Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 20: Nephinae

Before either of us knew what was happening, both Marylyn and I were sent plummeting down a hole as the floor caved under our feet. As the wind whistled past me I struggled to think of something—anything that would break our fall. With the bottom fast approaching, I was running out of time. Realizing it was too late to do anything, I squeezed my eyes shut and braved myself for the impact.

"...what?"

When the hit didn't come, I slowly opened my eyes. I was shocked to find myself hovering just above the floor along with Marylyn. We landed gently and the water that had caught us splashed down into a puddle soaking the both of us.

"Nice save," Marylyn remarked, wringing out the water in her shirt.

"Th-That wasn't me..." I muttered.

"I'm a little surprised these ruins go so deep," Marylyn continued as if she hadn't heard me, and looked around," how d'you suppose we get out of here?"

"Not sure." I shook my head and looked around.

We had landed in the middle of a large, circular room with a tall ceiling. A large, but broken statue took up the majority of the wall closest to us. It was so worn down I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Other than that, the unnaturally bright room was empty, and only one hallway led out of it.

"If I had to guess, I'd say through there." I pointed to the hall.

"Agreed. Only problem is how to get to it," Marylyn replied, looking to the opening on the ledge above us," I doubt we could climb the walls."

"Yeah. No footholds."

She sighed and the two of us stared silently at our only exit.

"I've got it!" Marylyn suddenly declared loudly.

"Got what?" I asked.

"How were gonna get out, duh." She said.

"How?"

"Watch."

With a smirk, Marylyn untied the black sash around her waist and fixed it to the end of a small dagger she pulled from the sheath on her hip. Taking a few steps back, she swung the dagger around a few times before chucking it at the high platform, it landed with a loud clatter and stuck in place when she pulled on it.

"A-are you... are you sure that's gonna hold?" I asked, eyeing the thin looking ribbon she offered me.

"Yes I'm sure. It's gonna work. Besides, I've done this loads of times."

Still not entirely convinced, I reluctantly took the sash. After pulling on it myself to find it didn't budge, I swallowed my uncertainty and slowly put all my weight on it. I could hear something shift above me, but I forced myself to ignore it as I pulled myself up.

"It's a good thing I did all that strength training with Riniya. I doubt I'd be able to do this otherwise," I thought as I hauled myself onto the platform.

Marylyn followed swiftly and, after returning the sash and dagger to their places, she led me down the hall by the hand. We looked back at the sound of a loud crash to see the edge of the ledge break off.

"We'll need to be more careful now. The ruins seem a lot less stable down here," Marylyn said.

I nodded," agreed."

For the next few hours—yes. Hours— we made little progress wandering through a maze of dim hallways that all looked the same. By the time we were so tired we couldn't go any further, neither of us could remember which way we'd come from anymore.

"I hate to admit it, but I think we've been running in circles," Marylyn sighed, slumping against the wall.

"I've had that feeling for a while now too," I answered, sitting next to her," what should we do now?"

Marylyn let out another sigh and leaned her head back," I suppose we could always just wait for the others to come find us. In this place, that could take more than a few days, though."

"Then we'll have to find the way out ourselves," I added," since we don't know how far down we fell, that could take just as long."

"It's better than sitting here doing nothing."

"...yeah."

Marylyn smiled," let's rest here for a bit, then keep going. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

After a few minutes I found myself resting my head on Marylyn's shoulder as I drifted into sleep. It wasn't a very restful sleep; I woke up a number of times. When Marylyn gently shook me awake, I found myself wanting to sleep more.

"Come on Nephi, the faster we get moving the faster we can get back to da—Haren," Marylyn said.

I looked up at her to see that she looked about as tired as I felt. Reluctantly, I stood up," Yeah. You're right."

While we walked, Marylyn and I were silent. Our footsteps echoing eerily off the stone walls were the only sounds to accompany us. From out of nowhere, Marylyn suddenly stopped. Pulling on my hand to make me do the same.

"Wha—"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked.

"Listen."

Confused, I strained my ears for any noises. I couldn't hear anything odd.

The color drained from Marylyn's face; she started forcefully dragging me forward in a hurry.

"Wh-What's wrong?"

"Hurry! It's coming this way!" Her eyes were fearful as she glanced behind us.

"What is? What are you on about?" I wanted to ask. I didn't get the chance.

From somewhere behind us, a loud roar echoed through the hallway. It was getting louder, and soon I could hear thunder in footsteps.

"Run!" Marylyn cried, tugging me with all her might.

My feet started moving and soon we were sprinting down the halls as fast as our tired feet could carry us. Still, the noises got louder and louder. Whatever was chasing us, was getting closer.

"What's chasing us?" I asked. Marylyn didn't answer. Her eyes were trained ahead and she seemed focused solely on getting away.

As we turned another corner, I caught a glimpse of something red down the hall behind us and I was filled with a sense of dread.

"We're so dead!"