sense of emotion at bay for all of the years she had been undead, and everything she hadn't had the chance to truly experience was hitting her in a wave. One emotion washing over her for a moment, before another came to take its place. They came and went with the shifting of her copy's eyes. When they they became the color of rubies, she found that each of her diminished muscles tightened. Her whole body felt tight. Rigid. And although she knew she had none left, she thought she could feel her blood boiling, a pressure building behind her skull that demanded to be let out. As they shifted from ruby into a brighter shade, she thought she felt a rapid beating in a heart she no longer possessed. The draw of the other being beckoning her closer, a desire to brush her fingers against bare skin. Her lips. Maya did not move as the eyes flowed into the orange of fire and a burst of energy washed over her; she felt like she could run for miles and miles and she would not tire. Yellow maintained the sense that her heart was beating rapidly within her chest, even though her heart hadn't beat for many years. And she felt this great sense of satisfaction wash over her before it flowed away with the coming of a pair of emerald eyes and a deep sense of envy for those who could experience emotions such as this every day of their lives. Both good and bad. They had no idea how lucky they were to truly feel, to experience everything life had to offer. When those emerald eyes were replaced by sapphire, she felt a momentary calm. A sense of peace, similar to what she often felt now, but not quite. And purple brought the desire to accomplish, to achieve so many things. Her dream of having all her questions answered, the acquisition of new skills... then came the darkness. And every sensation within her stilled. She trembled for reasons she could not name before the emotions were entirely washed away. And she found that as they went, so did her memory of them. Her sense of understanding derived from her brief experience with them again, a gift from the woman and her shifting eyes? A moment, and a sense of cold dread washed over her. But it did not last. The light behind her brightened, and the woman's eyes became a bright, blinding white. It hurt her eyes, seared her skin, and Maya couldn't help but look away, retract her hand, as the orb behind her shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, like a glass being dashed against a wall. Her ears prickled against the sound of it breaking, the shards glittering in the air before winking out in the same moment the woman's eyes dulled to nothing. And everything in the cave went out. Her sense of sensation, her knowledge that the woman was still there, watching her. Shaken, arm trembling, she returned it to her side and waited. For what she did not know. The light to return? No, the orb had broken. To see the strange woman again? No, she couldn't in this darkness. Nor could she feel her gaze upon her skin any longer. But even so she waited for that thing she could not name, for something to happen. But nothing happened. And although she had all the time in the world, she soon tired of waiting and turned to continue on her path through the cave's depths. As soon as she had, the earth shook, and she could hear both rock and dust raining down from the ceiling all around her. The trembling flowed through the cave from where she stood, outward in all directions, intensifying gradually. The rumbling was deafening, and gradually grew louder too, until it crescendoed with a rain of rock farther down the cave's length. As she looked over in the direction it had come from, Maya realized that light was pouring over the rock from the outside world. So the way out finally presents itself, she thought as she stumbled toward the opening that had just formed. Although uneven, and a tad shaky looking, there was a pile of differently-sized stones she could tread upon like a series of stairs to make her way out. She began climbing from one stone to the other, digging her heels into the rock, pulling herself up onto the bigger pieces, gradually making her way toward the light. Just before she left, however, something caught her eye. A tiny flower caught between the stones. The flower had a tiny green stem, no leaves she could see, and violet-colored petals. There were five to the flower, and they had a white center. The petals reminded her a bit of some of the leaves she had seen on trees. Drawn to its appearance, the nuit plucked the flower from the earth and carefully tucked it into her pocket before continuing to make her way out of the cave and into the light. Upon reaching the surface, she realized the sky had cleared and it had stopped raining. That she was covered in a mixture of dirt and grime. As she brushed it away from her attire with her uninjured hand, she wondered how long she had been below and how much of what she had seen had been real. And what that bloody, taunting light had been. And as she finished her ministrations, she began the long journey home, content that she had done enough for the day. Her teeth ground together at the thought of that accursed light. OOC: The flower is a cave primrose. Word Count: 1,063 Words