The Dawn of Light

(20)The Cavern of the Jagged Jade (Part 1)

The Cavern of the Jagged Jade (Part 1)

"Okay-" Malreus inhaled a steady breath and readied himself for the cold water. "Follow my lead."

"Alright." I nodded and took in one more deep breath. We were waist deep in the cold ocean and the tide was rocking back and forth, trying to pull us towards its depths.

Mal gasped in one last gulp of air dove. I quickly followed after him; the waters were dark and we could easily loose each other.

Malreus and I had the ability to breath for longer underwater than mortals. Because we were gods, our lungs could hold air for longer. I wondered how on earth Manos expected any mortal team to make it down to the depths of this ocean floor, but then realised that he didn't. No one really wanted the contestants to survive in the first place.

I watched as Malreus moved like he was born for the sea- it came so naturally to him to swim. He glanced back to see if I was still behind him. The salt water was potent, but our eyes had adjusted rather quickly. Another perk of being an immortal...

I pointed to the right, where a medium sized hole was hollowed out. An axe was rusted to the side of the hole, embedded in the rocks. On the old weapon's hilt was some text.

We swam over to the hole and I traced a finger across the single word carved into the iron- danger.

Looks like were in the right place...

The hole was too small for either of us to fit through. I suspect that's why Boro had so generously gifted us with the dodgy-looking grenade. No matter; we'd find another way to widen the space.

Malreus pulled at a large rock blocking the way. For an ordinary mortal, the boulder would be far too big and heavy to move, but Malreus had the strength of at least ten, powerful men. He removed the stone from the hole like it was made from paper. I smiled and rolled my eyes when he gestured with a dramatic bow and wave for me to enter the newly opened cave entrance.

I was careful for any traps. Malreus stayed close; moving carefully through the tunnel and removing small stones and boulders to widen the space. Eventually though, it grew tighter and tighter, but right before we thought we'd made a mistake and taken the wrong way in, the tunnel opened up into a large underwater cavern.

My breath was running out and my lungs ached for fresh air. Malreus looked around the large structure. It was definitely not man-made. This was a layer of the earth that had been hidden away from the surface for centuries. An earthquake must've caused this large chasm to fall deep down into the depths of the ocean beneath Mania.

It was beautiful, of course, but my chest was starting to pain. My eyes were pulled from the ethereal beauty and scanned the cave for an exit. I glanced around in haste, but tried not to panic Malreus. He had lungs of steel and the lack of air seemingly didn't bother him just yet.

My eyes skimmed across the ceiling of the cavern, until finally, I spotted an air pocket. It was small and I could barely fit my head through, but it would work perfectly. I quickly swam up, signalling to Malreus to follow me. He raced up behind me as I stuck my head through and breathed in a deep gulp of air. It was stale air, but it dimmed the throbbing in my chest.

I withdrew my head and Malreus took his turn, pushing himself up and breathing in deeply.

Hopefully, there would be more of these along the way, but for now, we were ready to move again.

I took the lead now and swam straight ahead, towards the other end of the cavern. It was surprisingly not too dark inside the caves, with some light being reflected off of some precious stones that protruded from all across the cavern walls. This underwater chamber was rich with minerals and ore. It made sense of course- the island of Mania was the wealthiest place on earth.