diff --git a/calvin-stuck-at-cave.txt b/calvin-stuck-at-cave.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57116a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/calvin-stuck-at-cave.txt @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +Calvin woke to a complete darkness. +His mind seemed thick, and his head pounded. +The blow to his head came back to his mind. +Betrayed, by a guard he'd trusted. +Somehow brainwashed by the New Meadowlark, or something like that. + +Calvin stamped his hoof against the ground, and listened to the echo off the walls. +It sounded like he was in a large chamber, which Calvin hoped would be good as far as air was concerned. +But he didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, and wasn't sure what the signs of lack of air would be. + +He touched his head. +The helm had been stolen, and he assumed the sword had gone with it. +He still had his pack, which had a bit of food and water. +And, Calvin remembered, an electric torch. + +After the initial shock to his eyes, the light revealed that he was in a relatively smooth room, around twenty feet one way and thirty feet in the other. +The ceiling was quite tall, and Calvin couldn't quite make out how far above the chamber went. + +Calvin walked to one end and walked around the walls of his chamber, feeling the stone. +It was smooth all the way around. +The lack of doors made sense if they'd had the Pathbreaker seal him in, which meant he was probably completely sealed in. +Calvin reflexively kicked back in anger, and hit the wall behind him. +A sharp pain bounced up his leg, and when he turned to look, the wall was unchanged. +Even that was ineffective. +He turned off the torch to preserve the battery, sank to the ground and began to sob. + +Calvin once again woke to a complete darkness. +Apparently, he'd managed to cry himself into sleep. +No obvious improvement to his situation presented itself, which meant he needed to find a way to do it himself. +He thought about the Meadowlark manual, and started the breathing exercise again. + +His breath stilled, he pictured the smell of a grassy hill, the flow of water and the tight grip of roots. +He felt himself being pulled in by a wave of yaks spreading across a plain, and he pictured the Haven as their destination. + +He held on to that image, and tried to avoid focussing on the pain that his head was insistently pounding out. +He felt his hooves tingling as they sank into the stone below him, and he felt the sinews of his legs vibrate as he stood tall. +The stone under him revealed a hidden warmth underneath, a vein of life or power or something good, and he tried to reach out to touch it, but found it out of grip. + +Straining, he pulled at it, pawing at it wildly, desperately. +Unsuccessful, he changed his plan, and tried to push more warmth into the stone. +He felt it sneaking out of him like a thread. +The thread of power reached for the deeper well below, until wrapping itself around the vein. +Calvin pulled on it, and after a small initial resistance, it came flooding back into him. + +Calvin opened his eyes, and turned on the flashlight. +He was standing where he remembered, and he didn't feel anything. +A few taps on the ground again felt like nothing unusual. +Although, nothing was unusual, right? + +His rear leg no longer hurt, and his head felt clear, and pain-free. +In fact, Calvin felt better than he'd felt in a long time. +Somehow he'd managed to pull some sort of life from somewhere beyond the stone, and it had healed him.