There was a cold shudder in the air as the child rushed between the market stalls, making his way into one of the town’s darkened alleyways. He sprinted forward and the sounds of the traders diminished until they were little more than a distant buzzing of flies. A few moments passed and the patter of small footsteps fell in behind him. At this, he took off once more, heading deeper into the system of alleys. The pathways were dark with many beggars and strays scattered about them, not bothering to lift their eyes as the child ran by them. He reached down and grasped at a wooden ornament tucked into his belt. It was shaped like a man with ambiguous facial features carved into its head. To anyone else, it would have been nothing but a misshapen child’s toy, but for him, it was precious.
Feeling the rough wooden skin of the toy in his hand, he increased his pace until a glint of light signaling the edge of town caught his sight. The footsteps behind him remained, but he ignored them as best he could. They weren’t important. She had told him the truth, and they hadn’t understood. Beyond the town’s borders lay a sprawling oasis with trees towering over the nearby buildings, casting shadows onto the oasis’ glassy water. The child dodged between the trees until he was at the water’s edge. From there, he sprinted along the water, nearing the base of the Kavoos Mountains on the far side. Ahead of him lay a tunnel of spiraled bushes adorned with yellow flowers. In the distance beyond the flowered tunnel, he caught glimpse of a jagged cave set into the mountainside. At first glance, it seemed to him as though the mountain were wounded, like a blade had been thrust into the base, leaving a horrific scar.
The footsteps behind him grew closer and came to a halt just behind him. He heard small gasps from his pursuers as they stepped up next to him cautiously. Without turning back to them, he continued forward through the tunnel until at last he stood at the mouth of the cave. Small trinkets and bits of jewelry were hung along the tunnel and on the rocks and tree branches just outside the opening. The darkness of the mouth was entrancing, as though it could go on forever and had been there forever. The grove and the cavern could not have been more different than the village. It was startling how bright and vibrant the world had become just a few hundred paces from the town. There was an echo of sorts, but not one he heard with his ears. It itched in the back of his head and he longed to step into the caverns beyond to see for himself what she had described.
The entrance had been in his dreams for many days now and standing before it simultaneously brought a sense of discomfort and peace. He knew what the old woman had told him to do to end the dreams and to understand them, but being there nearly snatched the desire away from him. The others had not wanted him to pass through the tunnel and enter the grove, but it wasn’t their time and he knew they were envious of him. He had been chosen. As he considered the others, a wave of peace came over him but it wasn’t a calming peace. It was an empty peace as though the cave had taken a deep breath of anticipation. He looked down at his waist and pulled out the wooden figure. He studied it, thinking back on all the memories that belonged to it, including the scars along his father’s rough hands as the figure was handed over to him. With a nod and deep breath, he gently placed it on a stone altar just outside the tunnel exit. Even with his back to it, the cave loomed large over him.
No one ever entered the cave. At least, no one did before they were chosen to enter. It had been there, carved into the foundations of the mountain range, forever, since before the oasis, and before the first traders settled to form the village. There was something special about it, even beyond its ancient presence. It was something that crept far beyond the entrance, out into the oasis itself. The other children did not play by the water except for on the hottest days of the year, and none ever sought shelter from the heat within the cave itself though the boy had no doubt the sunlight would have been unable to reach into its shade. To do so, to spend more time at the heart of the oasis or to linger by that chasm too long, felt wrong, as though one were trespassing on the sacred. Even as a child the boy knew this. There were some things and some places that people ought to respect, or fear. If he understood that, surely the adults did as well. It was rare to see people enter the oasis proper most days except to gather water or fruits from the trees. Even those trips were short, none daring to overstay the welcome of the birds nestled in the trees, singing the world alight. No matter how great the village became, they would always be mere guests in the shadow of those mountains, in the wake of that cave.
The child turned back to the cave entrance and took slow, deliberate steps toward it, his heart beat growing steadily louder in his ears. With each step, the bushes and trees grew in vibrance until he felt as though he had fallen into one of his dreams. Even the sun was made more magnificent in his eyes, with its light penetrating every crevice of the grove so as to not allow shadows to mar such a place of beauty. A light breeze trilled against the water behind him, ruffling his hair as it escaped into the cave. The otherwise silent air of the grove was interrupted by a chorus of birds lining branches overhanging the cave entrance, their music joining with the trickling stream leading into the cave from the oasis lake. He had noticed them before, but had never seen them close. They looked similar to other birds around the oasis, but their music made him feel strange. Even as they sung, the colors of the grove grew in intensity as did the crispness of the ambient sounds. They were beautiful, but despite their appearance they felt oddly foreign compared to the birds he was used to seeing.
The chorus of the strange birds paired with the breeze to give his footsteps a rhythmic sound as he neared the entrance. It was far too dark inside to see more than a few paces in, but he could feel something watching him from the shadows. He held no doubts that something was moving inside the cave just beyond his vision. It didn’t frighten him, though. He had been told that the grove was home to something wonderful. Before all the others, it was his chance to see it for himself and know before they did. The thought brought a grin to his face as he imagined holding it over them once he returned home. His mother would be proud of him, having been chosen before all the other children to see what lay beyond the tunnel. She had seemed sad earlier when he left home, but this would surely make her happy again. The birds’ music reached its zenith once he came upon the entrance, growing so loud that it drowned out all other sounds from the grove. And then it stopped. There was silence save for the gentle breeze.
The boy gazed into the darkened cave and in that moment understood what lay before him. He drew in a breath and entered the shadows.