The night before had been completely restless for me, and I didn’t know whether Yae– Dad had slept well last night either. The excitement of the final word spoken the day prior had kept me from getting even a wink of my precious beauty sleep. But I didn’t really care, all I cared about was that my dad had accepted me as his daughter, his daughter Kaelynn.

  Dad “woke” me up from my pretend sleep when the sun had risen. When I turned over and looked at Dad he returned me a smile and greeted me with, “Morning, Kaelynn.”

  The euphony of hearing my new name brought a big smile to my face as I sat up and rubbed my dry eyes.

  “Morning Dad,” my accent in my father’s native language was evident as I spoke, “What are we doing today?” I’d worked on recalling as much vocabulary as I could overnight, and what I had worked great for functionality.

  Then again, it certainly wasn’t perfect. Dad’s runthrough of the day to come had me stumped on some parts. There was a word that stood out to me mostly that I thought meant “moon”, but after shooting a confused look over to Dad, he gave a demonstration showing that he was talking about “traps”.

  Right. Now was the time we’d set for picking up the traps from yesterday, the task must’ve slipped my mind in my overwhelming euphoria.

  After showing that I now understood his point, he gave me a pat on the head before handing me my clothes that he’d pulled from the line outside. He then left the room as I put on the clothes.

  While dressing myself, my body became apparent to me once again. I gave myself a second to think it over and I’d say I was the size of maybe a seven, no maybe even six, year old girl. In other words, I’d really shrunk quite a bit. I wondered whether I’d grow back to normal size quickly or if I’d be stuck this way for a while. It didn’t really matter to me either way, as long as I got to stay with my dad as long as possible.

  I walked out of the tent and saw my dad squatting down near the ground while packing his bag. I’d wondered what he’d packed the day prior, but I hadn’t questioned what all he packed on this kind of trip. I mean, what could you really need to take on such a short day-trip? Food and water? What else is in that bag?

  My dad zipped up his pack and I assume he asked if I was ready, making me forget my query. I nodded my head and that seemed to be the right answer as he began to walk the same way we had the day previous. I quickly ran to catch up to the massive man that I now called my father. We then proceeded to begin walking the near-straight line through the desert expanse.

  ***

  By the third or fourth trap, I wasn’t really paying much attention, we’d caught one lizard. The lizard was pretty small compared to the ones I’d seen prior to it, but maybe those ones had just been big? I’m not sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t just that measly morsel. Dad’s expression hadn’t changed though, so I guessed that he was confident the catch would increase.

  I looked on at him as he field-wrapped the fileted lizard, feeling super lucky that I had a capable person like him to keep me alive in this place. I began to walk toward him while I thought.

  This place was a lot different than the place I’d grown up in, or at least I thought so. Where even had I grown up? It felt like my memories were on the other side of a locked door, I could only peek through the cracks and see little bits and pieces.

  As I made another step, I thought I felt my heart drop. In reality, my whole body had begun to fall. I snapped out of my attempt to recollect a past life and realized what was happening.

  The sand underneath my feet had fallen away and I dropped into a large cavern. The spot where I had landed was illuminated by the ray of light from above, but the rest of the cavity was enshrouded in darkness. I couldn’t exactly tell how big the area was, but I could tell that it extended past the distance I could see into the darkness.

  Luckily, I had noticed I was falling before I’d landed, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to avoid breaking at least one leg. My previous training had taught me how to fall properly, I think. I decided to stop bothering trying to remember anything for the time being, seeing as it got me to where I’m at now.

  While I was looking upward, I saw my dad’s head appear, blocking some of the sunlight from entering in. A look of calm fear was clearly present on his face, this situation had to be no good. He signaled with his hands for me to stay silent, putting a finger over his mouth in the classic fashion. I obediently obliged him, not like I had much to say that couldn’t be inferred regardless.

  After seeing me repeat the motion to him, he disappeared from view. If I was actually a little kid, that would’ve sent me straight into panic mode, but I knew that I could trust my dad not to leave me.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  While I waited for him to return, I again tried to look into the darkness. My eyes were now further adjusted and I could make out what looked to be rows of neatly carved indents, perfectly rectangular, carved into the sandstone walls. The tunnel, as it were, continued out of sight still, but the walls could be made out on either side.

  I could hear a slow, faint sound. It almost sounded like a rock hitting another rock in a perfect rhythm. The noise was coming from somewhere down the hall, it clearly did not originate from the immediate area surrounding myself.

  The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand and my spine received a painful chill. The total silence, interrupted by the faint tap, gave off an eerie vibe. Like I wasn’t meant to be there, almost like flesh and blood would turn to rock and iron just by lingering too long.

  Suddenly, the light above me became dimmer, almost causing me to jump out of my skin in fright. Luckily, I held in my shriek as I looked upward. My dad dropped a rope down into the hole slowly, so as to not make a noise. As the rope reached the end of its travel, I tried to reach for it, but I was nowhere near. I shook my head as an indicator of that.

  Dad gave a slight frown as he reeled the rope back up to himself. He disappeared for a few more moments before returning in front of the hole. This time, he slithered his way down ever further into the hole, face first. I thought he was completely crazy until I realized that he had tied the rope around his feet. Then I knew he was crazy.

  He tried to ease his way down, but eventually the weight of his body made him slip, sending him down the hole quickly. The rope made a semi-large twang noise when it tensed to hold my dad’s weight. Immediately, the knocking down the hall stopped.

  My dad’s eyes widened as he yelled to me, “Jump!”

  I jumped up and grabbed his hands, proceeding to climb him as fast as I could, eventually reaching the top with the help of Dad’s hands. As soon as I finished getting up he bent himself upward, reaching the rope which he’d tied onto his legs. If his flexibility wasn’t impressive enough, he climbed the rope in record time, inspired by some unknown fear.

  Dad began to untie his feet and pointed at the boulder which he’d tied the rope to. Understanding the point, I ran with urgency over to the knot on the boulder. I somehow coordinated my hands to get the rope mostly untied before Dad finished the job for me. He quickly coiled his rope, shoved it into his pack, and picked me up, running further down toward the next trap. A low bellow of anguish roared from the direction of the hole as we fled; Dad let out a sigh of relief.

  ***

  Dad had run the entire distance to the next trap, not stopping or slowing at all. When we’d gotten to the trap, he set me down and hurled before grinning like he’d cheated death. He turned to me and picked me up in a giant bear hug, squeezing all of the air out of my lungs.

  The stress all caught up to me and my eyes began to water. Before I knew it, I was bawling like a little girl whose pet hamster had just died. Well, I guess I was the little girl part, so I had an excuse to react the way I was, however much my brain rejected that my reaction was possible. But, I didn’t really care, I just wanted to let it all out and cry on my dad’s shoulders, and that I did.

  After having a good cry, I pointed toward where we’d come from and simply asked, “what?”

  Dad looked out over the horizon before saying one word, “Karathuum.”

  After this he went into more detail, I understood some of it, but needed some explanation of other parts. The best way I could translate what I heard was that something existed down there that somehow turns people into, “rock people”?

  I wasn’t quite sure what being a “rock person” entailed, but it didn’t sound like a favorable fate. The thing that does this turning people into “rock people” was none other than Karathuum.

  From what I’d gathered, Karathuum was some kind of wizard that was killed, but his spirit returned by taking over a statue of some sort. I mean, that was my conjecture anyway, after learning countless new words over the course of my dad’s storytelling, that is. Regardless, this “Karathuum” was no-good and it hit me that I’d probably have died if I’d screamed when I fell. Or at least, been stone-i-fied.

  Yet again I’d been saved by my newfound father, he was already a lot preferable to my old one. For some reason the thought of even having a father previous to Yaeleth made me sick to my stomach. He was probably a really bad dad, seeing how my body reacted to the thought of him.

  Yet, of all the clouded memories I had picked through, his was the clearest. Still cloudy, but clearer nonetheless. When I’d try to picture his face, I’d become both sick to the point of needing to stop, and red with anger. I decided it would be better for me if I never thought of him ever again, Yaeleth was my real dad after all.

  ***

  We finally made it home as the sun was beginning to set. We’d taken a longer route back to avoid the newly formed entrance to Karathuum’s domain.

  The catch in the remaining traps was surprisingly good, especially the final one since it had a massive sand lizard inside it. Dad started a fire almost as soon as we got back. The fire pit he’d made contained a metal pole on either side, holding up a metal grate over the top of the fire. He set some of the lizard filets on top of the grate, waiting for them to cook. I wasn’t sure what the grate was going to do exactly, but I trusted that Dad knew what he was doing.

  As the meat cooked, its aroma filling the otherwise stale desert air, Dad tended to the wounds that I had sustained during my fall. Like I said, I didn’t break anything, but I had sustained a few small gashes. I certainly wasn’t adverse to having Dad dote on me either, I quite enjoyed it.

  In between picking sand and rocks out of my cuts, Dad turned the meat over, revealing a beautiful pattern that the grate had cooked onto the filets. My mouth watered.

  After I had been fixed up and dinner had cooked, we ate.

  Oh. My. Word. That had to have been the best meat I’d eaten in my life up till that point. It was absolutely amazing.

  After eating that wonderful meal, we got ready for bed. Dad had been sleeping on the floor the whole time I’d been around, and I was starting to feel bad. I mean, of course I didn’t want to sleep on the floor, but that didn’t mean he should have to!

  I insisted that he slept in the cot too that night, that way he got better sleep and I got free cuddles! Wait, what am I saying? Ah, screw it! I really do... love cuddles...