Cyber Mortality

Chapter 15:

I twist the opal on the ring Rocky gave me and the darkness of the cave becomes enveloped in a green light. The walls show scour marks from people digging, but the most startling things are the sticks of dynamite littered around the cave floor.

"Did people really use dynamite in here?" I hiss at DeNyle and he nods.

"It's a quick way to excavate power crystals,"

"But what defines a power crystal? Do they have to be a certain size or anything?" I question. He purses his lips and I notice his eyes flutter for a moment. He opens his palm and inside I spy a glowing purple crystal around the size of his thumb.

"One 'Crystal' weighs five ounces," he explains. "If you get a crystal that weighs a pound that counts for three crystals."

"Huh," I nod in understanding. "Can I borrow this to help me look for crystals?" He sets it in my outstretched palm and I gaze down at the thing. It looks similar to a quartz crystal with a six-sided crystal but the purple glow is what truly distinguishes it.

"Hey, guys check this out!" Rocky waves us forward and points to a small glowing vein in the wall. 

"I'll bet we could get one or two crystals out of that." A small chisel and hammer appear in his hand and he lines them up with the vein. He taps gently and two slivers of crystal that size of thumbnails fall out into Jez's awaiting hands.

"Well it's a start," she sighs and sticks them into the small pouch on her hip.

"We can look further into the cave if you want," DeNyle offers. "We won't be much help just watching them chisel."

"Sure," I smile and follow him deeper into the cave. For one hundred feet we don't see anything. I even switch off my night vision to look for glowing purple lines in the walls.

"I guess a lot of other people have been through here already," DeNyle sighs. I set my foot down and peer at the wall but feel a slight vibration.

"Did you feel that?" I hiss and DeNyle shakes his head. I step closer to the wall and hear a CRRRAACCCK!!! My feet fall out from under me and then I am falling.

"May!" DeNyle shouts and reaches for me but I've already fallen out of reach. I scramble for purchase on anything but find only slippery walls. A musty smell reaches my nose as I plummet another ten feet and then a purple glow emanates from all around me. My eyes widen when I realize the floor below me is smooth as a mirror and then I break the surface of the freezing water. I clamp my mouth shut and open my eyes to find I've sunk ten feet below the surface of the pool. I scramble upwards and suck in a breath of air when my head hits the surface. If I had been a moment later I may have drowned. Lucky for me it was not hard to find purchase on the edge of the pool, because I do not know how to swim.

"May!" DeNyle screams from far above and then I heard Rocky and Jez join him.

"What happened?" Rocky exclaims.

"She said she felt a vibration and then the floor collapsed!" DeNyle explains.

My teeth chatter and I slither out onto the hard rocky banks and lie on my back to catch my breath.

"Do you think she died?" DeNyle whimpers.

"I'm fine!" I call up to them in exasperation.

"May! You're alright!" Rocky and DeNyle call out at the same time.

"You guys might want to come down here," I laugh when I glance all around me.

"I've got a rope! I'll rappel down," Rocky shouts and sure enough, a rope dangles down through the hole. After a moment he appears and his mouth drops.

"Holy-" his voice echoes across the cavern.

"Uh-huh," my teeth chatter and my jaw trembles.

"You're freezing," Rocky gazes down at me after swinging onto dry land. "You've gotta get out of these wet clothes." I nod and call up the menu in my head. It fills the left side of my vision and I click into my leather pants and a black tank top. Once the wet clothes are gone and dry ones replace them I feel slightly warmer. "Here." He holds out of soft fur blanket and I nod my thanks. He wraps it around my shoulder and tucks it tightly around me.

"Whoa!" DeNyle exclaims when he leaps into the cavern. Jez then joins us with an equal exclamation.

"That has got to be the biggest crystal I've ever seen," she shakes her head in amazement.

"How are we going to get it out of here though?" DeNyle questions. He runs a hand through his long blue hair and shakes his head in amazement. 

"I think we just have to get as big of a crystal as we can and stick it into our pouches," Rocky shakes his head.

"They'll fit in your pouches?" I stutter and DeNyle plops down beside me. He rubs my back to create friction but it only helps a little.

"These are infinity pouches," Rocky explains. "You can fit anything inside them."

"We've even hidden inside Rocky's pouch before," DeNyle grins beside me. "We were sneaking into this place but there was nowhere large enough for a good hiding place."

"We will have to bring the crystals to the appraiser so he can add them to our amount," Rocky says and pulls out his little chisel.

"Let me handle this one," Jez cracks her fingers before spreading her hands out facing the wall. She closes her eyes for a moment and then electricity begins to leap between her spread fingertips. The sparks crackle and make my hair stand up slightly. She then presses her index and middle finger together and points at the large crystal. A bolt of lightning erupts from her fingers and smashes into the crystal. She slowly draws her finger around until a giant crystal falls onto the ground with a thump which shakes the floor. She lowers her hands and the lightning disappears and I notice sweat beading on her forehead.

"Wow," Rocky claps. "You've really improved with your lightning accuracy."

"Thanks," Jez nods and pulls a bottle of water from her pouch. She guzzles it down before stashing it away again.

"That was pretty cool, but you're still way better with fire," DeNyle grins and climbs to his feet.

"That was magic?" I inquire and she nods.

"I'm a pro at fire magic. Lightning is just a side hobby," she shrugs.

"Well, I guess we should start breaking this into smaller chunks so we can put them into the bags," Rocky runs a hand through his silver hair. "We just have to hope no one attacks us while we have all this crystal on us."