A Cave Too Deep

Fell into a trap she was, misfortune by an illusion. The librarian wakes up from her dream to find the night going near. Orange light shimmers from the sky as the last seconds of the sun vanish into darkness. It was cold now, but she didn't need that anymore.

"Oh, whatever I would do here," Eve uttered, "Thank you for your deception, little one!"

"I should've waited on the tree..."

The cave is a dark, humid place to stay, yet still better for someone like the librarian than a scorching land over the clouds—A terrible fate for her curious self to be dragged with little sunlight above her head and a steep path in the darkness. But her will remains enduring and never be pushed by a mere setback.

"What is this place, anyway? What's with the...silence?" Eve walks carefully through a thin ground.

"Ugh! I can't believe I followed nothing of a kid here!"

"How did I think this was a great idea? With my weak bones?"

"I should've rested before I go...oh, I hate this..."

"I hate that child so much. I HATE HIM!"

The cave was more profound than she thought. Crawling through gaps with a body like this would be painful and stressful, but there's no path for her to say otherwise. So her body must push through the coarse stones and pebbles, trying to crush her ribs. However, such calmness makes it easy to concentrate and less burdensome to stop her.

It was a long, terrifying walk between two earths without a rest. Whispers, mainly unrecognizable, began to take effect on the journey through creaks and coarse walls in the cave. Never had a place so dark, lifeless, and devoid of hope could be in the land of joy and sky. Pencils and papers—what a joke to her.

It must be a large cave for her. Its size and the direction tunnel made her spend more than ten minutes lingering back at her starting position. The air is way fresh for breathing, a river flowing beside the wet, steep stone she stepped in, and the nearly silent flow helps her focus.

She drank the water in a haste, relieving herself from dehydration after not feeling such purity for long. The river is cold and refreshing, even helping her wipe off the sweat from drying herself too long like a fish under the sun. Keeping hygiene in this cave is necessary, too.

"Fresh water? Good god, I need that!"

"If only I'd carried my staff here. What an opportunity laid waste..."

With clean skin and pristine white as before, she continues the overbearing walk to the deepworld. There's nothing more infuriating than a dead end in her journey. Not only was the cave thick and quiet, but the pathway to her escape was slowly thinning. It's almost like it was swallowing her to death! The librarian was helpless against it.

"Too cold...too cold..."

"I need to...find warmth..."

"Warmth...fire...fire!"

It was too cold, so the librarian had to stop for warmth. She rips her shirt to create a flammable pit before flicking two stones together to create a spark that would light a fire. It was not long until a yellow spark fell into the shirt after a few frictions.

"Yes!"

Woosh.

"Aw, come on!!"

The cave is dead with life. There's nothing to eat for the librarian with her hungry stomach other than piles of stones on the ground. She tried biting into it, but her teeth couldn't pry the skin and her stomach immediately puked out the pebbles she swallowed. Stones are not for anyone to eat, after all.

"Hweck! Ptooh!"

Everywhere she goes, it's all the same—back and forth. The longer she stayed, the lower the ceiling got, and the more tired she was in this cave. Now she is gone without her staff, and far before even she was aware of her disappearance. There's not even a sign of life.

She made fire

Again, the librarian grew disturbed in her steps. The unending darkness and its cold, dampened air are perfect for tiring a curious, restless venturer like her. The more she resists the cave, the more tired she becomes and goes forward to sleep.

"Ugh, I've been walking all circle! I'm tired! I need to sleep."

"Can I even sleep here?"

Luckily, there was a slab lying on the ground, with a hole in the wall—big enough to fit a human like her for a rest. It was uncomfortable to sleep on, with the slab seemingly held unevenly by sharp spikes below its body. But with lights slowly growing dim in her eyes, the librarian wasted no time standing and lay her head on the slab for a sleep.

"Finally. Why couldn't they just make me..." She uttered in pause, "Zzz..."

The growing burden in her eyes finally left at once. Soon, her eyes closed, and her legs stretched forward. She could feel her head lying on her pillow as the dream approached. As soon as she dreamed back, the pain vanished as the peace returned. But then, there was a strike within the cave.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Yelled someone faintly in this cave.

"Hello??"

What a jarring sound—it seems someone was stuck just like her in this cave, too. Their desperate scream was not left unnoticed by the librarian's awakening, yet became too suspicious when she looked out from her tired eyes, and no one responded.

"Another illusion made by the darkness again?" She utters, tired and dazed.

"Hello? Are you real? Show yourself!"

It sounded like a boy in desperate, but not the lost starling that guided her here. It sounds like an older yet whiny for a young boy, with what seems like an attempt to hold back against crying. It came from the large hole where she found this slab.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Can anyone hear me??"

"I can't find anyone here!"

How can she believe that irresponsible call after what led her here? The librarian laid back on the slab and slept under the dark cave again, but not before silencing the voice with a yell. Sadly, it can't hear her back like she does to his whining.

"Oh, forget it!" She yelled back.

The librarian lay her head sideways, facing the large hole, as she could not sleep herself from the anger. After witnessing what seemed to be an illusion, she finally returned to sleep. But the voice returned once more with a surprise.

"We shouldn't have been here. That beast would have find us."

"What? There's no beast here! It's safe!"

"Has there ever been anyone here? Looks like we're the only one."

It was a call for the librarian to wake up once more. Does that voice multiply, or were there three people all this time? She thought worryingly as she left the slab as soon as possible. Her foot lunges from steep rocks, following the source of the sound before it can fade away, and her lungs can't catch enough breath.

The librarian follows the same route back to the river, with the same wet, steep ground and a sharp ceiling where the sound starts to tear loudly in anger and conflict. Something must have happened afar, and she couldn't waste a chance with that kind of mark.

"Hey! Stop it! We can't fight here!"

"This is too dark! Can any of you please be quiet??"

"Shut up! You're tearing my short!"

She yelled their names, believing it was the children from the outside who had happened to stumble into this cave altogether, but their fights were too intense for her call to be heard. She could hear rambling and disintegration but not physical harm among the others, like a brawl between words and curses.

The three kids were right behind the wall, with blue lights shining dimly from the creak to a space. She could see a shadow passing on the ground on a door, walking in a circle like a human. It's like a performance on the other side. It could be one.

"What happened there?" She stops by a stalactite.

"Those kids need to end their rambling and focuses on something important—like me being trapped here!"

"Ugh! You three, keep it down and help me out of here!"

She leaps out of the stalactite and immediately covers the ground with her body as soon as she falls, hoping to catch the three troublemakers to her attention. The bright light flashes before her eyes for the first time since she arrived in this cave.

"W-what?"

But to her shock, the awaited presence was nowhere to be found. Yet, their voices still linger in this cave with one another. Where are the children? The librarian was devastated! It was another deception luring her to nowhere—Yet something was not right. The cave is a dead end, yet it was not an illusion that brought her to this place.

Their shadows are conflicting on this very spotlight—three children pushing on one another. What were they fighting right now? It was all a nonsensical mumble after a few seconds passed. The librarian stood and watched as everything unfolded before her eyes—a performance she could only rely on.

The first child wears a crown, standing taller than anyone here, including the librarian. His voice resonates the loudest among the two, being the most to show up from the spotlight than the others. He acts too arrogant yet defensive, wanting to silence the two and earn their respect.

"You dare oppose the given rights of mine to deduce?"

"I am the one in charge since our first arrival here."

"Who wears the crown shall define the path! Thine path means none to mine!"

"The cave said forward! And forward in a straight line, we shall move!"

The second child wield a sword—dull and made of wood but sharp enough to wound if it was swung with force. He may not speak the loudest, but the conflict brews by his actions. No matter what the first child said, he only swayed his sword because he couldn't hear anything else.

"Your path is a twirled lane! The cave is not for the king!"

"This cave is condemned with a beast! We must follow its sounds from the east right where we entered from the west!"

"Cower at none! The line guides us to nothing!"

The third child was cloaked in a robe—a protective wear to conceal his thin arms and trembling body among the two. Cowardice makes him the least talking. Hence, he waits by the edge of the spotlight while holding something tightly in his grip. He was the least noticed in the librarian's gaze, yet he was the one who caught her first.

"Hey, who are you?" said the third child with such a face, "Why are you here, young lady?"

Did they really see her? Those shadows seem harmless, especially the last one. The librarian saw this whole performance with her own eyes and was confident she was somewhere between an exit from this place. The look on the third shadow was somewhat familiar—and warm. But not the warmth that ails a frigid skin.

"Me? How about you? Where did you three came from?" She asked.

The third shadow silences, but the first one moves to the front boldly. The crown-bearer shadow appears elegantly. Seeing the librarian makes him want to act bravely.

"What an encounter, young lady." The crown-bearer said, "A beast is lying in this cave who had taken lives and murdered innocents for centuries that I must eliminate for good."

"What beast? I have not yet to seen such figure since I'm here..."

The second one moves on the front by force, pushing the first shadow away. The answer enrages him with disbelief as his sword is tightened further under his grip.

"Impossible! Have you not heard? It is alive and dangerous! And it is here!"

"Are you sure about that?" Eve replies.

"Yes! I have been tracking its footsteps from the rain when it ran here in the morning! They told me it wouldn't be here!"

"Who's they?"

"Who else? The people around here! They didn't believe me that I found it lying here! I want to prove them wrong by slaying one!"

The crown-bearer and the sword-wielder began fighting over the words again, leaving the librarian in a lost cause. The furious sword-wielder swung his sword in all directions, barely hitting anyone but himself at the end. Wounded by the head, the sword-wielder cries like a child and is taken away by his anger.

The crown-bearer taunted him, which stocks another coal to his wrath. They fought once again, but they could never fight or harm one another. This left only one shadow to listen to the librarian. A shadow whose body is as thick as a curtain because of his robe, which kept him warm from the freezing temperature.

"Who are you? Why are you here? And why are you—cold?"

"I'm Eve. I was here long before you, and I am stuck without a way out of the cave..."

"You're lost? Did you come from the west tunnel like me?"

It was difficult for the librarian to explain her situation, knowing how embarrassing it would be to tell the boys about her short journey. But she knew she had to do something close to the truth. A truth that didn't need to be true.

"No, I came from the East. It was—complicated." She replies.

The librarian fell to her knees, pain and aching as she could not bear any more suffering. Tears flew from her eyes as her hair grew messy and wet from sweat. She hadn't eaten or slept, and she couldn't tell if the shadow was still here for her.

"But I'm not surprised if someone was lost like me here and couldn't find his way out. No one could be as fool as a curious child in a place further from the face of Earth."

"I was hoping for someone to notice me since I've been gone. But no pebble had moved since I was here. Maybe it's for the best that no one did."

"It would be a shame if I went out and there are people who are ready to insult me for being here unpermitted. They called it madness."

"How is it madness?" The shadow asked.

"Well, they don't see the way I did! My dream! My reason!" She replies, "I wouldn't ended up here if it wasn't because of their words!"

"Who?"

"Everyone! Every single life who knew about me wouldn't want to be like me. That's why I was here—because nobody want me."

"I can't return home like this. That is if I had a home now."

The robe-cloaker pauses and thinks momentarily, walking away from the shadow while the other two follow him into the darkness. For a second, the librarian felt disappointment in his abandonment and the growing silence inside the stone-walled space. But then, the third shadow reappears without the other two.

"It's not safe here," said the robe-cloaker, "The beast will find us together if we're here. Come, I know the way out."

"Why should I?"

"Because I couldn't let you here alone while I head down the cave myself. What about your reason?"

"Come, get over this creak and leave this cave. I'll be waiting outside."

The shadow vanishes once more to the darkness, but not without giving the librarian guidance in return. The light hovers away from her body so that she can see the long creak in the cave sticking out beyond her eyes—a tight but a way. The tired body of the librarian could not wait to be surprised anymore.

"You'll be waiting? You...?" Eve laughs, "And who's waiting for you when you died there? Huh?"

"You'll die there! And no one will miss you. You hear me? None!"

"But if you want to live in my shoes, then go on!" She taunts.

She crawls into the creak, pushing her body successfully into the tight walls before the shadow ceases at last with its spotlight. Is this a show for her? Because it seems too entertaining to be true, and she could have never expected such an ending. But, the plot remains far from the cliff, which she has to follow up on herself.

From her journey, there was hope in the form of light coming from the other side and the sound of the strong flow of a river. She knew she was close to something, as the white light emitted head to her forehead. She had never been this happy to see the sun since she was in the cave.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She was excited about its approach.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!"

The horizon is as bright as the sun she was once resent with. It was all white and warm, like no warm ever before. The librarian didn't feel any pain or heat from the sun, and her body didn't feel tired anymore. It truly relieves her.

"I feel better..." She utters, "I have never felt this...good."

"I like this. I really...really like...this..."

Is it the escape of a lifetime? She couldn't tell. But what she could tell from that adventure is that leaving it has never made her happier. A small pinch of freedom seems to have brought her out of the miserable choice. But as soon as the light shines too bright, it soon dims.

"Uhm...yeah, I'm—huh?" Eve wakes up, "W-what??"

The librarian had found herself back at the slab once more, right where she was about to sleep. The sweet dream replenishes her body but not her mind, which had already lost hope to her. Everything she had been looking through was nothing but a play in her head. Quite a play, honestly.

"No! No! NO! NO!!!!"

"Why??? Why???"

"I was close! I was close! I was close!!!"

The devastation in her scream echoes through the cave with such intensity—terrifying anything that could be here with her in shambles. The librarian roars her last hope, ceasing the lights off but her. Hopeless, she had thought nothing more from her journey. The echoes continued passing through the cave as the librarian sat on the slab crushed with despair. Notes and a pencil are still in her possession with tears dropping over the paper as Eve looked once more at its empty page. Darkness took over her head, and every misery became as painful as it was felt once. The librarian could only cry with horror, experiencing the thought of dying here unnoticed.

"Will he even find me...?" Eve uttered, "If he care, he would've find me..."

"If they truly care, they would be here!" She yelled.

"But they wouldn't! Because they don't! None of them are!"

"I thought this world could've been much better than Earth! I thought this was heaven!"

"But nothing about this was heaven! Nothing!"

"I hate that executioner! I hate that witch! I hate that cloaked man!"

"They tried to kill me! They tried and they laughed! They laughed at me!!"

"I hate that prince! He couldn't just help me out when he could! All he did was leave me on my own when he should've been the one!"

"Or that thief! If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here looking out for trouble! Is this what he called a promise??"

"Or my parents! Why didn't they believe me when I said I could do this myself?"

"And how can I forget about you, Cyrus? Right when you had to be here a that prince's side and—" The librarian silences.

Was it a sight? She saw it with her own eyes—everything. The cave is smaller than she remembers, and it looks paler—it must have been a limestone cave. But they look much better in her eyes now. The librarian stood confidently with her head leaned to the left.

The blood in her head was still flowing, and nothing was broken from her body—After all, it was only a rest on the slab. But the cave wouldn't be this bright if there were no lights but her. Her enchanted body is too dim to reflect such brilliance to the maze. Has she died from the fear yet?

"Is this another of my dreams again? Or have I finally departed?"

"Right after everything, I have to be now?"

"Why? Why now??"

Her hands were trembling because she wondered if she should try out again. She had already lost one hope—losing another would be a terrible decision. There may not be guidance as to where she goes, but there is a sight to see every path clearly.

The librarian grew firm with her will. Following the clear sight of the cave, she began walking through the large tunnel that she followed the voices before. She hopes to get the same outcome from following the path, expecting a creak near one last open cave once.

Through the same fleeting foot and hazy chase pattern, she was shocked to find the same stalactite behind a larger cave—it was as promised by the children. It wasn't hope that filled her face but curiosity at the thought of its remnants. The librarian pushed into the cave, and there was a creak like before but no children were found.

"Of course," She uttered, "And there should be light on this side?"

"But it was smaller than I remembered. How can I get in?"

Nevertheless, any struggle should not be a hindrance to the librarian. She forces herself into the creak and reaches out through the tunnel slowly but surely to an exit. Such tight gaps make her lungs weaker to breathe and slower to pass.

"I didn't see any light," she said, "Why didn't I hear a river??"

But the smile on the librarian's face vanishes as soon as she enters deep into the tunnel without a sign of a way out. There was no light on the other side nor a river flowing as she had before. It was all too empty, but the tunnel was still pointing elsewhere. She was already far beyond returning,

"No, no, no! This can't be happening!" She yelled, "This can't happen!! Can't!"

She roars once more, and the cave responds. Rocks are piling up behind the tunnel and slowly consume her through this tight gap. The librarian makes haste to the exit as quickly as she can before she becomes a part of this cave as well. The intensity of this travel was way too costly and challenging, she couldn't think more clearly than moving forward.

"I must make it forward! I must!"

"Don't look back...don't look back...focus on the front...focus on the front..."

Crrk! Crrk! Crrk!

"No, no, no, no—"

At the moment the librarian felt a broad space to expand her foot out, her legs slipped into a steep stone, and her body fell together from the creak into a cliff. The rocks immediately blocked the tunnel, and the librarian ended up falling from a height into a body of water.

*Splash* Her body was caught by the lake. The deep water saved her foot from breaking a bone.

"Pwah! *cough* *cough*" She coughs out sands and rocks from her lips—a taste not to savor.

"W-where am I? Am I out?" She asks.

She landed upon an oasis within a desert, soaked and refreshed under a sunset. The water was deep enough to save her bone from breaking, and the sky had already turned evening as it purples. The suffering is gone at last, and the librarian walks free into a sand, where it warms enough to her cold toes.

"I'm free! I'm free! Yeah!!" She yelled, "Alas! See that, mother? I didn't need anyone else to help me! I can do this myself!"

"Me! Myself!"

"Hahaha! Woo!"

The night was long to cherish, but there was more to wait than looking at the moonlight. Today, the librarian had seen everything from the darkness and escaped alive. The water feels cold, and the wind is warmer just like she needed. But she is still hungry, with her bones slowly appearing from her skin.

"Oh, I need to eat. This adventurer REALLY need to eat now."

"Is there something to eat here?"

A town lies among the desert with yellow tents scattered up and down by floating plateaus. The scent of lemon and sunflower lingers in the air, with trees growing lushful among the yellow tents and structures. Yellow essences float around a glowing pillar carved with languages the librarian could not describe.

"Bellflower town. This is it! This is where I should have been!" Eve glances energetically, "To heck with that parcel! I just found it myself!"

"Alright, then! Time to find that downer and put the mystery behind!"

With a step far from the oasis and a wet paper in possession, an old journey returns to the memo as the librarian wished. For the darkness had vanished, a new light awaits.