[treasure] Caves & Gems

The sun dipped low over the craggy hills as Rannoi adjusted the strap of her satchel and glanced once more at the cave's dark entrance. The cave was said to be filled with jewels that gleamed like stars, hidden away from prying eyes. Rannoi wasn’t the kind to chase fairy tales, but she’d learned to trust her instincts, and something about this place called to her, like it did to many others before her.

She stepped inside, the air growing instantly cooler now that she was out of the direct sunlight, a damp, earthy smell present in it. Her feet crunched loose gravel. Faint echoes of dripping water filled the silence, the sound growing louder the further she walked.

Rannoi paused, trying to get a better sense of her surroundings. Strange rock formations jutted out from the walls like jagged teeth, and patches of faint green moss glowed in the dark, casting an eerie but beautiful shimmer over the dark stone. Her heart hammered with a mix of excitement and caution. She was alone here, after all, and one wrong move could trap her here below the surface, with no one to help her for days.

As she continued down the narrow corridor, Rannoi’s thoughts drifted to the stories she'd heard from other symprites. Many had claimed to glimpse rare stones glinting in the dark, deep inside the cave's depths, but few were brave enough to venture deep enough to find anything more than a common rock

The passage opened suddenly into a vast chamber, the ceiling lost in darkness above Rannoi. She looked up and her breath caught, because there, embedded in the walls, like stars in a night sky, were glimmers of red, blue, green, and gold. Little gems, sparkled in the stone, casting fragments of light that danced in every direction once she pointed her fleshlight at them. The reflection on the walls they casted reminding her of the sun catchers she has at home.

With a cautious step, she approached the wall and gently brushed her fingers across a smooth, brilliant red stone. She fished out a small chisel and carefully pried the gem loose, placing it into her bag. The gem glinted slightly, and Rannoi smiled, thinking of her collection at home waiting for the new additions.

She picked another stone, this time a blue one, and packed that one too.
Once she had a handful of them, she packed all the tools and looked around once more, taking a picture with her camera of a specific corner of the cave, where the shiny rocks made a really pretty composition. It would be a perfect photo to print and hang in her house, a memento of the day, of how beautiful the area around her house is.
Moving quietly, she turned back toward the narrow passageway she’d come from, starting her trek backwards, trying to find the entrance she came from. Pebbles rattled down from above when she placed her hand on a wall to support herself, and in a burst of dust, a chunk of rock crashed in front of her, almost hurting her feet.

Holding her fleshlight in the right hand, she placed her feet on the gravely terrain, a hand pushing on the wall to propel her body upwards and to prevent slipping, until she reached solid terrain.

She continued to trudge on, almost getting lost in a bifurcation she hadn't noticed when going downwards, but she took a while to think and noticed a rock further up that she definitely saw before, so she kept going on the left side, until she popped back out to the surface. She checked the clock, and was surprised that she spent two hours in the cave, but when she pulled her rewards from the bag, and saw how they shined in the light of the day, she could not regret how the day was spent, even if she had to get takeout on the way home.