HADAGERY, Book of Elysium

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Edge of Darkness!

 Hallowed deep inside the pain of this slow burning venom, Hadge laid trapped in a near comatose condition for hours, feeling neither asleep nor awake. During which every repetitive drop of water in the cavern echoed to a maddening end. As the grayish blur of awareness flitted across his eyelids, a veil of secrecy drawn between reality and fiction. He blinked until he recognized the uneven rocky ceiling of his chamber, something tangibly real. A hidden place carved by eons of erosion from the nearby ocean, networking caves and tunnels far beneath a family mausoleum in the Grendlocke Cemetery.

 Suddenly he winced in pain, as memories of the spider’s attack replayed through his mind. And his concern returned immediately to his ailing friend, “Uwee?” However the words were barely audible. Hoping the annoying grubb was truly all right, while he naturally reached out a hand in the direction of his friend. Uttering once again, “Uwee?”  As his hand greeted nothing but air, confused to find no one was there.

 The deafening silence throughout the constant dripping water was much more than he could bear, eroding away his sanity. Curious as to just how long he’d been unconscious, and beginning to doubt what really happened on Mount Ennead, “Maybe.” He considered, “We’re still on the mountain.” Very sure that the poisons in combination with the soama could produce any number of elaborate hallucinations. Knowing one thing, “However this all ends. The truth will become clear.”

 Hadge feeling devastatingly fatigued could hardly roll to his side. Initially still surprised to find Uwee was gone, but the overall shock of a completely empty room had hard-hitting ramifications. Wanting sorely to know, “What happened to my bed?” He growled, “And my plants!” Irritably scrutinizing the small room. While his ire loudly increased, “Where are all my herbs!” Instantly accusing the first grubb he thought of, “Uwee!” He’d been the only one who knew about the vegetable garden. As he acidly spat, “He told the others!” Slamming a fist onto the rocky floor, disregarding the infliction of pain. Hissing, “The grubbs took it all!”

 He stumbled to his feet. Fueled purely by rage. Ignoring the overall darkness of everything in his path. Then laughter echoed softly through the cavern. “Uwee’s childish laughter.” He seethed, hearing the foreign sound of his own voice, “I’m going to kill you grubb!”

 Lurching through the exit, he tore through the cavern like a madman. Hearing the manic sounds of his ranting and raving. Descending the spiral tunnel deeper into the ground, bypassing his friend Feo’s quarters, next leaving little Uma’s behind, then Nibb’s, and all the others that lived in the caves. Who’s quiet all seemed for the most part unusual. With every room the darkness had steadily grew brighter. While his footsteps splashed heavier with his ever growing anger. Until the drowning sounds of the ocean filled the depths of the cave, like the deafening hum of a seashell. And the tunnel budded open to the lower half of the cavern, a gathering room used by his entire group. Thinking “They all must be there.”

 At that time an intense shimmering light began to dance eerily from crook to curve along the black rocky surface of the ceilings and walls, brighter than anything he’d ever seen, momentarily mesmerizing. “What the…” It reminded him so much of a sunlit world that lived merely in pictures. As his tripping feet was abruptly impeded by something hard, and his eyes following the wayward journey, plunging face first into a pool of crystal blue water.

 Thrusting himself upright out of the water, he had swallowed what seemed a gallon of water, gagging and choking for a single breath of air. Wondering how and when in Yahveh did the ocean flood the lower half of the caverns. He’d only been gone a matter of hours. Until it dawned on him, everyone and everything had vanished from the cave. As he whimpered feebly, “What’s going on here?” And slumped to the watery floor, asking that terrible question, “Am I the last person alive?” Positive the reavers must somehow be involved. But then he questioned, “Where did the laughter come from?”