The Feathered Serpents
by: Carolyn GriffithsCh 4. The Stone
Adam found himself immersed in a dark and mysterious world. There were ancient people and symbols painted on the cave walls. Some of them he recognized, due to his vocation. The tunnels were lit only by a torch he was carrying as he made his way through the long narrow passageways.
There were others there too, he could hear faint voices coming from the direction he was heading. Adam had the feeling he had been here before, somehow he knew this place. He thought he felt the Earth rumble and shake beneath his feet and could hear the sound of drums. Smoke from the torch slowly filled the enclosure, stinging his eyes and nose as he crept along.
He edged along in the dark eventually making it to a clearing. It was an archway leading into a great room. A group of natives obviously from a local tribe, were seated all about. They seemed oblivious to him as he stepped through the doorway into a now brightly lit room. Noticing other torches that lined the circumference, he quickly scanned the room observing more doorways leading off from the main one. This was obviously a place where everyone congregated together for social activities. He couldn't see into any of the adjoining rooms since they were dark. Either they did not contain lighting or were just not lit up. Women were busy making blankets, jewelry and pottery and continued working, looking up only occasionally, to give a brief smile before busying themselves once again.
The natives sure seemed unusually friendly he thought to himself. Two men were seated on furs in a corner off the far wall. The two were smoking and carrying on a conversation as they sat alone, away from the women. Deciding to join them, Adam slowly started walking his way over, cautiously sidestepping the women. As he proceeded, a woman dressed in bird feathers stepped in front of him blocking his path, and attempted to hand him something.
She was an older woman and her face was wrinkled, weathered and showing signs of a long and arduous life. She gave him a crooked smile as she took his hand in hers and shoved a stone into his open palm. It was slightly bigger than a golf ball and had been formed into the shape of a disk.
He recognized what looked like symbols resembling that of a sun, moon and what appeared, a snake. An exact replica of the disk his grandfather had given him. After a few moments of careful inspection, he lifted his eyes to say thank you but the woman was gone.
Startled, he whisked around expecting to see her walking away, but she had simply vanished. “That was weird” he admitted, realizing immediately as he said it, that the entire group of women had disappeared as well.
An odd feeling sensed over him as he realized he was now suddenly alone with the two men. Where had everyone gone? His mind was busy contemplating the situation as he stepped forward closing the distance between them when the two of them hastily jumped up disappearing into a doorway directly adjacent to where they had been seated. "What the..." Adam exclaimed in surprise, not liking the idea of being left totally alone in this place that now resembled strange.
Before he could think it through, his feet already had him bolting through the doorway in hot pursuit. Close on their heels he scrambled into the darkened room and was immediately knocked to the ground by something very large and strong. Instinctively, he grabbed his attacker only to find his fingers buried into a large body of fur. Pain coursed through his entire head as a cold trickle of absolute fear raced down his spine.
His eyes now wide in terror, began to adjust to the dark, as light through the doorway of the great room illuminated horrible, hungry eyes and the menacing teeth of a Jaguar, inches from his face.
Within seconds, the Jaguar overpowered him managing to force its head into the crook of his neck, sinking terrible, sharp teeth into his warm flesh. In utter and complete panic, he wildly bludgeoned its eyes with the stone he held in his hand.
Helpless and determined to win the struggle for his life, Adam fought the beast with all his strength, as blood engulfed his throat resulting in a drone hum that filled his ears.
The room grew pitch as he tired and began losing consciousness. Someone was screaming he thought, not recognizing his own screams as they changed into a low guttural sound that came from deep within his very soul.
Chapter 5. Dreams
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