The Enchanted Realm: A Dragon's Eye

3: The Dark Cave

 Orion was the first to wake up. He looked around, and saw nothing but darkness.

"Ow!" Amilie complained. Orion didn't bother to help her. Instead, he tried to strike a match.

"Dang it. Another dud." Orion said.

"Language, Darkheart." Izzylyn replied from somewhere in the dark.

"Oops." Orion said. Finally, a match struck, and the four had light. Orion looked around the room, and he realized they were in a cave.

"If we're in a cave, then there must be some sort of exit." Izzylyn said.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Amilie growled. Just then, she screamed.

"Will you shut up, Amilie?" Orion barked. He looked over, and she looked disgusted that there was dirt and dust on her clothes and skirt.

"Ugh, I just bought these clothes." She complained.

"I think I know how to get out of here." Izzylyn exclaimed. She looked at Cory, who finally got up. Izzylyn got up from the rocky floor and grabbed some dust from the rocks nearby. She let some loose and tried to figure out which direction it went in, but the dust just fell straight to the cold, hard ground.

"Maybe we're too deep for that to work?" Orion thought out loud. "I think we should stick to the right side." He suggested. Izzylyn didn't think it would work, but she didn't complain. She pulled out a compass from her satchel and walked north a bit.

"Orion, walk behind you to that wall. That's the right wall." She explained. Orion did as she said, and started walking to the south. Cory, Amilie, and Izzylyn followed close behind.

It slowly got brighter with every step they took. Orion thought they were near the surface, but the light stopped getting brighter. Orion stopped and looked around. On the rocky cave walls were mushrooms, but they were glowing. Orion blew out the match.

"Finally, I don't have to hold onto that birthday candle." He joked. "At least we have some light." He said.

"This shouldn't be possible." Izzylyn thought. She looked at the glowing mushrooms thoughtfully.

"Wait. I feel like I've seen one of these before in the journal I found." Orion explained. He unzipped the bag and pulled out the book, and it too, was glowing dimly. Orion opened the book, and flipped to the 4th chapter.

"Aha! Here it is!" He exclaimed. "Bioluminescent mushrooms are found in dark caves or Calorian territory. They let off a small glow so you don't need a lantern or a torch," He started. "If you follow a path of red bioluminescent mushrooms, they will lead you to the surface." He continued. "All we have to do is follow the red mushrooms, and we'll be out." He said as he closed the book. Orion looked around, and saw Amilie trying to eat one of the mushrooms.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Orion said. Amilie stopped and looked at Orion, batting her eyes. Orion continued to look around, and saw along the left side of the cave, a trail of red glowing mushrooms.
"Well, I found the trail." He said. "Let's move." He ordered. Orion got up and started walking down the trail of red mushrooms with the others close behind.

Eventually, the trail of red mushrooms stopped, and the four were led to a lantern-lit mineshaft. Logs with a dark brown color and vein-like blue acted as supports, and a large table was in the middle of the room. Nailed onto the table was a large map. In the middle of the map, a circle was drawn, with a title under it. Main Kingdom? Orion thought.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Orion whispered to himself.

"Oh, we're definitely not in Detroit anymore, Darkheart." Izzylyn replied.