@monochrome-lewis continued from here:
The cave looked a lot worse than it had last time - if Arthur could remember or not. Now, blackened spikes arose from the walls and stabbed into the ceiling, along with mini craters littering the path. It was somehow damp and yet too dry, toying with Arthur’s senses. Although the deeper he went in, the more he heard splashing and grunts of frustration.
And when Arthur reaches the bottom, he’s met with dozens of bottles scattered along the beach and half buried. The surface ripples and splashes as a being swims down. The only hint of them being there being a faint glow.
Underwater, Mono doesn’t feel any change in the currents rushing past him. Instead he’s glaring at thick leafy roots. They swarm him. Slashing and hooking their thorns through his hair. Holding his breath and keeping suspended, mono snagged the plants furthest from the swarm, tearing back quickly and snapping the plants stalk.
His heart hammered, but the boils under his skin told him to keep going.
The last time he had been here, the walls had been covered in slime. Some of that muck had been Mono, melted down and clinging to the walls. This time he wasn't. He just had this feeling he was further in, deeper down.
But it still looked.... off. Why did it look different? Why were there more stalagmites, forming along the walls like uneven craggy spires? It shouldn't have changed. Mono left and lived with him now. Was there something else in the cave....? Or was this an indication of Mono's current mental state...?
Swallowing, Arthur called for Mono, but the only answer was his echo. He inched his way down the tunnel, swallowing to break the dryness clinging to his throat. Distant splashing broke the silence as he followed the steep inclune down at the bifurcation, and that only made him lick his lips, too.
Well. That told him where Mono was.
A burning tingle at the base of his neck made him shudder. Spice heated his mouth, or maybe it was bile. He had a feeling Mono wasn't in the best mindset. Though no fucking duh, if he was here.
Arthur rubbed at his arms as he followed the path, coming down to where the cavern opened up. The cramped stone corridor suddenly gave way, transitioning from the dimly lit tunnel into the wide cavernous chamber. It was dark, so pitch black he kept his hand along the wall for some stability. His other hand took out his phone, and Arthur lit the path down the last of the ramp towards the shore with his flashlight setting.
Why would Mono come here?
Inside the room, he could make out a vast pool of groundwater, stagnant without a river to connect to, or a breeze to keep it moving. The smell is earthy and kind of foul, like a hint of decay. The cavern floor ended at the water's edge, solid stone giving way to a murky green. Laying on the stone are sealed bottles, the glass glinting in his phone's light where the mud didn't choke out the reflection.
The water moved though, when it shouldn't. Groundwater in a cave like this was usually a result of rain runoff finding it's way down where it was too humid to evaporate. Or where the water table under them was filled enough that pools showed from the saturation and water being pushed to the surface. So it should be still. But choppy ripples splashed at the eroded stone, the water pushing further over the little plateau and grazing one of the bottles.
Arthur shone his light over the pool, but he couldn't see Mono there. He wasn't standing in the water...
...but when his beam lowered, there was still a soft white glow near the center of the pool. Was that him? God, he wished he could see in the dark. Maybe Mono was further out in the water? There was no way the glow was him, right? Mono had a phobia of water, pretty much. He actively avoided it enough to be noticeable. So he couldn't be the glow, but he might be in the water, and maybe something was reacting to him?
Arthur slipped off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pant legs. If he was going to search the area for Mono, he didn't need to get them wet. The walk back would suck way more in soaked shoes that squished with every step.
The water was cold on his feet and mud squished between his toes, slimy and slick. It made him shudder. But he tightened his grip on his phone to prevent any chance of dropping it, and moved further into the water. The floor abruptly dropped a few feet, so he was wading instead, water all the way to his knees.
So much for keeping his pants dry.
But still, Arthur pressed on. "Mono? Hello...?" He called, softer now, as he continued further into the murk.
