Chapter 28 #2
“Come on! Open!” Terror convulses through me as the lava erupts all around me.
Panic stricken, I drive the blade into the crevices, wrenching and prying with everything I have. Nothing. It barely leaves a scratch. Panic consumes my soul as I slam my head against the door.
“Oww!” I’m bleeding. I forgot about that. “Tavia. Use your head. Use your head.”
The lava continues racing toward me with merciless speed, devouring everything it touches. It’s almost here! I slam the sword into the ground, carving a path through the rock, trying to divert the lava away from me.
The molten flow catches the new channel and surges toward the sword instead, swallowing the blade in a burst of heat.
Pesh’s sword is gone.
And next, it’ll be I.
But… I can’t die. And… I can’t hack this!
I try to hack it again. Doing the exact same thing as before, trying to force my hazy thoughts into focus against the blazing heat. Nine numbers. Nine times.
It’s this or I’m dead.
Clunk…
Yes!
Oh wow. Maybe it needed to be tampered with first—like my math class.
The cave door begins to move on its own, sliding to the right. Lava burns off my shoe just as I sprint inside the dark room, and the door shuts behind me. Thank God!
Oh no. There is now complete silence. Like I’m in another world. Another universe.
A valley of darkness surrounds me.
I can’t see anything!
I’m terrified, but I know I have to persevere. I can’t stop now. Levon needs me. And I can’t die. I just can’t!
I take one step after the other. Then, I remember that the only test that was dark was my diamond Chemistry Test. Oh no. What is this?
Where am I? I couldn’t be inside a volcano—right?
I clench my fists tightly.
You can do it. Just keep going. This is for Levon! Be brave! You’re strong. Don’t think. Just walk.
Hands stretched out for balance, I drive my feet forward into the darkness, walking fast, eyes closed, imagining the cave to be a trampoline, with Levon beside me at every corner, waiting to catch me, should I fall.
It works.
Clunk…
Crap. My legs hit something. A rock! I begin to fall to the floor. I gasp and try to stand up instantly, eyes ripping open. I fall again.
Ow!
My knees are bruised, I feel the pain tingling on my skin, but I try to focus on my surroundings and tell myself the pain is not real, like the sharks. Oh my God, but the pain is real. I look all around with darting eyes, breathing deeply, terrified.
Suddenly, a flash of light crashes into my eyes from the corner of the room. I look to see a shadow of a human in the corner. What on earth? It looks real. It feels real. But when it comes out of the shadows, I look into its eyes and what I see is not just any human, it is my human. It is Pesh.
What the devil is this?
It has to be a robot of Pesh, like the mirot.
I tilt my head to the right to examine it with narrow eyes.
It tilts its head to the right, looking at me the same way.
I step toward it to see if it will step back like the mirots in my test, but it doesn’t.
It steps toward me. I draw back instantly, and it does the same.
I am sure this thing will follow every move I make. It is the opposite of the mirots in The Commons.
I decide that there is only one way to go with this.
I punch myself in the stomach! It does the same.
I slap myself in the face—twice. It does the same.
It is painful to hurt myself, but that is the only way I can destroy this thing.
I know if I try to fight it, it will fight me even more.
I have to hurt myself, like the Cognitive Test when I simulated my own emotional fears first. It is so weird to watch a simulate of Pesh do these things, but I know my Pesh would be infuriated at this obstructing imposter, so I go straight to the point of maximal impact.
I punch myself in my crotch.
It screams after reciprocating the same movement to its groin.
Ow! That hurt, but… I have to go off this momentum!
I notice a large rock beside it, so I fall over on the floor on my end. It follows me and trips, crashing into the rock, shattering into mirror-like pieces.
I look at my tosh. I only have 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Oh no!
I race toward a flashing light. It looks like a circular red button on the corner of the cave’s wall. Like a stop sign.
But before I can press it… oh crap. It’s not a stop sign. It’s the eyes of the dragon reptile from Oblivion. In the flesh. The dragon reptile charges out, sending me flying to the floor.
“Ow!” This is bad. This is the last thing I wanted to see. The monstrous giant stands before me with vengeance in its eyes. Except this time, there is no escape. There are no doors.
At least I’m not stuck. I sprint off, looking for an escape.
It roars, surging toward me.
God Almighty, help!
Oh gosh, there are no light switches. That’s how I escaped last time. Crap! I can’t fight this thing. I look around. I have no sword. No weapon. Nothing. I notice a wooden stick on the floor near the stones. I charge toward the stones and try to strike it aflame like a match.
Crap.
Nothing.
Again, I strike the two stones together.
Nothing. Argh!
The monster’s breath surges me back. My hands roll on the floor, grappling to grip the stones again, striking them.
Yes! It lights up.
I quickly put the fire to the stick, lighting it up just as the dragon’s eyes widen.
Why did I do that?
I forget why I just did that as it slams me back to the ground.
Arghh! I grip onto my torch, and my eyes pierce into the monster, my body—a dot on its meteorite orb.
Before, it thrived in the dark. Now, it seems to be thriving in the light. What on earth is going on? Something must be off. This is a Commons-created monster, so it may have controls somewhere. Maybe on its body? I scan frantically, but I see nothing. Just scales.
I am surrounded. I suddenly remember why I made a torch.
With a swift motion, I decide to take a gamble.
I have nothing to lose at this point. I hurl the torch with all my might.
Hoping. Praying it will hurt it. And perhaps deter it from swallowing me whole.
For a moment, the monster recoils as fire flicks its green scales.
Phew! A beat of dead silence…Then suddenly, it’s eyes flare and it detonates, roaring so hard my ears ring.
I back up, terrified. Its size seems to double, and it charges right at me to crush me. I don’t think the fire was a good idea.
Its thundering steps shake the ground beneath me. What to do?
My heart races as it surges forward, flinging me back to the wall.
I shriek, blood all over my skin, bruised all over.
The reptile opens its mouth to swallow me whole.
Oh no! I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for impact…
but no impact comes. Confused, my eyes snap open and I look up to see a being flying down from the dragon reptile. What the actual heck and how?—
In shock, I realize… Lenon is the dragon reptile. He has always been it. He has probably been messing with my mind this entire time. No wonder Pesh stopped him. Why is he here?
He charges out and somehow lands on his feet. Before I can blink or move, he’s near me, gripping the back of my neck with his left hand. His furrowed brows and blue-green eyes aflame for the kill.
Before I can blink, he slides out a silver arrow and presses it to my neck. One move, and I swear I’m dead. Frozen in place, I don’t move an inch.
“What?” My teeth grit together, and I don’t know why I am so disagreeable when I know he can slit me right here and now. “Are you gonna kill me?” I utter under my breath, eyes merging with his green glare.
With a frown, he responds, “I would. But The Zariki Obstruct is going to do that for me.” He pulls his arrow away, placing it into the holster on his thighs before I can exhale.
The creature surges past, Lenon disappearing into the distance. I look up to see him standing as the dragon reptile flies away. In the distance, he blows me a kiss. Gosh, I despise his guts. And what’s worse is… he’s probably right. I am approaching my imminent death.
Like fighting that devil was not enough.
Now this hell cave continues. My brown eyes glare at the red stop sign that’s still present, but the light is not alive this time.
But my heart can’t help but think… Patron Lenon is pretty renowned.
He said that I’m gonna die in such a definitive way. What if he’s right?
Do I keep going? I have to. I can’t stop. What if…? No. No what-ifs. I remind myself—forget the rules; this is The Commons. That is my only clue to what is next in this dark cave.
Lips set in a grim line, I press the stop sign, and the doors cave in, creating a path for me to walk.
Expecting the worst, I enter to see three identical, giant test tubes similar to the ones from the Chemistry Test, but these are about 20 feet long.
Each test tube is open and about 300 feet in front of me.
And tied around each one of them is a long rope.
I look more intently to see that there is a child hanging on one of those test tubes.
I then notice that the same child is hanging on the edge of all of those test tubes.
Oh God.
One has to be real.
But what if none is real?
I don’t know what to do.
How would I even help this child?
What if these are all illusions?
I only have 1 minute, and 30 seconds left.
My heart starts caving into doubt, and my mind is tangled in a thousand uncertain thoughts. And just as I think it can’t get any worse, I see water filling up the test tubes.
Where is the water coming from?
I suppose from underground? I don’t know… I just know I have to do something! But I have no clue what. I guess I have to pick one child to sprint to and try and catch.
To make matters worse, all three of them are crying.