THE CAVE

And there we were, standing before the cave that held the Reflecting Glass. It looked like any ordinary cave—dark, unassuming, and lifeless. Hero and I exchanged uneasy glances, half-wondering if the old Doomling had led us astray. But the moment we stepped inside, our doubts melted away. The crystal-lined ceiling of the cave suddenly began to light up, and a path of colorful, glowing stone emerged, beckoning us deeper inside. In that moment, I understood what the old Doomling had meant when he said we would be greeted.

Shortly after Hero and I began our descent into the cave, we noticed something strange. While the glowing path continued to illuminate our way forward, the path behind us was disappearing—erasing our steps. I’m sure the Doomlings who came before us found this concerning, but I wasn’t worried. The tech in my suit was mapping our route in real time, and I could navigate us back to the entrance with ease.

The deeper we ventured, the more certain I became that we were closing in on the Reflecting Glass. Something strange was happening in the mirror-like walls of the cave. The edges of our reflections were glowing faintly, as if being lit from within. Our reflections also no longer moved in perfect sync with us. They lagged just slightly behind—half a second off. The effect was subtle but unsettling, a quiet reminder that this cave was anything but ordinary.

We pressed on, making steady progress, and were close to reaching the heart of the cave when we encountered something unexpected. I was following the glowing path as it curved into a tunnel on my left when I felt a tug at my sleeve.

“Marin... it’s going that way,” Hero said, pointing toward a dark tunnel on the right.

I turned to him, frowning. “What are you talking about? The path goes left. Look at it.”

Hero’s face creased with confusion. “No, it’s right there—it’s going right. Can’t you see it?”

I stared at the dark tunnel he was pointing to, then back at the glowing path to my left. We were standing in the same spot, yet we saw two completely different paths. The cave was playing tricks on us.

To be sure, I checked the scan of the cave on my suit and found, sure enough, that the heart of the cave was to our left—Hero’s tunnel led to a dead end.

“It’s this way, Hero,” I said confidently, making my way down what I was sure was the correct path. But as I turned the corner, the glowing rocks in the cave above me suddenly went dark. The path was gone—behind me and in front of me.

"Hero?” I called out in the darkness, the only light coming from the dim glow of my suit.

No response.

Then, a cold breeze brushed against me, a gust of air coming from the tunnel ahead. I shivered. Without warning, my suit began to flicker. I froze as the glow dimmed, stuttered—and vanished. The power from my suit was drained out of nowhere.

It was pitch black.

“Hero?” I called out again, my voice wavering as I fought to keep calm.

Silence... But then... I heard it.

At first, it was faint—so quiet I could barely make it out. A sound, low and distant, like a whisper rising from the depths. As it grew louder, my stomach knotted, sinking like a stone.

“Maaaaaahhh...”

The voice—low, ghastly, and drawn out—curled through the air like smoke. Fear gripped me as a shadowy figure began to form within the mirror before me, conjuring itself out of the darkness.

Its head snapped toward me, its bright white eyes locking onto mine.

And then, it RUSHED toward me. Without thinking, I turned and RAN.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched the scene unfold from behind the glass. I was watching a memory—a memory I’d been avoiding...

Suddenly, the weight of it all hit me at once. I fell to my knees and began to sob.

After a moment, I felt Hero’s tiny hand rest gently on my shoulder.

“You stopped trying to find a way back home, didn’t you...? Because you were afraid you might not find one...”

My voice broke.

“What if there isn’t a way, Hero? What if... it’s impossible?”

Hero paused, his gaze lifting to the glass as the scene before us began to dissolve.

“You know those stories, Marin? The ones about Doomlings who brought back rare treasures?”

I nodded.

“Those stories don’t get passed down because of what they found... It’s because in those stories the Doomlings all got to a point where the odds against them were so overwhelming, so impossible, that it seemed they couldn’t go on. But they still did. Even when it felt like they were going to fail, they didn’t give up.”

Hero looked away from the glass and back at me.

“As long as you keep trying, Marin, you haven’t failed... You haven’t broken your promise.”

My frown deepened as tears threatened to spill again, but I held them back.

“You’re right... I’ve been trying to distract myself with making discoveries because I’m afraid I’ll never be able to get back. But you’re right. I can’t run from it. I can’t avoid it. That’s giving up.”

I took a deep breath.

“But I’m still afraid, Hero..."

“But you’re not alone,” Hero said, smiling. “And I’m going to help you, whether you like it or not.”

I smiled as I wiped the last tears from my eyes. He really was a good friend.

I held out my fist to him, and he bumped it with his little green hand.

“...In exchange for sandwiches, of course,” he added. “Lots of sandwiches. And cookies!”

I laughed.

“Okay. Deal.”

“Plus,” Hero continued, his excitement bubbling over, “we’ve been so close! Any day now, we’re going to find what you need—I just know it!”

As Hero rambled about our future adventures, the mirrors around us began to glow softly. Shapes flickered and shimmered within their glassy depths. It was the Reflecting Glass—finally revealing itself.

From behind the glowing mirror, hundreds of Doomlings began to appear. And not just any Doomlings, but the legends—the ones from the stories Hero spoke of. They gathered behind the mirrors, moving closer, their faces radiant with quiet determination. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Written by Raymond Boland