The air got harder to breathe as the darkness deepened around her. Small beams from their battery-powered flashlights barely made a dent against the inky veil the farther they went inside the cave system. Her chest tightened, and words died out in her throat. The fear wouldn't last long, because right after the initial darkness, as soon as her eyes adjusted, she would be seeing the beauty of the old civilization in Cangabayi.

It took a while to map out a path through the winding systems inside the mountain the locals called Bayurawan, and most of the budget for last year went into that. After an extensive defense over a glitchy online conference, the higher-ups decided Laureen's team could still operate for two more years. Should they fail to find anything conclusive even through the extension, Laureen resolved to stop trying, pack her bags, and return home with her boonie strings behind her ears.

She didn't expect for the two years to be shortened to less than a month. What was Penelope thinking?

A blatant curse echoed into the darkness. Laureen whirled to the source to find Stell Morris, the post-grad intern, peeking at the soles of his boots in distress. What's it now?

"Man up. It's just a wee bit of bat poo," Quid Gillian, their resident linguist and culture specialist slapped the intern upside the head, almost uprooting the hard hat sitting on Stell's curly dark hair. "By the time you got to Laurie's level, you'd be swimming in it."

As Stell's face contorted into pure horror, Laureen kept her amusement to herself, turning back to the journey ahead. There was a time when she ended up in a pile of shit in the vast catacombs of Petardiff, but that's only because nobody told her the adjacent cavern was still a functioning sewer system. She drilled straight into it, and soon, it deposited her right into the puddle of unspeakable mysteries.

It became a running joke, courtesy of Penelope long before the woman became anyone in the department. She was also Laureen's long-time work buddy, having been with all kinds of various misadventures throughout the years. Laureen stayed being her eccentric self. Penelope went on to become the director.

Quid came months later, replacing Penelope's spot in Laureen's life because of the number of years he spent working under Laureen's team. He wasn't around during the poop swimming debacle, but he was fast in absorbing all the rumors about his colleague. Laureen doubted the linguist had any shred of respect left for her after everything he heard from the other teams and divisions.

Laureen had thrown her tantrums over the years.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked Jasper who took the lead on of their small group.

The doctoral student didn't bother looking back at Laureen when she hummed. "It's farther than what I remembered," she said. "Remind me to start recording the time each time we go back here."

Leave it to her to start bossing everyone around as if she's already finished her degree. Laureen thought nothing of it, though. Jas was a fast-worker and a dedicated researcher. She reminded Laureen of her heyday.

Now, all Laureen saw herself as was a washed-up old bat who spent her while brushing dust off worthless rocks. That's what everyone thought of those who stay too long in their position, especially in the academe. Laureen couldn't even think of promotion or a salary raise. Not after disappearing for an entire year. It's a miracle Penelope still let her handle the Cangabayi explorations after she got back. So, Laureen has to give Penelope her trust back and bring something worth nothing to the table.

The path sloped downward. The only things keeping them from skidding down like runny egg yolks were the uneven chips on the path's surface—evidence of geological shaping and the influence of the drops of water streaming from the rock bed above them. Rows of stalactites and stalagmites flanked the ceiling and the floor beyond the ledge they walked on. Debris crunched underfoot with every step, and Laureen had to push the image of her and her team tumbling to their deaths each time the ledge curved with the radius of the mountain.

It's still confusing, especially where the civilization in Cangabayi fit with the accepted time scale, but maybe this next journey would provide insight. Maybe they'd discover hidden rooms or complexes that betray the existence of an ancient civilization. The relics they found by the entrance hardly counted, and if Laureen wanted to keep her team fed, she had to find more than those.

Soon, the ledge widened into a huge cavern. In their map, they referred to it as the center, but Laureen had a different idea. Perhaps, this was just the beginning. The ceiling stretched on for miles, the darkness eating away at it. Laureen reached up and clicked the light on her hard hat off. Then, she fished the control from her tool belt and flicked the switch. The entire space lit up, clearing the shadows away at least until the next bend. Quid and Stell did a good job in installing LED track lights in spots where the darkness became unbearable—she had to report that in the next journal.

After the "center", five different openings presented themselves. Four of those have been explored, mostly by Jas and Stell, with Quid and Laureen staying back up in case of an emergency. The last one would be explored by Quid and Jas today, leaving Stell with Laureen for him to learn about conservation and geological recording next.

Laureen used the artificial light in the caverns to dig around her backpack for the rough map they came up with. Jas already reported several more openings deep in Corridor Two. She stopped the other week since she felt she's straying too far and her memory could only work as well. Stell reported sloping terrains deep into Corridor Three, and Quid encountered another "center" down in Corridor Four. Corridor 1—or C1 for brevity—lay the farthest from where they stood and made their camp for as long as they're in the caverns. Jas said it ended in a cul-de-sac, and no other openings were spotted. It's marked with a large X in red ink.

"Alright, let's hurry it up. We don't have time to waste," Laureen clapped her hands to gather attention from all three people. "We'll explore C2 today. Since we took an hour from the opening, we would only have two more to explore. I don't want to destroy the caverns before we get to bring Penelope and those goons here."

She's mainly talking about the military perched above them like a bird of prey. Despite not being here, their presence itched at the back of her mind, keeping her awake at night. This was a scientific endeavor. What's the use of guns and tanks in this place? It's something she still couldn't wrap her head around despite pondering about it for a long while. With signals so hard to come by on the island, Laureen couldn't ask Penelope about the transfer either. They only had Lieutenant Milton's word to take for it.

Jas and Quid bobbed their heads and checked their kits for the last time. Then, they were off. Laureen watched their silhouettes blend into the darkness before she turned to Stell and shoved the map into his hands. "We'll secure C1 and seal it off if we don't find anything more."

The intern scratched the side of his face, smearing debris and bat poo on his skin. "I thought we're supposed to stay here?" he asked, his voice echoing across the cavern before fading into a quiet thrum.

"First rule about conservation—keep your voice down," Laureen replied. "You don't want to disturb the species living here or have rocks rain on you."

Stell clamped his mouth shut and followed Laureen into C1. Nothing really did change—the walls continued being rough, the ground uneven, and the darkness so thick it was almost another entity. She was vaguely aware of Stell's breathing behind her—too loud for someone who aimed to work all his life around sensitive environments.

Before Laureen could tell him off, though, her boot snagged against a protruding stone. Her world crashed the moment her chin hit the ground. Stell's frantic footsteps shuffled by her ear, and as she struggled to regain her bearings, her senses adjusted enough for her to smell...poop.

Dr. Laureen Anston really did fall face-first into another pile of bat poop.

She clicked her tongue, ignoring the intern's fussing. He got shooed off to the wall while she fished a wet wipe from her pack and slathered the welcome moisture against her skin. Just to get rid of the smell. She'd take an extensive shower in the cabin later on.

She scrambled away from the pile of abomination and scratched her boot against the ground, trying to find the bump that tripped her. Something thunked when her foot hit the wall after one, uncontrolled swing. Thin. And thin stone meant...

"Stell, look here," she said, beckoning the intern closer. With their beams back on, they used the combined light to examine the wall. Laureen retraced her steps, Stell following along. She stuck her hands into her work gloves and felt around. The stone stopped. That's...strange.

Her heartbeat fluttered in her chest when her fingers brushed against the wall's width. If she could touch the other side, it only meant one thing: there's a hidden passage deep in C1, and Jas missed it.

"Stell, head back to the center," Laureen commanded. "There's something else in C1."

The intern looked like he wanted to argue, his features scrunching in the darkness. Laureen knew what she said. They were supposed to travel in pairs, but never alone. This was different, though. If she waited for another chance to explore this path, she would lose her mind. Milton's arrogant face popped in her head. Yeah, she didn't have much time either. Besides, she's the site manager. She's afforded a few liberties.

"I'll be back," she promised. "Quid and Jas should be coming out soon."

Not wholly a lie. She didn't know when their two teammates would be back, but they would be back. And soon.

Left with no argument, Stell ducked his head at Laureen and retreated back to C1's lip. She braced her hips with a sigh. Alright, then. She's off.

It's easy to conclude why Jas would have missed this. The gap between walls was seamless enough to make it seem they're connected. If not for her bat poop incident, she wouldn't have realized the thickness. She's not the type to believe there's luck in crap, but for now, she'd avail.

The streak of light from her hat flickered, the batteries dying out. She cursed. She should've charged it before the exploration. Still, she pushed forward, the reckless part of her winning out. Her boots crunched against stone, her breaths rising and falling in fitful yet excited gasps. Then...the path ended. Again.

"That's it?" Laureen craned her neck in annoyance, training her light towards the ceiling. More formations glinted back at her. That's...it. There's nothing other than a huge slab of rough stone sealing any way further.

Oh, well. She got her hopes up for nothing. Perhaps Quid and Jas had better luck than her.

She was about to head back when a dark silhouette caught her periphery. A box? Who would put a box in the middle of nowhere? And why a box? For what?

Her feet, powered by sheer curiosity, took her closer to the source of the silhouette. It's not a box. It's...

"A coffin?" Laureen muttered under her breath as her flickering light rained over the length of black and gold, taking the shape of an inverted trapezoid. The lid was still in line with the body, meaning it was untouched. Tugging on her work gloves, she braced both sides of the lid and pulled. It snapped free with a small creak. When she lifted it, the shadows peeled back.

Laureen found herself staring back at the face of a child. Plump cheeks, flawless dark brown skin, and eyes closed. Hair as black as the darkness spilled down the rotting cushions the head rested upon. She frowned. The civilization in Cangabayi knew how to mummify the dead?

She prodded around, testing the body. The skin was supple, the muscles tight and firm. It's almost like the child wasn't dead while everything around her rotted into splinters and mold. Which was another layer of strangeness. How could someone survive for thousands of years in this place, and as a child, no less?

Laureen didn't get her answer, because every thought fizzled out of her brain when the child opened her eyes, sat up, and turned to Laureen.

"Amy," the child said.