Alright, at this point I'm starting to believe I might actually be dead.
This trail has no end at all. It's like a never-ending tunnel filled with skulls to the brim, and I haven't stepped on solid ground since I started moving. Trust me, it's been about four hours or more at this point, maybe longer—I've lost track.
Just how many people died in here anyway?
I know they're human because the skulls I've felt are humanoid, plus there's the fact that I've stepped on numerous ribcages and spinal cords scattered throughout this place. All of it indicates these were nothing other than humans. So just how many people died down here? A few hundred? A few thousand? More?
I sighed heavily. I need out. NOW.
But this endless walking is getting me nowhere, and the worst part of all this is the darkness. I don't even know when I'll walk directly into a trap at this point because I'm completely blind in here.
Wait. Could that be it? Could it be I've lost my sight?
I mean, I learned back when I was Jake that blindness often entails a blankness in vision that isn't exactly black. This darkness I'm experiencing isn't exactly black either—it's something else, something harder to describe. Could this be it? Could I have actually gone blind?
"There's no freaking way, right? It's not possible, right?" At this point I was starting to question myself, my voice echoing slightly in whatever space surrounded me.
I was yet to confirm if I was dead, but I had this nagging feeling deep in my gut that I'm still alive. There was no way a dream could feel this real either—the physical sensation of bones crunching under my feet, the musty smell in the air, the exhaustion in my legs. So this is definitely not a dream.
So why then haven't I caught even a speck of light from the moment I woke up? Even a cave should have spots where light peaks through cracks or openings, so why is it absolute darkness on my end?
It's true, isn't it? I'm blind.
Goddamn it—
"Huh?"
Just as I was about to lose all hope, the whole place suddenly lit up.
Wait, what just happened?
I looked around quickly, my eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness. A cave. Solid stone walls stretched in every direction, and embedded throughout them were what appeared to be glowing blue luminous stones lining the surfaces.
"So it really was a cave, huh," I muttered while taking in my surroundings properly for the first time.
Light. Actual light.
"Haah," I exhaled in relief, feeling tension drain from my shoulders. I'm not blind after all. That's good. That's really good.
"But why is it only glowing now?" I asked aloud, looking around at the stones with growing confusion.
And damn, that's a LOT of bones. With every glance I caught skulls, ribs, and bones of all sorts scattered about in massive piles that covered nearly every surface. Just where IS this place?
Anyway, at least one problem is solved. Now I just have to find a way out of here.
I took a step forward, but then a thought struck me that made me pause mid-stride. What if the stones only glowed because I had reached this specific spot?
"Hmm," I frowned in contemplation, then decided to test that theory out.
I took a step back deliberately.
"What?"
It went dark. Immediately. Like someone flipped a switch and plunged me back into that suffocating darkness.
No way.
I took a step forward again, and just as before, the rocks glowed to life around me, bathing everything in that eerie blue light. I was right after all—this has to do with my position, with arriving at certain points in the cave.
I walked forward once more to test it further, and nothing unusual happened this time. The lights stayed on as I moved deeper.
Hmm. Well, thinking too much about the mechanics won't solve anything. Let's just see what's going on further up.
With that decision made, I began going deeper into the cave, walking further and further into its depths. But no matter how far I went, I couldn't find an exit or any kind of opening. In fact, it started to feel like I was stuck in some sort of loop with how the scenery didn't seem to change at all—just more bones, more glowing stones, more endless tunnel.
"Haah, damn it, where am I even headed?" I looked back toward the distance where my gaze couldn't quite reach, and all I could see was a path littered with fossils stretching behind me. There was nothing remarkable in this damned place except for those luminous rocks embedded in the walls.
Haah.
I kicked a skull in frustration, and it flew straight toward the wall with surprising force.
BAM!
The sound echoed through the cave, and I froze.
Wait a second.
"That wasn't here at first," I mused aloud, walking carefully toward what appeared to be the only COMPLETE skeleton I had seen since the stones started glowing.
It was positioned just beside the wall where the skull I kicked had crashed, leaning against the stone surface with its skull tilted up toward the ceiling of the cave as if it had died while staring at something above.
"What do we have here?" I squatted down to inspect it more closely, examining the bones with careful attention.
Everything was dry and aged pretty badly—I couldn't even give a rough guess of how long these bones had been sitting here undisturbed. Could be decades. Could be centuries for all I knew.
"Wait, what's that?" My eyes caught onto something clutched in the skeleton's bony fingers.
I looked at the skeleton carefully, half-expecting it to suddenly animate like some horror story. It's not going to move, right? RIGHT?
Haah. Whatever. I'm overthinking this.
With that reassurance, I pried its fingers open carefully, and just then something fell out and clinked against the stone floor.
"A diamond?" I picked it up and examined it in the blue light.
It was shaped like a diamond, but it seemed to be glowing with its own internal light—a deep golden glow that pulsed faintly. I glanced back at the skeleton just to be safe, checking for any movement.
Nothing. Good.
With that concern handled, I focused back on the strange stone in my hand. I inspected it thoroughly from every angle, turning it over and holding it up to the light. It was warm to the touch, and somewhat heavy too for its size.
"Hmm," I murmured while continuing my examination, but it just looked fairly ordinary if you ignored the golden glow radiating from within. Not finding anything particularly special about it beyond that, I just held onto it and continued on my way, slipping it into my pocket for safekeeping.
I walked and walked and walked and walked, my footsteps echoing endlessly through the tunnel.
Still the same scene. Still the same bones. Still the same glowing stones.
This is getting OLD. Doesn't this cave lead SOMEWHERE? Isn't there an exit or an end or SOMETHING?
"I'm getting hungry too," I thought with growing discomfort, my stomach reminding me that I hadn't eaten in who knows how long.
But then up ahead, I spotted something different. Something that wasn't just bones and stone.
Is that a person?
With that thought, I found myself running through the pile of bones without thinking, my feet pounding through the scattered remains as fast as my legs could carry me. I stumbled over larger bones but quickly recovered my balance, and with time and effort, there I stood—standing right in front of a person who had their face down against the ground.
They were bloodied. Torn all over. Their clothes were shredded and their exposed skin showed deep gashes and wounds.
I grabbed the figure by the hair and then tilted their face up toward the light so I could see who it was.
Wait.
I must be seeing things, because WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS?!
"Me?" The word came out as barely a whisper as I stared at my own face looking back at me, lifeless and broken.