Cave

What woke her was the water, feeling the cold liquid up to her torso, her body supine on a hard and smooth surface.

Did I fall asleep in the tub again? If so, why am I not naked? And why is it so dark? What the heck is happening?

She shook herself from her stupor and started moving, her body stiff and hurting all over.

As soon as she started moving her limbs, a ripple moved through the liquid and a multitude of tiny lights appeared on the surface of the small pool of water she had found herself in, illuminating her body and the surroundings in a soft, green glow.

She was in what seemed to be a cave, the light of the pool reflecting on the slick limestone that made the ground, walls, and ceiling look like a badly melted candle. She could only see for a couple of meters, the rest of the place still enveloped in darkness.

“What the actual heck… okay, definitely not in my tub” she whispered, feeling herself starting to hyperventilate, a layer of cold sweat coating her back and forehead.

Okay, let’s try not to panic, what are your options? Option one, this is a very vivid dream, but now I know I’m in a dream so I should be waking up, shouldn’t I? Let’s try anyway.

She pinched herself very hard on the arm, the only result another sore spot on her body.

Okay definitely not a dream, maybe I fell during one of those cave explorations? Alone? In my pajamas? Mhhh nope. I also lack any head wound so I would remember it. Since I remember going to bed… that leaves hallucinations, kidnapping, and what I’m trying not to think about.

Have I been summoned to another world? In a damn cave? Status! Menu? Interface. Nope. Oh well, if I’m hallucinating, I cannot do anything about it, and as for the last two options… well, I’m probably in a pretty bad spot either way.

She remained completely motionless near the water, its luminescence slowly fading with the waves she had created. The girl shivered again, her cold, wet clothes sticking uncomfortably to her body. She pinched herself once more.

I have to keep calm. First thing first, I need to find a weapon. Even if this is a candid camera, I’m sure as hell not going to brave the unknown without any protection.

With caution, she used her bare foot to stir the water a second time, causing the liquid to light up with a warm green light once again.

Pretty cool. I know there are many bioluminescent animals in the world, but I don’t think this is normal. I’m definitely not gonna drink from here unless I’m desperate.

She kept moving her foot through the liquid, marveling at its unnatural light and the reflection it created on the uneven vaulted ceiling, at least until her eyes caught sight of a very familiar shape lying underneath the shallow water. With a choked cry, the young woman lunged for her now very wet smartphone, grasping it like a mother with its drowning child.

The kidnapping seems more and more unlikely, unless the phone is dead, and they are damn sadists. She thought, trying to inspect the phone for tampering or external damage, aside from that of the water. Oh well, I still must be careful, let’s try not to fry it by turning it on so soon after its diving adventure.

“Also, I don’t have pockets. Great”. She muttered.

With the dripping device in one hand, she scanned the rest of the pool and the ground around it, hoping for something she might have missed. Her luck, however, seemed to have run out and she only spotted a bunch of stalactites and stalagmites pending from the low ceiling and protruding from the floor.

Always forgot which one was with the g. She thought as she inspected those natural structures.

Oh well, I guess you’ve got to break some eggs to make a frittata.

With a huff, she got close to the thinnest looking protrusion and, after placing the phone on the ground nearby, started pulling on it, first softly and then with more and more strength.

It took her all her weight to snap off the stone tip, the crisp sound reverberating loudly in the enclosed space, rapidly followed by the splash made by the girl falling once again in the pool.

“Oh shoot, that was noisy. This is bad”. She exclaimed, her hands still clutching her hard-earned prize.

She made her way out of the once again shimmering water and frantically searched for somewhere to hide until her eyes caught a shadowed spot in one of the walls, between two large columns of limestone.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that there was a tight gap between them and, still clutching her hard-earned club, she quickly squeezed herself inside of it.

Once inside of the tight hollow, she didn’t move, trying to steady her breath and anxiously listening for any noise.

Soon, darkness once again reigned in the cave, the silence broken only by the sound of falling water droplets hitting the ground.

After a few minutes spent completely motionless, the young woman started using her hands to explore the small space she was in. Her slim fingers followed the smooth and slick surface of the limestone columns, finding the slight wave that, in thousands upon thousands of years, had connected them with the cave wall, creating a tall and tight shaft.

This is actually pretty useful. I can’t really lay down or even sit, but I’m definitely going to sleep here until I know I’m totally safe. Damn, I already miss my bed.

Enough about that, I need to think about the next step. I have a weapon, shelter and I might have water, even though I’m going to search for another pool that is not so glowy… I now need food and a way out of here.

I should also be okay with food for quite a bit, wasn’t the rule like two minutes without air, two days without water and two weeks without food? Something like that for sure, and I’m not planning on confirming any of those myself.

Now, if I remember correctly, limestone water should be safe to consume, I’ll give myself a day to search for a safe pool, otherwise I’ll drink from the glowing one and pray I’m not going to become a parasitic ghoul or something.

Thinking about the crawlies that might be living here, I only have nature documentaries’ information and some basic knowledge given their habitat. There are usually bats, bugs, spiders, and in the water there are sometimes blind fishies and those cute axolotls; even though I think those are only in Mexico or something. I just hope nothing is venomous or poisonous.

Finally, usually in caves everything is more or less blind, and uses echolocation, which is bad since I’m also blind unless the phone works or I find a transparent water container for the glowing water, and I obviously don’t have echolocation.

Also, I’m definitely not going to eat an axolotl or a bug unless I’m really starving, so my best bet is finding a nice, non-glowy pool with some fish inside. Good plan. Also, if there are bats there has got to be a way out right? Hopefully a usable one… I guess I’ll try exploring.

After waiting a couple more seconds, the girl squeezed herself out of the gap and, with caution, blindly stepped in direction of the pool.

Her bare feet were soft and the slick surface sometimes had incredibly sharp ridges, letting her know that running wasn’t really an option without some kind of protection for her soles.

Activating the water one more time, the girl rapidly located and reobtained her phone, soon starting to follow the walls of the cave.

She had to walk around half its circumference before finding it. An empty space where the wall should have been. Tracing the outline with her fingers, she realized it was a round hole, big enough for her to traverse while on her knees.

At least there is a way out of this cave. I just need to think of a way to mark my way and to see in general; last option is the phone, but I would like to wait a little bit more time for it to dry.

It took her a bit of thinking before moving back to the pool and removing her bra. “Please, work” she pleaded as she dumped it into the water.

In the end, her idea of using the small cups to try and collect some of the luminous water proved unfeasible, the liquid passing quickly through the thin, synthetic fabric, leaving behind only a thin layer of the glowing substance. She smiled at the sight.

Not what I thought but maybe it can work? Unless they die very quickly when not submerged.

She kept filtering the water with the cups of her bra, the layer slowly getting thicker and the glow more pronounced. It took her hundreds of repetitions for the residue to build up, but in the end she watched with satisfaction as the bra now managed to illuminate her arms while holding it.

I think this is as much as it goes, let’s take a little peek.

She wrapped the glowing garment around her stalagmite and started crawling through the passage, careful not to make too much noise.

The tunnel didn’t take too long to traverse, going on a slight incline and opening on what seemed to be another cave. The new space was still completely dark, save for the small sphere of light made by her makeshift torch.

Using the light to check for entrances, she started once again following the walls, finding two more different passageways, both leading to more darkness. After fully inspecting the edges of the enclosure, she decided to map the entire surface of the new room, hoping for something different than the usual rocks.

The investigation left her disappointed. After checking the area, she only found a couple of water puddles which, while not glowing per se, were still stagnating on the floor, convincing her to wait before drinking from them.

Wait a second, this might be a good way to experiment on the glowy stuff, which by the way is getting weaker and weaker so I might want to do this before I’m blind once again.

She went close to one of the small puddles and dipped a bit of the luminous bra into it.

If in the next hours or days it starts glowing, then it might be an organism like plankton or bacteria or something, otherwise it might be something special about that pool. Or maybe it’s still an organism, but it has extremely specific requirements that two conjoined caves don’t share… so that’s quite slim, I think. I guess I’ll see soon. God, I hope I’m not going to stay here for days.

Finishing her experiments, she decided it was enough exploring for the time being, retraced her steps and crawled back to her safe haven. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but already she felt both mentally and physically exhausted.

She once again squeezed inside of her hideout and prepared herself for an uncomfortable rest.

She woke up with a start, her eyes trying to adjust to the complete darkness and her body stiff and aching for sleeping almost standing up. It took her a couple seconds to concentrate on the noise outside of her tight chamber. Something large was slithering and scraping on the ground, its sounds amplified by the shape of the small cave.

Sweat started beading her back and forehead, a primal fear almost rooting her in place. With her heart beating madly in her chest, the girl slowly approached the gap between the columns, hoping to catch a glimpse of the source of the noise in the darkness.

At first there was only black in her vision, at least until the sound of displaced liquid broke the silence, followed by the shimmer of the luminescent water, which in turn, illuminated the large pale creature that had claimed the pool.

A shiver ran down her spine, her body locked in place at the sight. Whatever it was, it didn’t belong to Earth.

The body of the animal must have been more than two meters long, snakelike but with two thick limbs on the upper torso, each ending in three palmed fingers.

It had a large and flat head with two branch-like tufts on its sides, each expanding and contracting every couple of seconds. I think those are gills, it might be some kind of salamander… but they definitely shouldn’t be this big. Or horrifying.

The salamander’s head was completely lacking eyes or nostrils, instead, there were two narrow, deep slits in correspondence of the ocular cavities. Oh fudge, that is creepy, I really don’t like it. I don’t know what the hell those are and I honestly don’t wanna know. She thought with a shiver.

She kept her eyes glued to the spectacle, trying to take it all in as the creature kept moving in the pool, displacing large amounts of liquid with its long thick tail and causing whatever was in the water to flare up. The fluid was now a glowing beacon of green light, illuminating the dark cave.

Finally, the amphibian started trudging through the pool with its mouth opened impossibly wide, a few rows of short but incredibly sharp-looking teeth barely visible in the gaping maw.

The girl watched in astonishment as, with each mouthful, the thing proceeded to engulf huge quantities of the glowing fluid, somehow filtering it, and then expelling it from the slits on top of its head as normal dark water.

As it ate, she saw a steady glow start to flow in the animal, its almost transparent skin allowing her to see a multitude of glowing organs pulsating inside of its body in a mesmerizing biological display. She kept watching until the now shining salamander slithered back through the tunnel, leaving her in darkness once again.

Wow, I think I really am in another world. She finally thought, her mind still trying to process the experience.

I just hope that thing is going to be full for a long time.

It took her a bit of time to find the courage to leave her hideout. Holding the club in her hands, she advanced carefully, making sure to minimize the amount of noise she was producing.

Upon reaching the pool, she discovered that the water was still glowing, even if lightly; whatever was in the water hadn’t been completely consumed.

I wonder if it’s just food for it, or if it has a different purpose. She wondered, Well, at least I know what those slits in its head do, even if I had to lose my light source to discover it. All in all, not the best trade.

She was getting thirsty. She hadn’t drunk since waking up for the first time and she couldn’t really follow the passing of time.

I need to find a stable source of water and food. It might be time to try and turn on the phone.

After quickly washing herself, the young woman steadied herself and pressed the power button on her phone, all while praying the old gods and the new ones for a boon.

And a boon the gods giveth.

After a few tense moments, the screen lit up in its wonderful technological glory, granting the girl vision, and a little bit of hope.

98%. After checking the display and not finding cell phone reception, or any other signal, she rushed to the settings, deactivating anything that could be a drain on the precious battery.

She then turned off the screen and started tracing her way to the entrance. It took her a bit, but after crawling through the tunnel, she soon emerged in the second cave where she immediately turned on the torch, checking for eventual ambushes from huge otherworldly amphibians, only managing to blind herself with the painfully bright white light.

Note to self, close the eyes first next time.

Thankfully, the cave was empty, the limestone columns creating deep shadows on the walls and ceiling.

Moving slowly, she traversed the cave and reached one of the entrances, her ears straining to catch any suspicious sound and her hands tightly gripping her weapon.

The new passage was tall enough to allow her to stand up straight. She started walking through it, not failing to notice the slight change in elevation. She was going up.

After a couple of meters, the passage bent on the right, hiding her from the previous cave. After a few more steps, she felt the crevice get wider and turned on the display once again, the low light just enough to show the end of the tunnel. With caution, she poked her head outside, ears perked and ready to run at any hint of danger.

She could hear by the echo of innumerable falling droplets that this cave was much larger than the others she had traveled; she could also faintly discern the soft gurgle of slowly moving water.

95%. Steadying herself, she prepared to touch the torchlight app, her eyes closed and ready for the sudden beam of light.

When she reopened them, she could feel her heart stopping for a bit, panic started swelling inside her chest as she looked at the huge cave in front of her.

I’ll never get out of here.