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4 - Godling (3)

  

  Thalia didn’t notice when sleep overtook her.

  One moment, she was staring into the dim glow of the fungus on the walls. The next, the world blurred and her eyelids closed. She didn’t fight it, or more like she couldn’t. The pull of exhaustion was too strong, and for the first time in days, her body was eager to let go. And so sleepiness embraced her. Her consciousness drifting away, like the floating clouds, just having a stroll in the sky.

  When she wake up, it wasn’t with panic like the previous nights. There were no shadows creeping closer, no sounds of pursuit, just the stillness of the chamber. The air was heavier now, though. She felt a weight that pressed against her chest.

  Her first instinct was to stand up from her sitting position. But then, she froze.

  At one of the corners of the room, where the shadows were darkest, something... or someone was there. Watching her.

  Her pulse quickened, and she immediately stood up. Her hand instinctively reaches for her pouch. The faint glow of the fungus illuminated the room. No one was there yet the presence felt undeniable. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest as she took a step forward cautiously.

  "Hello?" she called softly, her voice trembling in the quiet room. "Who's there?"

  There was no one to answer nor an answer given. Just an oppressive silence.

  She waited, holding her breath, listening for any sound, any movement, yet nothing came. It was as if the entire chamber was holding its breath, like the very walls themselves were waiting.

  A few moments passed yet there were still no answer.

  After a long, drawn-out moment of tension, she released her breath and let her hand fall from her pouch.

  "No sense in waiting here," she thought. "If something wanted to reveal itself, it would have done so by now."

  Without another word, she turned away, her eyes scanning the chamber. Near the opposite side of the room, away from the mysterious presence, was another door. It was smaller than the one she entered.

  She hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. Her curiosity urged her forward, stronger than the unease that lingered in the air.

  Whatever lays beyond the, she couldn’t stay here any longer, not with the feeling of being watched. So, with a quiet resolve, she pushed the door open and stepped through.

  ---

  

  The hallway beyond the door was a narrow and winding one. The stone walls closing in tight around Thalia as she pressed forward. The glow of her pouch cast long, thin shadows that danced along the stone. Her footsteps echoed with each careful step.

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  At the end of the hallway, she found it. A staircase. A staircase made from the same ancient rock as everything else she found in the chamber and walls. It stretched upwards into darkness. The top of the staircase were hidden by the darkness, as if it was swallowed by the cavern itself.

  Thalia paused at the base of the stairs, staring up at the endless flight of stairs.

  "No turning back now." She sighed before placing a hand on the cold stone wall beside her. She took a breath and began to climb.

  At first, it wasn’t too bad. She counted her steps, trying to calm her mind. Twenty. Forty. Eighty. Then her legs started to ache, her breathing grew heavier, yet still no end was in sight. Only the same narrow stairwell, continuing upwards into the unknown.

  Doubt seeped into her mind like a flow of water through a cracked stone.

  "What if this goes nowhere? What if I'm just climbing towards nothing?"

  Her hands trembled slightly as she tried gripping the wall. She forced herself to keep climbing.

  "I should've stayed by the water," she thought bitterly. "At least there was safety there... some kind of safety."

  She took another step and another breath. The darkness above seemed infinite.

  She could almost hear a voice in the back of her mind with a sharp and cruel tone. "You’re a fool for hoping. You’re always hoping, always trying... and for what? Another dead end? Another monster waiting for you at the top?"

  Her chest tightened.

  Thalia squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "No," she answered herself fiercely. "No, I can't stop. If I stop now... If I give in... there's nothing left for me."

  Her fingers brushed over the glowing pouch at her side, grounding herself with its warmth.

  Someone gave me this hope, she thought. Even if I don’t remember all of it... Even if I’m terrified... I was chosen by that someone.

  She opened her eyes again. One step. Then another. And another. Even as the darkness thickened and her legs screamed for rest, Thalia kept climbing.

  ---

  

  At last, after what felt like forever of climbing up the stais, it finally ended. Thalia took her last steps of this endless flight of stairs. Stumbling forward and legs trembling, she found herself struggling to stand in a wide, circular room.

  The rest of the cavern was nothing like this room. Here, the walls were smooth and tall. No crampred and jagged. Here, the air is fresh and alive. Not stale and suffocating.

  Walking towards the center of the room, she noticed, glowing balls of crystal were embedded in a pattern across the ceiling. Its light illuminating the room in a gentle light, giving the room a sacred feel.

  The room felt like a place meant for a prayer, or perhaps, a memorial. Directly at the opposite side where she had emerged, was another door. Its structure was another arch and plain, but she knew for sure that it was an exit from this room.

  Thalia hesitated. Her instincts were dulled and her body exhausted. But something about this room, about this light, soothed the gnawing fear inside her. She crossed the room slowly, her footsteps soft against the polished stone floor.

  When she reached the door, she paused only once to glance back at the chamber. She looked at the stillness of the room, its quiet glow, and the sense that the room was once something sacred.

  Then she pushed the door open. And for a few days—maybe—of being enveloped only by darkness, light blinded her. A real light from the sun. Not a bioluminescent light but a warm sunlight.

  A gust of wind blew her at her face, scattering her hair in the air like ribbons dancing in the wind. The freshness of the air—once a normal thing to her—filled her nose. Thalia enhaled what she can, as if her lungs can't get enough of the freshness.

  Still blinded by the light, Thalia raised her hands, shielding her eyes from the brightness of the world. A few moments passed and her vision finally adjusted to the lighting. And there, in front of her, was a sprawl of grass and flowers—a meadow.

  Standing in a cliffside of a mountain, Thalia stood there, stunned at the beautiful scene in front of her. Before she knew it, tears crawl from her eyes to her cheeks gushing out like a waterfall.

  At last, she had escaped.

  


  Info Dump #18:

  - Godlings manifest themselves in various ways. Most of the time, they are just presence to their candidates when their connection is as thick as a thread.

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