Chapter Text
Kevin O’Reilly, soon-to-be-ten-year-old, future adventure extraordinaire, was on a very important mission:
Finding out what was in the strange cave, his parents didn’t let him go in. He’d found the spot when he was eight. Vines covered the entrance, always a bright green no matter the season. Whenever he was with his family, their eyes glanced over the cave. He told his parents about it, and they stared at him for a good while and told him he could never go near it.
But now? It was the perfect spot to avoid monsters until he was allowed back home.
“Kevin O’Reilly, famous adventurer in action!” He grabbed a stick and waved it in the air. “Woosh! Wazow!! Pow!”
He ran toward the cave, slashing down invisible monsters.
When Kevin got to the cave, the vines seemed thinner than usual. And greener. Way greener. He pushed aside the vines, and the ones he directly touched crumbled to dust.
“Whoa!” He grinned, “O’Reilly finds the first ever…uh…decaying vines!”
He stepped inside and took his dad’s lighter out of his pocket. He didn’t really want to use the lighter, but his dad said he couldn’t have a flashlight for the dark.
Monster hunters have to spend lots of time at night. It’ll build character.
The lighter illuminated bumpy walls and a winding down path. Perfectly untouched.
Kevin could hear water dripping from somewhere down the cave. There was a strange smell that made Kevin want to cough and sneeze at the same time. The walls and floors were glowing with a weird mossy-thing and shiny rocks. Several small puddles blocked his path, and he jumped over them while humming his theme song.
Eventually, the tunnel opened up to a large cave. It was pitch black except for the glowing pool of water and the lighter light. The pool reflected the fungus light, and it almost looked like the water was on fire.
He’d never seen a pool like that before.
Kevin grabbed one of the shiny rocks and dropped it.
The rock fell into the water. No splash, no ripple, nothing. It just sank straight down, almost seeming to melt in the fire-colored water. He watched as it fell down…
Kevin blinked. The lighter is on the shore and his hands are reaching for the pool. When his hands touch the water, it feels tingly-like your foot falling asleep-and strangely hot.
He scoops up some of the water and finds it feels more like jello than water. He kinda wants to eat it.
He pushes his arm deeper into the water. It doesn’t feel wet. It feels clammy. Weird. He goes to pull his hand out-
It tightens around his hand. Kevin yelps as he’s pulled downwards. He pulls back, and the water-jello tugs him back so hard he’s sure he’ll have bruises.
-He tries to stand up-
-but his feet slide-
-his butt hits the ground-
-he can feel it pull-
-he grabs the lighter-
-the water-jello jumps up his arm when the fire hits it-
-a splash-
-he’s being yanked down-
-the world spins-
-it all goes quiet.
“Hello, Kevin,” A voice echoes in the dark.
“Hi?” Kevin asks. He was still standing outside the cave.
“You’ve been hurt,” the voice said. Kevin frowned.
“I haven’t,” Kevin said. He feels pressure on his face like his face is getting cupped.
“You need fire,” the voice said. The pressure travels down to his hands, which he could suddenly see because of a strange orange light around them.
“No, I don’t,” Kevin said. His voice cracked. His mom had said fire was bad. The voice chuckled.
“Well, I need fire,” The voice said, “And it would be silly for my host to not have fire, right?”
“Host?” Kevin was getting the strangest déjà vu. He could almost imagine disintegrating vines, glowing pools, and a tug-!
“So you need to be brave. You can be brave.” Before Kevin could respond, the black was streaked with pretty shades of reds and oranges and yellows, and he fell down, down, down as thick water covered his vision.