The cursed cave

“You will die today!” A voice echoed in Fenoam's mind. He was sitting in a pitch dark cave, leaning against a rock, barely breathing. It had begun as an ordinary day, and an ordinary hunting trip. He had hit a deer, but his aim had been a bit off and the wounded game ran into a cave. A cave that was regarded as cursed by many in Fenoam's village. There were rumours that those who had gone in there returned insane, or they hadn't returned at all. But Fenoam had considered the rumours as nonsense, nothing more than fairy tales to scare children from going into the cave, protecting them from cave-ins and such. So, without a second thought he went inside.

But when Fenoam caught the game something happened. Without him noticing he had stepped on a stone plate and a mechanism had triggered, a boulder now blocked his path back out. It became pitch dark. After a while in there, he started to hear noises of something big moving slowly somewhere in the dark. His first thought was that it probably was a bear, and the thought of encountering such a beast in the dark wasn't very amusing.

“Who dares to disturb my slumber?” The voice echoed against the cold cave walls.

Fenoam felt his blood freeze.

"Hmph, smells like man. Long time since a human dared to take a step into my domain." The voice had faded into nothing more than a whisper.

Fenoam tried to hold his breath. He couldn't determine where the whispers came from.

"I can smell where you are, human! No use in hiding, it will only prolong your agony!" The voice now sounded much closer.

Fenoam started to panic. The darkness felt claustrophobic, and the sounds did not sound like a human, but rather more like something from a very large beast. The sounds kept becoming louder and louder, and the voice talked calmly about how it would gently put Fenoam in a slumber, if he showed himself, but how his agony would be increased each second he prolonged this meaningless hiding. Fenoam realized that it had not pinpointed his location yet. But the noises indicated it was pretty close. Suddenly it stopped. Fenoam felt like his heart stopped as well.

"Now I know where you are, Human! I smell your fear. Now, come to me and feel my embrace and eternal sleep. If you don't struggle, I will end it quickly and painlessly!"

Fenoam did not move an inch, he felt all petrified, only feeling how his cold sweat flowed down his back. The creature made a quick strike, a move with the power to kill a bear instantly.

Dust and bits of rock filled the air. After a while the dust settled, revealing ripped parts of clothing, and in midst of it all, a creature feasting on flesh. But when the attack happened, no scream was heard, and the creature tasted flesh with different flavour than that of a man. 

 Fenoam had made a lure out of the deer he had caught, leaving his jacket on it for the sake of smell. He had made it when he thought he was encountering a bear. And by a stroke of luck the creature attacked it instead of him.

While the creature feasted on Fenoams game, he made an attempt to get away. The creature seemed to be between him and the exit, so Fenoam followed his instincts and went in the opposite direction, deeper into the cave. Because the darkness, he stumbled, and crawled, getting all beaten up on the way somehow navigating himself forward by following the cave wall. The only thing on his mind was to as far away from the beast as possible. Even though he had not seen the creature, there was something really terrifying about it. He had never felt such agony before like the agony that filled him from the short encounter with this creature. He had encountered several kinds of beasts before, but this one felt different somehow.  He crawled for what felt like hours, but could not find any other exit. Suddenly his hands felt something in front of him. A wall that felt like man made. First Fenoam felt stirring within him, but he forced himself to calm down. Then he started to frantically feel the surrounding walls with his hands. He was practically a blind man in a lion’s den. He started to feel all the aching that the escape had caused, bleeding knees and hands, and beaten by everything he bumped into in the darkness.  He had no intentions to turn back, for he would surely encounter the creature. He did not want to follow the other wall, since he knew that direction would only lead deeper into the mountain. He was feeling the man-made wall with his hands, and suddenly found an opening. By its height and shape, he assumed it to be a window. Why someone would make a window inside a mountain made no sense to him, but he climbed through it anyway. Well on the other side, he felt a strong and bitter stench, and he could feel with his hands that he was standing on a polished stone floor. But he didn't have much time to explore his new environment. Sounds from the other side of the wall indicated that the bait he’d left as a decoy had bought him only so much time. The creature had already sniffed out his new location. Desperately Fenoam tried to find any place he could hide in, but the only thing he could find was a fireplace, and some old furniture. But his mind and body were still functioning, so there was still a chance! 

He realized that he somehow still had some arrows and his bow with him, so if he could pinpoint his exact location of the creature, then he could at least try to shoot it. The sounds on the other side of the wall indicated that he had no time to loose, he ripped his shirt’s sleeves off, and quickly gathered anything that seemed flammable and put it into the fireplace. In desperation he even threw parts of his own hair into the furnace. At the exact moment he hit his fire striker, he heard how the wall crumbled to bits behind him.  The moment after, a large flame erupted seemingly from his hands, and engulfed the place. He fell on the ground, burnt but alive. The room had been full of flammable gas. Fenoam looked at where the man-made stonewall had stood just a moment ago, staring right into the darkness... He saw a reflection from an eye, reflecting light from the now slightly burning fireplace. He could not understand why he was still alive. What had stopped the creature? It seemed to just stare at him... Or maybe it was fascinated by the fire? Fenoam now saw his chance, he slowly took his bow, put an arrow to it, aimed between the reflexions, where he supposed the head of the creature was located. But it was all futile, he saw a quick flash of teeth, and heard how the arrow cracked. The slight silhouette indicated that the creature caught the arrow with its mouth, and Fenoam realized he faced a beast faster than an arrow! "Attacking me with toothpicks? How naive..." the creature whispered. Fenoam now felt his last moments come. He was like a wild animal cornered by a hunter. Everything seemed lost, he would die alone in a cave, and no one would know his fate. Thoughts of folks at the village popped up into his mind. Would someone miss him? Maybe his own mother, but probably no one else. Or maybe, just maybe, Aila? The nice woman, who always smiled and wished good hunting when Fenoam passed the villages east gate, on his way to the hunting grounds. They had occasionally met and spent some time together. And Fenoam had actually left a letter to Aila this morning. He had always hoped that their friendship would be something more than just friendship. The thought of Aila crying for Fenoam, somehow relieved him, but at the same time the thought was unbearable. Maybe this thought triggered something in Fenoam, a will to survive, a will to go one despite being cornered by death.  Strangely the creature didn't approach him, even though there wasn't anything hindering it. So Fenoam had no choice but to wait. "Why Human, are you resisting?" The creature whispered... Fenoam was shocked about the question, "What do you mean?", he asked the creature. "You know what I mean, Human. Why are you clinging to what you call life? Your sheer existence is full of Pain, evil, poverty, sweat, sorrow and despair?", the creature answered. "What do you know...", Fenoam started to ask, but was interrupted by the creature; "How dare you, insolent worm, crawling on the ground, address me in such a tone? If you don't for wish a long and painful death, then address me with the politeness I deserve!". Fear gave Fenoam the wits not to provoke the creature. "Well, your... Fearsome shadow, If I may answer, I think our lives are unique, and therefore are valuable, and should not be wasted..."

"Unique? Is that a value at all? These rocks that are surrounding us, each and every one of them are unique! Every snowflake is unique, yet there is no difference at all if a snowflake falls into a burning fire and ceases to exist. Just as meaningless are you! Despair is what all your days will be full of, and meaningless. I can offer you a fast and swift end to your existence. Out of pure goodness and empathy am I offering this opportunity to you!"

"Wait, no! I agree with you, kind shadow, the life is full of despair and darkness, filling the soul of man, but still, there are things to make our lives valuable..."

"Such as..."

"...to be owned..."

"What foolishness am I hearing? Am I talking to a slave? If that is the case, I can bring you freedom, freedom from the slavery of everything!"

"No,not that kind of ownership. I'm talking about not belonging to myself, but I'm definitely not being owned by another person. You see, I'm not owning my life, because I have not earned it. I have been given life by others, therefore I have it only by rent. A human is given the value from what he is to others. Relationships. A child belongs to his mother, and a mother belongs to her child. And taking one away is like robbing the other of something really valuable. Therefore I have no right to end my life here, because that would be like stealing from everyone I value in life."

"Hmph, you are missing a point there, if every human is trash, then  surely they won't gain value by giving value to each other. I will still take your life, and consider myself kind in doing so"

Meanwhile, in a village, not far from the cave, a maiden was sitting on the village border wall, looking towards the road. In her hand she held a bit of paper, a letter to be precise. She looked up at the sky, her eyes following dark clouds. From experience she knew that a storm was incoming. She looked back towards the road, her face expressing worry, and some emotions only she could identify. She had been there all afternoon, first waiting, longing and hoping, but now only worrying. In the horizon she saw the last rays of sun disappearing. She now knew something should be done, and she jumped down from the wall. Her bare feet moved quickly as a child’s in the neighbourhood, when she orientated herself through the narrow paths between the houses. She stopped at a house near the border of the south wall. She flung the door open and rushed inside. A man, carving a chunk of wood, looked shocked at her. "Aila, what is it? Have the goblins attacked the village?", the man asked. "No, nothing like that. It's just that Fenoam hasn't come back yet...!", Aila answered. "Oh, Come on! Fenoam the hunter? He is capable of taking care of himself."

"No, something is different today! I know he is in trouble!"

"Oh, how come?"

"Well... A storm is coming, and he hasn't come back. Fenoam is not a fool who would recklessly stay out in the forest in a storm"

"Ha, that’s not true, and you know it! You know Fenoam is fully capable of finding shelter, or even build one if need be. What are you hiding, sister?"

The young woman blushed, but after hesitating for a moment, she gave to her brother the letter she was clinging to. After reading the letter, the man chuckled, gave her the letter back. "I see why he had a reason to come back early today. Well, I'll go grab my sword and shield, let’s go find that man of yours!"

Ten minutes later, Aila and her brother was walking down the road, outside the village, with his dog with them. "Are you sure we don't need to ask any others to join us before we go?", Aila asked. "Oh, I'm pretty sure Fenoam would be quite angry if we alerted the whole village”, her brother said. “I'm sure he is stuck somewhere in a marsh, and that can be quite embarrassing... His reported hunting area today was near the forbidden cave, and there are a lot of marshlands there, not deep enough to make a man drown, but quite hard to get up from if you get stuck. I can't believe he actually made such a novice mistake though. He could be stuck under a fallen tree or something, but it sounds quite unlikely."  

Soon, the two of them were searching for Fenoam. But despite their hardest efforts, they could not find any trail of the missing hunter. Not even the dog could find a trail. And before long, the storm started to brew above them. "Let's take a break, before we go back, we could rest in the Cave", Aila's brother said. "Is that wise, I wonder? You know the rumours as well as I", Aila answered. "Oh, are you scared? You know as well as me that those stories are just for children. No truth in them at all. And we don't have to go deep inside the cave, we need just a moment in a shelter to regain some strength. I have torch materials with me, I just need a dry place so we can light them." Aila was still unsure. "And, who knows, maybe Fenoam is in the cave, desperately waiting for our help..." her brother added. This convinced Aila to follow him into the cave, trusting in her brother's sword and dog to protect her from the darkness lurking inside the cave.    

After a short walk, they came to the cave. Despite the rain and the storm, the man had managed to keep the torch materials dry.  He assembled the torch, and soon the light illuminated the cold cave walls. “What a disappointment, I thought the cave would be much bigger. I can see all the way to the back of the cave from here. No way Fenoam could hide in here, not to mention any ancient monster”, Aila's brother said. “But, don’t you think your dog is acting strange?”, Aila asked. “Oh, that’s strange, it marks that it has found a trail. There actually seems to be a blood trail leading to the back of the cave…” Both Aila and her brother started to investigate the surroundings, where the blood trail ended.  Aila let her hands wander along the rock wall. Suddenly she felt a more polished spot. When she pushed the spot a little, she felt how the rock moved. “I think I’ve found something!”, she whispered. “Let me see”, her brother answered, and pressed the stone into the wall. A sound of flowing water filled the room, and The stone wall started to move. Slowly, it descended down, leaving an opening towards a seemingly endless darkness.

Fenoam was still alive, keeping up the gruesome discussion with the creature. There were two things Fenoam did not notice however; the flame was dying out, and the creature was much closer than before. The creature calmly whispered reasons why death would be the best option for every human, While Fenoam pointed out all the bright side of life, desperately clinging to his own value and right to live. But suddenly the creature changed tone, seemingly more intrigued than before, and asked a question: “What is the value of an abandoned tool? What is a dog without owner? What is a human without the people he belongs to?” Fenoam was surprised by the question, and without further thinking, he casually answered: “Well, a tool is useless without a worker, and a dog without an owner, is just a stray dog. But…” He got interrupted by the creature: “How do you know who is a human’s loved ones? Yes, the loved ones are searching for their beloved, even if they have to travel to the Valley of Death. We have to test what you just said. And if it happens to be true  will you accept death as a friend, if you have no ties left to this world?” Cold sweat ran down Fenoam’s back, what did the creature mean? And in a blink of an eye, Fenoam was alone. For some strange reason, he felt more alone than ever before…

“You know, I’m starting to believe those stories! This cave could really be the home of some big human-eating monster! I would suggest we turn back, and go to the village. Not for my own safety, of course, but for yours!” Aila’s brother whispered. “No! This is the most likely place for Fenoam to be. He must have been trapped by that mechanism we saw earlier. So he must be here somewhere.”a bit too loudly.

The dog had refused to go inside the cave, and waited outside., so Aila and her brother walked around in the cave on their own, without any hint of Fenoams location. “But you do realize that he might not be alive any more, you saw the bloody mess earlier. Who knows, maybe it was everything that was left of Fenoam…”
“Stop it! Not a word from you anymore, you know even better than me that those remains were not of a human. I Refuse to believe that he is dead before I see the evidence” Aila answered. *Sigh*, “I hope you appreciate my effort. We are probably risking our lives every minute we remain inside this cursed cave”

-“yes, you are risking your life, and you have lost the game”, whispered a voice from the darkness. “The man you are so desperately searching for is dead”. “No! It can’t be true! How can you be sure!?” Aila shouted. The voice from the darkness answered: “Because I am the very beast that tore him apart. He wished for a quick death and came to me. It was of course difficult to fulfill his wish. Not the death part,  but the quickness of it.” Ailas brother drew his sword and tried to pinpoint the location of the voice. He moved the torch around himself, and he thought he saw a silhouette of something big at the direction where the exit was located. He saw the reflection of his torch in the big creature’s eyes and a line of big yellow sharp teeth. His hands began to shake. He noticed also that Aila was shivering. “Don’t worry, we will survive this”, he desperately  tried to calm Aila. Warm tears poured down her cheeks. The creature slowly approached Aila and her brother. “I think it’s afraid of the sword, so stay behind me” Ailas brother whispered to her. She did not respond in any way at first but suddenly she cried out: ”Fenoam? Where are you?”                                        

Aila’s voice echoed in the cave, slowly weakening from every bounce of the cold cave walls. When it reached Fenoam, it was only a little Whim, so that Fenoam didn’t know if he was only imagining it, or if he really had heard his name from somewhere in the darkness. First he felt a glimpse of hope and joy, but in a moment it turned to fear. Was there really someone searching for him in the cave, in the darkness together with the beast? Suddenly he remembered the creature’s words just a moment ago, and the meaning stood crystal clear to Fenoam. Without hesitation, he took his bow, some burning rags from the fire, and his arrows, and with haste he ran in the dark cold cave. Even though he was running, the seconds felt like hours. The burning rags illuminated the cold cave, and somehow, it didn’t feel at all like the same cave he had been trapped in for so long.

Ailas brother desperately tried to hold ground against the beast, fending swiftly with his sword. But it seemed that after every swing, the creature was nearer, and he had to step back in order not to fall prey after the next sword swing. He couldn’t shake the feeling of being herded to a trap. The creature seemed to toy with them. And he was right. Soon he saw that the formation of the surrounding was not allowing any his surrounding allowed no escape. They had been herded to a dead end. And the creature came closer and closer. Aila’s brother’s movements became more and more clumsy. As he then swung his sword with too much strength, while not paying enough attention on the surrounding, he tripped. Aila screamed, her brother closed the eyes, and the creature attacked. But he did not feel himself pierced by the creature’s teeth. He felt an enormous burden on his heart; did the creature go for Aila first? He opened his eyes, and saw Aila… Intact! The creature had stopped a small distance from them; Between them ant the creature lay a burning arrow.  

Aila and the man saw a glimpse of light approaching. It was Fenoam, putting another arrow on fire, and firing in the direction of the beast. The arrows did not seem to threathen the creature because of its immense speed, but it did avoid the path of the arrows, giving Fenoam a little possibility to fend off the creature from Aila and the man, if he kept aiming between them and the creature. And Fenoam kept firing, one burning arrow after another, though not a single one hit the creature. “You know the exit, so run! I follow you, and try to keep that beast at a distance!” Fenoam shouted. The creature did not give much ground, but the continuous line of arrows kept it just outside of range to Aila and the man. And, strangely, it worked; the three of humans managed to make their way towards the exit of the cave. But the creature followed. When the three humans were at the stone door, Fenoam had only one arrow left. He whispered to the others” After I fire this, run as fast as you can, and don’t look back!” The others nodded. Fenoam aimed his bow at the stone passage; the creature would not have room to dodge, if it tried to come after them. At the moment Fenoam once again saw the too familiar reflections of the creatures eyes, he fired his last burning arrow. Fenoam was sure of his aim, but the effect was a disappointment. It hit, but bounced off like it had hit a wall of stone or steel. The arrow did not even scratch the creature. The creature roared in anger, a roar exceeding that of a hundred angry lions roaring together. The trio ran for their lives, out from the cave and into the cold night. The rain was now pouring down. Their torches started to die out. The man was running the slowest, and he could hear how the creature gained on the distance between him and them. Different scenarios ran through his head. He looked at Fenoam and Aila. They were now both unarmed, since Fenoam did not have any arrows left, and by the sound of it, the creature was much faster than them. He made his decision: He stopped running, turned around, and stood firm, with his sword and shield. Maybe he didn’t stand a chance, but he would die, not hunted down like a prey, but standing, in combat, protecting someone. He could somehow accept his fate. Again, he started with a big swing, to make the creature stand back. But this time was different than that in the cave: the creature didn’t even try to dodge the swing. The sword hit the creature with full power, but it didn’t sink in: it stopped at the hard surface of the creature, not even scratching it. As a last action of defence, the man raised his shield. The shield was pierced and crushed by the line-up of big teeth, at the same time piercing his hand. At that moment the man felt the call of death, and he didn’t even try to defend himself any longer. But something distracted the Beast: The man’s dog was there, defending his wounded master, with all its might. Only for a moment the beast changed its focus, turning towards the dog. In a swift motion, the beast changed its grip from the man’s hand to engulf the dog. And the moment after, the beasts focus was again on the man. He closed his eyes, waiting for the final strike, knowing he didn’t stand a chance. But the strike didn’t come: he opened again his eyes, only to see Aila standing between him and the beast. She held something illuminating in her hands, and the creature stood paralyzed, only a few feet from her, almost revealing its shape. At her side was Fenoam, crouched, desperately searching for something in his bag. “Hurry! Find something dry! The creature seems to be afraid of fire!” –Fenoam shouted. Aila was holding a burning piece of paper, covering it with her hand. Fenoam covered a glowing piece of ember, but the glow was quickly vanishing. The man tried to find anything dry, but couldn’t find anything in the rain. “The paper is all gone soon! Start running boys!” Aila shouted. “No, we won’t leave you!” Fenoam answered with a determined voice. Everyone stood staring at the burning paper, knowing it was their last glimpse of hope, soon to be replaced by darkness. But suddenly the air was filled with another roar, not from the creature, but from somewhere impossible to locate. It sounded much louder than the creature’s recent roar, despite originating from a much farther location. The creature then whispered, as if to himself “Outside my Domain…” And the beast turned its back to the three humans, and crawled back into the cave. A last whisper was heard ”You know where to find me, when seeking death…” and the creature disappeared into the darkness offered by the cave.

They all stood still, in the rain. Aila’s hands were shaking. Fenoam …tried to comfort her, embracing her: “It’s over, we are alive…”. “No, that’s not it, the letter is gone…” she sighed… The man smirked, that sounded just like his little sister, worrying about a simple letter, the moment after facing death. He didn’t hear Fenoam’s answer, but Aila’s hands stopped shaking. “Hey now, I don’t want to ruin your moment, but I think I need some attention, before I bleed to death or something, the man said. After a moment, they were heading back to the village. Despite his injuries, the man carried his former dog on his shoulders. Fenoam and Aila held hands tightly all the way back to the village.

                                   -Sanlade