57 Chapter 23: The Thing In The Caverns (1/2)

I couldn't believe it... what I saw... it was gone... Disturbed by this fact,I quickly began to check our surroundings. Checking every inch, nook, and cranny.

Thankfully I did not find what had been staring at me all this time. And so, we spent the remainder of our guard duty patrolling and toying with some of the smaller luminescent animals.At this hour most of the animals were night crawlers as they came out at night.

When the time had finally arrived to pass on the guard duty I thought to myself that it was best to try and get some sleep.

As Geo and I walked to the campfire we then proceeded to lay down, to try and catch some z's.

I lay there on my back looking at the stars as the cavern was located at an open area within the forests. As I got thirsty because of all the worrying I did... I decided to go take a leak while refreshing my water supply.

Making sure to stay close to the camp I stumbled upon a small pond. Moss was growing all around the water as they had enough water to supply their growth. Looking into the water it had a faint glow to it. Almost similar to the plant life and animals in the area.

I thought to myself that the fish had to have luminescent bodies as well, as they gave off faint glows that gave off a faint glow from the water.

I could still not fathom just how magical this place felt to the naked eye. As I took it all in on my leisure, I began to fill my gorges. As I was filling both of them again a feeling of being watched crawled up my spine.

I knew it was there and did not dare to look behind me.I heard something move in the dark and decided to try and ignore its presence.But, I couldn't as the feeling only began to increase its pressure on me.I heard what was staring at me crawling closer in the distance.

I could bear the pressure anymore and turned around to see what had been staring at me all along. But when I did, something rushed at me, knocking me over, making me fall in the pond of water.

The fish in the pond swam for their life as my body hit the surface, illuminating the surrounding waters. Waves trashed about crashing into a wall? Was that there before? Too scared to look up I kept my eyes closed as the moments passed by I thought I was done for… but still, nothing happened… I could only hear the crashing of the waves as they splashed up against the surrounding walls.

”Wait… Walls?”

I didn't want to look, as I wasn't certain if what had knocked me over was still there, lurking in the shadows… But, as curiosity got the better of me, I had to look. Slowly I opened my eyes allowing them to adjust to the faint light that had been projected by the fishes. Carefully I raised my face to look for the edges of the pond… What I saw shook me to the core, there were no edges…Only scales, all around me… I tried looking up, and when I did, my heart stopped for a moment.In front of me, the creature stood there silently observing me.

It's head hanging over me as it watched my every move. It was unfathomable how big the beast was… Our eyes… Our eyes met just for a moment when I realized the pond didn't have any walls.I could feel my heartbeat increase as it was uncertain what would happen to me next.

The creature slowly moved its head closer to me, as I feared for my life I was frozen by fear and unable to look away. When I suddenly heard a voice inside my head.

”You… Want… To… Kill… Me… Too? Like… The… Othersss?”

It almost sounded as if the creature itself was disappointed… not in me, but humans in general… When I tried to answer the creature, someone moved upon us, giving away its position by shouting.

I got snapped out of the trance I had found myself in trying to communicate with the creature,but when I came too… the beast was gone… Still not sure if I was awake,it took me a minute to hear the shouting.

”Master!! Master, Michael!! Where are you?!” The shouting got closer as finally, a familiar head emerged from the bushes in front of me. It was Yami!! But… what was she doing here in the woods? I decided not to pay much attention to it, as I was overjoyed to see a familiar face in the dark,eerie woods. Yami found me laying in the pond… Still baffled and confused by what had happened previously.

”Master! I visited the rendezvous point as my village is close by, and I wanted to see you again.But then… I heard you had gone to replenish your water supply and haven't returned for several hours! I am so glad to see you are alive and well, Master!!

Come… the others also went looking for you, Yami thinks it is better to return, maybe she can guide team fang through the caverns?”

Yami offered to help me stand up, I was happy to accept her help, but it appeared I was weak in the knees. Trying to hold it together Yami supported me, which didn't turn out too well as we both fell into the pond. Again the fishes illuminated the pond giving off a magical glow.

Yami had fallen on top of me and got startled by what had happened. We both got embarrassed by what had happened and turned red,quickly we tried to recover our footing and made our way back to the camp. Once we got closer we could see everyone had spread out in search of me. Thankfully a small group was still present who knew where everyone had gone.Meiko and Kasim set out to recover the others while Ragnee walked upon us.

”Thankfully everything is okay, right master?”

Yami asked overjoyed as she was able to finally see me again.Ragnee stormed up on me with a worried face and slapped me across the face.

”Idiot!! Don't you know how worried we were?! What if one of those beasts that drained all forms of liquid, bones, and muscles had caught you in this darkness? What would be have done then?! I have been worried sick about you… and here you were flirting with your servant?! I must have gone crazy…”

I could see Ragnee had indeed been worried sick about what had happened as she almost began to cry she mustered up her feelings and went towards the search parties who had shortly returned.

Before engaging with them she turned around and quickly addressed me to rest up.

”Michael!!! I'm glad you're back, we still have a long day ahead of us tomorrow morning at dawn, so, please… go to sleep, then team shield will take care of night duty. All of you, that is an order! You understand?”

I nodded accepting the order as I quickly took a place close to the campfire.Laying down I thought back at what had happened, as it all felt too surreal to be true… Shortly after Yami,curled up against me granting me a soft pillow for the night. The next day at dawn,Geo had prepared the right nutrients for an energetic breakfast.Shortly after preparing Ragnee called us from team ”Fang” together as we were about to embark into the caverns.