Return to The Chamber of Possibilities

Rishi climbed as best he could in the darkness for a couple of hours. He hadn't eaten in more than a week, but didn't realize it because he'd spent large portions of that time unconscious.

He grew tired quickly and stopped in a small chamber which, according to his calculations should be well above the level the water should ever get to.

Instead of sleeping, he tried to meditate and succeeded.

When his eyes opened, the water was six inches over his head and he was about to inhale water.

He hadn't floated which was odd. He hadn't inhaled water and yet the room was quite deep with it.

Rishi felt water streaming down on him from above, he stood up into the torrent of a water fall. Apparently a higher cave had filled and poured its excess into this cavern from above. That's how the room had managed to fill so quickly without bringing him to awareness or drowning him.

The room was pitch black and filling with water rapidly. He dare not follow the water down so he began to climb. He climbed out of the water a minute or so later and realized that the water drained at about the same rate as the waterfall filled the room so the room itself would not fill any deeper for the time being.

Feeling around he found the source of the water fall. It was the only exit to the room and the water pressure might be too much for him to climb through. However, he had no other choice but to try.

Reaching up for stones around the falling water he started to climb the wall. He made good progress alongside the falling water. Then he noticed the mist from the water fall diminished. Reaching across he found the ledge it poured out from and put his weight on it.

It was slimy, his hand slipped and he fell headlong into the raging water below him.

He felt himself swirling clockwise around the cave. Landing in the water had been lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Some small intuition bothered him. He had missed something important.

Swimming against the whirl pool Rishi felt himself being drawn down toward the cave he had come up through. He couldn't allow that, he'd drown.

Rishi remembered his advice to the old man and swam toward the center of the small whirlpool. He shot out toward the edge of the water and grabbed hold of a stone. He climbed and found himself at the base of the waterfall, ready to start climbing again.

He remembered some of his hand holds and made good progress, then when the time came to grab hold of the base of the water fall it dawned on him.

He reached carefully into the water, wiped his pointer finger and then stuck it in his mouth.

In a minute or so he could see the algae glowing from within the cavern. It was an old cave and he knew it lead out, it had to.

He found a few hand holds on the ceiling of the room and managed to swing his torso above the waterfall.

The crawlspace where the water flowed was a mere meter high and the rock from where the water fell protruded into the room by perhaps a hundred centimeters.

Rishi propped himself on his legs, with one hand gripping the ceiling and reached inside the water tube. He looked for places to grab, anything to help him fight the currents. Seeing a place that was not alight with algae he grabbed it. At that moment the hand that grasped the ceiling slipped and he fell against the water fall. The hand in the mouth of the water tube found nothing to grip and he fell again into the water below him.

The room was slowly filling. He had a limited amount of time.

He climbed again and finding his old hand hold he tried to reach in again. This time he found something he could grab and slid into the cave. Once his feet were on the sides he was safe: at least until the room behind him filled.

He climbed along this flat and small corridor quickly now that he had the algae to guide him and in about fifteen minutes he passed under another water fall into a chamber that had five exits and seemed vaguely familiar.

He found himself in the chamber of possibilities. He'd not noticed the tunnel through which he emerged before because it was so very small, perhaps only a third of a meter tall and masked by the water flowing out through it.

"If I had followed the water," he thought, "oh that's not important now..."

Running along familiar territory, Rishi found his way back to his home and there he found Bob waiting with a bowl of rice and soy sauce.

"Thanks!" he said as he started eating voraciously.

Bob said, "you're welcome, you need to take it easy on that, you've been without food for nearly ten days."

"Really? It seems like only a few to me."

"That head wound has probably caused all sorts of reality distortion for you. Had any good meditations?"

"I tried but they were nothing."

"Oh so you did have some good ones then."

Rishi looked toward the lit cave entrance and saw movement. The light was too bright for his unaccustomed eyes. He heard someone clear her throat.

Bob put his hand on Rishi's shoulder and said, "You'll never guess who I met in town while fetching supplies."

"Who?" asked Rishi.

"Jon?" said a woman's voice. "You're alive?"

The feminine form walked toward Jon and he remembered her.

"You look like crap," she said.

A young boy appeared behind Jon and said, "Dad!"

All this was a bit too much for Jon and he gently fell into unconsciousness with a full mouth of rice.