Chapter 9 - Alone

They fell backward, a tangled mess of limbs and armor. The first Templar hit a rock with a sickening thud, but the second fell into the churning water with Naemon.

The cold took his breath away. The current pulled him under. He struggled to the surface, limbs heavy and vision blurred. He saw the second Templar struggling beside him, a look of pure terror on his face.

Darkness crept to the edges of Naemon's vision.

'Father, I'm coming to you sooner than I thought' was Naemon's last thought.

Naemon surrendered and let the angry river do the rest.

The river took the unconscious Naemon with it, its ice-cold water hurling him back and forth. He drifted further and further away from the original cliff. There was no more sound coming from the second Templar. Either he had long since sunk because of his heavy armor, or he had crashed into a rock...

After a while, Naemon's consciousness returned. He was still floating in the water. His body ached, and his head was pounding.

'No, I can't give up yet!'

Naemon noticed that he was drifting towards a rock. At the last second, he raised his arms protectively in front of his head. An impact was unavoidable. The current slammed Naemon into the rock with full force, but he managed to protect himself and bounced off.

'I have to hold on to something, or I'll lose my strength!' He looked around and saw a floating tree trunk not far from him.

Naemon tried with all his strength to influence the direction of the current. Finally, he managed to reach the tree trunk. With a sigh of relief, he grabbed it and pulled himself onto it. Naemon clung tightly to the trunk with both legs and slowly relaxed.

"Step one was successful. How do I get to the bank with my friend trunk?" joked Naemon.

Suddenly, the log under him began to sink.

"What?! What's happening here?"

A suction in the water pulled him and the tree trunk down. Naemon fought desperately to stay above water, but the suction was too strong. He was powerless against the water. He could no longer hold his breath and lost consciousness again.

The darkness caught up with him once more.

When he opened his eyes again, he had lost his orientation. He didn't know what had happened or where he was.

Naemon was enveloped in darkness, broken only by a faint blue shimmer. He felt that he was in the water and realized that he was apparently lying in a pond.

Suddenly, Naemon remembered the escape and that his mother was still in danger. He stood up unsteadily, his knees still in the water. Naemon held his bruised ribs with both arms.

He looked around, but could only see walls surrounding him. Even the sky was a jagged stone ceiling! He realized that he was in a cave!

"I have to get out of here!" Naemon said to himself in a trembling voice as he went to the edge of the pond. The pond was surprisingly large, and Naemon wondered how he got there.

Fortunately, the cave was not completely dark. Strange mushrooms on the walls emitted a faint light. Unfortunately, it was not strong enough to see the rest of the cave.

Only when Naemon managed to get out of the pond could he see more details of the cave.

"What?! That's... a chamber!" Naemon was amazed. He doubted for a moment whether he was still dreaming. Was he in a cave or a bedroom?

He saw that the cave was full of furniture. It looked like a bedroom, only without windows and with rough stone walls instead of wooden walls.

The room had a narrow bed, a desk, and many different books.

The dripping Naemon went to the desk. When he got there, he was horrified to see that the desk chair was already occupied!

Occupied by a skeleton!

Naemon's heart raced. He stepped back, his eyes wide with shock. The skeleton was dressed in tattered robes, its bony fingers still clutching a quill. It was as if the person had been writing something when they met their end.

The young man's curiosity overcame his fear. He leaned closer to see what the skeleton had written. In front of the skeleton lay an old yellowed journal. It was the thickest book Naemon had ever seen!

"Huh, what... does it say here?" Naemon wanted to read the last entry, but it was in a language he did not understand, full of strange symbols and drawings. He was visibly disappointed.

Naemon continued to look around the room, searching for more clues. The books on the shelves were covered in dust, their spines cracked and faded. Some were bound in leather, others in materials Naemon could not identify.

He couldn't find anything useful and a sense of urgency grew within him. He had to get out and find his mother. He couldn't stay in this tomb-like chamber with the skeletal occupant. He went to the walls and looked for an exit.

"Finally!" after a long groping in the dark, he found a rudimentary wooden door. He could even feel a draft coming from the door.

Naemon grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door, but it didn't move an inch.

"Come on, you damn door!" Naemon screamed and started kicking the door, then he threw his body against it with all his strength, but the door still held firm. Despite how rotten it looked, the door didn't move at all.

He stopped his tantrum and took a deep breath. Naemon looked down at the door lock... which wasn't there! The door had no lock! Furthermore, he could only now see that the door was full of strange symbols and runes.

"Please don't. Don't tell me that this is a magician's room and that the door is enchanted!"

Panic spread. He was trapped. Trapped with a skeleton. And the realization hit him like a cold wave: he was completely alone.