Ridley stood next to an old wooden lifeboat. Before him laid what appeared to be a simple small island covered in old cracked stone with several tall hills made of more stone. Ridley looked back at the crew. One of the men passed him a cutlass, a pistol belt with a flintlock pistol in it and a sack. As he wrapped the belt around his waist Captain Reed approached him, once more talking to him in an empathetic tone.

“Ridley, I need you to go to that island and collect a few gems for me.” Ridley looked at her with confusion.

“Why gems? And what do they look like?”

“These gems are precious and valuable. They come in all sorts of sizes but never the less they are mostly black with white spots on them. Collect as many as you can and signal us with the pistol when you are done.”

Ridley looked down at the boat and noticed there was a rope tied to one end of the bow. He examined the sword and the pistol with unease. Something wasn’t right about this. But he had no choice in complaining now.

“Why me?” He thought to himself. “Why not any of the others?” But if this was the one sure fire way of getting home, he had to take it. Better not ruin his chances.

“And after you get your precious stones we make way to New York?” Ridley asked as he stepped into the lifeboat.

“Of course. You have my word.” Captain Reed said as she placed her right hand over her heat. She quickly turned her head and without hesitation changed her tone.

“Lower him, now.” She said in a quick hard tone. The crew around her scrambled and began lowering the lifeboat down into the water. Ridley looked back up at the crew, sat down and began to row towards the stoney island.

“Goddamn pirates.” He grumbled to himself. “Why do I gotta go and pick up their PRECIOUS stones?” He mumbled with sarcasm. “Goddamn bastards want their fucking stones, oh I’ll give them their fucking stones.” He grumbled to himself some more. “They better make do on their end or else no one is getting their fucking stones. Fucking pricks.” Ridley said as he continued to row. His wrists and feet strained as he made his way to the island. As he stepped off he turned around once more only to see the lifeboat be whipped back out towards the ship.

“GREAT,” He said to himself. “This is where they leave me to die. Fuck.” Ridley looked around.

“Rubble. And more rubble.” He said pointing at the random stones around him. He let out a grunt as his head started to throb with pain. He had to start somewhere so he walked around the island in search of the little black gems. Nothing seemed little black gems to him so he started to search inward of the island. The stones were old and slightly cracked but they held steady as he climbed around them.

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As he got up the side of one of the hills he noticed a draft coming from the inside of the stone. He placed his hand on it and soon found a crack. Ridley got curious and decided to search around. There he found the entrance to a cave. He looked down into the abyss and noticed there was a stone staircase that led further down into the darkness. Ridley pulled out his sword and started to venture down into the cave.

The light around him slowly faded as he descended down the steps. He could feel the darkness around him start to surround and cover him like a blanket. Suddenly there was a misstep. He jumped only to realize he hit solid ground. He was now at the bottom of the staircase. He took another step forward and seemed to kick something on the ground. He picked it up and held it to the light. It was a black gem with a small white spot on the side. Ridley let out a cheer as he packed the gem in his bag. He quickly sheathed his sword and dropped to his hands and knees and started to feel around on the ground for more gems. He soon realized that they were everywhere down here. Most of them were further in the back. But then a thought crossed his mind. “Why me? Why not them?” He thought to himself. His bag was starting to feel full. Now was the time to leave as fear started to creep up on him.

Just as the fear got the better of him and made him turn around and head back up the stairs he heard voices. Tiny voices being carried by the wind and then a whirring mechanical sound that caused him to stop. Ridley could feel his heart race as he turned and faced the direction of where the sound was coming from. There was a sudden change in the air. Everything around him grew hotter and hotter. Ridley took a step back towards the staircase. Then he saw a tiny light. His heart leaped as he did. He tumbled towards the wall and landed on the ground as a great big fireball scorched the area around him. In the brief moment of light he saw why no one else wanted to come down here. Because they already sent a few down. And Ridley was staring into the empty burnt out eye sockets of one of them. He screamed in horror and shuffled away.

Sweat was pouring down his head as he clung to the wall. The air suddenly grew cold and quiet. Then the sound of metal clanking on the ground followed and then a strange tiny voice was heard.

“Gods be damned!” The voice called out. “The blasted thing blew another pipe.” More sounds of metal clinging together could be heard.

“Hello?” Ridley called out. There was a brief silence.

“Oh!” The voice said in a curious manner. “Someone still alive on the other side. I heard ya squeal like a goblin and thought you were dead.”

Ridley took a few deep breaths. He suddenly felt something warm running down his leg. He felt around in the dark and was met with a great pain in the side of his leg. He let out a cry.

“Did ya hurt yourself, sonny?” The voice called out.

“My leg!” Ridley yelled out. He felt around his leg some more and felt something sharp protruding out of it.

“Well hobble your way over here. I used to be a doctor. I can take a look at it and patch you up.”

Ridley started to panic. He looked up at the long staircase ascending up towards the light and felt helpless. The pain started to throb and remind him that he was slowly dying.

“Fuck.” He said to himself.

“Time’s a wastin, bub. And your blood too.” The voice called out. Ridley gritted his teeth and started to move towards the voice, groping at the air with one hand and his other clutching the bag full of gems. The pain shot up his leg with every step. He didn’t know where he was going but he had no choice. A few more steps into the darkness and then he was met with the soft glow of pink light. It appeared to be radiating from the cracks in the ground about ten feet in front of him. He heard the ground around him start to crack. He took a few more steps towards the light and fell through the floor.

As he fell the pink light burst forth from underneath him and as he fell he could have sworn that for a brief moment he stopped falling all together. He didn’t land on anything, he was just floating there for a second. It was only a quick second before he continued to fall and landed on a wooden table.