First Chapter of the Cave

Chapter 1: A Light in the Darkness
Deep blackness spread overhead dotted with blurred patches of light, like distant galaxies. The surface of the water shone like a mirror, hardly a ripple crossing its expanse. The flecks of light overhead reflected perfectly in the motionless lake. To anyone else, it would have seemed a motionless night under the open sky, but to Kanya and her friends it was something different altogether. They did not even know whether or not it was night or day, for in their underground city of Palacov, no light ever shone. The dark expanse over them was not the night sky, but the massive cavern that held the water supply of Palacov. And the lights on the ceiling were not stars, but patches of luminescent algae that gave light to the strange underground city.
Kanya’s friend, Mirra, let out a nervous giggle. “I hope we don’t get caught. We’re not really supposed to be out this late. The curfew…”
Jedda gave Mirra a gentle shove. “You worry too much, Mirra. Icon has the curfew so that no one gets lost in the caverns while the electric lights are turned off for the night.”
“We won’t let you get lost,” Dailon said, strutting ahead of the others.
“If you don’t hush up,” Kanya hissed, “We will be caught and out little excursion will be at an end.”
“Is it really this important?” Mirra muttered. “Going out at night like this? We might get in trouble with Icon.”
The four of them made their way around the edge of the underground lake towards one of the infinite tunnels that wove around Palacov. Kanya led the way, carrying one of the lanterns that glowed with a dim light. The lantern light was much different than that of the soft slowing algae. The lantern light was a blue-white color that came from the glowing star worms that lived on the ceilings of some of the caverns. The phospor- algae gave off a greener light that wasn’t quite as harsh. The strange glowing plants lined the ceilings and walls of most of Palacov. And the parts of the caves and tunnels that weren’t coated in algae were carpeted with soft mosses that hung close to what little light there was underground. The phosphor-algae and moss gave oxygen to the citizens of Palacov.
Kanya, Mirra, Jedda, and Dailon crept into one of the main tunnels that branched from the water chamber.
“Yes, it is important,” Kanya said to Mirra after a deliberate pause. “We need to find your moon crystal.”
“Well…” Mirra paused for a moment. “Yes I know that! But I’m saying why can’t we wait until day? We could…”
Jedda cut her off. “You need your crystal for your job. If you don’t have it, you won’t be able to spin the thread…”
“I know that!” Mirra repeated, a small squeaking crack of impatience in her voice. “But why couldn’t we wait until morning?”
“Because, dear Mirra,” Dailon said in his dramatic fatherly voice, “if you have to come all the way out here to get it tomorrow, you’ll fall behind on your work. You’re already behind because you hurt your finger when you jammed it eight nights ago.”
“I’d rather fall behind than to come out at night though,” Mirra said in a half-wail.
Jedda shook his head. “Calm down, Mirra. Kanya was right to bring you to get it tonight.”
“But even so…” Mirra whispered, “You two didn’t need to come…”
“You think we’d let two ladies wander off through Palacov on their own at night?” Dailon said, trying to sound chivalrous for offering to accompany. Actually, it had been Jedda who insisted that they accompany Kanya and Mirra. Dailon had grumbled angrily about being dragged from his bed at such an hour. But it seemed that in the excitement of sneaking about at night, he had forgotten his previous reluctance.
“I don’t remember where I dropped it,” Mirra muttered.
“I think I know,” Kanya assured her. “It was where you were trying to get that particularly large velvet mushroom that you couldn’t reach. Remember, you almost fell down into that pit that was hidden behind a patch of mushrooms? It probably fell out of your pocket. Though I wish you would have mentioned it before we got home again.”
“I didn’t realize that it was missing until I was most of the way back,” Mirra muttered, looking a bit ashamed. “But you drove the cart back… so I didn’t need to find my crystal to power it up…”
“Ah, I wish we could use one of the carts,” Dailon muttered. “It will take over an hour to walk all the way to that patch of velvet mushrooms…”
“Yes, but if we tried to use a cart after curfew,” Dailon reminded them, “They’d catch us for sure. Besides, they shut off the carts when they shut off the lights. Everything powered by the crystals shuts off at night unless there’s an emergency. Remember that time…”
“Yes, I remember,” Kaila moaned. How could anyone forget? When someone had misjudged the amount of flash powder needed for a blasting project and caved in one of the tunnels. He was probably still working in the mines as punishment. They’d had to leave the lights on several nights in a row in order to clear out the tunnel and rescue the people trapped behind the block. Everyone pitched in some way or another. Kanya switched between bringing water and mushrooms to the workers.
Kanya quickened the pace in order to discourage conversation. Several strands of gold-brown hair fell into her face. She flicked them out of the way so that her bright blue eyes flashed in the light of the lantern. She gripped the handle of the lantern in her teeth and reached back to redo her ponytail. She never slackened her pace the whole while. Ponytail straightening was something she had to do several times a day because her hair always managed to escape. She didn’t even think about it any more. When she was done, she took the lantern in her hand again. She didn’t mind walking. And going out at night gave her a slight thrill of excitement, though she didn’t let it show.
Her friend, Mirra, had hair as black as the darkness of the cave. Her brother, Jedda, had the same hair and dark eyes as his sister, though he was much taller than her. Dailon was tall also, but not as much as Jedda. His eyes were pale brown and his hair was a shade darker than Kanya’s. Jedda was the oldest, in his early twenties. Kanya was a few years younger than him at nineteen. Mirra and Dailon were both eighteen, and Dailon resented the fact that Mirra was older than him by just a few nights.
All of them wore clothes made from the same creamy gray material. It was in fact made from the silk of the star worms. It was the only yarn-like material the people of Palacov had to work with. Even after sewn into fabric, it retained a faint luminescence.
The four of them continued on through the net of twisted tunnels that would have been an incomprehensible maze to anyone else. But these four had spent their whole life here. They knew these tunnels as well as they knew anything else.
It did indeed take them over an hour to reach their destination. But at last Mirra’s patch of velvet mushrooms came into view. She had started this patch secretly many years before. It was in a far corner of a tunnel that was rarely, if ever, used. Only Kanya, Jedda, and Dailon knew about it. And she’d sworn them to secrecy. Even Dailon managed to keep the secret for fear that Mirra would tell anyone else about the dreaded “worm incident.”
“Finally we made it,” Dailon moaned. “My feet are…”
“Oh, hush,” Kanya snapped. “Let’s see… where were you when you fell over, Mirra?”
Mirra glanced around, trying to figure out where she may have been. “Ah, it was there. See the place where those rocks fell in?”
“Yeah, it’s a miracle you didn’t fall into that hole,” Kanya sighed, shaking her head. “Let’s see…”
She walked over to a small indent at the end of the cavern. Yes, there was the strange pit. She had only noticed it yesterday when Mirra fell and the bottom fell out from under her. Luckily Kanya got there in time to grab her before she fell in. But Mirra had a few cuts and bruises to show for it.
The entrance to the pit was still almost completely hidden. A few rocks were piled around the rim, and some velvet mushrooms grew over the lip of the pit.
Mirra, Jedda and Dylon started searching around for the moon crystal. Kanya went to the part of the pit that had partly collapsed. She peered down into the dark depths. Then she held up her lantern and glanced around Mirra’s mushroom patch. The round white mushrooms grew thick around the edge of the floor and crept up along the walls. The largest was almost as large as Kanya’s head.
The velvet mushrooms were the main part of the diets of the people of Palacov. They had all the nutrients the citizens needed for survival. The moss was also made into food. And the smallest, and last, part of their diet was a jelly made from the phosphor-algae. There was no variety, but it kept them alive. It was all any of them knew.
Kanya went to a patch of algae and peeled a little fleck of the glowing substance from the rock. The others watched her as she went to the small pit and dropped the algae in. She watched as the light fell, and then stopped as it hit solid ground.
“It’s not deep,” Kanya said. “Help me get in there you guys.”
“You can’t go down there Kanya!” Mirra exclaimed. “What if…”
“I think your crystal fell down there,” Kanya persisted. “Come on Jedda, Dailon. Help me.”
She sat down at the edge of the pit. Jedda and Dailon stood behind her to either side. She help up her arms and each of them took one. They slowly lowered her into the darkness. Just when she thought the pit was too deep for her to reach, her feet hit rock.
“Okay, I’m at the bottom.”
Jedda and Dailon let go of her arms. Mirra’s trembling hand passed the lantern down to Kanya. Kanya knelt and peered around. At first she thought that it was what it appeared from the outside: a pit. But as she moved the lantern from side to side, she saw that two rocks overlapped. There might be a passage back there…
She looked back up. The opening above her was just large enough to show the faces of her three friends looking down at her. But if she moved a step in any direction, she couldn’t’ see them any more.
“Do you see it?” Jedda asked.
“Hang on. There’s a lot of rocks. It might take a while. to get a good look…”
She stepped out of their sight on the pretext of searching for the crystal.
“There isn’t much space… but give me a minute,” she called back, her voice echoing around her.
She crept to the overlap of stones and peeked through. Yes, it was just large enough to let her squeeze through. She glanced back to make sure the others didn’t see her, and then she slipped through the passage.
She set her lantern down mid-way through so that her friends wouldn’t notice the absence of the light. Then she stood up and looked around.
She was in a tunnel. A very old, worn tunnel. No feet had trod here for a very long time. The ground was not smooth, but jagged. Kanya’s boots protected her feet, but too long in this tunnel would wear even these tough shoes. The lantern lit the way for a short distance, but a few scattered patches of phosphor-algae clung to the craggy walls.
An abandoned tunnel. There were a few of them scattered about Palacov. But most of them were completely sealed off for protection. They were too dangerous to be kept open because of cave-ins and such. Could this be one of them?
Kanya glanced back at the dim glow from the lantern, and then she stepped feather-light and swift along the tunnel to where it hit a bend. She peered around the corner and froze.
She had ever seen anything like it. It was far away. So far that a human would seem no bigger than a star worm. There was a light. Not like the soft green of the algae or the bright blue of the glow worms. It wasn’t even like the harsh white of the electric lights. It was bright, warm, and yellow. But it was so far away. As distant as a star.
Kanya stared at it. When a voice called out to her, she almost jumped out of her skin.
“Are you okay, Kanya?” Mirra called.
Kanya fled back to the little passage and ducked through it.
“Sorry,” she said once she was back in the little pit. “I wasn’t paying attention. There was just a little cleft there and I went to look into it.”
Her eyes fell on Mirra’s crystal that was nestled against the wall of the pit. She scooped it up and stuck her head out of the hole.
“I found it! See?” She held up Mirra’s crystal.
Mirra sighed in relief. “Oh, thanks. Thanks Kanya.”
“It rolled down into that little cleft there,” Kanya lied. For a moment her eyes met Jedda’s. He looked stern, as though he knew she wasn’t telling the truth.
Kanya looked away. “Come on! Get me out of here!”
She held up her arms and Jedda and Dailon hauled her out.
The four of them headed back to the city with a considerably relieved Mirra.
But Kanya’s mind was elsewhere. What was that strange light at the end of the tunnel?