Chapter 2: The Journey Begins
“Yesterday I turned 200 years old and it was by far the best birthday I had ever had. Not only did I get to see my father after so many years. I was also given the greatest gift I could ever be given. Nevertheless, after finding out the truth, I felt like a completely different person, as if I was given a pass to a brand new life. Starting from today, I am going to be living every day like never before. But first I should really stop talking to myself, can’t believe I still hold conversions with myself after 120 years of telling myself that I won’t do it anymore.” Said Daniel to himself as he sat up on the bank of the river, he had fallen asleep next to the night before while thinking about all the things he wanted to do.
He looked down at his reflection in the water, took a deep breath, and began thinking about where he would go from this point. He reached out and touched the water with the tips of his fingers, then moved them across his reflection slowly, doing his best not to ripple his reflection. “Hmm, so where do you think we should go today handsome?” He asked his reflection, then swiped his fingers across the surface of the water quickly, distorting the bottom of his reflection but not his face. Then, with a great big grin on his face, he stood to his feet, looking in every direction as he decided which way he would be heading off too. North, he thought that would be the best use of his time.
“Wait a Sec, I am never going to die, time no longer matters so what am I thinking about right now. I need to be thinking of where I really want to go, not what time will allow for.” His words changed his trend of thought as he went from thinking of the closet and best use of his time, to thinking about all the amazing things he had heard of, all the amazing things he never had time to see, and all the amazing things he had seen before.
There were so many amazing places that he had seen in his travels over the past century and a half searching for his father, but even after all that time, there was still so much that he hadn’t seen. All the legends that he had come across that told of wondrous places and people; that defied logic and gave a completely new meaning to being human, beauty, and wonder in ways not thought possible. He wanted to see them all but now the big choice he would now be facing was what he wanted to see first, and which direction he should head off to in order to start his great journey.
He lifted his head high to the blue skies, then leaned back and fell into the river behind him with a big splash. He took his time to enjoy the water, surfacing about a minute later, shaking his head, and then he began to run his hands through his hair as he spoke aloud to himself. “That was just what I needed on such a hot day like today. Now my mind is cleared, I’ll be able to figure out exactly what I need to do.” He smiled as he drifted down the river, letting the water carry him slowly downstream towards the River’s end, which should be leading to open ocean. “I’ve got it, I know exactly what I want to do first! I am going to jump off every waterfall I have ever heard of and hopefully find some new ones that no one’s ever heard of. That should take me most of the summer if not the whole thing, which means once the summer is over I should have seen every waterfall on the planet. Then I’ll find something else to do for the winter after all it would be too cold to jump off a waterfall in the winter anyway.” Daniel said as he drifted down the River.
Oddly enough, the River Daniel was floating down did not let out at the ocean, instead its mouth was a waterfall, known as God’s Mouth. It is the second largest waterfall on the planet; soaring into the skies just about 500 feet from bottom to top. This extreme height was due to a 300-foot deep cave that the waterfall fell into directly. This of course was common knowledge to everyone. What was not common knowledge however, was what was on the bottom of the waterfall. Which was a secret society unknown to the world for hundreds of years. This was all going to change as this secret society was about to meet and outsider like no other.
Daniel heard the rushing waters in the distance and he knew instantly what it meant. There was a waterfall close by, and based on the last place he was, he knew it could only be one waterfall. An eager grin came across his face, he was going to start seeing the great waterfalls of the world a lot sooner than he had expected, and he was going to start with one of the biggest in the world.
He smiled as he began to swim faster towards the mouth of the waterfall; the water around him began to move faster and faster caring him along even faster than he could swim. Soon he was no longer swimming, instead he was just staying afloat as the rushing waters of the river pulled him towards the edge. The sound of the waterfall grew with each passing second, and soon the sound of the rushing water became a roar. The sound filled the atmosphere, shaking and vibrating everything around the waterfall. He could feel the vibrations going down his spine, sending tingles through his entire body. His heartbeat grew faster his palms clenched and his eyes grew wider, all in anticipation of the fall.
He grabbed onto the straps of the bag he was wearing, then pulled it close to his back, then braced himself for the fall. He could see the rushing waters falling over the side, and as dangerous, as it looked it was beautiful at the same time. The mist from the water flowed like a cloud over the edge and back up again. Making the deadly rushing water look like a soft cloud slowly overflowing and floating down the side of the cliff into the cave below. Daniel knew better, he knew that the cloud of beauty hiding the waterfall was only formed on the deadliest of waterfalls. As the thought ran through his mind his faced changed, this was going to be the greatest moment of his life thus far. The grin on his face went from ear to ear as he went into the cloud. Moments later, he was going over the edge, there was no turning back now.
Over he went. Falling through the air and water was like nothing he had felt. The sound of the water was different than he expected. It was as if every time the water hit the back of the waterfall it made the sound of a footstep. There was so much water hitting behind him it sounded as though there was an army marching behind his head. Then there was the sound of the water moving through the air, which was like a beautiful song being sung by a thousand singers. It was a quiet song, yet it was so loud that he could feel it echoing through his very being. As he looked, around he could see the water around him slow the faster he fell. Soon they were moving at the same speed. The ice-cold water soon engulfed him as he passed through the opening of the cave mouth, he would be at the bottom soon.
He closed his eyes as he slowly exhaled, letting the sounds of the water and the feeling of the cold droplets on his skin fill his every thought. Then letting his mind wander off, not worrying about what would happen next just that one moment in time. It was an amazing feeling, as time seemed to stand still, seconds turned into hours, and the moment seemed to fill his very soul. It was a feeling he never felt before, it was the first time in his life he had really stopped to enjoy the moment.
But unfortunately as much as he would like it to, time stands still for no one. The songs of the water quickly changed, the calming melody of the water was replaced by the crushing boom of the water colliding with the bottom. The bottom of the waterfall was now inches away from him, he opened his eyes to the pitch-black cave. Then in an instant the water quickly turned on him.
Slamming his body into the water below with crushing force then, pounded him deep into the depths of the icy cold waters. He struggled to swim up and forward out of the crushing water’s path, but it was useless the water’s forces was just too much for anyone to overcome. It pushed on him harder and harder, pushing him deeper and deeper. Before he knew it, he was slammed against the rocky bottom of the lake below the waterfall.
Then it all went dark, his body began to twist out of shape as the crushing force of the water pounded him more and more into the lakes rocky bed. Out of nowhere, rope drifted down, and wrapped around his right leg then tightened. It slowly began to pull him out of the crushing force of the water, it took almost a full minute, and by the time his body was out of the water it was mangled and bloody. It seems hopeless as the water around his body turned red as the blood could be seen pouring from every inch of his body. His bloody body was slowly pulled towards the edge of the lake.
The person pulling his body from the lake could not be seen in the darkness, but whoever it was had to be strong. If Daniel actually survives this and wakes up, he was going to be in for a very big surprise. The find that there were people actually living at the bottom of the waterfall.
To be continued in Chapter 3 or go to the previous Chapter 1
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