Shangri-la
Chapter 10
The sharp naked branch appeared and stabbed into Lotus’s side before she had the time to dodge it, causing her to stumble but not stopping her from pushing her way though the pain and moving deeper into the forest, her steps spurred on by the fear that the strange trail she was following would disappear. She had never felt anything like it before, and she was being pulled toward it with the strongest sense of urgency and dread. She had to find its source.
A rock jetted up from the ground at an angle, covered in colorful lichen, with a gaping hole in the crook of its base. Lotus hesitated, kneeling to stare down into the opening, deeply breathing in the frigid air that leaked through. The trail–the aura–led into it but Lotus balked at the idea of jumping when she couldn’t see the bottom. Then the aura wavered and weakened.
Clinging to the edge, she started lowering herself into the cave, but the dirt slipped underneath her fingers and Lotus fell, screaming as she plummeted into the blackness.
The ground reached her sooner than she had expected, but later than she had hoped. Wincing, Lotus tested her legs then stood up, staring at the opening just out of reach above her head.
“Damn,” she hissed, then looked around with a shiver. She seemed to be at the start of a tunnel, and there was only one way for her to go. Carefully shuffling her feet across the invisible ground, Lotus put her hand against a rock wall and slowly ventured deeper into the blind darkness. With any luck, she would be able to find rocks that she could pile toward the exit to make her escape with. The aura was gone; there was nothing for her to follow anymore.
Her fingers slid onto something slick and cold, and surprised she yanked her hand away. Slowly, hesitantly, Lotus touched the wall again.
Ice.
She stopped breathing. Let me get out of here, she prayed. But there didn’t seem to be any type of debris on the floor. Everything in the cave was smooth and polished, with no rodents or spiders scurrying around. It was almost unnatural.
The wall curved and Lotus followed it until unexpectedly her eyes were met with light. She blinked, adjusting to the vision. Opening up in front of her was a large cavern covered in melting ice, with pools of water gathering in crevices and in the center of the room. At the far wall was a human shape, partially covered in ice as well.
Lotus walked closer, skirting around the water until she reached the frozen man. His skin was a porcelain pale, tinted blue with cold, emphasizing his thick black eyelashes. His purple lips were slightly parted, with sparkling frost along the edges, and a faint white wisp appeared with every slow breath he released.
He was still alive.
Entranced with a morbid curiosity, Lotus reached up to touch his still long black hair, but his eyes flew open, startling her into staggering back with a sharp gasp, her gaze held captive by the nearly red color of his irises.
It had been his aura that she had been following.
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