The Glowing Sphere

Tunnel 8 was a vertical shaft. Ares sunk quickly, kicking his legs repeatedly as he made his way to the bottom. His lungs were burning as he glanced upwards and saw the glimmer of the lights from the cavern, a faint shadow could be seen leaning over the surface.

In the cavern one of the men was chuckling to himself.

"Well Olly, looks like I'm winning so far. Twenty seconds have already gone; his body's still not come up." Gary looked pleased with himself.

"What was your bet boss?" Olly said asking Grant he was clearly annoyed he had lost the bet.

"I bet he drowns!" Grant laughed loudly at his own comment.

Olly and Gary both rolled their eyes at their bosses' laughable intelligence.

"Boss is always right." Olly said, a false smile plastered to his pasty face.

In the water Ares had finally reached the bottom of the shaft. His lungs were about to burst from the pressure so he let a few bubbles escape his lips. In front of him there was only one path to choose. It looked like it was a tunnel that had partially collapsed several times; the entry was mostly blocked with rocks and there was only a small passage visible. Ares made his mind up without hesitation and squeezed his thin body into the gap.

The tunnel was pitch black, Ares was blind to his surroundings. He could feel after the initial entry the tunnel had widened a little. It still remained only about one meter in height and width. Ares's back rubbed against the ceiling as he swam. As his lungs reached the bursting point Ares felt a cylindrical tube rub against his spine. Having worked in the mines from a young age he knew that deepest mine shafts required ventilation. The ventilation that provided air would be run through a pipe system in the ceilings of each tunnel.

Ares quickly ran his hands against the cylindrical shape behind him feeling a thick pipe about the width of his leg. It was a ventilation pipe! The ground surrounding the pipe had eroded allowing him to wrap his hands around its whole breadth. Knowing that any minute he would drown, he sprang into action. Ares turned his body so that he had the pipe cradled to his front, he then placed his legs against the tunnel celling. Using his body to lever the pipe away from the wall he lifted as powerfully as he could using his legs to provide the force.

The pipes connecting bracket broke splitting the long pipe. The portion of pipe in his hands bent down into the water.

Ares quickly moved his hands away and placed his mouth into the bent air pipe. There was a pocket of air which had been trapped in the length of pipe. He inhaled deeply; the air wouldn't last but it provided him instant relief to his overburdened lungs. He silently thanked every god he could remember that the pipe hadn't ruptured before his arrival.

"Is he coming out?" Olly commented staring at the tunnel. None of the previous twelve people had lasted this long. Even if they got to the bottom and down the tunnel the currents would draw their body out as soon as they drowned.

The three men remained in silence. No-one answered Olly. The group stood instead observing the still water in the top of the shaft.

Deep into the tunnel Ares considered his options. Behind him lead towards the cavern with Grant and his minions. Ahead was pitch black. If he went back, he died. If he stayed here, he died. Forward was the only option left to him.

He took a deep breath of the stale air left in the pipe turning as he began to swim into the darkness.

Around this time all the three men above were getting increasingly agitated.

"He can't have survived this long." Gary said, furrowing his brows. The two minions would not have remained to wait this long having already lost interest. Their stupid Boss however, stood staring at the surface forbidding them from leaving.

It had been around five minutes since Ares had entered the tunnel, he was now far ahead of where the other forgotten souls had reached and continued on.

Having long since lost track of time and space Ares once again got close to his limit. As he felt pain and delirium taking his awareness he noticed a very faint green glow. The glow was in the shape of a pentagon and was about the size of a child's hand, it lay on the bottom of the tunnel a few metres away.

The pentagon was so faint that the slightest light would have made it invisible. Ares felt inexplicably drawn towards it. His body was tired and he was freezing, strangely the green glow made his fatigue less noticeable.

He reached out his hand and touched the pentagon brushing it with his fingertips, he could see nothing else in the pitch black.

As his fingertips contacted the pentagon there was an almost in-audible click. The world around Ares swirled and twisted, a huge suction appeared and his body disappeared from the spot seemingly sucked into the pentagon.

At the top of the tunnel the men noticed a slight bubbling within the water. All of them smiled darkly. They thought the bubbles were the last of the air of the young man they had sent to his death.

"He's dead, he just probably got stuck somewhere. I ain't hanging around for his body." Grant commented. He turned and began to stomp off back towards his station, the minions following in his stead.

Ares awoke in a black room, it was square and the walls shone with a polished glaze. He was laid in the middle of the floor a puddle of grimy water around him. There were no windows or doors to the room and it looked to be completely sealed. Inexplicably he could see the walls clearly as if it were day.

As he sat up; he glanced around. The room was empty except for a small spherical orb which was on a black plinth in the centre of the room. The sphere was pure white contrasting with the walls; as he glanced at it a magnetic feeling came across him leading him to approach the orb.

His wet clothes leaked on the floor as he approached creating a quiet dripping sound. Almost automatically his right arm extended and he took hold of the orb gripping it tightly. As soon as he took the orb he felt a shooting pain in his hand. A white spike shot through his palm.

"ARGHHHH." Ares screamed attempting to throw the orb from his grasp.

The white spike which had penetrated his hand morphed in shape. It grew ridges and the spike frayed becoming several strands, each strand penetrated his body in a different area. The strands of white penetrated his hands, his feet, his organs and one shot through his forehead.

Ares did not know what the light was however each strand brought a stabbing pain deep enough to bring an adult man to his knees. Combined with the freezing cold and fatigue he felt his mind slipping into a weary trance. Before he lost conscious there was a moment of clarity where he could hear a faint voice.

"Traveller; you have received the Sage's inheritance. This gift comes with a sacred mission you must.... "The voice continued but by this time Ares had passed out, he was once again lying on the floor unaware of the progression of time.

Far away to the East in a distant castle an old woman was gazing deeply into a glass ball. Her eyes were cloudy and her gnarled knuckles continuously tapped on the glass ball.

Tap. She rapped her knuckles once against the surface.

Tap. She rapped again a small frown on her face.

Tap. There was an imperceptible chiming before instantly cracked lines spread over the ball. It maintained its shape for a few seconds before shattering completely.

The woman was drawn sharply from her trance and screamed a long bloodcurdling scream as the ball shattered.

"HE HAS AWOKEN." The woman said expelling all her breath before pointing in a westerly direction. Her finger dropped down in front as soon as she had said her words and her body seemingly fell into her own shadow before disappearing.

A servant stood to the side who had been caught off guard by the quick happenings went increasingly pale before running out the room and towards the throne room.

Normal etiquette would have forbidden a servant running in the castle in any circumstance but the death of the great seer was a national catastrophe. The servant pushed open the two grand doors before screaming into the room bustling with nobles.

"THE SEER IS DEAD!".

The bustle and chatter of the throne room came to a grinding halt and silence prevailed.