Children of the Glimmer Pool by Obstinate Anarchist (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📕

The fair girl stumbled along past large trees and logs that had been lying in the dirt for what seemed like centuries until her cloak caught on something cool. Iris jerked the cloak back to her and turned to face a large cave. It was quite large and almost looked as though some greater force had delicately carved out the insides and the sharp edges around the outside.

She was awestruck by the place and just like before, her stomach started doing somersaults before her skin started to tingle. Throwing caution to the wind, Iris started toward the mouth of the cave and slowly made her way inside. “Alright, internal compass, get it together. This had better be where you were taking me,” she grumbled bitterly.

As Iris made her way deeper and deeper into the cave, she began to notice that much of the ground had been flattened into a type of trail. She was quite aware that people had been here before her but didn't seem to care that they could still be inhabiting the place. Stalactite hung from the roof of the cave like giant icicles, and although they were rather frightening, there was no intention that they may fall. There were stone pillars of rocks that almost touched the ceiling along every edge or curved part of the cave that almost acted as supports.

Iris glanced about her dark surroundings, mystified by the entire interior of the cave. She was a little taken aback by the extravagant nature of the place and wondered just how far back she could go, fortunately, she noticed that the cave seemed to split into two hallways. She could have deeply pondered as to which way she should go. She should have, really, but Iris had lost all sense the moment she stepped foot inside and just bumbled down the left tunnel.

The tunnel was not nearly as long as the other part of the cave had been, and she knew it wasn't because only a few moments after she had started down it did she see a strange, luminescent light. Whether or not it was daylight didn't matter to Iris because her shitty internal compass was telling her that was where she needed to go. So she blindly made her way toward the light, and as soon as she reached the end of the tunnel, she was met by a pool.

For a moment, Iris' eyes were intently focused on the shimmering water that was the source of the strange light she had seen. And right after that, her brain finally made sense of the whole thing. Her stomach lurched in an uncomfortable manner and she glanced at her hand.

“The Glimmer Pool.” Iris spoke the words without quite intending to. She sort of just felt them fall out of her mouth. “This is the Glimmer Cave. This is bad.” She repeated the phrase a few times before her body finally processed that it needed to perform movements before Iris could actually leave the cave. She shuffled backwards a few feet but had trouble keeping her eyes off the pool of water. “I need to leave.”

The movement of her feet disturbed a few rocks and they tumbled into the endless pool, sending dozens of ripples over the surface of the water. This sent the Glimmer Pool into several iridescent waves, the reflections of the colors reflecting on the cave wall.

Without a moment more of hesitation, Iris turned on her heel and fled without so much as a word.

She ran out of the cave so fast that everything around her looked like a blur and she was so focused on getting away that she just kept running. She wasn't exactly sure when it had happened, but after she left the cave, her throbbing palm finally stopped. Iris tore across the forest as though Death himself was at her heels, and all the while tree branches and who knows what else cut and clawed at her. There was no point that would ease Iris' nerves enough to get her to stop running. The one thing that stopped her was her own ignorance. Her intent on getting away from the cave blinded her senses so much that Iris actually ended up running right into a tree.

She fell backward onto the grassy ground without even a groan of pain. Colliding with a tree was nothing when she had seriously thought her own hand was going to erupt into flames. She lie on her back in silence, her eyes wide open and staring at the sky that was mostly concealed behind the leaves of trees. She felt a warm liquid trail down the side of her face and screwed her eyes up trying to look over at it. “Am I bleeding...?” Iris asked softly, half expecting someone to answer for her. Sliding one hand up over her cheek, she wiped away what she assumed what the iridescent blood. Of course, it was blood, but she was also crying.

And so in order to keep herself from bursting into a scene of gross sobbing, Iris vigorously wiped away the blood and tears from her face before yanking the hood up over her head and curling into the fetal position at the base of the nearest tree.  

Publication Date: 06-17-2015

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