The Passage to the Underground

After a few days of extensive long walking, we were finally close to the Underground Lake, standing on a field from where a tall mountain can be seen. If according to the map, the lake should be anywhere near this field... But there was something really wrong here... As far as my eyes could see, there were no entrances for the underground nearby... And after searching around the area, it continued missing...

I should have expected that. It's not like the sacred place where one of the four elements can live alone is easy to enter... This would also explain why the Underground Lake is considered a forbidden place for people to enter, it must have lots of traps besides being hard to even find the entrance. But as I said before, it wasn't that little rule that was going to stop me...

"Hey...", I said, looking at the fox on my shoulder. It tilted its head with me calling it all of the sudden. "Do you know where is the entrance of the Underground Lake? or can see it".

It thought for a little while and then scanned the area with its eyes for a moment. To my disappointment, it shook its head to the sides, signing a no... With a long sigh, I looked down...

"I guess we will just sit here and rest for a while, then...", I said to it and sat on the tall grass of the field.

The fox jumped on my lap as soon as I did that and with a few movements, it made its third home. The first is my neck, and the second, my shoulder. I gave it some head pats for a while before it started to fall asleep there...

"Hey, we still need to hunt or collect our food before the sun disappears, you know? It's important to eat". I said, but it didn't listen to me... It was already sound asleep. With a long sigh, I just let this one time without eating slip and then laid down in the tall grass, staring at the orange sky... The night was coming, I could see the orange fade to a pink and then to a dark blue, in a very slow transition...

Suddenly, there's only darkness. Darkness, not the one of the night, but the darkness of my thoughts, of my feelings... I was imagining things, imagining worlds, realities... One where I could be with the princess and we could live forever ever happy, starting now... One where I could have my brother back... One which only can happen so easily in the world of dreams. That's when I realize... I fell asleep while the sun decided to set.

Slowly, I leaned my back forward, getting into a sitting position... The fox was still sleeping, but now close to my stomach. It was hard to get up without waking it up, but I found a way to do it.

It seemed like it had waked up before me, however. It had berries with it... I guess it was, indeed, listening to me and collected some food for us during the night, although only berries won't be enough, at least for me.

Well, but better something than nothing at all... After stretching myself, I picked up the berries and ate a few of them. At the same time, I appreciated the great view I had here in this open field... There were fireflies all around the place, illuminating the area a little with their dim light and somehow, slightly changing the color of the tall green grass near them.

But something was odd... There were fireflies with a strange - Or at least unusual - blue light. I inevitably got curious about that... Carefully, I picked up the fox on one of my arms, and with the other, I picked up the berries it had collected for us.

Slowly, I approached the blue fireflies, trying not to scare them away... It almost felt like I was walking in a sea full of stars with those normal fireflies all around, but I couldn't enjoy the experience any longer, I was too focused on the blue fireflies.

The more I approached them, the farther away they seemed to be from me, getting further and further away from us... When I realized, they stopped by the mountain... By the entrance of a mysterious cave, whose entrance I did not saw before. They had guided us to here... I couldn't restrain my happiness and excitement, I just had to wake up the fox.

"Hey, look... I think we found the Underground Lake", I shouted.

With sleepy eyes, it looked around, then faintly, it smiled at me, and, still in the process of waking up, he climbed my arm, staying on its second home. I smiled back at him and then decided to put the berries we had in my pockets... I needed to find a bag or something similar to keep those things sooner or later.

I started to walk inside the cave then... The blue fireflies stayed by the entrance and I decided to wave goodbye for them... It's not like they would understand my actions, however.

Despite being a cave, it was strangely regular... The walls were all made of countless rocks, but the deeper we headed inside, the more I could see a kind of pattern on them. The floor was also strange... It went downwards and the rocks are too perfectly organized, creating a perfect staircase.

Sometimes, because of the repetitive patterns and constant process of walking in circles, I would be tricked into thinking we're walking in circles, but that was impossible... Unless there was a curse or something similar here. You might think it's strangely dark in those areas as well, but you can actually see pretty well... Blue crystals on the patterns would show to us their light, the same way as the fireflies.

The path would then straightened itself... No right or left, no up and down, just the straight way forward... To a lake... A lake that irradiated beautiful blue lighting somehow, and I could see what seemed to be a fish, swimming in the air... Unbelievably.

I was shocked - amazed to be more precise - with such a beautiful sight. I felt attracted, draw to it and before I realized what's happening, I was already walking on my own towards the lake... Only for then, right at the entrance of the lake and the exit of this passage, a wall of water raise and then immediately freeze, blocking my path with a hard solid ice wall... I was surprised and immediately drew my sword. This could only be a trap, I could feel that...

That's when I heard the sound of water again, coming from right behind us... Another wall was forming to trap us here. I didn't think straight, I just ran to it and upon realizing there was no time for me to reach it in time, I threw the fox through it before the wall could freeze. It escaped, it was not trapped between the frozen walls... But I was...