It was late at night when we finally got to my place, and a look of some kind of shock spread across the faces of the three people following me. In the middle of a field of silver grass, sat a tent made of copper leaves and sticks woven together by the silvery grass. Just outside it, was a fire, fueled by small pieces of wood. Inside the tent, there was berries, vegetation, and some kind of unnamed meat that I had found in this place's one forest made of real trees, all sitting in a large pile in the corner of the tent.
"It's not a lot, but it's pretty much all that I could throw together in seven years, not to mention how long it took to find a forest with actual wood," I said, sitting down next to the fire, signaling them to sit down around it. "Well you certainly have a lot of explaining to do, and I'm not about to wait any longer," said Austin, brushing a piece of his dirty blonde hair out of his face. "I don't even know where to start, but here it goes," I said, then taking a deep breath.
"My name is Ally, and I have been trapped down here for about seven years, based on the number of days I have counted. If that is true, then I am sixteen years old as of now..."
"Yeah yeah, enough with the back story. Now tell us what we actually wanna know!" Austin remarked. "Austin! That's so rude, let her talk! I'm really sorry about him, but we're sixteen as well, and Ruby here is nine..." Tyler said pointing to the little girl who had found her way to my food stash. She gave a little wave, then continued eating. "Nice to formally meet you guys. Anyway, the same thing happened to me when I opened that box. This is what I know for sure. That keyhole is gold now, correct?" I asked. Ruby held up the little box to her face, and said squinting at the keyhole "Yeah it is, but I see a little sliver of black coming from the center." I sighed. "Well that means that we don't have much time to get you guys out of here," I said sadly. "What do you mean we. We can get out of here on our own without your help," Austin remarked. I rolled my eyes," When that lock turns completely black, you will be stuck here forever. But, if you get to the top of that tower over there..." I pointed to the horizon where an unnaturally tall tower stands, crooked. "You will open it at the top of the tower using the key that I assume you have with you, and it will take back whoever opens it, you will reappear wherever it is that you found the box and key. It will teleport with you, so you need to hide it when you get out, separate from the key. My friend must have hid them together, because you three opened it. But it will only take one person, and the rest of you are stuck with me. I came with a friend too, she got out..." I said, and Tyler responded "Ok so get to the top of the tower, open the box, go home. Easy enough!" Softly, I said "Well I'm afraid it's not quite that easy..."
*This marks the end of the introduction. Feel free to leave suggestions for how you think the story should continue in the comments, and I will gladly incorporate them. Hope you enjoy the story!*
