Chapter 1

Daniel wormed his way through the damp, desolate tunnel beneath his family's farmhouse. The harsh light from the headlamp strapped to his head was the only source of light this deep underground. Roughly forty yards or so of stone and a very tedious crawl separated him from the surface and any natural light the midday sun would have provided. 

The rough cave walls surrounding Danel were narrow and tight around his body, barely giving him enough room to scoot forward one little bit at a time. If he got cold feet halfway through he'd need to scoot the fifty feet he'd already managed to crawl backwards, and that was not something he looked forward to doing again.

The cave systems around his house had always interested Daniel. Primarily how the stone in this particular one almost seemed like it had melted at some point. Which was odd, the area he lived in wasn't supposed to have ever had any volcanic activity. At least not recently enough to have left a mark this significant.

The running theory he'd compiled from a spread of wikipedia articles and the few geologists he'd actually managed to get ahold of on a phone was that the cave had simply eroded into the shape it was today. No real answer was going be given until an expert actually showed up in person toting some expensive equipment, so it remained a mystery.

It wasn't the most important thing to take note of, but it was certainly another thing to duct tape to the very sketchy question of why he was even down here. 

The main reason being that he found it fun, although that argument admittedly stood on some damn shaky legs down in the sketchier portions of the cave, like the one he was currently crawling through.

So he powered through, there's no gain without a little pain and he already had his destination in mind, and before he knew it he'd already made it to the end of the tunnel which opened up to a small pocket of space. 

It was barely enough room for Daniel to sit on his knees without bending over, but that was more than enough space for him. Mainly because he'd already dragged a cushion down the tunnel weeks ago to rest his knees on while he worked, and because what he'd been working so hard on was almost done. 

On the far wall, not four feet from where the tunnel opened up was a narrow fissure in the wall, and behind said fissure was a steep drop down to god knows where. Daniel smiled at the thought of finally going down there. 

Nowadays it was getting more and more difficult to be the first person to do something. Well, truthfully it's not that hard if you wanted to get super technical about it. There was that one guy who brought a copy of Air Bud to the top of mount Everest and claimed to be the first person to ever do so. 

And as big of an achievement as that was, to Daniel exploring a cave that is guaranteed to have never had a human in it felt less… stupid? 

Although Daniel figured that was pretty subjective. He probably didn't have much room to judge when he spent his Saturdays crawling through a cave that he could barely fit in. 

Once Daniel got himself situated he pulled out his phone, turned on some music, cracked open a beer that he'd been keeping in his pack and picked up the rock hammer he kept beside the fissure and got to work.

Small bits of stone fell away with each careful swing Daniel made, littering the ground with small rocks which he scooted into a growing pile with his gloved hands. 

Normally, he'd have to drag them out of the cave when he left to keep the space clear, but today he just did the chore out of habit.

Piece by piece the fissure in the wall opened up. It had likely already been enough space for him to slip through when he'd arrived today, but he wanted to make sure that the size of it was comfortable enough to slide through. The worst thing that he could do would be squeezing through to the other side, exploring whatever lay at the bottom and then having to climb the rope back up to the fissure and struggle to get back through with no ground to leverage against. 

He wouldn't need to worry about that though, because with only a few more carefully placed swings of his hammer the fissure was finally large enough for Daniel to comfortably squeeze through.

So with a smile on his face, Daniel checked the rope anchor he's screwed into the ground a couple weeks prior and found it was secure. So with careful steps, and more than a little excitement he squeezed through the deep fissure in the wall and finally got a good look at where it led.

Daniel was greeted by a deep pit on the other side of the fissure with the same melted walls as the rest of the cave. It seemed rather ordinary as Daniel shined his light all throughout the pit, but when his headlamp scanned the cold stone floor of the pit his heart caught in his throat.

Resting along the wall, slumped over onto itself was a dead body. It'd clearly been there a very long time. All the flesh had been picked clean from the corpse by the insects and rats that resided in the cave, leaving nothing behind but a dirt covered skeleton in torn rotting clothes. 

'Holy shit', Daniel thought as he stared down towards the corpse. He quickly shined his light every which way, but no matter where he looked there was no other way into the cave other than the one he'd just come through.

Nobody should have been able to get down there. The fissure had barely been a couple inches wide when he'd first started working on it. 

Daniel watched the corpse for several moments, unsure of how to proceed. He knew the air down there was safe, he'd tested it weeks ago using the rope and a cheap testing kit. Which meant that whoever was down there had most likely died because they hadn't been able to get out. 

'Well, I guess I should go check if he has a wallet on him or something? Maybe he'll have a license.'

With that thought, and more than a little reluctance Daniel began to use the climbing rope to descend down into the cave. The temperature of which seemed to drop the deeper he went as the smell from the body worsened. It wasn't overbearing, but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

When Daniel's feet finally touched the cool stone floor he pinched the collar of his shirt and covered his nose. 

While a good chunk of the dead man's body was missing, gone to bugs and rodents. There simply weren't enough of them down here to get all of him. Daniel could count the golf ball sized tunnels leading down into the pit on one hand, and that was including the fissure he himself had come through.

More than a few rat corpses littered the cave floor, which had clearly been unable to climb back up the sheer stone wall to reach the tunnels that they'd entered through a half dozen meters or so above the ground.

Sidestepping around the dead rodents Daniel walked over to the dead man. The clothes he wore had long since lost their form, leaving little more than rags to cover the corpse. From what Daniel could make out he was wearing some kind of cotton shirt, leather boots and what may have been a cloak if what he saw was a hood and not simply a result of the rats tearing at a blanket.

Directly beside where the corpse's arm rested, shimmering in the light, was a small card shaped object. It seemed to have been made from plated gold, and carved into its surface was an extremely intricate drawing of two worlds connected together by two snakes anchored to them. Both snakes had stretched their bodies over to their neighboring world with their mouths agape in the process of devouring their neighboring snake and the each other's world in its entirety. 

Daniel stared at the golden card for some time, taking in the disturbingly detailed artwork of the two snake's mutually assured destruction, but more importantly, he took in the fact that there was no rust to speak of on the obviously metallic card.

"No disrespect to you or the dead, but if this is real gold I'm pocketing it. I hope you'll understand." Daniel stated plainly to the corpse as he picked up the card and flipped it over.

The other side was covered in writing, but Daniel never got the chance to read it before the card disappeared and he felt intense burning on his right arm.

Daniel cursed in surprise, dropping the card instinctively and watching as it fell through the air.

It never reached the floor. 

It shattered midfall, disappearing in a cascade of light as Daniel hastily took his eyes off it and slid the sleeve of his shirt back. The burning had disappeared as quickly as it came, but when Daniel looked at his lower arm a stark black tattoo was left in place of the burning. It depicted the same art the golden card had shown, but this time when he stared at it words floated into his mind.

Flicker Between Worlds 

Legendary

Space

Timer: 54 Minutes Remaining

Upon the timer reaching zero the wielder of this card will flicker between one of two distinct worlds. Upon which point, the timer will reset and begin to count down once more. 

The wielder of this card can at any point choose to remain between worlds for a limited amount of time.

(The timer will not be reduced while between worlds.)