Explorations into the caverns of your soul

This story is primarily set in Rio Rancho, New Mexico which is located just north of Albuquerque where one Sarah Milosi was born nearly three decades ago.Her exact age and birth were irrelevant nowadays due to her very life being somewhat on an enigma.Dying and then coming back to life not immediately, but instead nearly two years after having been killed made keeping track of one's age seemingly mundane.It was definitely mundane to her.It was hard for her now to even remember what day of the year her own birthday was set on."Uh, I want to say May something.I think.Aah, who cares?I'll figure it out later." she was thinking as she sat in the bus, dressed in faded jeans, a rather nice pair of boots for travelling and a plain coat over a black shirt, as it drove her towards the location of the very place where over a decade ago she stumbled upon a cave system and where her powers manifested.Looking out the window and up ahead in the distance she could see that this bus trip would not be much longer.

Minutes later Sarah was finally off the bus.It was mid-morning around 9:42am on a Wednesday as she got off the bus and got moving.Even though that had taken longer than using a cab would have it was far cheaper to take the bus and she did not have the money at the moment to not save some whenever she could.It had been hard for her to hold down a decent job over the last couple of years due to having to keep secret her death.She would have to figure out a better way around that issue later.Just another thing to put on the to do list.As if it wasn't full enough already.Sarah couldn't even remember just how many things she had essentially promised herself to eventually do and had yet to place any effort into accomplishing any of those tasks.Then again all of them would be quite the hassle to deal with.

The exact location of the cave entrance wasn't far ahead.All around the efforts to turn this area into a modernized structure of some sorts were occuring.It's for that very reason that she had made such an effort to come here now of all times.She needed to get there before it was all built over and making it effectively impossible for her to ever go to ever again.That's why she needed to do this now.Otherwise she would never be able to do at all at this rate.There was little effort ongoing to attempt to preserve the natural and serene beauty of these lands.

As these thoughts went through her head her stomach rumbled with need of sustenance.Even though she was impatient to get to that cave as soon as possible."Knew I should've packed some food.So stupid." she thought as she looked around for a place to go to and grab somethign to eat.She spotted a cafe down the street and headed there.Upon arriving she sat down and ordered a special featuring a bacon and egg biscuit along an orange juice, and just sat down to eat for the time being.

The road stretched as far as the eye could see behind them. Only the red tinted glimpse of the mountains laid before them. "Was there really not enough Mexicos in the world?" After the lack of enlightenment brought on by the trips across Louisiana, Elaine and her ever present companion strode across the desert in hopes of locating a cave complex thought to rest between some kinds of mystic powers. A younger Elaine would call the information "liberal bias", but the more learned and open minded Elaine merely thought the person who told her looked like an anti-Semite. Regardless of the source, she knew this cave called out to her for some reason. The cave of Albuquerque.

"Don't complain. This one smells better. If we were in the old one we could try to look for bits of information at a bar, but you're not 21."

"Nope. And never will be."

"It's kind of like feeling the heat of an inferno coming towards you, but still sticking your head further into the flames, but why aren't you living to 21?"

"Some voodoo lady put a hex on me that said I wouldn't live to be twenty."

"Maybe she was taking the educated assumption."

"Didn't matter much then, so I just shot her in the face like twenty times."

"Lord."

"It's okay, they were just rubber pellets on account of me being five at the time."

"Are you sure you shot her after she said that, and not before?"

"Oh yeah, I was shooting her and then she said if I didn't change my attitude I wouldn't live to be twenty. So like I said, voodoo curse."

"I ask this devoid of irony, but you do know how time works?"

"Yeah, but this place doesn't." Elaine gazed to the caverns before her. "Do they really film Breaking Bad in there?"

"Albuquerque is not in the cave."

"This is probably as good as place to get enlightenment."

"I would hope our trek would bare more meaning than 'good enough' in the grand scheme."

"When you gotta go, you gotta go."

"What are you under the influence enlightenment is?"

Whatever power ran through the course of the ancient stones remained present in the air. It pulsed and rang in the sepia wastes. Moving closer to the opening of the cave, Elaine took her place of mediation upon a rubber mat she unfurled from her back. Soft rubbed imprinted as her hand pressed deeply against it. Her boots brushed the rough dirt into the crevices of the blue mat, too deep for her to kick or brush off with her hands, but in the path for enlightenment, sacrifices must be made.

"Am I enlightened yet?"

The sun came down oppressively, its cruel rays beating down upon his fair skin. To prepare for this oppressive heat, Anthony chose not to dress in the usual suits that he chose to go around in when he was on an assignment. He was dressed in simple khaki shorts and an unbuttoned plaid shirt with a pristine white t-shirt under it.

Ahead of Anthony stretched the seemingly endless road, its very visage wavering in this heat. This was not a sort of heat he was used to but he would have to if he wanted to get this thing over with and his target was only a short walk from here now. Furrowing his blonde brows he licked over his now chapping lips.

”You know you can do that little shadow jump trick to get there instead of walking through this damned heat.” The small familiar said seeming to slither from his shadow its beady red eyes gleaming.

”I could but I’m not.” Anthony answered the spirit. A single vehicle drove past him on the long road at a high speed. ”Wonder where they’re going?” Anthony wondered absently to himself, mostly trying to occupy himself, which was not really working it seemed. He was likely to get sunburned if he kept walking through the hot sun like this but apparently there was some sort of genetic thing where he couldn’t really get sunburned.

Ahead bloomed what seemed like a small café, small sure but it was a homely little place. Anthony raised an eyebrow, considering making a quick stop before moving onto whatever it was he planned to do within this mysterious cave his father spoke of. There was supposed to be something special about them, and something important to send him to fetch whatever it was. He wasn’t supposed to open the small envelope within the leather satchel at his side until he reached the cave.

Of course he got looks, being a lone teenager walking through the desert heat with barely anything to cover his fair skin. He walked through the front door of the café, taking in the smell of cooking bacon, though his mouth was a bit too dry to really salivate. Why his father only allowed him to jump a mile away from the location was beyond him but it was possibly just a way to toughen him up.

The place was mostly empty except for the workers and one young girl who sat at one of the tables. Wiping a small bit of sweat from his brow Anthony took himself a seat and quickly ordered a small cup of water; preferably with ice. It only took about a few minutes for the drink to arrive, condensation beginning to form upon the crystalline glass. Taking a deep gulp of the cold liquid, he felt the cool relief already, moving through his body. He didn’t stop until the cup was half empty, a sort of bloated feeling quickly moving through his abdomen before fading away. It seemed he had at least fulfilled his need for some form of refreshment.

A single fly seemed to crawl from under his hand and fly away, squeezing through the smallest crack of the front entrance as it made its way to what was the cave. The purpose of the fly was simple really, just a scout before he went ahead himself. They were efficient and not easily noticed considering how silently they flew.

That was when he saw the girl, she was in her early twenties dressed like what some would call a cowgirl. He would have dismissed her entirely until he noticed that was was carrying a gun, not a good thing with all things considered. He might actually have to put some extra thought into this if this girl proves to be a problem.

It had been about a half hour, somewhere around that amount of time since Sarah had stopped by a cafe and entered into it to get some food.There she had eaten a rather good meal where she had been for part of the time she was there the only customer dining there.That was until a young blonde haired man who did not look much like he was a local resident entered.It seemed very much like that what with the way people seemed to notice such a thing.Sarah had been born and raised in the general area so nobody really took much notice of her at all.Though she paid little attention to this at all.

Now after having paid the check for her meal she got up and was off again to the very place she was here to go to in the first place.The cave of course.She walked right by the young man and did only an aside glance before heading to the door and out into the street.

Just as soon as she had stepped outside the desert heat beat down upon her face.It actually felt like the temperature had gone up from before.This little journey was starting to feel unbearable.The road ahead was nearly just a blur making it more difficult to travel down than it should be.Residents of the town who would for all things be used to such weather even took some shelter from it.

Finally a few minutes long trip that felt like alot longer she had arrived back at a place she had been only once before.As she approached closer to it she stopped for a moment to relax herself a bit before actually heading in.The sweltering heat and bugs flying all about did not make it even close to easy to do."Let's just go." she forcefully told herself as she finally entered the cave for the first time in over a decade.

As soon as she entered she was looking around the walls of the cave for some sign of anything worth noticing.Mere seconds afterwards however that came to an end.She had suddenly noticed a woman dressed like a cowgirl sitting on a mat in the middle of the first open area in a position of meditation.She did not expect to see something like this in here.To be honest it looked kind of awkward.The mat made it look even more so.Then again at least she was not having to sit on the cave floor.

Sarah just did not quite know what to do now.There was little to no chance of getting past this woman without being noticed.But she did not want to leave and wait for her to leave in order to come back.Maybe if she just continued onwards the cowgirl would pay little to no attention to her presence and she could simply be on her way.Thinking it was probably best to give this a try she started walking deeper into the cave and tried to quietly make her way around the mat as she did so.

A low hum hung in the air between the cave and the vigorous seeker. Bearing a keen resemblance to a childish tune from a long running public broadcast show. "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to enlightenment."

"Remember when that robotic guy ran for President and wanted to cut the spending for PBS?"

"Remember the time that communist Muslim tried to take my guns, and I was like 'don't tread on me!'"

"Yes, in preconception you truly did give your most prolific statements pertaining to what you could shoot and how big of a gun you could use to shoot it using dated pleas to emotion."

"You ruined my enlightenment more than words ruined logic. Or this guy in front of us ruined trying to look inconspicuous." She pointed out Anthony. "...Why are you being so conspicuously inconspicuous?"

"Leave the poor soul in the husk allotted to him."

"Are you a soul seeking enlightenment?" She echoed the words she heard in the halls of a small community college, starting her spiritual quest for enlightenment. In the absence of any other travelers and a lack of background between the two, Elaine extended an offer of understanding to a man who appeared to want to go without even the basest of understanding of her. Nonetheless, Elaine pushed on by rolling up her mat. "You can't get enlightenment out here. Too much UV rays and static from alien probes in the atmosphere."

Before the final conclusion to their predicament could result in their movement Elaine noticed someone making her way into the cave. "Must be some sort of goblin or other subterranean dwelling creature. We should probably go find out what it is; we should probably fire at the cave so that everyone knows not to mess with us."

After what was only a few minutes of scouting, Anthony chose to pay for the small glass of water and make his leave. The pay was of course far more than what someone would pay for service that minute but he was in an oddly good mood. The magical energy within the area was off the charts and it served as some sort of stimulant; akin to an energy drink, or ten of them minus the overly massive spike in energy. It mostly allowed him a heightened alertness that would serve well in his mission.

Of course his attempt to slip into the cave unnoticed was failed before he even attempted. Well considering he could have easily just shadow jumped into the cave instead of walking through the damned front gate, it was his own fault mostly. Maybe if he just kept walking she would ignore him, not that the plan was likely to work. Killing her also seemed impossible; it was something about her, that look in her eyes. ”Enlightenment?” Anthony asked raising an eyebrow. This woman was seeking enlightenment in a place like this?

Either she was not magically sensitive in the least or just absolutely insane. Whichever it was, Anthony would just have to deal with it. He knew what he was searching for was not enlightenment, his father “the great” Nolan Caster had no need for things like that. As far as he was concerned he had already achieved this enlightenment, though that could have been argued. Before he could decline her offer to join in what seemed like a fruitless attempt in reaching whatever it was she was searching for, her focus had turned onto something else.

It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who had reasons to enter this cave but what could that strange girls reasoning be? Could she be here for the same reason that he had? If so that just made her an annoyance, one that would have to be dealt with. That was when the Asian female suggested…shooting at something until people realized it was hers. What did she think she was a dog or something? Whatever he had gotten himself into, it was not exactly the best of situation that was for sure.

”Well this seems to have gotten complicated.” Anthony muttered to himself looking from Elaine to the newcomer, chewing on his lower lips. Nothing ever came easy it would seem.

Sarah had tried to quietly sneak around the woman who was dressed like she was attending a rodeo or about to herd cattle or something like that, but it was to no avail.Her presence was noticed by the cowgirl who seemed to be talking to herself at times based on the things she was saying.This woman definitely seemed odd to her.

"I'm just somebody here to explore the caves and all.I didn't mean to disturb anyone.I honestly didn't even expect to see anyone here.I promise I won't be of any bother to you" she said to her in hopes of not causing her any distress and leading to a situation that she did not want to partake in.She looked closely at her to see how she might react to this statement.Would she believe her though.It was hard to tell at this point in time.

Having heard a voice come from the entrance of the cave she quickly turned around to see someone standing there looking down upon both of them.Looking closely Sarah saw that it was the very same young man she had seen in the cafe earlier.Now what was he doing here?This was starting to turn into quite the predicament.The worry in her mind was now showing on her face.Just what was going on here?

"You're bothered and you're complicated?" Elaine looked quizzically at the two new comers to the cave. What lied within the cave never pasted Elaine's mind, but something else did. "Maybe the path to enlightenment is through helping you not be bothered..." A passing of her finger outlined the new girl. "...And you being complicated."

"Why are you trying to help?"

"I help people all the time." Breaking her gaze from the two newcomers, Elaine shot her vision down to her spectral companion. "Remember that time I gave you chocolate?"

"You made me eat chocolate. I told you it was poison because of the theobromine--"

"Oh my god, and I stopped caring when you started using words I don't care about. And you got better."

"I did, no such thing."

Plus, you killed my cat.

"I did not. Your parents took it to the vet. You just thought I killed it, because you couldn't find it and you are a sociopath."

"You were going to do something to deserve it anyways, so I just skipped the victim."

"Thank you for proving my point."

"I'm talking to you anymore." Refusing to address her companion, Elaine stood with her arms crossed. All of the words he used only further made her logic more flawed. "When I don't think about things, I never see any flaws in my logic; it's only stupid 'words' the ruin my logic." Coming off of her tirade, Elaine remembered the conversation at hand. "So, as I was saying, We should go into the cave to get away from the radiowaves in the air and get enlightened. Oh no, the goblin is back, and he looks like a man." Without thinking, or caring, Elaine dropped her drawstring bag and began to pull her pistols out.

From his observations he was dealing with a woman who was talking to the air and a girl who looked too meek to really impede whatever it was he was planning to do within the cave. The cowgirl could prove to more problematic with those guns of hers but he wasn't too worried about them as long as he didn't let his guard down even once. As of now if a confrontation it was likely to be only him against those two and that was not very favorable odds but he would make due with what he had if such a thing happened. Now how would he make it past these two without getting himself into anything unfavorable.

Then the cowgirl's suggestion to enter the cave still hung in the air but it was the weapon that kept him from really saying anything as far as if he would accept her invitation to walk further. There was always the option that he could just perform Shadow walking and move past them completely,that left him not knowing where he would end up though and that was no good.

It wasn't like he planned to waste his time with these two anyway,when he knew that his father expected him to get done with what he was sent here to do within at least three days and he was already upon his second day as it was. There was no time to waste,he would have to get by them somehow,didn't need any loose ends within this little errand of his either.

”Annoying.” The voice of his familiar spoke in the back of his mind with palpable distaste,a hiss accompanying it that seemed to extend the letter S. After only a few seconds of thought he let out a deep sigh.

”Radio waves?” He asked raising a dark blonde eyebrow,a little confused by this woman’s logic, as if she were really playing with him;why would she though? Maybe this woman was more intelligent than she actually was and trying to make it seem as if she were insane to put them in a false sense of security;the only question was why. Ignoring the two Anthony walked by as he attempted to walk deeper into the cavern.

Things in this cave we're starting to get a bit complicated.Far more than Sarah expected and way too much for this situation.It didn't help that the two people she had encountered at this singular moment in time were just not the normal sort.The woman dressed in leather seemed to be talking to herself and that talk was that of an argument.Whatever the reason for this was a mystery that was perplexing her.She wasn't sure what to make of this.

Barely even able to pay attention to her surroundings anymore due to the complexity of the utter weirdness of the situation and thus almost did not even notice the cowgirl reaching into her bag as the young man started moving behind her.She turned in his direction as he was walking right by her and deeper into the cave and looked at him curiously.She was actually considering following him simply because he seemed to be at least somewhat normal.Or at least normal by comparison.

Sarah wanted to just get going already but couldn't find much desire to move at all.She would up instead walking a bit forward and actually taking up the woman's invitation of joining her on her mat.Walking forward slowly but confidently she gently placed herself upon the mat and began to attempt to relax in order to begin the meditative process.

It didn't take much to get Elaine moving towards the cave. The threat of a goblin dressed like a man just didn't sit right with her. Why would a goblin dress like a man, and live in a cave. Goblins liked forests better, or maybe they liked caves better. For some time Elaine confused goblins with orcs to the point where she almost crossef the threshold of calling herself racist. Of course, when the threat of being a racist came up, Elaine merely stopped thinking about it.

But now.

Now, these goblins dressed as men sought to make a racist out of Elaine by proving her theory of goblins living in the forest wrong. And by proving her wrong, making her a racist. She couldn't find a way to maneuver around it. "Okay, I'm going to be upfront with you. I may be a racist." Burdened with the weight of the stunning revelation, Elaine confided in everyone except the spirit corgi she no longer wished to speak with. "If so--" Elaine prepared to deliver the only way to save herself from the shame in a selfless act. "I'll have to kill all of you so no one will know." Or not.

"If people could hear me I would interject to let them know--"

"I know you're thinking, "Elaine, I guessed your name by how awesome you are, and I don't want to die.' Well, I don't want to be racist, so I'm just going to shoot everyone if it turns out to be the worst thing." With the trails and tribulations now resting on either side of the scales of justice, Elaine stood to her feet and prepared to examine the caves. "Blonde guy, woman with white skin, I know we just met, but we have entered into a bond that can only be torn apart by things far worse than us."

"Them maybe."

"If we examine ourselves and find ourselves--"

"Are you now telling other people how to embrace a state of mind you heard about second hand from a man in a tin foil hat?"

"...To be truly at one with the universe, then we will come away from this--"

"Not likely."

"...Completely unscathed."

"Wow, you might as well of given me thoebromine, because you killed me again."

Oh spirit corgi, if only people could get to an enlightened state to hear you. And with her final vote of confidence, Elaine began to trod towards the caves, to meet her final test.

The strange female continued to speak as Anthony only half listened to her babbling with no interest. As far as he was concerned,the female was insane and that meant he should not waste any time upon hearing what she had to say. He had more important matters to attend to than hearing the words of the insane,which all in all was nothing that could benefit him in the long run.

The dark expanse of the cave stretched out ahead of him,a yawning maw that seemed almost forbidding to him yet spoke of something within that was far too valuable to look over. Perhaps that strange aura was what his father had told him about? It had a dark feeling about it that the eccentric head of the Caster family would find an interest within but what he would want with it was unknown. Stopping halfway into his stride towards the cavern,Anthony pondered what he would even do once he found this item.

That was when he heard the strange woman actually suggesting that they walk into the cave,which meant it was likely that he would be stuck with her for a little longer. Something that made him grimace at the possibility,seeing as he could barely stand her presence for the little time that he had heard her talk. Whoever had the patience to deal with her was amazing indeed.

He could sense that Naga wanted to kill the cowgirl but it was likely that any attempt like that would only end up with one thing;trouble. Taking in a deep breath he turned back to see Elaine approaching his location,most likely aiming to venture further into the cave as he was aiming to do. Whatever it was that she wanted,he did not want to have anything to do with her if he could help it.