Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 21: 020 - Unmoved by Light, Dark, or Twilight

Read chapter 21 of Sulphur & Lightning by anaugustauthor on NovelPedia.

These three Ways stem from one, and together yield one path Elijah took a deep breath and discovered that he was alive. This realisation was soon met with the wish that he weren't. His whole body burned in agony almost instantly. How’s that possible? He was more than certain that he had been swallowed by the Tsutsa (the giant sand worm), and there were few known encounters that were more decidedly fatal. What exactly was going on? He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the situation, even a little. Calm down first, he told himself, forcing a level of calm that he hadn’t expected from himself in these bewildering circumstances. Well, this was the second time he found himself mysteriously transported to a mysterious place, so it seemed his composure was growing with experience. He sent up a quick prayer that he wouldn’t earn any more experience in this domain. It didn’t take long for him to recover this time, and sitting up, his glowing yellow eyes surveyed his surroundings, throwing their dim yet compelling light on the rough walls around him. A cave. That much was clear. He ran his hand across the rough ground beneath him. Damp. And cold. He was no expert in caves and didn’t pay enough attention in class (what paltry instruction that blackguard Atafa did give) to know whether or not this was normal. It felt off, though. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something that wasn’t meant to be in this cave. If he could liken it to anything… The mansion he had returned to a little earlier, with its perpetually damp walls, came to mind. Something was wrong. Further introspection was met with nothing solid, though, and he decided that there were more pressing matters than a vague feeling of discomfort. He paid more attention, and discovered that some of the walls reflected the light of his eyes. His fingers felt the cold limestone walls, inlaid with veins of quartz and other minerals he had no direct experience with but had vague knowledge of. All things natural had a way of revealing at least something of their nature to his eyes and other senses. Plop. Plop. Plop. The walls and ceiling were dripping, and he felt himself drawn into their rhythm like a metronome. He was down on all fours next, his shoulders rolling low as he stuck close to the ground like a lizard. Slow, deliberate creeping. Plop. Plop. Plop. There was something about this place. Plop. Plop. Fangs protruded from behind his lips suddenly, coming out unbidden, as though summoned. He didn’t take note of it and instead continued his approach, his claws dragging across the calcified ground beneath without making a sound. Each movement was now synchronised with the drops, moving as they fell and hiding whatever sound he made behind the persistent plop. There was something here with him. Something that sent his instincts into disarray. He felt a pull that could hardly be compared with anything he had ever felt before. Irresistible. And yet… The next drop prompted his movement. And yet his approach remained halting. Measured. Fearful. Whatever it was that was pulling him in, it was also telling him to run and run quickly. Pulled between polar propensities, he found himself ploughing forward, though. Whatever was to come. He found himself at the mouth of a giant tunnel. It was large enough to fit at least three omnibuses stacked vertically and sideways. Its edges did not suggest machinery. A monster then? What sort of beast would make such a hole? His mind went to the Tsutsa he had encountered but dismissed it just as quickly. Despite its gargantuan proportions, it was no rock eater. There was a difference between being a sand whale and burrowing through limestone. If not that… He didn’t notice that he had stopped. The drops still remained present like the ticks of a clock, but his movement no longer matched them. He crouched, frozen before this inexplicable giant portal, not sure whether or not he’d be stepping in. “A