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He pauses. “Well, you’ll see when we get there.”
For countless miles, we’ve been moving across the cliffs overlooking the ocean, staring down at rushing rapids. I could fall asleep just watching the scenery, taking in the foam that sprays up onto the stony beaches and the birds that coast calmly through the skies.
I feel a raindrop on my shoulder, and immediately, I’m taken back to that day. It feels like a lifetime long ago. I remember the stormy skies overhead as I looked upon the faces of those four savage elves.
I coil back, expecting to be upset by the thought, but it almost doesn’t feel like my life anymore.
The sky is grizzled and dark, a faint line of sunlight poking out from among the clouds and casting an undulating line of white across the ocean.
We travel slightly southeast, and I see a large mound jutting out of the ground ahead. From where I’m looking, its edges appear rounded and harsh. We approach, and I can see how the mounds seem to encircle a deep and empty area.
I realize immediately that we’re standing beside a large crater, covered in fog. Its contents are entirely obscured to me. Zkovia struggles up the mound, placing his walking stick about two feet up for guidance before using it to lift himself.
“Mind your step now,” Zkovia says.
Zephiro steps up with little difficulty, offering his hand. He hoists me up, and I get a better glimpse of the ravaged landscape.
“What happened here?” I ask, looking at the crater before me.
“Nobody’s really sure. Some say dragons breathed fire down, and it melted the world. Some say it was the work of gods.”
Zkovia lowers himself, stepping downward along a long, spiraling shelf that seems to lead into a cavern along the crater’s edge.
“This is the way down,” Zkovia says. “Follow me carefully.”
I hate to think of the fall down should I trip. I don’t know how deep this crater goes, but I can only guess hundreds or thousands of feet.
I reach the point where I can see into the cavern, following Zkovia in, and I’m almost overwhelmed. I expect the cavern to be incredibly dark, but all along the walls are a series of crystals that seem to emanate their own light, in every neon hue imaginable. As I turn my head away from the sight, looking out at the lone, grasping tree overhanging the crater behind me, it’s almost burnt into my retinas.
Somewhere nearby, water drips. The chirops flap wildly overhead, their thin, skeletal forms casting shadows against the ceiling, illuminated by the crystals below.
We’re led down a series of natural ramps, and the more we travel, the hotter it seems to get. All along the walls are snaking tunnels that lead to unknown destinations.
“They say you can travel across oceans through these caves,” Zephiro says. “I’ve never done it myself because everything I’ve ever wanted is right here. But it’s still fun to think about.”
“Do the elves ever come through here?” I ask. “I feel like such a large landmark might be hard to miss.”
He shakes his head.
“The elves don’t care. The crystals have no value, and there are far less dangerous ways to travel.”
He thinks for a second before continuing. “Plus, they really don’t seem to like to travel underground for some reason.”
I nod in response.
We reach a point where the caverns all seem to converge, and I’m suddenly confused. It seems like there’s a natural light source coming from outside this cavern, though I know it’s impossible. I remember stormy skies overhead.
But as Zkovia leads us out of one central tunnel, I realize that it wasn’t my imagination. There’s a light source overhead, almost unidentifiable, that shines on us like the sun. The world beyond the fog, above the crater, might as well not exist down here.
Before us stands a picturesque meadow with creatures that seem almost too strange for Protheka and flora I’ve never seen above. The trees are different from any I’ve ever seen before, their thin trunks leading to spindly leaves that spin out from the tops. Strange red fruit dangles from the leaves.
“What is this place?” I ask, suddenly overwhelmed.
“That’s most people’s first reaction,” Zkovia says, chuckling. “Our people consider it the cradle that birthed us, many eons ago.”
He leads us toward a large rock platform that seems to have been chiseled out of the ground and used for ceremonial purposes, then stands us on it, moving us into place facing away from each other.
There are mounds of rock all around us, forming lines and pieces of walls. I realize that this must have been a temple a long time ago.
