Sagiri moved quickly. He was sure he had six strong heartbeats. There was no mistake about that. He followed the sound further into the valley in the direction he had heard it. He could feel them getting fainter and fainter until it was gone. Even more, while he had run deeper into the cave, somehow it felt as if he had managed to go in circles, or if he was completely lost.

"Zaira, aren't you supposed to be like Oka and take me to the squad? You are really hopeless. If only your mother could see you shamelessly sleeping in enemy territory." Sagiri said, but Zaira did not even stir, and he did not slow down even one bit.

No wonder Kiuga had sent him a message. It has been almost two days now since he received the message, and he did not like the odds. There was a possibility that something bad had happened. If something had happened, Sagiri was going to flatten the valley so that whatever stayed in it or whoever did not have one rock to hide under.

Sagiri walked into a narrow crevice in the skyscraper rocks. He burst into a humongous cave under the mountainous rising rocks. It did not look habitable, but Sagiri had a sinking feeling the moment he stepped in. It was now undeniable that there was something inside the cave with him. He could not pinpoint its position, but he knew it was somewhere. Whatever, he had no business with lurking ebasts.

Sagiri turned around, but even with his right eye, all he could see were rocks. Rocks hanging around the cave. It looked unnaturally natural.

Could it be possible that there was a creature so strange that it did not have a heartbeat, like an overgrown worm, or one that was so smart enough to hide its presence?

Sagiri did not like the sound of that. If it were a big beast and he ended up standing on its belly, then it would be a huge problem. It would be better if he did not engage whoever with whatever it was inside the cave. He knew members of the squad could not willingly hide their presence from him when he was searching for them. Sagiri turned around to exit the cave, but as if it had never been there, there were no perfect rocks aligned there.

He must have mistaken it. Perhaps a little to his right or a little to the left, but somehow, a sinking feeling deep inside Sagiri's heart told him that the exit had really disappeared.

So the valley was alive?

That couldn't be it.

*****************************

Deep in the valley, a group of youths was hiding. They did not dare move.

"Do you think Sika took the message?" Gavina shivered. She was so cold she did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"My bird is trained to even deliver messages in battle. We of the Anku tribe train the best war birds." Pavire answered.

"So then it is Sagiri who won't come," Nayira said. She was in no better state. She did not know how long she had been standing in the same position. hours? weeks? months. Well, it couldn't have been a month, but standing in the same position for a long time made time move more slowly. A day or two was fine, but more than that, even the strongest warriors could not take it. Especially doing it on an empty stomach.

Kiuga did not dare turn even his eyeballs too quickly. He was sitting close to Pavire, and the two were leaning against each other. They were probably the ones in the best positions apart from the rest.

"Don't speak of my little blind in that manner. He is an honourable man." Kiuga said.

"After Tagayia sent him away, what makes you think he will come back for us?" Nayira said.

"Don't keep speaking such words!" Kaka snapped. He was standing in the worst position. One small move and he would go tumbling, yet he had been standing on one leg as if it was nothing. He had not complained or grown impatient to wait. "He could never do that. He will be here." Kaka said. They always ended up going at each other's throats with Nayira, but Nayira did not seem to have any more energy to argue this time, so she just shivered and pulled her hands tightly around herself.

"The southerner better hurry before we turn to ice!" Miat groaned. He was standing at the far side, his hands folded to his chest.

"I should not have followed you. We should have just volunteered to patrol the gates of the war academy. Now I am going to die here, and my parents will never find even my bones to bury." Ulekai cried. The boy had not grown out of his fear, and he had not stopped weeping ever since things had gone wrong.

Things had seemed fine when they entered the valley, and they had not at all expected them to turn to this. It was darker than usual even during the day, but if they entered the valley and came back alive, then they would get the highest score.

The college did not have a say on where the students wanted to earn their merits from, but when squad 25 had suggested to the merit instructor jokingly, to visit the valley. He had said it is among the dark zones where no student had ever entered before for the mere exercise. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Kiuga was just fooling around, saying he wanted to be the first. The merits of going into the valley were not only the highest score, but also allowed a privilege to choose which section they wanted to serve after they graduated.

Of course, the squad was only curious and wanted to milk some information on the Boni valley, but then the Kafika 1 squad had heard the back-and-forth conversation with the instructor. Anyone can imagine how this escalated from there since the squads were bitter rivals. They fought for points, and the two top squad positions had not been taken by anyone but them. There was a seesaw effect on how they exchanged positions. No one had been allowed to stay comfortable on one. Even more unfortunate was that the yearly score between the two squads was tied. A staggering eight hundred and sixty-two points across all ten areas a warrior was supposed to be good in.

Kafika 1 had immediately jumped in on the idea of going too. Well, Gavina had said her squad would go into the valley to earn their merits too. At that point, things suddenly took a sour turn. Galka 25 would not admit that they had just been jesting around and did not mean any of the words they said.

The manhood measuring contest had officially begun, then and then

"We of Kafika are going into the valley too. Can't let you get all the glory now, can we?" Gavina had said her neck held high. Neither of the two had stopped fighting for the honour of their academies. Galka might have led in the high school exam, but only by a few points. Gavina was determined to rectify that.

"We were just joking..." Ulekai had started to say, but someone quickly covered his mouth.

"I must say the valley is no place for ladies to follow men into," Kiuga had surprised himself, too, with how competitive he had become.

"Since you insist on following us everywhere. Make sure not to slow us down." Kaka snarled.

"Who said we are coming with you? We will be going in alone, and we will be the first to come out." Nayira sneered back.

"Well, we just have to find out." Maita joined in.

That is how the horror story began.