Beyond the Void

Chapter 3, Cold and dark

AERIN

The 48th day of the moon of Harvest's End. Year 1458 of the Age of Stagnation.

Aerin cursed out loud. The slabs of stone had barely missed her. "By the Six!"

"Back up a little." She heard Will shout from somewhere above. She was too startled to scold the boy about carelessness. As she carefully crawled backwards a more reasonable thought reminded her they could not have known the roof was this thin.

There was no light above her, a curtain of nothingness stretched out all around. They were in a vast underground hall. That much Aerin could understand. But the way it was built, the way their footsteps sounded on the floor, something felt off.

The air was stale, full of dust. Down in the shaft, there had been the constant sound of the wind, but here, nothing moved. Even their voices sounded muffled.

A flash of fire illuminated the vast cathedral. Will had thrown fire in the air. However, it only made the darkness surrounding them seem deeper.

"Don't bother. You'll blind us. Unless you can keep that fire steady, it's useless." Aerin stood still and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark again. She heard Will pacing around. "That will not help either."

Looking around, she saw nothing. The hall extended into darkness all around her. She could guess all she wanted, yet there was no way to tell how large this place was. Darkness played tricks with her vision. Aerin turned on the spot and headed towards the sound of Will's footsteps. Walls of pitch-black tar were closing in around her.

Another flash of fire tried its best to keep the darkness at bay. It helped for a mere moment. She could barely guess the silhouette of Will as she carefully felt her way around the place. Shortly after, Will conjured yet another flash of fire that died in vain.

"Will! Stop. You're blinding us." He did not respond.

This time an inferno lit a good part of the hall. She did not know Will could do that. In awe, she stared at the deep orange flames swirling around a cavernous cathedral. For the briefest of moments, she saw twisting reliefs on the walls and something even more bizarre. The darkness was smothering the flame.

As a second inferno raged through the cavernous hall, she was certain of what she had seen. Tendrils of dark ate into the flame.

"Will. Will! Will damn it!" She shouted. "Will, stop!"

"Not so damned loud." Will hissed.

"Stop doing that! It's no use!" Aerin tried to calm Will down.

"I can't find the exit anymore! It's gone." Will's voice was a panicked whisper. "I made a mistake, alright! This is an awful place. We shouldn't be here!"

Will was hurrying towards Aerin. His footsteps were coming closer, and she was afraid they might bump into each other. The footsteps stopped, and she heard bare hands patting a stone surface.

"What are you doing? What do you mean we should not be down here?" She cautiously wandered towards the sound of Will's hands patting a stone surface.

Some of Will's anxiousness was getting to her. But she could not understand his panic. When in doubt, stop, look, listen, think. Impulsive action was often fatal, in her experience.

The patting stopped. "I can't find it. The exit is gone. Aerin, the damned hole and the cover are gone. I put it right next to it. They are gone!"

"You lost the hole because you blinded us! I am still seeing lights flicker in my eyes, you twat!"