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“Yes,” I admit. “But I feel like I’m dreaming. I should be waking up in the farm.”
“You’ve been spared that fate,” he murmurs, reaching for me to draw me into his molten embrace. “You have a long life ahead of you being mine.”
“In this cave?”
It is large for a cave, but it is small for a world. I feel a growing claustrophobia that makes me sink down into the bedding and close my eyes against the walls and ceiling that seem to be caving in on me with every breath I take.
“Not just in this cave, no. Today you will see the world into which you have been initiated. There are endless tunnels and passages, caves and ravines, Aspel. You must never go out without me. Humans have become lost and wandered until they died. You do not have the mind of a subterranean being.”
He throws back the covers and rises from the bed, his powerful body the only source of light. As he moves, so too does this dark world.
“Come, Aspel. It is time for you to eat.”
I follow after him, wanting clothes, but knowing I am not going to be given any. There is very little seen in this world. I am afraid with every step I take outside the cave. It is so dark, but Isu tells me that there are deep holes all around, that I could fall at any moment.
“Come, come,” he hurries me along from the front. His legs are longer than mine and he moves faster than I do, so I have to scurry to keep up. I feel like a lesser being all over again. On the farm, we were the stock. Here, I am a little animal all alone in a world I do not understand. I must follow him or else risk being lost. That has been true from the moment I was flung onto the planet’s surface.
The further we go, the more I can see. Here and there, fire lights the way. In some places, there is an abundance of flame. That is where Isu’s kind gather. There are great chasms down here, places where the ground opens up into what looks like an eternal pit of darkness.
“This is where we eat,” he says, drawing me through an arch of stone and into a great hall where there are many of his kind all milling about, getting food from various stalls where it is being prepared and handed out. The smell is incredible. Rich and intriguing and mouthwateringly delicious.
Many people greet Isu as we enter the feeding zone. On the farm, nourishment was dispensed in small pellets. Here, it is piled on plates and eaten with the hands. Isu leads me through the crowds, sits me down at a stone table with a stone stool, and disappears from view.
I do not move. I am too busy staring at this strange world. It is so full of life and none of it is even suggested on the surface of the planet, which is barren.
It is not long before Isu returns with food, two plates, one for each of us. “Eat up,” he says, encouraging me by moving my plate closer when I do not immediately start eating the food, which I can only categorize as ‘brown.’
“It’s good,” he says. “Other humans eat it, so I know it is safe for you.”
Other humans. I don’t see any other humans. I see the glowing fire outlines of alien beings mingling.
Wait. Is that a person? I think I can see the broad shoulders of a naked male being led on a chain through the crowd, his skin reflecting the red hue of his captress, a tall woman with long raven hair and features of incredible beauty. Her dark eyes and sharp teeth are all the more frightening for being displayed in a face of such appealing conformation.
She has seen me, that is certain. She gives the male a tug and draws him over to where Isu is eating, and my food is getting cold.
“Isu. Is this is your human? I heard you found one on the surface,” she says.
“Hello, Fasuni,” Isu says. I note a guarded tone to his voice, and I get the immediate feeling that he does not like this female. I am now distracted by the human male. He seems older than me, and now that I see him up close, he does not look well. His skin has an ashen tone. His eyes are sunken and dull.
Instinct has already told me what my eyes now confirm. Humans were not made to live in the depths of the soil and rock for long. This man is sick. He wears an iron collar around his neck, but I do not think he would be able to run away if he wanted to.
