The cave exhaled.
A deep, slow rush of air swept through the tunnel, stirring the dust at their feet. Thomas felt it against his skin. He paused at the entrance, gripping his harness, and glancing at his team.
"This cave isn’t on any maps," Lily murmured, adjusting her helmet.
Ben chuckled, adjusting his ropes. "That’s why we’re here. First to explore it. First to name it."
The team had spent months planning this descent. A cave, newly revealed after a landslide, untouched by human hands. But as Thomas peered into the gaping mouth of the cavern, a strange unease crept over him.
He shook it off. They were spelunkers. This was what they did.
"Let’s move," he said.
One by one, they lowered themselves in. The ropes creaked, and boots scraped against the slick rock. The deeper they went, the more the air thickened.
The light from the surface faded, replaced by the cold grip of the abyss.
Somewhere far below, the cave breathed again.
The World Below
The descent was slow, the darkness pressing against them. Their headlamps flickered over jagged walls, revealing ancient formations untouched by time.
"Unreal," Lily whispered, her voice echoing. "We’re the first people to ever see this."
The cave stretched beyond their lights, endless tunnels spiralling into blackness. The air smelled damp, and metallic, like something long buried.
Thomas checked his map. "We follow the main chamber. Mark every turn."
They ventured deeper, their footsteps muffled against the uneven ground. Stalactites loomed overhead like jagged teeth. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
Then there was another gust of air.
It came from below.
Ben frowned. "That’s not normal. Caves don’t have their own wind."
Thomas nodded, uneasy. "Stay close."
The tunnel narrowed. The walls pressed inward. Their lights revealed something strange, the rock wasn’t smooth. It was ridged as if shaped by something alive.
Then, the ground beneath Lily’s foot moved.
She gasped in horror, stumbling back. "The cave… it just shifted."
The rock had pulsed as if something beneath it had tensed.
And then, from deep within the tunnel, a sound. A low, guttural groan.
Not wind.
Not rock.
Something else.
The First One Taken
They moved faster.
Thomas led the way, marking their path with chalk. The tunnel twisted in unnatural patterns, bending in ways no cave should.
Behind him, Ben let out a sharp breath. "Where’s the way back?"
Thomas turned, his stomach sinking. The tunnel behind them was gone. Not collapsed. Gone.
The walls had shifted, closing off their exit. The markings they had made were no longer there.
Lily gripped her harness. "This isn’t possible."
A gust of warm air rushed past them.
Then they heard a sound. A deep, wet heartbeat.
It came from beneath their feet, vibrating through the stone.
Ben took a step back. "We need to get out of here."
Before anyone could respond, something opened on the floor.
A fissure split beneath Ben’s boots, teeth lining the jagged opening.
Then, he was gone. Swallowed whole. His scream faded into the abyss. The ground was sealed shut behind him.
Nothing remained. Not even bones.
The Cave is Alive
Lily sobbed, pressing her back against the wall. "We need to get out. We need to get out!"
Thomas grabbed her shoulders. "Move. Now!"
They ran, the tunnels shifting around them. Every turn twisted into another, leading them deeper.
The walls pulsed. The ground trembled.4
It was not a cave. It was something living. A stomach. A throat. A maze of flesh disguised as stone.
The realisation struck Thomas like a punch. They had not discovered the cave. They had woken it.
A wet, rasping sound echoed ahead.
Something else was in here with them. Something that had been trapped inside.
Until now.
The Heart of the Abyss
The tunnels led them downward.
No matter which way they turned, they were dragged deeper into the gut of the beast.
Lily gasped for breath. "It’s leading us."
A cavern opened before them.
In its centre, something pulsed. A mass of shifting flesh, embedded in rock, veins threading through the ceiling. The source of the breathing.
Thomas stepped forward, his body trembling. "It’s alive."
Lily shook her head. "Then where’s Ben?"
A shape emerged from the mass.
At first, it looked like him. But then it moved.
His limbs stretched, fingers bending at unnatural angles. His mouth opened, far too wide.
Then it spoke. Not in words.
But in hunger.
No Way Out
Lily screamed.
The thing wearing Ben’s face lurched toward them, moving in jerks and spasms.
Thomas grabbed her hand. "Run!"
They sprinted back through the tunnels. The cave groaned, walls closing behind them.
There was no way out. No escape.
The ground trembled. It was a final exhale.
The cave was done playing. Something huge moved in the darkness. A shape too large to see.
A mouth that had not fed in a hundred years.
Lily fell.
Thomas turned and saw her face.
Then, the cave swallowed her whole.
The last thing Thomas heard was the deep, rumbling heartbeat.
Then there was darkness. The cave inhaled.
And it was silent once more.
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