Broken Glass - Taekook

71

The others wake up soon after Taehyung and I, and Seokjin is quick to pass round some dried meat and fruit as a morning meal. The sun continues to rise, and the golden paradise I saw when I first woke up is replaced with the snow-covered valley floor, which seems to sparkle with its own light. In theory, we only have a day left of travel to go before we reach our destination. But we can't afford to stop now. Even here, so close, we could miss it if we're not careful. 

Once we've packed up all our stuff, we head out of the cave, Aphelia drifting between us.

By midday, the snowfall has stopped entirely, and a gentle but chilling wind starts up. It blows right through all the layers we're wearing, causing a continual shiver to pass through us all. Aphelia floats beside us, trying to offer some semblance of warmth, but even her efforts only keep off the worst of the cold. The easiest way to keep ourselves warm is to keep moving and keep our hands in our pockets, so we move as quickly as we can through the valley, watching all the time for the entrance to the Suojaka Caverns. 

According to the legends, it's supposed to be extremely difficult to spot. Which makes sense. It's a mythological site, for most Eithyrians, and one of the waypoints of the golden river. By its very nature, it needs to be protected. 

Namjoon is the one to notice an odd pattern in the cliffside of the valley, during the mid-afternoon, as we're exploring the first half of the Breskevan Valley. He pauses where he's walking, gestures for us all to pause, and goes to investigate. Once it's pointed out to the rest of us, we can see it too, a slight shift in the colour of the rock that doesn't quite match up with other random changes caused by the geology of the region. It's a little too ordered, and slightly less obvious than some of the other layered sections of stone. On closer inspection, the area that's different resembles that of a round arch of some sort.

Namjoon steps forward, tracing the top of that arch with his hand. Something shifts in the cliff-face, and a small smile crosses over his face. His index finger follows the line of the doorway. Where his skin makes contact with the rock, a small line of purple light follows, until the entire structure is outlined in the same glow. Then he steps back, carefully, and the rock shifts away. Behind it, a thin tunnel is just about visible, stretching out into darkness. 

Namjoon takes a deep breath, and then glances over at Aphelia. For a moment, his expression loses focus, and I can see his eyes glaze over as he drifts further back into his mind. He takes a deep breath, and then nods to himself, gesturing towards the Gaklea. Aphelia floats forward, down the tunnel, and the rest of us follow her quickly. Once the whole group has entered the tunnel, there's a faint purple glow behind us, as the rock shifts slowly back into place. 

The air immediately becomes noticeably warmer, , more humid, and I take a moment to look around at where we've found ourselves. The tunnel of rock that we're currently passing through is made up of a deep grey stone with odd reflective properties. At regular intervals, small purple crystals jut out of the walls. When Aphelia passes by them, they gain their own radiance. 

At some point, I look back, only to see the tunnel behind us lit up in a beautiful violet light, from all the crystals, which are about two or three feet apart. As we progress further on, our natural corridor slowly grows in width, until we find ourselves stumbling into the first cavern. 

The natural stone ceiling above stretches over our heads, perhaps ten feet high, and the same purple crystals sit against the walls. As Aphelia floats around the room in a vague circle, passing by each one, they light up in turn with a soft glow that brings our surroundings into focus. 

The walls are white in here, a sort of glittering limestone that stretches in stalagmites and stalactites as if it were once a forest. Water drips from the longest protrusions like dew from grass, and it even feels like the air is moving in a gentle breeze here. The floor is damp, perpetually so, and the dark stone of before is replaced with that same glittering limestone. There are no purple crystals there, and so the ground is just illuminated from above.