The Ultimate Rescue

Prologue

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Music: Golvis' Hideout from Pac 'n Roll Remix

"Ma'am, are we even going the right way anymore? It feels like we've been blindly walking through here for hours, " Mrs. Smith's impatient and easily worried assistant, Herbert, quietly asks her. The two are exploring the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, looking for an ancient inscription that is rumored to be hidden in the depths of the cave. It's way past when most people would go to bed, so nobody else is in the caves except for these two.

Mrs. Smith eyes her wary assistant with a steady but piercing look. "Herbert, I do not have time for your nonsensical complaining. This is the first break in our case that we've had in years, and I am not taking the chance to pass this one up."

"But what if the stories aren't real?"

"Herbert, I am not one to pass up on an opportunity like this. Whether it's real or not, I want to find out, and that's that."

Herbert sulks back, unwilling to speak any further. The two continue onward for another fifteen minutes, taking every possible branching pathway that they're able to. Most just lead to dead ends, some loop right back around, and a few lead to other branching pathways. Herbert's lantern goes out, and Mrs. Smith's flashlight is running low on battery as well.

But finally, after over four hours of searching, they find what they're looking for. One particular dead-end pathway contains a very suspiciously placed boulder. The two work together to move the boulder aside, and sure enough, hidden behind it is a wall full of inscriptions written in some native language, along with some drawings of a woman sitting down while being spoken to from an angel-looking figure. Another drawing depicts the same woman above a village, with a sun-like glow emitting off of her. There's also a picture of a wheel with ten various symbols written around it, and a picture of the glowing woman engulfed in red flames next to the wheel. Next to the inscription, in dark red writing and in clear English, is the phrase, "NEVER PERFORM THIS RITUAL".

Mrs. Smith takes a picture of the ancient writing using her tablet, and Herbert puts on his glasses and takes out a notepad so he can get a clearer look at what the inscriptions could say. After very closely examining the symbols, he writes down what he thinks they mean on his notepad, then tears off the page and hands it to Mrs. Smith.

"'Lying just outside our Earth, a mysterious force is looking for worth. To summon this unknown being to appraise, one must recite this ancient phrase.'" Mrs. Smith then reads through the summoning enchantment to herself, as she doesn't want to read it aloud quite yet.

"Judging from these pictures, it looks like there's more to the ritual than just the enchantment," Herbert notes, pointing to one picture that shows the woman in a meditating pose with nine candles in a triangle-like fashion around her. This is placed between the inscription Mrs. Smith just read aloud and the inscription containing the enchantment, signifying that the candle setup is part of the ritual.

"Very well. We will return to the lair and get whatever we need for the summoning," Mrs. Smith says. Herbert nods in understanding, and the two begin the return trip after the cave. Herbert makes sure to take a couple of extra pictures of the inscriptions and drawings on his phone.

As they're walking, Mrs. Smith pulls up a photo on her tablet. The photo is of her husband, who was brutally murdered a year and a half ago by some spiteful bratty children who sought to ruin their original plans. "Don't you worry, darling. I'll finish what you started. Everything's about to change, and nothing will get in our way this time."