Adam's first thought was that he was massively hungover and/or concussed, given that he had a distinct gap in his memory regarding how exactly he had lost consciousness. His second thought was that he distinctly didn't hurt enough for that given that he had never been blackout drunk before but he had been drunk enough to know that the next morning hurt significantly more than this. His third thought as his awareness and self and body returned to him was that though he didn't really hurt, he was now aware of the fact that he was extremely uncomfortable from the way he was laying sprawled out on the ground, with rocks and dirt for his pillows.
Groaning as he forced himself to move, he flickered his eyes open to deep shadows penetrated by a single shaft of light. As he was able to move and orient himself in space, he realized that he was in a fucking cave of all things. He was near enough to the entrance that sunlight was coming in and providing illumination, but he was definitely in a cave, and a deep one at that if the yawning abyss of darkness behind him was any indication.
Patting himself down to seek out any clues on his person that might explain what the hell had happened, Adam found everything he expected to find on an average day at the dig. He had the clothes on his back, his ID, some cash – USD and pesos –, his cell phone, and his watch. Most everything else he kept in his tent or bike when at camp. After checking his cell and finding it drained or otherwise not working, he also discovered a single oddity in the form of a ball of natural latex rubber that looked like it had been stained with charcoal and ochre.
That sparked some memories. The ball was a gift, he knew that. Straining to gather up the smoke and ash of this particular recollection, he also remembered that this came from Xitlalli, the elderly Mixtec woman on whose land they were digging. As part of the dig's agreement with her, Adam was responsible for running her groceries, listening to her talk, and translating all the manga and comics she had accumulated over the years. He knew he had given her something, something special to him that she had cried upon beholding, and this was her reciprocal gift to him.
What the fuck it was and how it might relate to how he got here he had no idea, but he carefully tucked it away anyway. Maybe she had convinced him to come by her place when he wasn't officially drinking and have a beer with her like she was always insisting, but that wouldn't explain why his memories got fuzzy way before then. Also, even though the elder who was probably part tree could almost certainly drink him under the table, it wasn't in Adam's nature to do tequila shots in such number as to erase his memory so.
Inspection of self completed, Adam gave another glance at the cave, now paying attention to something he had vaguely noted before but not really clocked: there was a long wooden crate laying on the cave floor near him. That caused the dying ember of a memory to spark back to life, in that at some point he remembered that Xitlalli had asked him to help her haul something heavy for her. This was probably it, but all possible context was missing, so it behooved him to inspect it and hope that there would be answers available.
Moving over to the crate, Adam's initial examination was that it was old and might have been buried in the ground at some point. The wood had definitely been fully painted at some point, probably a brown or green colour, but now it was so faded and chipped that it was impossible to tell much beyond that. There might have been lettering at some point, but he would need to drag it out into the light to definitively tell. Despite all of this degradation, there was something distinctly military about its overall feel. A military pallet maybe? Xitlalli's rural home certainly had those sorts of hand-me-downs and salvage in use, so it made sense.
Lifting on the lid, he found it somewhat stubborn to rise in one corner. Looking it over, he found that it still had a nail holding it closed in one place. While normally he would have just let it be, he figured that this was enough of a problem that he would just ask for forgiveness for prying it open. It only took a bit of force to wrench the stubborn corner free, although it looked like the structural integrity of the wood there had gone through this process too many times already.
"The fuc-" Adam breathed as light reached the interior of the crate. He took in the glass bottles full of liquid, the rows of cans, and various boxes all packed away inside, but his attention was utterly dominated by the shotgun sitting in pride of place within the crate. Adam wasn't exactly a gun expert, but he knew a pump action when he saw one, and there was something about the design that suggested a military nature. While the weapon was clearly well maintained, it also had an air of age about it, and if someone told him it had been brought into Mexico by American troops chasing Pancho Villa he wouldn't have doubted it for a second.
Carefully closing the crate as best he could, Adam decided that as much as he didn't exactly want to know, he was also now exceedingly concerned about how exactly he had managed to get himself into a cave with an old lady's survivalist crate and lose all memory of it. He really hoped this was some sort of sick prank and he didn't have the police and/or any cartels after him due to an inebriated rampage. Sniffing his clothes, he didn't smell anything that suggested he had been around burning gunpowder at least.
Thoughts of burning things brought to mind a heat upon his tongue. He had drunk something with Xitlalli after their exchange of gifts, something bitter and spicy. A traditional cacao and chili drink? That made sense as something Xitlalli would get him to drink, but unless she had spiked it with something stronger...
Adam pondered for a moment and decided that Xitlalli was the sort of person who would give him a sacred concoction loaded with hallucinogens and not fucking tell him about it. If that was what happened he was going to call her a fucking crone to her face, the wrinkly old bitch... and then she would probably laugh and demand he call her a cunt or something stronger. And assuming nothing bad had happened he would probably forgive her too, damn it all.
Sighing, Adam went back to the crate and pulled out one of the glass bottles. Opening up the spring-hinge mechanism, he was thankful that a quick sniff confirmed that it was in fact water like it said on the label, and not something like vodka or gasoline. If Xitlalli wasn't responsible he would pay her back, but if she was then this was her first payment she owed him for this bullshit. The first swig of water he actually ended up spitting out, the congealed nasty on his tongue making itself known once the water hit. He then drained the bottle in one long pull, his body letting his brain know that he was actually quite thirsty.
Somewhat revitalized, Adam decided that his next step was to look outside. Getting up fully, he followed the path of the light to the mouth of the cave, which was half concealed by tree roots and vines that draped over the opening. Pushing through into the light, Adam beheld the rainforests of what he really hoped was still Guerrero. It looked like there was a game trail of some sort nearby, and the cave was in the side of a hill. Looking around, something bothered him about the whole scene, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
A low rumble cancelled all other thoughts, causing every muscle in Adam's body to freeze up in primordial terror. Adjusting the angle of his head and eyes ever so slowly upwards, he decided that what his brain had thought was wrong was in fact the fucking jaguar lounging in a tree, glaring down at him with feline annoyance at his territorial intrusion. Adam beheld bright golden eyes for just a moment before he flicked his own gaze away in submission and began to slide back inside the cave. The rumbling of the apex predator ebbed away as he retreated, and once fully back in the cave Adam became aware of his body trying to undergo kinetic disassembly from his heart beating too fast.
As quietly as he could – which was a painful experience of shoes scuffing on stone like an elephant plowing through the brass section of an orchestra – Adam slowly and painfully inched his way back to the crate. Intellectually he knew that if he waited the jaguar would probably just move on after having its midday nap interrupted, and that some dumbass gringo wandering around rural Mexico with a shotgun was a great way to get himself mugged and/or shot. Such considerations however paled in comparison to the argument of fucking jaguar.
Lifting the lid once again, every creak and squeak of the wood like nails on the chalkboard, Adam carefully lifted out the shotgun, and thanked his father – a rare occurrence – for dragging him along on hunting trips in his youth. The weapon was unloaded, which let Adam run through a quick series of checks that everything worked correctly. The near antique had been cared for, and everything seemed clean and properly lubricated, but its age showed in the way its actions were simultaneously loose in places and stiff in others. The little cardboard boxes of shells also looked relatively new, and their expiration dates were all well in the future, so the weapon probably wouldn't explode if he pulled the trigger.
Adam loaded just enough shells to fill up the tube magazine before he began to grab water and the more easily opened packets of food. He was clearly at least a bit of a hike away from where he had been, and there was a chance he might not find his way back so he should try to make sure he wasn't going to die of exposure. There unfortunately wasn't any bug spray or sunscreen, so Adam's white ass was going to suffer on this hike, and hopefully he wasn't going to run into anything he didn't have his vaccines for.
After waiting a good half hour, Adam decided that either the jaguar had moved on or it wasn't going to, and that as much as he didn't want to be outside past midmorning without sunscreen, he also couldn't wait for the cool of night so this was the best time to head out. Crouch walking towards the cave entrance, his heartbeat picking up such that he was certain his position was betrayed by the thundering in his chest and ears, he eventually peered out past the roots and found the green world beyond much as it had been before.
Awkwardly squeezing out of the cave entrance with the barrel of the shotgun leading, he managed to get far enough out to scan the trees. While he ultimately didn't trust his ability to find a jaguar that didn't want him to see it, at the very least it wasn't waiting somewhere obvious, waiting to pounce. Tentatively, Adam squeezed and scraped his way out of the cave, plowing through underbrush until he reached the game trail. Scanning all around, the part of Adam that had studied jaguar behaviour told him that the animal was unlikely to attack during the day, and if it had left or hidden then it didn't consider this core territory, so he was most likely safe.
Very consciously keeping his finger close but not on the trigger as he gripped the weapon tighter, the rest of Adam reiterated fucking jaguar.
Now on the game trail, Adam considered his options before deciding to see where the uphill leg took him. If he could get a good vantage point maybe he could orient himself towards a landmark and thus other people. He was in the jungle, but it wasn't the Amazon; there was only so lost a person could get in this part of Mexico.
Following the meandering path while keeping an eye on his surroundings for homicidal jungle cats while the tropical sun beat down on him was quite the experience, but after only about an hour he managed to find a high point that wasn't covered in trees and thus he could look out over the landscape by scrambling to the top of a boulder. Gazing out over the landscape, Adam just had to blink in astonishment a few times.
"Where the fuck am I?"
He couldn't see any signs of human occupation from here. No roads, no power lines, no cell phone towers. He was in rural Mexico and thus didn't expect to see skyscrapers, but this was ridiculous! There were a few places where a view like this might be possible in Guerrero, but not anywhere near where the dig site was! And how the fuck would you get him all the way up here while he was black out inebriated if it was at least a several hour hike to the nearest road. Did they airlift him into the middle of nowhere with a fucking helicopter?
Scanning the horizon, Adam eventually came to the conclusion that he might be seeing some small clusters of houses and gardens on distant hills, but that the landscape wasn't really conducive to seeing things that were shorter than the trees. However, he also thought that he saw what might be a thin pillar of smoke downhill of where he was, which hopefully was a campfire and not the start of a forest fire. Although if it was a forest fire he was probably better off headed towards it early when he might be able to fight it, rather than letting it grow to the point where he was just fucked.
Man, his day was just getting better all the time!
Orienting himself as best he could, Adam began his downhill trek, and this time he was trying to make a beeline for the target rather than roughly trying to follow existing trails. This had its pros and cons, but the key element was that it added to the day's misery by having him need to wade through significant amounts of underbrush while moving uneven ground. Adam was relatively skilled as an outdoorsman and so felt confident he wouldn't hurt himself doing this, but it still sucked.
After about an hour of hiking downhill, the character of the forest slowly but noticeably changed. The underbrush cleared out, and there was a certain subtle order to the trees. Still on high alert for dangerous wildlife, Adam fairly quickly noticed that several trees had cut marks on them. Taking a moment to investigate, he quickly worked out that some of them were some sort of trail marking, and some were probably from agricultural usage of the trees.
While nothing quite like what he had seen before, he was now certain that the smoke he had seen was most likely from a managed fire and that he was now very close to some place frequented by people. Maybe some sort of out of the way campsite?
Within a few minutes of this discovery Adam was able to start making out clearings in the forest and things that might be fields or gardens, and possibly structures of some sort. He also started to hear what might be shouting of some sort, which made him quicken his pace. The trees were bouncing and muffling sounds in odd ways, but what he could make out put him on edge. Something was very, very wrong.
Not quite up to a full run when he broke past the tree line into a small field where waist high maize plants were growing, Adam was struck by the sudden clarity by which he could hear shouts of anger and screams of pain and fear. It sounded there was a battle going on, which was an extremely bad thing in Guerrero. A battle meant major cartel on cartel or cartel on government involvement... but everyone on the dig kept their ears open about any brewing conflict points as a matter of survival.
Adam paused in hesitation. He was probably more afraid than when he had encountered the jaguar, but where before that fear had sharpened his focus to a razor edge, giving him the clarity to do exactly what he needed, now it left him confused and indecisive. Getting involved in any sort of conflict with the cartels was a terrible idea, and whoever was out there was unlikely to take kindly to him standing around with a gun. As much as he wished he had left it behind, he also found that he couldn't bear to drop what was now a totem of safety in his hands. The shouts and screams though, they twisted his stomach into knots, and as much as they terrified him there was also a part of him that wanted to run towards the danger, to aide people who were suffering. Everything just combined together to root him in place, clutching the shotgun to his chest.
Then a group of people broke out of the treeline on the opposite side of the field and Adam's brain was forced into a reboot cycle by what he saw.
His first thought was 'Oh God, I've wandered onto a fucking movie set'. A young woman of obvious Indigenous descent wearing traditional dress was running in panic from a group of men armed and armoured like Pre-Columbian warriors, with a man in steel plate gesturing with a sword for the troop to keep up the chase of the woman. It was a movie or a re-enactment or...
Adam's brain helpfully pointed out that there weren't any cameras or crowds, and anywhere a movie might set up would be close enough to infrastructure that he should have seen evidence of roads or powerlines from that hilltop. And the reactions of the people were all wrong. The running woman reacted with fear and panic at seeing him, which was entirely reasonable at seeing a strange man with a gun, but the men chasing her wore expressions of confusion. They didn't know who he was or what he was doing here and that confused them, but they also weren't alarmed by an armed foreign man being introduced to the scenario.
Adam had done many, many stupid things in his life, but he wasn't stupid by any means. Stupid archaeology students didn't get to go on international digs. Adam thus came to the conclusion that one of three things was going on. The first was that he was in fact hallucinating and was an active hazard to himself and everyone around him. The second was that he was having an incredibly vivid dream. The third was that he had somehow been transported to the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The first option was the most likely, and the second had to be discounted since acting like it was a dream was a great way to die, but there was enough evidence for the third option that it had to be taken seriously.
As such, Adam came to the well considered opinion that his least stupid option was to raise his gun to his shoulder and shout out, "STOP!"
Surprisingly, the conquistador barked something out in response to that, causing the warriors under his command to also stop approaching him, but also to fan out. The young woman tried to escape the situation entirely, but it quickly became clear that she had lost too much ground and the only place she wouldn't get run down was near Adam, who was keeping her in his periphery so she couldn't get behind him but also that he was entirely focused upon the people with weapons in front of him.
The conquistador rattled off something in oddly accented Spanish that Adam couldn't follow at the speed it was presented, so Adam replied back in Spanish he tried to keep simple and slow but partially failed through panic, "Hey look man, I don't know what is going on here, but I think I am tripping the fuck out so maybe we can all just cool it until we get everything sorted? Put the weapons down before someone gets hurt?"
That caused the armoured man to look at him with bafflement, before he said with all the arrogance of an American tourist who figured that speaking slowly and loudly would allow people to understand them, "Brother in the Lord, why do you shield this witch?"
Adam really didn't like that answer, but he tried again, "I don't know what's real right now, but what I am seeing is scaring me, so let's just all not get too close while we talk, got it?"
That caused the man to furrow his brows in thought, converting some of his frown from annoyance to concern, before he asked, "You are bewitched?"
"Sure, yeah, let's go with that," Adam agreed.
Glancing between Adam and the young woman, the man then rattled out something that sound like it was Nahuatl that caused the woman to cry out in fear while the warriors adjusted their grips on their weapons. The man then said, "This whore of demons afflicts you so, stand aside so that we might break her hold on you."
Tightening the grip on his own weapon, Adam said, "That sounds like a bad idea to me. I am freaking out here and I have a weapon, so let's not do that. Just, everybody keep their distance from everybody!"
Adam was uncomfortably aware that more warriors and another conquistador type were starting to filter in from where the sounds of battle had been, and an encirclement was becoming likely. The man before him gave an irritated twitch at the delay, but seemed content to just wait for backup. Adam didn't like that and so he took a step back and said, "Just stay back!"
The man decided to call Adam's bluff and took a step forward to keep pace. Adam decided to show that he wasn't bluffing and to also confirm that he was in fact holding a loaded weapon by aiming down and into the ground before pulling the trigger. The noise was painfully loud, and the Indigenous warriors all startled backwards at the unexpected result, but the conquistador kept his composure even as kicked up dirt splattered against his greaves. He gave the young woman clutching her ears in pain and terror a contemptuous look and said, "Well that was stupid," before he launched himself forward at her.
Adam pulled back on the pump, ejecting the spent shell and chambering another round as he adjusted his aim. He was going for centre of mass, but he was rusty and his aim was high. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for the man who had decided to ignore him in favour of an unarmed woman, Adam had loaded 00-buckshot, and so his shot being high meant that instead of a miss multiple balls of lead a third of an inch in diameter hit the man in the head.
Everything started to happen all at once as the second thunderous report dismantled a person in a spray of blood and bone. The second conquistador cried out in horror and outrage and began to sprint forward in a clatter of plate. The accompanying warriors either froze or recoiled back at the abrupt death of their commander. The young woman screamed in shock. The thought 'He I wasted my only shot' arrived in Adam's conscious brain. The thought 'I just murdered a man' also arrived in his brain. The thought 'These people are going to kill me' also arrived.
The last thought won out and he worked the action again, bringing a fresh round into the still smoking breech.
More things happened all at once, and this time when Adam's conscious train of thought caught up he found himself wheezing on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He remembered shooting the charging man, but it wasn't as effective. He remembered a flash of light. He remembered a tug on one of his pockets. He remembered-
A wet crack reset his brain to the present, and he managed to get his diaphragm to stop its spasms and properly draw air into his lungs. One of the warriors had landed hard next to him, the impact messily breaking bones and killing the man via a compound neck fracture. Bolting up, Adam saw a stunningly beautiful woman swinging the remains of man about like a club, bludgeoning warriors and keeping the brightly glowing conquistador at bay.
Okay, yeah, sure. Why not? Makes tons of sense.
Scanning the ground, Adam found the shotgun nearby and immediately scrambled to grab it. Snatching it up, he pumped out a spent shell and tried to remember if he had fired twice or three times at the remaining conquistador. If it was twice then he had his last shell in the chamber, and if it was three times then he was out. He should check by-
The woman screamed, her improvised weapon discarded as her shining opponent had managed to land a solid blow on one of her arms, embedding his sword in her arm. He wasn't letting that stop him though, as he had switched to grabbing her by the throat with both hands, shoving her down to her knees and strangling out her pained cries.
Adam had between one and zero shots, and he charged without knowing which it was. Adrenaline sharpened his senses and let him take in the dents in the man's armour, presumably where it had been struck by buckshot that had failed to penetrate. He noticed that despite having a sword in her arm the woman wasn't bleeding. He saw fear and despair and pain and defiance in her eyes. He saw rage and hate in the eyes of the man choking the life out of her.
Adam ran into the conquistador with a clumsy kick-tackle that probably did more damage to his body than to the man in plate, but it was enough to disrupt the man's hold and get him to spin enough so that Adam could get a solid point blank shot at the centre of mass. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded with the world erupting in smoke and noise, and Adam felt something wet and hot spray across his face.
The chest of the conquistador's armour was caved in and perforated, blood everywhere, and his eyes expressed shock and pain, but the harsh white light that blazed around him only flickered. Adam pumped out the empty shell and adjusted his aim to the man's head. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded with the empty click that a part of him knew was coming.
Powered by supernatural forces, the man grinned through his blood soaked beard and began to shakily get his feet under him. Before either of them could figure out what to do next the conquistador had his own sword run through the ravaged section of his armour. The woman was still active and she had removed the blade stuck in her bone, using it to impale her attacker. Now the glow around the man didn't just flicker but guttered out entirely. The woman wrapped her good hand around his neck and squeezed, skin and muscle flowing between fingers like putty in a child's hand, and with one smooth motion she ripped his head off by the spine.
She turned her attention to Adam, her achingly beautiful face marred by bloodless cut marks that revealed crumbling white gum instead of flesh, and shiny black bone. Her eyes were wide and dark and inhuman and they were focused on him. She smiled broadly with too sharp teeth, and then she pounced.
Adam soiled himself. He might have already, but he knew in that moment that whatever was left in his bladder and bowels were being emptied as his body prepared for death. The monster woman hit him, her hands planting on his shoulders and legs wrapping around his torso, and much to Adam's surprise she was light enough that he managed to keep his feet. Secured to him with her legs, her hands grabbed the side of his head so that he would be looking at her face on as...
She licked him. She licked him, running a sandpaper rough tongue across his face. And then she kissed him, her lips cool and slightly rubbery but coated in the hot penny flavour of blood. There was a hunger to the action, but also a strange sort of affection within the intensity.
It was at about this point that Adam's body decided that it had had enough stress for the day and it was going to drop the adrenaline levels a bit. Adam had just enough time to realize that he was losing consciousness before everything went dark on him.
In between the abyssal blackness of a total exhaustion collapse and consciousness, Adam's mind tried to sort out what had happened. The forest and the cave blended together into an inescapable dream maze. He would frequently turn a corner and be confronted with a jaguar or a conquistador that burned with hideous light that caused flesh and bone to melt and bubble even as it regenerated. He always had the shotgun with him. He could never get a bead on the jaguar, which roared and growled at him before vanishing, while he always pulled the trigger on the attacking men. Sometimes they came apart into stinking offal and clattering plate. Sometimes the light absorbed the blast and he was tackled or kicked in the gut, sending him spinning through the maze. Sometimes he pulled the trigger and nothing happened, before the dream stuttered and he had turned a different corner.
At some point he realized that something was pulling him, guiding him. A tugging upon his pants resolved itself into a remarkably crisp ball of natural latex rubber amid the blurry and stuttering imagery of the memory-dream. Swirls of pigment resolved themselves into a human face, eyes closed and lips faintly smiling. A magnetic force tugged upon the rubber ball, and drew Adam forth through the maze. He remembered now. He'd been knocked to the ground by the second conquistador because he'd been distracted by something tugging at him right before he'd fired to try to break through the shielding light and plate.
The rubber ball flew from his grasp to strike a young woman in the face, the material pancaking upon contact and wrapping her head in pale latex that settled into the visage of an unnaturally beautiful woman. Her eyes opened and they filled the dream with the deep black of a night sky where you felt you could fall upwards into infinity. The stars were the glittering of her teeth in a seductive smile, their light betraying the wicked sharpness upon the edges.
The night sky was a man-eater and it wanted to kiss him.
Adam came to beneath the shelter of the trees and the sky painted with blood and gold, so he had obviously been out for several hours at least. Now everything hurt the way he might have expected from a night out on the town drinking and fighting. From the thick, gummy feel of his tongue and mouth he knew he was quite dehydrated, while from the variety of throbbing aches across his body he could tell that he was feeling all the bruises his brief bout of combat had caused.
Tilting his head up, he discovered that he had been stripped naked and laid down on a mat of woven fibres. There was a brief moment of panic over why he was naked before he noted that there were what looked like poultices and bandages placed on him, and judging from the massive bruise along his midsection he would have wanted someone to take his clothes off to examine his injuries anyway. Also, belatedly, he remembered losing control over his faculties, so he would have wanted his clothes off to get clean anyway. Why he didn't have a blanket or something remained a mystery though.
Glancing about, he realized that he was actually fairly deep into the forest given the number of trees, but he was actually right next to a pile of rocks that he quickly realized was probably a well. Thinking about it, many groups would regenerate their soil by letting the forest reclaim fields before slashing and burning a few years later. While a stone well was something that normally would be kept from getting overrun, there were all sorts of reasons one could end up away from the main body of a settlement.
There was also what appeared to be a medicine kit rolled out nearby, which made sense given that Adam had been treated. It looked like a collection of dried herbs and flowers along with clean cloth and soft leather, and a number of items that looked to be for magical purposes. Considering everything else that had happened, Adam decided that he could not discount the possibility that it actually worked at full effect. Assuming he hadn't been hallucinating, he had seen several things that were supernatural.
One item in particular drew his attention; a large bowl that appeared to be made out of ivory of all things. Archaeological curiosity ignited, Adam actually levered himself up despite how much he hurt to get a better look at the object. The item was of an oval profile, somewhat like the bottom section of an egg laid out lengthwise, and was about a hand high, one and a half hands wide, and maybe two hands long. There was all sorts of intricate carving along the outside and Adam almost grabbed the item in his eagerness to get a better look, before he pulled himself up short. It would be monumentally disrespectful to pick up an object of such obvious importance without a proper invitation to do so, and even if invited he should have an understanding of how to properly handle the item with care and respect.
Also, after his anthropological training kicked in, he remembered magic and thus there were potential hidden dangers to the object. Which, given the possibility of this item being used as a mortar for grinding medicine, could even be true without a supernatural explanation! Improperly taking a dose of medicine not intended for you was a great way to get cursed with sickness.
However, even as Adam kept his hands to himself, his eyes went wide as something started to happen within the bowl. Small beads began to form, and in the shadows and light of the setting sun they almost looked like blood at first, but as they came together Adam realized that the little balls of liquid were actually mirror-shiny. His breath caught in his chest as he took in a large volume of mercury appear out of thin air within the bowl, filling it near to the brim. Then, as mysteriously as it had appeared, the mercury began to recede again.
To Adam's complete flabbergastment half a dozen shotgun shells emerged from the mercury, floating on top of the dense liquid metal. The sheer dissonance of such an amazing supernatural display resulting in something so mundane overrode Adam's sense of caution, and once the mercury seemed to fully disappear he reached into the bowl to pick out one of the plastic and brass cartridges. To his admittedly untrained eye it was a completely normal example of its type.
Looking down at the bowl, he noticed what looked like three slivers of cloth or something like that, as well as...
