-----E-----

The further we went through the cave the more beautiful it gets. We didn‘t need our torches due to the bioluminescent from the plants around us. The caverns walls had running water going down, and some small bugs scattered around the vegetation.

In all my life I have never seen anything like this before. I was mostly just surrounded by metal and stone.

„How come there are plants surviving here without Tessera‘s light?“

„I don‘t really know, I am not a specialist when it comes to plants. Maybe these ones just found a way to survive without it.“

It was so peaceful here, the sound of water dropping to the grass and leaves, insects making music around us. I just wanted to lay still and sleep here.

„Hey look! The cave is getting bigger up ahead!“

I looked further into the cave, and sure enough, the cave became much larger. I could see a big tree in the middle with smaller ones beside it. There were boulders around with growing vegetation on their side. There is even a small pond near the cavern wall with fish swimming about. And on the ceiling hung a giant yellow crystal that emitted its own light source.

„Wow, it‘s like a small paradise,“ Letya said with joy.

There were many entrances to this cave, all around here I noticed opened walls that lead to somewhere. I also noticed figures next to the big tree.

„Let‘s get closer to the middle, it looks like there are others around.“

This place must connect the entire cave system, like it‘s the heart of the ecosystem. If I would go on vacation, I would spend my days here.

When walking closer to the tree, I started recognizing the two people there. It was Nia and Franek, no one else.

Nia noticed us and called.

„Hi Ethan! What took you so long?“

She was biting on an apple that grew on the tree. And yes, she was sitting on top of the tree on one of the branches. While Franek was beneath the tree looking at his zettra stones, they didn‘t look like they had energy.

„Good to see that you two are safe,“ Franek said.

„You too, where are the others?“

„We got separated, and our zettra stones got drenched, so we need to be careful when we meet danger.“

„Our stones are also useless, what are we going to do now? Sir.“

„We should wait for the others, but if they don‘t appear in the next hour or two, then we should check out that doorway,“ he said and pointed behind the tree.

There was a door in the cave, so this might be part of the vault?

„Oh right, Ethan!“ Nia said and looked down from the tree. „Do you still have the small box that I gave you?“

„The box?“

She must be talking about the small white square she gave me before, she said it was a tracker.

I searched my pockets, only to remember that I had it stored in my backpack that I let go of when running away the death trap that we fell in.

„Sorry, I lost it when we fell.“

„It‘s fine, I tried to locate you with it, but it wasn‘t working, the dot was acting weird, moving around quickly and flickering.“

Then that means something here was interfering with the signal, so it started glitching out. Maybe because we are underground, or there is something here blocking it?

----------

We waited for an hour and a half, no one showed up. While we waited we caught and cooked up some fish at the pond. It was great, but if I had my cooking equipment with me then I might have made it even better. But it was unlikely because I have never made dinner with fish before, it might have tasted worse than this. The apples were delicious though.

„Alright, they might not be in this cave system, or they might have died. We should continue towards the door and see what is behind it,“ Franek spoke up.

„You sure? I think we should wait a little bit longer, we don‘t really have the firepower with us. Three of us have supportive artifacts, while you have the sword.“

„If we run into trouble that we can‘t face, then our best option is to run for it. And even though you two have swords that aren‘t artifacts, they could still do some damage.“

I thought for a moment.

„Well, you are the leader, so I‘ll follow you, but I still think we should wait. What do you two think?“ I asked the girls.

„I will follow you two, of course,“ Letya answered.

„I‘m fine with whatever you choose, Ethan, but I do still want to wait around for Mr.Guy!“ Nia responded.

„Mr. . . Guy?“

„Yes, Mr.Guy.“

„Are you talking about Reve? Why are you now calling him that?“

„You told me to shorten his nickname, so while I waited around this tree I thought of Mr.Guy.“

„You really are bad at nicknames, what kind of name would you give me?“

„Hm. . I‘ll think about it.“

Franek was writing something on the tree with a knife, likely showing others the way we went.

„Let‘s go and hope to find the way out,“ Franek said.

We followed Franek towards the door, only to find out it was locked, with no keyhole for Franek‘s key.

„What now?“ Letya asked.

„There is writing on the door, and it is in the ancient language of those who built this place.“

The writing was unfamiliar, I couldn‘t read it.

„What does it say? Is it some sort of a puzzle?“ I asked.

„I can read it,“ Franek answered. „It‘s a riddle, and it says, „Those who have come this far, you see. . .““

„Blah blah blah, Frank, let me do this,“ Nia suddenly said and motioned towards the door with her gauntlets.

She was doing something on her holographic panel, and after a few seconds, the door suddenly lit up and opened.

„Aaand there you have it,“ Nia said with a smile.

We all had our mouths open wide.

„Uhm. What? How did you do that?“ Franek and I asked.

„It‘s a secret.“

Letya was clapping for her work. Nia bowed down and thanked her.

„Okay then, that just happened. I have never seen an artifact that could do that.“

„Heh heh.“

„Oh and, Nia, please call me Sir Franek, not Frank.“

„Maybe,“ she said and pulled out her tongue.

I would have imagined something happening after she cheated the system, but nothing appeared.

„Well, let‘s go in.“

It looked like this was part of the vault, the walls and ceiling are the same when we first entered the place. The vegetation was gone, only rocks remained. The walls had lights on them, so it was easy to see.

„Huh, we can already see a room up ahead, this isn‘t some long tunnel like the rest we have been on.“

The room wasn‘t that big, it had some furniture around and a door that had text like the last one.

There are bookshelves, cabinets, chairs. It basically was like a living room. It was covered in dust and webs.

„On the door is a riddle, do I even need to translate it, or can Nia just do that same thing she just did earlier,“ Franek said.

„Easy peasy, Captain!“ Nia saluted Franek and got to work.

„It‘s. . oh whatever.“

Looks like Franek gave up.

The door lit up and opened just like the last time. This really feels like cheating, would we get bad luck in the future when we do this? I hope not.

„And just like that, my gauntlets have lost their power.“

„Ah crap, let‘s hope we don‘t come across a third door.“

„It‘s fine, I can steal some of your energy to feed my artifact.“

„Oh right, you did tell me that a while ago. But I will only give you some of mine if we end up stuck on a riddle.“

We noticed vegetation along the corridor, and in the next room which was as big as the cavern with the big tree, was something in the middle, and it was glowing on a pedestal.

„What is that?“ I asked.

„Let‘s get closer to see what it is.“

We slowly walked over towards the pedestal. There is nothing much else around here, except for plants growing along the walls and the ground, there were also some vines coming from the ceiling.

We saw a hilt embedded in the pedestal, it was likely a sword.

„So what now?“ Letya asked.

„We should be careful, this could be one of the vault‘s traps. This couldn‘t be the treasure,“ Franek said.

„Should we look around and try to find anything el. .“ I stopped talking when I heard metal scrape against stone, I looked back at the pedestal to see Nia holding the sword in the air.

„What the hell are you doing?!“ Franek shouted.

„Huh? Was I not supposed to take this?“

She wasn‘t listening, was she?

We glanced around for anything that might come at us, but nothing came.

„It wasn‘t a trap?“ Letya said.

„This can‘t be right, were there only the two doors to get the treasure?“ I asked.

„If this is the vault‘s treasure, then we went on the hunt for only one weapon? There should be more around here, or maybe this sword is really powerful,“ Franek responded.

Franek took the sword from Nia and inspected it. I also took a glance.

The hilt was gold with a serpents head on each side, and the blade was colored black, the material on the blade was likely of high quality. It didn‘t look sharp, because we already had an artifact on us, so it wouldn‘t want to work with us. But when we place it on the floor, then we could see the sharpness on it.

„This is the vault‘s treasure, goddammit.“

„What? Is something wrong with this?“ I asked.

„I was hoping for something more, but I guess this is fine. When we get back to Tyrida, I am going to have my butler test it out.“

I don‘t get it, why would the treasure be down here? Shouldn‘t it. . . You know what? I don‘t even want to think about this right now. I really just want to go back to space and leave this strange planet behind.

Why did we do all that fighting for a sword? It needs to be special if it was in this vault.

We walked all the way back to the big cavern with the trees. No one was around.

„Well this was boring,“ Nia said. „I barely did anything the entire time down here.“

„You did use some of your grenades on the queen, and you opened up these doors.“

„Yeah, well. .“

Suddenly, the ground started shaking, and we noticed the boulders around us began to move.

We moved closer to each other with weapons ready.

The boulders didn‘t look like any ordinary rocks anymore, their rounded shapes turned into four legs, two arms, and a long tail, I also noticed its four eyes. They were completely protected by their hard rock carapace.

„Uh oh.“

-----V-----

It was still night time, and I talked to the owner of the tavern, who was playing a card game with others and betting their money. I asked if he saw someone come in, and he did and said that the guy reeked of something awful, saying that he smelled like he came from the sewers.

So with nothing else to do, I decided to go to the nearest manhole, I asked where it was and went on my way.

I really didn‘t want to go down there, but this was my only lead to get the thief.

I opened up to the sewers and climbed down, the smell was overwhelming my nose. It was really bad.

My feet landed to the ground, and not even a step further, someone started to talk to me.

„Good day, Sir.“

I glanced around and noticed a guy with a hard-looking helmet. He wasn‘t alone, there were a few others around me.

„Well, hello there, sewer boy. I am going to guess that you are the one who stole from me? I advise you to give it back.“

Strange that he didn‘t go further than the entrance.

„How about a trade?“

„A trade? What am I going to give you? You already stole from me.“

The guy looked down towards my blaster.

„How about that artifact of yours for this strange item that you had.“

„Do you even know what it is? Has the sewers clogged up your mind and turned you into a brainless rat?“

Some of the others around me started to chuckle.

„Oh shut up, so what do you say, trade? Or better yet, give me that blaster and tell me what this does.“

„You really are stupid, aren‘t you? Why would I give up my literal life?“

„Err, well. . if you don‘t comply with my fair trade, then I could just kill you right now.“

„Heh, try it. Sewer-boy-with-a-dumb-looking-helmet.“

None of the sewer people had any ranged weapons, only swords, and stuff, no artifacts. They really must be stupid.

The dumbass‘s friends started to get ready for a fight.

„You don‘t believe that we will take you down? There are more of us than there are of you.“

„I‘m sorry, but I can‘t really hear a dead person. Even though you are standing right there, I can already see the future of you corpse laying beneath you.“

„Huh?“

I drew out my weapon and shot at the thief, he immediately fell down with a hole in his chest. He didn‘t even have armor on, these guys are the worst „sewer-gang“ that I have ever seen.

The sewer thief‘s rat companions started charging at me with their weapons.

The battle was so boring that I couldn‘t even remember if they even managed to hit me. Most of them fell down from my blaster, and the rest started to flee.

Even though I was surrounded, I still won without a scratch.

I moved towards the sewer thief and rolled him by his side, and I saw my key utterly destroyed.

„Ah crap. The idiot landed with his helmet straight to my key and broke it to pieces. How could that even happen?“

How am I going to turn on my spaceship now? I could always hot-wire it until I get a replacement. I guess I‘ll do that then.

I quickly got back my backpack and went out of the sewers before I would smell bad. And dammit, I smelled horribly, even though I was down there for a few minutes.

What am I going to do now? The key is destroyed, Ethan is still out there on his quest, and here I am standing in the open with clothes that stank. I am not really having the greatest day, why did that guy need to go in the sewers? Couldn‘t he have decided to go somewhere else?

Tomorrow morning I am going to clean up my clothes, and hopefully find something to do.

„What a shitty day this was,“ I mumbled.