Chapter 14

Spelunking for Guns

As we continued through the tunnel, it took a downward slant, leading us deeper underground. I resisted the urge to turn around and run away. The dark, the small enclosed space—it became increasingly hard to stomach the longer we went. Maybe I was claustrophobic after all.

My hand hit something wet and I flinched away. I shined my light down and saw that there were two lines of water trickling down from both sides of the tunnel. I continued on a little further and then some weird plants were sprouting in the water. They looked like mushrooms, with really long stalks. And when my light went over them they glowed. When I turned the light away they held the glow for a few seconds before draining back to darkness.

"What are these things?" I finally asked.

"Not sure. But it's good news for us. This kind of stuff usually means there's a clearing up ahead. And maybe some loot."

I had to be claustrophobic cause a bigger area was way higher up on my desires than loot. I crawled faster, bumping against Stephen's leg. He caught on and sped up himself.

Sure enough, the walls began to get farther apart and we were in about three inches of water, plant life covering the entire tunnel. All weird plants, sort of neon in color it made me think of that old children's show Fraggle Rock. One of the puppets could have popped out from behind any of the plants and rocks, busting into that killer theme song.

It played in my head as we sped forward, the tunnel continuing to widen and the ceiling above raised higher by the second until we were no longer in a tunnel. I exited the final few feet of the smaller tunnel and rolled to the side, getting up onto my feet and taking a huge intake of air. I hadn't noticed but I'd apparently been holding my breath. I wondered how far back that started.

Stephen gave me space but looked worried. I caught my breath all the way and waved. "I'm okay. Definitely claustrophobic though."

"Will keep that in mind for future adventures."

I chuckled and rejoined him, taking in our new surroundings. The very obvious thing that stood out was just how deep the water was now. As I made my way over it really impeded my progress. My feet were completely submerged, giving me flashbacks to the battle in the swamp. The cave was more pleasant though, the water was pristine, almost sparkling with freshness. And the glow from the weird plants gave such a cool atmosphere.

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Actually... it was too bright to be just from the plants. I looked up from the water at my feet to see that it got deeper ahead of us, and a blinding light came from under the surface.

"Is that...?" I started.

Stephen's eyes sparkled. "Loot!"

"Race you there!" I took a running dive into the water.

Stephen was at my side way quicker than expected. His sitting starter Skill really did not fit him at all. I couldn't speak for him but I was sore from our mad dash to the cave and all the crawling through the depths. Before long he passed me and went underwater first.

I held my breath and entered after him, managing to grab onto his leg. I tried to yank him behind me but instead he just pulled me along for the ride. I gave up getting there first and just enjoyed not having to kick my feet.

Stephen didn't seem to mind. Or notice at all, really. His entire focus was on the loot. Now that we were underwater and approaching it at full speed, I could see that it was a magical looking chest. It was pure gold, the plants had bound to it, adding intricate looking designs with their vines. No, more than that, the plants were wrapped so tightly around it that they were the reason it was submerged. I wondered if it started above the water and over time the plants dragged it to the bottom.

That seemed too sinister. Nothing about the plants gave bad vibes. It's possible this was just how the game designers chose to display this particular chest with no thoughts of how it made sense in a real world.

I guess when it came down to it I didn't care about it nearly as much as what was in it.

Stephen stopped right in front of it and I joined him, wondering how we were going to cut the vines without a knife. But he waved at me and took my hand in his. He pointed at the chest. I think I got what he wanted.

We touched it at the same time. The light dimmed and then went out completely. And all was quiet.

I looked over to Stephen, almost missing seeing the chest explode in bubbles and then rocket upward, vines flying every which way. A few of them whacked me in the face, I batted at them.

Stephen let go of my hand and swam after the chest. I went lower, touched the bottom of the cave, and pressed off, rushing up and passed Stephen. He stared at me as I flashed him a peace sign and breached the surface way ahead of him.

I breathed in a huge intake of air as I resurfaced. I made my way over to the chest which now floated on the top of the water, shining brilliantly again.

I could have opened it but he had been nice enough to wait for me to get to it under the water so I decided to return the favor. He came out from the depths so fast that he sent a wave of water in my direction.

His eyes were wild, like he was ready to keep on going full speed. But then he noticed me just floating there, waiting on him.

"Oh. You're waiting."

"Yep, better get over here though, it's getting hard to resist." I pretended to be drawn closer to the chest, hands waving above it.

He laughed and again we were crowded around the chest. My heart raced. I couldn't even fathom how cool the loot would be inside.

"Together?" I asked.

Stephen took my hand again and we pressed our palms against the lock. Unlike the ones from earlier, there wasn't a timed lock. It opened with a satisfying click. A little tune started to play, hyping us up as it slowly opened further. Light streamed from within, blinding me for like the gazillionth time that day.