The Cave to Gras Paada
That last week had been one of the longest in Amaury's life as he'd been waiting for the week-end to explore an intriguing cave he had found in the mountains. He had his gear prepared for the expedition, but sadly nobody was available to accompany him—not even Reza, his usual exploring buddy. He knew he shouldn't be doing spelunking alone, but he was a young teenager who had yet to experience death, so he believed himself above any danger.
He entered the forest at the foot of the mountain early in the morning and began his hike toward the top, initially taking the regular way, but soon veering into the woods as the human-made path led in the wrong direction. He only paused for a lunch break at midday, then resumed his climb for the rest of the afternoon, reaching his destination as darkness was engulfing the forest, an hour after the sun had set. He struggled to find the cave in the obscurity, but he had scouted the area the previous week and had noted several landmarks. And so he eventually found it: a tiny entrance hidden behind vines and dirt, a hole that didn't appear to lead anywhere, but it did. Amaury set up his camp right next to it, ate, and prepared to go to sleep so he'd be ready for tomorrow. But despite the fatigue accumulated during the day, he couldn't close his eyes, he was too excited and couldn't stop thinking about his discovery. So he got up again, dressed, prepared his bag, checked his flashlight batteries, and finally squeezed himself into the cave.
The entrance was tiny, but the inside was quite large; a tall man could stand up with no problem, and standing there men did, as the walls were covered in prehistoric-looking paintings, not from the Stone Age as they depicted Celtic-looking people and warriors, but there were no words, simply frescoes and engravings showing people doing their daily activities: hunting, fighting, farming, praying and feasting. Amaury had stopped there the last time as it was late and he had to trek back home to get to school on Monday. But he had a few hours before him this night, and so he delved deeper into the cave, carefully lighting up the path before him to not trip over rocks and fissures, and stopping every now and then to appreciate the murals. About fifteen minutes later, he entered a huge circular room with walls and the round ceiling covered in deep engravings and paint. In the center stood a finely chiseled statue of, what Amaury presumed to be, a Celtic goddess of some sort, and of a very voluptuous sort. The second most surprising fact was its pristine condition, just like all the murals he had seen before, now that he thought about it. They were unnaturally well-preserved for such ancient artworks, and the teenager had done a lot of research this week and was sure he was the first to set foot in there, since the invention of internet at least. Unless people kept this place secret. He began imagining a secret pagan cult of primal barbarians capturing him and sacrificing him to their goddess, but he quickly shook that thought away as he focused on THE most surprising fact: the altar on which the statue stood was covered in inscriptions, the only ones in the grotto.
Amaury tried to focus to decipher them, but his head felt light, as if he was about to faint. He saw the inscriptions move around and rearrange themselves to form Latin letters, spelling "Gras Paada". As he whispered the words unconsciously, the ground collapsed under his feet, and the kid fell for a good minute.
He landed safely in a pile of leaves, in the corner of a well-lit, regular cavern. In the center was an elder with an impossibly long white beard and strange paintings on his body. He was looking at the newcomer without saying a word, patiently waiting for him to get his composure back. Amaury broke the ice:
— "Hum, hello? Nice to meet you, I'm Amaury."
— "What a polite young man. I welcome you inside my humble abode, Felix. I am known as Verdeus the Green. Tell me, how did you get in here?"
— "Well, I was exploring the cave above yours and the ground collapsed." He looked at the ceiling, surprised to see it was intact, aside from a small fissure letting the bright daylight in. "Did I lose consciousness? It was night a minute ago. Shit, I'm gonna be late home!"
— "Ho ho ho! I think I understand why you're here, and most importantly, how you can see me. Don't worry about time, if my intuition is correct, it is still night where you're from. Now then, come closer."
Without really knowing why, Amaury approached the suspicious old man who stood up and placed his hand on the teen's forehead. Amaury heard him thanking a certain "Noro" for this opportunity, then he vanished into a soft flash of green light. The kid was filled with a pleasant sensation of fresh, woody air filling his lungs. He stepped outside of the cave, welcoming the sunlight as if he had had a full night's sleep. He was in a little grove where a tiny waterfall fed into a pond of crystal-clear water. The trees around him weren't those of his forest, but he didn't feel scared or lost; instead, he felt rather free of the chains of his boring school life. He barely made a step forward in this new world that a deer jumped in front of him, snorted and grunted at him, then jumped back into the forest.
Amaury wasn't an expert in deer communication, but he understood that. A pack of wolves was on the hunt, and she had warned the human to run for his life. The boy was a bit slow to react, though. And the wolves had encircled him, already. A first wolf lunged at him and Amaury's body responded with a whipped kick to its snout. Roots suddenly emerged from the ground and followed his movement, ensnaring the first wolf to the ground. Three more followed their brother and rushed at Amaury, the first twos met a similar treatment, but the third snapped at the young man's rib, who screamed and backed off to stand by the wall. Three wolves had been neutralized, but three more stood in front of him, looking for an opportunity to attack. Out of nowhere, the elder's voice popped in Amaury's head.
— "Where are you from, again, Felix?"
— "It's not exactly the best time for small talk, old man; I'm busy dying. And my name is Amaury."
— "Sure, sure, but where are you from?"
— "Shower City! Now don't you have some adv—" Amaury stopped talking as he realized the wolves were gone, and he was back into the first cave.
He sat down, pressing his hand to his bleeding ribs.
— "Fuck! Where is my bag?!"
— "You don't need that. Just breathe in and feel the air flowing through your hand."
— "Breathe in? I won't be doing that for very long at this rate!"
— "You wanted advice; now listen to me and do as I say!"
Amaury calmed down a bit and followed Verdeus' instructions, the same soft light that had appeared when Verdeus vanished now surrounded his wound, coagulating the blood and regenerating the lost flesh in mere seconds.
— "Incredible!"
He instantly fell asleep on his back, in the middle of the cave, only to wake up in the morning and head back home. He was excited to share his findings with the forum, they'd never believe it.