When I was around the age of ten I started to draw an imaginary world that I called Mysteria. This was a place that I would devote hours to developing. Over the years I created landscapes, characters both good and evil. Although still childish in many senses, I had fun with none the less.
About a year ago my family challenged me to take Mysteria and my love of writing and create a novel.
I decided to give it a go, my mom and I sat down and came up with what I believe to be a great plot line that I will be able to build upon as my desire to create a book of my own grows.
I set a deadline for the first two chapters about a month into writing.
This is my first attempt at a novel-like writing and I still have a long way to go, but I hope you enjoy.
Prologue:
Screaming, my atoms are stretched and ripped apart as I fly down a dark and endless expanse. My mind fades in and out of consciousness, as it keeps being rearranged in strange patterns. The painful limbo that I’m suspended in makes me several times heavier than what I am used to. Now I know the true meaning of pain, heaviness, and utter fear. Every square inch of my body is being pulled in different directions at once so it resembles a splattered scrambled egg. All of this happens so quickly that I can barely register the different feelings.
With a sudden fresh burst of pain, my being is torn in a million directions and I find that the sensations that I had been previously experiencing have now abated. It seems that the tangibility to my body had been freed. As I attempt to look around I sense the minds of my friends Ian and Ryan with me in this sadistic place as well.
What is happening to us? The last thing I could clearly remember was examining the strange glowing gypsum in the cavern we had found by accident in Belize. What could possibly be occurring to us at the moment? Hard as I tried to push away the seemingly impossible idea, it kept springing back into my mind. Abstract as it was, the only reasonable thought that I could think of was that we were in some sort of a wormhole.
With everything I know about physics and the human body it should not be possible for me to still be alive. Was I actually still alive, or could this be what Hell is like? If we were in a wormhole, shouldn’t we have been torn apart by the sudden surge in pressure. I thought that scientists said that wormholes were only possible deep in space where not even light can escape. Also, I thought they were supposed to be a sort of transportation unit through the universe and possibly even time? If so, where are we currently and where is this thing taking us?
After these few moments of peace I begin to feel the unwanted torment on my crippled body. This time though felt different, instead of the increasing unendurable pain, it began to subdue and I established the comprehension of normalcy upon my body and not just on my mind like it had been just seconds before.
It seems to me as if my body were now being sucked down a tight drainage pipe as we went through what I hope are the last few and final moments of our agonizing trip. A bright flash of light blinds my eyes and an odd squelching pop echoes in my ears. The planet’s gravity returns my weight to normal as I am thrown across pebbly cave flooring. Upon impacting on the ground, I hit my head on the opposite wall with such force that my brain goes fuzzy and faintness begins to take over.
The last thing my brain recognizes is the sound of clamoring feet and distorted voices. The haunting melody of an agitated war horn fills the cave. My world goes black.
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Chapter 1:
Sweltering heat burns my unprotected neck as I walk through the humid Belize forest. For the last few hours I have been trekking through brush and bramble just to get a view of Belize’s unique rock formations. The sun seems to have been constantly hovering over my head all day. Even though my party and I left well before dawn to get a heads start on the days searing heat, we were too slow getting started and we were still several hours away from our pre-determined destination.
My calf muscles burn from the constant exertion of going up and down the small Maya Mountains. The thought made me sad that we had yet to even walk over Doyle’s Delight, the highest peak in all of Belize. But if I wanted to graduate at the top of my class, I had to write a final thesis on the information I was going to gather; and I was willing to pay the price of a full day’s workout.
Parched, my throat begs for the quenching touch of cool water. Uncapping the lid of my canteen, I trickle the last of the metallic water into my mouth.
“Confound it,” I murmur under my breath, silently berating myself. Before we had set off the guide had warned everyone not to up our water before midday, when the sun is at it’s zenith, and the heat it the most perishing for us.
Cursing, I kick a rock from in front of me and watch it skip a few meters ahead. Rocks... rocks and nature have been my entire life for the previous five years as I have studied to become an anthropologist and a geologist. It has been a strenuous life at collage as my studies have consumed most of my social life and left me with few friends outside of my department.
Thinking of friends I look ahead for my group. About half a mile ahead of me are the tour guide and the rest of the group; but I fail to see my friends from collage, Ian and Ryan. Turning back I see them way behind me.
“Hurry up slowpokes,” I yell back to them. “You don’t actually think this is a hard trek do you?”
“Hold your horses Michael, not all of us packed as lightly for this hike as you did!”
“Excuses, excuses my dear friend,” jogging backwards to prove my point, “If you don’t hurry we’re going to lose our group, they are already about five minutes ahead of us.”
Shifting the packs that lay heavily on their shoulders, they start a steady jog to catch up to me. While I wait, I stop and take a much-wanted break on a large, mossy boulder on the side of the path. Laying my gear ladened bag onto the warm granite I sit back and stare into the cloudless sky. The intense heat blurs the edges of the colorful leaves that create a broken canopy above my head. Falling leaves drift aimlessly from the tallest branches, knocked loose from warm gusts of wind that blow by sparingly. Their small shapes create numerous blinking shadows across my face. Darting through the leafy rainfall, small and large exotic songbirds snap their beaks at invisible mosquitoes and gnats. For that I am grateful that there are a few less bugs to tear at my already bite-ridden skin. No matter how much bug spray I put onto myself and into the surrounding forest, they manage to find a way through my defenses and attack my helpless body.
Just minutes after drinking the last of my water the unyielding sun makes my throat scream for relief. Barring myself against the impossible thought that it would be several hours until we reached the guide’s outpost where we would refill our supplies. With a heavy sigh, I heave myself onto my feet as Ian and Ryan reach me panting.
“Come on, we don’t want to be left behind, especially in the middle of this place. It’s so confusing around here that I don’t think that I could ever find my way back myself.” With a sudden thought I realize that my friends could very possibly have some of their water left. “Hey guys, you wouldn’t perchance have any of your water left on you?”
“Sorry man,” grimaced Ian, “we both finished ours a little ways back. We were actually hoping you might have some, the heat is killing our throats.”
“Of course. Well there is nothing we can do about it now, let’s get a move on, maybe the tour guide has some extra water.”
Throughout the course of the day we kept a steady pace but refrained from straining ourselves too hard since it was getting even hotter as the day wore on and we still had yet to refill our waters.
Unfortunately, the larger group kept a steady pace and managed to remain just as far away from us as they were earlier in the afternoon. In fact, they seemed to be getting further ahead, which was impossible since we had doubled our pace since the beginning.
Panic began to set in my mind as I realized that our only reliable source of survival was disappearing over the crest of the next mountain.
“HEY! OVER HERE!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, “PLEASE STOP! WE’RE STILL BACK HERE!”
Yelling does me no good and only manages to make my throat raw and sore. Once again the guides’ words come back to me, ‘Just remember folks, this is one of the largest groups I have ever lead on this hike and I won’t be able to keep track of every one of you. So please try to stay together, I will count heads when we arrive at our out post. If, by some strange occurrence, you do manage to become separated from the majority of us, just stay on the path and continue walking forward. Eventually you will catch up to us or reach the out post where you will be able to use the hard line to contact the main agency to deliver a mode of transportation out of here. But please, whatever you do, do not go off of the path. These jungles are extremely dangerous, especially at night…’
My feet were dragging and I was starting to feel the pains of an oncoming headache. I could barely talk; my tongue was so swollen from lack of water. Luckily, my brain wasn’t fuzzy yet and I could still think straight.
As the day wore on the air blissfully began to cool, this was the only relief that came the further we walked. When night overtook the forest the peacefulness of the area that I had felt earlier dissipated as deeper shadows enveloped our surroundings. This just made it all the harder to see, which caused us to lose our group all together.
Mosquitoes came out in full force and relentlessly bit our uncovered skin. By now, I had so many bites on my arms and legs that the mosquitoes were having to bite on top of old sores and I was numb to the endless itching that came with the multitude of wounds.
Rumbling, dark storm clouds are being pushed over the forest with the promise of rain on the way. Traveling through the night moist breezes of cool air would blow by that would soothe my heinous sunburns. Bright flashes of lightning shine from a few miles away, following a few seconds later a mighty rumble of thunder shaking the ground and surrounding trees.
My eyes begin to droop as midnight comes closer and closer. A particularly large flash of lightning startled me awake and I noticed a reflective glare coming from a patch of bushes off to the right. Curiosity peaked; I stumbled closer and squinted in wonder. Lying in the dirt in front of me is a small sample of the beautiful and fragile crystal, gypsum. From my studies I knew that the gypsum crystal is only found in deposits of sulfate solutions and near underground freshwater sources. Two and two clicked in my head as I realized that clean, drinkable water had to be somewhere nearby.
“What are you doing Michael? This is no time for stopping, I’m sure that we’re close to the resting post that the guide told us about,” said Ryan.
“Guys, come over here and see what I found!”
Sluggishly shuffling over to where I am kneeling, Ian and Ryan look over my shoulder to see what I found. Eager expressions show on their faces, and disappointment crashes down as they see it to only be a rock.
“A rock?” exclaimed Ian, “a rock is why you stopped us! I thought you had found something actually useful. Like a place that we could sleep or a clean river of water or maybe even a chest filled to the brim with gold!”
“Actually Ian, you’re not far off,” I smirked, “this rock is actually the crystal gypsum. And this crystal can only grow around deposits of fresh underground lakes and rivers. I’m sure that if we just look around we should be able to easily find a cave or hole that will lead us to some drinkable water!”
Debating what I have just suggested, I wonder how bright it would be to leave the clearly marked path in the middle of a dangerous Belizean forest during the night that makes anywhere more dangerous. It would be harder to see rocks and roots low to the ground that could trip one of us and twist an ankle. Then there are also the predators that like to hunt at night, such as the jaguar. Then on the other hand, if we don’t attempt to even find water or food to eat, we would not make it through the next day and the sun’s blistering heat. Considering this, my decision isn’t very hard to make: either we find water or we die.
Standing up, I have a new positive outlook on the rest of our hike. Ian apologizes for the unusual outburst and a relieved look also passes his face.
“It’s okay man, not having enough water I think is getting to all of us.” With a smile I take a step forward and look around for a dark crevice of some sort. Ryan and Ian walk over to help me search for our source of survival. I look down and grow pale; we are standing on a thin outcrop that is above a steeply sloped hill that goes down for several meters. My discovery though is too late and I hear the cracks in the ground grow. The ledge beneath us crumbles and we all go tumbling down the steep hill.
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Chapter 2:
Groaning, I sit myself up and contemplate where I am. The air around me is choked with dust and I’m surrounded by loose debris and large rocks. Luckily none of the bigger ones seemed to have hit me on the way down the hill. I stumble forward and call for Ian and Ryan. Within seconds I locate them and they too, are okay.
“Do you guys know what happened?” I ask them.
“I think the three of us were too much for that little ledge.” Ian starts to laugh but is choked off on the suffocating billows of dust.
“Can you see anyway back up the cliff? We weren’t supposed to go off the path, the guide said it was extremely dangerous at night.”
At that moment the clouds decide to rip open and shower the already rain-loved earth beneath them. What little visibility we had before the rain started shimmers down to about a foot in each direction. The added noise of the rain also makes it hard to listen and think as well.
“We need to find shelter!” I yell. “Before we’re completely soaked!”
“A tad too late for that, my clothes are already drenched to the skin! It’s the same with my pack and bedroll!” replies Ryan
I begin to look hopelessly around for any overhanging ledge or dark cavern. With no immediate success I turn to a different idea.
“Let’s at least get under the trees for some slight cover!”
We run to a huge tree to our left and we find ourselves underneath a gargantuan oak tree. The base of the trunk has to be at least forty feet all the way around. And from what I could hear in the resounding crashes of clamoring branches, this tree had to be about 150 feet tall. Drops of rain still plop around us and on our heads from the green leaves that cover our heads. I start to shiver once I am out of the immediate downpour and am thankful that there is flint in our bags.
Finally able to take an accurate look around I note that we are in a valley about a hundred feet down from the path. We were lucky that it wasn’t a steeper hill or we would not have survived the fall.
Still looking for a source of becoming dry I turn my head towards a large pile of bushes. Lightning flashes above the canopy of trees and a sharp bluish glow catches my attention from behind the brush pile. Curiosity gets the better of me and I run back out into the rain against my better judgment to check out the source of the glare.
Pushing aside the upmost branches my eyes set upon a fascinating sight. The mouth to a deep cave had been hidden behind the briar.
Now this wasn’t the astonishing part of the cave that had made me gasp in shock, it was the fact that covering every surface of the cave was a thick, fragile layer of the crystals gypsum. My prayers must have been answered because somewhere in the vast cavern ahead of me was a fresh source of water.
Ian and Ryan notice me standing by the bramble and wonder what I found.
“Get over here! I just found us comfortable shelter and drinkable water!” I report back to them.
Huddling together we run into the cave to start drying off and getting warm. We all stare in astonishment as the unique beauty of the cave. The immeasurable amount of crystals that gathered to make thousands of different formations was unreal. Being able to stare closer at these wonderful gems I am able to see that the crystals seem to be all connected with a steady flare of light that leads onward throughout the cave. Without speaking to each other we started to walk deeper in the cavern to follow the pattern of lights coming from the gypsum and to find water.
I was looking at the ceiling when my feet became snared in a loose pile of the beautiful crystal. Landing with a thump, I begin to laugh at my stupidity. Reasoning, I decide that since the gem is already broken into miniature pieces and lying on the floor I don’t see any problem with keeping a souvenir of our unbelievable side-tour. I toss Ryan and Ian a couple of the stones as well.
“Here, catch. We might as well keep these as memoirs.” I joke with them.
We all stare at each other for a silent moment and then crack up at our strange predicament. In the middle of our fit of laughter, we’re cut short as an odd tugging sensation pulls at us.
“Um, guys what did we do now,” stammers Ryan.
“I have no idea,” the pulse of light grows stronger from the back of the cave and a bright light with an inescapable pull of energy streams towards us. My body is hurled into the air and then sucked into what seems like nothingness. Within the nothingness my body is squashed flat.
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