Sequoia

Chapter 2

    Some time later, we arrived at what I called the Celestial Cave, our home. The reason I named it this was because the inside of the cave has crystals and minerals scattered around, the sunlight filtering through reflecting off their edges, creating a galaxy-like atmosphere. The rest of the cave also gave off a galactic feel; from the soft mossy carpet spread out on the hard ground of the cave and the magical glowing mushrooms hidden in crevices, dark corners, and next to crystals, to the fairy lights hovering on the ceiling that rearranged themselves into different constellations on command.

    I stopped in front of a curtain of hanging vines.

    "Revelio." I said, watching as the vines magically parted. I walked into the cave, which was a lot bigger than what it looked like on the outside. I lowered the warrior so that he was leaning on a wall while Aurelia brushed past me and walked off somewhere to the back of the cave.

    "Now, what to do with you..."

    A few days passed, and life was normal...well, mostly anyways. Each day, Aurelia and I would take turns watching over the warrior, who's name we had learned (during a game of Truth or Dare) was Felix. Felix was pretty chill. Honestly, I was surprised that he didn't try to escape when we untied his ropes so that he could eat, drink, go to the bathroom, complete a dare, etc. In fact, he seemed quite...calm. Which made me wonder if not all warriors were bad.

    "Felix, truth or dare." Aurelia asked, sitting criss-crossed on the soft moss carpet.

    The wind whooshed outside as the three of us sat inside the cave and played Truth or Dare after the sun had set.

    "Dare, I'm not a coward." Felix said, grinning and rubbing his hands together.

    "Okay... I dare you to go find a ruby in this cave and bring it back to me," Aurelia said, an arched look on her face while she leaned back on her hands as she stretched her legs out after sitting in the same position for so long.

    I gave her a pointed look. Rubies didn't grow in our cave, the two of us had explored every nook and cranny of this cave without coming across a single ruby.

    "Bet." He said, smirking. He stood up, brushed moss off his pants, and headed deeper into the cave.

    "Aurelia! Why would you do that? You know very well that rubies don't exist in the Celestial Cave!" I hissed at her once Felix was out of earshot.

    "That's the point." She giggled, laughing hysterically and rolling over. I rolled my eyes at her like she was crazy. Well, she probably was.

    After about 45 minutes, Felix returned empty handed and looking rather worried. It was almost as if he thought we were going to punish him or something... To be fair, we did kinda kidnap him, but we didn't even tie him up anymore, he was just not allowed to leave the cave without either one of us with him. Plus, the three of us had become great friends if I do say so myself.

    "I'm sorry Aurelia, I couldn't find any rubies." Felix said, scratching the back of his neck.

    Aurelia rolled over laughing, clutching her stomach. I laughed and couldn't help but start laughing with her.

    "What's so funny guys-?" Felix said in confusion. "Is there something in my hair or...?"

    "Rubies don't grow in the Celestial Cave..." I said, catching my breath. "Aurelia just made you go on a wild goose chase." I said laughing once again.

    His jaw dropped. "So you're telling me that I spent a whole 45 minutes looking for some stupid ruby that didn't exist-?" he asked, a look of disbelief on his face. Then, he too started laughing with us. Soon, we were all lying on the floor, catching our breaths and watching the fairy lights change into different constellations.