The trio went deeper into the murky cave. Beyond the entrance was a scanty, damp hall. It was even bigger than the enclosures that the Zukiras had made for their beasts. It seemed impossible for something so big to fit inside a small cave. But its size wasn't the only thing noticeable about the hall.
As soon as Zok and the others walked into the hall, they were greeted by a dim bluish light that had suffused the semi-spherical chamber. They easily found the source of light as it was obvious at a glance. The chamber was laden with a blue-glowing lichen and violet-glowing moss clung to the ceiling and spread across the floor. It even creped up and down the walls, as if the colonies on the floor and ceiling are growing to meet each other.
However, all of the moss on the ground was coming around of a luminescent pond filled with some silvery liquid. It felt like the liquid was the one actually responsible for making the moss glow. The air in the room was fresh and they could feel the wind on their faces, but there was no other way to enter or exit the chamber in sight. it was as if the cave had its own ecosystem thriving inside.
"All of this is inside a cave?" It wouldn't be wrong to say that Zok had been mesmerised by the beauty of the world inside the cave, "How is this even possible?"
"Oh, I forgot it's your first time so you won't know about it. But for all we know, caves are just an entrance to an out worldly place." Sera mumbled from behind, "You could say that in a way the caves are a gateway to some other world. But this one is exceptionally... quiet. Don't let your guard down."
But not everything was beautiful inside the chamber. Other than the moss and lichen, the room was also covered in large bones of dead but abnormally sized insects and ash.
"Look like quite a few beasts entered the cave before us..." Taheton mumbled as he squatted done to analyse the bones, "It hasn't been too long since they were devoured, I guess? They still have some meat and tendons attached to the bone and they look kind of moist."
"So it's definitely not a normal cave." Sera took out her parchment and began writing everything down, "The bones would also explain why there are no beasts inside the cave when usually they all enjoy being inside the cave. Something must have happened or they must have-"
"Become someone else's dinner." Taheton completed what Sera was about to say.
While the two were discussing their observations, Zok and Kaira wet to take a look at the lake in the middle of the room. Once he was there, he did what most of the people would do. He grabbed a pebble and threw it inside the pond. It wasn't like he had anything better to do either way.
But then something unexpected happened. Zok had presumed that the pebble to jump once or twice on the surface before sinking in the liquid. But what happened confused the heck out of him. As soon as the stone touched the water surface, a loud sizzling noise echoed throughout the hall. It was a similar noise that was made while frying something in hot oil. Taheton and Sera left whatever they were doing and immediately rushed over to the lakeside.
"What did you do?" Taheton asked while looking at the bubbles in the lake, "What was that noise?"
"I-I don't know! I just threw a pebble in the pool and the noise-" Zok was just as confused as the rest of them. Even Kaira was growling because of the noise as it didn't stop for a long time.
"Is it a pool of acid or something?" Sera was the first to regain her composure, "If it is I think it is, we need to back away from the pool right now."
Everyone did as she said but Zok had another doubt, "What is acid?"
"I don't know much either but I remember my father once talking about it." Sera mumbled while furiously writing everything down, "He said it is a liquid that can have a lot of different colours and it burns anything that comes into contact with it. He also said it was a good weapon against the monsters having hard exoskeletons as the acid melts the exoskeleton away making it possible for one to take the beast down easily."
"Damn this place is filled with a lot of dangerous stuff. Kaira stay with us alright? Don't even think about jumping in the pool or anything."
Zok mumbled as they walked back, but Kaira wasn't listening to him anymore. Instead, she was focused on something above them and kept growling. She had sensed a danger all of them had failed to notice. The following moment something large fell from the ceiling of the chamber, blocking their exit.
It was a beast Zok had never seen nor heard of before. It looked like a black insect and had eight hairy but point legs. Its body was divided into two parts, one consisting of its heavy bottom that resembled a plumb berry and the other part consisted of its head that had innumerable eyes bunched together. The legs were attached to the upper half of its body but since they were large enough, they easily supported the body of the beast. But the creature wasn't alone... as soon as it appeared, numerous others followed it. But they were considerably smaller than the 11-foot tall arachnid.
"Abyssal Arachnid... why the hell is this thing here?" Taheton mumbled in fear, "We have to run. We can not let this important information die with us here!"