“Wh-what’s going to be in there” Nat cries.

Her father brushes a strand of hair behind the young girls ear and pulls her in to a hug.

“I don’t know my love. All I know is it will be your worst fear.”

That causes Nat to shudder. Her twig like body can not fight off monsters, no matter how much training she had. Her father looks down at the girls almond eyes with great sadness.

“All warriors do...

Going back to the cave, the place where my fears live.

Self-reflection can be hard

Daunting

Aching

But necessary

I look inside myself and realise with sadness

I am my worst enemy

Unforgiving

Merciless

But not true

I am so hard and unfair to myself, ruthless!

But all these thoughts...

Are they real?

Maybe not

Stop!

A thought is just a thought, often exaggerated

I look at the little girl within

...

I looked into the dark, ominous cave. Shadows curled and nothing could be seen past the cave’s mouth. Torches lit with large, bright flames hung on either side of the entrance. The lights were bright but nothing could break through that perpetual darkness. I gulped, and turned toward my father.

His expression was stone cold and no emotions shone through his eyes. He glared down at me, angry th...

Walking into the cave I notice a straight line of guiding light. Someone had of course place this here before I arrived, however, I never noticed it when watching the others enter her for the first time. Stepping cautiously into the stream of light I look as straight as the beams of light could show me and ventured on.

All I had was an electric vaporiser gun, a smoking pipe, matches and a flask ...

The girl’s long, black hair was being whipped around by the wind as she entered the cave. A couple of steps in, however, everything became still. Most of her tribe dreaded this point in their life, but she saw it as an opportunity to get to know herself better. Perhaps that was the reason for the exercise. No one is fully an adult until they are confronted with themselves. She pitied the rest of t...

All who do the ritual before you say you wont be the same when you come back. They say it changes you far more then any number of lifetimes you could live. In our recorded history no one has ever seen the same thing another.

Once you reach your 16th birthday you must visit The Spelunca Errorum. Face whatever challenge it presents to you. If you come back the tribe holds a celebration. If you dont…...

The womb they called it. That word that was just one letter away from being a tomb. Both were deep in the Mother. Life and Death, she held them both, and we were what was in between. We all knew that, the stories around the flames in both the times of frost and the time of summer’s sweating fire. Those of us still alive, who were born in the Winter of Wanting after the driest summer that had ever...

The once soulful and vibrant village has fallen deafening still. Where the children once ran and played; has been abandoned by all but the very dirt that lays. The once bustling market that rests annually on this gut wrenching day. Young men and women all shall face on this day, the Hiyrogiri, the transition with no bounds. All that is known by those who have undergone this trial, is that no advic...

Darkness. Pitch black. Literally nothing. I don’t mean the fun kind either; I mean the wet, dank kind that makes your eyes burn because they’re searching for anything to see. The descent into the cave had been a harsh one due to my lack of knowledge and understanding of what the hell I was supposed to be doing in the first place. I began the decent at least 5 minutes ago.

“It’ll make you stronger...

I don’t think I can do it.

I mean, could you if you knew your biggest fear was yourself? The broken images you see in your mirror, the lilting whispers never fading from your ear?

But I bite my fear back and trudge forward.

Immediately a blast of zero-degree air hits me. Knocks me back. Leaves me spinning. Even as I stand, still several meters away, I can see images burning at the back of my br...