Nen (6 page)

The punishment was a string of misfortunes including numerous work site accidents and the disappointing quantity of artifacts ultimately excavated in the General Tomb’s West Wing. A few tabloid journalists at that time were jailed for their attempts to release news reports about the work site accidents and deaths in the mysterious West Wing Chamber that eventually forced the authority to close off the excavation site.

Howard, Sarah and the group of traumatized tourists were back in the so-called West Wing Chamber which was roughly four hundred yards underground. There were fallen debris and metal pieces all over the place but strangely, only two stone statues were destroyed by the earlier earthquakes. The statue of a Phoenix and that of a Monkey God had toppled over and broken into several pieces among piles of wreckage.

The tourists were standing right in front of the defunct vending machine but they were definitely not in the mood of getting themselves any thirst-quenching beverages, something else had caught their full attention.

Wong was shining his flashlight at a large and uneven crack punctured on a stony wall adjacent to the vending machine. Everyone was looking at the large opening in the wall and feeling the blast of cold wind that was spurting out of it. The gargantuan crack was definitely not there before the occurrence of the earth quakes, otherwise someone in the group would have noticed it before the black out. The unusual fissure in the wall measured about three feet wide and four feet high from the ground. Nobody could tell how deep the fissure was but a long crack line that extended from the tip of the fissure all the way to the roof of the chamber did create a spectacular sight.

“Look, the air that had saved us all is coming from within!” Wong said in great excitement, his forefinger trembled slightly while pointing into an abyss of unknown depth beyond the cleft.

“The earlier earthquakes must have caused this,” Howard said, “if fresh air is coming out from here, I suspect there could be an exit on the other side.”

Voices of cheers and excitement broke out among the tourists and the hope of finally getting out of the cold and inhabitable place rekindled in their minds like fire on oil.

When the uplifting outburst of cheers abated, the excited group noticed that Kenso-san was peering hard into the crack. Kenso turned around and said, “Hey guys, I think I just saw a flicker of light. It’s gone now. What could that possibly be?”

“There is only one way to find out. You guys wait here.” Howard said bluntly as he pushed himself into the fissure with great dexterity. Before he submerged into the abyss of darkness, he swirled around and gave a cheeky smile to the group, “I’ll be back.”

Howard was only gone for a couple of minutes before a muscular right hand suddenly stuck out of the hole, scaring some of the tourists who had been peering into the blackness.

“It’s ok, it’s me,” Howard said reassuringly as he emerged from the fissure, “Come quickly. You guys would not believe this.”

One by one the tourists squeezed themselves into the gorgeous fissure which had miraculously appeared on that rocky wall before them, under the most bizarre circumstances one could possibly anticipate.

CHAPTER 13

Pete Chan followed his mother closely as he strode the uneven ground inside the fissure, trying to avoid several protruding rocks and potholes. The tunnel where he was squeezing himself thru was larger at the opening and became smaller and smaller as he trotted further, like a never-ending funnel that will magically reduce the size of the person walking through it. For Pete, the constricted tunnel at the other end still appeared to be capacious due to his petite built. In fact, Pete was the smallest person in the group and the only one who can still jump in the tunnel and not hit his head on the roof.

After walking for about two minutes in darkness, Pete could see lights shimmering ahead and he could feel his mother squeezing and pulling his little hand.

“Pete, we are almost there.” Mrs. Chan said elatedly as she moved forward at a faster pace, unconsciously hauling Pete along as well. By the time Pete and his mother stepped out of the dark and windy tunnel, it should be early morning by their watches but the brightness that almost blinded their eyes were not from the sun. It was disappointing but they could not possibly see any sunlight at all as they were still hundreds of feet underground.

The glistening glow and incandescent spectrum of yellow, red and violet lights actually came from the peculiar rock formations that lined the enormous crystal cave that they had walked into. In an almost harmonized setting, the glaring brasses of violet, red and yellow beams intertwined to produce a magnificent symphony of multicolored lights overlapping and crisscrossing one another in the cave, bouncing off reflective surfaces of the rocks and illuminating the weird looking plants and trees that flourished in the subterranean cavern.

Another strong beam of colorful lights descended from the roof of the cave and was reflected by the glassy igneous rocks that encrusted the entire cave floor. Like a rainbow that came to life but was trapped in a thick piece of glass, trying madly to hit all walls so as to escape from it, the glaring beam of multicolored lights penetrated the sparkling waters in the numerous ponds and subterranean streams that garnished the landscape, glided over the violet and green stalagmites that protruded from the ponds and finally arrived at the eyes of the bewildered tourists.

Mrs. Chan and Pete joined the group of wide-eyed tourists who were standing on a small clearing of strange looking vegetation; everyone was amazed by the wonderful imagery that had unraveled before them.

Another astounding feature of the beautiful cave was the luminous glow emitting from scores of stalactites and stalagmites that hung from the roof and bulged from the cave floor, like the fingers of two lovers trying to reach out to each other, some of them were coming from the top and some rising from below. A spectrum of green, yellow and violet lights brightened up the cave naturally, creating a spectacular imagery similar to that of a sea of glimmering fluorescence tubes wavering rhythmically in a rock band concert.

“This is beautiful.” Mami said in absolute awe, her hands tightly clutched with those of her boyfriend Kenso who was standing right next to her. The strange looking flowers that bloomed and glowed sparingly on the rows of petite trees reminded them of the beautiful cherry blossoms festivals that they had embraced in Japan.

“I can’t believe my eyes.” Mrs. Chan said in disbelief, her eyes wandered from the colorful rocks sticking out from the ponds to the purplish shrubbery and flowers that carpeted one-third of the cave floor.

Pauline Chan hurried over to her mother’s side and grasped her mother’s hand, “Mum, look at those plants, they are glowing!”

“Yes my love, beautiful isn’t it?” Mrs. Chan replied, holding both her children’s hands so tightly that under normal circumstances, Pauline and Pete would be sure to squeal but with such breath-taking imagery to savor, they hardly moved an inch.

Finally after a minute or two, Pete shook off his mother’s grip and dashed forward. “Hey, let’s go to the waters over there!” Pete exclaimed as he hustled toward the nearest pond about twenty feet away. Half way there, he turned and waved his tiny hand. “Come Pauline!” Somehow, either the sensual lure of the colorful ponds or perhaps Pete himself had managed to instigate Pauline to follow suit. Pauline gracefully exited her mother’s grasp.

“Wait..!” Mrs. Chan shouted in distress. Before she could do anything to stop Pete and Pauline, her two children had reached the edge of the pond, squatting beside the luminous water plants and admiring the fascinating sight of shimmering ripples that emit multicolored radiances.

With a strong sense of parental instincts, Mrs. Chan and her husband John moved quickly to be near their children.

The Chan family rarely had a chance to lead the tour group in all their previous expeditions, not until that moment in that enormous subterranean crystal cave. Surprisingly, the group of flabbergasted tourists obediently followed the Chans down the gentle slope of glassy igneous rocks to the soft and muddy ground edging the pond, all eager to explore this fabulous place they had discovered by accident.

“Mum, look, even the sea weeds in the pond are glowing purple!” Pauline pointed out an interesting phenomenon she had just discovered to her mother while she gently strokes the surface of the pond water with her right palm.

“Oh my god, are these fishes?” Pauline knuckled her eyes in disbelief after she sighted two or three tiny fishes wading around the sea weeds in the pond. The length of the fishes was about three inches and they resembled a cross between a cigar wrasse and a dottyback. Like the water plants and shrubbery in this strange subterranean cavern, the bodies of the fishes emitted glows of fluorescence light too.

“Yeah, look at them! They are glowing luminous yellow! And purple! And Green!!” Pete giggled with joy.

John Chan shrugged his shoulders before putting on a subtly cynical smile as he uttered to his wife, his weary eyes meeting those of Howard and the rest. “Well, I guess for the kids, this is the most enjoyable part of today’s excursion.”

Mrs. Chan nudged her husband with her left elbow to stop him from furthering his sarcastic remarks.

“You know about this place?” Howard looked into the eyes of Wong and asked.

“No Sir, this place looks like it was untouched by civilization for hundreds of years.” Wong said.

Howard nodded.

A handful of tourists began to stroll along the pond edge, admiring the dream-like backdrop that was illuminated by the sputtering luminescence of the strange rocks and the profusion of glowing vegetation which they had never seen before in their lives. Mystically, the gorgeous looking surroundings had mesmerized every single soul and had magically removed from their minds the ordeals that they had endured for the past hours.

Pauline shifted her attention away from the fluorescent fishes and started plucking the luminous leaves and petals from the plants and flowers at the edge of the pond. When the adults were not watching, she speedily tucked some of the petals and leaves into her trouser pocket. Her brother, Pete was not far away from her and he was so fascinated by the light-emitting fishes that he tried to haul them from the pond using his bare hands. However, he gave up after a few tries as his mischievous undertaking was of no avail.

With Johnny’s help, Paul retracted his grip that supported Gupta and gently lowered him so that the injured man could sit on the ground beside the tourists. Then he walked over to Howard, who was standing on a large slab of luminous rock. Howard was glancing at the far end of the cave, cupping his hand as a mini canopy over his eyes.

“Saw anything from there?” Paul asked, running his fingers through his hair.

“Looks like the streams of water flowing into these ponds originate from the north east.” Howard said, pointing at the far end of the underground cavern where the cave floor sloped gently upwards in amidst thick, florescent pink vegetation.

“I think we should move on,” Paul said to Howard, “Gupta will need medical care when we get out.” Howard nodded and jumped down from the elevated rock. He clapped Paul’s shoulder and walked with him back to the group.

“All right people, end of sightseeing.” Howard yelled, hoping that those who had wandered far out could hear him. They did and like nursery children in a playground responding to the lunch call coming from their beloved care takers, the tourists scooted back swiftly.

“We’d follow that stream up.” Paul bellowed, behaving in a manner comparable to that of an army officer giving out commands to his men. “Please watch where you are stepping! The rocky ground is uneven and it is very slippery!” Paul bawled at the tourists with an authoritative tone, making many of them puzzled and uncomfortable.

Howard noticed that and was at first baffled with Paul’s behavior. However, after some contemplation, he found himself happy with the conclusion that probably the physical exhaustion from supporting and moving Gupta around had taken a toll on Paul and maybe Johnny as well. Howard bends down and offered his help to lift up Gupta. He then clapped Paul’s shoulder again and asked, “Paul, are you okay? Do you need someone else to take over this?”

“I am fine, Howard,” Paul said, “I just want to get out of here.”

“All right then.” Howard thanked Paul and hurried over to Wong who was about to lead the buoyant tourists forward. When he reached the front of the beeline formed by hopeful tourists who firmly believed that they were finally getting out of the subterranean cavern, he checked that no one was left behind before waving his hand at the tourists, signaling all to start walking.

Henry Parker was staring at the fluorescent fishes in the dazzling pond through his horn-rimmed glasses. He was half-squatting and completely indifferent to the fact that Paul and Johnny were using all their might to help his colleague Gupta maneuver in the narrow pathway right beside him.

Paul, Johnny, Gupta and Henry were again the last few people at the tail of Howard’s entourage. Henry’s left hand was wavering in the icy water. In between his thumb and forefinger was a violet fluorescent leaf that he had plucked from one of the water plants that flourished along the banks of the pond. In an almost sadistic manner, he was trying to force feed the light emitting fishes with that light emitting leaf in his hand.