Link scurried around, plucking from the shelves odd daggers and blocky hand guns whilst Vio looked for a door. His hands were still shaking and he was scared to pick up the blades in case he dropped them, but now wasn't the time for messing about.
"What do you think we'll find?" He asked, trying to take his mind off the pressing stress.
"I don't really know if I'm honest with you." Came Vio's muffled reply from inside an old wardrobe, "Old accounts say fabled powers, special equipment, people…"
"People?" Link giggled as he picked up some ammunition, "If there's been an old woman living under my house all this time I'm going to cry."
"Then you'd know the noises weren't just the radiator!" The joke was much appreciated by Link, especially when it came from Vio. "Hey, I think I've got something. The back of this cupboard sounds hollow."
"Okay hang on…" Link emptied all school work and useless equipment from his bag and stuffed in as many weapons he could fit – batons, small guns, even a short sword. "Wow." He mumbled, "My dad really has a stash going on down here. Did he get all this from the army?"
"Probably not." Link followed the voice and opened a few doors before he found the right wardrobe, with Vio crouched and poking a pen through a gap in the woodwork. The boy continued, "I don't think officials are allowed to keep the weapons. I might be wrong. Oh hi." He spared a quick look up at Link.
"Hi." The laugh echoed, "You know I could make so many jokes about you being in a closet right now."
"Hah. Yeah. Jokes. You know, this isn't the time." Vio cleared his throat and stood back up, rapping his knuckles on the wall. "You hear that?"
"You're gay?!" Link whispered.
"I shouldn't have said anything- look, Link, it's hollo-"
"No no, you don't just drop it like that then move on!"
"Yes I can." He sighed. "And I'm not gay I'm bi."
"Bi… sexual, right?"
"No, I'm a bicycle. Of course I'm bisexual!" With that, Vio stepped back, raised a foot and drove it into the wall, kicking what was now clearly a thin sheet of chipboard down and revealing a dark tunnel.
Link had tensed, watched with wide-eyes at this sudden show of strength which he had been sure Vio didn't possess. "Um. Yeah okay that's – that's cool." He cleared his throat, "That looks pretty creepy."
"… It does doesn't it?"
There was a pause. Neither wanted to go first.
"Well." Vio sunk into a bow, extending an elegant arm to his right, "You first, Mr Hero."
Link growled. It was probably the concussion but he couldn't think of a comeback. He guessed he was going first then. "Why thank you." He hissed as he slid past and into the tunnel beyond.
After a while they had to take their phones out and use them as torches. It was so dark in here… and Link was a little more than creeped out. But he had the weapons. Granted he didn't know how to use them but it couldn't be much different to hitting a ball with a cricket bat could it?
The tunnel got narrower and shorter, causing the two to stoop over and tuck in their elbows. It was very uncomfortable.
"Can you see the end yet?" Vio asked for the third time.
"No!" Link replied for the third time. "Wait!" Yes he could! The tunnel widened and a few more steps took him to the mouth which opened up into a tall, dark room.
"Wow." He heard Vio breathe. Wow was the right word. The ceiling was so high Link couldn't see it, and likewise for the opposite wall. Roots as thick as he was snaked in and out of the compact earth and crumbled stone, meandering across a loosely-tiled floor. There were dips and hills and GODDESSES!
"V-Vio?" Link squeaked.
"Hm?" The boy had wandered out to examine the roots, running a finger across the surface and scooping up dirt.
"Vio!" He winced as his friend stood up, his back to it.
"What? Link, what is it?"
"Be-behind…" Link took a deep breath and pointed, "Behind you!"
Vio frowned, amusement dancing upon his face for the second it took for him to turn around. "Oh boy."
It was a spider. Not one of those you'd find perching in the top corner of your bedroom, no. This was big. It was big and gooey and… and feral. Link could see its pincers in great detail, every single wiry hair, could see how its legs must have been the length of his own, could see the glint of the thread it hung on in the light from his phone. And it had spotted them.
With a hiss, it dropped from its web and to the floor only a few metres away from Vio, clicking its pincers and rolling its many eyes at the prospect of fresh prey.
Vio yelped and stumbled backwards, unluckily into a root. Uncharacteristically clumsy, he tripped and ended up on his back, arms raised and face shied away.
It was more instinct than decision – Link opened his bag and drew from it the short sword, not waiting a second to charge with a battle cry. He met the spider with force he didn't know he had, swinging the sharp edge to meet with the monster's head, slicing it cleanly off. It stumbled and fell.
Link panted, watching the spider curl up and fizzle away with an open mouth.
"That was… big…" He wheezed, dropping to lean his hands on his knees.
"Just-" Vio stopped when his voice squeaked, "Just a little."
Link returned to his side and gave him a hand up, "You okay?"
"Yes." He nodded, a twinkle in his red eyes, "That… was awesome."
"What?" Link chuckled, "That was horrifying!"
"You're kidding me!" The widest smile Link had ever seen on his studious friend exploded across his face. "I've never felt so alive! Gimme that baton!"
"H-hey!"
Before Link could stop him, he'd plunged a hand into his bag and whipped out the steel baton, smiling devilishly at it. Maybe that potion had had some side-effects after all. He ran off, following the wall.
"What're you doing?!" Link sprinted after him, sword held awkwardly to the side.
"Finding a door! Aha!" Vio skidded to a stop, abrupt enough for Link to run into him. He didn't seem very perturbed by it though. "Aah locked."
Link stared at the heavy-duty lock, screwing up his nose, "We've got to find a key? You think it'd be in this room?"
"Most likely. Look for it but be careful – there's bound to be more spiders."
"More?!" Link hissed. He didn't much fancy that.
Instead of a reply, he received a sarcastic smile, "You go that way I'll go this way." He pointed left, then right.
"Don't you think it might be in the middle?" Link squinted against the darkness, raising his phone torch and making out a few more webs. "It kind of looks more… populated over there."
"You may be right." Vio joined with his own phone, increasing the focal point. "Look, you see that? It looks like… a chest or something."
"In amongst all the… the webs."
"Indeed."
"So we go in together, right?"
"The hero of legend's scared?" Vio scoffed.
"I hope you get bitten."
That's the end of the old chapters! Hopefully I will have finished and uploaded the new one by tonight :)
Please comment! I like to have a good chat with you!