The Lightning Mage

38 | The Treasure Hunt, Part II

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Trailing behind the large crowd of questers, Lyn lowered her head towards the petite woman next to her. "Do you have any idea what kind of treasures are in there?"

Cydney shook her head. "I'm not sure, but this cave feels..." Her voice tapered off as her frown deepened. "I don't know how to describe it... very familiar, maybe?"

"Familiar?"

Before Lyn could question more, the dark passageway opened up into a cavernous, dome-like structure. Runes similar to those at the entrance painted the walls, while streaks of sunlight lit up the interior like fiery spotlights.

In the middle of the cave sat the strangest object Lyn had ever seen: a giant, white cylinder, with windows along the rounded surfaces and a pair of flat, triangular wings on both sides. It looked like a very poor imitation of a bird made by a child for their art class. Except that the child was some kind of a titan, and the bird they constructed was the size of a grown dragon.

"What the hell is that?" Lyn blurted. Her confusion was shared by everybody else in the quest; murmurs broke throughout the crowd as they hesitated around the bird-like object.

Through the agitated mutterings came a soft, but clear, reply. "An aeroplane."

"A what?"

Lyn turned to face Cydney, but she was already gone. Pushing through the crowd, the hooded woman was the first to approach the aeroplane. She walked towards what seemed like a door and yanked it out.

As Cydney stepped into the structure, Lyn hurriedly followed suit. The other questers were emboldened by her actions and began to rip at the other doors and windows of the object.

It was even stranger inside the bird-like structure, if possible. Lyn was not sure what she had been expecting to see—perhaps a whole load of mush, or perhaps another poor imitation of a bird's organs. But she had not expected a mini theatre. Rows of red cushioned chairs filled the entire interior, with an aisle in the middle that was just big enough for a child-sized person to stroll through. Was this an elaborate theatre for a niche genre of play?

Cydney wasted no time in squeezing between the seats and rummaging through everything. Her hands reached into the little pockets behind each chair, scanning through the different pamphlets, letters, and magazines she found.

"Find anything interesting, Cinna?"

"I don't know." Cydney crouched awkwardly between the rows of chairs as she flipped through a magazine. "But it says here that it's 2014."

"The year 2014? That's a really long time ago." Lyn leaned over the seat separating her and Cydney. The magazine was written in another language that she didn't understand. "What language is this?"

"Chinese."

"Oh, you can read Chinese?"

"Mmhm. It seemed that they were trying to get from KL to Beijing, but got stuck here, somehow..." Her eyelashes fluttered as she trailed off.

"KL?"

"Kuala Lumpur. It's the capital of Malaysia," Cydney said as she passed a small piece of paper to Lyn.

The paper was faded yellow and slightly torn at the edges, but the faint words and timestamps suggested that it was a ticket of some sort.

"Flight MH370," Lyn read out loud. "Is that the name of the play? I've never heard of it."

"Me neither."

Lyn watched as Cydney continued ransacking the area, occasionally pocketing small trinkets and items. Her eyes wandered, and she began to realize that the color of the cushions seemed quite... uneven. She frowned—and then gagged.