Cave of Dreams

The Thybron Chamber

Chapter 4 – The Thybron Chamber

Marcus stared at the human, goat, squid creature in utter confusion. He was too lost in trying to comprehend everything to feel the appropriate emotion, fear. He looked at James, who looked back at him with, strangely, a smile. James looked back at the creature and said, “Ulo jungana skovasa m’nalihan.”  The creature laughed heartily and proceeded to pull a large laser device out from behind his back.

“Whoa, whoa, what’s he doing with that thing?” Marcus shouted at James. It was only a few hours ago that he walked innocently into a cave. He had no idea he would end up facing a bizarre alien creature with a laser blaster. If he had, he most certainly would not have gone inside. The creature pointed the laser at Marcus and pulled the trigger, sending a strange blue goo flying toward him. 

“Don’t worry, it only hurts for about 34 seconds.” James said, far too calmly. This was not exactly the answer Marcus was looking for. Before he had a chance to respond in his usual frantic manor, he found his surroundings blurring before his eyes. For 34 seconds, his entire body stung as though he had a terrible sunburn. Slowly his vision came back into focus.

Marcus now found himself in a large circular stone room, chained to the wall. As he looked around he saw many people he recognized from chamber 10, also chained up in evenly spaced intervals. Jared was chained onto the wall directly across from him. Janice was a couple spaces to the left, taking up two spaces. She was groaning loudly, like a dying cow or perhaps a walrus. 

“Hey, Janice! Would you mind telling me what’s going on now?” Marcus said with an uncharacteristic bite. He was getting fed up with having so much thrown at him at once and not getting any answers. Janice looked up at him with a scowl. “S-sorry…I’m just confused.” 

“Well isn’t that a surprise? You’re in chamber 16 buddy. The Thybron chamber.” She rolled her eyes and crinkled her nose in disgust. She attempted to pull herself free from the chains, but they were too tightly attached to the wall. 

“The what? What are they doing with us?” Marcus looked around at the smiling doctors from chamber 10, starting to get a little angry at their apparent happiness. 

“Thybron chamber, you dimwit. The Thybrons are a group of mercenaries from the M-zone. They were hired by the Yaladins to capture us. Looks like they did their job.” She shot Marcus a look that clearly meant something along the lines of, “Are you done now?” Marcus realized that the creature he saw before must have been a Thybron.

“But…why? Who are the Yaladins?” Janice stared at him for a couple seconds before deciding not to waste her breath on a response. A man who had been listening in on the conversation picked it up. He had a bright smile on his face, clearly from chamber 10. 

“Hi! I'm Joe! The Yaladins are the bad guys. They’re trying to find the Mage Seeds and use them to destroy the Sun Stone.” He said with a serious tone, but still smiling of course. Suddenly a Thybron mercenary entered the room with a laser blaster, much like the one Marcus had seen earlier. This one, however, was orange. 

“Stupid Proxites, I’ve come to deliver your meal for the day.” He held out a sack and poured its contents onto the floor in the center of the room. It appeared to be some sort of greenish kibble. “I’ll release you for a minute to get the food, but no funny business.” He pressed a button on his blaster, which released each prisoner from the chains and onto the floor. 

Immediately one of the prisoners, a woman, pulled a serrated knife from a hidden compartment in her boot and threw it at the Thybron. It lodged into his skull, killing him instantly. Marcus jumped back with a gasp. “Well come on then!” The woman yelled at the other prisoners. She was not from chamber 10, her face was stern, she meant business. She removed the knife from the Thybron’s head and ran from the room.  Marcus stared at the dead Thybron for a long while before finally coming to the realization that he needed to get the heck out of there. 

Marcus collected himself and chased after the woman. Outside the circular room there was a complex maze of stone hallways. The woman sprinted around each corner. She apparently knew where she was going. Marcus struggled to keep up with her, even after his cardio training for the hiking expedition. The walls were lined with burning torches, providing an orange light to the eerie stone chamber. 

Eventually the woman stopped in front of a large metal door with the words “Keep Out” printed on it. “Are you sure it’s safe to go in there?” Marcus said as he caught up to her, gasping for air between words. The woman turned around quickly with her knife drawn. She was apparently surprised by his presence. 

“You weren’t supposed to follow me! You were supposed to go to the exit! Get out of here!” She said angrily. She had an intense look in her eye that showed Marcus she was very serious. 

“I...I don’t know where I’m going, I’ll get lost or one of those things will get me!” Marcus blabbed. He was obviously intimidated by the woman. She rolled her eyed and sighed. Marcus was annoyed with himself for being so oblivious to everything that was going on. 

“Alright. Just don’t get in the way.” She traced her finger in an intricate pattern on the door. The door lit up brightly and began emitting a loud humming sound. Suddenly the door began flashing in a strobe light fashion before disappearing altogether. 

“Whoa” was all Marcus could manage to say. They stepped into a room filled with strange electronic devices and computer screens. Some of the machines were beeping and buzzing, while others were flashing and glowing. Whatever this room was, it was important. The woman began typing code on one of the keypads, setting off a loud alarm. A face appeared on one of the screens, it was a Thybron. 

"Beware intruder! You will not live for long. Surrender or die at the hand of the Blathakril." The Thybron on the screen said. He had a fancy uniform, suggesting a higher position than the other Thybrons Marcus had seen. 

“They’re going to be here soon. You need to get out of here!” The woman shouted.

“How? Which way do I go?” Marcus looked like he was about to start crying.

“Be a man you little sissy! Eat this. It’ll transport you to chamber 12, I’ll meet you there soon.” She handed him a small red pill with the number 12 written on it.  She continued to type on the keypad. Marcus closed his eyes and, in a leap of faith, swallowed the pill.

5 years ago -

Marcus approached the woman in the bar nervously. He knew she was way too beautiful to ever like a guy like him, but he wasn’t about to look foolish in front of Sean.  “Hi” Said Marcus, trying his hardest to hide his anxiety.

“Oh, hey there.” The woman said with a laugh. “Do I know you?”

“No, I just…you know… I saw you over here and I thought…” The woman smiled sweetly.

“Don’t worry about it. So what’s your name?”

“Marcus.”

“Nice to meet you Marcus. I’m Miranda.” The woman put her hand out for a handshake, but Marcus only stared at it. She giggled and put her hand back down. “Do you often come here alone?”  

“No. It’s my first time here.”

“Oh I see. I come here every weekend, but you’re the first guy to approach me.” She looked down at the drink in front of her.

“I thought you were really pretty.” Marcus said with a smile. “Sorry…that was awkward.”

“No, it was really sweet.” She touched Marcus’s hand softly. He gulped nervously. They chatted this way for a few more minutes. “Do you want to come back to my place? We can walk there from here.” She finally said.

“Oh…Um…Sure.” He laughed giddily. He looked back and gave a big thumbs-up to Sean as they walked out of the bar.

Eventually they made it back to Miranda’s house, a beautiful cottage, right on the lake.

“You didn’t tell me it was a lake house.” Said Marcus as they approached her home.

“Yeah. Do you like it?” She said with a smile, holding his hand.

“It’s wonderful but…I can’t do this.” He broke free from her grasp and ran as fast as he could back toward the bar.

“Marcus! Marcus!” She screamed after him but he just kept running.