Hidden World

Chapter IX - The Way Out

When the feeling of dread washed away, Rose started to scout her surroundings, her eyes looking for a little bit of hope in the dim light thrown by the lantern. An item that was previously bright, now was rapidly losing its power. It didn't take her long to notice that there were torches hooked on the wall. She started to rummage through her pockets, the shadow of a smile appearing on her face when she found her lighter. She put the lantern on the floor and walked through one of the torches.

"Please work..." she begged as she tried to light it. It took a couple of tries but soon the cloth caught fire and the room started to seem a little brighter. She took it out of of its metal support and slowly lit all of them before she put it back. She turned off the lighter hoping that some battery will be left for the moment they will find a way out of there.

Now that light filled the room, she could distinguish her surroundings more. The room was round, the walls, floors and ceiling were covered in stone. In the middle, a sarcophagus made of the same material.

Around the room, there were chests made of wood, none looking locked. Isis seemed to not get bothered as the cat decided to lay down somewhere away from, what minutes ago, was the entrance.

Rose looked at the chests. Some simple, some with complicated designs. She left out a small laugh. They were in no laughing situation, but the madness of it all just overwhelmed her.

"The fire will drain all the oxygen in the room." She said as she walked to the first chest. She started to take out the items and to her disappointment there were only pieces of clothing. "Who gets buried with these on the side?" she asked herself as she studied some of the items. They looked old, she assumed they were there for a long time. The fabrics felt soft to the touch but what caught her eye was a simple piece of cloth with a golden rose embroidered on it. The cloth was made of red velvet and the flower looked like it was made with gold thread. Without thinking she put it in her pocket and moved to the next chest. And so, she did until she reached the last one.

The last chest was the smallest, made of wood. The time was not kind with this one as rust seemed to take over the hinges making them hard to open. She struggled a bit but after a few more tries it opened with a subtle noise.

To her amazement, this one contained a three item: a book and two scrolls. She carefully took both out and went closer to light, she opened the first scroll and to her amazement it was a map of the town, the date up in the corner 1070. With her little knowledge about the town, she managed to find the church that was right by the entrance to the tunnel that took to the crypt. It did not help her too much, but she decided to open the second scroll. The map was almost identical, only that it showed a series of tunnels that spread the area. She let out a squeak of excitement when she realized that their circular prison had a second entrance.

"I found a way ouuuut" she started saying excited, bothering Isis from her sleep. Before the cat could react, she was already up in the air being kissed by a crazy and now happy Rose. When the girl realized that in her excitement, she picked the up she stopped from moving and apologized as soon as the cat's paws reached the ground.

"So, there is another tunnel that starts from this room, but I can't exactly tell where the door is or how to open it." Rose mumbled as she placed the scrolls opened on the stone lid of the sarcophagus. "Must be a trick" she adds with a frown.

"To be honest, I have no clue." Isis said as she was washing her paws.

"Let's take this logical... This..." she said and pointed around "...is not normal. Tombs are rarely circular. The chests make no sense, not even the sarcophagus." She added and took a step back. She kneeled and traced her fingers over the inscription. "Whoever build this, the only thing they must have brought after they were done were the lighter items. What if..." she said and walked to get the lantern. She turned it on before kneeling again to look at the inscription.