Chapter Text
“When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be.”
-----***-----
If this is where I’m meant to be, Keng thought absentmindedly, then it means the universe intended for me to be a joke.
There were, in fact, many choices he could have made that would have led to a different outcome.
Like not oversleeping on the try out for the Football club.
Or not choosing the Archeology club because he let his roommate, Firstone, convince him it would be fun.
Or not procrastinating until the last minutes to submit his midterm, which meant when the dorm’s power line suddenly went down, so was his chance to salvage his GPA.
Which led to him needing the extracurricular points from this archeology trip so desperately.
Keng sighed and turned slightly toward the window. The busy streets and endless rows of buildings had long since disappeared after they left Chiang Rai, replaced instead by vast stretches of green rolling into the gray stone mountains in the distance.
The place they were heading to - Yonok subdistrict - needed no introduction. Tied to the legendary Yonok kingdom, this was the site of many historical discoveries. In fact, they were heading to this place exactly because of the latest discovery there.
About a month ago, the residents of Chiang Saen woke to the unsettling tremor, which, in a town perched uncomfortably close to the Mae Chan Fault, meant it was enough to stir old fears. Whispers of disaster quickly spread through the streets of a Yonok Kingdom 2.0, where Chiang Saen would be swallowed beneath the earth and water once more.
But by morning, the fault line seemed to have settled back into silence, as if it merely wanted to remind everyone of its existence. And as Chiang Saen started to settle once again, it was discovered that the quake left a gift no one had ever expected: a hidden underwater cave buried beneath the depths of the region’s many swamps.
News of the discovery spread quickly. Within weeks, archaeologists from across Thailand came flooding into the quiet town, swarming the site with the same frantic energy as the schools of fish Keng and his classmates used to feed during their merit-making trip before college.
Even now, Keng found it hard to believe that their club supervisor, Kru Den, had somehow managed to arrange the trip. The man was the definition of unassuming: always wearing a friendly smile and carrying himself with the most sabaai sabaai attitude Keng had encountered in his twenty years of life. Keng would sooner believe him to wander off the streets of Bangkok and got lost than being someone with powerful enough connections to call in favors at the Fine Arts Department. And yet, somehow, Kru Den had pulled of a private visit for a bunch of college students to the currently viral archaeological site.
I hope this trip is gonna be quick, Keng thought as he reached to pull the curtain and tried to get some shut-eye before they arrived.
-----***-----
When they reached the destination, the sun was at its highest peak - and yet it couldn’t dissipate the chill atmosphere of the area. Must be the swamp, Keng wondered as he stepped out of the minivan and quickly joined his group. Their guide was a man in his 40s with a serious face that reminded Keng of his college entrance examiner.
The man’s no-nonsense demeanor suggested he wasn’t someone to be messed with, so the group quickly lined up like a row of ducklings and followed after him.
The walk to the cave took them along miles of dirt road, which, under the blazing summer heat, meant it wasn’t long before exasperated sighs and muttered “Are we there yet?” began to spread through the group. The man remained silent, lip pressed tightly as if he’d rather conserve his energy for the journey than waste a single word on the “children,” as he called them.
Keng wiped the sweat from his forehead and began wondering whether retaking a semester would really be so bad when the group suddenly came to a stop.
If someone had told Keng this was the entrance to hell, he would have believed them. The cave opening before them was slightly taller than a two-storey building but narrow enough that it only allowed two people to walk side-by-side at any point; and so ominously dark it looked as though light could enter but never escape. Even the rows of floodlights and the steady stream of people travelling in and out did little to make the place seem any less foreboding.
“Before I lead you inside, there’s one thing - and one thing only - I need you to remember: Never separate from your group. Ever.” The man said, his tone perfectly matching his stern demeanor.
A few jokesters in the group snickered at the kindergarten-like warning and the man immediately narrowed his eyes.
“You think this is funny? I don’t care where you’re from or who you know. This isn’t a children’s playground. Just yesterday, we had to send a guy back to Chiang Rai because he took one wrong step and fell into a pit, breaking his leg. So, for your sake and mine, do not wander off. Understood?”
The tone of the man suggested no room for argument, so the group quickly nodded. The man let out a huff before telling them to watch their steps and turned towards the cave. The students gave each other a half bewildered look before following.
They walked in single file for a while, and as they got in, the cave seemed to get even darker - if that was even possible - before they reached the open chamber. Keng couldn’t help but thinking “Wow”
The space suddenly opened up, tall enough to fit a five-storey building and wide enough to hold two football fields. The walls shimmered with a silver sheen; from a closer look, Keng was amazed to realize it might actually be silver. Around them, archaeologists gathered in small groups, carefully studying every corner of the cave.
Despite the number of people inside, the air was impossibly cool - likely thanks to the narrow streams fed by a waterfall at the far end of the chamber, which flowed off into another passage deeper within the cave.
Kru Den leaned in and whispered something to their guide, earning a nod in response before he turned back to the students.
“We have arrived at the cave opening. This is currently as far as the public is allowed to go - any further is restricted to registered professionals. You have two hours to explore. Remember what Mr. Mok said: Stick together at all times and don’t wander off.”
As if they had been waiting for those words, the group responded in unison before quickly breaking apart. Firstone eagerly grabbed Keng and dragged him toward a nearby corner.
If there had been any doubt that this place was man-made, the carvings on the wall were enough to dispel it. Panels of drawings stretched from floor to ceiling, depicting scenes of villages, farming, fishing and even what looked like a festival. Firstone moved along excitedly, pointing his camera at every panel while muttering something about “need to show mom this”.
Keng allowed himself to be pulled along until they reached a carving in one corner. Being an archaeology noob, he couldn’t quite make sense of it at first. He could identify human figures, certainly - and something long beneath their feet. He initially assumed it was the same stream they had seen earlier, until his eyes traced it to one end and realized it had eyes. Narrow, slit-like eyes staring directly at him.
Keng shuddered at the sudden malice in them. He blinked, and the feeling was gone.
Must be the silver. It made everything look colder. Keng thought.
He quickly realized what the drawing depicted. After all, they were in Yonok, so it had to be related to the legend of how the kingdom was submerged beneath the waters.
While it was now widely accepted that the event was caused by a severe earthquake along the Mae Chan Fault, ancient people of course drew conclusions from tales of mythical creatures - much like what they have done for many other natural occurrences. The tale here was that the kingdom had killed a giant white eel they captured, provoking the wrath of the Naga, who sank the land as punishment.
This, then, must be the moment the eel was captured.
As Keng stared in awe at the craftsmanship, Firstone whispered.
“I’m telling you, that Mr Mok was being paranoid! Surely it couldn’t be so bad? I mean, they allowed us to come here, you know?”
While he simply hushed the boy in case the man in front could hear them - you could never know with the echo in this kind of place - he couldn’t help but agree. Besides, they were not children - surely they couldn’t get lost in such an open place, with so many people around them.
-----***-----
He was wrong.
It seemed he could, in fact, get lost in a chamber full of people.
Keng couldn’t believe what had just happened. One moment, he had been reaching out to touch the creature in the carving - just to feel the engraved lines - and the instant his fingertip brushed the glittering scales, it was as if he had been thrown into a washing machine, twisting and spinning until he felt like puking.
When he finally opened his eyes, he was here.
Still unsteady from the disorientation, Keng gritted his teeth as he tried to stand up and took a closer look at his surroundings.
This place was a lot darker and it took a while for his eyes to get used to the lack of lights.
This chamber was far smaller than the one he had been in before, roughly the size of a one-bedroom apartment. The only light source seemed to come from above, through the cracks on the chamber roof. The silence was deafening, as though to confirm that he was the only living human present.
The place was empty - so empty that at first Keng thought he must have fallen into a crack somewhere and ended up in a natural pocket in the cave, and the light above must be from the floodlights inside the cave. Until his eyes reached the end of the place and he felt like air was swiftly drawn from his lung as he realized, no, this place was man-made, because of that person.
Stood in a corner of the room, initially he couldn’t see that person because of the darkness. But now, as his eyes got used to it, it was impossible to ignore. And like a deer in the headlight, Keng kept staring at the ominous figure, unable to look away.
The person was tall - much taller than Keng - and impossibly pale, as if they were made of porcelain. To make it even more ominous, they were dressed in red garments, as if they were dripping in blood.
Very typical of horror movies, the thought flashed through Keng's head.
The person just stood there in silence. They were still - too still, Keng thought, as a sudden wave of bravado flooded through him. He took a small step - slowly, carefully - towards the figure. The figure did not move at all, which made him even more confident. One step, then another, until he was within arm’s length from the figure and he realized the figure was so pale because it was indeed porcelain, or some material very similar.
The person - no, the statue - in front of him was so detailed and so beautiful, for a moment Keng couldn’t help but think of Snow White: pale skin, red lips and ebony black hair. The statue in fact was only about as tall as him, but seemingly much taller because it was standing on a simple stone pedestal. The statue stood in a simple wai, its eyes were closed and the hands put together in front of its chest. The hands actually drew Keng’s attention to the amulet around its neck. Is that moonstone? He wondered.
Such a statue in the middle of nowhere should have rung every single alarm in his head. And yet, as his mind registered the details - way too advanced and life-like for 467 CE if this was indeed made in the same period of the fall of Yonok kingdom - he couldn’t help but step on the pedestal and reach out to touch the statue’s cheeks as if he was possessed.
As he touched the cheeks of the statue - carefully, as if caressing something precious - his heart was overwhelmed with a sense of unbearable sadness and guilt. He swore he was not a cry baby, but at that moment, a single teardrop fell from his eyes, then another, then another.
He drew his hand back quickly to wipe his tears in embarrassment, confused by the sudden surge of emotion he couldn’t quite place. Maybe he had pulled away too quickly - so quickly, in fact, that he hadn’t noticed a fine crack in the statue. Its jagged edge caught his finger just enough to draw a drop of blood.
The moment the drop touched the statue, suddenly there was no longer silence. Darkness fell over the room as if someone just threw a cover on top of everything and made it impossible to see anything. Around him, the sound kept getting louder and louder - at first undiscernable, but soon grew into murmurs - one person, two persons, then as if an entire choir was whispering words he couldn’t fathom into his ears.
And then he felt it. A sharp pull on his wrist, dragging him forward - towards the statue, which had now opened its silver eyes that shone like two glowing pearls,staring at him.
Those eyes had no pupil, he realized, horrified. And from the lips as red as blood, it drew a grin like the Cheshire cat as Keng screamed until everything went dark again.
Found you.