《Caves of B´lo》


 Ch 1 The fall

    Entry 1


    Early this week I took a train from London that carried me north to an unknown destination, I stepped of after a few stations and made my way towards the forests. A rather strange thing to do for some people on a sunday morning but for me it was refreshing, it has been a hobby of mine since I was a child and my father took me hiking, to go out into the wild so to speak. To get away from the city just for a few days.


    I sit now under the stars several days from civilazation , sipping coffe having just finished a supper of cooked beans, and I feel so free. The fresh air and nightly noises of the forest making me feel at ease. I shall trek a bit further tomorrow, towards some old ruins in the distance, it is to hard to see from here but it cought my eye and it might contains some old urns I could interest my uncle in, he has a burning passion for old relics.


    Entry 2


    Disaster has struck. While making my way to the ruins I fell, it was as if a tree root deliberately took hold of my foot, and as I was flaling the ground openedbefore me. A big black hole stright to hell, as I fell into the maw of the devil himselfdarkness swallowed me. I could feel that I was close to a wall in this hellish black throat of rock, and foolishly tried to break my fall with my left leg. Yet all I accomplished with that was breaking my leg and spinning me around to hit an other part of the wall with my head sending me in to unconsiusness.


    I remember thinking "aw hell that is it for me", nevertheless I am now alive. When I first opened my eyes after the fall I saw darkness yet not pitch black like one would imagine. As my eyes got used to the night like light I found that I was, and still am, in a cave with slightly green luminescent moss growing on the walls, and it has allowed me to write down my thoughts in this book.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The strangest thing however was my "saviour", she appeared shortly after I found out, with a heavy grunt, that my leg was broken. At first I thought she was a monsterwanting to eat me and tried desperatly to crawl away, yet after she got startled by my antics she sat down and waited for my tantrum to be done. When I had tired myself out and vomited from the pain in my leg and the possible concusion in my head, she gently dragged me back to my starting possision next to my giant backback witch she had relived me of.


    She cleaned away the small amount of bile still on me, sadly the smell of my saviour made me retch yet again, a rank smell like rotten fish and rats piss, she did not seem to mind and cleaned that up to. It was then that I understood that she was not a monster trying to eat me, she was just a monster.


    My saviour was a head shorter then me and the only apt description of her would be bipedal humanoid looking rat, a thick pelt of dark brown fur adorned her stocky frame, a long hairless tail witch she used with great agillity giving me a woodenbowl of water, her black eyes watching me with great focus as I drank, the whiskers on her short muzzle and her big attentive ears twitching anxiously as I shyly voiced my thanks for the water to her. I hope she could her the gratitude in my vioce but she has hardly made a sound.


    I do not know what she wants with me but it is clear she is helping me, it is impossible to tell night from day down her yet she decided to snuggle up to me and fall asleep. Her warmth is welcome even if the smell is not. As I write this with witch shaking hands in a dim dank cave, no sight of the hell maw that swallowed me nor anyway to contact the world above me, I can only Hope. Hope that someone finds me, hope that this rat woman can keep me alive long enough for that to happen, and hope that the uneasyunholy feeling I am getting from this place is just my imagination.


    Victor Rhodes 1952 november ??

 Ch 2 The thing by the lake

    Entry 3


    I awoke in the morning (it is impossible to tell time in here but I suposed it was morning) breathing heavily thanks to horrible nightmares of infinite falling and hungry darkness, and I felt relief when I opened my eyes to the dim cave, a silent prayer to the luminescent moss. Yet my relief was shortlived as I was unable to locate "Saviour" beside me.


    I scaned our litttle cave, around 20m in diameter and 2 meters high ceiling, yet saw no sign of her brown furred form. To the left of me was my thrashed backpack and a few of "Saviour"s things, four wodden bowls, a few herbs and sharp pieces of rock and bone. And some of my bean cans that probably broke my fall, had leaked and soaked my backpack, I guess her eating them is better than wasting but it did make me feel a bit sad.


    I reasoned with myself that she would not leave stuff without reason and was probably just getting water or something. Tragically like all living beings have needs, my body was making me very aware of mine. I forced my mangled body to move and too scared to go out of the little grotto I crawled to a distant corner of the cave, pulling down my trousers and embarrassedly answered natures call.


    As I crawled my way back to my original spot, little rocks cuttin into my palms and the hard rock floor crushing my right knee under my own weight, my curiosity got the better of me, with my brusied body and broken leg I made my way towards the entrance to the cave, carefully crawled up the little slope and peeked out. At first it seemed to just be a stagnant darkness yet slowly I was able to spy big patches of the glowing moss and at a sluggish pace I begun unraveling the mistery of my location.


    At first I was only able to make out small cave entrances like the one I was confined in, but as I strained my tired eyes more and more I saw and understood that I was currently in a humongous cavern, high up in the cavewall several dozen meters from the bottom. As I lifted my eyes towards the roof of the giant grotto I dared hope I would see my salvation, my way out. Yet all I saw was more darkness, no great hole, no escape.


    I cursed myself for getting my own hopes up, however as broken as I was that was all I could do. Just as I was about to turn back to my resting spot there was a noise, a wet squishing sound. I turned my head towards the noise and out of a tunnel near floor level something unexplainable, something white, something squirming forced it¡äs way out. In the colourless black darkness the writhing mass of pure white stood out like a lighthouse in middle of the night, yet it did not shine, I can not explain the creature I saw nor it¡äs hue but it seemed as if it rejected the darkness.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The white "creature"(?) slowly floated towards the middle of the cave, at first I could not understand what it was doing but soon I figured out it was drinking from the giant underground lake that I now know spans a great deal of the cave "floor". As the "creature" continued drinking it started swelling, at first I thought it was a trick of the light but quickly dismissed that notion, it looked like something was trying to break out of the crature from the inside, it¡äs "white" skin started contorting as if a million fat maggots started to writhe beneath it¡äs hide.


    And the sound, oh god the sound, it was as if the fat maggots had crawled into my ear sqirming, eating, vomiting, mating and killing eachother inside my head. I thought I was going mad, but I was unable to look away, with eyes that stung from looking at the "crature" for too long I followed it¡äs track back towards the tunnel it came from too afraid to blink, to let the blackness back into my life for just a split second.


    The "creature" that had now swelled almost three times it¡äs original size got stuck in the tunnel entrance, like an elephant stuck in a door, but slowly it still made it¡äs way deeper into the far too small entrance. I did not get to witness it complete this procedure however as I heard heavy beats of wings above me. I quickly threw myself backwards onto my back, afraid whatever it was might take my head if I did not.


    I then draged my aching body to the wall and sat there for hours untill Saviour came back. During this time I tried to organize my thoughts, to find answers, yet to no avail all I got was questions I did not know if I wanted the answer off. A rat-man seemed to me almost believable, a missing link in the evoultion of humanity, but that creature was not of this world, an alien thing that does not belong.


    When Saviour finnaly did return it was like my whole body became lighter, she did not abandon me, she had a little bucket with water from the lake, a few brown or black leaves and some fish she hade presumably cought. Yet she put it all down as soon as she saw me shivering in fear of the days events, embracing me in a caring hug witch I returned with shaking hands. Her fur slightly wet and smelling of seaweed but still a welcome gesture.


    When I calmed down she started mixing the different herbs and leaves with a bit if water in one of the wodden bowls to create a brown goop that she made me drink. It made me wanna retch but I was able to keep it down. Saviour then started removing the unidentifiable fishes scales with her teeth while I preffered to use one of my small knives that had survived my fall.


    I did not fancy the thought of eating raw fish but I was not about to light a fire in a cave, in a giant grotto, without knowing where the smoke would go although most of all I was probably afraid to disturb the darkness and what might find me if I did.


    While the fish was not to my taste the full feeling in my gut was something I greatly appreciated. With some help from Saviour I have now also bandaged my leg into an impromptu suport with random stuff from my pack. I am scared yet I dare say that today seems a little bit brighter than yesterday.

 Ch 3 Progress

    Entry 4


    There has been a while since I last wrote, these last few days have thankfully been rather uneventfull. I feel as if my eyes are slowly apadting to this darkness, my bruises have started going down and even my leg feels better. No doubt thanks to Saviour¡äs strange concoction and our meager yet steady diet of fish and sometimes roots.


    There is no question in my mind that I would not have survived without her.


    I have become quite proficient in crawling my way around our little cave, from the little nook were I spent most of my time to the entrance which hade become like a window the the "outside", to the corner where I answered nature¡äs call. To fearful to make my way out of the cave and find another spot. For a moment I enertained the thought of following Saviour to see where she did it, however I quickly came to my senses and realised that spying on a woman doing her business is not something a gentleman such as I would ever do.


    Luckily some of the moss have started growing in that corner, giving of a slight odour of wet dirt which is preferable to the alternative.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    While sitting by the entrance waiting for Saviour, like some newlywed housewife wating for her housband, I have been able to discern that the beating of wings I heard before belongs to a species of cave dwelling bats, their gray and black pelted form almost impossible to distinguish in the dark of the grotto, yet still I watch them fly back and forth to the lake and back to their cave with freshly catched fish.


    The bats where, like everything in this blasted cave, uncanny in their apperance. Their size was huge compared to others in the Chiroptera family, easily reaching past my waist and with a wingspan that could fit 1 man¡äs whole lenght on each wing. Big black eyes, like pearls made of onyx, adorned their gray furred heads, 2 big naked ears with the nose looking like a third one completed their visage.


    Yet the strangest thing is the silence, not a sound but for the beating of wings, no chittering nor squeaking can be heard from the cave that is just a dozen meter above me. It unnerves me to no end the stillness and refusal from anything in this cave to make a noise. The only comparison I can make is to a library were you are not allowed to talk or the old lady by the counter will reprimand you.


    But that begs the question: who or what is the authority that gives you the proverbial slap on the wrist?


    I shall ponder later, Saviour has comeback with a meal and todays daily dose of herbial medicine, and hopefully not meet the answer.


    Victor Rhodes 1952 ??/??