Chapter 45
Walking into the cave, Michelle had to fight her disgust and desire to go out as the white flame illuminated the surrounding walls. The walls were plain wet stone walls like in any other cave, but Michelle wanted them illuminated, so she could see if something changed. And indeed, when she went deeper, the walls changed. The stone was much darker and into it were carved runes which Michelle couldn't comprehend. It was from the runes that the disgusting energy was coming out.
Michelle continued walking, but the good thing was that the disgusting energy was no longer intensifying as she was already between the runes. Or so she thought. After a while, she found a place where the cave was much wider and the ceiling was way higher. And. The disgusting energy was much stronger than anywhere else in the cave, making Michelle stop in her tracks. She felt like thousands of wet worms were crawling over her body with each breath she took.
The little white flame next to her was too small to illuminate the whole room, so Michelle enlarged it until she could see everywhere. What she had seen next was shocking. The room was enormous, with runes carved into the two walls at the side. The wall at the end wasn't a wall but a huge cage with thick bars, monsters engraved on the bars. And in the cage lay a huge purple monster that Michelle couldn't recognize. The disgusting energy from the runes was mostly flowing at the monster.
Seeing the beast, Michelle held her breath for a moment, standing in place. The monster's presence was overwhelming even as its eyes were closed. It seemed that the runes were used to keep the monster asleep.
Michelle also noticed another thing. In the corner of the room was a small table and a chair. It was like for a child or a dwarf. On the table lay an open book with pen and ink, and beneath the table lay a small skeleton. Michelle frowned and stared at the skeleton for a while, a frown on her face. She felt danger from the book so she didn't approach it and directed her gaze back on the monster behind the cage. No matter how overwhelming the presence of the sleeping beast was, she didn't feel any danger from it.
Staring at the monster in the cage for a long while, Michelle couldn't understand why it was locked up. After a while, she took a few steps forward and walked towards the cage. Placing her hand on one of the thick bars, she kept her gaze on the monster, not even noticing that the book in the corner started suddenly rapidly turning pages. Only after a while did Michelle notice the sound and turn around to look at the book. Seeing the pages being turned, she stared at the book in silence.
After a while, the book stopped moving and laid like nothing happened, but it was emitting light. The light was gentle and soothing, but Michelle felt something repulsive towards it, like the gentleness in the light was just to fool her to come closer. She still remembered the feeling of danger she felt from the book, so she didn't approach it. But knowing that the book could move on its own, she didn't want to turn her back on it. But at the same time, showing her back to a monster, even though one in a cage, was equally dangerous.
Nothing seemed like a safe bet and Michelle didn't know what to think or do, when she suddenly heard a low growl behind her. The moment the growl appeared, the book lost its shine and closed.
Knowing that the monster was awake, Michelle froze for a moment. Just from the growl the monster let put, she felt horrifying power, one which she didn't even feel from Alexander Terce when he immobilized her. Slowly, Michelle turned around, to see the huge monster staring at her with its silver eyes. Its eyes were the same color as her hair. The monster was inversive towards her. She had purple eyes and silver hair, and the monster had silver eyes and purple fur.