As the four fell, they screamed at the top of their lungs, finding it to be a long way down. Just as quickly, however, they stopped falling. Tommy, Maggie, Antonio, and Ruth all opened their eyes and looked down, appearing to be hovering in mid-air. The four found themselves above large spikes on the ground below, but they had stopped moving toward them. Once the panic resolved, they could see how vast the entire place was. Were they inside a mountain that was a cave?

“I remember this place now,” Ruth recalled. “This is the Vast Hollows!”

“Say what?” Tommy gasped. “So judging by the name, you mean we’ll be here for a while?”

“Yeah, we’re going to have a hard time finding the exit to this place.”

“But how are we going to get out of this situation?” Antonio asked while panicking.

Maggie proposed an idea shortly after. “Well, since we have no clue which is a path or not, how about we make a trace?” She suggested.

“But what could we use for that?” Antonio inquired.

“Do you still have some rocks in your bag?”

“Huh? Why would I—?”

“I know.” Tommy interrupted. “Maybe we can use some of our food pellets.”

“But that would be such a waste of food!” Antonio complained.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Maggie asked.

“Well, um...” Antonio pondered.

“I swear, if you say anything involving bodily fluids, I will...”

“That didn’t even cross my mind! Why would I—?”

“Guys, let’s focus on leaving, ok?” Ruth asked nicely, trying to keep his composure.

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The two agreed, but turned their heads away from each other. Tommy grew perplexed by the situation. Why were they not getting along now? He realized that Ruth was right and that they should focus on finding a way out.

Tommy proclaimed they should only use small amounts of food. He dropped small increments and checked which ones stayed up and which fell to the spikes below. The group carefully treaded on the pathways that supported the food droppings and avoid the fall to their doom.

Eventually, everyone made it to the other side of the vast expanse and onto the safe and visible ground.

“We made it!” Tommy cheered, jumping and raising his fists.

“Yeah, for now,” Maggie added. “We should stick together when going through this; getting separated now might not be a good idea.”

“Especially considering that this place is huge!” Antonio exclaimed, his echo booming in the cave.

As they walked on to find an exit, the four came across a fork in the road, multiple pathways that lead to unknown darkness.

“So, where do we go now?” Tommy asked.

“Do we have to go in one of these?” Antonio inquired.

“We might have to."

“It’s between those two.” Ruth pointed out.

“Wait, how can you tell?” Maggie asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“We Orso Loobas have great night vision and can see things from a great distance. These two have similar paths. However, the others are dead ends.”

“Huh, that’s impressive.” Maggie nodded in approval. “But how will we know which one we—?”

“Hey, I got an idea of how we can settle this!” Antonio looked up and pointed at the ceiling. “Do you see that light that we just made over there?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Tommy pondered.

“If we can use that light to reflect it over to one of the paths, we can see how far they go. That way, we can spot the difference and go in the right direction!”

“Hmm, that just might work,” Ruth replied with a nod.

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Maggie asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Don’t underestimate me,” Antonio said with a smug grin, adjusting his glasses.

He proudly took out his glasses and leaned over against a ledge to get the sunlight to reach them. The light beam shined through as it bounced off the spectacles. It entered one pathway and revealed an emblem just above the door. The light touched the symbol on the door, causing it to move to the side and open.

“Whoa, unbelievable. Nice work, Antonio!” Tommy complimented his friend.

“Wow, thanks, Tommy. It was nothing much, though,” Antonio replied sheepishly.

“But now we can keep going and see what lies ahead. It’s great to have you back, man.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m saying I’m glad you’re back to yourself...”

“You’re telling me I wasn't either?”

“Maybe...”

“Why you—”

Antonio chased Tommy around, complete with playful fighting and laughing, not feeling like this in so long.

Maggie interrupted them both by saying that they needed to check something out from the opened doors. The four glanced over as a glowing aqua-colored light peered through the darkness.