The Opened Door

Anyway, after the incident with that 'small' Buriqs Scorpion group, we decided to find another way, but therein lay a great problem… how?

How were we supposed to find the route that led to the top? We couldn't attempt to grasp at straws here. I was a little directionally challenged and as a result, if we traveled on a dead route, I wouldn't even know how to find my way back.

Sister Hin's obsessed expression wasn't exactly calming me either. After some time passed, I believe she stopped trying to identify the right cave and just decided to hop into one to check whether it would go somewhere.

I believe this because, after some time, she was looking at my line of sight and expression much more than the crevices on the wall.

Whenever I looked interested in a cave, she would 'suggest' me to venture inside with her to check it out. Of course, I kept refusing but gradually 'that' realization hit me again.

'Our time was limited. We had to quickly make a choice, good or bad.'

And so I did. The next gap that appeared in front of us was genuinely a cave. Perhaps, long ago, it even had a small door, but now everything had broken down, fallen apart, and forgotten in the depths of dead time.

Its opening was neither too wide nor too narrow, just like a hallway to someone's house. I was pretty convinced that that place would at least be comparatively safer than the other ones. So, I did my thing and appeared interested as I stood observing it for some time.

"Should we go check inside?"

I heard Sister Hin slowly prodding me to accept her advice again and this time… I did.

She was genuinely surprised but equally delighted. Thanking me with a quick peck on my cheek, she held my hand and dragged me inside.

This place was also very dark, but at least not as dark as the last one. In the dimly lit hallway, I could sense that the walls had a slightly metallic texture. There was a lot of dust that had accumulated over everything after an unknown amount of time.

The cave that the Buriqs were guarding had given me a deadly vibe that was absent in this one, fortunately. Perhaps, it's just me being scared of those scorpions but one needs to avoid things like that, at all costs.

'Always doubt your premonitions, Tiffany, but never neglect them!" My father would slam his hand on the table and advise me, every night he finished telling us a story of his adventures. At that time as well, I merely followed his advice.

After a 5-minute-walk, we had already encountered something that looked like a dead end. I didn't know if it was a door, a gate, or a hatch, but it wasn't a wall.

The dust, sand, and dirt collected on it had made it apparent that this place was untouched for a long time.

I put up a forced smile and saw the befuddled Sister Hin analyzing the wall.

"Is there a way that you see, sis?"

I whispered jokingly but who could have guessed the Sis would reply,

"I think so, this should be one of the hidden gates to this facility, I'm even more sure of it. This… is definitely a research facility of the Lunar Frask remnants who got caught and had to bury it perfectly."

She began presenting me her conclusions while I stood surprised at why we weren't leaving yet. I was slightly afraid now, Sis Hin was taking too much interest in this lore.

Why was she so interested? I didn't know. I was afraid to ask.

I gradually backtracked my steps. Sister Him suddenly cranked her neck and gave me a deep look with her eyes wide open.

My mind turned blank from fear. I let out a scream and started running back towards the entrance but as I had just started to run, I heard Sister Hin's laughter behind me.

I turned around and saw her punching the ground while laughing at me. I understood that I was trolled, but the situation was just too eerie and too sudden for me to react any other way.

"You're having way too much fun here, Sis," I muttered under my breath and pouted at her.

She stood up and put her arms around my shoulder, and replied after confirming that I had calmed down,

"There's a great likelihood of this being a research facility, Tiff. Imagine the sort of things they would have discovered. Things that no one out there would know but us.

Who knows, it might even turn out to be our lucky encounter.

Since we have already weathered so many risks, how about we just give it a shot and try another cave?"

Her idea of scaring me to calm my nerves had me even more exhausted from all this. At that time, I just wanted to go back home and not think of anything related to this place, but Sister Hin's enthusiasm was leaking again. I didn't know how to refuse or dismiss her, and so I could only let myself be carried along.

"Um, it wouldn't be late right?"

She shook her head at my question, quite confident of herself,

"There's no way we would end up late, and even if we do, we can just say that we were at Uncle Albert's. No one talks to Uncle Albert, so they wouldn't be able to confirm.

Worst comes to worst, just tell your mom that it was me who wasn't willing to come back and I'll just hear twice the lectures from my ma for that. Can we go now, please?"

I hesitatingly nodded my head. How could I have said 'no' to such clear and convincing statements?

After that, I was led around to two more caves like that in the next half an hour. It made me realize that the secret research facility that Sister Hin was talking about might really be inside one of those closed dusted gates.

Too bad that the next two doors that we found were also in the same state as the first one, closed and choked with mud, with no way inside.

Some of the other holes and crevices that we saw also made me realize how grand of a labyrinth this was and how easy would it have been for me to get lost inside if it weren't for Sister Hin guiding in the front.

We also found some more scattered 'incomplete' groups of Buriqs scorpions. But since we were more alert and cautious this time around, we avoided those routes entirely.

After searching for another half an hour, we finally found a cave entrance that seemed to be special. Unlike the metallic texture of the walls that I had felt in the previous caves, this one was definitely natural.

I wasn't very talented but at least I knew how to differentiate between the smell of metal and soil.

As we kept walking in, the surprises within the cave continued opening and unveiling for us.

The path that we were traveling in was already an inclined slope and as we kept walking deeper in, it continued to turn steeper, in fact so much after one time that if I stopped walking on all fours and tried to stand up straight, I would end up falling and hitting myself.

Other than that, there were also these small movements on the walls that made us realize that either the Buriqs scorpion or something even more dangerous was spying on us and could act against us anytime.

Suddenly, the thought that I might never be able to go back from this place hit me and I felt like crying but I needed to keep up with Sister Hin who was crawling faster and faster.

Soon, the ground started to turn level again, and my fear lessened somewhat.

By the time we were able to stand, we stood in front of another gate, similar to the ones that we had seen until now, just smaller in size.

What made it even more special was the fact that it was...open!!