Stuck

Marcus let out a painful shaky breath, he was in a lot of pain. His arm was bent at a strange angle and every breath hurt. He leaned against the wall while sitting on a step, and took a moment to rest. What he had to do would take a lot out of him so he had to be prepared.

He took another painful deep breath, placed the handle of his warhammer in his mouth, it was wrapped with leather so at least he wouldn't break his teeth. Grabbing his broken arm with his good one, he jerked hard on it, setting it into place. He bit down so hard that the leather was cut by his teeth, a groan came out of his mouth and he nearly passed out. Sweat was rolling down his face, and he was shaking involuntarily.

After another couple of minutes, he began to relax. He concentrated his mind, trying to absorb as much magic power as possible to heal his body. After an hour of deep concentration, he was able to breath without too much pain, and his arm had returned to its normal size, it was very swollen before.

He had no way to go but down, even if he could open the wall back up, he didn't want to face that giant snake injured like he was. Resolving himself he stood up slowly, not wanting to aggravate his broken ribs. There was no light, so he had to feel his way down the slippery stone steps. He kept his right hand on the wall, feeling the course stone. It felt like it was carved out, they most likely tapped into a natural cave system under the temple.

After about ten minutes of descent, he could see a familiar blue glow coming from further down. He hurried his steps slightly, wanting to be able to see. Once he breached the button of the stairs, there was enough light to be able to make out his surroundings.

It was a massive cavern, the whole space lit by the blue glowing plants. It had to be at least a thousand feet across with a ceiling two hundred feet high. There was not air movement in the whole space, the air was still with the coolness that comes with caves. A dark lake was to the right, the water just as still as the air. With water so black, it reflected the blue light like a perfect mirror.

On the far side of the space were massive boulders piled all the way to the ceiling. It looked like it used to be an entrance but was caved in by something. He couldn't imagine what could have caused that, as far as he knew there were no explosives in this world, although magic could have easily done the same, if it was powerful enough.

As he scanned his eyes over the rest of the room, he stopped in the middle. There, in the middle of this massive cavern was an equally massive skeleton. It was easily one-hundred feet long. It had a long rib cage, just like a serpent, but it had massive wing bones arching out as well, a wing span of at least fifty feet. Its head was big enough for two of him to stand inside the brain cavity, its mouth could fit a small car inside it. Long thick antler-like horns stood tall out of the side of its skull.

Marcus immediately connected it to the carvings that were inside the vault room. The creature must have been awe inspiring when it was alive. It was coiled up in the center of the cavern, with its wing bones spread out wide. Marcus approached it slowly, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He was a fast learner and didn't want to be caught off guard again. Step by step, he approached the dead colossus.

Placing his hands on the smooth bones, he could feel a warmth radiating from them. A warmth that made its way deep inside his body, helping him heal. The bones were still filled with vast amounts of magical power even though it was long past dead. There were no marks or breaks on any of the bones that he could see, the creature had most likely starved to death after the entrance had caved in.

Starving to death was a horrible way to die for any creature. Wasting away, with nothing to fill your empty stomach and the pain that goes along with it. Feeling your body eat itself to stay alive, even a little longer would be awful to experience.

While these thoughts were running through his head he stopped, he was in that same exact situation right now. If that giant creature starved to death, so would he if he didn't find a way out. Marcus had to forcefully calm himself down, he took deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth. Panicking would not be helpful right now.

He started his examination of the bones again, thinking maybe he could use those to pry the door back open. He'd have to fight the giant serpent, but that would be better than starving to death. He walked to the middle of the bones, where the body was coiled around.

There was what looked like a large rock in the middle. It was as tall as he was and it would take three of him to wrap his arms around it. He ran his fingers over the rock, just like he did with the bones. He pulled his hand back, the rock didn't feel like a rock at all, it was leathery. It felt like his leather armor that he wore under the steel plates, hard but still malleable. He pressed his whole palm onto the surface of the object, it had the same warmth as the bones did, but with something else as well. It didn't just feel like there was just residual power like the bones, but that it was being radiated from something still alive.

"Well, if it comes to it, I guess I'll be having omelettes for dinner then." He said to himself, laughing.

It might be hard to stomach, but if it came to it he'd make himself eat whatever was in the egg raw. He didn't know how long it had been down here, but since it looked like it was still alive it wasn't rotten. He continued to poke at the egg, looking for a soft spot. So far he hadn't found any. The egg had the same consistency all the way around it, hard but pliable. He wasn't hungry, so he would try to not force himself to eat it raw until he had to.

Marcus sat down on the ground with his back against the egg. As far as he could tell he only had two options, either get the secret passage to open again and fight the snake, or go into the lake and see if it led outside. The second option would be a last resort, who knew if it went anywhere, and if it did he could easily drown trying to get out. He would only do that if he couldn't get the passage open, he didn't know which would be better, starving or drowning.

He placed his hands on one of the bones and started to concentrate on absorbing its magical power. The first thing he had to do was finish healing his body, and with the abundant power from the bones, it wouldn't take too much longer. After he finished healing, he would work on getting the passage open, hopefully, he thought.

...........................

Marcus was sitting back down with his back against the egg. He was drenched in sweat and he was very tired. After looking around for several hours, he failed to find any mechanical way to open the passage back up. Having failed to find anything, he then tried to just bust up the rock that made up the sliding slab. He was able to shatter some chunks off of it, but just walked away with numb hands and sore muscles. No matter how hard he hit it he made no progress.

He was starting to become very worried, his stomach was growling, telling him of its anger. He maybe could hold out for two or three more days, then he'd have to seriously consider eating the egg. He had already been down in the ruins for a little more than a day, so he figured he'd get some rest and try some more tomorrow. He couldn't think of what else to do, so that was his plan for now.

It was now his second day in the cavern, but it felt like it had been a month for Marcus. With very little light, his mind was starting to play tricks on him. There had been several times that he thought he'd seen something in the distance, only to go investigate and find nothing. If there had been something, he'd kill and eat it. At least that's what he was thinking at the moment.

Hunger pains only last for a couple of hours, a day at most. After that the pain goes away

it is replaced by a constant hurt, not as bad as before, but a constant gnawing feeling. He knew that a person could survive several weeks with no food, but he really didn't want to test that out. He thought that maybe there was some fish in the pitch black lake, but if there was he couldn't see them in such low light.

The amulet that he had couldn't work forever. About halfway through the day it had given up on him, and all he could see was the faint glow from the plants. He had to put it up against some bones in the hope that it would recharge faster. It had paid off, in only four hours it had started working again. So when he went to sleep later he'd have to make sure to charge it up, just like a cellphone. Marcus had a good laugh at himself when he thought of the comparison.

"One more day, just one more, then you're getting in my belly." Marcus said in a comical voice while he rubbed the leathery shell of the egg. As he said that his stomach growled in agreement, this made him start to laugh hysterically.

Holding his side that started to cramp from laughing, Marcus slowly stopped. He was in a tight spot, and it wasn't getting any better. A little bit of humor helped relax him a bit, but he still needed to figure something out. Letting out a sigh, he placed the amulet next to the skull of the winged serpent, and rolled over to go to sleep.

.....................….

Today is the day that he will enjoy his omelett. Although he wasn't looking forward to it, he didn't think that he had much of a choice. After failing for the last two days to make any headway with the passageway, he was starting to lose hope. Today he would go out into the dark lake to see if he could find anything. If he did that'd be great, if not he'd try to survive as long as possible, he really didn't want to think too far ahead.

Peering over the edge into the pitch black water, he shuddered. He didn't think anything was alive down there, at least he hadn't seen the water be disturbed at all. Still, not being able to see into the water made the back of his mind scream out in fear. It's the same as swimming in the middle of the ocean, you didn't know what was in the darkness underneath you. He placed his hand in the water, it was icy cold, he had been drinking from the lake over the last couple of days so at least he knew it wasn't contaminated.

He striped down into his birthday suit and made a neat pile of his armor next to the rocky shore. He still had the amulet around his neck and took a handful of the glowing blue flowers, he would take them down with him in the hope of being able to see in the dark waters. He waded into the water, it wasn't an immediate drop off, it slowly tapered off for about twenty feet. He looked down, he could see his knees but not his feet, he was only in water up to his waist. Marcus took a couple slow steps forward, suddenly he fell off the edge. He was plunged into the icy cold waters up past his head.

He resurfaced, taking in a gasp of air. It would take him a moment to get used to the water. He really wasn't worried about hypothermia, not with his reinforced body. He still felt the cold though, and it was very uncomfortable. He took a deep breath, crossed his fingers, and dove down into the icy depths. The mix of the amulet and glowing flowers actually helped him quite a bit. It allowed him to see about five feet into the water, at least he could see if something came up to greet him.

After about two minutes, Marcus had to go back to the surface to get a breath of air. Being able to hold your breath that long is already a notable feat, but he had to last longer than that if he wanted to find a way out. As he dove back down, he tried out an idea that popped into his head. He tried to circulate the magic power in his body, hoping to be able to extend the time he could stay under the water. While under the water he concentrated, as he did so he noticed the light coming off the flowers started to dim.

It made sense, Lucius the magician said that every living creature, plant or animal produced magical power. That would explain the glow from the flowers, it wasn't bioluminescence, it was magic radiating from the plant. His idea bore fruit as well, he could stay down in the water for five minutes before having to resurface. It did limit how far he could see though, but he hadn't found any tentacle monsters yet so he should be fine.

The flower's magic lasted long enough for three trips under the surface. He'd made it all the way down to the floor of the lake, about seventy-five feet. After going back to retrieve more flowers, he was nearing the far wall of the lake. If there was any way out it would be there. As he hugged the cave wall on his way down, he finally found what he was looking for.

There was an underwater tunnel about six feet wide and tall enough to walk through unhindered. It was just as black as the lake water, he also had no idea how far it went underwater. He wasn't ready to risk running out of oxygen finding out, but he had another idea for that.

He made his way back to the shore, took his warhammer and knocked a large serrated tooth out of the skull of the winged serpent. He would cut the bottom out of the egg, using it as a do it yourself diving bell. With an egg that size it should allow him maybe a couple of hours of air, more than enough to get to the other side he hoped.

"Sorry about this little guy, at least I'm not going to eat you now." Marcus said as he rubbed the leather shell. He didn't need to eat the insides if he was about to escape, although he should bring something with him, he didn't want to drag whatever was inside with him.

As he was about to make his first cut, he stopped. He looked at the egg, his brows furled, he could swear that he thought he saw it move. He shook his head and placed the tooth towards the bottom of the egg. He would make an opening just big enough to empty the egg out. He wanted to keep most of it intact.

As he pressed the tooth into the shell, the shell pushed back, like a baby kicking his mother's womb. Marcus stopped what he was doing and watched. The egg didn't move for a short while, then it bulged out once again. Obviously whatever was in the egg was trying to hatch. Marcus couldn't figure out why now, of all times, it would decide to hatch. It had to be down here for hundreds of years. It was almost as if it was hibernating until Marcus started to mess with it, waking it up.

Marcus acted quickly, if he let it hatch on its own it would likely ruin the shell, preventing him from escaping. He pressed the tip of the tooth into the egg and started to gently cut around the diameter. He didn't want to injure whatever was inside, he could maybe use it somehow, or just eat it. After about ten minutes of cutting, he was finished.

Very little liquid drained out of the egg. The baby must have used up almost all the yolk just to survive this long. He lifted the egg up from the bottom, revealing what was inside. It was the spitting image of what was carved on the walls, except much smaller, and cuter. It was a pale golden color, with scales covering its entire body, about eight feet long. Small wings were flexing off its back, moving for the very first time. Its head looked just like a dragon's head, broad forehead and jaws. It had little stubs growing out the top of its head, just like a newborn calf. It still hadn't opened its eyes, but was taking slow and steady breaths.

Marcus just stood and stared at the baby snake thing. Soon it opened its big doe eyes, it picked its head up and looked around. It was very dark in the cave, so Marcus didn't know if it would be able to see very well, but his doubts were unfounded. The baby soon looked straight into Marcus's eyes, and he could see intelligence behind its stare. It made a cooing noise, sounding similar to a pigeon. It slithered its way over to him, Marcus held out his hand, wanting to pet it.

Marcus was actually very fond of animals. He wasn't able to have any pets in his apartment, or he would have had at least a dog. He could have had a fish, but a fish just wasn't the same as a dog or a cat. The baby winged serpent paused a moment, moving its head back and forth cooing, debating on what to do. Making up its mind, it pressed its head into Marcus's palm.

Its scales were cool and soft, but still had a certain hardness to them. When it moved forward it kept its head up, about to Marcus's waist, so he didn't have to bend over to pet it. Its wings were horizontal to the ground, when spread out it maybe had a wingspan of six feet, almost as long as its body. He wondered if it could fly already, but doubted it. It seemed as if it was really enjoying Marcus's touch, cooing and moving its head back and forth with its eyes closed, happily.

"Well, do you want to try and get out of here?" Marcus asked his new pet. He was most definitely going to keep it. Not only did he find it adorable, it was most likely a dragon. Although it had the body of a snake, everything else screamed dragon. It was probably just a different species or subspecies. There was nobody in their right mind that wouldn't want a dragon for a pet.

Although he did think about eating it before, that was when he didn't know there was a way out. At least a possible way out. He just hoped that his new friend could swim and hold its breath.

The baby dragon cocked its head in a questioning gesture. This just added to its adorableness, he just wanted to keep petting its head.

"We'll figure it out. You just have to follow me, ok?" He said, stroking its head.

"Now we just have to figure out a name for you."