1 Chapter 001: Cave Exploring

"Hey, you sure this is safe? It seems like it's pretty dark in there."

"It's fine. Cave time!"

A young boy, age 15, jumped into the cave entrance below him and his screams as he slid down could be heard echoing upwards.

"I'm coming buddy!"

The other young boy, age 16, jumped into the cave to follow the other boy. The cave hole was steep and there was nowhere to take a hold. The two boys continued sliding down the cave before finally landing on the cave bottom.

"Alex! You alright?"

Alex was looking around with a newly lit torch. Sorin ran up to him so he could be in the light too.

"Dude, you're an idoit!" Sorin smacked Alex on the head. "How are we gonna get out of here?"

"Uh…I'll figure it out eventually. Still tho, this cave isn't as exciting as I was hoping."

Sorin looked where Alex had the light focused.

"It's just rocks. Sharpish rocks." He reached out to touch the cave wall. "Sort of a slimy wet feeling too."

Alex was now pressing his fingers together with the slimy substance still stuck on.

"…I don't know how to get it off."

"Ugh. Let's just look for a way out of here, I'm sure there's gotta be another way."

"Maybe we should head to where that ominous wind sound is coming from."

Alex pointed in a direction towards the darkness.

"Wind means an opening of some kind at least."

The two walked towards where they could hear the wind coming from. It took a bit to walk across the cave they had found themselves stuck in but eventually they reached a gap in the walls that they could squeeze through.

"Okay, here we go. Sorin, you hold this for now."

He gave the torch over to his friend and tried squeezing through the gap. It was a little tight but wasn't too much of a struggle.

"Ah!"

"Alex??!"

"The slime went in my shoes…Gross."

"Come on, seriously? I thought you got hurt or something."

Sorin passed the torch back to Alex and squeezed through the gap. The two continued on in the cave which now followed more of an enclosed path shape rather then an open space now.

"This is really creeping me out man."

"It'll be fine. I mean, think of it this way. There's only one way we can be attacked from since we've already walked past the last areas. So now it's just in front of us that we need to worry about!"

"Uh…Yeah, haha…"

The wind grew louder and they could now feel the flow of air along their clothes and bodies.

"We must be getting close."

"Hey, isn't there light coming from over there?"

Alex squinted his eyes to see a faint glow of orange yellow bouncing on one of the cave walls.

"That looks like torch light. No sunlight here yet."

They reached where the light had been seen to find a giant underground temple with torches still aflame.

"Woah! Awesome."

Alex seemed pleased with his discovery and wanted to venture in further but Sorin stopped him by tugging on his sleeve.

"Wait! Dont you think this is at all worrying?"

"No, not really. Maybe we can even find treasure."

"I don't know. It just feels like we really shouldn't be here…"

"Well, we need to go this way anyway if we're to find a way out. So get a little more excited about this thing! I mean it's a giant temple, come on! It's even underground!"

"But why would the torches be lit unless there's people here?"

"…Magic?"

Alex pulled away his arm and doused out his torch as most of the area could now be seen in the temple's torch light. The temple was made out of stone and had several flights of stairs leading higher and higher. The temple was carved into the cave walls and supported by massive pillars.

"Hey, how old you think this place is anyhow?"

"I don't know and don't care, I just want to get out of here."

They climbed the stairs to the top and grew more tired as they climbed the flights.

"Why so many stairs?"

"Yeah, why do ancients love stairs so much?"

"Oh hey, a stone tablet." Alex went to inspect it. "Yeah, no. I don't understand it. Old timey text."

"Then let's keep going! I want to leave already."

They reached the top, waking pass several more stone tablets on their way up and sat down to recoup their breath.

"Ugh, that was quite the walk..."

"You could say that again…"

"I don't know why…But im feeling even more light headed then I…Really should be…"

Alex fell over smacking his head against one of the pillars and passed out.

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"Ugh…My head…Huh?"

Alex was in an unfamiliar place. He was on the surface with buildings in a style he had never seen before. He stood up and wobbled a little before getting his footing in place. He looked down at his hands and they looked funny.

"A dream…? I'm in control though…Hm."

He pondered for a minute before coming to a conclusion.

"This must be one of those fabled lucid dreams…Meaning I can do anything I want! Fly!"

He started jumping up and down but couldn't stay off the ground.

"Hm. Maybe not…Aren't dreams only made up of stuff you know? I don't know any of this!"

He spread his arms out with dissapointment.

"Or I'm just not a master at lucid dreaming…Oh well. Exploring time I guess."

He walked around the space he was in. It had green grass encased by wooden fences and a building on only one of the ends. There wasn't much else, everything outside the fence seemed fuzzy and he couldn't make it out. He walked up to the house but was struggling to move forwards.

"Oh come on dream! I'm trying to walk here!"

His feet just continuously slid across the ground with minimal movement and was stuck in place.

"If I can't move can I just wake up then? Hey! Me! Wake up! This is boring!"

A door behind him could be heard opening with a woman's voice calling out his name but before he had a chance to look the world around him vanished and shortly after, he woke up.

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"…Ale…Alex…! Alex! Wake up dumbass! The place is caving in! We need to get out of here!"

"Huh?! What's going on?!"

"I saw a gap with sunlight over there! We need to hurry!"

"O-Okay!"

Alex jumped to his feet and started running after Sorin as parts of the cave ceiling were falling all around him. The pillars began to collapse as well blocking the path over and over again requiring fast maneuvering to not get crushed or trapped.

They were moving closer and closer to the gap and with it the outside. Sunlight was pouring in giving the two a clear view of where they had to run to.

"How'd this even happen?!"

"That big noggin of yours knocked over a pillar when you fell!"

"You'd think they'd be able to withstand that!"

They were almost to the gap in the cave wall. The cave began collapsing faster and faster as more of the supports fell making the structural foundation weaker. The gap was small and tight but the two of them would be able to squeeze through with a well timed jump.

"Okay! We're almost there! You ready?!"

"Y-Yeah!"

They picked up their paces and approached the gap in the wall.

"Go!"

They jumped through the gap, scraping their skin a little on the rocks in the process.

They landed on soft grass and took a deep sigh of relief. They pushed themselves up and looked at the hole to see the entire cave was now gone. No entrance in sight.

"Well then. We found a way out at least?"

"If we didn't we would have died!"

Sorin hit Alex on top of the head.

"I really need to give more authority with you. Im older! I shouldn't be letting my little brother put himself through so much dangerous stuff."

"But it's fun. And it's not like I've ever been harmed greatly before."

"…Yeah."

The two stretched a little and heard footsteps coming in their direction. Out from the trees came a tall older man who the two were already aquatinted with.

"Mr.Cae? What are you doing here?"

"I heard quite the rumbling and it's not much of a surprise to see you two be at the site of it."

"Sorry, my imbecile of a brother put us through something highly dangerous once again. Barely escaped with our lives."

"But at least you're safe. Here, I'll bring you back home."

"Thank you."

The man brought the brothers home and told their mother where they had been found. She sighed after hearing what he had told her.

"What am I going to do with those boys…"

Their mother couldn't even be bothered to scould them anymore, they had been doing stupid things forever and she had grown used to them being sent home for doing something boys their age really shouldn't be doing.

"Go up to your rooms. Dinner will be ready in a bit."

They returned to their rooms. Alex sat on his bed being rather pleased with how his adventure had turned out. He only wished he had got to explore the temple more before it was gone forever under the ruble. Sorin laid on his bed and pondered if he should just kill his brother now to stop being thrown into dangerous events or just ride it out and hope maybe someday he would outgrow it.