Mine snakes lived in caves deep underground. That was part of why the details were vague on exactly what he needed to retrieve. It was clear that the more he retrieved, the better the reward would be.

The entrance itself wasn’t as far as Soral expected, but it was surrounded by people. As he approached they started to take notice of him.

“You should head back,” one warned him, “This is a mine snake den.”

“I know,” Soral replied, “That’s why I am here.”

“This isn’t a place to prove your bravery,” another spoke up with unhidden frustration.

Soral frowned. The way everyone was acting, were mine snakes more dangerous than he thought? Why was everyone gathered her in the first place?

“I am here for the job,” he told them, and shoved the paperwork at them, hoping that would end the interaction.

It immediately changed their perception of him, but a lot of people started whispering and the looks morphed to those of pity.

“Poor lad.”

“Another sacrifice….”

“Be careful, young man! Don’t go into the treasure chamber.”

Sacrifice? There was a treasure chamber? Contrary to their intention Soral was taken by curiosity. If everything went wrong he would be rescued in a couple days, right? He felt a tingle of excitement go through him. His opponents were just some snakes. Time to throw caution to the wind.

He stashed the papers away and entered the cave as everyone watched him. The first part of the cave was standard. Dark, musty, with some moss clinging to crevices in the stone. As he got farther in he began to notice small holes dotting the cave walls. Each whole was two to three inches in diameter and too deep for him to see the end of them.

A chill went down his spine as he stared into one. Could a mine snake fit in a whole like that?

He continued down the tunnel until it started to branch off and narrow. He paused and pulled the paperwork back out to see if it mentioned anything about a path. The light glow from the moss may have been enough to see where he was going, but not enough to read, so he gave up on that and chose a random path to follow.

That quickly turned out to be a mistake as the path grew suddenly narrower forcing him to scoot along sideways. His stubborn nature prevented him from turning back and choosing another, though. As he shuffled slowly along he began to hear a slow echo of drips getting closer. Not long after, the path slowly widened, but grew shorter instead.

It was times like these Soral was thankful for his small stature as he did not even have to crouch when the ceiling dipped. There was a curve and the path suddenly opened into a large cavern that was flooded with light in comparison to the rest, temporarily blinding him. The cave was filled with glowing moss, as well as some glowing flowers, odd fluorescent rocks, and some shining vines that clung to the roof.

In the center of the room there was a large pile of things. Shiny things, pretty things, random things, and important looking things. At the top of the pile was some kind of silver egg about the size of his head. An odd swirling pattern came and went as he turned his head.

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Here was the treasure, but where were the snakes? This felt every bit like a trap. Were mine snakes intelligent enough to make traps? This must be why the crowd from earlier had been so worried. He had also been told, very specifically, not to enter the treasure room. Soral kinda wanted to see what would happen once he did, and there was no way to retrieve all the stolen items without going inside.

One careful step, followed by another. So far so good. Soral carefully looked around and saw no signs of snakes even though he was inside. Maybe they only attacked if you touched their things? He walked straight for the pile and reached for a book with a gilded cover. As soon as he touched it he heard a crumbling sound and a chorus of hisses that almost seemed to be saying, “That is mine!”

He turned to see the exit blocked by hundreds of snakes, hanging out of the holes in the walls. It was impossible to say exactly how long they were, but they were definitely longer than he was expecting. They came in all kinds of colors, too. Some vibrant and almost glowing, others a dark gray to match the stone walls.

Every single one of the snakes had their eyes locked on him, and the book in his hands. Soral carefully set it down to see what would happen. The snakes watched the movement and seemed to calm, sliding slowly out of their holes and approaching the pile as if Soral no longer existed. He couldn’t move without stepping on one, and he doubted they would let him just leave.

He also refused to leave without any goods. Should he return empty-handed, all of this would have been for nothing and he would be stuck eating those rations again. The idea of that was far more terrifying and disgusting than the snakes surrounding him. Now, what was the most valuable thing here?

The egg glinted in the light and caught his eyes again. It definitely seemed valuable, but it might not belong to anyone. Some of these things were stolen from the forest, not the people. Still, the egg had an enchanting feel to it and he couldn’t help but want it. He shifted the pack off his shoulders and pulled a large sack from inside it. If he filled the sack he might not make it out of the narrow exit, but there might be another way out.

If not, Soral glanced at the snakes. Exactly how powerful was the explosion they made when they died? He noticed the snakes were watching him again, eyeing his pack and bag greedily. Did these snakes have no standards as thieves?

Boldly staring the snakes down, he started to fill the bag, not looking what he was tossing inside. That was when he found out another interesting fact about mine snakes.

They could fly.

A couple of the snakes shot across the room and swiped the bag right out of his hands. They were strong too. He wasn’t going to be able to bag anything while they were watching. There were too many to kill without destroying everything. Soral started to feel frustrated. What annoying nuisances. No wonder no one wanted to deal with them.

As he stood there quietly the snakes began to fight amongst themselves for the bag they had seized. This time he was sure he heard one of them hiss “Mine!” as it lunged. The twisted mass of battling snakes only grew larger.

Soral stepped back with a bad feeling. Did they still explode if they were killed by one of their own? If so, this was about to become a massive bomb. He snatched the egg and a couple other items from the pile and tried to run for it.

Some of the snakes not in the battle blocked his exit, hissing ferociously. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. The first snake entangled in combat exploded on the other side of the room, destroying an array of vines and moss and plunging half the cavern in darkness. Not good. Soral clutched the egg tighter.

A rescue in two days? He doubted he would make it that long. Not if things continued as they were. He grabbed a sharp looking rock and chucked it at the snakes blocking his path. A couple dodged but one exploded on impact. Luckily there were no traces left, but that meant if he killed one by hand, that hand would be vaporized.

The egg in his grasp wiggled slightly as his mind churned. Was it going to hatch? Now was really not a good time! Or… was it? The mine snakes suddenly became perfectly still, all eyes on the egg.

Did they want it? Or fear it? Either way this egg was his best chance. Soral held it close again. “Please,” he whispered, “I need to at least eat something delicious before I die.”

Another jiggle. A wobble. A nudge. Then a crack, slowly growing wider. Snap! A large chunk of the silvery shell fell to the ground with a clatter that sounded somewhere between glass and metal. Out of the hole a small, fluffy white paw poked out and lifted the lid of the egg.

A kitten?

“What are you?” Soral asked it. It only blinked its large green eyes in response.

Newly born kittens didn’t look like this, nor did they come out of eggs… Right? And the snakes definitely seemed afraid of it. The kitten licked its lips. Now way.

“Do you want to eat?” Soral asked, “Those explode.”

The kitten cocked its head lightly to the side and reached a paw towards Soral’s face. The paw pad was warm and soft, as if the kitten was trying to comfort him.

This wasn’t time to be worrying about a mysterious and adorable kitten. Soral snatched his sack from the snakes that now avoided his path. It was a bit singed but the bottom was intact. He shoved some more things inside, carefully holding the egg confined kitten as he did so. He was going to make it out, and with as much as possible.

The snakes began to slither back into their holes as he filled the bag, leaving the exit free. The narrow bit of the path was a bit of a problem, but he managed to scoot his way through with both cat and sack of items.

By the time he made it to the main tunnel he was starting to grow attached. The objects were just things, but he wasn’t sure if he could handle returning the kitten. It had saved him, after all. And it was really cute. The bottom half of the kitten was still confined within the eggshell but it didn’t seem to mind.

“Hold on for a moment,” Soral told it and shifted his things. He carefully placed the kitten, egg and all, into his pack, gently pulling the flap over to hide it. “Stay safe in there.” He held the pack in his hands instead of over his shoulder and approached the exit to the tunnel, and daylight.