Edge of the Abyss

Chapter Three - Missing Memories

The scent of burning wood filled the air and crept into my nose as I slowly began to come around. My neck was sore, my head was pounding, and I could hear voices around me. Slowly my eyes drifted open and I stared up at the cavern ceiling. "Diva?" Came a shaky voice from my right. Slowly I turned my head and my eyes landed upon my friends. "Th... ia... Sky..." I croaked. My mouth was so dry. Why was it so dry? What had happened? For some odd reason, I couldn't remember. One minute I was with my friends in the caverns and then the next I was waking up here. Sitting up, I raised a hand to my forehead, and looked around. A fire was blazing next to me, causing shadows to dance on the stone walls. Toril and Tibbolt were no where to be found; I only saw Alethia and Skylar. "What... what happened?" I asked softly as my friends helped me sit up fully and leaned me against one of the cavern walls. Alethia and Skylar looked at me then one another. 'Well..." Alethia began as they both turned to look back at me. "We noticed that you were gone soon after Tibbolt when to check out the light. Then we heard whispering coming from that tunnel. When we finally got to the end of it, we saw you fall and hit your head on that rock." Alethia said as she pointed to a large, pointed rock near the center of the room, the tip covered in blood. Wasn't there a pond or something there earlier? I could have sworn there was but strangely I couldn't remember for sure. But I knew something was off. My hand moved and touched my head. I winced and saw blood when I moved my hand. "There.... there was someone else here..." I whispered absentmindedly. Skylar raised a brow. "Someone was here?" She inquired. "Who?" I tried my hardest to remember. "I... I can't remember..." I said slowly. "It's all fuzzy..." I felt there was something I was missing... something important I had forgotten... but try as I might, I couldn't remember what.

Time seemed to slip by so quickly as we waited for Tibbolt, Toril, and Amara to return. Skylar said they had gone ahead to try and find a way out while the girls stayed with me. That was over two hours ago. I was getting worried but I knew I was in no condition to go looking for them. "I hope nothing happened to them." Skylar said as she stood by the room entrance, arms folded below her ribs. "Don't talk like that." Alethia replied with worry lining her face. "Well, it's possible... we still don't know what those creatures were." Skylar responded as my face fell to fear. Creatures? Oh, yes. The creatures that chased us into the caves earlier. I had forgotten about them. What was so important that I would risk running into those things again and leave the group earlier. So many questions ran through my mind. My biggest one being what happened between the time I left the group and the time they found me. Alethia had said it wasn't but a few minutes before the realized I was gone. What could have happened in that short of a time? What caused me to even leave the group in the first place. I stared into the fire, trying to remember. There was a tunnel. A long dark tunnel. And... Music? Yes, music. That was why I left in the first place. I had heard the music and wanted to know where it was coming from. Did I ever find out? I still couldn't remember.

"Thia?" I said softly, my eyes still glued to the flames. "Hmm?" Alethia turned her gaze to me. "Earlier... in the tunnel... the big one... did you hear music?" I asked. Surely she and the others had heard it this time. "Music?" Skylar turned her gaze from the door to Alethia and me. "Yea... I heard music before I left the group." I said quietly. Alethia looked at Skylar then back to me. "Diva... there wasn't any music." She told me. "What?" My eyes shot up from the flame and looked between Alethia and Skylar. "There wasn't any music." Skylar repeated Alethia's words. I stared at the two then looked back at the fire. Alethia and Skylar exchanged worried glances. Had the bump on my head jumbled things up? No. No, I was sure I heard music. "Are you feeling alright, Diva?" Alethia asked me. Worry was scribbled all over her face. Hearing things that weren't there? Maybe this whole ordeal was just getting to me, that had to be it. I was never known for hearing things. It just HAD to be everything today getting to me. "I'm fine..." I replied as I laid down on my side and stared into the flames more. They hadn't heard the music. Am I going crazy? No. I am sure I heard it. It had lured me down the tunnel. But what did I find when I got there? I still couldn't remember. I had found something important, I was positive. But as to what it was, I was uncertain.

As I laid there staring into the fire, my mind began to wander as I tried to remember. Surely I could remember something more. Something, anything. But as I was beginning to think my memory was failing, I noticed something about the fire. There was something different about it. Something nearly ethereal. It looked like a pair of eyes were looking back at me. Was I imagining it? Surely there were no eyes in the fire. I moved my head to look at Alethia - who had been stoking the fire - but she didn't seem to notice them. I moved my eyes back to the fire, which now seemed to blaze with life. Sure enough, two eyes seemed to float at the center, and stare at me. They seemed so familiar. So... enchanting. I was sure I had seen them somewhere before. Somewhere. I felt my eyes getting heavier. I was so tired all of a sudden and within moments I was gone from the waking world.