Chapter 12

 Pointing the flashlight toward the carvings, Aden was filled with more questions and no answers. "What is…- How..-", I grazed my fingers against the rock wall, overwhelmed and confused. "Is that.. You?", Cephas said while standing behind me. "I'm.. I'm not sure-", I said, slowly directing my attention to Daiki, "Can you explain this..?". Daiki slowly scootched closer to the wall, slightly picking at the carvings made on it, he looked at me and made certain hand motions. "He said there is no way they are new, the carvings have hundreds of years of dust caked into the lines.", Cephas said. "Look! Look!! It's big brother Aden!~", Brier said while jumping next to a different part of the cave. I quickly rushed over to Brier with my flashlight, pointing it at the picture Brier was referencing. At first glance, I was utterly shocked, this carving was very different than the others. This carving was a clear and accurate portrait of me, not a single detail was missing, even the cuts and bruises I suffered upon arrival were perfectly shown in the portrait. The cave which once felt safe, is now terrifying and insecure.

 I looked around the walls to find several different events carved into the stone wall, each one looking older than the other. There was one picture that was unique to the others, for I was not in it. The picture described two people holding hands, however, there was a giant crack in between their hands. Additionally, the person on the right had cracks all over the wall, while the person on the left was left in perfect condition. After looking closer at the carving, there was a small detail hiding in plain sight. There were fist marks indented on the right side of the picture, each fist was bigger than the one previously, adding more mystery on who created these cave markings. "It looked like whoever made this carving specifically was not happy about it-", Aella said with slight nervousness in his tone. "Yeah..- Someone really big-", Cephas commented while analyzing the fists getting larger. "And scary….-", Brier said while clinging onto Daiki and pointing at the large law marks on the cave ceiling. Daiki held Brier closely and looked at Cephas with concern. "Who or… what.. Lived here..?-", Cephas said while viewing the other pictures. "I don't think you want to know…", I said while slowly wandering deeper into the cave. 

 As Aden wandered to the end of the cave, the claw marks became larger and larger. Some claw marks were unique compared to the others, there was black ooze dripping down a few. Brier ran down the cave with me and stayed close to me. "What tis stuff…", Brier said while reaching for it. "I wouldn't touch that if I were-", I was interrupted by Brier's blood curdling scream, I spoke too late as Brier fell to the floor, unconscious and trembling. I quickly picked her up and held her close, I grabbed her hand to view the ooze on her fingers. I ripped off a piece of my sweater and quickly rubbed it off, throwing it away at the deepest part of the cave. As I was throwing away the ooze, Daiki came crawling down quickly to Brier's aid. "What happened..?!", Cephas said as he followed Daiki. "She touched the ooze dripping from the wall.. Then she just collapsed-", I said while gently handing her over to Daiki. Daiki crawled back to the front of the cave quickly to move her away from the dangerous substance. Me and Cephas followed quickly, for we did not know what the ooze was, and what it did to Brier. Once we moved back to the front of the cave, Brier had stopped trembling, however, she was still unconscious. The look in Daiki's eyes was frightening, to say the least, they were a mix of rage and fear, something you would normally see in a parent whose kid just got hurt. On the other hand, in his eyes, I could tell we both had the same question in mind. Who was here before us.. And are we in Danger?