When The Sky Cracked

“What’s this place”, said Akwan, this time with a tone of alarm in his voice...

Who is Akwan you may ask? Well, let’s find out who he is and how he got there in the first place.

It was the perfect day to go camping – the clear skies stretched to miles afar, with not a single cloud in sight of his eye, as the sun shone restlessly and the car glistened glamorously under it. Akwan, the shooter of the house (his archery skills are unmatched), of course, went with his sisters for a short but hopefully thrilling camping trip to a newly built campsite they had recently learnt about.

He was slim but not skinny, had a tanned yet kind of pale skin, and dark brown hair parted down the middle. His eyes, serene and sea-green sparkled like apatites in the deep marine, the colors blending into an almost surreal yet calm look, giving a vague but powerful resemblance to the ocean.

He wore a hoodie that had an extraterrestrial vibe, displaying the design of the vast, endless cosmos – stars conjoining into the asteroids with a strange portal-like thing in the center of it all, almost like it was spewing all the entities present in the area from its own separate dimension. He also wore dark green cargo pants because during camping, you never know when extra pockets could come in handy and a bonus was that they were comfortable as well. His sneakers were the final touch as they completed the outfit: with the same design of the cosmos but the portal instead, printed on the side of each shoe.

“I’m done with the tents,” exclaimed Akwan as his sister, Rumi, had found a large, mysterious cavern she and his other two sisters had decided to explore. Akwan ran towards the cavern as his sisters had left him behind. It was truly a sight of absolute beauty with a hint of mystery – it was decorated with stalagmites that seemed to be placed in an odd pattern, almost like they were pawns in a much bigger game. It seemed to radiate an energy that was overwhelming for the insects as they were being repelled, almost as if an invisible force was pushing them away, or rather throwing them away… On top of all of that, this cave had crystals on the ceiling that gave off a brilliant light, almost unnatural, like this place was not supposed to be seen by humans.

As the four went deeper, Diana, another of Akwan’s sisters cautioned “Watch out, guys, this place may not be sa-,” she was cut off as the flashlights’ battery ran out but the strange thing was that they had just filled them with new, crisp batteries. The light of the crystals had also dimmed as if they weren’t meant to come this far. Akwan though was reckless, and informed his sisters, who were busy refilling the batteries that he is going to explore a bit deeper as there might be a way out from there. His sisters, unaware of his recent declaration, had started panicking about how they would get out of the place as they had already explored this deep and their flashlights failed to work…

Akwan went a bit deeper and got a glimpse of an orange-ish light. Soon, he found a path leading to a different cave, or after inspecting closely, when he saw something which shouldn’t have been there, “A mine?”

This was a big discovery, Akwan was overjoyed and started to say, “Hey-” but realized that the walls behind him had strangely closed, and it only left a crevice that gave a glimpse of the other side…

After a few minutes of trying to make the walls ‘open’ by pleading to them, he gave up and instead tried to find a way out from this side, or perhaps he could ask a miner for help! So, without much time wasted, he explored the mine, surely a miner was bound to work here. The mine itself had a hearty aura and the crystals there, all were yellow and didn’t lose their glow as he went further down because when he tried to go up, he found himself face to face with a dead end. There were lights set up there, they were white and the cave itself was so clean and still, no insects, weird wasn’t it?

Yet, he kept a smile on his face throughout all the madness and most of all, did NOT lose hope. The further he went though, the weirder it got, there were diverging pathways that converged into one, some crystals were half broken, in some places, the ceiling was mined in such a way that they were trying to get out of… a cage, the constant question that came to Akwan’s mind was, “Why is it mined like this?”. He covered his mouth after that question because he didn’t mean to say it out loud.

He looked around, then looked behind him to find that it strangely all went back to normal after he saw it the first time while passing through, this gave him goosebumps. He continued further on, hoping that someone was present to help him, it felt like something did not want HIM specifically to get out, like he was trespassing. Moreover, he didn’t try going back because he kept hearing the buzz of an electromagnetic force field whenever he turned back. He had learned in his archery lessons which were conducted in a lab that these forces were common and can deflect arrows. He usually stayed away from them anyways because they could easily push him back, but he couldn’t help thinking if this invisible force field was the reason that the insects could not enter, though for that it’d have to be pretty strong…

Woosh

Something went past him, too fast for his mind to comprehend though. Unfortunately, he was unarmed as he had thought this would be an enjoyable and harmless little camping trip. He thought he wouldn’t have to stay cautious and shoot something. Though he was still learning the arts of archery as he had already gotten the ropes, he depended on his bow to save his life at times, especially during those final archery exams in winter break.

Woosh

Again, this was getting concerning. Akwan needed to find a way out and FAST! The crystals started flickering like those lights in a horror movie, the lights set up there also started bursting and the buzzing got louder and louder almost as if an entity was controlling it. He ran and ran. Then he looked back and thought he saw a shadow approaching him. The floor got rocky and bumpier as he dashed further into the mine. This was alarming.

He slowed down so he could take note of his every step, and the deeper he went the more cautious he had to be. At this point there were almost crater-like holes in the walls symbolizing the use of explosives most likely. The walls had illustrations on them, he stopped to inspect one. It showed symbols, but not any, these were the ancient prescriptions he had seen in an old book which he had thought were worthless. He recalled the language. It took a minute, but he remembered and started deciphering it. As he inspected each and every symbol, he read the translation out loud, “The Galaxian Verse…”

“The hexad of starborns shall be coerced in vain.”

As he spoke each word, it floated off the stone walls, leaving the boy mystified yet he continued translating as this seemed important albeit peculiar.

“Toxophily, Spatial Blading, withal thy Mystics…”

Akwan let out an inaudible gasp before continuing as he remembered toxophily to be a word for the love of archery.

“…May surpass the maelstrom undone…”

“…Wilt the wayward flame remain at perfect ryx…”

The words now started swirling into a hurricane, it buffeted Akwan’s hair and each strand flowed with the will of the strong winds in this supernatural cavern.

“…Thy repley lies in an unforeseeable bane!”

Akwan stood there processing all of that, it seemed somehow incomplete. He stood there puzzled, unaware of time and anything going around him till the words tattooed themselves back on the- ILLUSTRATIONS?! They weren’t present there when he first took note of them. Could this possibly mean they were waiting for him to do something as the current of the air refused to die down?

Helplessly, he repeated the only word he could define, he repeated it out loud in wonder, “Toxophily”.

The symbol for it shone an almost blinding light, and flew past him, demolishing the boulders blocking the path ahead. As he took each step, fog billowed behind him but the path ahead seemed so clear that an eerie feeling passed through him. This was abnormal yet the only lane he could take, and what more could he ask for than a guiding light helping him, right…?

As the pathway neared ending, he tripped on his foot, but the glowing scripture covered him, this time though the light didn’t blind him and he fell, but in such a way that he phased through the ground and back up.

“Tha- thank goodness!,” he cried out, while gasping for breath.

Everything felt like it was finally slowing down to a normal pace, this feeling was new here but Akwan accepted it as this allowed for a bit more peace.

This wasn’t the same mine he came from though, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that phasing through the ground led him to a different place. Alas, he walked further as there was nothing else he could possibly think of doing.

Pretty soon, the place opened up to an abandoned underground laboratory, this seemed odd as the lights were still on and there was a dome in the center. He spotted a portal frame in the middle of the room downstairs. This whole facility was circularly shaped, vines hung from the walls, dried oil spills laid on the ground, and the floor was decorated with many crates. This place though felt unnatural, the glass dome seemed to show a deep hole covered with algae and was hidden from the sunlight by drooping trees. It was almost as if the laws of reality were bent here in such a way that, that it was being controlled by some other worldly being. He shuffled to the crates. He opened them and started aimlessly looking for some kind of weapon to help him. Most of them had broken vials, as he continued going further, he realized he had advanced downwards and was now present in the room with the peculiar portal frame. There was only one crate remaining now, it lied on the foot of the portal crate…

He was now examining the portal frame, it was frankly the only object currently that looked new and amazingly clean, almost as if it was recently cleaned. He was swift in grabbing the crate and took it away from the frame and opened it. There was an aluminum bow neatly placed in it, it was magnificent, the work on it was truly marvelous and there was also a quiver. It contained a sheaf of arrows, they had a vessel-like structure, almost as if they could contain a liquid.

“Interesting…,” said Akwan in amusement as this was a sign he could now protect himself from any further mystical danger.

“…but what is this place,” he whispered to himself.

Now, freshly armed, he took a look around the place, it seemed pretty much the same but there was a pedestal on the other side of the room. He then went to the corners of the room, and found that there were those crystals from the cave that led to all this in chambers which were placed on the corners of the room. He examined further and caught a glimpse of some pipe-like things on the ground, or rather he could only see them as there was a glass pane above them and they too were made of glass. All the pipes? Or whatever, converged to that same mysterious pedestal he spotted earlier. He went closer and found that a singular pipe from the pedestal stretched out to the portal frame. Wait, are these crystals supposed to power up something which will create a portal…? He stepped on it, a button rose from under the ground, then he stepped off, which caused the button to sink back into the ground. Is the button the key to opening up a portal…? Scores of questions arose in his mind. He couldn’t answer any of them by just sitting around there, he had to do something. He had many options, he could break the chambers by shooting arrows at them and perhaps conquer or absorb their magical power for himself and see what he can do from there. Or he could even backtrack and try to phase through the ground again, this place is supposed to be mystical right? So he could possibly bend it to his will perhaps. He was more interested in clicking the button but was hesitant to do so as well. He stood on the pedestal and was now confronted with the choice to click that button or shatter the chambers as those were the easiest two choices. As he glanced upwards and watched the sunset, he was met with a choice, and the key to the portal rose from the depths of the ground as he gripped his bow…