Amid Heaven and Hell Chapter 2-The Cave

The day was strange; the sun shone oddly in the sky, and the air seemed heavy, laden with a sense of unease. I was in the village, thinking about the meeting I had with the couple, the other day.

So, I went down to the square to get my tobacco and have a coffee when old man Michael, the usually silent coffee vendor, decided to talk to me. He was a man of few words, but when he spoke, he had many stories and traditions to tell. He sat next to me and asked:
“Have you heard about the cave up on the mountain? Not the one they tell the tourists about, but the other one, the hidden one…”
“What are you saying, old man?” I replied. “What hidden caves? I’ve wandered to the other side of the mountain and haven’t seen any hidden things.” But his words gave me the chills, and uneasy thoughts gripped my mind...
“Something ancient lives up there,” the old man continued. “And those who went, you know, out of curiosity, either never returned or came back completely mad, like Konstantis.”

“Which Konstantis are you talking about? The mad one who roams around the village laughing?” The old man’s voice was filled with fear, and as I asked him, I felt a shiver down my spine.

Konstantis was a young man, around my age, who wandered the village all day, talking nonsense and laughing hysterically. As I walked home, I thought on one hand that the old man had lost his mind, but on the other hand, I couldn’t get what he told me out of my head...

A few minutes later, I saw Konstantis in the distance, and I thought, why not ask him about the old man’s story, even though it seemed silly... Approaching him, I heard him muttering those incomprehensible things he usually said, and it seemed like he was saying “Relaye.” Without thinking much, I approached him, and as he usually did when he saw someone, he looked at me and greeted me with a broad smile.
I smiled back and asked him about old man Michael’s story. He looked away, and the smile disappeared from his face... He turned and looked at me again with tear-filled eyes, and my heart shattered into thousand pieces... Then he started running towards his home...

Curiosity, however, is a devil, so the next morning, with the mist hanging over the village, I set out to find the cave. Up to a point, I was going calmly, knowing the way. But as I climbed, the mist thickened, and the road became rough. I quickened my pace, trying not to stumble, the mist was too thick.

After about ten minutes, just when I thought I was lost and the wolves would get me, the mist cleared, and I saw a rocky path. How did I miss this? I had roamed the whole mountain... As I climbed higher, I felt eyes watching me, whispers speaking to me...

At the end of the path, I saw before me the entrance to the cave, the hairs on my body standing on end from the chill (in August). I entered and it felt like stepping into another world. The walls of the cave were covered with strange, ancient symbols, and the whispers continued.

I went deeper and found myself in a huge chamber, and there, in the center, was a massive rock, carved like an altar. On it, something shone with an eerie light, not of this world. It was a book, bound in leather, and it seemed alive, its writing dancing before my eyes. I didn’t know what it was, but something inside me screamed to leave it and run.

But curiosity, as we said, is a bad guide. I touched the book, and a voice filled my mind, an ancient and powerful voice. The walls of the cave shook, and suddenly, I felt myself losing my sense of self. I felt a hand supporting me from behind, preventing me from falling.
“I am the Lord of Shadows,” I heard the voice say. “I am the one who comes from the depths of time and space. You have awakened what should not be awakened.”

Terror paralyzed me, and before I could react, the hand that I felt on my back, pulled me violently and I found myself outside the cave. There, I lost consciousness.

While unconscious, it seemed I dreamed of flying in space. From the depths of the void, I felt a presence watching me with hatred...

And then I heard a voice calling me, “Get up and don’t be afraid.” I half-opened my eyes and thought I saw a figure with wings standing over me. I opened them fully and was surprised to see the young man from the park smiling and offering his hand to help me up. Nearby stood the girl, looking back and forth between me and the cave, her gaze full of concern...

“How did you get here?” I asked the young man and tried to move, but my legs wouldn’t support me. The young man held me, putting my arm over his shoulder. They didn’t say a word until we reached the village.

As we walked, I thought I saw Konstantis behind a wall, watching me.


The young man finally let me stand on my own. He smiled and told me that my fate was to be entangled in this story. The girl approached and kissed me on the cheek, and at that moment, it felt like the weight of the world lifted from me for a moment. I looked at her and saw she was holding the book...

Before I could ask, they both disappeared before my eyes...

Since that day, I know that something changed. Something woke up in the depths of the cave and my soul. I realized that I had become involved in a war against my will... And I could no longer turn back...