Young Writers Society

The young man flinched briefly at the sight of the flame, then forced himself to relax. Nikolai opened his mouth to give a summary of what had happened to get him here, before he realized he didn’t know. There was no memory of any event in his mind that provided any explanation of why he was in a cave, and he couldn’t remember anything other than his short time here. He blinked in confusion. “Just being here, I guess,” he said, the worried tone still in his voice. “And I thought I might be in danger, so I froze up. That’s all I can remember.”

Eira's brow furrowed. Amnesia was a symptom of border-crossing. Not a common one, per-se, but definitely not rare enough to be unheard of. Had they been dragged across a border? If they had, this had to be part of the lower spectrum. Demon country.

"It's nice to meet you Nikolai," she said, her nerves forcing uncharacteristic politeness upon her. She picked at the band around her wrist. A source of light. Barely any light. She had a sweater in her bag, if they could find something to wrap it around, maybe they could use the doctor's lighter to make a torch.

Elias

"Well, I can't say we aren't in danger." Elias gestured at the statue with a wry smile. "That doesn't bode well for any of us." He got to his feet and offered him a hand. "You're not displaying any physical symptoms of concussion at the moment, but we'll keep an eye on you even so. My name is Dr. Elias Archer."

Nikolai nodded. “It’s nice to meet you both,” he said in a cordial tone, which almost covered the anxiety present in his voice. He took the doctor’s hand and got to his feet, a little shakily. His gaze went towards those who were still standing by one of several chests. Everyone else here seemed a little less confused about what was going on. Did this feel familiar to them? He frowned, trying to think as he observed the four, letting them do their own thing.

Aumrauth didn't wait for the attention of the other three, who decided to play doctor's office in the corner. He hadn't been waiting for anyone's approval, he simply wanted to know where everyone stood on the issue, and those three didn't seem to care enough to say. Good to know.

He shoved the others out of the way by flinging his arms wide open and grabbed the lid and flung it open with all his might. It was rather heavy, and he head to heave it back a little, but there was no lock, and nothing besides weight keeping it closed. A quiet, maniacal giggle escaped him when nothing bad happened right away. No traps were triggered, and nothing magical happened. All he had discovered was a chest full of bottles of wine.

"Wine!" he cheered.

He grabbed a bottle and pressed the cork against the chest to loosen it, and then he shimmied it out with a pop. The bitter smell of well-aged wine met his nose and he started chugging.

"It could be poisoned," Elias pointed out mildly, joining the rest of the group around the chest. "This doesn't seem like a particularly friendly place, what with that monument hulking over us." He approached the chest, inspecting it in silence. Didn't seem particularly dangerous, so there was no obvious trap in the make of the chest itself. The wine could very well be poisoned. Elias bent down and picked up one of the bottles. It wasn't labeled, which didn't bode well. Perhaps there was a winery somewhere in these catacombs.
"Do you often rush into things without thinking, sir?" he asked, easing the cork out of the bottle and taking a sniff. It smelled fine, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Best to watch the grey man for signs of illness before diving headfirst into strange waters.

Aumrauth ripped the bottle from his lips, creating an unnecessarily loud pop sound. The wine was good. Not the best he'd had, but definitely decent.

"On the contrary, I am always thinking," he countered, pointing a finger at the doctor. "People always equate impulsivity with thoughtlessness, but that is simply not always the case. Whereas you may be more cautious because you're considering all of the risks, I simply consider the risks worth taking."

He shrugged, and took another quick sip, emptying the bottle. "Besides, it's wine. And the energy in here is ominous in an inviting way. Whoever set this up was practically asking for it."

Ainsley watched as the tall man downed the entire bottle of wine. He raised an eyebrow. "Why would whoever did this give us wine?"

Ainsley wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't refreshments. He walked over to one of the other chests. It was up against the wall and like the one containing the wine, it was massive.

What else is in these things? he wondered, running his hand along the lid. Ainsley tested the lid's weight, digging his fingers in a divot on its surface. It was heavy, but not so heavy that he wouldn't be able to lift it.

But the boy hesitated. What if it was cursed or something deadly was inside? He looked towards the others, hoping they could provide some sort of guidance.

Eira straightened and watched the group at the chests. Wine. At a clearly-religious site.

Nothing like a little cursed wine to start off an already effed up experience.

One of the others had approached another chest, so she turned her attention to them. "What are you doing?"

Nikolai watched the man who was guzzling down the wine. He wasn't sure if that was the wisest idea, but who was he to comment? The doctor had already advised against it, and he wasn't going to be judgmental. Deciding not to stare at the strange man who was probably going to get himself drunk, he turned his gaze to the boy with a red ribbon around his wrist, who couldn't have been much older than him and was examining the chests. He looked mostly human, but there was something in his appearance that didn't look quite normal. Nikolai wasn't able to quite place it. In fact, no one here seemed like the average person... His mind was filled with a fog that was preventing him from fully understanding the situation.

He stepped towards the chest, his legs still feeling a little weak and shaky. "This all seems a little suspicious," he said slowly, hoping he wasn't just pointing out the obvious. He felt nervous about talking to so many people at once. "Am I the only one who thinks that?"

"Certainly not," Elias replied. "Though there's not much we can do about it at the moment, unless we want to get lost." He pointed his cane at the six exit tunnels. "I would much rather take a few moments to assess the situation."

Ainsley took a step away from the chest, looking back towards the others. "Of course, it's suspicious, but we're going to find out what's in these chests eventually, right? Why not take control of when? At least then we'll have control of something in this damned cave."

Ainsley tugged at the string on his wrist. "Sure, it could be dangerous, but what if it's not?" He eyed the chest they had already opened. But what if it was?

“I don’t know,” Nikolai murmured anxiously, starting at the ground between his feet. He was still trying to process everything and everyone here. “It might be important to take a moment to step back and consider the situation, like Dr. Archer said... Like figuring out why we’re here. That’s important, right? And thinking about it won’t involve getting killed immediately, if there’s something bad in those chests.”

Elias wandered over to the chest closest to the statue. This one was made of a dark, glossy metal of some sort and secured with a heavy padlock. Two runes were etched into the lid, side by side:
ᚺ ᛟ
He ran his hand over the marks, adjusting his spectacles. What did these mean?

Mel was so focused on the chests that it didn't even register to her that three people were having a separate conversation several strides away. A man with a red ribbon and a metal suit person approached her and the gray-skin-white-hair man wearing the black ribbon. It was then that she became further distracted with the colors and ribbons that she didn't totally hear what they had to say. Because, like... how was a black ribbon emitting light? And what's up with the different colors? Maybe they're part of their identities now. Part of her is totally okay with being called Yellow instead of Mel.

Then the gray-skinned man—who Mel dubbed as Black due to his ribbon color—pushed all of them aside and recklessly opened the crate. He giggled in the creepiest way possibly and then announced for all to hear—

"Wine?" Mel repeated back incredulously. She expected it to be a chest full of treasure, just like the pirate stories she had read about.

Then Black downed it. Her eyes were glued to him the entire time with an expression that was mixed with being impressed, shocked, and "what the hell is even happening right now?"

It seemed at this point that everyone had congregated to the chests. Red looked like he was going to open a chest, and Blue and Purple seemed apprehensive about it.

Mel shrugged. "I say open it. It's probably more wine, anyways."

She dug around the opened box and pulled out a bottle. Pinot noir. Super random, but hey, so is showing up to this random place.