The way up

Walking through the forest of the unknown, Atlas was no longer in panic. He had his goals he remembered he wanted to achieve. And now he was going through the trees with a concrete goal in mind. And after all the time he spent walking, he could finally see it in the distance. A large cliff going a few kilometers up.

"Finally, I am almost back!" he said to himself, fully understanding that the main challenge is still ahead.

"Okay, I managed to get down, means I can think of the way up, right?" he thought, yet at the same time had completely no idea on how to actually climb up. Looking around, he tried to find anything that might help. He started to think of the ways up. And in a few minutes he had come up with several options. He could climb the cliff up.

"Just a few kilometers up and I am good. My stamina is infinite and I take no fall damage, so it should be easy, heh." he tried to make the situation slightly more positive using one of his favorite things in the world - sarcasm.

"Okay, in all seriousness, could I use some type of ability to climb. Maybe if I use the lightning bolt on the ground, I could shoot myself up, and if I constantly do it, I would theoretically fly…"

Nothing he thought of was realistic enough.

"Ahhhhh!" he shouted as loud as he could. He did not care that some creatures might hear him, he was tired and exhausted yet again. It felt like whatever he did, brought him more and more challenges. Tired, he laid down on the ground. He could feel the soft grass under. It was slightly cold, yet perfect for relaxation. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He remembered that he needed to remain strong in this place. The place, where there was no one to help him. Almost no one. He suddenly remembered the strange creature, which gave him his first ability. The aura seeing eye. So far, this was the most helpful thing he could receive here. And the creature was strong too. He wondered where it might be.

"Bet the creature has no problem navigating here, being so strong and having the same eye as me…" he paused, realizing something.

"Could I actually navigate through the forest using my eyes?. I remember I could see the energy flowing into the portal. Could I use it now?"

He significantly improved his ability since entering here, so the idea seemed good. Activating it, he looked around. At first, he did not see anything in particular. Yet after carefully looking around, he found something. Like waves, the energy was going up the cliff as if it was sucked by something. Atlas did not know this world at all, but he was sure that one of the only things that could suck up the energy in such volumes and in such an elegant way is the portal. After looking at the energy, he found something odd. A very thin thread was flowing somewhere, dividing, twirling and intertwining, yet always going in one direction. The thread was going to the right side of the cliff and Atlas followed. It did not take long until he reached the hole in the cliff. A cave.

"Just like on Earth, the energy is drained through the cave."

Entering the cave was the only thing he could do now, and it seemed like the only reasonable solution. He was not really scared of getting lost, since he could follow the string to the exit anyway. Despite that, the cave was dark. He could barely see anything, even with his superior eye. Instinctively putting his hand in his pocket, he found his smartphone he was carrying. He almost forgot such a thing existed. It was almost useless in this world. But not now. Turning on his flash on the camera, he used it as a flashlight. The cave was dark and mostly silent. Very silent. After about 5 minutes of entering it, Atlas started to hear nothing. He barely saw anything. And the air felt heavy. The atmosphere was pressuring him. Yet he remained calm. He was no longer planning on losing control or starting to panic, moreover it was significantly easier to be calm and collected when using the ability.

The cave started to go up and it was a good sign, since it meant that it was most likely going towards the portal and Atlas could exit on the other side. Atlas was pointing his phone mostly on the ground, since he did not want to trip and fall. And like that he continued to go through.

At some point, the cave started to narrow down. Now, Atlas could touch both walls with two hands at the same time, and it continued to narrow. At this point, Atlas started to become nervous. What if the cave would just bring him to the dead end, and the energy was going through some small hole. And after a few more meters he realized he was right. The walls were so close to each other, that even if he tried to squeeze in, he would probably get stuck anyway. Yet at the same time, something amusing was there as well. After the tight squeeze was an opening. And in the opening, was the light. Or at least something that was shining through the hole. It was not the sunlight for sure. Atlas was sure he was at most halfway through the mountain. The light was dim yet somewhat charming. The Purplish-pinkish hue was making it somewhat soothing and comforting.

"What do I do now? Should I go back or try to find another way?" he was asking himself whilst looking at the light shining through the narrow passage. "Or what if I just make the passage bigger?"

Atlas knew if he tried using the black lightning he could probably create the explosion strong enough to make the passage big enough for him. At the same time, he knew that exploding something in the closed cave 90% of the time would result in the cave no longer existing.

Thinking for a few seconds, he turned around and walked back.

"Well, it is only rational, not to use anything explosive in the cave right? Any normal guy would go back. Well, here should be enough." he stopped and turned around, facing the small passage leading to a very welcoming light.

"Too bad I was never normal," he smiled.

Pointing his hand towards the hole, he made his fingers into a shape, as if he tried shooting with his finger.

"Heh, I am like that girl from that anime people used to watch back in the days before the war…"

Closing his eyes, he started to imagine the energy flowing around his body, gathering it, and spiraling it towards his hand. Black lighting could be seen forming around Atlas' body, coming from his body up his hand and spiraling towards the pointing finger. Zapping sounds started to echo through the cave.

…

"And now…" he breathed in and breathed out. "Shoot" he whispered.

…

All the lighting around his body disappeared. As if the energy was just sucked out. But then, milliseconds of silence were ended by the sudden burst of energy, coming out of Atlas finger. A black lightning came out of his finger towards the narrow passage of the cave. The cave shuttered and a shockwave was sent through the walls, ceiling and ground of the cave. The sound of an explosion resonated through the whole cave.

Immediately, Atlas brought all the energy to his hands and covered his ears and ducked down. He did not consider the sound it would make. But he needed to think fast, since he was not sure if the cave started to collapse or not. He ran towards the narrow passage, which to his pleasant surprise was no longer narrow and he ran through it quickly.

Now, uncovering his ears and looking around, he was in a segment of the cave, which was significantly larger than the parts before. When dust from the explosion settled in, he could see that he was in a large room. There were lots of different crystals in the walls. They were white, with a slight pink hue to them. They were so beautiful, it was almost hard for Atlas to look away. Looking back, he saw that the cave was still alright. Remembering the lighting he created, he could not help but smile, since he felt like he was getting stronger.

Atlas continued to examine the cave. It was large as he proceeded to walk towards where the thread of aura was going.

Following it, Atlas found something he was not expecting to find.

"What the…" he could only say.

In front of him was a statue. Statue of a woman. When he came closer to examine it more, he realized that it was not a woman. Or at least partially. The body looked like it belonged to a very beautiful woman, with perfect proportions. She was sitting on the stone. Her arms were covering her breasts. Looking at the face, one could expect some beautiful, almost hand-crafted face. Yet there wasn't. there was no face on the statue. The head of the statue looked like a human one, but with no face and some organic shapes imitating hair. As if the sculptor became lazy and did not want to carve in separate strings of hair.

"Who could've put a statue here? I can also feel some faint energy inside the statue. I wonder if it was built using magic. Something so beautiful yet alone somewhere in a cave. Ironic. I am not sure what the author named this sculpture, but I am gonna call it Lilith." Atlas remembered his ancient history class, where he was learning about different cultures that used to exist way before.

"Cave of Lilith, sounds nice. It is easier to name any landmarks so I can map them out later."

As he wanted to examine the glowing crystals, he felt something. A feeling he had already forgotten.. Yet it sent shivers down his whole body. He remembered the feeling. The cave suddenly became much colder. It became hard for Atlas to move his body.

"I am scared…" Atlas said to himself. Turning his head right, he saw it. The creature he saw not so long ago. The creature that sent that almost annihilated him. The one that inflicted the fear so strong he could not move previously.

"But that was then, I am much stronger now. Well hello, old friend." Atlas was looking at a creature about 4 meters tall. With dirty black fur and arms so long the claws reached the ground. And the head which resembled both deer and a wolf.