Day #14: The gate

Day #14: The Gate

Energy prices had skyrocketed; heating was a luxury, and eating was about to become one, too. I had bought that property for the solar panels and for the land, thinking I could set up a small agricultural gig. I didn’t expect to not even have had the chance to plant anything yet. I had to look for food and supplies, and our property had a small warehouse that led to what I had been avoiding since the beginning.
“I wouldn’t go there, personally. We don’t have any pictures or videos, so consider it as if it doesn’t exist,” the real estate agent had told us, her tone somewhat afraid. I took a mental note of that, and therefore I had a bad vibe about it.

I ventured into the darkest depths of the abandoned mineshaft I had been afraid to visit since I had bought that property in Cornwall that came with this “historical piece” -at least, that’s how it was sold to me by the other agent.

So it was a non-existent but also valuable asset. It made me think about so many other things.

It was dark and cold. I had sprained my ankle after five minutes, not noticing the uneven floor beneath me, and the battery of my phone, which I was using as a torch, was about to run out.

For some reason, I thought that going deeper was smarter than trying to find my way back up.

“If you are going through hell, keep going,” I told myself, remembering some motivational quote from my reading.

Weirdly, touching the rock, I felt a feeble warmth. Did I have a geothermal source as well under my property? Wonderful! I kept going for maybe another twenty minutes. There was no end to these tunnels.

4% battery. I was screwed.
As I lifted my head from looking down at my phone, I hit what seemed to be a small metal cage. I pointed my torch at it and jumped despite my dysfunctional ankle.

“What the…” I gasped, noticing bones of small size. Human? I didn’t think so; the canines were too developed. Perhaps monkey-like.

There were about fifteen such cages and some workbenches, with one, in particular, displaying almost a complete skeleton tied to metal chains. That creature had been medically examined or tortured.

“What is this place?” I murmured. My heart started racing. I considered myself a rational and calm man, but I was starting to feel uneasy about my whereabouts and discoveries.

I scanned for some sort of torch I could replace my phone with. A weird round button, covered in dust, caught my attention. Some cabling, which I followed with my eyes, went in multiple directions, as if this was a central switch for something. Maybe a power generator? I saw no lights down there, but I had to push that button. What did I have to lose at that point?

“Click. Cha-ching. Grog grog grog.” Something started making noises, as if a mechanism with a wheel-like part that generated repetitive noise had been activated.
Light! A hint of orange came through from the edge of the room I hadn’t explored yet, leading to something like a corridor.
The mechanism had opened a passage even if the noise sounded like coming from behind me instead.

I quickly approached it and kept stumbling upon oddities. Ideograms, Chinese or Japanese, I couldn’t really tell.
I kept walking, and as I turned the corner, I jumped again.

Boiling lava, a metallic bridge above it, more of these cages hanging from the ceiling, some open. Writing all around, in what looked like white paint with a hint of fluorescent, gave it a greenish and luminescent tint.

On the other side of the bridge, there was a strange portal of some sort. In front of it, there were some wooden planks and more inscriptions.

If it was all an invitation, it was a very warm one. If they were warnings, more danger was ahead.

I crossed the bridge to examine what looked like the focal point of the room. All the words seemed to be organised as if they were pointing at this door-like thing.

I pulled one of the planks with all my strength. My ankle didn’t allow me to be the strongest version of myself.
As I was pondering what to do next, looking around me, I heard it.

A deep voice, slowly laughing at something amusing. Diabolical. At that point, I was terrified.

I turned to the portal again and, after a few tries, I managed to pull the plank off.

It was shocking to realise that there was nothing behind it. I could just see the back of it, the wall with the inscriptions I couldn’t understand.

The laughter intensified, now sounding closer because now I could also hear the inhaling that followed.

In a spark of desperation, intelligence, or intuition, I continued pulling planks off the portal, exposing it fully. It looked Asian for sure; I had seen these before. They had some sort of religious meaning. I couldn’t attribute anything negative to them, apart from my current situation, of course.

I turned again and saw them. They looked like small humans, with visible canines, hairy like chimpanzees, and they were waving sticks or bones, something like that. They reminded me of the famous yacht club monkeys, I couldn’t fully recollect what my memory was leading me to.

I wasn’t sure I could fight one of them, certainly not a dozen, but I had nothing left to lose. One of them threw what seemed like a rock at me. I managed to dodge it, and then another, and another.

I couldn’t hear these objects making noise when they hit the wall behind me.

I was confused, again.

It was as if the portal behind me was somehow real. As this possibility dawned on me, as I started believing in it, I could see it… It was beautiful.
A serene landscape, sunset or sunrise, a calm sea.

The creatures grew more aggressive and excited and started running towards me. At that point, I just jumped in.