~The Primordial Void~

Chapter 4

Although they had just entered, it felt almost as if the cave engulfed them, pulling them further in to lure them away from the exit. A place that consumed them in heavy darkness, with not a trace of sunlight or moonlight to enter. The only source of light came from the bubbling, molten lava that lay far below a jagged path up ahead. As the ghost surveyed their environment while Kat cautiously stayed behind, this was no ordinary cavern. Surprisingly despite her many travels across the country with her father, she never had the chance to venture into one before. Unsure if it was the echoing walls or the retained heat that felt hotter than the inside of a volcano, she could tell something felt off.

"Uh..hey Kat?" Casper asked, almost reading her thoughts.

"Yeah..?"

"How bout we find somewhere else to sl-"

Before Casper could finish, the cave entrance from behind slammed shut like a set of angry teeth, causing Kat to jump out of her short-lived calmer stance. Her scream echoed through the tunnel as eerily as the walls settling around them, as if the cave itself reveled in the fear of its new victims. With their only known way out now gone, Kat kicked at it feverishly while he attempted to fly through it. If one of them could get out then they could help the other escape as well.

As neither of their attempts worked, the girl daringly looked back at what awaited them up ahead. They had to look for another exit before anything else would happen. As long as they were going to aimlessly wander the SuperVoid, it wouldn't be safe to remain in the same area for too long like sitting ducks. Soon realizing where the glowing, orange beams of light originated, her stomach sank as she backed away slowly, every step of hers taking a risk. Perhaps she would lose her balance like her dad often did, believing that clumsiness was hereditary, or she would make one wrong move and fall in as she did back at Friendship. Or worse. Joining her side, the boy gaped as the cave floor started to crumble beneath them, its cracks spreading like shattering ice.

Nearly twisting her ankle from the violent rumbling and trembling, Kat grabbed on to him. "Be careful, but- what's happening..?"

The ground in front of them that met with the lava below cracked and crumbled, its broken pieces falling to its fiery end. The weakened cave floor began to spread, sneaking its way closer to Casper and Kat as if preparing to collapse into a gaping void.

"C'mon! We've gotta get outta here!" Grabbing her hand, Casper dragged her along as they took off, trying to outrun the literal earthquake that was catching up to them. As a ghost, Casper seemed unaffected, only fearing for her safety as he urged her to keep up. However, the more she tried to run from it, the faster everything crumbled closely behind her feet like a melting ice rink. Or a cave disintegrating from the scorching lava below.

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The scene unfolding before their eyes was all happening so quickly, too bizarre to comprehend what was going on. Soon the chaos became too loud to tell if Kat was keeping up with him. Spinning around to find her, he could tell that it was no use. Her feet were only inches away from the fiery pit that followed them. In an instant, Casper moved faster than ever, zooming behind to pick her up. Although it was strenuous to his tiny form, the little ghost used all of his energy to carry the girl to any possible safety. If he could fly her to the lighthouse back at Whipstaff every night, then he could do this too. With her holding on to him tight, hardly catching her breath, all they could do was keep a sharp eye on what lay ahead. Looking back would possibly slow them down enough to get them consumed by the erupting lava below.

Then as abruptly as it started, it stopped, and all was still as if the cave was untouched.

The two froze before turning to see what was left behind them. Only a jagged, narrower path remained. One stumble promised a fiery end. Other than the small trail there was no evidence that the incident ever happened, as if it was merely their imagination.

"Is this the quiet before the crazy..?" Kat asked, her voice still trembling from what they had witnessed.

Taking a deep breath, Casper set her down once it seemed safe, pacing around once more to recover from their previous terror. His mind raced almost as fast as the previously crumbling ground that chased them. "The Tunnel of Fear! I knew it!"

"What.."

"It's all clear to me now..us getting trapped, and..the floor, it started falling apart after you saw the lava! So, maybe that happened cuz you were scared of heights!" The boy snapped his fingers, mentally facepalming for leading them straight into one of the most dangerous traps for a fleshie. "Man..this is all my fault..see, the Tunnel of Fear is kinda like a spiritual place, it's this endless tunnel that makes anything you're afraid of come to life."

"Just when I thought I'd seen it all, here you are to prove me wrong..so much for seeking safety. So..basically, if I think about something I'm scared of, it could just appear out of nowhere?"

"Mhm.."

"Why did I go to that game today.."

"Well, maybe if we just think about nice things, then maybe our fears won't show up, and we'll get outta here in no time!" Casper suggested, shuttering involuntarily. It felt almost as if they were being watched, like their surroundings patiently dared them to contemplate their own terrors.

"But sooner or later, we're gonna have to think about one, and then what? There's gotta be something we're missing.." Kat trailed off, scanning the empty crevices only accompanied by the bubbling lava that met the sides of the thinning trail and their voices that bounced off the cave walls. "Listen..when you carried me before, everything went back to normal. Wouldn't that happen for a reason just like it all started for one?"

"Yeah..it's like you were scared of heights, especially falling in the lava, so the ground crumbled to make your fear come true!"

"But once you helped me outrun it, then it stopped because at the time I wasn't so afraid. I felt safe, actually.." Kat said, fiddling with her ring before wiping away the excessive sweat building up on her forehead. "I can't believe I'm saying this, because I might not get out of here alive..but what if we let our fears come to us? We don't have any other choice if it's our only way to escape."

Hesitating, Casper hated himself for leading her into such a risky situation. "Are you sure..?"

"No," She admitted, sighing. "Honestly, this could be a lucky guess.."

"Even if we can't get you out alive, we'll go as far as we can." Holding out his hand, he watched as she focused all of her attention into the depths of his eyes as she held up her now ghostly hand, where the transparency seemed to advance up her wrist. Their hands met once again.

After he could spot a flash of fear in her eyes, a scythe sliced through their delicate hands, leading them to pull away by instinct. Luckily, it passed through Kat's hand as effortlessly as physical matter always passed by him.

The two peered up to find the owner of the weapon, and it was none other than the grim reaper himself, as far as they could tell. As much as Casper secretly admitted to himself that death's presence still held a fearful authority over him, enough to cause him a tinge of discomfort, it would never compare to the paralyzing horror that visibly struck Kat. She was completely frozen up. Telling her to run would be useless, after all, escaping death was impossible.

How could any living human being overcome death?