Leaving the house, I cautiously roamed the caves, making sure everything was okay. As I covered more ground, it should've eased my anxiety, but it only worsened. I started from where my father and I lived and patrolled until I reached Cora's house. I checked the area thoroughly, making sure everything was alright. After I checked the area thoroughly, I continued to make my way through the caves. Scanning the ceiling, walls and floor as I slowly walked from the more residential area to the more commercial area. It was still tightly packed, and people still lived here; their homes doubled as stalls where they also sold their products. After undergoing Katabasis, many divers would spend some of their earnings here before returning home. My grandpa and I would usually just head straight home to train. The others didn't recover as quickly as we did, and also weren't as strong as my grandfather and I. He said it was because we adapted faster, which is why we were different. However, he also taught me that just because we were different, it did not make us more valuable; every person was created equal. Most people may not be as strong and recover like my grandpa and me, or avoid danger like Cora, but they were all amazing people, kind people and my grandpa taught me that true strength and value were not just physical; it was so much more, it was so much deeper than just that.
On that, I agreed with my father. The clearest example of it was Rufus. He was not as strong as I and my grandpa, not as agile or good at avoiding danger as Cora, and yet we all looked to him as a role model. My grandpa was the strongest of us, but the second was not me; it was Rufus, at least in my eyes.
I continued moving farther down, deeper into the cave, and I could hear the loud noises again. I drew my blade to be ready for anything and slowly made progress, heading closer and closer to the Four Corners. The closer I got, the more my fears mounted.
I began to hear faint screaming; it was a little girl. The time for caution was now gone. I accelerated into a sprint, Talons Edge drawn, and I followed the scream until I suddenly turned the corner, and a little girl ran straight into me.
"AHHHH HELP ME!" I looked down, and it was Cora's niece. A 6-year-old girl who always wore a smile. Her name was Iris.
"Iris, what's wrong? Are you ok? What's going on?" I asked, not understanding what she was doing here and what scared her so much.
"There was a guy… and he was walking towards the Corners… and then this creature… it was giant… it started chasing me"
"Wait, it's chasing you?" Suddenly, I heard a loud bang and knew it was too late.
A giant reptilian creature, large enough to even engulf my grandpa whole. It lunged its body straight for both of us. I quickly threw Iris as hard as I could across the cave and barely lunged out of the way, kicking up the rusty Earth as we all moved simultaneously. How the fuck was it so fast and so big? It looked like a creature that we rarely see in the crater, called a Megalo Lizard. They apparently are descendants of a lizard once found on Earth long ago from Australia called the Megalania Lizard, or at least that's what Cora's father had told me. His family had always been well-informed about the creatures of the depths. If anyone knew what it was, it would be him. Because this creature was much larger than they were.
The creature turned ready to charge again. Its claws looked like jagged razors, its teeth were larger than my Talons Edge, and a black, saliva-like substance dripped from its mouth. It once again charged at me, and yet again I barely avoided its bite, but was slammed by its body, which smacked me into the wall so hard that my vision blurred. I knew that I stood no chance against the creature. I looked over at Iris, who was petrified. My NoiseMaker was on the ground from the start of our exchange.
"Iris, as soon as I get its attention, run for my NoiseMaker and press the red button twice, then keep running and don't look back," she looked at me, and I saw pure horror.
I stood up and ran deeper into the caves, towards the corners and moved my blade, quickly in my practised hands. The movement drew its attention in. As fast as she could, Iris followed my instructions and began running without the creature even bothering to turn around. She would make an amazing diver one day, I thought to myself.
The scaled abomination lurked towards me and then yet again leapt for me. I saw its attack coming, but it still caught my leg with a giant claw and ripped my left leg to shreds. It burned as blood started to pour out of it. Fuck, I'm actually going to die here, I thought to myself. It continued its onslaught on me, catching my legs two more times as I cut one of its 4 legs. It barely even seemed to slow down the monster. I kept avoiding buying time. However, for every 2 times I dodged it, it clawed me. Until it charged again, and I went to meet it with my blade, but my instincts told me this was wrong, and yet, I still did it. This time, it caught me straight through my abdomen within its maw. I gasped in panic and began wriggling to escape, but its teeth were clenched on me. I let out the loudest scream I could. In my panicked state, I swung my Talons Edge over and over again, stabbing and slicing away the creature's snout and its face. It let me go with a cry. I tried to get up but couldn't; my legs were tattered, and the bite was bleeding. On top of that, it seemed that the creature was venomous. As the creature charged at me once more, I raised my metal hoping to at least hurt it before I die.
That's when, out of nowhere, my grandad lunged in front of me and stopped the creature dead in its tracks with his immense strength. My vision was beginning to blur now, the poison catching up to me. That was until I lost consciousness and lay upon the cave floor, bleeding out.
I slowly woke up to my grandpa looking down at me, his face had a scratch on it, and his hand was pierced through. People were around us getting ready to carry me home as my grandpa began stumbling back. My legs were a mess, and the venom was stopping me from focusing.
Eventually, we made it back to where most of them lived. I was surprised to see many people out of their houses. Iris did a good job at getting people up, I guess. I groaned out with every step. My grandpa stumbled beside us, and I could tell he was drowsy. Eventually, we made it back, and they put me down on my slab of rock. The people left our house, and my grandpa began ripping his clothes apart to tie around my wounds. After that, he told me that I would apparently adapt to the venom, and even with both of our quick healing, it would take us some time to recover.
That's when I heard people run into our home frantically and eventually make their way to the room we were in. It was Cora and her family. I didn't want them to see me like this. I felt embarrassed that Cora would see me like this.
"What the fuck happened?!" Cora screamed as tears began streaming down her face. It was rare to see her cry. I wished I could stand up just to wipe each droplet off her still beautiful face.
"I'll be fine," I responded
"The fuck you're fine!" She yelled again. She was clearly upset.
"Iris, are you okay?" I asked, worried I hadn't done enough to protect her.
"I'm alright," she mumbled timidly beside her aunt.
"I'm staying with you, Achiel," Cora proclaimed.
"You need to be with your family," my grandpa stated simply. "I promise you can come visit, but my boy needs to rest. Sorry for kicking you out like this, but it's what's best for him and for everyone." He looked serious as he said this to Cora, actually more than just serious; his face was contorted in pure concentration, trying to mask the fear in his eyes.
Cora's usual stubbornness burned away at this. "Right, I'm sorry, can I come and visit you tomorrow, Achiel?" I nodded in response to that. "I love you, Achiel", she said, turning to leave before I could even say it back.
My grandpa's face was still on edge despite the danger seemingly passing. Was this not what his instincts were worried about?