The Last Days of Pangea

At this tale, the relatives groaned in surprise, and the hunters from Brun’s detachment again rustled and stamped, confirming the words of the hunter.

«I understood that the maiden recognized Zavrini’s eyes, but the eyes are somehow wrong,» Ramir explained. – And she says to me: «Do not come near, monster!». I was in a hurry. «Illy! I calm her down. «It’s me, Ramir!» And she looks and understands nothing – she does not recognize me! I am closer to her, and she screams and collapses to the ground unconscious. I took her in my arms and carried her to the detachment…

The tribesmen opened their mouths.

– Upon returning to the camp, Illi told me that when she parted ways with Ramir, the roots of unprecedented plants entwined her legs, and then got to her hands. And she doesn’t remember anything else. She doesn’t even remember how Ramir brought her to her senses,» Brun concluded. – She has known unity, people! And her unity was broken. I tell you exactly! Did you forget Azis? He, too, lost his memory when they violated him.

The elders and experienced rangers nodded, and the sentinels, once again hearing the mention of the old shaman, again froze in anticipation of some details, but Brun continued to explain what had happened to his beater:

«Illy hears our voices as we, the hunters, hear with the vision of incarnation. And what about her eyes is not at all clear. You say, Valan, they look like a star? – he pointed with his hand at the manifestation, and all those sitting by the fire immediately raised their eyes to the sky. «Perhaps they are similar,» the leader continued to argue. «But what do I know for sure, and Illie herself told me that she saw with her eyes the twilight in the middle of the night, as if it were not night at all, although then it was well after midnight. And all living creatures that chirp and clatter, she saw luminous lights, and she sees us all relatives in a different guise, like our eyes are embodied lizards! He says – carcasses we are in armor! She herself knew that her bones stick out everywhere and meat with blood – there is no skin! Neither she has, nor we, nor anyone! Only bare flesh!

* incarnate the eye – in the language of the first people means «with the eyes of a hunter.»

***

– Aaa! Unga yelled, and an eight-legged shadow appeared on the illuminated wall to his side.

– What? What’s happened? – frightened by the cry of a fellow tribesman, the already excited children began to wail.

– She’s on me! Sitting on me!

– Who is sitting? How is he sitting? Ronin immediately brought the torch closer to his kinsman.

– Creature!

A barely visible shiny cobweb stretched down from Unga’s chin, and at its end, at the chest level of the future hunter, a tiny furry creature hung.

«In the name of Pangea, Unga!» Elna exclaimed. – It’s Yellowbelly!

Omi giggled, and the black-haired girl picked up the web with her finger and held it up to her to see the insect. The spider, meanwhile, chaotically waved its paws, trying to cling to at least something.

«They live in rocks, remember? Elna added. – He himself slipped them dragonfly larvae!

– Unga, it’s already so creepy here, and you’re still with your creatures! Ronin growled angrily.

The gloomy tunnel gave off dampness and coolness. Its narrow and winding corridors were so monotonous that it sometimes seemed to young explorers that they were walking along the same nooks and crannies. In places, the pointed reliefs of the walls and the shadows falling on them resembled the silhouettes of lizards, and sometimes it seemed to the children that the stone forms were moving at all. This made it scary. But despite the terrible decoration of the underground passage, the desire for adventure did not leave the brave hearts, because the mysterious and unknown path inspired young relatives not only with anxiety, but also with the anticipation of seeing something unusual and unseen before.

Making their way along the narrow corridor, the future hunters barely spoke. They were seriously afraid to break the enchanting silence of an unfamiliar dungeon. Therefore, the road to the Temple of the Creator passed without chatter and tomfoolery. And only distant bursts of an underground stream measuredly disturbed the silence of the walls.

Ronin and Unga were constantly helping the girls up the awkward slopes and ledges. And Unga also marked the walls of the tunnel with his small bone knife. From time to time, carving arrows on the walls and asking him to wait, the boy delayed the move, to which his fellow tribesmen were indignant, since the tunnel did not branch out and it was impossible to get lost in it with all the desire. But Unga insisted, justifying his actions with the words: «Just in case.»

Often, children hit and scratched on the sharp edges of the reliefs, while receiving unpleasant burning abrasions. But the youth endured and moved forward. After several too narrow corridors, Elna guessed why the adults did not go to the Temple of the Shaper this way. In this sleeve, even small offspring sometimes had to crawl on all fours, which was a very unpleasant act: sharp warehouses of caves dug into their knees, leaving behind a strong desire to return to the camp and, having collapsed on a soft bedding, plunge into the carefree world of dreams, but curiosity took its toll..

It seemed that the tunnel would never end! The children walked and walked, but soon the corridor began to expand significantly, which could not but please the young adventurers.

«I think we’re almost there,» whispered Ronin in a barely audible voice.

«It’s getting warmer in here,» Elna said.

Will we see the leader soon? Omi exclaimed at the top of her voice.

– Shh! Omi, what are you talking about, Ronin whispered. «Do you want the watchmen to hear us?» I beg you – let’s whisper!

«Sorry, Ronin, I just missed Pa,» the girl pouted, pouting.

«Soon you will see the leader, soon,» said Ronin. – Be patient. The main thing is not to meet anyone.

«Stop it, Ronin!» It’s creepy to the bone in here. Who else should we meet? Unga got excited. And to be honest, I’m already tired. I am sleepy.

– Well, you will, Unga, – Elna muttered. «You yourself wanted to go to the caves, more than anyone!»

«I wanted it, I wanted it, I didn’t want it,» the youth grumbled offendedly, remembering the yellow-bellied who attacked him.

The underground passage became wider and more spacious, and the glow of the torch covered its length less and less. And if before, in the narrow corridors, the flame of fire scattered the light far ahead, allowing you to walk more confidently along the rocky terrain, now the vast structure of the tunnel noticeably absorbed the glow. The wider the grotto became, the closer to the juveniles, devouring the limits of visibility with black, pitch darkness crept up. Sometimes children are completely lost in the expanses of the dungeon. The outlines of the walls either appeared very close, or disappeared into the darkness for a dozen steps.

This pretty much scared future hunters. Their progress has obviously slowed down. And after several such sweeping transitions, in order not to get lost by chance, Elna offered to join hands and step along the left wall of the corridor.

Soon, a barely visible green light appeared in the distance.

– Look! Unga was the first to notice. Is there something glowing?

The fry stopped and tried to see what the youth was pointing to, but the flickering of the torch did not allow them to focus their eyes.

«Ronin,» Elna said. – Well, put away the torch.

Ronin moved his hand to the side. The radiance of the torch receded, and not far away in the darkness, fifty paces from the young relatives, greenish silhouettes of stone walls appeared.

– Yes, I see! There is something there. It seems that we have come, – Elna was delighted.

We have come, we have come! Omi spoke up again. – Run quickly!

– Omi, shh!!! Hush, dear, – Ronin warned the girl.

– Oh, sorry, sorry. Let’s go quickly,» the leader’s daughter hurried in a whisper.

The children rushed towards the light. And very soon the tunnel led the young tribesmen to the source of a mysterious glow – to the Abode of Unity.

– Wow! Just look how they glow! Ronin wondered as he entered the vast grotto. – These are the symbols of hunters and shamans!

The Temple of the Creator, shrouded in a green haze from top to bottom, shimmered with iridescent green streams of light. Everywhere on the walls, on the ledges and planes, exuding a bright glow, the rock paintings and engravings of the first people shone. Radiance, like rare rays of the Great Fire, cutting through the thickness of the clouds on a cloudy day, emanated from the cavities and inscriptions of ornaments, spraying warm light over the expanses of the Temple. The children were fascinated by what they saw! For all the Moons and Great Fires they have not seen anything more bizarre and unusual. Opening their mouths, the fry slowly stepped along the walls of the dungeon and examined the luminous symbols on the tablets.

– Ah! Omi admired. – How beautiful it is here!

– Yeah… And one of the hunters said that the Temple was dark and damp, – Ronin remembered the gossip of the sentinels and put out the torch. – And it’s very warm here, even hot somehow…

– It’s a glow! It warms the Temple, – Elna guessed, and cautiously extended her hand almost close to the glowing symbol. – Ai! – immediately pulled back. – Hot!

«I think it’s the flames of Pangea that Valan was talking about!» Green fire that gives strength to tenacious hunters and shamans! Unga exclaimed. – Or prana, which must be withdrawn!

– Exactly! Elna picked up. – It can only be so hot from the flame!

Suddenly and briskly Unga held his hand at a distance from the symbol. The kid touched the green rays for a moment and, not feeling the warmth, realized that they were scalding only at the source. Unga once again, but slowly, brought his hand to the stream of light and froze. The youth gasped in surprise: a mysterious green beam, touching the palm, illuminated Unga’s hand and came out through the other side; the youth’s hand was filled with a glow to the very forearm, and through the radiant skin the silhouettes of bones and joints became visible, and Unga bulged his eyes in amazement.

– Wow! the children were delighted.

– Wow! Elna gasped. – Aren’t you in pain? Not hot?

Unga shook his head.

«He… He’s not hot. It’s not even warm!

Immediately, the young adventurers repeated after their relative – they touched the rays. And indeed – at a short distance from the luminous ornaments, warmth was not felt at all. The hands of the brave men were filled with green light, while Elna carefully brought her palm close to the symbol.

«Look.» She touched the engraving. – Try it. No longer burns.

The others followed the girl’s advice. Slowly bringing their hands to the springs, the children nodded approvingly. Elna was right.

Ronin also completely removed his hand from the symbol, but his brush continued to radiate radiance, gradually losing the power of the glow.

– Wow! – the relatives groaned and groaned again, and Ronin began to smoothly move his hand in front of him. His movements mysteriously left behind a plume of green radiant dust. The remnants of the radiance of light retained the silhouette of the hand for a moment, and then disappeared into the air without a trace.

– Wow! the children were delighted again and repeated after the youth.

They did this over and over again, admiring the luminous outlines.

Soon, Ronin’s hand completely stopped glowing, and he once again touched the symbol, but immediately pulled his hand away.

– Ai! Hot! the youth exclaimed.

– Aha! Elna smiled. – From afar it is necessary.

The girl did the same thing that Unga did the first time, and then touched the engraving. She managed not to get burned, and she quietly clapped her hands:

– How wonderful, how wonderful!

Young tribesmen followed the example of Elna. Having done the cunning trick many more times, they, satisfied with the solution of the shining rays, ran up to the next ledge with symbols.

«Look, these are all the reptiles that the hunting parties defeated! Unga thought.

The rest, assenting, confirmed the words of a relative.

«It’s Longneck,» Omi pointed to the symbol.

«You know everything, baby,» Ronin praised.

– Aha! And these are Lazuny, Unga noted. «They hang around the camp all the time.

«Tail… Tails…» the leader’s daughter hesitated.

– Tail – Leech! Elna suggested.

– Exactly, exactly! Tailtail,» Omi rejoiced at her quick wits and hugged her older tribeswoman.

– And what is it? The dark-haired maiden turned her attention to the next tablet. What is this, the Great Fire?

To the right, on the ledge, ancient wisdom was carved – an inscription about a fiery luminary, which illuminated the abode of Pangea and helped hunters in the hunt, and about the Moon, which calculated time and with its presence granted rest and dreams. And everyone from young to old knew that wisdom!

«And Pangea created the Great Fire in the raging waters,» Ronin began to broadcast. So that hunters can see their prey.

– Yes! The children supported the story.

«And so that the fire would not incinerate the created lands, Pangea returned it back to the water element and raised the Moon into the sky in its place so that Her creations could gain wisdom!»

Elna stared at the young man with admiration.

«You did well, Ronin, you memorized the tales of Varn,» she praised.

The youth smiled and, grimacing abstrusely, continued to examine the symbols on the ledge with an important face. The girls and Unga noticed their kinsman’s imaginativeness and giggled softly. And Ronin, unable to restrain himself, giggled with everyone.

For a long time, the young looked at the luminous inscriptions with reptiles and the history of the heavenly bodies and imagined all sorts of adventures with them, until little Omi discovered nearby a niche with some bones, a broken bow, a spear and colorful intricate pebbles.

– Look! she called. – Here is a decrepit bow and some kind of gnawed bones. Fi… And colored pebbles! They shine! Elna, can I take these stones for myself?

The black-haired maiden and the youths immediately jumped up to the leader’s daughter and began to examine her find, and Ronin, seeing the bizarre luminous likeness of stones, remembered the teachings of Varna and explained:

«These are ancestral relics, Omi. Not stones at all. These are the shells that the great-great-grandfathers of the ancestors once found off the coast of raging waters! And here is the footprint of Zavrini, about which Hord spoke, – the young man lifted a petrified stub of earth.

– I don’t want a trace! Can I have shells? At least one?

«No, no, dear,» Elna objected tremulously. – You can’t take relics. We can be scolded for it.

– Well, uh … – the baby immediately pouted her lips, and Unga began to calm her down:

«You will, Omi. We really will be reprimanded for shells. And by the way, have you forgotten why we came here?

– Exactly! said Ronin. – Look at the leader!

– Where is the leader? Where is Pa? Omi immediately began to look around.

«Indeed,» the dark-haired maiden picked up. – Where is the leader?

The relatives looked around. A little further from the shining symbols, closer to the center of the cave, the rays, coming from the mass of rock paintings, intersected each other and formed clusters of dense nebula and dust clouds in the Abode of Unity. Through this bizarre curtain that enveloped almost the entire space of the grotto, the children noticed a small luminous boulder.

– What is it there? Unga asked. – Let’s go see.

And the future hunters rushed to the mysterious stone.

While passing through the nebula, Ronin, who stepped in front of everyone, inadvertently entered the dust cloud. Suddenly, the cloud broke into many tiny particles. The particles shot up and hovered over the youth.

– Oh! The young man stopped and, cautiously raising his head, stared at the dust particles.

Unga and the girls also noticed what was happening.

– Wow! Have you seen? Unga exclaimed, opening his mouth in surprise.

«Yes-ah-ah,» the young compatriots picked up in unison.

Meanwhile, the luminous particles, trembling slightly, continued to float in the air, as if they were waiting for the disturber of the peace to leave their place of residence. The teen slowly and cautiously took a step forward. At that moment, the grains that were farthest from the young man smoothly descended a little lower and hung again.

Elna, Unga and Omi groaned with delight, and Ronin realized what was happening and took a few more steps – away from the bizarre dust particles. And then all as one tiny particles of light rushed back to their original location. They clung to each other measuredly, re-creating a cloud of light dust.

– Ah! Omi exclaimed and, without thinking twice, briskly jumped into the same dust curtain.

Grains of light scattered again and hung in the sky! As soon as the daughter of the leader moved away from their former place of accumulation, the particles again gathered into a single whole.

– How wonderful it is here! Elna rejoiced and also jumped into the dust cloud.

The children, rejoicing and admiring the fun of the mysterious dungeon, began to rush from one cloud to another, dispersing the particles of light across the Abode of Unity. And when the young relatives were tired of the unrestrained running around the Temple, Ronin called his fellow tribesmen to him, and, having caught their breath, the future hunters finally approached the mysterious stone.

«Interesting, what is it?» Unga asked thoughtfully.

The strange and slightly ugly miracle stone was covered with equally strange shining tangles of roots that resembled shoots of a liana tree. The plexus emanated directly from the grassy island under the stone, and their glow was like the glow of the symbols of the first people on the walls of the cave.

Ronin, bypassing the boulder, touched the top of the miracle stone and immediately noticed standing near the bowl and a huge vat.

«Someone here would…» the youngster did not have time to finish, when suddenly, combined with a dull crack, the processes on the bizarre stone began to move and, losing their glow, began to slowly slide down.

The children groaned in surprise and jumped away. A moment later, the rays of light emanating from the cave paintings and symbols of the first people began to fade throughout the Temple of the Creator – the luminous dust clouds and nebula faded away. The cave quickly began to envelop the darkness!

The young relatives panicked.

«Ronin, what have you done?» Elna exclaimed, looking around, frightened.

«Ronin, what’s going on?» Unga asked confused.

I don’t know, I didn’t do anything. Nothing at all,» the equally frightened youth justified himself.

Elna, I’m scared! Elna!.. – Omi hugged the black-haired maiden.

«Hush, honey, everything will be fine!» Elna hugged the baby.

«Ro-ro… i-nin, Ro-o-ni-i-n, what is this?» Unga said in a trembling voice.

The pale young man pointed to the boulder and tried to say something, but the words no longer came out of his mouth. The teenager seemed to be speechless. Opening his mouth and silently moving his lips, Unga plopped down on his back and was dumbfounded. The bandage around his thighs got wet, and a puddle formed under the youth.

– Aaa! yelled little Omi and clung to Elna so that she felt the sharp claws of the little girl pierce the skin to the blood.

As soon as the luminous stems exposed the top of the boulder, the young relatives saw someone’s face in the stone forms. And the young realized at that hour that the mysterious stone was not a stone at all! The children recognized the human body between the plexuses, and it was enclosed in plexuses, clothed from head to toe, as if in captivity. And between the disgusting shoots, the gray and, it seemed, petrified face of a stranger was serenely visible. His eyelids were lowered, as if he were in a dream, but in the semi-darkness it was seen by the young relatives that his eyes were restless. And this vision inspired confusion and fear!

Ronin was taken aback. Unga crawled away from the tangles in fear. And Elna’s legs shook from excitement, and, hugging the baby even more tightly, the dark-haired maiden fell to her knees on the sharp outlines of the relief.

The emerald streams of light and luminous dust clouds in the Temple of the Shaper faded completely. The abode of Unity was enveloped in darkness, and everything in the cave seemed to freeze at that hour. In the impenetrable darkness, the children could no longer distinguish one from the other – it was impossible to see anything at arm’s length. Only Omi and Elna were together, in each other’s arms. The girls hid. They did not speak or even move, for they were afraid to break the silence of the grotto and awaken the stranger imprisoned in the roots. From left and right, they sometimes caught the tremulous breathing and sniffling of Unga and Ronin, and a barely audible stream flowing in the warehouses of the dungeon broke the eerie calm.

And suddenly, in the midst of the dark blackness, right in front of the young, red eyes lit up, and huge pupils appeared in them blacker than night: the stranger’s gaze suddenly quickened, and fiery eyes, closing their eyelids over and over again, began to look first at Ronin, then at Unga, then at Elna and Omi, then somewhere in the distance.

Ronin collapsed unconscious. Omi, seeing the luminous ghost, turned away and screamed with all her might, her screech echoing through the Temple of the Shaper. Clinging even closer to the black-haired maiden, the baby began to roar excitedly. Ungi was not audible at all, and the pale Elna, at that moment shaking with fear and not feeling her legs, inadvertently caught a captivating and terrifying look.

And that gaze was alive and intelligent! And there was no light in the Abode of Unity, except for the light of fiery eyes. The reflections of the radiance of a terrible look dimly illuminated the outlines of the petrified face, and the black-haired maiden recognized the features of her leader in those outlines. And it seemed to Elna at that hour, as if the leader’s lips were moving, trying to say something, but the gloomy stems held back the cheekbones, as if suppressing the voice…