Ch. 1: The Awakening

POV: Kyle

Do I regret going into that cave? No. Do I feel bad for dragging my best friend into it? Well, maybe a little.

Dylan doesn't exactly have an adventurous curiosity like I do. He's the oldest of three, and he has super over-protective parents, so it's harder for him to let loose. Me? I'm an only child; my parents let me do whatever for the most part, and I came to enjoy exploring.

Anyways, the two of us were in this spooky cave full of spider webs with ominous echoes of water dripping in the distance. I had to beg Dylan to keep going; I wasn't about to get lost in a cave by myself, but I'd never tell him that fear crossed my mind.

As we walked deeper into the cave, the opening got a bit narrower.

"I'm not claustrophobic or anything, but this is starting to freak me out," Dylan said.

"Relax, the cave just got a little smaller. I'm sure that's normal," I replied casually.

Before we knew it, we were on our hands and knees dragging ourselves through an ever-narrowing tunnel. The bag on my back was scraping against the rock above, scattering dust into my face. Dylan was quietly groaning about getting his shorts dirty; I snickered at his complaint. At that point, we were far enough into the cave that the outside light no longer reached us, so we could hardly see.

To Dylan's delight, the tunnel came out into a large opening. We stood up and brushed the dirt off our knees and elbows. Dylans pulled cobwebs out of his brown curls and attempted to examine his clothes for dirt in the darkness. I took my backpack off and dug around for a flashlight so we could look around.

"Why do you think there's a random opening here?" Dylan asked.

"Not sure. Let's see if we can find out," I said with my face in my bag, "Ah-ha, I found it!"

I pulled out the flashlight and flicked it on. Dylan's hazel eyes squinted as I pointed the light in his face.

"Ack," he groaned, "Point that thing somewhere else."

I did a 360 and pointed the flashlight at the back wall. The moment the light hit the wall, we were blasted with the glittering reflection of gemstones stuck in the wall. We looked in awe as I moved the flashlight around the room and saw they were scattered everywhere.

I elbowed Dylan, "See, isn't this cool?"

"Sure is," he said.

"So, you're glad I brought you out here?" I asked smugly.

"Ok, ok, you win."

"Ha-HA," I celebrated.

Dylan squinted at a spot on the back wall and knelt to get a closer look, "What is this?"

"Huh?" I asked as I jerked my head in his direction.

"Come over here; shine the light on it," he said.

I moved the beam to Dylan's finger and instantly saw what he meant. Part of the wall itself was illuminated as if a small light source behind the rock somehow shone through. Dylan and I both reached out to touch it- that's when it all started.

The ground crumbled like a stale cookie, dropping us into the tunnel below.

I groaned as I sat up in a pile of rubble and rubbed my throbbing head, "Ow," I winced.

"What happened?" Dylan asked hoarsely as he rubbed his ankle.

"I'm not sure," I looked up to where we fell from, "But it's not too far."

"You're suggesting we climb back up there when the ground just evaporated?" Dylan yelled, waving his arms around as he spoke.

"Do you have a better idea to get out?"

"We just fell like one story into a mysterious set of tunnels, and you're not anxious to go explore them to find a new way out?"

"Hm, not a bad idea," I said.

"Me and my big mouth," Dylan grumbled.

"Come on, let's check out these paths."

"If we don't find anything, we'll come back here, right?" Dylan asked uneasily.

"What other option do we have? We won't go far, I promise."

Dylan sighed, knowing that arguing wouldn't change my mind. Ahead of us were three tunnels; I decided to start with the one on the right. It turned out to be a short, fairly straight path that led to a dead end, so we moved to the middle tunnel.

After walking through a long, twisted path and still finding nothing new, Dylan began to question if the path had an end, "Kyle, we have been walking for like fifteen minutes by now. Don't you think we should head back by now? You promised we wouldn't go far!"

"Alright," I said in defeat when a light in the distance caught my eye, "Wait, what is that?"

"What is what?" Dylan asked.

"Look down the tunnel: there's a light."

Dylan squinted at the faint glitter, "Do you think it goes outside?"

I shrugged, "One way to find out."

We ran down the path until we reached a large chamber. At the back, there was a stone pedestal holding a prism-shaped crystal. It reminded me of some sort of Indiana Jones scene. I hesitantly scooted towards it, quickly glancing side to side on the lookout for boobie-traps.

"Kyle, what are you doing?" Dylan asked in a hushed tone, as if someone would hear us.

"I don't know. I just- how can you not want to see what that thing is?"

"For the same reason I didn't want to come here in the first place: I'd rather live to see my eighteenth birthday!"

As I got closer, the prism began to glow with a pulsating light. I paused for a second, wondering what could be causing it, but my curiosity called me forward. the glow became more intense as I drew closer. When I reached the pedestal, I held out a finger to touch it.

"Kyle, are you crazy? Don't touch that thing," Dylan exclaimed.

Granted, I knew it was stupid as I was reaching to touch it. But there's something you should know about me. You know when your parents ask you if you would jump off a bridge just because your friends are doing it? Well, I'm the friend who came up with the idea.

As my finger reached the prism, it erupted in a blinding wave of light and sent a jolt of electricity through my body, sending me flying backwards onto my butt.

"Kyle," Dylan yelled as he ran to my aid.

"I'm-I'm ok," I stuttered as he helped me up.

Dylan froze, "Woah.

I brushed the dirt off my shorts, wincing as I brushed over my tailbone, "What?"

"Look."

I followed Dylan's gaze to the prism, which was now glowing a brilliant shade of blue, "Wow."

"Why did- how did it-? What happened?" Dylan stammered.

"How should I know?"

I waked back up to the pedestal, and this time, Dylan followed me. The light faded, and it began pulsating again. I examined it, wondering what was making the light change and thought for a minute, "Ok, this time, you touch it," I said.

"What? No! I don't want to get shocked, and we don't even know what it did."

"It's not that bad," I lied.

"It blasted you across the room! And what if it gave you like- I don't know- tetanus or something?" He yelled.

I chuckled, "Tetanus, really? I'm fine, seriously."

"Then how come you want me to touch it? Why don't you touch it again?"

"I just want to see what happens if you touch it."

"You mean you want to see me get shocked."

"Just do it, please?" I begged.

Dylan rolled his eyes and clenched them shut as he slowly reached out to touch the prism. He flinched as a spark shot up his finger, but he didn't react any further, and there was no blinding light this time. The flashing just turned to a brighter, constant light.

"That's it?" I asked.

Dylan's eyes shot open, and he gave me a glare, "What, are you disappointed I didn't get shot across the room?"

I shrugged, "A little."

"You-" Dylan was ready to chew me out when his face paused and refocused on the prism, "Hey, look, it's red now."

"It is?" I looked back at it, "Huh, I wonder what that means."

"Who knows? Ok, are you happy now? Can we go home? Looks like this path was a dead end as well."

I shook my head, "One more experiment"

"What?"

"I want to see what happens if we both touch it."

"Did that shock fry your brain?"

I laughed, "Maybe, come on, what's the harm? It didn't hurt you that bad. Besides, you know I won't let it go."

Dylan sighed, "Again with your curiosity causing me pain."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

"Why do I listen to you?

"Because otherwise your life would be boring," I said. Dylan rolled his eyes. "Will you do it or not?" I asked impatiently.

"Fine, but if something goes wrong, it will, once again, be your fault."

"I can live with that," I said.

"Let's just get this over with."

"Alright, on three," I said, "One, two, three."

Dylan looked away as our fingers touched the prism, and the shine grew so bright, I had to look away as well. When we looked back, the light was red on one side, by Dylan's finger, and blue on the other half, where I was touching. In the split second I spent trying to figure what it could mean, the color seemed to shoot out of the prism and onto the cave wall, and before our eyes, a long paragraph was projected onto the wall.

"Woah," I said.

"Freaky. What do you think it is?" Dylan asked.

"You're going to think I'm crazy, but I think it kind of looks like a prophecy," I said as I scanned the first couple lines.

"A prophecy? You mean those future-predicting riddles in movies?" Dylan asked skeptically.

"Well, what do you think it is, smart-aleck?"

"I don't know, why don't we just read it?"

"Ok, go right ahead," I told him.

"It's your prism prophecy," he said.

"Fine," I cleared my throat.

"Seven heroes will rise,

An eighth to claim victory or demise.

The colors of light they will be

To save the dimensions from tragedy.

One by one the prism will choose

Each hero and the power they use.

Starting with the two of thee,

To begin the eight's destiny."

Photo Credit: Braxton Apana