Page 103 of In Between Darkness
“Are you ready to see the rest?” He smiles widely at me, and I peel my eyes from the images in front of me.
“There’s more?” I ask, anticipating his response.
“You didn’t think I would blindfold you just so you could look at some ancient carvings on a wall, did you?” He laughs faintly, and I smile, shrugging my shoulders. Clearly, there is something else in store for me.
“Come on.”
My stomach flutters with anticipation as he beckons me with his hand to follow him, treading deeper into the cave’s darkness. The walls start shrinking beside us, forming a narrow tunnel. We have just walked past the point where the last shred of light can be seen, and now we are walking in complete darkness. The only way I know Ryder is in front of me is by the heavy sounds of his black boots against the stone floor. I become uneasy in the unknown and manifest an orb on my left hand, which sends a flickering gold glow around the tunnel.
“Not scared of the dark, are you, stalker?” He laughs, and I shudder at the nickname I had hoped we were past.
“Unlike you, I wasn’t brought up in the shadows,” I jab at him, making another laugh escape his lips.
“Fair enough,” he mutters with a chuckle as I guide my orb around, painting the tunnel as we tread through it.
A few minutes pass, and I see a small, dimly lit archway glowing a pale blue ahead of us. That must be the way out of the tunnel. Ryder’s footsteps increase as I work at keeping his pace, anxious at the rocks scattered obnoxiously along the walkway.
“Almost there.” Ryder looks back at me, and I flash him a quick smile.
We reach the opening at the end of the tunnel, and moonlight burns my eyes as they readjust to its illuminating rays, my feet still walking blindly into its presence.
“Careful,” Ryder snaps, making me gasp as he holds a steel arm across my chest, halting me from taking another step. I look down astonished, and pins and needles travel up my body. I am glad he stopped me when he did because not an inch away from my dust-covered trainers is a terrifying drop of at least fifty feet.
“What is this place?” The question is quiet and breathy from pure shock as I hesitantly peer over the edge. I find myself gawping at the vision below.
“I call it Kamaria,” he exclaims with his arms, welcoming the space, then stops to stare at my star-struck face.
A miniature forest exists at the bottom of this sudden drop, surrounded by high walls mirroring the material of the cave, thinning as they rise closer to the top. An almost perfect circle bleeds moonlight into the atmosphere, which oozes over the isolated area. A waterfall runs with the clearest blue water out of a gap in the mountain wall opposite us, falling to create a stream that sparkles in the moon’s glare as it winds through the space and reflects the landscape.
Mist fills the air where the water meets the stream, and fireflies dot the sky with a fiery yellow glow, blinking effervescently and giving light to the darkness.
Kamaria was said to be a sanctuary made by the Gods thousands of years ago. An isolated place, both immortal and immune to the destruction of humans.
“Kamaria…after the ancient stories?” I ask, causing him to cock a brow in my direction.
“You have heard the stories too.” He looks at me with adoration, fascinated at the copious amount of knowledge stored inside my head.
“Yes, but I didn’t think it existed.”
I furrow my eyebrows as I look at him for answers.
“It doesn’t — well, not here anyway.” He shrugs his shoulders. “I just thought the name was fitting,” he adds, and I smile at him.
“I think it’s a volcano, inactive of course, because if you place your hand on the floor, you can still feel its warmth.”
He takes my hand, crouching down and rests it on the stone by our feet. He’s right. Heat radiates off my palm and absorbs into me. The feeling of his hand against mine sends shivers down my body, and our eyes lock momentarily as I raise mine to look at him. The rest of the world quiets as his gaze hypnotisesme, and I feel the pulse in his palm as it beats into my hand, drawing me closer to him. A flutter in my stomach warms my body. Before I discovered how he truly felt about me, I would have averted my gaze to avoid an intimate moment, but after our bodies fused in sweet desire, I can’t help but blush, my eyes smiling his way as he smiles back. He takes to his feet, and I copy him and wipe the dust off my hands against my leggings.
“How do we get down there?” I ask, filling the silence.
“Do you trust me?” He throws a smile my way, and I slowly nod my head, slightly afraid he had to ask that question.
“I suppose,” I drag out my words, adding to my hesitance, but reassuring him that I do, in fact, trust him.
He places his fingers between his lips and whistles loudly out into the void. The whistle echoes as it bounces off the walls and travels through the atmosphere. He stares into the forest below, waiting for someone or something to peek its head out above the trees and answer his call. I have seen this before with Mr Knight in the taming quadrant, but I find it hard to believe that Ryder is calling on an elion. For starters, this habitat is way too confined for them, they like big open spaces. Also, there are only ten recorded elions this side of Palidonia, and they all reside in the taming quadrant.
I glance at him quickly out of the corner of my eye, not wanting to peel them away from the scenery below for too long. Ryder’s eyes remain locked onto the roots of a far tree that disappear into the grass and protrude out every few metres before curving back under into the soil. The twisted roots seem to spread for miles around the secluded terrain and are often hidden by plants and shrubbery. I squint my eyes to adjust to the darkness as silence becomes us.
“What are we looking at?” I whisper, not wanting to disturb the silence too much.
