Chapter 83: Grik’s Past (Part 2)

"What happened after that? Did you go in the cave?" Rolf asked.

"Well, it was a disaster for sure," I said.

---

As the storm stopped and the cave revealed itself, every member of the group stood still for a moment. And then, a member took a step forward.

He was followed by the others like they were being called by a divine voice.

"Hey, what are you doing? HEY!" I asked as I grabbed the man closest to me.

And what I saw was horrifying. His eyes were wide open, but they felt utterly lifeless.

"WAIT! STOP! DO NOT ENTER THE CAVE!!"

Every member of the team stopped. My loud voice was enough to break their illusions and bring them back to their senses.

"What?! What happened?" asked Mark, the leader of this expedition.

"You were moving madly, Mark. You all were. Why were you just going in the Cave without proper planning?" said Robert (Grik).

"I don’t know, Rob. I just lost my senses for a moment there," he replied.

"You sure did." I paused and continued with a hint of fear in my voice, "I believe we should head back. This is not a normal situation. We reached this point and all of a sudden the raging storm and the howling winds just stop?"

I turned and looked at the rest of the members.

"Do you think it is a coincidence? This never happens in the Himalayas. I have a really bad feeling about this."

’I should never have come to this expedition. I should have stopped Anise too. She is just too interested in these anomalies.’

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

A roar of laughter spread through the team.

"My God! This dude seriously believes in some superstitious nonsense!"

"Humans have gone into Space, Rob! Are you living in the medieval era? Believing in sorcery."

Everyone laughed at me. I turned to look at Anise. She looked at me with genuine care.

"He just wants us to be more careful. Who was it that was going into the cave without proper precautions, huh?! Use your heads, idiots! You just lost your senses a few moments ago."

Anise defended me. Everyone went silent, looking awkward and avoiding my gaze.

’Now they just shut up!’

"What you’re saying is right, but we cannot turn this expedition back. We at least need to get some evidence of the disappeared people," said Mark.

"Mark. Listen to me this one time. I really do not have a good feeling about this. If we enter that cave, something will definitely go wrong." I tried convincing them, but...

"Enough! Robert, we cannot stop this expedition based on a feeling. Give me a reason. A valid reason to return," he retorted.

"..."

I could not answer.

"That’s what I thought. Grab your torches. We are moving in!" he commanded.

And I followed. He was the most experienced out of all of us. So I trusted his judgment.

CLICK.

Three high-intensity tactical LED flashlights cut through the darkness in the cave.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

Our crampons grated harshly against the floor.

’The terrain is changing. It isn’t smooth glacial ice in here. It’s more like a dry and rocky base.’

The deeper we marched, the more a stale, dusty warmth began to seep through our heavy gear. It wasn’t pleasant. It smelled like old dust and something metallic.

"Incredible," Mark’s voice cracked over the comms.

"A thermal pocket this high up? This violates every known geological model of the Himalayas."

"Let’s just get the readings and get out," I said, my voice tight inside my mask. My skin was crawling.

Every survival instinct I had honed over a decade of climbing was screaming at me to run back into the storm. The darkness felt heavy, like it was watching us.

SCREEECH.

Mark, leading the line, skidded to a halt. His boot kicked something. He flashed his light down.

"Whoa. Gear? Up here?"

I pushed past the others with ragged breath. What I found was a memento.

It was a locket. Waterproof, expensive. I scraped the grime off and pried it open with a fingernail.

My stomach dropped through the floor. Inside was a damp, yellowed photograph of a smiling woman holding a young toddler.

I recognized them from the news briefings we had studied.

"Mark," I whispered, my voice shaking. "Flash your light here."

Anise knelt beside me as Mark angled his beam.

"What is it?"

"It is Sterling," I said, a cold, heavy dread settling into my gut. "David Sterling’s family. His team went missing five years ago... but they vanished four thousand feet below where we are now."

Anise gasped, her hand coming up to clutch the collar of her suit.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Look, his initials are engraved on the back." I shoved the locket into my pocket and stood up. I gripped my ice axe until my knuckles turned white inside my gloves.

"We’re turning around. Now."

"Robert, don’t be ridiculous," Mark snapped, already pushing deeper into the gloom.

"If Sterling was up here, it’s a massive discovery. We have to find out what happened to them."

Human greed. Human curiosity. It won out over survival.

Anise looked at me, her eyes wide behind her goggles, indicating she wanted to continue. Against every fiber of my being, I followed them.

’This is the last time! I am bloody retiring after this!’

The narrow tunnel abruptly opened up into a massive, perfectly circular domed chamber. It wasn’t natural. The walls were smooth, almost glossy.

In the exact center stood a structure that froze my blood.

"What is that?!"

It was an altar. A massive, seven-foot-high block of obsidian, blacker than the surrounding dark. It was surrounded by an intricate, sprawling web of geometric symbols carved into the stone floor.

Even through the dust, I could tell they weren’t Tibetan. They weren’t from any human history I knew. They were sharp, jagged, and holding my gaze on them made my brain throb with a dull, sickening pain.

FLASH.

"My god," Anise murmured, pulling her goggles up. She approached the edge of the circle of runes, her flashlight beam sweeping over the complex patterns.

"This is pre-Ice Age. Robert, look at the orientation! It’s all aligned to constellations that haven’t been visible from Earth in millennia."

Mark and the other technician were already setting up tripods and laser scanners, their professional excitement overriding the obvious wrongness of the place.

I stood back near the entrance, hyperventilating into my mask, watching Anise approach that black slab.

As Anise approached that slab, my heart started beating at a furious rate. My whole being was telling me to get out of here.

"ANISE!! GET BACK!!" I warned, stepping toward her. "DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

I was too slow. Just like the dense protagonist from an idiotic anime.

The technician, trying to get a broader angle with his camera, backstepped. He wasn’t looking.

His heavy, crampon-shod boot landed right over a large, star-shaped rune near the perimeter of the circle.

...

A heartbeat of absolute, heavy stillness.

KRRR-RUMBLE-KOOM!

The mountain screamed. A violent, catastrophic quake jolted the chamber.

The ground violently bucked, throwing us off our feet. I slammed hard onto the stone, my ice axe clattering away across the dark floor.

FWOOOOSH!

The dull runes on the floor instantly ignited with a brilliant, nauseating, blood-red light.

"Anise! Stay with me!" I called out.

The white beams of our tactical flashlights were utterly swallowed by the overwhelming crimson glare.

"Robert! What is happening?!" she screamed.

"How would I know?! I told you to turn back!" I retorted.

The stale air grew instantly hot, scorching our lungs even through the oxygen filters.

SQUELCH. BLUB. BLUB.

A horrifying sound erupted from the central altar. The obsidian block cracked.

Thick, viscous, steaming crimson sludge of human blood began to spew forth from the top.

It flowed like a ruptured artery, cascading down the sides and instantly filling the glowing grooves of the runes in the floor.

"I cannot believe my eyes! This is just the most horrible day of my life," I said, looking at the gore scene in front of me.

"It doesn’t feel like blood but more like a liquid that has some sort of chemical giving it a red color," Mark said, as he was trying to display his ’intelligence’.

"Shut up! You moron! Do you not understand this situation?! How does any of this make sense to you?! Science this, Science that! Shove it up your ass!" Anise retorted.

And if you did not realize from her tone, then let me enlighten you. She was angry.

’These fools! They were belittling him when he warned them of the danger and now they are trying to spout stupid bullshit at him?! Are they seriously insane?’ thought Anise.

KRA-KOOM!

The smooth walls of the chamber began to shatter. Massive chunks of rock and ice exploded inward.

"Oh god! Help me!" the technician screamed, struggling to stand.

"Don’t worry, guys! I believe it’s just an avalanche and some shifts in the tectonic plates causing this phenomenon. Just hold out for a bit! It will be alright!" Mark said, completely ignoring the sweet compliments he received from Anise.

’This dude is just jinxing it at this point!’

Through the dust and the red light, they emerged. From the holes opening in the walls.

Red high-altitude down suits. Broken ropes dangling. I recognized Sterling’s build.

But his gear was torn, caked in dirt and blood.

His skin was gray, frosted, pulled tight like parchment over his skull.

His eyes were wide, vacant white orbs that reflected the blood-light of the runes.

GROOOOAN.

He wasn’t alone. Dozens of them, from decades of missing expeditions, were climbing out of the walls.

Moving with a jerky, unnatural, insect-like gait.

Dead, gray hands clenched ice axes with skeletal strength.

And every single one of those dead, frosted faces turned slowly, lock-step, to stare directly at us.

"YOU JINXED IT, YOU FOOL!!"