The cramped walls of the tunnel felt as if they were pressing closer the deeper he crawled. The flickering of the flame kept making him think there was something moving deeper within the tunnel ahead. The smell of smoke mixed with what had to be the pungent smell of the crickets All this to say the first few metres of the tunnel were not fun for Ezekiel.

  He picked up the spear he had thrown earlier at the cricket protecting the tunnels as he continued deeper. As he reached the torch he picked it up before throwing it as best he could in the cramped tunnel but preferred to have his hands free for his spears. He could see his tunnel continued deeper and that two other tunnels connected to his, which must have been the ones he saw light in from outside. That left two more tunnels he was unsure of where they led.

  Making his way further in as quickly as he thought was safe he paused briefly before each side tunnel, listening intently before risking a look around each corner to ensure they were still empty. Grabbing the torch once more he flung it further down the tunnel.

  The torch struck a curved wall, bouncing off, it came to rest just short of disappearing out of sight. Looking back, the sunlight seemed small and far away. He knew it was truly that far underground but the close and oppressive feel of the tunnel that was making him nervous, with the very real possibility of being attacked by giant, killer crickets only made it worse.

  Crawling further he tried to keep his spears ready, his fingers gripping the wood firmly only making his descent more awkward. As he picked up the torch again, ready to throw it he noticed that the tunnel expanded just around the curve. Throwing the torch into what he hoped was the end of the tunnel he saw it expand to reveal a chamber with two exits leaving it. There wasn’t enough space for him to stand but he could comfortably crouch without hitting his head being near the roof. It was roughly four steps wide between each wall. The most disturbing thing about the room were the holes dug into the walls as each hollow contained a clutch of eggs.

  Choosing to ignore the eggs for now he checked the other tunnels, they both led up and out. No more crickets or threats. Ezekiel breathed a sigh of relief. It must be the eggs that he needed to destroy, there were too many. The torch's flame started to flickering lower, he didn’t have much time left before it died. He counted the holes and looked in one to get an idea of how many eggs were in each hole. Twelve holes total and the hole he checked had at least ten eggs in it maybe a few more

  One hundred and twenty eggs at least.

  Grabbing an egg from its resting place and one of his spears he headed out of the tunnel as fast as he could as his torch slowly died behind him, leaving the cave once more in darkness.

  Emerging into daylight he took several deep breaths of fresh air, relieved to be out of the nest.

  Ilmarillion's voice came from above him. “Judging from the lack of screaming, you did not find any more crickets down there?” she asked.

  “No,” he confirmed, holding up the egg. “But it was full of eggs.”

  Now that he had time to properly inspect the egg. It was about the size of an ostrich egg but instead of having a hard shell, it was soft and leathery making him think of a snake's egg.

  “There were at least one hundred and twenty eggs down there though, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more” he said “I was only able to do a quick count before my torch died.”

  Ilmarillion nodded “If you smash those eggs, it will probably cause the rift to collapse. It is probably why there were not more of the crickets. You might have been even luckier than I thought, that we came to this rift when we did. Could you imagine having to fight over a hundred of these crickets.”

  He shuddered at the thought. “Nope and I don’t want to imagine it either. Can you just burn it all down for me now? There aren’t any more crickets to kill so it’s not like you are really helping me, just speeding up the rift collapse.”

  Smirking, she said. “Sorry, as I have said, this is your rift. You need to clear it on your own. Sometimes you need to do the things you do not want to do because they are good for you.”

  “Can you at least give me some sort of light spell or something so I don’t have to lose another shirt and breathe smoke?” he asked hopefully.

  “This time I will,” she relented. “You have already explored it on your own and made sure there are no more crickets to fight.” she said.

  “Thanks.” he said, relieved at not having to make another torch and excited to see more magic.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “Do you think I could eat this?” he asked.

  “I have eaten plenty of bugs eggs before, it should be fine. Never one that big, as it is over half my size, but it should be fine I would imagine.” She said.

  “I’ve eaten strange bird eggs before but never an insect one. I’ve even made custard out of some before which was surprisingly good.” He said.

  “Just eat it soon.” she added. “You would not want it to hatch.”

  Returning to his bag, he gently placed the egg inside. He just needed to remember not to use his bag as a weapon for squashing anything else otherwise the egg would ruin everything inside with how big it was. Returning to the nest again he looked up at the fairy.

  “So how does the light spell work?” he asked.

  “Well, choose an object you want me to light up and I will.” she responded. “I will imbue it with enough mana to last a short while.”

  Picking up a rock he offered it to the faerie. With a casual tap of her finger, the stone in his palm lit up. It wasn’t quite as bright as his flashlight, but significantly better than the torch he made from his shirt.

  Ducking down to enter the tunnel, he quickly crawled his way back to the egg chamber. Half standing again he approached the first cluster of eggs. He tried cracking them like he would a chicken's egg, but the soft, leathery shell of the eggs didn’t crack. Using the pointed end of his spear he was able to pierce several of them at a time though some still needed a second poke to properly make sure they were actually broken.

  Moving as fast as could, he started clearing one clutch after another. While some of the eggs only contained the yolk and albumen. Others had partially formed crickets in them making him feel a twinge of guilt. Knowing how dangerous they would be if they hatched though he continued the process of destroying the eggs, working that little bit faster.

  He was definitely going to check his egg when he exited the nest. He had tried Balut while traveling in Asia, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed. The thought of trying to eat the legs with blades definitely made him reconsider trying to eat the egg.

  Checking to make sure all the eggs were destroyed, he crawled back out of the cricket nest, glad to be done with the task.

  “How long till the rift collapses?” he asked.

  “Not long, sometimes the rift will have enough essence to try and create another couple of creatures, but it actively burns essence to maintain itself and just needs to finish burning through the last of any reserves it might have.” she answered.

  “You may want to grab your backpack though. Anything you might want to bring back with you should be kept close or it will most likely be destroyed by the rift once it has collapsed.” she said.

  Nodding, he ran and grabbed his pack. walking back towards the faerie she floated towards the last of the crickets he had killed.

  “Do you know if my egg is fertile?” he asked Ilmarillion as he drew near.

  “Of course it is.” she responded. “The rift would not have wasted the essence to create them otherwise.”

  “Yeah but has it already developed a cricket inside?” he asked

  “I would have no idea as I do not know the cycle of a cricket. Keep it with you for now as it will be useful while teaching you about mana and essence.” she said.

  “You also might want to try taking the front legs off this cricket as well. They seemed quite sharp. I was wondering if you would try and use them as a sword or something against the crickets. I was half expecting you to try using one, only to chop off your own leg by accident.” she said with a laugh.

  “I did think about it once or twice, but what it ultimately came down to was reach. I could stay well away from them with my spear and that seemed like the best strategy to me. Get close and get stabbed or keep away and be fine.” he said before glancing down at his leg. “Mostly anyway.”

  Considering Ilmarillions words for a second he decided she was right. A sharp blade could be handy. If for nothing else than creating more spears for himself. Using the butt of his spear, he struck the joint just above the blade part of the leg. It took several solid hits to completely break one off. He quickly moved to the other side and started banging on the joint trying to break the second one off.

  He hadn’t quite managed to break off the leg when he heard a sound that was hard to describe. It somehow reminded him of the sound of jet engine and glass breaking at the same time it sounded almost musical yet ominous drone. Fearing he was about to be sucked out into the void he looked to Ilmarillion, who didn’t seem bothered by noise.

  “The collapse has started,” Ilmarillion said. “Grab what you need now or lose it.”

  Bending down he grabbed the leg he had broken off, by the joint where it wasn’t sharp. Looking back up he saw the edge of the rift start to darken as patches of grey that started spreading and growing. At least he thought they were only expanding till he realised they were also getting closer as well. Looking to Ilmarillion to see her reaction, she hovered there looking calm and unbothered by it all. Behind her he could still see the grey patches expanding and drawing near. Before he could shout anything he was surrounded by the grey expanse and felt like he was once more on a rollercoaster getting jerked one way and then another. Closing his eyes he really hoped this wasn’t the end.

  “Why are your eyes closed?” Ilmarillion asked him.

  Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around. The forest and trees were what he remembered they should be, there was no dead cricket near them, no grey areas drawing closer. No sound. No more feeling of being jerked about. He hadn’t even realised the experience had finished.

  He had done it. He had cleared the rift and survived.

  He was back.