Beginning Arcton Summary

Summary of Beginning: Arcton, a quaint little town enclosed by the Andes, also enclosed a teen by the name of Jerry. His green eyes could see tens of miles from his cottage on the side of the mountain; his skin tanned from the sun beaming down through the blinding blue sky. During the 21st century pollution may have fouled the sky elsewhere but not here. On the converse side, with no clouds means unbearable heat, especially during the summertime. So upon being forced to go outside by his guardians, he is dragged into an inexplicable predicament filled with caves, massive spiders, swamps, and evil villains. It first started with accidentally falling through some quagmire in the middle of a seemingly normal trees. The quagmire gave way to a

rapidly flowing underground river that carried him to a massive cavern. Upon finding massive spiders chasing him, he ran through the boggy swamp to a man called Hannock. Hannock shocked him with news of a evil villain called the Mastermind living under the mountain his house was located on. The Mastermind was the source of the massive spider mutations and the Savages. Now Jerry hadn’t yet encountered the Savages, a clan of metallic droids designed by the Mastermind to be the bane of all unwelcome visitors. Jerry is now focused on getting out.

“I don’t care who this Mastermind guy is, I just want to get out!” exclaimed Jerry. “Jerry, it doesn’t work life that..” replied Hannock. “ You can’t just get out you know.”
“Mr. Hannock, our lives are on the line so for pete’s sake can you tell me why?”
“Long, long ago, when the Mastermind excavated this cave, he made sure there was only one exit, only one entrance. Neither can be used for the other purpose.”
“So can you tell me where the exit is?”
“Well, it did not seem that whoever wrote the book I garnered this information from wrote where the exit was.”
Jerry is getting desperate now,“Is it possible that I see this book?”
“Its long been broken down by the moist air of this cave.”
“Oh, I forgot that this stupid cave is so humid.”Jerry said with annoyance.
“Well, you might as well remember a couple things about it since you’ll be staying down here for a while.”Hannock replied nonchalantly.
Jerry said nothing to this, but instead just walked out of the lodge to calm himself down. The opening of the door initiated the inflow of moist, swamp smelling air. He looked out and saw just how huge the cave was. From top to bottom it was- no Jerry couldn’t even see the top, but rather as a haze of gray mixed with green vines. The lodge they were on was located on an outcropping jutted out from the irregular walls. Standing on the platform of the lodge, a distant roar can be heard. Oh yes, the waterfall. The thing that brought Jerry to this nightmare. Looking around the waterfall, he saw the massive spiders that roamed the boggy swamp. Their long legs sank deep in the bog as they sauntered across, off to some unknown destination. Jerry then realized that there must be something providing light, without it there should be no way a cave should not be in absolute darkness.
Going on the other side of the lodge, he found a distant hole in the wall pouring in sunlight, even though the hole appeared small to his view, it must’ve been at least half a mile across to be able to light up the entire cave. Jerry did some quick calculations about the position of the cave and the angle the light is shining through and found it must’ve been over noon for the light to shine that way. After going back to the lodge, he discovered Hannock to be gone and a note left behind saying,”Going to get food STAY HERE.” And so Jerry sat down, thinking about what happened on this day… Then a sudden epiphany struck him- what are his parents thinking right now, better yet, he can’t get out of this place! The observations of the cave had amazed him to forget his real problem. Panic overtook him as he thought about the horrors of the cave and what could befall him. His palms got sweaty and hyperventilation turned up his metabolism. But then a calming thought came over him; there was Hannock and he survived. Jerry then thought about how to get out and found that it’s either go now, or don’t go at all. It isn’t going to do him any good staying here with a weird old man who doesn’t believe there’s any way to escape. But where? There isn’t a single way- the waterfall! In a desperate moment Jerry thought he could climb up the dry side next to the waterfall and up into freedom. He was right, but it would cost him dearly.
Walking through a door and down an elevator is easy, but walking through a spider infested swamp is hard.

He judged the distance to be about a mile from the lodge to the waterfall, and crept slowly past the spiders. Careful not to make a sound, he trudged only on the dry land whenever he could and had to take off his shoes sometimes to avoid a squelching sound. He almost reached the water when suddenly a spider changed direction and came for him. Losing all sense of sneakiness, he ran to the waterfall and hid behind it. Although he lost the spider, his clothes were drenched and he had lost his shoes during the run. Now that he’s made it to the actual waterfall, it's time to climb. Now as a child Jerry’s dad always made him practice climbing, in case he got trapped somewhere in the mountain and had to climb out. Those punishing practices left blisters and limbs that ached for days, and Jerry hated them. But now, faced with an life-or-death moment he was glad for having them. The only problem was the shoes being missing. The distance vertically from the bottom to the top of the waterfall was about a hundred feet, easily accessible for someone without a fear of heights and good climbing skills. But Jerry had two major liabilities; the absence of shoes and the mossy slippery stones. Then Jerry realized that his strength was waning as the cold of the water seeped into his bones. And so without a second thought, he began to climb. The toes and hands fighting for whatever room they had on the smooth rocks and moss. Jerry was about half way up when disaster struck. It was a particularly smooth section of the rock and when his right foot tried to gain purchase, the left foot slipped, causing Jerry to plummet. The sensation of falling was almost relieving to the exhausting climb, during which he was shivering. Right as he began wondering when the fall was going to end, he landed back first into the bog and slammed his left arm into a small piece of sharp rock. The pain

didn’t come until later as the combined shock of the fall and the cut nearly knocked him unconscious. For a moment he didn’t know where he was, the water splashing, a dull gray haze which appeared to be the ceiling. It took him a minute to fully realize what just happened. As he tried to stand up, the cut on his arm protested loudly in waves of pain and blood. Coughs racked his shivering body as he tried to balance himself. Then remembering to always wash a wound, Jerry took his arm and cleansed it in the waterfall. (He would have a massive scar across his forearm for the rest of his life, along with a dull back pain.) Exhaustion overtook him and he leaned against the smooth rocks. His limbs almost succumbed to the cold and pain when a brick of stone behind him slid slightly back. Jerry wondered at this and tapped at it a few more times, it continued to slide back. Using all of his strength Jerry pushed it back all the way and a roaring sound greater than the waterfall happened to his immediate right. They were stone bricks sliding back to reveal a dark tunnel with light at the end. A desperate Jerry limped through the cave and into the light. Turning towards the right he saw something unintelligible to his shocked mind. A flock of birds was soaring through the sky over a forest of pine trees, the sun shone brightly above the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. So this is the exit? Well it didn’t matter to Jerry because he was free.