The two heroes

The City of Stone

Steve's POV

The entrance was flanked by more of those human skeletons, there gaping mouths and empty eye sockets, grasping swords or bows and whatever else they died holding. We tried pushing the cobble door but it wouldn't budge, whether it was an enchantment or it was locked or its jammed I wasn't one hundred percent sure. Veronica was knocking on it and listening to the sound, Ryan was rummaging around on the dark floor, his torch hung on the wall. I looked backwards towards the hallway that led back into the maze, I saw something red and white there... I picked up the TNT and positioned it in the centre of the door, I jumped back as Alex shot it with her bow and it started flashing...

BOOOM

I lifted my head and looked over my shoulder, the door had been blasted apart revealing a large city and a staircase going towards it. But the explosion had set off alarms, sirens were wailing in the city and the people were running around, unsure of where the danger was. After we safely got on the ground and took refuge under the staircase as the guards ran up we dashed of into the city hoping to bled in with the townsfolk. We split up a few minutes ago, me and Ryan were somewhere down Obsidian Avenue and Lyra, Alex and Veronica were in some other district. The alarms were still wailing and now a voice was echoing through the town over a loudspeaker:

"Citizens, stay calm. The danger is being taken care of."

"Probably questioning a pig." Said Ryan, chuckling, but I was nervous. They said the danger was being taken care of does that me they got the girls? I decided to ask Ryan his thoughts in a conversation.

"I honestly didn't think we could find anyone alive down here," I said,

"Well, these guys don't look like they are here long..." He twitched his chin in the direction of a man with a green face propped against a wall hugging himself.

"What do you thinks wrong with them?" I asked as the man twitched.

"Probably needing to eat bad food like rotten flesh and poisonous potatoes. Because with us locked out and them locked in, they don't have many resources." Ryan shrugged.

"Ryan," I said,

"Yea?"

"They said the trouble was being taken care of... You don't think that mean they have-"

"No" Ryan said, "There's three of them, if there's any danger these sick people can take hold of, its a pig." He joked, but there was a worried tone behind it.

. . .

We passed a group of guards getting orders from their boss,

"Ok, there is trouble somewhere in our streets, don't stroll too far, just patrol the surrounding streets." We speed-walked away after that. Not that it did any good. There were guards posted in almost every street, we hid as they walked past and crept across another came and they started conversing. We were going alright until something suddenly gripped my arm and yanked me into an alleyway. I tripped and when I looked up I saw Ryan and the girls, standing up myself I asked them.

"What the heck?" I was whispering because of the guards a few blocks down the road.

"We found a map of the underground cities." Said Lyra shoving a map under my nose. Looking at it in the dim light of the city I noticed it must have been a map of the jungle but with lines and patches of grey all over it. One patch was labelled The City of Bedrock and another The City of Fog .

"We are here," Said Alex pointing to a city named The City of Stone "We need to go along this tunnel to there," Said Veronica tracing her finger along one of the lined and into The City of Bedrock "And then that tunnel leads back to the surface." I gave the map back to Lyra and said,

"Guards are patrolling the streets."

"We noticed," Said Alex darkly, "Why do you think it took so long to get close to you?" I peeked out of the alleyway and saw the guards at the other end of the street tuning left and disappearing from sight. Did they know they just ditched their criminals?

"Come on." Said Lyra peering out after me, "We need to go."