The Unknown Cavern [II]

Lynn couldn't wrap his head around what he guessed was in the dark shadows. The sound from the creature was like that of a rat, yet not like a rat—indeed not like anything he had ever heard about rodents.

Clinging to the statue, he tried to look around. It had aspects of a great rodent in its squeal, and Lynn began to picture a giant rat ready to attack, sending a chill down his spine.

Slowly, he began to gain control of his frayed nerves. He recalled the basic lessons he had learned from his father many years ago which proved useful to him in his miserable life.

So with urgency, he began climbing with more energy.

After another squeal sounded too close to where he was, he stopped climbing and glanced at the dark tunnel behind him. Then he saw the eyes. Two great red orbs stared at him from the darkness. Each seemed as large as a melon. They remained upon Lynn, unblinking, as he clung to the back of the statue. The eyes continued to bore into him, and he felt the cold bile of terror rising in his throat.

After his heart ceased its pounding, once again Lynn began to climb in panic. He began to wonder what he would do after scaling the statue to the top, where the four-footed beast would be unable to pursue. The beast could just stay at the bottom and wait for him to come down.

Still thinking frantically, he felt with his fingers to find a handhold above his head. At last he found a grip, and he quickly pulled himself upward. Now came another squeal from the darkness, this time deep and heavy. It rumbled off the tunnel and echoed through the silence with a deadly resonance.

The creature inched out of the darkness, closer to the brighter area of the tunnel, towards the statue. Lynn nearly lost his consciousness, his opened mouth wider than the abyssal gates. A rat? As big as a bull? He imagined the pungent breath of the creature on his face. No need for it to use its razor-sharp teeth on him, it could simply swallow him whole.

It seemed to suck Lynn's very spirit away from him. For a second, Lynn felt his knees grow weak and he began to slide towards the ground, but as quickly as it began, the impulse passed and he held firm again. But he didn't want to die.

Already locked on to Lynn with its two large red eyes, the giant rat inched ever closer. When the rat saw her climbing frantically, trying to escape, it went on the attack. 

The rat hadn't gone more than few feet when it stepped on one of the deadly traps that jawed Lynn. He had just walked past the traps without him knowing. He could have been killed, no, incinerated by lightning. Red lightning? He would have become ashes.

Yet he had managed to avoid the traps. That gave him some confidence as he watched the lightning struck.

Two massive red bolts of brilliant energy rent the darkness asunder. Each sizzled hotly as it struck the rat by the side of the neck. Red bolts of lightning began raining down on the spot where the trap was triggered, cutting off the rat's escape. Seeing no way out, the rat threw caution to the wind and went for Lynn who was trying to remove his hidden dagger.

When it was about to reach the boy, another two searing red bolts of lightning hit the rat again on the neck and head, piercing it through. The momentum of the rat carried it into the giant statue, knocking off Lynn who had been clinging to the ridge of the statue's shoulder blade.

He landed on the head of the rat who was still struggling with traces of life. His dagger buried in the head of the giant rat. He hung on to its head for his dear life as it slowly bled to death and stopped moving.

As he was about to slide down, he noticed a radiant yellow crystal inside the head of the rat, where the lightning had created a sizable hole. An essence crystal. The money from it would go a long way in helping his family. Hanging at an awkward angle, he managed to remove the crystal before hitting the floor hard.

Another set of lightning bolts crackled around the chamber, ricocheting wildly off the stone walls. A hot bolt passed inches from Lynn's face, making him recoil, before hitting the carcass of the dead rat.

After a few terrifying seconds, the lightning bolts burned themselves out in hisses of sulfur. Lynn blinked, but all he could see were red afterimages. The lightning had temporarily distorted his vision. At last, the shapes of the area and the massive doors came back into focus. He was so close. He could make it.

So, with renewed determination, he started climbing the statue once more. Clinging to the statue's back, Lynn narrowly ducked one of the jagged arcs of energy as it crackled past.

A minute later, two red bolts struck again. Lynn swallowed hard and grimaced. If it wasn't for the devil's rat, he could have made it to the opening above already. And now, things did not look good with the lightning bolts. If one hit him, he would be dead, instantly.

As he climbed closer to the edge of the statue, he began to see a problem with the latch of the wall. They were smaller than he would be able to turn. Assuming he could make it to the opening without being struck by the magical lightning, he would be stuck at the top of the statue when he would only have seconds to leave the area.

However, if he could not climb up the latch in time, he would be standing directly in the path of the lightning from the other side. As if confirming his fears once more, searing bolts of magic bounced around the cavern, hitting the statue before vanishing. Deep in thoughts, Lynn's hand hit something on the neck of the statue which made him winced in pain.

Still nursing the pain, he was nearly thrown off the statue as the statue moved. It extended its hand over the latch on the cavern wall. Without wasting time, Lynn began to scramble up the extended hand of the statue in a frenzy. As soon as he made it up, the statue started to move away from the wall. Without thinking, he moved and jumped for the opening.