Obsidian eyes glinted from the dim light as he stood at a crack in their cave system's walls, his oversized paws firmly planted on the cool, rocky ground of the Col's warrens that he trusted. The narrow opening before him seemed almost foreboding, like a secret kept from him for far too long. For as long as he could remember in his young life, this crack had existed but it had been entirely dark, an ominous presence in the halls that he would rush past. But today, something was different about the entrance. Today, there was a soft, ethereal glow inside of this crack that called to him, beckoning him closer.

The light was strange, almost magical in its brilliance. It wasn't like the sun or the moon, both of which Balrog had become familiar with in his short life. No, this was something entirely new, something that seemed to come from within the rocks themselves. He didn't understand what the light was that turned the dark into a realm of wonders, but he wanted to.

His heart pounded with the thrill of the unknown. What could be inside the this hole in the wall? With each beat of his heart, a question nagged at him: Should he go in? He was alone, no one seemed to be near. Perhaps no one would know - though.. what if he were to get lost?

Balrog hesitated, his body half-turned towards the entrance, his gaze locked on the flickering lights. A shiver ran down his spine, not from fear, but from the sheer excitement of what he might discover. He could hear the distant drip of water echoing from deep within the cave, each drop punctuating the silence with an almost rhythmic certainty. It was as if the cave was alive, whispering to him, urging him to discover what the light was leading to. But the unknown was a double-edged sword. For every thrill of adventure, there was a shadow of danger lurking just out of sight.

Balrog took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling with the weight of his decision. Should he take the first step into the unknown? The glow seemed to pulse in response as if waiting for his answer. The cave beckoned and the pull to venture forward as almost irresistible to the young Fatalis.

"Balrog"

Happy tiny white paws tinged with pink as her skin shone through, dashed around the tunnels of the warrens. She wondered if she could get fast enough to run on the ceiling! A doorway whipped past her, and another! Her tongue lolled out to the side as she panted into the air. Soon it'll be bedtime and they'll have to catch her first to get her to bed! Her cherry blossom pink paws ran over the cavern floor and felt the textures beneath her change as she ran over them. This soil was by the far entrance, this soil was from the back den, this one felt like sand! She ran until her heart was about to burst from her ribs and she eventually slowed to a quick trot. Panting hard and wincing as a stitch in her side spasmed with each breath. She drew closer to the clinic with a slight limp as the stitch in her side subsided and her pale pink eyes fell on the large form of her brother Balrog!

What was he looking at? As her breath returned to her she brought herself to his tail and looked into the dark crevice he was half in. Huh, had this been here the whole time? She looked to see if he was going to head in but then caught something in the corner of her eye. What was that? She ducks and bobs her head to see if she can catch that weird thing she thought she saw. There! Yes! It was... a little blue light?

She suddenly noticed Balrog had already started to step inside, not wanting to be left behind she slithered in right after him.

"Bal what do you think it is?" She asked into the gathering darkness. She followed his ink and gold form, slowly disappearing in the shadows. From her position, she couldn't see any glowing lights, but she could hear an unsteady dripping noise over the sounds of their fur brushing past the stones and their sheathed paws carefully walking through. Would his deep black crystal eyes be able to see better in this darkness than hers? She slinked over a rock and kept trying to see around his fluffy body! "Go faster! I wanna see!" She told him, her voice a near hiss in the darkness.


"Selene"

775 / 1500

Balrog paused just inside the cave entrance, feeling Selene's presence close behind him. Her energy and enthusiasm were infectious, and a small, amused grin tugged at the corners of his muzzle as he listened to her excited chatter. The air inside the cave was cooler, tinged with an earthy scent of damp stone and something more ancient, a smell that seemed to pulse with the heartbeat of the cavern itself.

As Selene's question echoed through the darkness, Balrog's obsidian eyes, adapted to the mysteries of the shadows, began to pick up faint glimmers beyond the visible spectrum. As they ventured in, the little bodies of the worms on the wall became visible to him under the pulsing glow that adorned the walls. The ethereal light they cast was unlike anything he had ever seen, bathing the cave in a gentle, almost soothing luminescence. His eyes, sharp and attentive, absorbed every detail of the glowing creatures, the way they clung to the rocks as if guarding secrets only the darkness could know.

He could feel Selene's excitement beside him, her energy buzzing; but even her boundless enthusiasm could not pull his focus away from the glowing worms. They almost seemed to whisper to him as his keen eyes honed in on them.

"I think..." Balrog started, his voice young and curious, these worms are making the light." He couldn't hide the wonder in his tone. The way the worms illuminated the cave walls fascinated him, and their glow would cast strange and beautiful shadows that danced as he moved forward.

Taking another slow step forward, he felt the cool stone beneath his paws, the texture changing slightly as they ventured inside. The light was stronger here, more concentrated, and it filled him with a sense of awe. The worms, with their soft, blue-green light, seemed to guide them deaper into the cave like tiny beacons in the dark.

Balrog's mind raced with possibilities. What were these creatures? Why did they glow? The questions were endless, and the cave's silence offered no answers, only more mysteries. Yet, the unknown didn't scare him; it intrigued him, pulled him closer to the heart of his strange, glowing world.

Selene's voice broke through his thoughts, her impatience palpable. "Go faster! I wanna see!" she hissed, her excitement barely contained. Balrog chuckled softly, appreciating her adventurousness. He picked up his pace slightly, careful to avoid disturbing the worms as they passed by, their light flickering in response to their movements.

"Look at them, Selene," he whispered, nodding toward the glowing walls. "They're everywhere, like stars in the night."

"Balrog"

Selene barely resisted the urge to climb over her brother and push herself forward. It was a near thing as they kept moving through the crevice and his fur just absorbed all the light. Until the air in the cavern shifted and it suddenly opened up around them. She noticed the watery pools around their feet, weird smelly things in the strange water caught her attention first. She eagerly sniffed at the water almost having the water rush up her nose with each furious inhale.

It wasn't until he finally broke the silence that she looked up and found herself speechless. Dripping strands of strange dew extended from below the moist glowing globs settled into the walls like magical sconces. He said worms and she looked at him with a disgusted scrunch to her nose but indeed, he seemed right! She pulled herself closer to one of the low-hanging clusters and focused on the center of the glowing light. It moved! It moved!? EWWWW! She shrank back. It was a worm!

But his voice drew her attention again and she looked up, mouth slightly agape at the spectacular scene above them. It went on endlessly—tiny starlight clusters in every nook and cranny of the cavern.

"What are the weird strings?" She asked looking forward and ew... the worms were just ew. She really didn't want to get that close. The cavern walls were lined in limestone.

"Do you think they're eating the rock? Or maybe there's tiny mushrooms they're eating." When she found her voice again her questions tumbled out of her mouth rapid fire as always, "The strings are weird, are they salviva? like the stuff in our mouths. Or are they part of the worms? What's this water down here? Ewww!!! You think it's pee??" She exclaimed suddenly pulling back to find any kind of dry place. Worm pee, double gross!

It was definitely pretty, but she was so not into this ick! A glowy worm was slowly falling down one of the strings right over her ear and she felt it for just a half second.

"Ew! Balrog! Don't let it touch me!" She exclaimed again, covering her head. Why can't it just be pretty, not icky?? Maybe Mom would know more about them.

"Selene"

1500 + words! Nav seasonal!