Alex Sullivan

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

A familiar line stirred me from sleep. I opened my eyes groggily, expecting the usual, but was instead met with Yukio's beaming face. She looked unusually excited, her dark hair messy but her energy infectious.

"I'm up, give me a second," I replied, as she began rummaging through the crystals scattered around us.

"You've slept for three hours. That's more than I got, you know," she complained.

Yeah, yeah, three hours isn't enough for someo—wait. How do you know I slept for exactly three hours?" I asked, confused.

"With this," she replied smugly, holding up a watch strapped to her wrist.

"You've got to be kidding me. You had the watch this whole time? Why didn't you put it on? What time is it even?" I was bewildered.

"What are you talking about? I was wearing it the whole time. Are you blind? It's 10 AM right now," she answered firmly.

It was then that I realized... my vision was clear... it was crystal clear! I could see the watch clearly, Yukio clearly, illuminated by the light in the cave. Not only that, but my right hand didn't even hurt as much as it had before. I looked at my bandaged hand, unraveling the cloth, only to realize it was almost fully healed! The bones were fine, and even the finger I had managed to nudge back in yesterday wasn't swollen. I could move it without pain. The injuries that had seemed impossible to heal overnight were now just faint memories.

"My hand... my eyes... how is this possible?" I was in shock. Not only was my hand healed quickly, but the permanent damage my eyes had received over my whole life was gone. There was no denying it—it was a miracle.

"It has to be the water," Yukio said, her voice filled with wonder. "After you mentioned meditating last night, I decided to try it too. It took me a while to relax—I haven't meditated since I was little—but after about an hour, I noticed something strange. There was this... aura, this energy, radiating from everything. And that puddle over there? It had this golden glow around it."

She paused, her excitement building. "Not only that, but my body feels amazing. I'm not just rested—I feel stronger, faster, like I'm in the best shape of my life. Look at this!"

Before I could say anything, Yukio got into a runner's stance.

"Three... two... one... GO!" she yelled and started running... or rather, speeding. She was fast. Really fast. I didn't think any athlete could catch up to her. After running around 100 meters, Yukio came back towards me, but I realized she couldn't stop. I jumped to the right side just as Yukio collided with a tree, managing to block the impact with her hands.

"THUD!" A loud noise echoed as Yukio fell backward, laughing.

"that hurt...I still can't get the hang of it fully," she complained, brushing herself off.

"So... this water... it has super healing properties? What even is this place? Strange creatures, super healing water, and weird energy? Are we even alive?" I was confused. We weren't just underground; that was for sure. Had we somehow found a hidden world within Earth? Was this a secret place just beneath the surface of our civilization? Multiple possibilities raced through my mind as Yukio replied.

"Well, judging by how painful it was to hit that tree, we're not dead, that's for sure. We might be high on cave water, half-passed out somewhere, but I don't think we're dead," Yukio said, clearly excited about this new discovery.

She was always full of energy to begin with, and I couldn't blame her. Discovering a hidden place like this, with possibly water of youth, was an adventure almost anyone would die for.

But given the traumatic events that had happened to me, it was barely something good. I tried not to think about it, but the realization of everyone I cared about being gone was slowly dawning on me for the second time.

"Are you okay?" Yukio asked, noticing my gloomy demeanor. "Are you hurt somewhere?" She showed true concern for the first time today. She was looking at me with confusion and sadness, while I clearly saw her features for the first time. My eyes were truly healed, and I was only now noticing the details of her face. Yukio had light blue eyes, dark hair, and long eyelashes. Noticing my gaze, her face lit up a little.

"Is there something on my face?" she asked shyly.

"Yeah, there was a gigantic leech on your hair. I thought it looked weird," I replied, trying to run away from this awkward situation.

"WHAT? GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Yukio started to yell, running and shaking her head all around, causing me to start laughing with all my heart for the first time in the last 48 hours.

"CALM DOWN, it's gone now. Relax," I managed to calm her down.

"I hate leeches... bad memories," Yukio replied with a serious face.

We realized that whatever this glowing puddle was, it was keeping us fed and energized, so we couldn't just leave it. 

Luckily, we still had the red jacket Yukio was wearing when I saw her in the water—the same jacket that somehow managed to distract the giant lizard and give us enough time to save ourselves. But it was torn to shreds, so we decided to combine it into multiple layers and craft something like a mix between a bowl and a satchel. 

We used sticks from the tree as holders. Since the jacket was made to keep the rain out, we figured it was good enough to keep the water in. It did work to some extent; the water was dripping here and there with small droplets but not to the point of being concerning.

After three more hours of walking, Yukio and I sat down to rest in the middle of a "crystal forest." There was nothing there besides crystals and the ground—no trees, no water. Luckily, we had more than enough for today. It was warm, even hot, at this place. Giant crystals emitted enough heat for this area to be considered a well-heated space.

After drinking the miracle water once again, Yukio and I were both full—hunger and thirst were gone for good. We weren't yet tired enough to sleep, so we decided to talk.

We mainly discussed our theories about this place and what awaited us afterward.

"Do you think this place is some kind of hidden world beneath ours?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

Yukio considered it. "Maybe. But what if it's something weirder? Like an ancient Bermuda Triangle kind of place where things from different times get trapped?"

 As we continued, our theories became drastically more unsettling, so we had to stop. Regardless of where we were, we had to find a way out. To do that, we needed to explore even more.

After one more hour of walking, we noticed a gigantic green creature lying on the side of a small pond. We hid behind a tree for around ten minutes, only to realize the creature was dead and rotting.

Approaching cautiously, we saw a large metal sword embedded in its skull. The creature was the same type of lizard we'd encountered earlier, only this one was the size of a bus. The sight—and the stench—was nauseating. Yukio turned pale, struggling to keep from vomiting.

I climbed onto the creature's back and yanked the sword free. It was a thin but sturdy blade with a golden handle, carved with the initials A.W.

Jumping down from the corpse, I approached Yukio with a bloody sword. We somehow managed to wash it off with the green blood of the monster.

"Green blood? I feel like I'm in an Alien movie," Yukio said, concerned.

I couldn't blame her. In what case was green blood even remotely possible? I didn't know much about different species, but I highly doubted it was ever recorded.

Now we had a weapon. It wasn't much if we encountered a creature the same size as this corpse, but it was better than fighting monsters like this with fists. We followed the bloody trail of the corpse, which was clearly at least a couple of days old. 

After walking for around twenty minutes, we noticed the entrance of a tunnel far smaller than the rest of the cave we had seen, but still big enough for a bus-sized monster to fit in.

The change in scenery caused us to be more excited. After entering the tunnel, we noticed the path was slowly climbing upwards.

Yukio was checking our backs as we went further into the strange tunnel. It was then that I noticed a severed hand lying on the ground, along with a broken shield.

 I quietly turned around and told my companion to hide while I explored what was beyond.

After making sure Yukio was hidden, I approached cautiously. It looked like that monster had massacred a squad of people—dead, unrecognizable corpses, and broken swords were scattered everywhere. As I approached the middle of what now seemed like a graveyard, I was speechless... I started laughing as realisation finally hit me.

Yukio Shinazugawa

After Alex told me to hide, I stayed concealed, watching from afar as he approached the gruesome scene beyond him. I couldn't see properly, but I saw enough to know there were multiple bodies there, some even severed into pieces.

"What on earth is happening here? Are we close to the entrance? How are there also people here? Were they stuck like us?" Multiple thoughts raced through my mind as I suddenly heard Alex laughing. It was creepy; he hadn't laughed like that since we arrived. It was as if desperation and laughter were mixed together.

Slowly, I came around the corner to approach Alex. I needed to know what was wrong with him.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE F*KING KIDDING ME!" Alex suddenly yelled as he backed into the wall and slid to the ground, holding his face.

Confused, I went past him. I needed to see what he was seeing. Passing multiple unrecognizable bodies, I approached one dressed in a bright green outfit. Their armor looked similar to knights from the Middle Ages, with big letters "A.W." carved on the front. They were missing both legs, and their eyes were shut open—they were dead. 

But that was not the reason Alex was freaked out. Only then did I notice something else. I looked around the other bodies for confirmation, and there was no mistaking it.

Now it all made sense. Why were there weird creatures here? Why had we felt strange energy since we arrived? Why was there miracle water in this gigantic cave filled with different monsters?

We were in a dungeon... and the bodies before us had the unmistakable features from fairy tales—ridiculously long ears. These people... they were not humans. They were elves.

"Looks like we won't be getting home anytime soon," Alex exclaimed, looking up at the glowing ceiling of the tunnel.