Beneath

2: Ayana

'Welcome, everyone!' A booming voice echos through the huge hall.
'You, today, are witnessing a scienific breakthrough!'
I roll my eyes. Last time he said that was when the explorers found that one could make torches brighter by making them bigger.

The presenter introduces the head of the discovery committee. 'I give you, ladies and gentlemen, Ean Bandirias!' My sister lets out a lustful sigh and I roll my eyes.

'Hello everyone! It is so amazing to be doing this right now! Me and my team, have discovered something extreme, something that will...
Blow
Your
Mind!*
      I am getting a little impatent but I continue to listen.
'Have you ever thought that maybe there is more to this world than this? What if there is an edge? Or something deep in the middle? Is our world really infinite? What if we just kept digging? We did just that!'
A bright torch lights up and projects onto a canvas. Everything between the canvas and the torch creates clear shadows that we can all see. The people backstage create a simple straight line, stretching horizontally along the blank sheet.

Ean points at the area below the line. 'This is us.'
     I can hear people mumbling between themsleves.
'So what is this?' He points at the higher section. 
'The edge!'  He announces. shocked gasps fill the hall and I then I hear discussion near me.
    'He's crazy!', 'It's a lie!' And lots of: 'Wait! What?'.

He continued. 'There are creatures like us up there. Creatures that speak a strange language and wear odd clothes. They are vicious. When they saw me and my team they surrounded us and would have devoured us for sure if we had not escaped.'
On the canvas frozen people appear, they look like us but their clothes seem to be often skin-tight and some have hair not even past their shoulders. The characters are surrounding the well-known silhouettes of the explorers,  the shadows of the other creatures are now aggressively circling.
'This is what they looked like' He smiled modestly. 'We doubted whether we would even survive to announce this discovery!' He stepped back and bowed. Stamping** filled the room.

                                                                                                                                                                         

* There is a very long word for this in their language, I am sorry, reader, but I hope my emphasis was enough for you to get the idea. Please don't think this character  is childish.

**This is their equivalent of applause.