The glowing crystal turned their shelter from a prison into a puzzle box. Was it a sign of peace from their silent hosts, or a sophisticated warning? They had no way of knowing, and their supplies were dwindling. The protein bars were nearly gone, and their filtered water wouldn't last forever. They had to move. They had to get back to the river.
"We go at first 'light'," Ethan decided, referring to the subtle brightening of the cavern's glow that marked its equivalent of morning. "We stick together, we move fast, and we don't stop until we're back across that bridge."
Armed with a newfound resolve, they stepped out of the dwelling and back into the luminous forest. The city was as silent as ever. The crystal, which Ethan had carefully packed away, felt like a heavy weight in his pack—a souvenir from a world that did not want them here.
They retraced their steps, moving through the silent groves, their boots sinking softly into the glowing moss. The path to the waterfall seemed clear. Too clear.
They were halfway to the river when the forest erupted.
It wasn't the silent, slender figures. It was something far more primal. From the shadows between the trees, a tide of dark, bristling shapes emerged—the peccaries, the same savage boars from the stairwell, but these were larger, their tusks sharper, their eyes burning with a red, malevolent glow. They were not just animals hunting; they were guards, a living fence of fury and teeth. The silent watchers were using this world's fauna as their first line of defense.
"Run!" Ethan yelled, shoving the sisters ahead of him. "To the bridge!"
They sprinted through the alien trees, the thunder of hooves shaking the ground behind them. The boars were terrifyingly fast, their squeals of rage echoing through the massive cavern. One of them broke from the pack, cutting off their path to the river. It was a behemoth, a scarred and ancient male with tusks like scythes.
"I'll draw it off!" Maya yelled, ever the impulsive one. Before Ethan could stop her, she unzipped a side pocket of her pack, pulled out a magnesium flare, and struck it.
The flare ignited with a blinding white light, a miniature sun in the soft twilight of the cavern. The lead boar shrieked and recoiled, temporarily blinded.
"Now! Go!" Maya screamed.
Chloe and Ethan didn't hesitate. They ran, scrambling up the rock face toward the waterfall and the bridge beyond. But Maya wasn't fast enough. As the boar recovered its senses, its rage magnified by the pain in its eyes, it charged. Not at Ethan or Chloe, but at the source of the light.
It slammed into Maya with the force of a freight train.
She was thrown through the air, her camera shattering against a tree as she landed in a heap on the glowing moss. The flare sputtered out.
A wave of pure adrenaline surged through Ethan. He turned back, his ice axe in his hand, a guttural roar tearing from his own throat. He and the enraged boar charged each other.
The fight was a blur of primal fury. Ethan was no warrior, but he was a survivor. He dodged the first swipe of the tusks and brought the pick-end of his axe down hard on the creature's spine. The boar shrieked, a piercing sound of agony, and stumbled. It wasn't a fatal blow, but it was enough. The rest of the pack, momentarily confused by the felling of their leader, faltered.
"Chloe, get her!" Ethan screamed, standing over the wounded, thrashing boar, his axe raised.
Chloe was already at her sister's side. Maya was conscious, but her leg was bent at a horrifying, unnatural angle. Her face was a mask of shock and agony.
They had survived the attack. But as Ethan stood there, chest heaving, listening to the boar herd regroup in the trees, a far more chilling realization dawned. They were deep inside a lost world, one of them was gravely injured, and their path was cut off. The thrilling discovery had turned into a desperate trap. And the silent, intelligent beings who had set it were still out there, watching from the shadows.