Chapter 173 - There’s More Than Purple And Blue

"What's over there?" Von asked, being the first one to enter the door to the deeper cave.

"You'll see," the old man only said and urged the other kids to follow after them.

Somehow, the sight of Von being inside a cave reminded Gem of their past.

"Do you like caves that much? Aren't you scared?" Gem asked after scooting closer to Von and lighting up their way with her necklace.

"Not at all, I find caves quiet and serene, and besides, aren't people scarier than caves?" Von asked her and went ahead, leaving her a little bit taken back by that answer.

"He's not wrong though," Gem said and followed after him again who had seemed to run off to one of the first attractions on the entrance of the cave.

"Welcome to the caves of history, Princess, take a look around," Elder Song said cheerfully and even mentioned Venedette as the Princess as if he was showing them their greatest pride.

"Oh," Venedette gasped when she saw what was ahead of them, "Is this a museum?"

"A preserved museum, Princess." Elder Song smiled and motioned for his people to assist each and every one of them through the historical attractions that were either carved in the walls or placed in display in the middle of the walkway with a bright spotlight.

"Is that a Salamander?" Von asked Gem while looking at glass-covered scenery in the middle of the way, it was a Salamander whose body was being preserved inside an ice glass. The whole anatomy of it could be seen from Gem and Von's angle, which could also be the reason why they chose to display this Salamander in the front, assuming that there would be more Salamanders to come since they probably weren't allowed to touch these Salamanders aside from moving them, Von thought.

"Yes, it's a Salamander. But I wonder what color is his glow though, could we turn off the lights?" Gem asked Elder Song who was observing them from a distance.

And since they could sense if there were somebody watching them, Elder Song had no choice but to comply with Gem's request.

"How did you know about the Salamander's glow, though?" Elder Song asked while turning the spotlight away from that Salamander on display.

"I have seen one before," Gem thought to herself before actually answering, "Oh, I'm just guessing. Since the lake glows at night, I wondered if Salamanders could glow like the lake too?"

"But you asked about the color of its glow as if you were already sure that they were glowing," Elder Song insisted.

"And your answer confirmed my speculation," Gem answered sternly which made Elder Song loosen up his accusations.

"Why are you arguing about that?" Von asked which made Gem wary about exposing her to the Elder.

But thank goodness Von had no intentions of doing so. Instead, he was just focused on the glow of the Salamander and even hid Gem's necklace between his hands to keep its light from seeping in the dark and covering the Salamander's faint dark blue glow.

"That's so cool," Von said and was seconded by Fily and Lei who also went to their station after seeing Elder Song remove the spotlight from it.

"Are we okay now? Could I put this back?" Elder Song said as if having a hard time moving the spotlight away from the center forcefully, which Lei noticed and immediately went beside him to offer for help.

Other than the Salamander in the entrance, there were also creations that the little guys happened to invent during their times as living species on the planet like cooking utensils, little bonfires, carvings, tapestry, and weapons that looked so cute and tiny that Von couldn't help but wonder if they were really weapons or something just for show.

"That was so cute!" Von said and was surprised when he suddenly stepped on nothing.

"Ooh, careful-" Elder Song said with his heart almost dropping after seeing Von fall down the open bridge which he forgot to close due to his conversation with the other old men on the back.

"I'm okay!" Von said and flew excitedly back to the cave ground after spending a little time on the cliff just to scare the old men.

"I'm so sorry, young man. I was too caught up by your expressions with the little things that our Salamander ancestors have created that I forgot to close the bridge to the face of the mountain," Elder Song apologized, which made Von laugh a little.

"It's okay, it's also my fault for not looking at where I was going."

"Now, you may want to look down but not too much. We don't want accidents to happen here, do we?" Elder Song said while turning a lever clockwise that seemed to be connected with the very long bridge that only had one joint line together that was now separating into two and creating an unstable bridge made of rope and ladder-like wood planks.

"It's not the best bridge but it's important we let the river flow when we're not using it," Elder Song said after noticing the wary expressions of the kids who saw the unstable bridge made form in front of them.

"What river? There's a river here? Where?" Von asked while swirling around the bridge with his flight.

"Below the bridge," Elder Song said while pointing at it as if it were that obvious.

But since the only thing that Von could see was a deep cliff and spiky rocks, he went back to stand beside Elder Song and look down at the bridge from his perspective.

"I still don't see it," Von said and looked at Elder Song with puppy eyes which made Elder Song a little bit glad that he brought up the topic.

"This is a frozen river, come take a look, can you see the faint blue glow on the sides of it? That's the trace of the water that used to flow here during the old ages. But ever since the meteor happened, the water flow was cut and the only other thing that flows in here was the water and those patterns."

"What? I don't understand. If there's no water then it's not supposed to be called a river anymore, right?" Von said, voicing out all the questions that the rest of them were confused as well.

"Look closely, can you see the air passing through the passage?" 

"No," Von said and then quickly disappeared into the cliff to 'feel the air' but when he came back, his answer was still the same.

"Nope, I can't feel anything."

Elder Song shook his head lightly with disappointment and asked the kids to follow after him.

"Step on the platform one by one, we don't want to destroy the bridge by putting in too much weight. Now breathe, I want you to close your eyes and feel the surroundings. When you finally open it, look below the bridge and see for yourself."

"See what again?" Gem asked.

"The glowing pattern on the walls," Elder Song said and watched as the children, including the Princess follow his instructions.

And when they opened their eyes, it was like there was a completely different world that was waiting for them on the other side of the bridge.

The starting point was calm, steady, and quiet. But on the other side, it was like all hell had been unleashed and the cold air started slapping them in their faces.

"What is this?!" Von shouted after almost not being able to fly and completely relying on the bridge while he was almost three steps away from the other side.

"Look down!" Elder Song shouted against the loud noise of the current to reach the other kids on the line, and there it was, the current that Elder Song was talking about since earlier.

"Wow, that looks just like a river!" Fily said.

"Yeah, but way more intense and colder!" Von said while trying hard not to close his eyes and lose to the current of the air that was moving the glowing line of the river remains on the wall.

"It's purple! Not blue!" Gem said which confused even the Elders for noticing something so bizarre.

"What is?" Fily asked.

"The remains of the old river! It's a purple glow just like Petunia's cloud and not blue like the lake!" Gem repeated enthusiastically which made the Elders look at each other with much confusion.

"It's blue," Von said after doing his best to fight the wind current.

"No, it's purple! Look!" Gem said and even pointed back at the river where she saw more glowing colors painted on the wall aside from purple and blue.

"There's more from this side! I can't believe it! Are you seeing this?!" Gem said and wandered her eyes until the ceiling as if she were looking at the stars in the sky.

But instead of looking for the constellations, Gem was tracing the painting of a flower on the wall using her eyes.

And when she noticed that no one else was amazed as her, that's when she knew there was something different in what she was seeing. "I'm the only one who can see it, huh?"