NOVEL WEB Chapter 33: Deeper Down
Light comes in many shades of foreboding. Headlights after you drive onto the off-ramp. Lights that you swore you turned off, but it’s late and no one else is home. A red flashing light when you can’t find the manual.
Jasson stared at an unfamiliar foreboding light. His path curved with the river, the walls growing tighter as the tunnel turned up ahead. It had been over an hour of walking to this place, and there was no end in sight around the corner. But across the river, right as the river sped up, light glowed through the water. Warm, a bit brown, and impossible.
“I’m deep underground,” Jasson said, “Right? There’s not some kind of…waterfall over there. Is there?”
“Nope,” Charon said, “That is not an opening to the outside world.”
Jasson paced back and forth, forcing blood through his lethargic muscles. Was this really the best option?
“Are there magic crystals that glow in this world?” Jasson said.
“Possibly,” Charon said.
“An answer, please.” Jasson waved his phone, “I don’t have the ability to research this.”
“I’m not a specialist in this world,” Charon said, “and why should I help you?”
“Because I’m a customer,” Jasson said, “And specialists can be old and sickly. You should be walking beside them as well.”
“Oh, clever you.” Chara shrugged and said, “Yes, the crystals in this world can glow when a natural reaction is occurring between Mana crystals and elemental crystals. Mana crystals also glow faintly, but it’s barely perceivable by human eyes.”
“Okay…” Jasson said, dipping a hand in the river, “It’s not that fast…”
“I’ll let you know,” Charon said, “That’s a lot of people’s last words.”
“I survived it once,” Jasson turned off his phone and put it in his pocket, then started swinging his arms.
“Again, famous last words,” Charon said, “You don’t even know if there’s a place you can fit through.”
“I’m not that fat,” Jasson said, “And can’t you just…check?”
“Oh, I know.” Charon said, “But I’m not allowed to give out information that would directly save someone’s life. I’m not even implying anything, it’s just the rules.”
Jasson nodded and said, “Tell me then, how far down this tunnel would it be before you couldn’t say if my fate would get better or worse?”
“It would take you hours,” Charon said.
“And the girls are in trouble?” Jasson said.
“Pretty sure,” Charon said, “The chap is looking really hard for them. Their plan is good, but my earlier guess looks true.”
“All right then,” Jasson jogged upstream, “I think I’ll have to risk it.”
“It’s quite likely that you will die,” Charon said, “doesn’t that matter to you? You will definitely survive the next few hours if you just keep walking. Yeah, you wouldn’t be in time, but this is…crazy.”
“It’s not about dying.” Jasson said, “It’s about being strong enough to chase my dreams, to save my home and the people who live in it. It’s about being better, about caring enough to share the world with people. These are my friends, and I refuse to let them down.”
Jasson leaped, the warmth of his body extinguishing like a candle. Flailing with panic for a moment, Jasson wrestled his way up and pointed his feet downstream. Stroke. Stroke. Jasson managed to catch himself on a rock with a foot and push himself further. But, in between gasping bobs for air, the light was getting closer far too quickly.
#&^%, Jasson thought, The middle of a river is faster. That’s right. I should have gone further upstream. I’m gonna miss it. Should I tu-no!
Gasping for breath, Jasson filled his lungs before swimming as hard as he could. He would make it. He had to! He-
Twang!
Jasson could practically hear his ankle twist on a rock and felt the pain burn past the numbing cold. But he couldn’t stop now, and every time he intercepted a rock with his feet, a shock of pain pushed a little gasp of bubbles from his lungs. Just a bit farther. Why wasn’t the river slowing down?!
Jasson checked his progress and almost screamed from frustration. The light was almost upon him! Taking one last breath and throwing himself into swimming, Jasson ignored everything else and-
CRACK!
Jasson slammed his knee against a rock and barely kept himself from going into an uncontrolled tumble. The water was getting faster, and Jasson tore his already blooding fingers through the water until-
GOT IT! Jasson thought, catching hold of the opposite wall. He was nearly out of air, and Jasson opened his eyes beneath the water to see how far he was.
No…
Jasson was several feet short of the light, and his muscles were already giving way to the water. He didn’t even have time to breathe. Jasson clawed at the stone, finding every crevice a handhold as he dug his shattered knee into the rock. His lungs burned, but he couldn’t stop!
One bleeding hand broke into the light, followed by the other as he seized upon the opening. Hauling himself up, Jasson wedged his twisted leg and shattered knee into the opening and flailed, looking for the surface. Jasson felt his fingers break water and stretch into the air, but he couldn’t quite reach it with his mouth. It was either breathe or hold on. He’d have to let go. Give up. Could he crawl out downstream? But he’d have to recover again.
No! Jasson thought. All or nothing. I am here to live! And if I die doing my best, that will be enough for me.
Jasson’s lungs burned with hellish fire as he unhooked his legs, pulling himself deeper into the light while kicking his legs. Any moment he could almost feel the walls closing in, trapping him without air or movement. The world started to black out, exactly like he knew it would. Jasson pulled with weak arms, gliding through the water like a-a-a-
Jasson wasn’t able to reach the walls anymore, and he floated slowly to the surface as he stopped kicking. It was starting to feel warm. The sound of water lapping against Charon’s boat was accompanied by the sound of his pole in the water. Maybe he was almost there. Maybe-
Crack!
Jasson inhaled a gasp of water and choked, scrambling to grab whatever he’d hit his head against. His fingers found cold air.
Air!
Breaking through the water, Jasson coughed and tried to get the precious air into his lungs than liquid. Heave, cough, breathe, realize that he should have spit out the water, repeat.
“Oh,” Jasson sighed, “Oh thank the gods.”
“I mean, that’s generally good practice,” Charon said, “They’re in business for the thanking. But…well I would look around first. Good to take it all in early.”
Jasson nodded dumbly and wiped his eyes, bringing the world into focus. Charon stood on his boat, half in another rock in ethereal parking. Light glinted off Charon’s rings and chains, and Jasson slowly turned his eyes above him.
“Mana crystals are beyond dim,” Charon said, “But they get exponentially brighter the more you have.”
The crystals were huge, brown Mana Crystals turned a warm brilliance of sheer power. Jasson could only glimpse a portion of the cavern from around the stalagmite he was clinging to, but that was more than enough to light the water as day. Hundreds of tiny crystals grew in clusters from the walls and shone like tiny suns in a constellation of power.
“I need sunglasses,” Jasson said, doing his impression of an Asian with a migraine again, “It is bright in here!”
“Yup,” Charon said, “Now, are you going to keep swimming or seize your fortune?”
Jasson crawled on shore, sharp pain stabbing him through his numb shield and making him grit his teeth. Once he was stable, Jasson looked around the stalagmite and gasped.
His little pool of water flowed over a short rim and poured in a clear cascade, raining into a basin that disappeared into a distance of dark and crystal stars. There were hundreds of crystal clusters, and not just of Mana. Four colors of crystals reflected the Mana crystals, growing out of the ground in a thousand troves of power. Orange, blue, a kind of pink, and…was that purple?
“Let’s see,” Jasson said, limping up to the closest bunch, “Orange was fire, like in the hot springs. That sounds nice right now. Blue was water, and purple…don’t remember. I know that there weren’t any pink crystals in Petra’s bag. Charon?”
“Who knows,” Charon said, “But they are pretty.”
“Oh shut it,” Jasson looked closely at one of the few pink crystals, “I thought these would grow in separate clusters. Not all in one place. Wouldn’t they…repel each other?”
“I don’t know,” Charon yawned, “Look, can you decide if you’re near death or not? Or at least keep walking.”
“Let me struggle for my life,” Jasson said, “Besides, my legs are in unbearable agony. Or they will be once I get feeling back in them. I’m trying to survive and…isn’t pink just a light red?”
Jasson faced Charon who grinned on both sides.
“AWESOME!!” Jasson grabbed a piece and tried to break it off, then frowned.
“It’s not as fragile as it looks, is it?” Charon said.
Jasson ignored Charon and heaved on a pencil-thin crystal. It wouldn’t break!
“You’re going to need more than that,” Charon said, “Why don’t you start looking for a way out.”
“Blast it,” Jasson stood on two types of agony, “Owowowow…I was really excited for a healing crystal you know.”
Jasson hobbled down the chasm, trying not to step in the pool of water covering most of the floor. Unfortunately, Jasson ran out of his path and stepped off into the shallow pool of water. Jasson looked closely at the water, being careful where he put his feet, and so hit his head directly on the pipe.
CLANG!
“Oww.” Jasson looked up from where he fell and froze.
Above him a construct of man lay in rusted glory, twisting illogical structures forming a corpse of industry. Pipes and gears lay in scattered disarray, rails led from the structure into the distance, and the empty windows glowed with immortal light. Jasson felt his eyes inevitably drawn to crystals, sorted by type, glittering in rusted buckets of rail cars.
“Sick!”