A Grand Adventure

     He noticed one pet in the dancing and crowd surfing at the front. “These crazy victory day pets!” he thought to himself. He narrowed his eyes a little more and realized that it was actually Neri! Minty Rock Ice Cream in one hand and a band poster in another, the crowd eventually catapulted her on stage, where she danced artfully before gently being escorted backstage. Before she disappeared behind the curtain, she shot a furtive look out toward him, locked eyes as if to say, “Are you coming?!”

     They’d outlined a plan to slip away during the middle of the second set, fourth song (Rock Ugga!), but it seemed like Neri decided to expedite their plan. Trying to loosen up, Solon tried to casually walk down the stairs, but his stiffness and regal air conveyed through his body language and it wasn’t long before concert security asked him his intentions.

     “Where are you going sir?” the fierce Tyrannian Usul asked.

     “Well, I uh… lost my friend and have to go to the bathroom… and I wanted… uhm some band merchandise,” said Solon digging himself into a deeper hole.

     Just as the sceptic look flashed across the guard's face, Neri came out of nowhere and put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry for my friend here! He gets confused sometimes after a few too many blows in the ole’ Ugga Dome! He’s with me!” she bantered as she flashed a VIP badge at the guard.

     Looking convinced, the Usul stepped away and let the two pass. Sauntering around like she owned the place, Neri took him through stone passageways covered in dust, with bits of prehistoric green plants poking through the cracks in the wall. Solon heard the music get louder and louder as they approached the stage. The noise was almost deafening now and Solon felt that even his eyes were vibrating from the sound.

     Neri pointed to a nondescript part of the dark room to the side of the stage. Everything else in the room seemed to be newer, except for a corner in the side. Solon tried to clear his head to think, but all he heard was the manic music. Suddenly the music stopped. Neri’s face fell.

     “We have about one minute to get out of this room, one way or another! The band will be here soon, and we can’t be!” Neri whispered. “Look, you can’t sit here and analyze everything. Please just use your instinct and jump!” she said urgently.

     “I reason things out, this isn’t me.” Solon argued.

     “You are about to reason us both to places we don’t want to be, so I’d get to looking,” Neri fired back.

     Solon went over to the old corner of the wall. He started feeling around with his hooves and running his fingers along the dusty edges. As he worked, he started to hear voices grow louder and louder- the band was coming back!

     Neri ran out suddenly, but Solon couldn’t focus on her. He needed to do this for his king. After some screaming, the crowd began to chant, “Encore, ENCORE, ENCORE!” and the loud voices of the band, started to grow quieter as they walked back to the stage. Breathless, Neri came back to find Solon, covered in dust and laying on the floor, looking for clues.

     Solon grabbed his travel backpack, and after a bit of digging, found a basic Starlight potion.

     “You know I was kidding about the Battledome, I hope you really haven’t lost it.” Neri said snarkily.

     “Many people use Starlight potion in the Battledome, but I’ve found alternate uses for it when combined with other magical items. Once when on a diplomatic trip in Meridell, I discussed the properties with Kayla and we came up with this brew. It can illuminate secrets. Well, theoretically. We only had the chance to make the one bottle and didn’t test it….” said Solon excitedly.

     “Great, so our chances of success are based on… your little science experiment with that Meridell Kauvara wannabe?” Neri joked.

     Solon shushed her, and uncorked the bottle, dumping the contents on the old stone with bated breath.

     Immediately, the stone lit up 4 seemingly unrelated stones. Solon quickly said, “Press those two stones over there as I press these!”

     As the two pressed their respective stones, a lighted door glowed blue. As Solon went to open the door, there was a loud grating noise, and the floor in front of the door slid away to reveal a slope that descended into the darkness.

     Neri said, “No time like the present!” as she jumped in, grabbing Solon’s leg on the way down. Just as Solon made it through, a loud grating shut the secret door above them with a loud crack.

     Haphazardly sliding sideways down the dark and dusty slope, was not Solon’s idea of a funny joke, but Neri was having a blast. After what seemed like an abnormally long amount of time to be sliding, their descent started to slow, as the air became damper and colder around them. The sudden temperature change was a bit shocking and sent a shiver through Neri.

     Soon, they seemed to be at the end of the slope, they picked their tangled limbs up from the hard, caverns and attempted to look around, but it was too dark.

     “Have any more fancy potions in your bag?” Neri asked from somewhere left of him.

     “I’m afraid you probably damaged them all when you decided to take me down with you.” Solon snapped.

     “I think you should be thanking me. You probably wouldn’t have decided yet to jump. You would still be analyzing everything and the door would have snapped shut with no way of reopening by yourself. It was my way of guaranteeing your arrival.” Neri said smartly.

     Just then, Neri noticed she had a bit of the starlight potion concoction that spilt on her cloak as she brushed the wall. Wiping the tincture off her hands and onto the floor, Neri gasped. The tincture sent an illuminating blue pulse of light down the cavern passageway.

     “Let’s go that way!” She laughed.

     Solon looked up. That laugh sounded familiar. “Wait…. Are you….?”

     “Took you long enough. Yes, I’m the long lost daughter of the King… blah blah blah. Can we move on please?”

     Solon looked a little embarrassed. “He doesn’t really talk about family much, I’m sorry Princess.”

     Neri glared. “If you ever call me that again, I won’t change you back into a Koi when we’re done. Can Tyrannian Moehogs even swim?” she warned.

     Solon, attempting professionalism, moved on to the present matter. “Let’s go find some treasure Neri.”

      -------------

     Neri swore that they had walked for a whole day. The strange pulsing light illuminated the path twisting through strange caverns with strange ruins. Upwards and downwards, hills and valleys a plenty, the two walked and walked. Many a Gathow and Donkasaur roamed through the caverns. In fact, there was a very plentiful petpet life deep in the bosom of Tyrannia. After what seemed like an eternity, and a few well-eaten snacks from Solon’s pack, the blue pulsing light fizzled out into nothing. After so little light for so long, their eyes were becoming accustomed to the caverns. Looking around, Neri and Solon were in a colossal, domed enclosure. Two paths branched out. One path seemed to lead to a water source and another to a small enclosed room. Deciding to check out the room first, Neri felt around looking for anything unusual.

     “I feel something!” She muttered excitedly. Just then, there was a sound of many pebbles falling and Neri’s hand went through into open air. Bracing one limb with Solon, Neri felt around in the open space, to discover a rope.

     “It’s a climbing rope!” Neri exclaimed.

     “Oh no. Oh no. No…. No no no…” muttered Solon. In his head, he’d been mentally trying to track their progress through the Plateau. He had his suspicions, but…

     “We are in the Lair of the Beast Neri.” Solon said solemnly.

     “That’s not good,” Neri said with a small voice.

     -------------

     After a few hours to think through their options, the two decided that they had already come this far to give up. There were reasons other people did not find the treasure. They would find the treasure. They would be different.

     Reading the tablet clue back again, Solon kept repeating the poem out loud. “Place in the place, in the dark in the space, up and up feel the rock, three times you should knock…”

     “Okay, I’m not sure what we need to “place” or in what “place” but perhaps up and up means climbing the rope?” Solon said, thinking out loud.

     Neri said, “Brilliant. I’ll go first!” And she crawled through the pebbles, reached for the rope and proceeded to climb.

     Thinking he should be used to Neri’s leaping mentality by now, Solon started to think about how he would tell King Kelpbeard that his long lost daughter plunged to a terrible demise because Solon let her climb through the Lair of the Beast on a rickety rope… the mental conversation wasn’t going well, so he redirected. “How’s it going?” he asked quietly, unsure of exactly where the legendary beast was.

     “It’s fun! Glad to use my arms after all that walking! Okay, so what am I looking for again?” Neri asked.

     “Maybe a rock in the dark? Somewhere to knock?” guessed Solon.

     “Wow, that was supremely unhelpful,” Neri giggled. “Actually, it’s much darker right here…. And there is a tiny ledge for… WOAH! AHHHH!” she screamed.

     Solon heard her slipping and quickly braced the rope so she had better traction. “You okay?”

     Neri was a bit shaken, but replied, “I’m okay. I think I found the area it’s talking about. There is a small rectangle that seems to have a strange dark tint to the surface. It’s very slippery, but perhaps it’s what we are looking for?”

     Solon secured his bag and started his ascent up the rope. As soon as he arrived at the area that Neri pointed out, he felt a hum of excitement. “I think this is it!” Balancing on the slippery crevice and feeling around the cavern, he felt a rectangular indent in the wall.

     From down below, Neri said, “Hey- this is the same rock as the tablet is made out of!”

     All at once, Neri and Solon said, “Place in the PLACE!”

     Solon summarized, “The tablet is what goes in the space!” Climbing down to get the tablet, the two slowly made their way up the rope together, bracing against the wall and crevice indentations of the cave.

     Once they reached the destination, Solon took a leaf out of Neri’s book and placed the tablet straight into the etched stone with an easy and loud “CLICK!”

     The opposite side of the cave started shaking and gravel and rocks started to break and fall aside to reveal a small tunnel, only big enough to crawl through. With a dexterous swinging motion, one by one, the pair swung into the dark hole. The hole was flat for a while, but eventually ascended upwards, until the pair were quite literally rock climbing. The space was tightly enclosed, and one small slip or misstep set them back a few minutes to regroup.

     Eventually, Neri in the lead as usual, came to a stop when she reached a wooden door. “Whatever is on the other side of this door, we will face together.”

     “Together,” agreed Solon, with a slight smile.

     Knocking three times above her head, the door opened ominously to a giant, dark room.

     Hoisting themselves through the top, the partners heard a faint rustling. With no warning, hot, angry fire burst on either side of their vision. After being in the dark so long, the light was blinding. A loud “ROAR!” echoed through the cavern and Neri and Solon were paralyzed with fear. Blinded by the fiery light, it was hard to make out what beast was making such a racket. Either way, Solon knew it’s wasn’t a friendly roar.

     Traveling so far to just run back home was not an option, so Solon started to look around. “Neri, do what you do best! Distract it!”

     “Not it! Her! She’s a mother!” Neri exclaimed, pointing at a nest, still blurry to Solon’s eyes.

     Just as Solon was looking for a nearby rock he might be able to defend himself with, a strange sombre melody started to echo around the caverns. The beastly roaring subsided as the melody ruminated through the very rocks and into his being.

     Neri was singing.

     My sweet little child, my sweet little dear,

     I will keep you safe from harm.

     Momma loves you momma is near,

     With love, you will disarm.

     My sweet little child, my sweet little dear,

     Even when it feels too much.

     Hold close to my heart, you’re always near,

     Even when we’re far from touch

     The sweet melody surprised the mother beast, who just wanted to protect her progeny. Though cautious, the beast seemed more at ease. The haunting melody continued as Neri and Solon edged their way closer to the beast, closer to danger. Solon noticed a faint break in the rock- a door!

     Slowly motioning to the still-singing Neri, they very slowly proceeded to the cavern.

     My sweet little child, my sweet little dear,

     You could never not be enough.

     Even when you’re struck with fear,

     Know you are the diamond in the rough.

     As they reached the door, much too close for comfort for either of them to the beast, Solon gently pushed the door.

     It wouldn’t budge.

     Motioning to Neri, they pushed together, her words echoing around the cavern like birdsong, and the door swung open triumphantly. Quickly now, the pair ran through.

     “EUREKA!” Neri shouted.

     “We did it!!!” yelled Solon even louder.

     Treasure far as the eye could see was in piles all around. They did it… together.

     -------------

     Every year, around Tyrannian Victory Day, there is a strange sight in Tyrannia. Orange and brown flags in hand and Yes Boy Ice Cream hats on, two backpacking Maraquan friends visit the Lair of the Beast together. Why they come is still a mystery, but they’ve never missed a single celebration.

      The End.