I spent what seemed like hours hammering away at the wall, chipping off small amounts of obsidian at a time. As I had caused a small landslide on the escaping wall, there was not enough room to use TNT safely... not that I had any... Chiron sat patiently in the corner the entire time, only whimpering now and again. I knew how he felt; trapped in a small hole with no exit, and not knowing what the next step is, and what'll happen as a result! I did the only thing I could think of at the time and kept on mining. After a few hours - a wild stab in the dark, it could've been minutes! - I noticed, once again, the change in pitch of the pickaxe as it struck the obsidian! Eventually it got to the point where only a hollow thunk could be heard until I saw a small crack of light! I attacked the wall with renewed energy and split the crack into a hole, then a gash, then a huge wound! I placed the pickaxe down and stared through the hole, towards the source of the light... I couldn't believe my eyes! Was I really looking at what was there? I took up the pickaxe again and attacked the wall again and again, each time feeling more and more energy course through me! Eventually I had made a big enough hole to walk through, and stepped through it, on a perfectly solid and flat obsidian floor. My God...
I stood there in wonder and awe! There, before my eyes was a temple; constructed of gold and blue stone! The temple... from my dreams! Around the outside, pillars of similar composition soared towards the ceiling! Even from my small open location above the blue stone floor, I could see dark shadows and shapes shifting around... The temple was surrounded by creatures; Creepers, zombies and others that I had never seen before! I needed to get into that temple... I removed the bow from my shoulder, replacing it with a pickaxe and took an arrow out ready! I turned around and called Chiron, who came quickly to my side! He had regained his appearance of that before all this had started; brave and dangerous! I looked back out across to the temple, and began the slow descent down the obsidian stairs towards it, ever vigilant for creatures too close! I got to the blue stone floor and stopped, looking around cautiously for anything that might try to attack us, but nothing came. I made my way past the pillars, noticing that they were composed, not of rock or stone, but of pure gold, and some strange blue substance... Lapis lazuli...? Pushing it from my mind, I continued towards the temple, noticing strange shapes in the shadows. One shape turned when I got close enough, and I readied an arrow, but it just stood there... I stopped, and stared at it, and it did the same! After a few moments, I realised it was a Creeper, but thankfully it wasn't living up to it's volatile nature and just stood there, watching me pass... Other shadows, like that of zombies, lurked in the black... Were they afraid of light? They all seemed to be hiding from it, not daring to be exposed... I ascended the steps to the temple, keeping an eye out for anything until I reached the top, and entered through the doorway! Before me was an odd sight, similar to that of my dream... but not the same! A large vat or container composed of cobblestone sat as lava poured into it from multiple sides...
I circled around it, completely awestruck by it! Was this the main focal point of the temple? What was it used for? Who used it? Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw a flutter of black and I turned to see the end of a black cloak disappear behind the other side of the fountain! I sent Chiron round to the right-hand side whilst I ran, arrow ready, around to the left! We met on the other side... but neither of us could see the source of the black cloak! This was playing out exactly like my dream had! As I stood staring into the strange lava fountain trying to grasp whether this was reality or not, a horrid mechanical scraping sound began from the back of the temple. I turned to look and saw those same red eyes peering out from beneath a slowly ascending wall. There was a loud clunk, the wall stopped moving, and the red eyes moved towards me! Chiron ran forward towards it, despite my calls, distracting the eyes from me, to him! Chiron was about to die if I didn't do anything, and so I fired the arrow at the creature! I missed, but I had regained it's attention in me again. I readied another and fired, this time hitting it in the abdomen! This didn't stop it though... it didn't even slow it down!
It continued approaching, gathering speed! Chiron had begun to chase it towards me, but failed to get it's attention. I fired another arrow, hitting it in one of it's many eyes, but it seemed possessed; completely oblivious to pain or distraction! I managed to fire one last arrow off into one of it's fangs before it had jumped onto me! It pinned me down and tried to sink it's fangs into me, but Chiron had gotten it's attention again by biting at it's leg! The spider looked away, giving me time to grab an arrow from the quiver and driving it into it's head from the mouth up! It hissed and shrieked, spurting purple blood all over the golden floor! It lumbered backwards, reering onto two of it's four sets of legs and finally collapsed against a wall beside the entrance! I stood up, and acquried my bow from the floor. I then sunk another arrow into it's head for good measure... it wasn't getting up any time soon! I turned my attention to Chiron, who had seemed to regain his energy! He greeted me as though he hadn't seen me in years, and after a few moments, I managed to calm him down. So far, everything that had happened, had occurred in my dream... except the strange lava fountain and killing the spider in an unusual way... How had I had that dream...? Or perhaps, I was I now living my dream? Curious, I turned back towards the rear of the temple where the spider had emerged from the wall, and noticed a stream of light coming from behind! There was another passage! Just like the dream... I set off towards the passage, hoping that there wasn't going to be a lava pit...
I readied my bow, trying to remember what was the next bit in the dream; I know there was a long thin passageway, but the thought eluded me! I couldn't remember at all, until Chiron reminded me! He ran off ahead, presumbaly to attack anything it saw before I could, either that or he was acting as a scout... About half way down the passageway, there was a loud thunk and a dart appeared out of the wall, at about chest height! I was only a few metres away from it, and it scared the life out of me! Then I remembered; the dart which fired from a floor-based trap! Chiron had set it off! I called Chiron back to my side, and as he passed over a certain patch, another loud thunk and another dart appeared on the wall! This trap was loaded with more than one dart... I used Chiron as a guide, and sent him a few feet in front of me at a time. After a few moments, another loud thunk sounded and a third dart pierced the wall! I got down onto my hands and knees and began dusting around the general area Chiron had been; there, concealed underneath dust, moss and mould was a small button set into the floor. It was barely even there; easily small enough to not notice stepping on it, and yet Chiron had set it off every time he had crossed it! I decided to play it safe, and contined across the trap on my hands and knees. When I knew it was safe, I stood up and continued along the path! This was exactly as my dream had been... I knew what was next!
As we continued around the corner, I noticed the air becoming warmer and more dry! Chiron had noticed it too it seemed, as he had begun panting! A further few moments and there before us was what I had lest dreamt of; the lava pit! Out across the lava, on the other side, the passageway continued. It was incredibly hot, and the light produced by the molten rock was almost painful to look at! In my dream, I had fallen into this! I hadn't found a way of getting around it... there was no solution I had come across! I stood a few feet from the edge, wondering what to do, when I noticed a small crumbling ledge gong around the right side of the pit! It extended along both sides of the pit, and looked like a perfect way to get across. The only problem was the actual ledge! It looked old and was obviously falling apart. It didn't seem safe, but Chiron seemed adamant to get across, and lept onto the ledge! He stood there, wobbling slightly as he regained his balance, and then trotted along the ledge to the far side, where he then promptly jumped back onto the passageway...
I slung the bow over one shoulder and readied both hands for stability. I didn't even know if the ledge would hold me; obviously Chiron was lighter, but was it still strong enough for me? I decided take the risk and stepped out onto the ledge! As it was a thin ledge, I couldn't walk across it properly; I had to sidestep the entire way, hugging the wall! At one point, I heard a horrible grating sound, and stopped dead, waiting for the inevitable... but after a few moments of not feeling searing pain, I opened my eyes only to find I was still alive, and the ledge had not crumbled! I took this oppurtunity, and quickly made my way across the rest of the ledge! I had conquered the obstacle that defeated me in my dreams! Stepping back into the passageway, I would've literally jumped for joy if it wasn't for the very low ceiling! I took the bow in hand again and continued down the passageway. After a short while, the passageway took a random direction, and a staircase stood before my path, leading up! I ascended with renewed energy at the defeat of the previous "challenge", although cautious enough to be weary of any new obstacle that had yet to show itself! As I climbed, I heard strange noises coming from above, and realised that the staircase lead to a small room. I lowered myself down, and convinced Chiron to stay behind me, and we crept slowly towards the source of the noise! As I got closer, I realised that the noises were voices... well a voice... coming from a single person! It wasn't English... or Latin, but it was definately human! I readied an arrow and stood up, looking into the room and saw the hooded figure in black staring at me, with his back to a strange purple... thing! I must've been distracted by the purple thing, because the next thing I knew, I was letting the figure escape; it laughed maniacally and then ran towards the purple shimmer and disappeared from view... again!
For some reason, I don't know why, I fired the arrow into the purple shimmer, but it did not do anything! It disappeared too! I ran towards it, but as I did, the purple shimmer began to fade until there was nothing there! What was this thing? It was like a gateway... or doorway, which didn't lead anywhere! The figure had literally disappeared before my eyes! I looked around the room, expecting another secret wall to shift and another creature to attack me, but nothing! The walls remained still! I turned my attention back to the gateway; it was made of obsidian blocks, arranged into a strange doorway! The obsidian couldn't be the key to this doorway though because otherwise there would be doorways all over the place where lava and water met! What made this obsidian so special? My only thought was that the lapis lazuli stones had something to do with... I don't know why, but it just seemed like they might be involved! This lead me to remember about the strange book and the experiment it detailed; were these things all related? My head was swimming with confusion; I didn't know what was what any more... Was I dreaming, or was this reality? What IS reality any more? I slumped against the obsidian gateway, and sat there for some time, trying to gather my thoughts. It was useless; it was like fishing with a net full of holes! I couldn't grasp any of it! I stared up at the ceiling, whilst Chiron sat there panting beside me! He was completely oblivious to all of this... He then got up and walked through the gateway and to the wall behind it... or what looked like a wall! I stood up and looked at Chiron and realised that the apparent "wall" was actually another staircase. The way the room was arranged created an optical illusion behind the gateway! This didn't rule out the actual sorcerous nature of the gateway, but perhaps it lead to wherever the hooded figure had gone!
I passed through the now inactive gateway and ran up the stairs, two at a time! I didn't care if there were any traps, I just wanted to know where this led to! The stairs seemed to go on for ages, and I was breathless after a few minutes of constant running! Chiron had slowed down too, and was walking behind me! After a few minutes, I noticed the top of the staircase ended with wall! Not a dead end, surely? As I got closer though, I noticed the passage bent around to the left and continued going up. And then I saw it; natural light! Natural light was streaming from around the corner! I began running again with renewed energy, towards the light and I burst out onto the sand! I was on the surface! The staircase led to the surface! We had made it! I had essentially battled my dream and escaped! I turned around and looked back at the entrance of the tunnel and noticed that it actually descended beneath the sea!
Chiron emerged from the staircase and bounded straight at me, knocking me to the ground! It seemed he was as happy to leave the underground as I was! I sat there, beneath a tree, laughing to myself! I was so elated... there was no other way of putting it! I dove into the bag and dug out the bread and meat I had managed to take from the tent before the zombie attack, and sat there eating! I was well aware that I hadn't a clue where I was, but I didn't care! Anywhere was better than trapped underground with the unknown! Then I noticed something... A small group of trees of to the right... something familiar about them I couldn't quite place... I sat there under the tree until the sun began to go down, looking at the small group of trees... where had I seen them before? They were just trees, but I knew I had seen that formation before... Then it hit me! I stood up and ran to a small hill and looked towards the East... What I saw I couldn't believe!
Off in the distance was a very familiar green object! I climbed down from the hill and began running towards it, knowing in my heart what it was! As I got closer I saw the object in full view... sat next to another... The tents... I was back at the tents! How could that be? The whole place was under this small island? The temple, the lava pit, the mile after mile of corridor and tunnel and passageway... under an island only a few hundred square feet!?! I had surveyed this entire island back when I arrived... I had been down to every edge of it and I had never seen ths cobblestone entrance leading underground! How could I miss it... it was as obvious as white spot on a black background... How could I miss it? The only explanation I could think of was it wasn't there when I first looked...! This added to the mounting confusion... I didn't know what to think any more! I wanted to be back at the house! It was safe! I knew everything there! There were no confused mysteries to worry about! That was it! I'm going back to the house... tomorrow!
It's dark now, and I've decided to stay in the tent for the final night! I wouldn't have made it back across the water before nightfall... so I'm going to stick it out here for the moment! I'm going on a hunch that these creatures don't like light, and I've lit up the entire campsite with torches and fires! I only hope I've got the right end of the stick, and that they're not actually attracted to light! So much has happened today, and yet I've been unable to answer anything! The hooded figure, the spider, the trap and the lava pit... all from my dream! Was the dream a warning? If so I completely ignored that one... I can't wait to get back to the house and message HoN Co. about everything that's happened since leaving! Maybe they'll know about some of this... maybe they can answer some of the confusing things that have happened... I've decied to leave the thinking to tomorrow too; I was exhausted and all I wanted was to sleep! Tomorrow may bring answers, or it may bring more confusion. Either way, it's a night's sleep away!
Syeonyx signing off
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