Chapter 331: Chapter 331 - Missing Pieces & Unexpected Thresholds
"Bad news about your request. The one I had lined up can’t be moved until tomorrow at the earliest. The guy who was supposed to handle the transport had a ’family emergency’ and finding another driver willing to work off-books on short notice is... challenging when I’m not allowed to apply my usual persuasive methods."
Claire sent a voice message while I was still at the warehouse and her tone carried some frustration for once that wasn’t about Luca. I think. Since I gave her an order not to use excessive blackmail just to get things done for me.
I bit back my immediate disappointment. The delay meant I couldn’t load it with supplies and rush out to the caves today as planned.
> Yes, it would have been nice to let you run to your heart’s content again. It’s been a little stifling for me as well. <
I console my wolf as I bolster my own heart thanks to everything else still waiting for me. She had people capable of going to the dead-drops for me on foot, at least. Three large duffel bags worth of goods arranged for purchase through the hunter’s app.
However, it did not take long to glance through all of it and verify it functioned as listed. Now sitting on my bed with the [Newcomer’s Guide to Vossden] - something I bought from the bookstore my first days in the city.
Most of its advice about things like important civic contact numbers - like bus routes and trash collection - was useless to me even if it would still be around in four weeks. The parts that would have been of use, like important buildings and park names that I could also look up on a phone map, had long since been absorbed through experience.
But I’d never thoroughly explored its sections on local attractions outside of the city. Flipping through the "Recreation & Tourism" section, one entry finally caught my attention.
[Silvertrap Caves - Popular hiking destination 25 miles northwest via State Road 44. Guided tours available spring through fall. Natural limestone formations with unique mineral deposits. Contact Forestry Service for current conditions.]
A single paragraph with a small hiking boot symbol next to it that talks about a cave much closer. Nothing was especially compelling about the description at all. Its inclusion just sounded like a way for city dwellers wanting to play at wilderness adventure to get some experience.
The caves I’d spotted during the modeling shoot were much further out and had appeared unmarked on any of the tourist maps the crew used. But I couldn’t escape the idea that there might be some sort of connection.
> Sometimes a cave is just a single cave, but deep caverns have a habit of opening up into other caverns in my experience. They might be linked and have similar properties because of it... <
I got off of my bed and drained a glass of milk completely before turning on the little mobile monitor setup. Connecting my earpiece to its bluetooth connection, I idly wonder how that even works. Or how this ’device’ stays powered considering it does not come with a charging case or any clear electrical inputs...
"Lodestone: Search for Silvertrap Caves."
The first results on the screen were exactly what I expected - official park service pages with visiting hours and safety warnings. But the blurb from the geological survey linked from that page provided more interesting details about the cave system’s formation and known extent.
[The network spans approximately 12 miles of mapped passages, with an estimated additional 8-10 miles of unmapped chambers based on sonar and other possible connection to the Greater Northwest Geothermal Strata caverns. The caves are known to maintain a constant temperature of 66°F year-round in the higher elevation sections due to activity from deep underground geothermal springs.]
Constant. In my mindscape, Vrika’s ears perked up at that detail at the same time my fox form’s did. The spirit understood when I did what that could mean for people surviving harsh winters.
"I’ll have to tell... others about it. After I find the best hiding spot to live inside them. Maybe in the much more distant cave I found on the trip."
I think it was about a hundred miles straight from the city edge - which sounds plenty far away from civilization trying to encroach on me. It just took five hours to drive because of first getting out of the city - and of course the National Park only had one ranger entrance far to the north that our group was required to sign into.
> And then that twenty mile an hour ’crawl’ back down the dirt paths in RVs. Going by paws should... actually probably take the same amount of time. Unfortunately. <
Sighing, I kept scrolling and clicking links... like a few amateur photography blogs that showcased the underground water flows and the landmark rock formations. Nothing that wouldn’t be found in any respectable travel guide, though I ’subscribed’ to a couple because they took good photos.
Until I found a review of an academic paper that caught my attention. A ’doctoral thesis’ from a local university’s anthropology department that was titled [Indigenous Sacred Sites and Colonial Displacement in the Silverton Region]. The things it said as I scrolled made me shake... as only a person that has more prior knowledge while reading could.
[Oral histories from the indigenous Kacikawa people describe the Silvertrap Caves as ’Nilhonakan’ - literally translated as ’one of the doorways that swallow’. According to tribal elders interviewed in the 1970s, the caves were considered a threshold between worlds since their origin, where the boundaries separating different planes of existence grew thin.]
[Petroglyphs discovered and documented in 1963 in deeper chambers depict humanoid figures in various stages of what appears to be transformation or transition into animals. Dr. Andrei Madiev’s 1985 analysis suggests these images represent shamanic journey practices, though he acknowledges that their detail is higher than average.]
[Of particular note is one chamber wall in contrasting black and white. It shows human figures entering ’darkness’ on one side and emerging into ’light’ on the opposite side. While Madiev interprets these as metaphorical representations of spiritual rebirth, tribal accounts insist they document literal passages between realms that have occurred. However, beyond the insistence of the elder telling the stories, no person claiming to have traveled-]
My fingers curled together into fists as I closed my eyes. Transforming into animals and movement between ’realms’. It would perhaps be too fanciful for a mere academic that was not a Fox Princess from another world.
But I’d always wondered how the number of beasts in the world could be something other than constant, if we are cycled through rebirth. The pantheon of deities claimed to be making no new souls themselves and the snake clergy said the same of them - as expected for their adherents.
> Could it really be possible? A way back to my original world? <
Vrika stirred uneasily in my mindscape, though it didn’t try to interrupt my research. The black wolf seemed torn between a shared curiosity for the connections I was making and cautious concern.
Again, much like my own reaction to what I was reading... for I wasn’t homesick or foolhardy, exactly. This world had given me freedoms my royal life never allowed. Friendships, a few genuine challenges, and the ability to make my own choices without royal parents waiting to bring a hammer of judgement down on me.
> The fact that I’ve used that ability to remain evasive and careful in a lot of my personal life, just like I did from court politics - as much as possible - is not really the point. The idea of seeing myself in my original body again and of knowing I could perhaps return if I chose to... <
The review went on to talk about missing persons reports dating back decades. Hikers who’d entered the cave system and never emerged. The official explanations were always the same - unexplored passages, underground rivers, unstable stone formations that could trap or injure the unwary were *clearly* to blame.
But searching news articles, I noticed that no bodies had ever been recovered from the depths. Not one in fifty years in a limestone cave system where remains should be preserved from the greater elements - except a slip and fall right at the entrance that was later deemed caused by a heart attack.
> If the legends aren’t metaphorical, then what if some of those missing people actually found a rift to the other side? <
My phone rang - right in my ear thanks to the earpiece I had on, nineteen hells! - and interrupted the spiral of thoughts. Shouldn’t these devices only connect to one thing at a time?! I was so annoyed I thought about not answering the unknown number.
"Hello?"
"Hey there. Hope I’m not calling too early - I know you city folks keep different hours than us outdoor types."
It took me a moment to connect the voice with the person. Grant Hoffman, the werewolf ranger. Calling right when I’m looking up information about the caves he warned me not to go to alone. Does he know something more about them than this stuff says?
"No. Not too early at all. What can I do for you?"
"Actually, I was calling to ask if you would like to grab dinner tonight? I’m off duty this week and coming to Vossden."
I opened my mouth to immediately decline, then paused. I’m certainly uncomfortable that he has my number when I did not give it out, but...