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A Deer's Journey - Chapter 5

Published at 3rd of February 2019 07:44:07 PM


Chapter 5

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Trying to reorientate himself from the dizzying journey, Deer could only keep silent as he was dragged much more slowly across the floor. They say some blessings come in disguise and it was hard to see whether it was true in this case.

At least his 'brother' didn't seem to be suffering worse from wear. Its simple but surface area and size does make a difference especially in strange situations like this, but who would have thought he be thankful so quickly!

Time seemed to trickle like sand in a hourglass. Deer could feel the sudden movement as he was tugged into the air and pulled up only to be fastened next to a sharp rock on the wall. Stalacities, that's what they were.

Cone shaped and jagged teeth that seemed to signify an ominous ending. He could only shudder as he could not stop thinking about how his end might come.

Trying to think about what went wrong, he couldn't help but curse his luck. Who knew what first started this. Little did Deer know this was only the beginning.

Back on Earth a pandemic was broadcasted across all tv networks across the globe, many highlighting a sudden booming cases of disappearances, many of those at home and some at work, or even more bizarre while walking in the park with their family on a phone.

It escalated so fast that a new grade of warning was issued across all the countries affected, strangely it was mostly those from developed countries like Germany, Brazil, Sweden, China and the USA. The sudden surge was like an epidemic; although cases of disappearances reported from developing countries remained low, this did not mean it didn't happen, these were just less reported because of the lack of convenient technology like consistent phone networks and internet access in these places.

With the outburst of disappearances, governments and scientists were called into question. The spark that ignited the flame had come, an internet user hoping to get more answers on their partner's disappearance uploaded a copy of their home cctv footage.

Strangely enough, it didn't seem like there was an abduction, it looked like an normal day, well even before the parts leading up to it, slight moaning could be heard in the background of the screen. But all of a sudden a strange shadow seemed to come out at the corner of the room and then nothing, a guy had disappeared just like that.

Meanwhile while all this was happening Deer was still struggling to see if he could escape. Maybe it was his luck but not long after the spider had brought him here, it had disappeared again. He could feel movement slowly returning back to his body.

A slow throbbing feeling as his blood found it difficult to circulate the blood while being tightly bound. He could move but only just, one hand more than the other.

Although at this point he couldn't see anything. It was still pitch black, especially deeper inside the cave. Still, anything was better than staying here and waiting to die. He could feel that he was wrapped against a jagged portion of the sharp stalactite in the cave. The jagged rock hanging down like a tooth of a monster.

Without further ado he began to brace his body in a back in forth position as he tried to use his weight and what little movement he had to try and rip the sticky bindings across his body.

Time slowly passed, it felt like he was living on a dangerous knife edge. Not sure how long, but he finally managed to get a response as some of his bindings began to loosen; although he could tell he was bleeding, his body was covered in sweat and blood which gave out a strong smell.

There was no time. Any moment and the spider could come back, he knew he needed to be fast: there was no second chance. Who knew what kind of monster would appear drawn by the smell of his blood or whether the Cave Spider would come back in the next moment.

It must have been luck because nothing seemed to be approaching even after a long while of him struggling against the webbing on his body. A sudden numbing sensation in the pit of his stomach as he fell, the hard fall to floor almost winded him. The most serious injury was the severe cramping of his whole body as he began to regain control of it as he lay panting on the floor.

Gritting his teeth, and removing the final webbing from his face, failing a few times because of how slippery his whole body had become slick with sweat and blood, his eyes were caught by a glowing object that seemed to shine in the dark.

Moving closer his hands began to clench together as he finally grasped the item in his hands. A new notification appeared in his head: 'you've obtained Fergus' coin, Luck will be permanently increased by two'.

Quickly checking his status in his head, Deer could see there was a new stat added.

<<Deer>>

Lvl 1

Race: ??

Stamina 6

Strength 4

Agility 4

Wisdom 7

Intelligence 5

Charm 1 (-1)

Luck 9

Talents

[Heart of the Pure]

Skills

-

Compared to his other stats it seemed a bit overpowered. 'But why hadn't it appeared before?'

Stopping himself from wasting more time he quickly stored the coin in one of his pockets, one hand fumbling against the wall as he followed it along with his hand, rushing ahead.

There was no time to stay still. Some time passed, as he carried out this process, eventually leading him into a small network where there seemed to be a lot of tunnels heading either deeper into the cave or leading to somewhere new or back out. Except the darkness was still the same, although his eyes had adjusted slightly he still could not see.

Fear of the Cave Spider coming back or encountering another danger, he did not have time to make another logical decision, Deer could only follow his feelings as he hurriedly trudged ahead while ignoring the numerous bumps and scrapes across his body.

He had an urgent feeling he needed to keep moving fast before all else, even though most of the wounds on his body had become drier, he was sure the smell of blood from his body radiated like a beacon for any monster in this cave.

It was unknown how long he walked for but eventually he could see the surroundings lighting up slightly as light began to stream towards him. A few moments later he could not help but cry as he saw a small underground lake, with a small opening in the roof where a patch of the sky could be seen.

Caution stopped him in his tracks as he blinked his heavy eyelids drained by the sudden escape from the maws of death.

Cautiously looking around he made sure he was alone before all else, after all it makes sense where there is water there must also be living things. Carefully making sure the coast was clear he slowly approached the pool of water.

It had seemed quite big at first but on closer sight, the lake was more like a pool. His mind had been playing tricks on him. Fumbling around at the floor under his feet, he rummaged for some small sharp stones that he could throw to test out the waters.

"Plop" the sudden drop of a stone in the surface of the water echoed dangerously. Waiting for his heartbeat to calm down he could only help but stare again and again, one, three, fifteen, counting till sixty it seemed nothing appeared to be rushing out.

More relaxed he began to edge towards to pool and submerged himself in the water, quickly washing away the tiredness on his body, making care to rinse out some of the blood matting his clothes and hair.

Wetting his mouth, he was not sure if the water was drinkable but there didn't seem to be any reaction even after a long time. Recalling an article of a magazine he had read before, he decided to check whether there was any dripping water from a nearby stone, perhaps the cave was heated underground but the water wasn't very cold.

Spying a possible source of drinking water, he quickly approached it and lowered his mouth underneath it as he waited drop by drop for the water to drip into his mouth. Dripping water from a stone seemed to be safer as it was filtered through the stones, compared to what else lay in the bottom of the pool Deer wasn't keen to find out. He was only near the edge after all.

Slightly feeling better he began to sit down as he took out the coin from his pocket to inspect. As he did so he noticed there was a small description appearing in his head.

<<Fergus' coin>>

' The coin of a leprechaun who met with an unfortunate end'




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