The Cave of Oglok

There was an unpleasant smell inside the cave, and it was very hot, you might even have suspected that there was some demon that was secretly frying rotten eggs (or roasting some pork that was buried underground, two days before). But we kept on walking, very careful with every step we took, hoping to find the way out.

We didn’t have any source of light. Peter’s torch run out of power, Bob accidentally dropped his into a hole and I did not carry anything. The cave was very dark, so that when I closed my eyes or opened them, there wasn’t any difference. I couldn’t have argued if someone said I was blind.

“I think the passages are constantly branching!” Peter cried.

“How do you know that?” Bob asked. “It’s too dark in here”

“It was just a suggestion,” Peter replied in a low tone.

“So what? Does it even help us find a way out of here?”

“Do you have any idea of how we can get out?”

“No, but what you are saying is nonsense! And yet you’re the one who got us here in the first place”

When I was about to stop them from quarrelling, I heard something that sounded like a whisper. At first I couldn’t tell if it was a voice or just a random sound but Peter and Bob kept on arguing so that they didn’t hear it.

“You are all damned” the voice said again in a raspy whisper, now clear to me. But it was hard to tell how near it was and from which direction it was coming from. And with the absolute darkness, no one could suggest who or what was saying those words.

“Guys, did you hear that?” I asked, uneasiness creeping to my voice as fear bloomed in my stomach. I turned my head right and left, trying to look around, even though nothing could be "looked" at. I couldn’t even see my friends, who just kept on arguing on top of their voices. They did not even hear my question.

“Hey, Guys!” I shouted thunderously, almost vomiting my heart out.

“What is it Kane?” Peter asked agitatedly.

“He’s just afraid of the dark” Bob replied.

“Did you hear it?” I asked

“What? Hear what?” Bob boomed.

“It was a voice… Just keep quiet” I said.

There was a moment of silence, we stopped walking but there wasn’t any sound, just a dead end silence. I even began to wonder if at all I was just mistaken.

Bob laughed “You are just scared Kane! Let’s just keep-” he screamed deafeningly. I don’t know what happened to him, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t good. Bob was the most courageous among us and hearing him scream in panic like that made me lose all the little confidence I had.

I don’t know if I started running or if I was screaming too but the next thing I knew was that I was laying on the ground, my legs scratched by the sharp rocks. I was breathing hard and every nerve in my body seemed to cry out, but Bob’s scream had died out now.

“What’s happening?” Peter managed, probably leaning against the wall, his voice sounding somehow far from me than before.

It’s hard to see a monster in utter darkness, especially when you are not even sure if you are blind or not… or if there is any monster at all. Whatever was happening, I just hopped it would come to an end.

“Kane?” Peter called out nervously on top of his breath.

“Am here Pet” I replied as I stood on my feet while touching the rocky wall for support.

“Bob?” Peter called out but there wasn’t any response. I called too but to no avail.

It was hard to accept that we were only two of us now and it was harder to admit that we weren’t the only ones in the cave, something was surely amidst us, creeping in the darkness. We tried walking about, hopping that we could stumble upon Bob’s body if at all he happened to be laying on the ground unconsciously, but there were only rocks.

We held hands as we continued walking. I waved my free hand about (which I hope, peter also did), in fear of bumping into a wall.

“Am sorry Kane, it’s all my fault” Peter whimpered.

“No, it wasn’t Pet, we were all curious” I replied in an assuring tone.

“But entering the cave was… was my idea”

“Well, it was your idea, but none what is happening now is your fault… there must be something mysterious about this cave, remember how we easily we lost the sight of the way in and now how Bob has just disappeared. Not forgetting the voice I heard. Maybe we were all driven by the same mysterious force into this cave.”

He didn’t reply, he just sniffled and probably wiped out his tears, he was certainly crying. Having walked for some time, bumping into the walls and tripping over some rocks, now and then, we came to a wider space, which we knew by judging from the echo of our voices. I don’t know if we walked for hours or just minutes, I guess we will never know. We touched the walls and found out that there were several passages branching out.

“Can this be the center of the cave?” I asked.

“Is the center of the cave the meeting point of its passages? Like crossroads?”

“I don’t-”

There was a hissing sound coming in close… we were not alone. Peter’s sweaty hand gripped mine, as we felt the presence of something approaching. A rush of heat run over my body. I desperately opened my eyes wider, hoping I could at least see something.

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” a rasping voice said, exactly like the one heard before. 

“Who are you?” I cried, a lump rising in my throat.

There was a laughter, almost like a whisper, “I was nothing… but the moment you stepped into this cave, I regained my being. A human’s breath is a life force for our kind.”

And then something dramatic happened. There was a flash of light, it seemed quicker than a lighting. I don’t know where it came from, but it pierced my eyes. I had been feeling blind in absolute darkness of the cave but now I was blinded by a sudden flashlight. There was a scream from whatever thing had been talking to us, it spoke something in a deafening cry but I only remember what it said in the end, it was something like “That’s unfair!”

The next thing I knew was that I was lying on a river bank. I narrowed my eyes, finding it unbelievable that I was seeing the setting sun. I looked around, it was green with trees and bushes, the river flowing in silence. I never thought I would see colors again, apart from the pure black- the utter darkness of the cave. And now, I was near the river we had crossed before entering the cave.

“Kane, what happened?” came Peter’s voice.

“I don’t know” I said, surprised that he was still with me. I got up, noticing that I had very many bruises and bloody scratches. My clothes were dirty but not worse than Peter’s.

“Hey, guys… How come?” said another familiar voice.

“Bob?” I brimmed. Bob was just from standing up, a few feet away from us. We all run and hugged each other with tear filled eyes.

“What happened to you Bob? What made you scream?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know, but what I remember afterwards was that I was tied in chains, and the next thing, there was a flash of light”

“That’s a cursed cave!” I said, shrilly.

“You kids went into the cave of Oglok?” a bearded man said. He overheard us as he was passing by.

“Who? Oglok?” Bob asked.

“Yes, the cursed cave of Oglok” the bearded man replied “That cave is a home of ancient secrets, mysteries we will never solve. Many went in there, but very few ever returned.

We looked at each other, fear tugging in our stomachs, feeling like we just escaped death.

“We were almost captured by something… but there was a flash of light that... brought us here” Peter explained, “what could it be?”

“I don’t know… but I know one thing” the man responded “there are forces in this world, constantly at war. Our world might as well just be a battlefield. Some of the events we get to experience, might be the results of them. The world is filled with whispers of the unknown. Dark things, untold and hideous. As well as forces of light, that come to our aid.”

“Like the yin and the yang?” Bob asked.

“Uhm... of course you may put it that way, who knows?” the man replied. “Certainly, There are peculiar worlds among us. It’s all mysteries. Shadows and whispers. But we all love a good mystery, don’t we?”

We didn’t reply, not knowing what to answer.

“It’s a crazy world. And there might be another mystery smoldering right where you are standing now.” with that he smiled and left us. He just became another mystery to us now…