SOAR - Book One: DEAD HEROES

CHAPTER 5: A CRACK, A FALL, AND A DISCOVERY

5

A CRACK, A FALL, AND A DISCOVERY

Walking in a hot, barren land with a dull landscape wearing sneakers and no water is not the greatest of ideas, especially when you are the type of person who spent most of their life in a locked room doing nothing except for reading and talking to yourself. Thus, Iris found herself stumbling messily across the land with heavy breaths and was growing increasingly irritated due to the fact that Flynn and Korwyn seemed to be unaffected by the heat and walking within it for almost an hour while Wire and Locke only seemed slightly tired.

“Why am I not surprised that you can’t even walk for an hour straight?” Locke shook his head at Iris disapprovingly.

The group had decided to take a break from walking to allow Iris to catch her breath. Locke had rolled up his suit pants and taken off the jacket to reveal a yellow waistcoat underneath. Wire had rolled up his sleeves and continued to press buttons on his wrist contraption, doing who knows what. Flynn had actually planned for the occasion and thus had a pair of rubber shoes in his magical pant’s pocket, and he was nodding off in the sand. Korwyn was stretching, seeming to enjoy the physical activity.

“How often do you guys do this?” Iris panted, flopping down into the sand.

Korwyn jogged up to next to her and sat down, reaching into her tool belt. “Often enough… Here.” Korwyn handed Iris a canteen of water.

Iris accepted it and chugged down the smooth liquid. She wiped the sides of her mouth with her sleeve and handed the canteen to Korwyn, “Thank you.”

Korwyn laughed, “No problem.”

Suddenly, a rough and low growl echoed around them.

“Ooh!” Flynn laughed as he jumped up from his spot in the sand. “Wire, how close are they?”

Wire tapped the wrist mechanism and read the results, “About half a kilometre away and another hundred kilometres down. If I were to guess…” His eyes scanned the area around them, doing a full rotation with his body. He stopped as his eyes settled on a fitting location, “They are probably inside that massive crack in the ground.”

Locke, Korwyn, Iris, and Flynn looked at the spot Wire was pointing at. “How could we have missed that?” Korwyn’s cheery voice wondered aloud.

“Who knows? But we’ve found it now, come on!” Flynn was running his fastest to the crack in the floor, pushing rust coloured sand into the air. Iris – acting on her promise to never be left behind – immediately jumped up and began to run after them. Korwyn, who was growing restless of sitting down for so long, chased after the pair while Wire and Locke jogged after them.

The group of five reached the crack in the floor in the order of Flynn, Korwyn, Iris, Wire, and Locke. As they stood at the edge of the crack and looked down, they all saw the same thing; a dark, gaping hole that was so deep that you couldn’t even see its bottom. And they all felt the same as well; the hole made their heart swell up and made them angry, sad, and scared all at the same time.

“What’s wrong with it?” Iris asked curiously, expecting an answer from Wire, Locke, Korwyn, or Flynn. They were all silent. “Hello! Are you guys there?” She asked, turning to them. “What is it?” Iris asked as she saw the worried look in their eyes.

“I-I don’t know…” Locke mumbled as he stared down the gap with a mesmerized look on his face. He was about to step over when Iris stopped him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” She exclaimed.

Locke looked up at her with a glassy stare. He suddenly tore away from Iris’ grip and jumped into the gap.