The Thorn Chaise

Chapter 5

The cave is emptier than I expected it to be. The entrance leads to a long hallway full of nothing. The walls are harsh to the touch. The darkness inside the cave isn’t anything similar to the darkness I’ve grown accustomed to. This one is raw, almost painful. My heartbeat quickens as my eyes meet the obscurity of the grotto. Lucas pulls out a match and lights it using the cavern’s walls. In turn, he lights a lamp with it.

            The blankness dissipates. Now that I see better, I notice the cave is not empty at all. It’s full of little flowers scattered around every surface. Lilies, roses, peonies, and daffodils surround me. They’re all conspicuously smaller than they’re supposed to be, and they look like they’re hanging on for their dear life. Their stems catch my eyes; they’re all tawny brown. There’s no tint of vibrance in their hue. I must admit I feel bad for the poor flora of this place.

            “I thought they were supposed to be moving.” I turn to Lucas, who seems focused on the lamp.

            “They should be…” He leans closer to a withered daffodil, examining it with his typical gentleness. “I didn’t expect the Twelvemonth Blossom to be so… powerful this time of the year. That’s not good.”

            He takes my hand and leads me down the hallway. We reach a point where the main path divides itself into two. Lucas stops for a while, then chooses the trail where vegetation lessens.

            A putrid smell infects my nostrils despite the fact there are no flowers that could emit this odor close to us. The flora abated long ago. I turn to Lucas for answers, yet he doesn’t seem affected in the slightest. The smell grows stronger and stronger until we are greeted by a large opening in the cave walls. Lucas takes the first steps, still holding onto my hand, and I follow. Inside the opening, there are large, healthy-looking flowers, colored green and bright yellow. Their bodies are long and upright, surrounded at the midpoint by something that looks like an upside-down violet tutu. Their stems are thick and lively, the complete opposite of the flowers outside this room. In the middle of the tutu, there sits a thick, sharp rod whose size is more significant than my entire body. I’ve never seen something like that before.

            “What is that thing?” I ask him, clinging onto his arm.

            “That’s what we call a Corpse Flower. They emit a rotting flesh-like smell that is meant to repel non-Plantae visitors, but we won’t let that stop up, will we, Macie?”

            “No, we won’t!” I smile at Lucas.

            We make our way through the pungent smell. Lucas slashes through the Corpse Flowers in order to create a path for us. I cover my nose with my hands. Every laceration leaves a flower dead, and a new path open.

            We exit the opening into another hallway. This time, the plants crawling the walls seem more energetic, more alive. The vines surrounding the place take on a greener form. A glint of light coming from ahead catches my eye. I let go of Lucas’ hand and run towards it. Another opening reveals itself. I take the lead, crawling through it with excitement. There is no roof in this room. An immense aperture in the ceiling leaves the moon exposed. The light of the celestial body travels all the way to my body, touching my skin with a holy tenderness. The entire space is illuminated by the crescent, so much so that we don’t need a lamp here. I take a second to look around, only to notice a beautiful swarm of flowers decorating the place. They’re all colored like chocolate, with petals as soft as silk. The pistils are layered, full of tiny flowers that have not yet developed. The stalk is an animated green.

            “Don’t run off like that! You scared me, Macie!” Lucas shouts from the distance, only no crawling through the opening. He approaches me and pats me on the head more aggressively than usual as if to scold me. “I see you found the Chocolate Cosmos room.”

            “Is this what they’re called?”  I point to the beautifully pigmented flowers.

            “Yep, that’s the name they were given.”

            “By who?”

            “Who remembers?” Lucas laughs. “Who even remembers yesterday? Humans aren’t made for long-term memories, just enjoy the present!”

            His response unsettles me, yet I cannot tell why. Instead of thinking about it, I turn my attention to the opposite side of the room, where another fissure sits. I take Lucas’ hand and head towards it.

            Inside, I find an assemblage of hanging flowers, all glowing turquoise. The flowers are large, enough to almost reach the floor, and their crescent petals point upwards. The stalk is bound to the ceiling, so far away I can’t even see where it starts. There are so many of them, that I can’t see ahead.

            “These are Jade Vines. Their presence means we’re approaching the Twelvemonth Blossom. Come.” He begins carelessly slashing through the vines as he takes my hand and leads me down a long antechamber. The typical darkness I got accustomed to dissipates, instead being replaced by a mysterious glow coming from above. Lucas instructs me to climb on his back and hold tight. I do as I’m told, and he begins climbing the rough wall barehanded.

            “We’re…almost there, Macie!” He shouts in a victorious tone as his hands brush on the rocky surface. He doesn’t seem affected by the pain that surely engulfs him. Part of me wants to think he’s just putting up a front for me, but I’m beginning to think Lucas might be something far above human.

            Now that I’m closer to the ceiling, I can see a small hole in the wall where light meets darkness. We crawl through it, though Lucas seems to struggle to get in. The cleft is elongated enough that it takes well over a minute to reach its’ end. The light keeps getting more and more robust until a sun-like brightness announces the ending of the tunnel. I barely have time to exit it as my ears are assaulted by a horrid screech. There it is.

            Far away from me is the Twelvemonth Blossom. The mighty Cave Queen stands in the center of the chamber that is otherwise devoid of life.

             The Twelvemonth Blossom is about 60 feet tall and bears blade-like petals that are bigger than me in size. They look like they’re made from rusty metal. The pistil looks like it’s made from refined glass, like a gem. From it emanates a strange glow that lights the entire room. The stem is fleshy, almost like a human ligament, and its’ girth far surpasses Lucas’ body. At the root, the Cave Queen is encircled by rotten flowers. The root itself is visible. Veiny.

            Upon noticing me, the “flower” lunges itself at me, but it cannot reach me. Brimming with desperation, the blossom scrapes the ground before me, trying to cause harm. Lucas exits the tunnel and shields me with his body.

            “Stay here.” He yells.

            Admittedly, I am annoyed. Lucas promised me I would play a role in the defeat of the great Cave Queen, yet I’m being tossed aside on the account that the flowers I was supposed to distract mysteriously died. Instead, I am rendered to helplessly watch Lucas approach the beast.

            He gets close enough that it could touch it before the Cave Queen can react. Once it notices him, the creature tries to hit it with its’ corolla, but Lucas swiftly dodges the attack. Lucas moves to the right side of the thing where he slashes one of the “veins” on the root with a bowie knife. The Twelvemonth Blossom shakes in pain and lunges towards him, where it lands a hit. Lucas is thrown back like a handkerchief in the wind until he reaches the ground, where he tumbles for a few seconds. He manages to regain his balance and stands up. He runs in the direction of the beast, taunting it. Several blades charge toward him, seeking his blood, yet he effortlessly dodges them. A haunting mark is left on the ground where the blades slashed. He lands another hit on the exposed root of the creature, and blood, or whatever that substance is, begins to spill.

            Disgusted, I take two steps back. My attention is fully accorded to the spillage of red. Then the worst thing happens. A blade slashes through Lucas’ right shoulder. He grunts in pain and falls to the ground. Before the Cave Queen can land the final blow, I yell at the top of my lungs in an attempt to grab its’ attention. It works. It turns its’ pistil towards me. A set of sharp blades throw themselves towards me, but I manage to escape them, though not unscathed. One of them strikes my calf. I ignore the pain, focusing instead on climbing the stem of the beast. The Twelvemonth Blossom cannot bend its’ blades to hit me while I’m hiding on the stalk.

            “Macie!” Lucas yells in horror when he detects what I’m trying to do.

            “Throw me a knife!” I scream as the creature tries to shake me off. I almost fall, but my tiny hands are digging into the stem with all their might.

            Lucas hesitantly raises his left hand to my level, holding a bowie knife. I grab it and continue my escalation. By now, the Cave Queen is hysteric. It’s shaking in all directions, desperate to shake off the “parasite” climbing its’ heels. The corolla is swinging urgently, hoping to hit anything it can reach. Lucas begins running around the veins, kicking, and pulling, in an attempt to distract the creature. His method works, for the beast stops its’ trembling and focuses its’ blades on the man. The petals miss Lucas once. Twice. Thrice. A trail of Lucas’ blood dripping from his shoulder starts forming around the root. I reach the top of the stem, close enough to stain the blades with my breath. I use my feet to balance myself on the top of the stalk and I raise the hand holding the bowie knife.

            A piercing sound erupts. The sound of shattering glass accompanied by a silent scream explodes throughout the cave. The pistil breaks under my knife. Glass falls everywhere, from the center to the depths of the chamber. It collapses suddenly, and I’m forced to jump down a considerable height in order to avoid being trapped under the creature. Luckily, Lucas is there to catch me. He holds me in his arms for a second, then he hugs me tightly. Only now do I realize I am covered in glass. As is he.

            “Ouch…” I mutter.

            “We need to get out of here before…” The sound of rocks falling interrupts him. He runs towards the now-dead Twelvemonth Blossom with his backpack. He takes vials out and collects several ounces of blood from the root. With that done, he puts his bag away and takes my hand, leading me out of the chamber. Behind us, the creature’s corpse is enveloped by falling rocks. We run through the Jade Vine room, where all the flowers have been cut off. The only thing that remains of the space is the floor made out of Plantae corpses. The putrid smell returns. We’re greeted by Corpse Flowers, now collapsed as well.  Everything falls to the ground as we run towards the exit.

            Lucas and I exit the cave. Behind us, the entrance collapses, along with most of the grotto. Lucas checks his bag, where the vials of blood lay. Ecstatic, he smiles and falls to the ground.

            “We made it, Macie! We made it!” he shouts victoriously.