Golden Dawn

|Chapter 15 ~ Beginning of Change|

"Hurry! Do not  let anyone see you, we only have so much time left."

It was the urgency in Christa's voice that made me sneak a peak around one of the pillars that made up the main area of the underground city's structure. My fear had unfortunately been realized when I spotted the many Aliums still congregated in little groups, not even a mile far away from us.

I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement to Christa - who huddled next to me. There were small droplets of sweat forming on her brow and her lips were tight in concentration as she scanned our surroundings. I couldn't blame her anxiety and bit my own lip nervously. If we screwed up now, the Aliums would definitely spot us and I would be severely punished for helping Gandila. And certainly not  in a pleasant way.

The Aliums were already on the lookout for me and one wrong move could get Christa and I trapped with no way out.

The latter suddenly looked up and pointed in the direction of the staircase in sudden excitement. My eyes followed hers and started to scan the staircase until they landed on a small trapdoor beneath the marble stairs. The trapdoor was made out of some unidentifiable beige metal and would have stayed hidden from my vision, had I not focused on it so intently. I turned my gaze back to Christa and was surprised to see a huge grin spread across her face.

"That trapdoor leads straight to the dormitories." She said, her voice chirpy. 

I felt relief wash through me. If we managed to get to that trapdoor unseen, we would be able to sneak back into the woman's dormitory without having to use the stairs nor bump into Aliums on the way. I smiled as we prepared to make a run for it, using the shelter that the great aquarium provided us to reach our escape route.

The big tank hid us from the Aliums' direct line of sight and made it a lot easier to reach the trapdoor unseen. When we arrived at the obscured entrance, Christa threw her whole body weight against the metal and to my great surprise, forged her way inside a dark stairway with effortless efficiency.

"It's not as strong as you think." She whispered. "This kind of material is very flimsy, even for the likes of us." Christa answered once she saw the confused expression on my face and started down the corridor. I suddenly truly hoped the tunnel led to the dormitories and not straight into immediate capture.

Everything was dimly lit with strange patches of fire that glowed soft yellow all along the corridor's walls. Christa closed the metal trapdoor behind us and the strong smell of moss immediately clouded my nostrils. Water or some other liquid dripped from the ceiling, the scene reminding me of Albert's lab.

A sharp pain tore through my heart and I winched at the heartbreaking memory. Christa seemed oblivious to my pain and walked past me. I took a deep breath and followed her. 

Now was certainly not the time for reminiscence.

The familiar sight of the female dormitory appeared at the end of the tunnel after a few minutes of shuffling through sludge and I looked around anxiously for any people who could notice us. We left the tunnel behind the tall frame of a pillar, so thankfully at least our exit was hidden.

Christa scoped out the room and after a long while of careful analyses, walked past the pillar. I noticed how smug she felt before she even spoke. "See! That is how you sneak around this place. Can't believe our luck." Christa said, her voice light and playful again. "If we could just-"

"Christa! Thank God I managed to find you!"

Both of us spun around at the female voice that rang out from behind us. "We came as quickly as we dared, but- oh... Artemisia..."