Fragments

by ShadowDusk

Chapter Two - Somewhere Else

James awoke to find himself lying on a cold stone floor. He sat up, trying to comprehend what had happened. He had reached to touch the orb, but suddenly his body just completely shut down. Feeling around, he found the lantern that he had been carrying. He pulled out the box of matches he found earlier, and managed to get the lamp glowing again. Once he had light, James got a good look around. He was no longer in the mining tunnel, but instead in a small cavern. There was only one exit, which was a doorway cut into the rock that appeared to follow a dark hallway. James became confused; he had been in a mining tunnel with dirt on the ground, and now he was in a cavern. How had he gotten from there to here? It made no sense. After not seeing any other way out, James walked down the shadowy hall, the lamp lighting his way.
After only a few minutes, James finally came to a larger area with a stone staircase leading down to another section of the cavern. Around the corner at the stair’s base, there was light shining.
“Yes!” James said aloud, relieved that he was finally able to get out. He rushed down the stairs in excitement, though he made sure he didn’t drop the lantern. He got down the stairs and turned the corner, but his heart quickly sank. Instead of seeing the sun, he saw rows upon rows of gleaming, multicolored gems. They looked like people standing at pews in a church. Among the gems was a particularly tall gem spike that gave a red glow. But the light from the beautiful crystals showed a scene of horror upon the cavern floor.
Three men were laying about the ground, each one preserved from decomposition by the cave’s lack of weather. There were dark splotches that stained the floor; James knew they were from blood. Each body was wearing typical miner’s working clothes. One body lay thrown upon a wall made of large, piled rocks. A pickaxe, stained dark, was embedded in his back. A second body sat in a corner opposite of the first corpse, his arms wrapped around his knees and his head in his arms. The third and final body sat against the farther cave wall, facing the crystals. His legs stuck straight out, and his arms were folded across a journal. His head was leaned back, showing his dark, eyeless sockets.
James stood there, viewing the whole scene. A single question ran through his mind: What happened? James looked at the third miner with the journal. Perhaps he had written something in it that would explain what had gone on. James crouched down next to the mummified corpse, slowly reaching to take the old journal. He grabbed and pulled gently, but the miner literally had a death grip on the book. James cringed as a few fingers snapped off, clattering to the floor. Standing up, James flipped through the yellowed pages, which were mostly filled with daily logs of mining process. He kept flipping until he found a page of text that was scrawled with a shaky hand: the third miner’s final entry.

It has been a week since the orb brought us here. In the past three days, everyone died. Everyone except me. Joe was the first, being as old as he was. The stress of our doom had been too much for his old heart. A day later was when we began to get hungry. We gave in to the hunger and soon disposed of Joe’s body. It was horrible and vile, but what were we to do? We still thought we could be saved. We were wrong.
As we put Joe’s bones in a corner of the cave, Grindel snapped, not able to take it anymore. He began screaming for help, pulling at the walls. He clawed and scratched, even as his fingers became stained crimson. The sounds were unbearable. So unbearable, that Patrick, Grindel’s brother, killed him with his own pickaxe. I knew it was an act of mercy, a way to end Grindel’s suffering, but Patrick was distraught. He even cried himself to sleep. When I woke this morning, I found he had died in his sleep, peacefully. Now I am alone, with only the wonderful light from these gems to comfort me. But even that is not much comfort.
I wrote this in hopes to explain what happened if we are ever found. But if you have been brought here by that damned orb, all is lost for you. There is no way out of here. The rock pile cannot be moved or broken. There is no other exit in the first room. Pray you die peacefully, and not in the madness that consumed Grindel.

May God have mercy on your soul.
Jeremiah Adams

When James finished the letter, he threw the journal away in an anger. All of that walking only to die here, alone, just like Jeremiah! James buried his face in his hands, not knowing what else to do. This was going to be his tomb. Nobody would ever find him.

“Click-clank!”

James looked up, startled by the oddly mechanical noise. He saw that the journal he threw had hit the tall red crystal, and the crystal, in turn, had tilted to the left. There was a cracking sound, and James turned to see a small square of ground by the rock wall crumble and fall away. From the hole rose a three-legged stone stand, designed to look like a gnarled tree. Nested in the stone tree’s branches was a large, beautiful white stone. It was perfectly spherical, and appeared to be well polished. The stone gave off some light of its own, as if there were a sort of power hidden inside. James walked over to the stone ball, wondering why a hidden crystal lever would access this strange object. On closer inspection, he saw something that was inscribed in the stone trunk.

He immediately recognized the language as simple Latin. It had been the easiest language he learned in high school, so translating the message was easy. It read:

James thought about the phrase, a bit surprised that the translation rhymed. Thinking about "the magic word"...well, there was only one, really. Placing his hand on the stone, he said in a loud voice “Please!” When nothing happened, he thought about the message again. It was clearly Latin, so why hadn't it worked? What if “please” wasn’t the word? James began to worry he would never make it out of this cave. Suddenly, James had a thought. Wouldn’t the person who wrote the message in Latin intend for the answer to also be in Latin? James, realizing his mistake, chuckled half-heartedly.
I really shouldn’t scare myself like that... James thought as he put his hand on the stone again. With confidence, he said “Praesent!” in a loud voice. The cave began to tremble, and there was a rumbling from the rock wall. Rocks began to fall away, allowing beams of sunlight to shine inwards. As the light hit his face, James covered his eyes. Being in the cave for so long meant instant sunlight would hurt his eyes. He slowly uncovered his eyes, allowing his vision to adjust. He was happy to see that he was back in the forest, but quickly realized this wasn’t the forest on the mountain he had left. The trees were gnarly, their branches twisted and jagged, reaching out like hands. The forest, in general, looked sinister, as if waiting for any unsure traveler to enter and never escape. But James didn’t care; he was free from the cave. He went into the cave again, however, to gather supplies from the dead miners. Though he felt bad about desecrating the deceased, James needed anything he could use until he found the nearest town. While searching the last miner, Jeremiah, James found a small yet heavy bag. Inside, to his amazement, was a gold nugget. Hoping it might be useful later, James put the small bag into his pocket. As he began to head out, he looked back at the glowing stone. At just a spoken word, it opened an impenetrable rock wall. Something like that had to be important.
James felt the stone, checking to see if it was attached at all. When he found it wasn’t, he lifted it from the stone tree’s branches. The cave began to tremble again, but this time the ceiling was falling apart. Still carrying the white stone, James ran out of the cavern just as the whole place collapsed, burying the miners and the rows of gems. James stood there, partially mad at his thought of taking the stone in the first place. Looking up at the sky, he saw that the clouds were turning purple as the sky first went orange, then became darker. Night was falling, and James had no shelter. He didn’t know the area, but he figured it was safest by the cave. Making himself as comfortable as possible on the ground, James lay down, trying to go to sleep. Strange noises from unseen creatures could be heard every now and then, keeping James awake. Finally, after an hour of lying awake, James fell asleep, moonlight shining down upon him.
James awoke the next morning to the smell of...eggs? James sat up to find a man in a cowboy and a western-style duster jacket and jeans crouched down by a little fire, just 5 feet away from James. He glanced up from the eggs cooking on the hot stone, looking over to James.
“Well, good mornin’ sleepin’ beauty,” he said with a thick Texas/country accent. “How are yah feelin’? Name’s Sam, by the way.” James then noticed the old rag he had wrapped around his head had been replaced with a bandana.
“How did you find me here?” James asked, realizing he really didn’t know who this person was, nor why he was out here.
“I’ll explain once we get a-movin’, but we need to find you a doctor fast.” replied Sam, who had begun gathering a few items on the ground. ”You’re bleedin’ like a stuck pig on your head. I’m surprised you lived through the night.”
Once the two had everything together, they ate the eggs Sam had cooked. James thought they tasted a bit funny; his guess was they weren’t chicken eggs. After finishing, James realized he didn’t know where they were even going, nonetheless where they were. When he asked, Sam pointed to a small wisp of smoke just above the trees.
“I’m not too sure where we are,” he said with a shrug, “but I figure that if we head towards that smoke, we’ll find someone who can tell us where we are, and where we can find somebody to patch you up.”
They walked through the tangled forest for hours, not even following a clear path. They didn’t see any animals, but strange sounds were heard everywhere. James had to stop a couple times to get his clothes uncaught from thorny vines and twisted branches. Soon, they came upon a hut made in an old tree. Masks adorned the outside, and strange bottles hung from the branches.
“Well, looks like someone is home. I’ll go talk to them, find out where the nearest town is." said Sam. He motioned James over to a nearby tree root, sitting him down. “You know, I never asked for yer name. Mind tellin’?”
“James.”
“Well, James,” Sam continued, “you just sit there for a spell, and I’ll get some directions.” Sam walked around to the hut’s door, looking into the windows for any signs of life. When he saw none, he knocked on the door.
“Just a moment, I’ll be there soon!” called a voice. Sam heard noises that sounded like footsteps, but the pace was not right. Maybe there was more than one person?The door opened, revealing a zebra standing behind it.
“Now, how can Madame Zecora help you-” the zebra began to ask, then suddenly froze and stared with its mouth agape. Sam, just as bewildered, did the same. The two stood at the doorway, just staring at one another. Finally, the zebra gave a nervous smile, at which Sam passed out.