Being tucked into the back of the group's line, Y/N experienced the brunt of the chill. This didn't go unnoticed, as Ralsei had turned around. Catching their attention, he offered, “If you're cold, you can share my scarf...” He trailed off, before noticing Kris's quick approach, “Huh?”

Upon stopping in front of the shaking Lightner, Kris motioned to their scarf before motioning towards Y/N. Upon receiving no response, Kris untied the striped fabric from around their neck in one swift motion. Upon realizing what Kris was offering, Ralsei stuttered, “Oh! Um, sure, or Kris could...”

With the cape-scarf in-hand, Kris stepped forward to tie it around the chilled Lightner's neck. Throughout the short process, Y/N stood perfectly still. The brushes of cold armor against their hair and neck made them freeze completely, yet somehow kept them warm. Once Kris finished tying the scarf and moved away, Y/N had half a mind to follow; Kris's armor was cold, and would only chill the Lightner further.

Hang Sơn Đoòng, translated from Vietnamese as either “cave of the mountain river” or “cave of mountains behind Đoòng (village)” is a cave in the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in Vietnam, near the Laos-Vietnam border. It’s between 2 to 5 million years old, and is a solutional cave, which means it was formed by water dissolving soluble limestone. The cave has an internal fast-flowing river called Rao Thuong, and it’s this river that carved out the cave over millions of years.

The cave was discovered in 1991 by a local man named Hồ Khanh, who was, at the time, a logger looking for agarwood, a valuable timber. However, the steep descent into the cave (a 200 ft drop!), as well as the sound of roaring water coming from within discouraged him from entering. Later, in 2009, a group of cavers from the British Cave Research Association were conducting a survey of the national park and explored the cave, giving it international fame.

The main passage of the cave is the largest in the word by volume, big enough that a Boeing 747 plane could fly through with ease without having to fear for its wings. It’s 200 meters (660 ft) high and 150 meters (490 ft) wide. The cave also contains some of the world’s largest stalagmites (those are the ones that come from the floor), such as the 200 ft tall Hand of Dog stalagmite.

The story behind that weird name, in a quote from one of the first people to explore the cave, Howard Limbert: “A woman on our original expedition asked if she could name it. She shouted ‘The Hand of God,’ and the lad who wrote it down wrote ‘Hand of Dog’ instead. We didn’t know it was going to be famous, so some names are a bit weird.”

The cave’s size is because of two factors, the river running through it, and the fault line it sits on.

My favorite thing about this cave are the two dolines, places in the cave where the ceiling has collapsed. The first doline, named Watch Out for Dinosaurs, is a small hole in the ceiling that lets in mesmerizing beams of sunlight. Small ferns grow on the rocks where the sunlight touches. 

(image taken from the cave tour company’s website, Oxalis Adventures. The picture is taken with artificial lighting to brighten the surroundings. The second picture is from the CNBC article linked in my sources list. it’s done with minimal artificial lighting.)

The cave is so big that it has its own weather system. The sunlight from the dolines heats the water from the river, forming clouds inside the cave that give moisture, allowing plants to grow on the rocks.

So after the first doline, you pass through a chamber whose walls are made entirely of fossils, making the rock white, and then through the cave’s biggest chamber, the one that a 747 could fly through without its wings being in any danger. 

Then, you get to the second doline and my absolute favorite part of the cave: the Garden of Edam. The second doline is large enough that it allows enough sunlight for a jungle to grow 820 feet below the ground. 

(picture of the aerial view was taken from the CNBC article. second picture is taken from the wikipedia article.)

(it looks so pretty at night, I wanna live there.)

In the cave’s jungle, trees grow as big as 150 feet tall, and species of monkeys, snakes, at at least one type of eagle owl live there. There are also at least two types of flightless birds running around there. 

There are also the cave bugs and fish that live deeper in the cave, far far past the dolines but I’m not talking about them bc they’re creepy and I hate creepy crawlies. Just know the fish’s skin is white/translucent and the creepy crawlies have no eyes because evolution.

this cave also features cave pearls the size of baseballs, which is highly unusual. Pic also describes them.

During rainy season, a lake nearly 2000 ft wide fills up the cave. It’s usually gone by June.

The cave is gorgeous and I have an absolute obsession with it, and if you’re interested in learning more than the brief (ish) overview I gave, check out my sources, listed below!!

- this cool article from cnbc that has gorgeous pictures of the journey to and into the cave

- the wikipedia article that also has some really nice pictures of the cave