For locations, consult the map of the Ebonwood Region on homepage.
Dr. Bianchi led the team past the doll. Prof. Abrams looked back and noticed that Nichols and Brannon skirted around the doll at a wide-angle as their torch’s light danced off of its dusty hair and dress.
After continuing on for about ten minutes, they approached a fork that split the tunnel into two smaller passages.
Dr. Bianchi spoke. “We haven’t explored the one on left, yet,” he paused and looked at Nichols and Brannon. “Actually, now’s a good time to do so. You two go down that one and see what you can find. Professor Abrams and I will take the one to the right. I have to show her what we’ve discovered.”
Prof. Abrams looked at Dr. Bianchi curiously. “‘What we’ve discovered?’”
Dr. Bianchi kept addressing the men. “Meet us back at this location in an hour. I know our watches don’t work in here but just estimate. If anything looks too dangerous, head back immediately.”
Nichols and Brannon looked at each other hesitantly and then nodded. They began walking down the left-hand tunnel.
Dr. Bianchi started down the right-hand one, waving Prof. Abrams on. “You have to see this.”
“What?”
But Dr. Bianchi continued walking, only to disappear around a sharp bend in the tunnel. She followed.
Prof. Abrams guessed they’d walked another fifteen minutes when their torches stopped illuminating the rocky walls and began fluttering slightly. Dr. Bianchi walked ahead a little as the tunnel broadened. He stopped and waved her over to where he was standing. She cautiously walked up to him and found that they were standing within a large cavern. Small droplets of water fell from a high ceiling, probably fifty feet up, and Dr. Abrams saw stalactites there.
But the most interesting element to her was a narrow metal bridge that spanned a dark crevice. She spied the continuation of the tunnel on the other side of the bridge.
“Believe it or not, just this bridge soaked up what little funding we have for this project. We hired some local engineers who built it. Afterward, they got out of here as soon as they could. I can still remember their trucks kicking up dust as they raced away.”
“Is it sturdy?” Prof. Abrams asked.
“I’m guessing so.”
“You mean you haven’t tried it yet?”
“No. We’ve been saving it for a special occasion. You seem to fit that.”
Prof. Abrams looked at Dr. Bianchi incredulously. “You can’t be serious. I mean…I’m honored and everything but—“
But Dr. Bianchi had already taken his first few steps onto the bridge. His heavy boots clanked on its dark grey metallic surface. His free hand rested along with one of the short rails at the bridge’s sides, while his other held his flickering torch.
Prof. Abrams reluctantly followed. She looked down into blackness. “What’s at the bottom of this?”
“We don’t know. It must go really deep, though.”
Blood began pulsing throughout her temples as her anxiety rose at the prospect of falling into the cavern. But step-by-furtive-step, they eventually made it across.
They stood upon the rocky outcropping at the other side of the bridge for a moment. Prof. Abrams was just catching her breath when Dr. Bianchi began walking down the continuation of the tunnel.
“Wait a minute. You’ve never been down here?”
He turned to look at her. “No.”
“But what if something happens?”
“We’re scientists. This is what we live for. New discoveries. Places where no one has visited before.”
Prof. Abrams shook her head and looked back across the bridge.
“Come on, where’s your sense of wonder…your sense of adventure?”
Prof. Abrams pondered everything. She figured that if she didn’t take this opportunity to uncover ancient artifacts, someone else would. She imagined being the first to write about whatever they came across, well—she and Dr. Bianchi. However, she’d not only be able to talk about it from a scientific perspective but also an occultist’s one. Her voice would be unique.
“Okay,” she said, resolutely.
The two had just enough room to walk abreast as they shuffled down the tunnel, which seemed to rise in its inclination.
“Are we walking upward?” she asked.
“Yeah, it seems so,” he answered.
Prof. Abrams noticed that their torches began being pulled forward in a draft. “There must be a way out somewhere up ahead,” she said in a hopeful tone.
“It seems that way.”
Not far from the bridge cavern, a slight glow could be seen up ahead of them.
“What’s that?” Prof. Abrams asked.