This discovery was truly amazing because it could mean the difference between life and death, especially if the rescue effort was delayed.
Walking along the stream’s bank, I decided to find where the stream started. As I moved forward, I kept checking the direction I was heading, trying to memorize it, so I’d know how to get back to Sariel.
The stream was about five feet wide, flowing in a rocky, narrow bed that seemed, from what I could tell, to be about halfway up my thigh deep.
I followed the stream for about five to seven minutes. The rocky terrain surrounded me on all sides, forming something like a gorge with grassy slopes rising on either side.
The water was getting warmer! Every so often, I dipped my hand in to warm up. Before long, I realized I was reaching the end of the gorge, which unexpectedly came to a halt at a steep rocky wall. At first glance, it seemed solid, but I quickly saw a dark opening, like a cave.
My heart beat faster, and I quickened my pace. The water was steaming more at this point, the mist rising above it, I tried to make out what was behind it.
Finally, I almost ran toward the entrance. It was about the height of an average adult man, plus an extra foot, so I could enter it standing up. A stream flowed out of it. I was stunned; it was even warmer inside the cave, and my pulse spiked. If it was heated by a geothermal source, or volcanic heat, there was a chance that Sariel and I had found a place to survive. I didn’t know how quickly the rescuers would arrive; sometimes the operations lasted for days.
It was dark inside, so I turned on my phone, though I figured my eyes would adjust after staying there a while. I slowly looked around. The floor was rocky and gravelly, with the stream cutting through the middle. I walked along its edge, moving deeper inside. At one point, the stream widened into a small pool, about seven feet across and maybe three feet deep. I ventured further into the cave. It was incredibly warm, though quite humid, sort of like a sauna set to a mild temperature.
I touched the walls. I had the sense that even they weren’t completely cold; they seemed to retain some heat.
After going about 20 yards into the cave, I had to crouch. The tunnel that the water flowed through narrowed more and more, so I stopped. What I had seen already was enough for me.
The cave could serve as an excellent shelter at night. The temperature was more than comfortable, very warm, even without wrapping up in blankets, and the central part of the cave was wide enough to set up a makeshift bed.
My mood shifted from grim and downhearted to something much better; it could be considered a small miracle.
I stepped out of the cave, feeling lighter, and looked around. This was where the canyon ended, but in one spot, the walls were gentle enough that I decided to climb out. It took me about a minute to do so and get to a flat, snowy-grassy area. I knew from my sense of direction that it was about a six-minute walk back to Sariel.
The fog had cleared more, and I set off toward where we had landed (fallen?), thinking about how I was going to get Sariel to the cave, and the chairs. How to drag them there? Because I doubted I could carry something so heavy.
The fog had cleared enough that I could see Sariel from a distance. I reached him in about two minutes, his face turned toward me. His wide-open eyes greeted me with a look of hope. He seemed a little better, he'd shaken off the shock of twisting his ankle, but still wasn’t comfortable, rightly so.
"I have good news and bad news," I said with a smirk.
"Start with the bad news."
"I reached the sea’s edge. There’s something like a small bay, bordered by a cape on one side and a cliff on the other. Just a regular rocky beach with gravel. I got there pretty quickly, so the chance that we’re on an island has increased by a few percent."
Sariel nodded slowly. "Is there more bad news, or are we moving on to the good stuff?"
"Here comes the good part." I sighed, sitting down next to him. "After reaching the beach, I found a stream. It caught my attention because there was steam rising from it."
"Hot springs?" Sariel’s eyebrows shot up.
"Yep."
"I’ll admit, I was quietly hoping for that after you left. The fog in that area cleared up, and look," Sariel pointed in one direction.
I turned around and suddenly saw it. About where I had come from, a little farther past the canyon, a mountain rose from the fog!
"That’s gotta be a volcano!"
For a moment, I stared at the mountain, amazed. It wasn’t huge, but it dominated the landscape. Its lower slopes were white due to snow, with reddish patches, and higher up, it turned black with only small spots of white. Near the summit, the rocks were bare, with a mist hovering above them.
"Unbelievable… This makes sense! When I was walking along the stream’s edge, I found something that could be our salvation, Sariel. A volcanic cave!"
Sariel's eyes lit up. "Really?! Wow!"
"It’s warm inside, the ground is gravelly, and if we could somehow drag the chair in there, we’d have shelter from the cold. The downside is, though, that it would make it harder for anyone to find us, as those chairs are pretty distinctive…"
Sariel tilted his head and glanced at the chair where the older omega had been sitting earlier.
