Capítulo 3: Crater
Golden rays of light pierced Emile's eyes. A warm, delicate feeling washed over his exposed skin. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at the brightly lit orange sky. He tried to pull himself together only to have a striking pain assault his very being.
His shoulder screamed. His back ached. His whole body was left sore and exhausted. Using his better arm to rearrange himself he sat up and surveyed his surroundings. Emma was only a few feet away from him, sprawled out on the sandy ground.
Emile and Emma were at the bottom of what looked like a crater in the forest. All around them were high, expansive walls of stone. Resting atop the stone all around them were the trees of the forest. Directly besides them in the crater rested a still, deep and clear pond.
Emile called out to Emma, waking her from her slumber. She was in a much better condition than he was. She was still bruised from the fall and was generally exhausted, but she was okay. Emma helped Emile up and they walked to the pond.
Taking his sweatshirt off, Emma washed away the dried blood on Emile's back. Four lacerations of varying depths were etched into him. Thankfully, two of them had already stopped bleeding.
Emma ripped Emile's sweatshirt into strips and tried to tightly pressure the lacerations by tying them around his torso, but it barely held together.
"At least they're cleaner than they were," Emma said with a hollow smile.
Then she tried to raise Emile's hurt shoulder, but Emile stopped her in response to the searing pain. Emma took one of the pieces of the ripped sweatshirt and shoved it in Emile's mouth.
"Bite down."
She said as she forcibly slammed Emile's shoulder back into place. Emile yelled through clenched teeth and then toppled over back onto the warm sand.
A few minutes later Emile was back on his feet and the two of them walked around the perimeter of the crater.
"We're trapped!" Emma finally announced.
"Yeah it's not looking too good for us," Emile agreed, "could have just let Cookie go—"
"This is not the time!" Emma yelled.
With seemingly nowhere to go, Emile and Emma returned to the still body of water. Emile stared at himself in its reflection. His slightly tanned skin was blackened by dirt. The dried sweat in his light, hazelnut hair reflected the light of the sun and fell, unfashionably, right above his dull, green eyes.
His twin sister, Emma, of course had similar features. Light brown hair that fell to the middle of her back, but unlike Emile, her eyes were vibrant. She had more blue in them from their father, making her eyes almost a rich teal color.
The two of them would likely be referred to as small, but Emma would always snap back and correctively say that they were lean instead. The two both ran for track and field and got accepted to their university through a track and field scholarship.
The two stripped to their underwear and submerged themselves in the water. Emile washed himself with his hands, while Emma rubbed sand along her body. "It's an exfoliator," she said.
After cleaning up they returned to inspecting the stone wall that surrounded them. The wall was jagged enough to climb at first, but continued to protrude outward the higher it went. Near the top of the wall they would have to hang from just their hands or be able to climb upside down.
With nothing better to do, Emma attempted to climb the wall while Emile sat on the sand and watched. Emma consistently made it about half way up the wall, but once it started leaning outward, Emma would fall. Luckily, due to the wall leaning so far out, every time she fell it would be directly onto the sand rather than back onto the jagged rock.
But, Emma's persistence knows no end. After falling from one part of the wall she'd scoot over a few feet and try again on a new section.
The sun now sat right above them, Emile guessed it was around noon, and Emma was getting closer and closer to the top of the wall. After so many attempts, she had found a few good footholds she could latch onto to help keep herself from immediately plummeting down.
The final move she was stuck on was a dino leap of faith to grab an exposed root of one of the trees above. The root was sticking out of the corner of the top of the wall and all Emma needed to do was jump far enough and grip hard enough to catch it.
As her stomach growled and desperation grew, she pushed off the rock with all her remaining strength and took hold of the tree root. While her sweat was blurring her vision, she pulled herself up and rolled over the edge.
A huge smile stuck to her face, "Emile!" She yelled, "Did you see that?"
Emile congratulated her for her hard work, but he wasn't as optimistic as she was. It was great that she made it up, but neither of them knew which direction civilization was. As far as Emile was concerned, she was essentially still in the same boat as him—completely lost and helplessly trapped in the forest.
Emma stood up and looked over the edge down at Emile.
"So hey, which way should I go? Or should I try to find a way to get you out?" Emma asked.
"Try to look for our tracks," Emile advised, "we fell onto the sand not the water so we know we came from that general side at least. Look for broken branches, foot prints, anything that can guide you back."
"What about you?" Emma pestered.
"I'll be fine! Get back quick so you can get help! We both know I'm not going anywhere," Emile reassured.
Emma clenched her fists and looked at Emile for a long time before turning her back and going. With nothing but the clothes on his back and the sun in the sky, Emile laid back on the sand and let the warmth cradle him.
Before he knew it, Emile drifted to sleep at the bottom of the crater.
"Emile!" A faint voice echoed through the forest.
Emile stretched his sore body through the sand and rearranged himself. Bliss once again overtaking his body.
"Emile!" This time louder.
Emile opened his eyes and sat up. Still unsure of what exactly he heard. Looking around the crater, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Emile!" Emma distinctly yelled.
Emile looked in her direction and very quickly saw Emma sprinting around the edge of the crater. Only a few feet behind her, a massive cougar was closing in. Its muscles radiated power. Its eyes glued to the girl running in front of it.
Before Emile could react, Emma kicked off the ground and dove into the crater. Tucking her head down and crossing her arms, she soared into the water. The cougar turned at the last second and was now walking around the edge of the crater.
Emile shot up and ran towards the water. His movement catching the attention of the beast. The cougar, having found his escaped prey from the previous night, scouted the perimeter of the crater looking for the best way to climb down.
Emma finally broke out of the water just as Emile entered it. The cougar found a comfortable place to drop and lunged down onto the sand.
Emile was trudging through the water towards Emma while Emma was looking past Emile at the cougar sprinting towards them.
"It's coming!" Emma alerted.
Emile was swimming as fast as he could, but for some reason he felt like he was turning away from Emma. Distracted by the beast, Emile nor Emma noticed the weak pull the water was exerting on them.
The pull was growing stronger and stronger. Emma started being pulled down into the water while Emile was being pulled to the side. Soon after, Emma realized her body was turning.
"It's a vortex!" Emma screamed, just as her body was agressively sucked underneath.
Watching Emma disappear, Emile dove underwater and swam towards Emma as she was fading deeper into the depths. The surface of the water finally reflected the vortex and violent spirals erupted throughout the pond.
The beast, noticing the wild nature of the water, stayed on the shore and watched its prey be consumed by the pond.
Thankfully, the pond was clear enough for Emile to see Emma being dragged down. With no clear bottom to the pond in sight, Emile rushed to Emma's side and grabbed her hand. Now, he too was in the heart of the vortex. The pressure of the water popped his ears, then his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his head.
Emile shut his eyes and tried to hold his breath, but the violent tribulations he was experiencing pushed the air out of his lungs. And before he knew it, Emile faded out of consciousness.
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