Though the sun continued to cast the intolerable and unforgiving heat against the deserts they had ventured to, the inside of the weathered limestone chamber they had discovered proved to be chillier than their expectations believed it to be. At first, after the sultry desert weather gave them a not-so-warm welcome to this part of the world, the break from the humidity was actually quite nice for them. However, the further into the chamber they progressed, the eerier the cold felt around them.
Had their exploration not been one where time was of the essence, one of the group might have stopped to make the joke of the chamber being as cold as a mummy's tomb, quite like the ones from the mythology of this country's ancient history, and the others would laugh. This, however, was not time for puns like that. Every passing minute meant more time would be taken to find the artifact they had spent a good deal of the year hunting down.
The group of brave explorers consisted of four mammals, two pairs of fox and rabbit. Though both pairs had worked separately in the past, all of them decided to work as a team to prove that such a treasure from the rich mythology surrounding it was in this area. It was better for them to get their paws on it first, without a doubt, then for it to fall into those of their rivals in this occupation.
Leading a single-file line through the tightening limestone space was a gray doe with an optimistic grin on her face, one that hadn't left her since the start of the whole trip. Behind her followed the others, a red fox, an arctic vixen, and a striped jackrabbit who was falling behind them by a short distance. The mammals, at one point as they continued on, had to duck downward just a hair before they reached a spot within the chamber that cut to the right, and it was then that the space they came across was much more open.
"What?" the red fox behind the doe said with concern, his voice echoing faintly within the unoccupied space. "Carrots, is this a dead end?"
The gray doe named Judy gazed around the space, the stillness around her getting to her just a bit. "I don't know, Nick."
Judy reached into her pocket, pulled out her handy flashlight, and clicked it on. The light flickered to life and casted a glow into the drab part of the chamber, giving her a chance to look around. There had to be a clue of some sort that would point all of them in the right direction. She just had a hunch that they were on the right track.
The jackrabbit of the group looked on either side of him and walked forward, kicking up a small cloud of ancient dust as he stepped forward. From the moment the expedition started, which was much larger than any of the ones he had been a part of alongside his partner, this one gave him the most trepidation.
"Great," he muttered aloud as he shook his head. "We're probably not even looking in the right place and now Weaselton's probably one step ahead of us in finding the amulet and all the gold they hid with it."
The arctic vixen to his side rolled her eyes at his typical worry. "Jack," she said to him, "please try to be positive about this. You know darn well that whenever Judy says she's got a good feeling about something, she's usually right."
"I know, Skye," responded Jack with admittance. "But you and I have never tried to find something this significant before, and I know you all really want to be the ones to discover it first and..." He let out another sigh of despondency.
The vixen named Skye reached out and placed a paw on the shoulder of the striped buck. "I get it," she replied, "but worrying won't help us get any closer to it. Isn't that right?"
"You're right," Jack admitted.
Skye grinned back at him, knowing already that she was. "Aren't I always, Jack? Let's just try to stay positive and keep our minds on seeing that amulet before anyone else."
Jack started to walk ahead, and the vixen followed behind and looked around for any clues that might have been left behind. They had found hints that led them to this very spot prior, so she had some certainty that there would be something else like that here.
"So, do you think it's true?" Jack inquired.
"What is?" asked Skye.
"The story about the amulet," the buck clarified. "You really think that it was from the gods, that the king could shift shapes whenever he wore it?"
"The story seems pretty hard to believe," responded the vixen, "but it'd be pretty cool if that were actually how it worked. Don't you think?"
"Yeah," chuckled the rabbit under his breath. "They said he took the shape of a vulture to soar from above and scope out the enemies of that time. Just imagine what the views would have been like from up there."
"Not too exciting if you're afraid of heights," Skye joked in reply. "Luckily, none of us are."
"I think I found something over here," Judy called out, gesturing for them to come up to where she had been standing.
The other three explorers in the space stepped up to the opposite side of the chamber, looking at the wall in which Judy was shining the glow of her flashlight upon.
"What is it?" Skye asked her.
"Probably a hint to where the amulet is," Judy informed. "I can't make out what it's supposed to say. Skye, you're better at translating what this says. I'll keep the light on it and you read what it says."
Skye stepped up to the wall, pointing a paw at each of the strange symbols etched in it as she figured out what it said. "'A jewel unlike others awaits the brave,'" she quoted as she slowly translated. "'Within what belonged to the king is the power of the gods. The unworthy try to claim it, only to be struck down by its glory.' That's all I can get from that."
"Does that help us any?" Nick asked Skye. "These guys in ancient times had a thing for not putting things bluntly."
"If they would've done that," Judy chimed in, "other kingdoms in the past would've found just found it no problem and took it for themselves. If we had something extremely valuable, we'd want to make sure no one could figure out where it was."
"Wait a minute," Skye interrupted, pointing towards a symbol to the left of the etched writings. "This is the symbol that means 'key,' so maybe..."
She reached out and placed her paw against the limestone. The spot on which the symbol had been marked in the wall suddenly pushed inward. The wall in front of them splitting open, as if it were the doors that automatically opened when entering a store.
"Guess it worked," Skye remarked with a shrug of her shoulders.
The vixen took several steps forward into an even darker spot within the chamber. Jack appeared to her left and caught up with her. As she saw something in front of them of which Jack was about to step upon, she held an arm out in front of him to stop him.
"Woah, woah, woah," she muttered.
"What is it?" Judy inquired as she and Nick stepped up to where she had halted.
"It's not just gonna be as easy as us walking along to the other side." Skye looked down and directed everyone's attention to squares on the ground in front of them that looked like tile in a house. Every one of them had an individual letter from the language this ancient civilization spoke engraved upon it.
"Perhaps this is why this thing has been hidden so long," Judy said. "Maybe mammals in the past tried to find this and never got past this."
"So this is like one of those traps in the movies," Nick inquired from behind. "Some giant boulder gonna come rolling out of somewhere that we'll have to run away from if we're not careful?"
"Not quite," Skye responded. "But a different kind of trap might have been set up for those who didn't know what to do. Fortunately, I've got the alphabet of this language on the ground down quite well."
"But what are we even supposed to do?" Jack chimed in, wanting an explanation.
"The king that was bestowed the amulet was given a rather peculiar name at birth, but there was a name he told his most loyal servants to call him by as well when he became ruler," Skye said informatively. "And those servants he entrusted to keep his treasures safe when he died made sure to keep this place sealed with a sort of code that only they knew. Still not sure why he did this exactly, but that's the story we're told about him." She looked back and saw the confused look on the jackrabbit's face. "The name he was called around his palace is what we need to spell as we step across this. It's like this is a safe and this is the combination to get into it."
"Oh, I got you," Jack replied as he now understood.
Skye simply turned her head back to the tiles in front of her. "Just watch me and follow my lead, guys."
The vixen had no need to retrieve her own flashlight, as her natural night vision was enough of a guide for her. After looking at each symbol in front of her, stepped carefully placed one foot paw in front of her and stepped onto the tile. She looked at the next set of tiles for the one with the letter that was next in the name of this king from long ago, and with that she took her next set of steps. To the left and to the right she jumped onto each tile, avoiding accidentally touching the tip of another tile by mistake. Her movements were like that of a dancer on stage as she made her way to the end of that trap.
Slowly but shortly, Nick and Judy were next to make their way to where Skye was now standing. After watching attentively, they copied the steps she had taken, taking a sigh of relief after making it safely.
"Come on, Jack!" Skye called back from the opposite side.
Hearing her voice, Jack, having not even watching just then, turned his head and shined his light to the tiles before him. "One minute, Skye."
"Wait a minute," Skye said, almost unable to believe he wasn't paying attention to the specific path she took that entire time. "Why weren't you watching when I said to?"
"I, uh..." Jack admitted. "There was some drawings on this wall in front of me and I thought they were rather interesting."
"Jack!" she exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Skye," Jack replied nervously. "I got this. I saw where you went."
The rabbit, however, was lying through his teeth. He only watched a portion of her footsteps.
Jack very slowly inches his way to the first tile. "All right..." he mumbled as he went forward. "Then they went this way and then that way, but then..."
He was now standing in the middle, unsure of what came next. He looked over at Skye and the others looking over at him and then back at the floor. From that moment, he did the incorrect move and started to place his paws on random tiles in front of him like it was a game of hopscotch. He kept forward when reached the last row of tiles and hopped over to the safe spot his friends were standing.
"Oh, Jack..." muttered Skye as she face-pawed.
Jack looked back at the puzzle behind him. "Oh, wait. I forgot to step on that last one right here," he said as he stepped back onto the tile behind him, quickly getting off of it a second later. "That was the last one, wasn't it?"
What followed was the space around them quaking, getting a gasp out of the four. One by one the tiles on the ground sank into the ground as if they were being swallowed up into the desert below the constructed chamber. A crack started form jaggedly one between where the pair of explorers were standing, and they all looked down at it as it threatened to open up.
Jack looked back up at the others and laughed nervously, tugging at his shirt. Can't believe this is happening right now, he thought.
Author's Note: Felt like writing a little AU and this was what came about. After thinking back about the Uncharted games that I played in the past, I thought it'd be pretty fun to write about our favorite fox and bunny duos as treasure hunters/explorers. :)
As you can see from this, Jack probably wouldn't be the best pick to accompany during any sort of exploration like this. XD
Anyways, let me know what your thoughts are on this. As always, your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.
'Til next time! :)