Chapter 7. The Mysterious Tunnel

Mehdi continued to walk in the tunnel with the lantern held in his hand. The only sound he could hear there were his footsteps which added more to his feeling of loneliness and as he continued to walk surroundings continued to become darker and darker with each passing step.

After walking like this for a long time Mehdi could not find any other way in the tunnel and felt an unusual feeling in him trying to tell him that something was wrong with the path. He thought that he was under an illusion and was not able to get out of it so he tried to think of a way to get out of the illusion. First he tried to blow off the lantern thinking that it might be causing the illusion but to his surprise he was unable to extinguish it. After trying a few times he suddenly started thinking about a different reason for his current situation.

For now he decided to continue walking for a while hoping that he might find something and he actually found a fork in the tunnel after walking for only a few minutes. As he was required to pick a path to pursue he thought what would Sikandar have done if he was in his place and the only thing he could come up with was that he could never understand that bragger. He just instinctively chose a path and decided to go in it. After walking for half an hour he reached a dead end.

Mehdi tried examining the wall closing the path but to no luck the only option left for him was to go back and take the other patch which he did and after going back to the fork and taking the other path he continued to explore it as he suddenly came across a dead end again.

Now his luck was definitely not on his side as he was stuck with no way to go anywhere and he then thought of using his powers to break the blockade when he learned that he was unable to use his powers here and that the only thing which he had with him now was that lantern. He kept lantern on the ground and sat there with his back tucked to wall as he continued to stare at the only light source which was present feeling tired and hopeless with no way to go.

As he sat there looking at the lantern for some time he suddenly felt something and got up picked the lantern and rushed to the fork in the path reaching there he immediately walked to the center that separated the both paths. Mehdi took a few steps back and rushed towards it closing his eyes. Just as he opened his eyes he suddenly realized that he was at the place where he initially had entered the tunnel and picked the lantern from.

After learning that the lantern could make him hallucinate he decided to go forward without taking the lantern but to only rely on his instincts and senses to move forward. He kept walking for a few minutes when he suddenly saw that there was a turn in the tunnel and that there was some light coming from the other opening in the tunnel. He became cautious and moved forward but to his surprise there was no light source there but only his eyes playing tricks on him.

Mehdi's brain instinctively went in to full defensive mode and he knew that he was at disadvantage in this situation so he started to move faster but still being very cautious. This approach of Mehdi helped him as he reached a bigger opening in the tunnel. Mehdi knew that there is a reason why an opening like this is present here so he waited for a few minutes to decide whether to go in or not but he made his decision to go in as he heard a very low frequency whistle sound coming from the opening. As he had been alone here in this tunnel for some time even a monster would be a blessing at time like this to have a company with and as a result of this decision Mehdi entered the opening and saw what was unbelievable even to someone like him.