Chapter 6

Delilah had hesitated for a moment when Adam asked her for the key to the door under her house. Her eyes were full of questions, but she said nothing; just silently handing Adam the key.

Erin had looked back and forth between them, knowing some of the import to what they were doing. Adam’s mother looked worried, but she was silent as well.

Delilah took a breath.

“If you are in there too long I’ll — Adam, is it alright if I come and check on you?”

Even Delilah had changed so much. Gone were the days where she tried to tell Adam what to do, thinking that she knew best. Well, mostly gone. She tempered her usual impulses as best she could.

Adam nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ll be that long.”

“Are you —”

“No, Delilah. It’s just something that I need to see. I need to think some things over.”

Adam checked the time on his way out the front door. He had hours to go until lunch. More than enough time. The key felt heavy in his hand. Far weightier than it ought to be, even if he knew it was just in his mind. As Adam walked down the stairs and then under the house, he wondered if he was making a mistake. He still remembered his last experience with the fungus that originated from the Cave. He had lost control of himself. Delilah had lost control of herself.

Counter to that, in that same instance, Adam had had the clearest contact with that vast figure in the Cave to date. That had been the occasion in which it had spoken to him.

“A promise ... what promise? I had thought it was some huge and important thing. But what if...”

Adam reached the heavy door set into the hill at the back of Delilah’s house. He regarded it, trying to keep calm. Despite himself, his heart rate had picked up. But at least it was just regular adrenaline. Nothing like the supernatural feeling that had come over him at the start of his journey.

Adam inserted the key into the padlock, turning it. It opened easily. Delilah kept it well maintained. Adam took a deep breath, and opened the door.

It should have creaked. It should have been stuck, requiring Adam to heave at it to get it open. That would have been ... thematic. Instead, the door swung open smoothly with barely a sound. The air inside was so still that Adam didn’t smell anything at first. Even as time went on, there was only a faint lingering scent of the fungus that he could barely detect.

It was dark, impossible to see far. Even the light from the open door barely penetrated any distance into the shadow-filled depths. Adam thought he saw the faintest of green glows coming from the walls, but it was nothing as bright as he had experienced in the Cave.

Adam thought he would have to go find a torch or something, but then he spotted a panel of switches just inside the door. The electrical work was rough, looking jury-rigged, with copper wires coming out the back of the small box. It looked ancient, and Adam wondered if Delilah had put it together herself.

He flicked the top switch and, after a long few seconds, light bulbs set on the roof of the tunnel began to flicker into life, one after the other. They weren’t fluorescent, rather old-school lightbulbs. An earthy-orange glow emanated from them.

The tunnel was both longer and shorter than Adam had expected. It certainly went back a ways into the hill, but he could also see the end of it. The mundanity of it reassured him.

Adam flicked on the second switch, and the faint whirring of a fan became audible.The air began to circulate, and Adam was suddenly engulfed in the heavy floral scent that he had come to know. It was everywhere, and it made him cough for a few seconds. Then it suddenly became bearable. It was still there, but it was no longer quite as overwhelming.

Adam stepped through the door into the tunnel, and immediately had to stoop slightly. The roof of the tunnel was high enough in some places, but dipped in others. The hanging lightbulbs also made him keep an eye on the ceiling. Insulated electrical wires ran the length of the tunnel, held in place by metal staples literally driven into the stone.

Now that he was used to the floral scent, Adam could detect just how damp and heavy the air was. There was an underlying musty aroma as well. The tunnel walls — what Adam could see amongst the fungal growth — were rough hewn and uneven. He could literally see the marks on the wall, what looked like gouges from a pickaxe.

Delilah hadn’t really gone into detail about how the tunnel had been excavated, but it looked like it had been done by hand. As if to confirm his observation, Adam saw what appeared to be the decayed handle of a pickaxe, the metal head laying next to it. Rusted and pitted with time and the damp.

“He must have done all this himself...”

For a moment, Adam marvelled at the effort involved. And then he wondered how long it would take him to do the same. With his strength and stamina, could he do it too? Adam hadn’t really experimented with what was possible.

“But that’s also part of the mystery. Why am I so strong, so fast? I mean, what’s the point of that? You wouldn’t think it was necessary, just for sex. But for that matter, why sex to begin with? Why give the power to bind and control women?”

Adam started to walk down along the tunnel. There were so many questions ... and only so many answers available to him. There were still some of the journals that Adam had yet to get through, but he didn’t hold out any great hope for them. He felt sure that he had gleaned all that he could from the writings of Delilah’s grandfather. Even when he had been coherent he hadn’t been all that forthcoming. No, there was only one avenue left for Adam if he wanted to truly understand what was going on.

“Of course, this is just stepping stone. Testing it out. If I really want answers, I have to go back ... there.”

Adam knew deep within him that he would have to go back to the Cave. He knew so much more than he used to, but all his knowledge seemed to highlight was just how much he still had to learn. Adam sure there was a pithy quote about that — something that would fit — but he couldn’t think of one.

“Something like a journey beginning with a single step? Kind of, but not exactly.”

Adam sighed to himself, then continued on.

The ground beneath his feet crunched with every step. The floor of the tunnel was loose and uneven, a mixture of dirt and sharp chips of stone from the original excavation. Adam was glad he was wearing shoes for once, and he made sure to be careful with his footing.

The sound echoed strangely down here. Adam’s footsteps bounced back at him until it was hard to orientate himself. He kept glancing back over his shoulder at the reassuring light from the open door. Adam wasn’t exactly worried — there was none of the eldritch atmosphere like when he was in the Cave. It was very obvious he was somewhere man-made ... but it was still somewhat eerie.

The air was noticeably cooler the further he went in, and it seemed to press in on him. There was a faint trickle of sweat beading down Adam’s spine, and he paused. Just listening to the silence and stillness. There was ... something here. Something warping the reality of what should just be a simple tunnel. Nothing like the Cave, but ... something.

If Adam closed his eyes — not that he would — he fancied that it would be quite easy to imagine himself back in the Cave. And not just because of the scent of the fungus on the walls. It was a feeling. Something otherworldly and also familiar.

“Why did he try and cultivate the stuff from the Cave? Even with his strength, it must have been a huge effort to dig this place out. And Delilah said that he’d had different mediums lined against the walls, trying to get it to grow. So he hadn’t even known if it was possible. So why did he do it?”

For the first time, Adam wondered at the motivations of this place. Nothing referenced it in the journals. Not to mention, Delilah’s grandfather could enter the Cave whenever he chose. It wasn’t capricious like it had been for Adam ... although Adam hadn’t been back since his last encounter. He didn’t know which would be worse; the Cave appearing for him immediately, or if it remained elusive.

Once again, Adam’s suspicions grew that the old leader had done something. Changed something. Broken something?

“And if that’s the case, is the ‘promise’ related to that? Or is it to fix what was done?”