1 The Underground Cave
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"Help!" I was breathless from shouting.
In the dark and mysterious depths beneath the earth's surface, lies a mud lake inside of an underground cave enclosing an unfathomable depth. The atmosphere inside the cave was filled with silence that was only broken by the gurgling water, flowing from the stalactites and stalagmites. Protruding from the ceiling and bottom of the cave and the echo of my cries for help.
I had fallen into a big and deep hole. Which is integrated with the underground cave while walking in the forest of the green mountain range. I was looking for mushrooms to cook for the camp dinner that my cousin was supposed to initiate.
My cousin, Susan… Honestly, I don't understand the way she thinks. As the bride-to-be, I admit she has eccentric and unique tastes. Even though we don't have this kind of tradition in our place. Susan, who likes to follow trends, insisted on organizing a bachelorette party.
What I know from this event is that it's usually a girls' night out with a few bottles of wine, rom-coms, face masks, making charcuterie boards, playing games, painting each other's nails, or whatever the girls are usually into.
Susan, for some reason, chose camping as her bachelor party, her father agreed with his only daughter's wishes as if it was no big deal.
The worst part was that the place she chose was the Green Mountain Range, on the western edge, which has been notoriously haunted in recent years, due to mysterious apparitions that campers often see.
Plus, I didn't know Susan and her friends knew absolutely nothing about camping and everything. They didn't know what to put on the equipment list, how to find a safe place to camp, check the campsite, or how to pitch a tent properly. In the end, I was the one in charge of everything!
To be honest, I didn't like coming to this ridiculous event. But, since her husband-to-be is my best friend and he trusts me so much to take care of Susan while in the wild. I couldn't refuse his request.
"Shit!"
Instead of showing respect to people who are older than him, and also 'very hands-on' in the continuity of the event. Susan told me to look for mushrooms to make mushroom soup to add to our dinner.
How insolent! Even though there were many friends that she invited, why was it only me who was bothered here?
"What do they think I am? A babysitter? a maid or something?" I grumbled as I walked quickly.
It was late spring leading into summer. The grass and bushes around the forest grew taller and thicker than usual.
I couldn't focus on looking for mushrooms because I still felt irritated with Susan and her friends. My annoyance was disastrous at the time. I didn't realize that there was a large, grass-covered hole nearby. My foot tripped and caught on a wild vine, I fell and lost my balance!
"Whoa!"
It was an unpleasant experience! I never knew that there were underground caves in this town. Half of the underground cave lake was full of water mixed with mud with the volume above my ears, even though I was still above the average height of a woman! I couldn't even feel the bottom of the cave with my feet.
*Cough!*
I was having trouble breathing. The muddy water kept coming up to my throat and nose as I tried to stay on the surface of the water, but I couldn't swim! And it was too dark to see what was around me.
All I felt was the taste of water mixed with mud and dirt. I tried to move my arms and legs quickly but irregularly, hoping to stay afloat on the surface.
'What a joke this was! Really, couldn't anyone hear my voice? I felt like I didn't have enough energy anymore like I wanted to give up!'
'Oh God! At least let me say goodbye to Bong.'
My big boy- Siberian husky. But rather than seeing him for the last time, I wished Bong could have found me from up there and brought reinforcements while I was still alive, instead of finding my corpse.
"Bong!"
*Cough!*
"Please come and save your mama!" I whimpered hopefully.
However, as I closed my eyes and waited for the worst, something unexpected happened! I think God answered my prayer sooner than I thought, I heard a growling sound coming from the distance. Without knowing what it was, my instincts guessed that it was Bong!
"Bong, is that you?" I called out while trying to stay afloat on the surface, hoping for an answer.
The growling sound was getting louder and closer. I turned around and saw a pair of golden eyes staring at me from the darkness. That pair of bright yellow eyes started to get closer, and now I started to see a faint black furry body with ears like Bong, but twice as big, which made me realize that it wasn't Bong!
My heart was racing as I realized that it wasn't Bong who had come to save me.
I couldn't believe my eyes. I had seen wolves and packs before when I was a girl scout. I couldn't imagine a wolf taller than its normal size, and it was standing in front of me, with sharp claws and teeth.
At first, I was scared to death, but after a while, I realized there was something strange about this wolf. Rather than attacking me, it started sniffing around my neck and up my neck and stroking me with its nose.
The wolf then tried to help me out of this place. Every step of the wolf that carried my limp form on its back could be heard as an echo that involved the cave in silence.
As the cave ceiling above me drew closer, I felt a silence that filled every dark crevice around me. Trapped inside an endless maze of stone, this huge wolf and I were somewhere I had never imagined before.
Every step we took, felt so beautiful. The walls of the cave lit up with the colors of shining crystal stones, creating the illusion that I was walking through a tunnel into a magical underground realm.
A bright light began to appear as we made our way out of the underground lake the water level dropped.
Among the crystal clear reflected by the light, I could see the reflection of my porcelean face, green sharp eyes and my long-wavy blonde hair wet with mud, my lips are pale from the cold. Of course, the free mud mask I got from the place where I fell earlier also adorned my oval face.
'So ugly!'
The wolf carried me to the outside of the cave so that I could stand on my own feet. I couldn't believe it! my life was saved by an enormous wolf.
As I came out of the cave drenched in water mixed with mud, I could only laugh at the irony of it all. Here I was, thinking that my faithful Bong would be my savior, but instead, I was saved by an unusual wild wolf.
Nervously, I tried to grab the wolf's head to pet it while saying thank you like I usually did to Bong.
"Thank you! What a good bo-"
The huge wolf dodged me, quickly turning around and transforming into human form instantly. Perhaps I should have been more suspicious given the wolf's enormous size, it turned out to be a Lycan!
A few years ago, I had indeed heard the news about the existence of Lycan in this area.
But I never believed the news. I just assumed it was a fabrication from the local newspaper to save their almost bankrupt business. What's more, the quality of the photos provided was so poor that you couldn't tell that what they found was a Lycan.
''Oh-my-God!"
My face turned red, I was shocked and almost screamed, feeling awkward after seeing the shape-shifting Lycan in front of me, naked!
This is the first time I've seen a real man naked in my life. Well, no. I've seen them naked... half-naked to be precise, but he was my dad who didn't wear a top inside the house when summer came but still wore his favorite black trousers. If that counts as seeing a naked man. In that case, this is the second time for me.
The lycan transformed into a tall, muscular man. From his face turned back, I could see the contours of his handsome face, a sharp nose, red full lips, black hair with a short cut. His deep golden sharp eyes sparkling and his ivory skin makes him look like a life statue. I could feel that he had an unusually strong charisma.
Accidentally seeing his very nice and athletic body from behind stunned me for a moment, I could see his broad and muscular shoulders and other lower body parts from behind, which at first glance looked handsome and sexy like a model!
Another crazy thing is, the guy has a nice ass...yum!
Before long, I realized that I was mesmerized by this sexy shirtless man. I tried to avert my eyes and mustered up the courage to say thank you properly.
"Sorry for that" He replied in his wet husky voice before I said thank you clearly
"Wh-what?" I blinked my eyes and felt unfocused at the same time
He cleared his throat and then looked at me from behind with furrowed brows
"The transformation...sometimes I can't control it"
"Well, I don't have much time to give you the details, so I have to go now!"
"W-wait! Are you going to leave .... er.... naked?" I asked bluntly.
