Chapter 21 – Ammit
– Sam P.O.V. –
I step out of the tunnel, and immediately freeze.
Before me stretches a colossal cavity carved deep into the planet core, a cavern so vast it defies logic. The walls, floor, and ceiling stretch upward into shadow, studded with glowing crystals the size of houses, some pulsing, others flickering like distant stars. Between them, vegetation thrives in impossible colors: violets that shimmer like oil, greens that glow faintly, and blooms of deep crimson that seem to breathe. The air hums, not with sound, but with presence. Like the world itself is aware.
This isn't just underground.
This is another realm.
A golden pathway snakes ahead, glistening like polished marble. I feel… light.
Not in body, even though my limbs do seem to float, but in spirit. Emotionally weightless, as if the air here dissolves sorrow, grief, memory. It's intoxicating. And I know better than to trust that. I've seen places like this before in my dreams. Places that soothe to enslave. Still… I can't help but smile.
I start running.
Not fast. Playful, almost dreamy. Skipping over seams in the path, twirling when the mood hits. A laugh bubbles out. Then a melody. Old. Worn in. One that digs its claws into my chest and sings back for me. This place is happy, but my soul cracks leak sorrow.
"Yeah, it feeeels…
Yeah, it feeeels like…
Heaven so far away…
Yeah, it feeeels like…
World is so cold…
Now that you're gone away…"
My voice cracks on the last line. The cave doesn't echo, it absorbs, then answers with a harmony only I can hear. I close my eyes, letting the song pull me under. That's the thing about me: I don't just sing songs. I become them. For those seconds, I am that heartbreak, that ache, that loneliness suspended in a minor chord.
Then, sniffling.
Tiny. Faint. Like a child trying not to cry.
I stop. Silence.
The air shivers.
Nothing. No movement. No eyes. I shake my head. Too dark. Too quiet. Too easy.
I force a grin. Change the tune.
"She come out of the sun in a silk dress
running like water comet in the rain
don't bother asking for explanations
she'll just tell you that she came,
in the year of the Cat..."
Ah. Al Stewart. "Year of the Cat." Classy. Cool. Less likely to summon existential dread.
I snap my fingers. Clap once. Twice. Whistle the saxophone solo, joyful, stupid. The golden path seems to brighten. Then I see them.
Little lights.
Faint, flickering orbs, like fireflies made of stardust. Dancing in rhythm to my whistle. Keeping just outside my sight, darting behind crystals when I turn. Playful. Curious. Like kids following the Pied Piper.
I laugh, tipsy on atmosphere. On power. On this place.
I whistle "Bouree" by Jethro Tull. Hammered. Drunk. Uncoordinated joy.
I stumble forward, half-dancing, half-tripping along the path. The lights swirl faster, chiming like wind bells. But then...
I click.
Not sound. Sensation.
Something in my head snaps into focus. Like waking from a lucid dream. The euphoria, the ease, suddenly feels off. Artificial. Not mine.
They're influencing me.
The lights. The air. The gold marble.
They're tuning me like an instrument.
I'm being guided. Soothing as control. Joy as manipulation.
And yet… they enjoy my music? That's new.
I don't flinch. Don't stop. Keep whistling. Keep skipping. Smile wider.
(Inside: calculating.)
Can I use my power?
No.
Still unstable. Still raw. Since, my meridians are tangled, like a knot of wires shorting each other out. If I reverse polarity now, I might learn what's really happening to me… but I could also unravel something vital. Risky.
And if I piss off the hosts?
Better not test it.
So I play along.
The path climbs the cavern wall in a gentle arc, then, impossibly, leaps into open space as a bridge. Not floating. Not held up. Just there, golden and solid, connecting to a massive boulder suspended in mid-air.
And on that mountain sized boulder, with crystals jutting like spears from its surface, sits a castle.
Not a ruin. Not a fantasy sketch.
A real structure. Stones, with towers and arches, glowing windows, and no visible entrance.
I whistle again.
The little lights scatter as I approach. At the bridge's end, I stop, turn, and bow low, arm sweeping across like a theater performer.
"That was… very nice," I say, voice clear. "See you later, ladies and gentlemen."
Silence.
Then, a few whispers.
Giggles.
Hum.
And they're gone.
I turn and pass through the gate.
Inside, a puzzle waits for me.
Of course.
A stone slab, split in three, etched with shifting runes that glow red when touched. A classic trap: get it wrong, and you get burned.
I press my palm to it, knowing the current combination is wrong. Nothing happens.
No penalty.
Good.
I exhale. It would have stupid, to invite me to die...
Now, here's a dirty little secret about me: I hate puzzles.
Not because I can't solve them.
Because I know I will. And I want to get them over with. Fast. Laziness drives my intelligence... The more effort I can save now, the less I have to do later.
So I brute-force it.
Systematic. Methodical. Hands move without eyes. I don't think, I feel the sequence. Like muscle memory for logic. Four wheels. Nine symbols each. 6,561 combinations. In under five minutes, the lock clicks.
But here's the real trick?
I closed my eyes.
Didn't look at the clues. Didn't analyze the patterns on the wall.
Just did it.
I mutter, stepping into the next chamber. "No need to make it fun."
The next room? Golems.
Stone behemoths, standing motionless. Three of them. And one boss, twice as tall, with fists like boulders, blocking a sealed door.
A test of strength. Endurance. Combat.
And me?
No powers. No weapons.
This is supposed to be, a real ass test. I guess.
I just evade and reach the other side of the room, to find the boss golem and a closed door.
(I imagine I should kill them, but no power... This is real life, I should be able to do this.)
I void the attacks a while, reading his moves, then I stand in front of the door and the thing punch it. The door explode just like I thought....
"Hahahaha..."
Once I cross the threshold, they don't attack anymore.
Next, a cave full of tunnels, filled with water and air pockets. They form a labyrinth. Again, I just follow the right wall. It does not take that much brain power. You only remember how many branches you passed from the main one. If you are better than this, use a number for each branch and explore the whole place without leaving one unexplored spot...
But I just skip it.
A normal person starts to panic at 90% to 80% of oxygen, remaining in the blood, depending on will and training and can stay conscious until 40 to 30%, so staying in the water, 5 min for a normal person, while they stay calm, is possible. Besides, if you stay calm, you just fall to sleep, while shaking, from holding your breath and not to swallow water. Not a gruesome way to die, compared to many others.
With my body, right now, an hour is possible, maybe, but I don't force it and in 20 min, I'm out of this place...
(I'm glad that I'm only wearing a loin cloth...)
I bind my long, wet hair in a knot. The next room is a dark cave, with an acrid smell. I can see a few webs on the walls, of a deep pit, with stairs leading along the wall, in the dark.
(Well, I'm not afraid of bugs, but poison, is another story... Wait... Pedomaru thingy, may have heighten my res....)
I have to climb down, a few levels before reaching the floor. Once I start walking on the floor, millions of insects can feel my position. I have no choice to run and jump around.
These insects are sometimes small, sometimes big. But one thing is sure — I'm hungry. My stomach aches again.
(Why?... I know bug's are nutritious but... arg... here we go.)
I just snatch one that look like a little, grey lobster and chew on it, like a chip. Once I swallow it, all the insects stop moving in frighten instinct. I awakened something..
(So gooooood!)
I look around for the same thing that I just ate, but settle on a Mantis/Hopper who sart running!
Crunch!
"Miammmm!"
Tears stain my cheek's. All the insects start to panic and turn around, but a lot more tears want to come out. I feel really offended and reluctant to let them go, for some reason...
I open my mouth and vacuum come out. I realize I acted on pure instinct, the thing waking up was this, along my insect genes I guess. Most of the insects get sucked in my stomach. I Feel a sweet and sour taste. Really addictive.
Once this part of the cave is clean, I feel bloated a bit, my stomach wiggling and hurting. I try to puke, but nothing come for a while, Then, a black mass comes out of my stomach and fall on the floor.
(It's the goo! What is she doing in my stomach!?)
The goo take a little girl appearance, same as the twin we put to bed in my mindcape. Around 8 years old, long, black, lustrous hair, that tends to hide her privates. (good cause I don't have any clothes to give her.) Her scleras are black and irises blue like mine. The pupil seem to be like the start of a small black hole, with a shining blue ring around it. I already thought of a name before, so I just tell her.
"I will call you Ammit! Just like the Egyptian goddess, feared as a demon in the afterlife, for devouring the souls of the dead. Like it?"
She nod.
"Hungry?"
Nod again.
"Okay, let's go eat some more bugs! Hahaha"
She seems really happy, even if she doesn't talk yet. I carry her on my shoulders, while she just vacuums the bugs out and giggle happily. Hard to believe that she was a piece of tentacle, from a galactic squid, or something like it...