I needed to get back home, but I didn't know how and couldn't ask the only other person with me, not with words at least.

I got up and walked out of the rift and into the larger tunnel, which went on for as far as I could see in both directions, left and right.

"Can you tell me how to get out?" I said, testing to see if he knew any level of my language.

He only watched me, from head to toe, his expression stern. If we hadn't just met, I would've thought he hated me, or something similar.

Disgust? I thought.

Getting more uncomfortable by the second, and not just by the fact I was probably literally dying, I decided to stick with hand gestures to communicate. I pointed upwards, then to myself with my index finger and to him with both my index and middle finger, then lifted them all, voicing my thoughts with "up" and "people" despite myself.

After a few more seconds of awkward staring, he pointed right, I thanked him and started walking to the right, but he stopped me before I could go any further. He gestured to the wound on my hand then set his open hands apart, as if measuring something invisible, he pointed to the way I was going and moved his hands farther apart from each other, something bigger.

Was there something worse than that centipede? If that's even what it was. I had never seen such a big arthropod anywhere, a bigger one would definitely be a new discovery for humanity, a scary one. Even if he was telling the truth, I couldn't stay there forever, so I kept walking. He followed me.

Walking gave me more time to think and observe, and that place was odd. The gray roots seemed to extend forever in all surfaces, some crossing the cave from one side to the other, thin white tendrils extending from some of them, making the roof of the cave an upside down white grass path. The flowers and crystals did indeed emit light, the latter being stronger.

Becoming a botanist wouldn't be such a far-fetched dream if I could bring one of those flowers out, or even bring someone to them. I've heard of bioluminescent fungi but not flowers, the crystals were even more of a mystery, I tried picking one up but they were too attached to the ground and tendrils, and Zanir didn't feel prompted to help.

I saw a variety of insects, some similar to ants, krunts and even bers, none that I recognized with assurance. They all had something not quite right, being a little bigger than they probably should, looking extra scary or otherworldly.

What were the possibilities? Was I dreaming or hallucinating all of that? Seemed unlikely, too real, not that dreams didn't feel real, but the situation had a certain authenticity to it, being able to have such clear train of thoughts was an indication of that. What else? Another world? The talking dog surely made clear that anything is possible, if that even happened. Could this be an undiscovered cave somewhere? That would explain a lot of things, but that theory also had it's flaws, like the fact that even if such place remained hidden from humanity for so long, why did I suddenly found myself here? Right after being stabbed in the middle of nowhere and nearly dying...

...Did I? Am I dead?

The thought was only truly scary when it reminded me Asha would be left alone. Was she worried? I didn't even know how much time had passed since I left from work, but it felt like hours, maybe even a day or two.

I pulled myself out from such deep thoughts when something ahead caught my attention. A black orb was floating in the middle of the tunnel at the edge of my view, I glanced at Zanir but he kept walking silent behind me, so I kept going the only path available, towards it.

Getting closer, I had a better estimation of the orb's size, it was a bit larger than a human head. I noticed the path behind it diverged into two, one going up and the other going down, the latter being significantly brighter but narrower.

I stopped walking around ten meters away from the orb, It seemed to have wobbled a little, so I caught a loose rock from the ground and threw at it, although my aiming was off by a meter or two, there was still a reaction.

Several smaller orbs separated from the fuzzy clump of black and started floating in my direction, I turned to run and saw that Zanir was several meters away and already going back at an insane speed.

Fuck!

Now each the size of my fist, they weren't fast, but not slow either. The bastard Zanir was long gone from my view, I didn't get very far when my foot caught on something and I fell, my black pants apparently weren't of a very good material, they did little to protect my legs and tore at my knees, leaving scratches. I glanced back and noticed the black blobs were closing the distance, I could now see several thin legs creepily moving between almost invisible webs close to the roof, which spurred me into running faster, only to feel a tug and fall, failing to move my leg. A surprisingly thick layer of webs were covering my legs halfway up my shin, and my left leg got entangled on one of the numerous branches that grew out of the roots on the floor.

What? How? I thought, confused and desperate.

The branch was too thick for me to break, so I started to scratch at the webbing but it stuck to my hand like tape, making it harder to tear, so I grabbed the closest twig and tried to pierce instead of just pulling, but it definitely wasn't normal web, it felt like I was trying to push through layers of rug. The twig broke.

The creatures were so close I could see its "mouths" moving among all the black hair, tiny tentacles in a circle with two pairs of mandibles, one horizontally and another vertically.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

I tore my pants all the way around my knees, the small tears the fall left on the area made it easier to do so, then I aligned my foot straight with my leg so I could push the lower part down along with my shoes, freeing myself from the tangle.

Getting up, I grabbed a handful of dirt and rocks and threw it in their direction, not bothering looking to see if it made any difference. It didn't, one of them jumped on my back, I panicked trying to take it off me and I fell again, but managing to rotate my body so I'd fall back first, crushing the little fucker.

I got up again, knowing the others were very close, and saw the wooden spear Zanir had thrown to hit the centipede, just a few meters ahead. I staggered towards it, catching it and turning to them just before one tried jumping on me again, hitting it sideways with the weapon and cutting some of the web.

The web, that's how they were following me so easily.

I ran faster than I ever did in my entire life, holding the spear up so I could cut their clear path on the roof, hopefully slowing them down.

Zanir was waiting by the entrance when I got to the fissure on the side of the tunnel, I ignored him and collapsed on the floor, he slowly walked towards the wall and grabbed the jug, pouring its contents on a wooden bowl and offering it to me, acting like he hadn't just left me to be eaten by the assassin furry balls. But I accepted, drinking faster than I probably should.

He unsheathed one of his sword and pointed at me, so long that it was clearly a two handed weapon, I got up as he motioned with the blade for me to do so.

Maybe it was for the fact that I had just almost died for the third time in a very short span of time, but I wasn't scared, just angry and tired of it all.

Why me? Why is this all happening?

But if he suddenly changed his mind about killing me, I wouldn't take it lying down.

He moved his arm to strike me sideways with the sword, I closed the distance and blocked his sweeping left arm with my right. My left hand already going for his face, but he dodged by moving to the side and down, too quickly for someone of his size. Crouching, his hand came so fast on my leg that he almost flipped me, lifting me off the ground. I fell hard on my back.

He pointed the sword down at me again, but with the grip turned towards me, now.

What the hell? I thought, tired.

I didn't know what in the world that man was thinking, but if there really was more of those things in that place, I knew I wouldn't get out of there without his help.

I took the sword.