Into the cavern

He fell down into the valley, and the carriage he was bound to crashed against the rocks and shattered into pieces. Shards from the carriage stabbed him.

By the time he came, it was late at night. He crawled in the dark fighting his way out of the mess. He left behind him a trail of blood; it seemed they wouldn't have a hard time looking for him if they did.

He had to stay alive at all costs; he had to find warmth. The cold got his bone, and he couldn't feel the tip of his fingers; the cold made him desire warmth more than anything.

In the first hell, the cold could kill you more than anything, the days were hot and dry, but the nights were cold and humid; it was how lord Indra loved it; he was the ruler of the first hell, and he laid claim to the land as king, and nobody dared question it.

He crawled his way, in search of warmth. He was constantly blinded by the blood gushing from his head. He felt cold, colder than he'd ever been.

He remembered those nights he'd fall sick and Estiah would keep him company, reading stories to him and keeping him warm with her love and care.

We all miss the farm. I know that, but we shouldn't fight each other; what else have we got in this world but us? Those words ran through his mind; that's what he was going to say to them; he was sure it would stop them from fighting.

It was what Mrs Dunn had said before she died. He was sure it would get them back together and maybe make them happy again.

As he crawled through the cold valleys, he couldn't tell how many times he passed out; the stress on his body was too much. He had a large shard of wood sticking out his side, and he'd bleed all the way.

He fought and fought to stay conscious, if he fell asleep here, outside here in the cold, he knew he'd die in his sleep.

So he pulled himself further and further, crawling against the cold sand, until eventually, he felt a hot spot. He felt a draft of hot air blowing against his left shoulder.

What could that be? he thought to himself. Then he turned, pulling his weight to the side; he screamed in pain as he moved against the shard in his side; he was panting heavily, trying to ease his way through the pain, preparing to pull himself again. With the loss of blood and energy, he felt as heavy as the carriage now.

He pulled himself to the hot spot, and through his bloody eyes and under the moonlight, he could see a small cavern by his side; it was small enough to allow him to crawl through.

But It could be a nest of some creatures, like a napper mating pool. Many fatal scenarios played in his mind but a cold breeze blew past him and gave him all the persuasion he needed.

The heat was just too inviting. Eventually, he pulled himself into the hole, and he fell, and he fell into a thick darkness.

Luckily, he landed on his back and not on the side with the shard, but the pain was still immense. He screamed and coughed up blood.

Then he heard the shrill screech echo through the cavern; a pungent smell wafted past him; it smelt like rotting flesh and sourness that reminded him of lime.

He had smelt this before, and he didn't want it to be what it seemed. Blackness surrounded him at all sides, and all he could hear was a constant clattering on the cave wall.

A few months ago, he and Estiah and Mr Dunn had stumbled on the carcass of an adult stubs spider, a spider with a human face; they had a terrible time eating it as it smelt pungent and tasted sour.

He wanted to get out there, he wasn't sure, but he knew a stubs spider was no way to die; they were known to consume their prey slowly, and you'd feel everything.

He quickly got back on his belly and began crawling. He crawled in the opposite direction from where he heard the stubs spider, but really, he wasn't sure where the cry had come from as it echoed through the walls of the cavern.

He went further, and in the dark, he didn't know where he was going; he could be crawling toward the stubs spider's nest, but all he knew was he had to keep going, further and farther.

He heard the sound of something crawling in the distance, he pulled his weight and crawled faster and faster.

The sound of crawling was constantly behind; sometimes he could hear it faintly, other times a lot louder. It seemed to be coming from the top of the cave walls.

He pulled himself faster and faster, and eventually,, he saw a flash of light in the distance.

The exit? He thought. He continued crawling; his pace had gotten slow, and there was nothing he could do about it; he'd lost too much blood, and his body was slowly dying.

He felt it, but he tried his best to pull towards the light. The light got brighter and brighter, larger and greener.

He pulled relentlessly and even when it felt like whatever was after he was getting closer and closer he kept his focus on getting closer to the light

Hoping the light would drive it away. Eventually, he got close enough. He had been keeping his head down most of the time as he pulled his weight.

His face was covered in blood, and red drool came out of his mouth, he was running out of breath.

He raised his head, and everything he saw was dyed red; he wiped the blood off his eyes and then realized that it was a dead end all along.

But what caught his eye first was the corpse, resting on the wall of the dead end, green fluid surrounded it in a very shallow pool and seemed to have come out of large punctures on the body.

It was head and gray and had two giant horns; it was a humanoid monster, like nothing he had ever seen before. He was stunned by it.

What's that? He wondered

Then he saw something in its punctured chest; it gave off a green flash; he focused on it and saw it was a green ball; it looked to be crystalline in nature. Then the screech of the stubs spider caught through.

He had nowhere to run to, he quickly pulled himself toward the dead end, towards the corpse.

They seemed to be a sort of shrine by the monster, honoring it as a divine being. He looked at it, then at the green fluid, and it seemed to glow, and he realized it was the source of the light he was chasing after.

He was breathing heavily, but at least he felt a little warm. He had lost enough blood to feel cold from that, too, but he felt warm, and at least he had that.

In a flash, something jumped at him from the darkness. He saw a flash of a baby's face. Then insect legs. He was pinned under the stub spider which was poking him full of holes with its pointed arachnid legs.

It went for his head, but he dodged and grabbed its two front legs with his hand. It let out a screech, and with its other legs, it poked his belly full of holes.

He screamed in pain and threw off the spider on its back with his remaining strength. The spider landed a few feet from him on

its legs and it let out a piercing cry.