If I Had a Heart

Morrick stopped at the entrance to the lake chamber, turning his head in Ainsley's direction. "You're sure the creature is dead?" he asked tentatively. "Completely sure?"

Aeshan craned his neck to see around Raptor, and his eyes lit up as he saw where they were. He struggled down from his back and stumbled on shaky legs toward the chest.

"Pretty damn positive," Aumrauth said as he pushed forward to the head of the group, looking out over the water to try to spot the dead body. "I got its blood all over my clothes killing it."

Ainsley nodded in agreement. "It's definitely dead."

In Ainsley's opinion, Aumrauth didn't need to tack a snide comment onto the end of his confirmation. Bad attitudes are the last thing they needed. Given the stress of just being in their current situation, the less hostility they added to the endeavor, the better. Excess aggression could also scare away Morrick, who was their best bet for finding the heart." Ainsley didn't say any of this out loud, though. He knew voicing his concern would do nothing but start more conflict.

"Good." He clicked again, then skirted the lake. "Why are you here?"

"God only knows," Elias said dryly. "Or I suppose that thing in the main chamber might know. Is that a god?" Morrick shivered.

Raptor glanced between Nikolai and the doorway.

It was good that there wasn't any giant monsters guarding the room, but he was still concerned about something like the scorpions in the main room appearing again - especially now that he had a giant tear in his armor underneath his cloak.

"I can open the chest," he offered. "I'll leave Aeshan with you at the entrance. If something attacks me, I have my armor and the axe."

Nikolai nodded slowly. He was also thinking it might be dangerous.

"Okay," he agreed. "I'll be holding one of those orbs too, ready to throw it, just in case." Wouldn't hurt to be careful, and that sounded like a safer strategy. He took his place by the door and reached into his bag.

Raptor gently put Aeshan down on the ground.

Then he took a deep breath and entered the room. He was all too aware of how much his footsteps echoed throughout the room. He was also aware of how familiar the axe was starting to feel in his hands. He had only really used it against the monster that had attacked them, but...

He pushed the thought away.

After a walk that felt like it last an eternity but only lasted around a minute, he stopped in front of the chest.

Holding the axe ready, he went to investigate the chest.

"We all have glowing strings attached to our wrists," Aumrauth added. "They all lead back to that room with the statue."

"Why are you here, and how'd you even get here anyways?" Mel asked back. She wasn't trying to be snippy with Morrick. She was just genuinely curious. How the heck did a blind mining man get his way around?

"Did you, like, come from outside-outside and mine your way in or something? Or did you kind of just wake up one day and was like, 'hey, guess I'm here now' -- like us?"

Morrick shuddered. "I was brought here by the others," he mumbled, drawing in on himself even as he walked. "I have always been here since then. Mining and then wandering." He paused as they reached the edge of the cavern. "Glowing strings, you said? I know nothing of those."

Aumrauth sighed.

"Well, I guess it'll remain a mystery for now. Keep leading the way, then, Morrick."

Mel was about to lift her hand to point out the glowing ribbons around their wrists, but then she remembered that Morrick was blind, so that would have been pointless. She once again reminded herself that she was grateful she could see.

She nodded. "Yeah, we'll follow you," she said, ignoring the irony that a blind man was leading the way. "But also, there are others here? Are they also like you, wandering and mining? Did you get lost? Were you friends?"

"No," he said flatly. "There are other miners here. But the others...the robed....nobody has friends down here. We don't talk if we can help it."
Elias glanced down at his ribbon. The gentle green glow was the same as it had been when they'd started. What did it mean? Why was it here? He'd asked himself this over and over as they'd walked and he still wasn't sure. Perhaps it was some sort of gladiatorial thing. That would explain the arena.

Mel squinted ahead of her like it was supposed to help her think, but it didn't. She didn't understand what Morrick was saying.

"I'm not sure I understand," she said flatly. "So there are others, and they're robed."

She looked down at herself and then at Aumrauth and Ainsley who were also wearing robes. Well, at least maybe they could all blend in if they met other robed people?

"You all came in together, but now you're separated, and you're not friends or talk to each other anymore? Why not?"

"No." Morrick shook his head. "The robed ones came first, brought us here. I don't want to talk about it, please."
"Were you enslaved?" Elias inquired. Morrick flinched at the word.
"Enslaved," he repeated. "Perhaps."