Little by little, the bodies of the bats were left behind, as they promised to collect them when they left the cave. The problem with the flashlight was increasing, to the point where Margot wanted to smash the flashlight against the wall, hoping to fix the problem.
Or even better, take apart the flashlight and see why it was failing.
That idea had been bothering her since they entered this place. It could be because of the crystals that literally shine, possibly containing rare minerals. Magnetic.
"I think we're close." Margot turned to look at the professor, smiling and showing her little fangs. "In the movies, whenever the protagonists are about to reach an important place, their devices start to fail."
"I don't know anything about current movies, so I'll have to trust you."Professor Philius said, and Margot nodded, as if it were the most coherent thing.
"That, or the humidity of the place affecting the flashlight. I don't know if it's true, but I heard that humidity creates energy leaks in batteries."
Since they entered the cave, the hot and humid environment had been uncomfortable for Margot, making her clothes stick to her body and her hair getting sticky on her forehead.
And not to mention when they descended into the hole.
Margot could barely breathe, with the air being heavier.
Thick.
"Always bring extra things, just in case." The professor took out a lighter from his jacket, lighting it and illuminating the path. The light was dim, and gave a more eerie view, with a reddish glow to the place, but it was better than a broken flashlight.
They both continued walking, and the professor smiled, "Do you hear that?"
Margot frowned, examining the place, "Water...?"
"A drip."
"Is there water down here? That would explain the humidity." Scratching the bat bites, Margot looked around, hoping to find the source of the sound, but saw nothing.
Little by little, the light from the lighter became more distant as Margot stopped in her tracks, looking at the walls with intrigue and awe.
Stains.
No, drawings.
Drawings with shapes and colours. And not the kind normally seen in caves, but something more professional, as if it were something sacred.
Something that—
"Did you find something?" Margot screamed, startled when something touched her shoulder, and she regretted it immediately when her effort made her hip hurt, thanks to the probably dislocated or broken bone.
Professor Philius was surprised to hear the scream, and dropped the lighter, making the slight light completely disappear.
Embarrassed, Margot laughed awkwardly, "Sorry."
They were now in the dark, and began searching for the lighter, with Margot initially trying to turn on the flashlight to find the lighter, but the flashlight didn't work, so with frustration, Margot crouched down and searched, but the cold ground and the funny rocks were the only things present.
"Well, it seems we lost the lighter."
Margot shook her head, though the professor couldn't see her, "It must be around here, it's not like it suddenly disappeared or ended up in the other part of...oh."
Indeed, oh.
Little by little, the ground began to light up, with the same glow as the crystals at the cave entrance, only now with the shapes of the wall drawings.
"I found it," Margot said when with the light, she could see where the lighter was.
"How did you do that?" The professor asked, with the curiosity of someone seeking answers.
"I...I don't know, I just touched the ground."
Humming, professor Philius approached the wall, and touched it, and like the ground, it also lit up, and soon, the idea of the lighter was just a distant concept, and they both began touching every part of the ground and walls, illuminating every corner with different textures, intensities and colours. To the point that Margot tried to climb the unstable rocks and touch the ceiling.
It was simply—
"Beautiful..." With a sharp breath, Margot looked everywhere, soaking in the sight of a story being told.
The walls were painted blue, simulating a lake, surrounded by a clear aura, and above it, in what seemed to be a boat, a child's body was placed.
In another, red surrounded everything, being a stark contrast to the previous image. A group of people were gathered, and their faces had a sombre tone. Below them, piles of bodies were lying, and above, the child's body appeared again, with its face devoid of emotions and sleeping.
In the centre of all, there were two straight lines, and Margot saw them.
Like, really saw them.
"Isn't it funny, professor?" Margot asked, not waiting for an answer. "Everything seems to be connected. Those books at the library in Sundai, the foreheads of those statues. They all had those two lines…What are we getting into?"
Little by little, the lights went out, until the only light was from the lighter. Margot had the urge to touch again, to see if they would light up again. To see if they did something else.
"Let's keep walking," the professor simply said, with a new shadow in his being.
Margot wanted to ask him if he knew what those drawings meant, but felt she wouldn't get an answer. One that she liked.
...
"I think we're lost..." The professor said after more than 15 minutes of walking, and Margot didn't even have the strength to roll her eyes.
Though she could proudly say it wasn't due to poor physical condition, but because of the injuries.
Every time she walked she could feel her hips bones moving, as if the broken bone was hitting the others. Sweat accumulated on her forehead, like she was burning alive, but it was the opposite. As if she was wrapped in an ice cube, Margot trembled, feeling with every step her head throbbing, pounding with a piercing pain that made everything go black for moments.
"Something's wrong with you, isn't it?" Professor Philius spoke again, and Margot only looked at him through her eyelashes. Whatever those bats had, it was taking effect.
"We need to go back and get you—" Shaking her head as if the idea were silly, Margot said she was fine.
"As the professor said, we've come too far to turn back now." Margot spoke, not looking where she was going. In her condition, even bumping into something tiny would make her fall.
And so she did.
Tripping over a rock, Margot fell with a thud, scraping the skin on her arm, opening a wound that quickly began to bleed.
"Oh my..." the professor said, illuminating the rock Margot had fallen on, showing great interest in it and not giving signs of going and helping Margot.
"Yes, yes. I'm fine, no need to ask." Margot stood up, holding her arm, and glaring at Professor Philius, who was now on the ground examining the rock.
But it wasn't just any rock.
Looking closer, it seemed more like an iron lever than a rock.
"Just like in the movies." With what had happened before completely forgotten, Margot began to approach, but was interrupted by the professor.
"You've had enough happen to you on this trip." Giving a signal for Margot to step back a bit, the professor pulled the lever, and with a tremor, Margot watched in amazement as a passage in the floor opened, revealing some very suspicious stairs.
"How is that possible? Could there be gears below us? How old is this?" Margot asked, not expecting an answer, and instinctively approached, looking at the passage.
If they had descended into a hole in a cave, why not also go into the totally not strange and suspicious passage?
"You should wonder how no one has found this place before." Professor Philius said, and the previous gleam in his eyes returned as he ventured without thinking twice.
"You can't find something you weren't looking for in the first place." Steadily, Margot ventured, not with the professor's confidence, expecting to encounter a swarm of bats, but was surprised once more to find the glowing objects.
It was a long room, huge, the size of a public park, filled with relics, ranging from portraits of people Margot couldn't name to gold-laden necklaces and crowns with diamonds in them.
But although it was beautiful, it wasn't what they were looking for. With a sigh, Margot turned around, "Do you think we'll find more of those rocks-not-actually-rocks?"
But there was no response, nor footsteps following her, as Professor Philius was still in the room, standing motionless, staring at a single spot.
"There it is."
Behind all the piles of gold, a lake with crystal-clear water was hidden, enormous, begging to be discovered.
A hidden treasure behind luxuries.
Wasting no more time, both headed for the lake, as if competing to see who would get there first. Slowly crouching down, Professor Philius examined the place, wondering how there could be a lake in the middle of underground caves so large.
Curiously, Margot wiped her hand on her shirt, fearing to dirty such a clean lake, and touched it.
An electrifying current ran down her spine, raw power, and Margot exhaled, as if afraid to move and make the feeling go away.
And there it was.
With a trembling laugh, Margot spoke, "P—professor, look."
Professor Philius turned around and found Margot looking at her own arm, which had previously been scraped from falling and was now as good as new.
"This is—"
"Magic!"
"—Impossible."
They both looked at each other, and curiosity and the hunger to know and prove won, and the professor wasted no time in taking out the knife with which he had cut Margot's rope, and with a clean, considerate cut, broke the delicate skin of his palm, revealing a bloody but undoubtedly alive interior.
The blood flowed in a dance, and the professor dipped his hand, causing the blood to disappear into the water and paint its own artwork, making the previously crystal-clear water take on a new tint.
Not of death.
But of life.
Alive.
With wide eyes, Professor Philius withdrew his hand, not blinking for fear of missing anything, and found a perfectly healed hand.
Margot's upside-down smile broke, giving way to a series of laughter that filled the place, and without thinking, Margot jumped into the lake, not caring about her clothes.
The feeling from before—the magic—ran through her body, and the professor kept looking in amazement at his hand.
One part of him, the part that was a scientist, denied such an occurrence.
There was nothing to explain it.
Nothing they knew that could explain it.
But another part told him it didn't matter, wanting to believe it was magic.
That there was salvation.
This was water. Water that could heal, and what could be more natural than water?
All this felt like a gift from nature that had been deprived of them, but it didn't matter, for they had discovered it.
When Margot resurfaced to take a breath, her gaze was no longer as cheerful as before and held some doubt.
"There's something down there. In the lake."
The professor only smiled.
Not something.
Someone.
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I feel like I should not post more than two chapters each week, even if I have more, because people will start to have expectations. I react badly to expectations.
The protagonist will appear in the next chapter. Don't get too excited.
P.S.: For this chapter, I researched reasons why lanterns might fail, and guess my surprise when it said humidity. Surprised, but happy that it fit with my idea of putting a lake underground. Yay!