As it’s dark I stay where I am and let them come to me. Something touches my hand, then my other hand, when all of a sudden I am overrun by hairy balls.

  Somehow this feels like a loving embrace between strangers. In this darkness, to be surrounded by living beings is a miracle.

  Warm laughter arises out of the bottom of my belly, intermingling with the fuzzy creature’s squeals. It seems as if there are hundreds of them filling the whole space.

  The heat of their bodies is a welcome change. I don’t want to hurt them so I keep still. They all just walk over each other.

  On the surface, some might feel their personal space violated but down here it is another world entirely. With the darkness you can’t see the imaginary barriers anymore nor what my companions or myself look like.

  For an unmeasured amount of time, we are just together, one big hairy ball of constant movement. As time passes on, these furry friends move on further ahead, leaving a warm feeling behind, for some time.

  * Grumble, GRUMBLE ! *

  Bubbles are rising in my stomach, something is amiss, I must be hungry. How does one find food in complete darkness? It’s not like I have an ever replenishing cornucopia.

  I won’t eat these furry creatures either if I do find them again. I am sure I can find a solution as I am convinced that Rough Bottom’s right. Let’s just walk on and see what happens.

  I am happy to discover that my hand doesn’t feel the ceiling, so I don’t have to crawl anymore.

  After some more steps, I can hear those furry creatures again. I am unsure but it seems as if the pitch-black darkness is pierced with some blue.

  The further on I get, the blue stands out more. The furry creatures are gorging themselves on blue bioluminescent mushrooms. Those furry balls move aside so I can eat with them.

  Reluctantly but hungrily I put one of those mushrooms in my mouth but nothing happens, so I begin chewing. Oh, the taste is subliminal, I mean sublime. I’m already submerged in darkness, no need to get all liminal.

  Nothing happens, so I eat another. After a few more of these chewy treats, I check whether I’m also glowing but none of that is happening.

  Once you pull the mushroom away from the cluster, the light within slowly dies so sadly they won’t be useful as a torch. I don’t want to steal their food source, nor was I starving, so I leave enough for them. My belly filled, I lie down and take a nap.

  After waking up from uneventful dreams, my friends have moved on leaving no mushrooms behind; I find myself back in pitch-black darkness.

  My senses have all gotten stronger, now that my eyes can’t guide my body anymore. I have to let my body be a guide unto itself, which might seem odd for someone who can see all the time because the body still seems to be guiding itself.

  Here in the cave, I am beginning to realise that these two ways of moving have nothing in common. Someone who can see decides differently so my brain has begun to rewire itself, which is interesting to say the least.

  I have a capacity for adaption. I can’t be musing around all day and keep on living in my head. I’ll have to move on.

  After a few steps, as I am trying to set my foot down on the ground whilst not finding sure footing, I lose my balance and fall.

  I am really startled and let out a scream of surprise. I just keep on falling, there is seemingly no end to this descent. I hope I’m not falling on a hard floor.

  Out of habit I look down to see where the floor is, my face smacks onto the surface of the liquid I am falling into. This is so unexpected that my whole body begins to shake uncontrollably.

  I want to scream but only water enters my mouth so I quickly resurface again to let out a stream of water.

  Some heavy coughing later my lungs are emptied and I can try breathing again by sucking in a huge gulp of air letting out a swarm of words. My taste buds have recognised water so I can finally quench my thirst. So far Rough Bottom seems to be right about food and drink.

  Crawling through the darkness is fun enough, but swimming? What if I need to dive, to get to another section, through an underwater tunnel?

  In this fluidity, any way is the right way. There doesn’t seem to be any current so I follow my gut feeling. I happen to come across a small swimmable passage.

  Having found nowhere better to go, I take a swim of faith. After many bends and curves, I hit a dead-end but feel that the passage might go on underwater. Feeling my way through I resurface only moments after, coming upon a shore.

  Getting on dry land is quite easy but on the rough side of things, it’s still pitch black, I am dripping wet and I am clueless where I am.

  I barely remember all the choices I made to get here. I don’t know much more than when I entered, it would be ridiculous to already expect to be wiser than before.

  Interestingly this path leads up and hopefully not into another hole. My face still tickles from the harsh landing and I am so cold. Around the bend, I perceive blue light again, more blue mushrooms.

  ‘‘Achoo!”

  Wait a second, that wasn’t me... Another human? I believed myself to be alone here again for a while but the ways of life aren’t always what we make them out to be.

  ‘‘Hello, who just sneezed?”, asks Henry.

  ‘‘Do I hearken another man’s voice? Haha, todeloo, how’s it gone-ing on? Come on into my humble abode. Please take a seat. Follow the faint blue light to find me.”

  Henry sits down besides the stranger, noticing his dishevelled colourful clothing. An older man with a deeply wrinkled face marked by it’s experiences, surrounded by curly grey hair. The look in his eyes is like a deep pool without a bottom while having an expressionless face. It’s all in the way he looks right through Henry.

  Have you already met the Furrgals?”, asks the stranger

  ‘‘Do you perhaps mean those furry balls?”

  ‘‘Precisely them yes, aren’t they wonderful. They warm my heart each time.”

  ‘‘Just hearing their squeals made me so happy. We ate some of those blue mushrooms, which I was at first reluctant to eat but eventually, I just had to trust them.”

  ‘‘Them mushrooms ain’t a danger. The Furrgals have taught me many a thing even to this day I’m not done learning from them and you never know what might be the next thing that they can teach you.

  They are among the reasons why I stay down here. They roam past me from time to time, not that time has a big meaning here and I sure as hell don’t miss it.

  As long as they can roam freely our friendship can last. We are both free to pursue our needs but may share each others’ presence. That leaves me enough time to make jewelry from bones and other beautiful items that find their way to me.”

  ‘‘Then it is you Rough Bottom has told me about, you are the artisan. Rough Bottom sends you his best regards.”

  ‘‘Ha yes, that indeed is me, Mysty Eye’s the name. It has been a pleasure indeed to acquaint myself with the honourable you. Oh how thoughtful of Rough Bottom, I might make a detour to say hello.”

  Just recently I finished one more piece, would you like-ly-a-lot to see it?”

  ‘‘Yes, with pleasure. The name’s Henry Driftwood.”

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  ‘‘Pleasure’s all mine. A drifter you say, you are one of those? What a pity.”

  ‘‘Because I am a drifter? How comes? It’s only a name. What’s wrong with that?”

  ‘‘Ohh haha, nothing really.”, as he slaps Henry on the shoulder, “Not my problem anyway to meddle myself in your businesses. Here look, a necklace made of my torn hair woven together to create a rope, holding bones and small stones.

  What’s special about it, is that I don’t often work with light so I can only use my hands and my sense of touch. It makes me look with my fingers instead, not that I use my eyes for much down here anyway.

  It astonishes me how much we rely on our eyes and how little we perceive with them. Two eyes can’t even penetrate into the depth, so why bother trying.

  We humans are always worried about this or that, it’s simply astonishing how little we trust in our life, in being alive.

  What worries then? I don’t have many, besides whether my stomach will be full or not, whether I’ll find some water somewhere. Then again I’ll always find a way until I can’t anymore, so why worry?”

  ‘‘Well yes but many things I worry about do concern me directly, my needs, my wants. I can’t simply disregard them’’

  ‘‘Of course you can, once you do all that is in your power, for your needs.”

  ‘‘Everyone does that, all of us selfish humans.”

  ‘‘That depends what you are selfish about. I do absolutely love our human brothers and sisters, what we have the possibility to BE.

  None will rise out of my seed but there will be plenty of others that will step up to the task to do that, PLENTY! Then again words are seeds too as are actions and intentions.

  We are all creators. My art is just as alive as a baby. It can mature and change over time, through my association with it.”

  Not knowing what to say I just play with the necklace, it feels so welcoming, as if I’ve always known it, already worn it.

  ‘‘You seem to like the necklace, as you can’t stop fiddling with it, have it. Keep it. There will be plenty more where that one came from.”

  ‘‘Funny that you say so, as I have the feeling that I know it already, even though you just made it.”

  ‘‘It is not completely astonishing, it may have already existed in a non-shape and all I did is give it a shape. If the connection was there, the world knows how to get things done and through whom. There are no surprises or mistakes in any of it.”

  ‘‘That means this world is alive, a self controlling entity?”

  ‘‘DO you really think that life itself is stupid? Look what it has created!”

  As I put the necklace around my neck, every word or question I would have loved to ask, wash away, only silence left. I feel, breathe and turn inward.

  We both sit together for a while, not saying much. This silence does not weigh heavy on a man used to being by himself most of the time, it’s a welcome solace.

  This as yet stranger puts little to no pressure on me, thus I feel welcome but with such an intensity of presence, which I am hardly able to deal with. I wonder how this person got like that?

  What challenges he needed to face, what in himself he needed to see. I am in awe to put it lightly.

  To live alone you must like yourself quite a lot or have an even stronger loathing for other humans.

  When alone there is nobody left to put the blame on besides oneself.

  Looking a bit around me, I am becoming aware again of the necklace I’m wearing and the friendly creator of that necklace, still sitting upright, working on another of his creations.

  It seems I’ve spent time on trivialities and my companion has found a way to deal with it. He’s calmly sitting but not wasting away.

  That is something I want to learn but maybe the way of speech or thought is not a very useful one. He looks up for a moment, rummages in his belongings, passes me a few bones and stones, rips a few strands of hair from his head and goes on again.

  How could he know but then again, how couldn’t he? Let the process of my first creation begin. My hands are still completely unused to arranging bones and stones.

  Going on steadily, I weave the hair strands together into an arrangement that feels right to me. Two stones that are held by a bone with two flat sides and rounded edges.

  The faces of the stones fitting almost too perfectly on the bone he chose. The brooch I am creating is a rough mimicry of new potential but still always; Always better than nothing, which is the just result of time spent on trivialities.

  As I pull my last strand of hair in a knot, he looks up again, smiles and says: ‘‘That’ll do just fine.” He pulls a few more hairs from his head and with them creates a strengthened rope, so I can put my brooch on my arm.

  He rummages in his bag, puts everything where it belongs, gets up and pats me on the shoulder to disappear in the darkness, just as free as when I first met him.

  I guess it’s time to go on again into the darkness myself, leaving those mushrooms behind, after having eaten my fill.

  The mushrooms are able to illuminate my path to the next bend but beyond that, only darkness. As the last few strands of blue light wither away, so does something new appear.

  I am about to take my next step, misplace my foot and normally I’d fall at least face first but now somehow, I have an impeccable sense of balance I’ve never known before.

  My feet seem to root with each step I take and as my feet find their place, so does each body part array itself as to be harmoniously placed in correlation with each other body part, without the least effort of my muscles.

  I also feel as if I’ve never truly breathed before or used my eyes and all other senses. Nothing feels the way it normally would or I am just suddenly overly attentive.

  What the heck is going on, what did I do? This feels like magic. It can’t be the mushrooms this time, as they are the same I’ve already eaten.

  Let’s head back to the mushrooms and play with whatever this is. My sense of touch is also very different even though my skin touches the same textures.

  Taking a few rocks lying around here I am even more astonished. It takes almost no strength whatsoever to lift bigger rocks.

  Through all of this very few muscles do even tense up. This is some kind of very calm vigour, strength without the need to be strong, an empty fullness.

  This begs to demand myself how the heck have I been living my whole life? Who am I truly? What is this and why is it so completely different from my usual way of living?

  I continue playing around some more with this feeling but as invigorating as it may seem, it’s very tiring to uphold. I’ll better take another nap.

  As I wake up, I notice that nothing ever stays the same. I feel normal again, if I can still call it that.

  I am partially relieved, as this change was very drastic, too sudden too strong. Completely different from what I am used to. It did though feel completely natural to be like that.

  Enough musing around for now. It’s time to get out of my bed for I assume a new day has risen. Around the bend, darkness awaits me again.

  I am beginning to become accustomed to it, I can’t though completely call it my friend yet. My fingertips are roughing up a lot from all this blind walking.

  The sensation of skin touching rock, seeing as it were, that is miraculous for this blind me, I can be grateful for the gift of my senses.

  There is no moment I’m ever out of touch, even wafting my hands through the air, which customarily feels like I touch nothing, it’s just because I have falsely assumed that this sense of nothing means that it’s empty, when it isn’t.

  With all these exciting experiences, I’ve forgotten about the globe received from the old man in the inn. I rummage in my bag to get it out. I keep it in my hand and see what it does.

  As I shake the ball, I hear a faint rattling noise. I may be wrong but it seems to glow slightly darker. I focus entirely on the ball in my hand, simply observing without prejudice but after a while, still nothing happens.

  I wonder what it’s there for and why it’s been given to me.

  I better put it back and get going again. Even better is, that the air smells fresher, so much better. I might even hear a faint whisper of birdsong, but I’m not sure.

  I can’t be nearing the exit already, I’ve only just begun and I’m still not sure that I have accomplished my search yet, there must be so much more to learn. This cave is not what I expected it to be, it’s already far above my expectations.

  Let’s see where the cave will spew me out, if I remember correctly, I am still quite far below the surface. Suddenly the air grows staler again and the birdsong disappears too.

  Foolish me still hoped I might find an exit earlier than expected. I’ve been barely tested at all.

  I am hearing a rushing sound, which is getting stronger the closer I get to its source. The nearer I get to the noise, the more water droplets are misting on my face.

  I think I am nearing a waterfall or something like that. As I feel for a way around, above or below, I only feel a hole in the ceiling where the water falls out of.

  When I put my hand into the flowing water, I feel a very strong current pulling at me, calling me, beckoning me to just go ahead. The passage down seems angled so it might be more like a water-slide than a falling, I hope.

  The hole above is too small to crawl through and the current too strong, so whatever I only live once, I’ll just go with the flow and get whisked away the same instant, water all around me, completely wetting me as the current makes me her personal plaything tossing and hurtling me around.

  I am nothing against the stream, resistance is futile and will only make my situation worse. I crash countless times against rocks, sharp protruding stones and I get shaken so strongly I don’t even know whether I’ll make it out alive again.

  My head bobs up and down, I swallow more water than I want to. All I can do is think, how I could have been so stupid to throw myself into a current, not knowing whether it’s going to be dangerous or where it may take me.

  Why must the cave show such an ugly side of herself, when everything began so nice, decent and calm? How... Why?! There’s no fun in being one small tiny weightless piece to be smashed around by stronger forces than me.

  I am not sure how many more hits I can take, with water flowing above me. I am close to drowning...