Cracked

 Cracked

 Season 1, Episode 6 of Mystic



''I padded into the den. I couldn’t recognize it at first. It seemed to be freed of the damage dealt to it the night before. The walls were once more standing, the ceiling at its highest point. The ivy tendrils snaked up the walls, with little pink blossoms blooming to perfection. The cave was in a pool of tranquility.''

''It was unreal. Yet it seemed so alive. I could feel the life under the rock, the life a rogue can sense. Only a rogue who has lived her days with only the earth as a companion for so long recognizes this life. It seemed warm under my pads, a low vibration singing in the stone.''

''A single orb of golden light floated past my ears. I whipped around and stared at it. The shining golden aura was translucent in the sunlight, glowing. I stared into its depths. There is hope, it seemed to say. There is life. I raised my paw and curiously dabbed at it. With a sudden pop, it vanished into a mist. I chewed on the words. They seemed important, like I had heard them before, but I couldn’t quiet place my paw on it.''

''Everything seemed to be at a standstill. I walked to one of the still pools and gazed into it. A clear reflection of me stared back. I scooped my paw into it and flung - the water sprayed in a graceful arc of droplets, the crystalline objects catching the sunlight and displaying a vibrant array on the cave walls before shattering on the floor into a million pieces. The air was calm...the den quiet...I could feel my eyes slowly closing...''

"Wintergreen! Wintergreen, wake up!" something hissed into my ear.

I opened my eyes in a jolt and stared up into frantic blue eyes. "It's coming! We must make haste!"

I leaped up and raced to the den entrance. Beyond the wreck of Lazuli's den, the ceiling was dipping, now standing to about half my height from the ground. The massive groaning echoed through the cave and all of its corridors, loud enough to brush my ear fur. I realized what Lazuli was so jumpy about.

The ceiling was going to crash.

"Lazuli, what do we do?" I shrieked. "It will crush us!"

"Shh!" she hissed fiercely at me. "Loud sound will unsettle the ceiling. We must find a way out of the main cave!”

Lazuli took a tentative step forward. For a moment all was still, the air mysteriously quiet. She gazed around, looking at the possible tunnels branching away from the main cave.

Suddenly the splintered mass of rock above our heads gave a final creak. It collapsed at the far end with a huge groan, grit and stones showering down from above. That end of the cave was blocked off, cancelling two potential exits, and driving my heart into a racing flurry. ''It’s going to trap us in here! If we don’t find the exit soon, there will be no way out. It will crush us.'' Terror coursed through me.

"Hurry, now!" Lazuli hastily fastened her satchel and hared away, completely forgetting about her own orders to keep quiet. The cave was thunderous, as if her voice had set it on edge. Boulders broke from the ceiling, screaming down and collapsing nearly a whisker-length away from me. I flinched back, my eyes wide. I clenched my jaws to keep from yowling and ran on, the chaos preventing me from thinking straight.

Lazuli stopped in front of a tunnel, then scrambled back as the stone fell and blocked that exit as well. It was slowly trapping us in. There were now only two open tunnel entrances, each parallel from each other on two ends of the cave.

I raced to the other end, dodging the debris that fell from the deteriorating ceiling. A single cave entrance stood on that side. "Hurry, this way!" I shrieked to Lazuli, who was struggling on the opposite side. It was clearly the only safe tunnel out of the main cave; the other one was nearly completely blocked, and the collapsing cave roof had nearly given up on that side.

Lazuli turned and stared at me. Her expression filled with emotion I couldn't comprehend, her features twisting into a menacing snarl. Lazuli's eyes burned with anger as she snarled, "No! This way," and ducked under a falling chunk of rock, diving to the gap remaining in the entrance.

I stared at her pawing at the gap, somehow trying to make it wider to fit in. ''What has gotten in to her? She must know it's impossible to escape that way!''

The sudden flicker above my eyes caught it. With one look upwards, I screeched in terror and dove forward. "Lazuli, watch out!" Digging my claws into her hind legs, I thrust her behind me roughly and then staggered back. A colossal load of mineral rock exploded on the ground where Lazuli once stood, spraying bits of it into my eyes. The force shook me and I crashed into the cave wall. Debris slapped me full in the face, and I tried not to open my mouth to cry aloud for my stinging pelt.

All I thought about was my friend.

"Lazuli! Where are you?" I shrieked through the settling grit and the brown, dusty haze. "Please, answer me. Are you there!”

Not a word echoed back to my ears. My eyes widened, and I called again. There was no reply.

Blindly wandering through the thick, dry air, I called, over and over, hoping for a weak "Wintergreen," or a little plea for help. She can't...she musn't be dead!

"Lazuli," I cried one last time, my voice hoarse. I took a final step and staggered to the ground, my paws weak with exhaustion, my claws bloodied from scraping against the rough rock. I was aware of silent tears creeping down my face and shattering on the floor like my heart.

The dust cleared, and I set my unfocused gaze and looked around. The debris lay everywhere, in huge mountains and covering the floor in a thick carpet. I knew it was impossible to search for Lazuli. Grief seeped into my heart, darkening my vision. ''She's dead. '' In a trauma, I crouched, my eyes unseeing yet staring, my head unable to register the moment. Lazuli is dead.

A sudden warmth engulfed my body, and my vision brightened. I weakly lifted my head and blinked up. The stars cleared, and I saw a single golden orb of light, positioned above my head. Its glow calmed me, and I slowly gazed at it. The light?

It descended closer to the dirt-littered floor, and spoke to me. It whispered into my mind. There is hope.

My eyes widened and I stared at it. The golden depths seemed endless, without dimension. Tricks of light played within the core, displaying colors and acting as a prism catching light. My mind smarted as I gazed at the figure. It seemed lawless, as if anything and everything could happen.

There is life.

With a jolt I looked up. "The exit!" I meowed out loud. Whipping around, unsettling the dust, I raced as quickly as I could to where I thought the tunnel Lazuli refused to enter was. I leaped over dunes and dodged the looming boulders, making my way to safety. To hope.

Sure enough, the entrance was cleared, leave a few rocks and juts barring the way. Small spaces showed through, and I nosed my head in and squeezed my way to the other side. There is ''hope. It is not lost yet.''

I finished clambering through the gap. I looked up and gasped.

A very long corridor stretched in front of me, so long that the shadows at the end were lost. I was aware of small pinpoints of light dancing above my head, and as I looked closer realized they were smaller orbs, just as golden and endless as the other.

The tunnel was untouched by the chaos. I knew there must have been some sort of wreckage in here as well, but it seemed perfectly still and new.

Warily I advanced. Creeping forward, I had a nagging suspicion something was wrong. Something was at the end of the tunnel…and it wasn’t safe.

I arrived to the end. A wall stood in front of my way. I checked the edges, and everywhere around it, trying to ignore the rising clamor in my head. ''This can’t be the end! After everything I’ve worked for…''

I slashed and tore and it, trying to break it, somehow attempting to do it harm, cause it the pain it was causing me. It stood silently, completely without a mark, and waiting at the state it had been for thousands of years. Waiting. What are you waiting for?

I pressed my pad to the center of the stone. Nothing happened. I pressed harder.

Suddenly the ground shook. I let out a yelp as the walls shuffled and dust poured down for above, signaling another ceiling collapse. I yowled, dodging this way and that, just hoping that I wouldn’t be impaled by the falling objects. I was aware of the same vibration under my paws. I could feel the earth: but this time it seemed to heat up, and spew out its anger. I flinched as I heard roaring underneath the surface of the stone. What’s happening?

The chaos ceased. I looked up. There was no more falling debris. I carefully glanced from side to side, in case the cave was intent on tricking me once more. The walls seemed perfectly placed, as if nothing had happened. I blinked. What…?

In a heartbeat I knew something had changed. Slowly turning around, I stared.

The dead end of the wall was now behind a layer of dense, purple glass-like material. The inside of it swirled; I stared at it, unable to rip my gaze away. Purple mites flew away from the center and then disappeared. I dabbed my paw into the material, but it sank to the bottom as if I was touching water.

Suddenly my head felt dizzy. I closed m\y eyes, and I saw a large area. Tall structures filled my mind’s eye. The buildings were extravagantly built, low and beautifully designed. But what amazed me the most was not the structures; it was that there were hundreds of cats in the vision, all walking on the paths or coming out of their dens casually, tumbling kits mothers watching them tenderly, cats bringing back their catch – as if it were their normal lives…

I moved my paw out of the stone. The vision died. I blinked my eyes open; I was back at the main cave. Somehow I knew for sure. If I step into there, it will take me to the place filled with the buildings and cats! My excitement grew, and I felt a warm sensation within my chest. ''There is hope. There is life. I needed'' to go through the portal. It was as if my whole life had been built upon this - there were cats, there was liife on the other side. Just waiting for me. I stepped in without a doubt. I was aware of my vision turning fuzzy, and my view darkening. I turned back and gazed one last time to the cave.

I almost thought I saw a shadow of a cat at the end of the tunnel, flickering, watching. I blinked. The shadow disappeared. Lazuli is dead. The temperature cooled, and my thoughts went racing. But you can never be sure...

I let myself be taken and my vision went black.

