When the sandstorm let up, it turned out their shelter was right next to the sinkhole.
Fifteen blocks across, the walls made of layered orange sandstone, looking to become harder in substance the further it went down. Robyn could hear squeaks of some sort of creature down below, but she couldn't see anything... yet.
"Hayley's brother must be down there," Sid said.
"So will a boatload of enemies, no doubt," William muttered.
"We'll be careful. We've got a bed."
Sid had discovered at some point that beds could be used to set your 'home point,' which was the spot where you would appear after using a Recall Potion. By default their home point was back in the forest near home, where they'd first woken up, so Robyn, William and Sid had all set their home points to the shelter next to the sinkhole. Therefore, if things went horribly wrong down in the sinkhole, they could just drink a Recall Potion and teleport back up there, then heal up and head back down again.
The sinkhole sloped steeply down, but the three of them were able to slowly traverse downwards by dropping down each ledge. William placed torches, while Sid got out his Flare Gun and shot some flares downwards.
The flares lit up the sinkhole in a cylinder of light as they flew downwards. Robyn thought she saw something spindly, with lots of legs and claws, get illuminated on the way down, but it went even further before hitting a sandy bottom.
Was that a spider? Please don't be a spider.
They carefully climbed down to the bottom of the sinkhole. Once there Sid fired more flares in each direction. Some only hit close-by walls but a few shot down tunnels made from hardened sandstone. One landed next to what looked like a collection of bulging white sacs.
Eggs? Ewww!
She began feeling like she was shaking, worried that something was going to leap out of some dark crevice and gobble them all up for breakfast.
"What are those?" Sid said, placing torches to light up the entire tunnel, oblivious to fear as always. Robyn reminded herself of how Sid thought this entire world was just a videogame. This probably explained why he had a complete lack of fear at that moment.
"It might be best to leave those... things, alone, Sid," William said.
Robyn inwardly agreed with him but said nothing.
Sid ignored him and hit one of the egg sacs with his whip.
A tiny, grub-like creature burst out and leaped an impossibly large distance forward. Sid dodged to the side, seemingly anticipating it, but the grub latched onto William.
"Agh!" he cried, swinging his silver broadsword.
Robyn aimed her bow but was afraid to fire, in case she hit William.
Sid's Flinxes rushed forward, and began biting at the grub, knocking William over but also pinning the grub so it couldn't escape. The two of them easily overpowered it and it soon died, bursting into a couple of silver coins.
"Why did you hit that?" Robyn demanded.
"Hey, we didn't know what they did! What better time to find out than when nothing else is attacking us?" Sid replied.
She groaned. That makes sense, but I don't have to like it.
"Let's just find Hayley's brother and get out of here," William said. Having had that grub biting all over him, he looked as shaken as she felt.
The tunnel had led to a dead end, so Sid elected to blast further downwards with some bombs. There turned out to be another cavern not far beyond, this one similarly tube-shaped, except there was another underground house inside. It was made from the same sandstone as the surrounding walls, making it blend in with the cave more, however its cubic structure still made it stand out. Inside was a sandstone chest containing an ornately-decorated weapon named the Storm Spear. William picked it up, and gave it a swing. It launched some sort of electric pulse forward.
"That looks quite shocking," Sid said.
"Ha ha," William muttered sarcastically.
"People better watch out, you might just charge into them."
"Okay, that's enough jokes, Sid."
It was at that moment that Robyn spotted something charging out from the darkness, and she shrieked.
It wasn't a spider, but it was still a creepy-crawly, completely unlike any she'd ever seen. It ran on four spindly legs, had two massive clawed jaws at its front, and two red eyes.
Robyn tried shooting it with her bow, but while it did some damage it did little to slow its charge. It eventually slammed into her, its claws raking across her silver chainmail, dealing 46 damage to her.
William ran and attacked with his new Storm Spear. He kept stabbing it forward, the weapon's attack combined with its electric shocks being able to keep the creature at bay, and eventually destroy it. It dropped some of its claws upon death, which rushed into William's inventory.
"What was that thing?" Sid said.
"It was called an Antlion Charger," William muttered.
Robyn breathed. "Thanks for saving me, William."
He smiled. "You can always count on me, Robyn."
Something about the way he said that made some sort of tingly feeling rise inside her.
"Let's move on," Sid said.
They kept on moving through the spindly tunnels. A few more Antlion Chargers attacked them, but they mostly came at them alone, and the combined weapons of the three of them were able to take them down before they could do any real damage. Sid dispatched any more eggs they found as well. They also came across a strange type of cactus that was round, shaped like a boulder, and when Sid tried picking it up with his pickaxe, it came loose from the ground, rolling right over him and dealing a whopping 169 damage. It was lucky he had the most health out of all of them.
"Okay, never touch those things," he groaned. "Got it."
Right at that moment two Antlion Chargers came rushing out of the darkness.
"Cactuses!" he cried. "I'm still low!"
"We'll cover you!" William said. "If they get too close, use a recall!"
He rushed forward with his Storm Spear while Robyn shot arrows into the Antlions. One of them was larger than the other, with 220 max health, but they soon managed to take it down.
William spun around and he suddenly pointed. "Sid! Behind you!"
"Aw, nuts!" Sid snapped out with his leather whip at two more Antlions that had come up from behind him. These ones had bodies shaped more like a dragonfly's and whirring wings reminiscent of one. His Flinxes leapt up and bit at them, and the two flying Antlions soon fell.
Sid then deftly spun around, shooting Flares in all directions that weren't lit. One of the flares uncovered a tunnel with three more Antlion Chargers and a flying Antlion rushing towards them.
To make matters worse, Robyn began hearing the sounds of scraping in the walls, sounding oddly like a train chugging, and a sand-coloured worm emerged upwards right in front of her like a cobra popping out from a basket. She screamed as it arced forward, its clawed mouth scraping her copper helmet, before digging back into the ground behind her.
"We've got to take cover!" William cried.
The three of them ran in the other direction, eventually reaching a dead end. William quickly built up a wall of wooden planks, blocking the Antlions from getting to them. That didn't stop the sandworm, though when it dug its way out of the wall William slashed his Storm Spear through its side, quickly cutting it to pieces.
Sid got out his pickaxe and dug through the sandstone, emerging into a brightly-lit cavern just as something smacked him in the forehead.
"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his noggin.
Robyn's eyes fell to the object that hit him. It looked like –
"A golf ball?" Sid groaned. "What is a golf ball doing down here?"
"Oh. That might've been me. Heheh," a voice came.
Robyn looked up to see a man dressed in a green-and-white vest and a white cap. He was holding out a golf club and had several more strapped to his back. And his skin tone looked about the same as –
"Are you Hayley's brother?" William asked.
"That I am," the Golfer said. "The name's Madison. Harry Madison."
"I'm William and this is Robyn and Sid," he said, pointing at each of them in term. "Hayley came to us and told us you fell down a sinkhole in the Desert."
"Ah yes, that did happen," Harry said. "I wandered off-course and fell into a golfing hazard I never imagined I'd encounter. Been stuck down here in this sand pit for days. It's a good thing you can get water out of cactus, though truthfully it has been getting a bit boring just playing the same hole over and over again. Look, I'll show you."
Before any of them could say anything Harry had stepped over to a white tee stuck in the sandy ground and placed a golf ball on top. He then struck the ball with his club, and it flew across the cavern, ricocheting off some bones and fossils sticking out of the floor, ceiling, and walls, before hitting a flagpole and dropping straight into the hole.
"See? That was my seventeenth hole-in-one in a row."
"Yeah, we get it," Sid said. "Good news for you is, Hayley sent us to find you, and here we are."
"Oh. Great!" Harry said. "I kind of know the way back up to the surface, but could never climb back up. I came from over there." He pointed to a crevice in the wall on the other side of the cavern.
"We came from just here," William said, pointing backwards with his thumb, "I guess we went different ways."
"Though our way is blocked by a cactus-load of Antlions," Sid said.
Harry smiled and nodded knowingly. "Then we should head through my way."
***
Harry's path up to the surface started out claustrophobic but thankfully there were no Antlions in the tight spaces, and no more sandworms came after them. They soon emerged into another sandstone house.
"I sheltered in here for a little bit," Harry explained, then pointed to the house's chest. "I drank all the healing potions in there already."
Sid heaved it open.
"A Snake Charmer's Flute," he said. "In the words of Indiana Jones, 'Snakes? Why'd it have to be snakes?'"
"I tried that out earlier," Harry said. "It summons some rope snakes that go up into the air. Though it's a bit useless down here when all the tunnels have such a low ceiling."
William picked up the painting that was in the room with his pickaxe.
"Andrew Sphinx," he read.
"Andrew?" Sid said. "I wonder if that has something to do with Andrew the Guide?"
"Well, I remember what a sphinx is in the real world," William said. "The painting kind of looks like one. Except it's got something green on top. Looks like a hat."
The four of them kept moving, heading up an ascending set of tunnels. Robyn brought up the rear. At one point when they were clambering along a wide ledge that sloped upwards, a pitch-black drop beside them, she cast her eye backwards.
"Uh, guys? There's Antlions coming up behind us!"
William spun around and threw his Ice Boomerang, hitting one of the flying Antlions that was pursuing them. Sid hit a nearby cactus-boulder with his pickaxe, sending it rolling down the slope, where it subsequently crushed three ground Antlions in a row.
Robyn started shooting at the flying Antlions with her bow, but one of the flying ones rattled its jaws and flew at her. She screamed and jumped to the side, causing it to swoop straight into William's mace.
"I'm not the type to scream and thrash around just because my ball lands in the water," the Golfer said, placing a golf ball on the ground. "I stay calm, and collected, and focus on the next shot."
He struck it, and the ball bounced between the bodies of each of the flying Antlions, damaging them. It even hit some of them twice.
"Come on!" Sid yelled.
That was when Robyn spotted more Antlion Chargers coming from ahead of them. One slammed into her, knocking her backwards and off the ledge they were standing on.
"Robyn!" William cried.
She landed in darkness. All around her she could see egg sacs and hear the obnoxious clicking noises of Antlions. When she held up a torch, she could just see at least two or three pairs of red eyes.
She couldn't help it. She cried out, tears of fear coming to her eyes.
"Robyn!" William yelled again. "Use a Recall!"
She would have but one of the Antlions leaped out of the darkness and into her, knocking her over. She'd been knocked down to 36 health.
No! No! Nooo!
The Antlion screeched at her and made to charge again, but an icy boomerang hit it.
That was all the push she needed. She grabbed a Recall Potion and drank it.
Suddenly she was in the shelter they'd built earlier, lying next to the bed.
She groaned, all the adrenaline still coursing through her body, but she knew she was safe. She realised at that moment something like this had happened before, but it had been William who had fallen, and she had been the one to save him.
William! What about the others? Are they safe?
She stood up, drinking a Lesser Healing Potion to restore her health a little, and stepped outside.
Right as she did she spotted something purple rising up out from the sinkhole. It suddenly hardened, emitting a purple glow, and she could see it was a long, thin snake.
Sid must've made it to the bottom and used his Snake Charmer's Flute.
She looked down, and could see Sid, William, and the Golfer each climbing up the rope-snake. At the top they leapt off and onto the edge of the sinkhole.
She laid her eyes on William, who was gasping and panting, probably also from the intense escape they'd all just undertaken.
"I'm so glad you're safe," she blurted.
He looked to her.
"I'm glad you are too," he said.
At that moment she knew she could trust him.
She could count on him.
***
Upon returning to the base with Harry the Golfer, his sister was overjoyed, pulling him into a hug. Then she hugged William, and Sid and then Robyn.
"Girl, you rock!" she exclaimed.
Robyn smiled. "Thanks."
That was when the front door of the base swung open.
Beyond was a woman with bright green hair.
When Hayley released her from the hug Robyn stepped forward.
"It's you!" she exclaimed in recognition. "I saw you back at the crimson forest!"
Sid and William seemed to notice the woman too because both of their eyes shifted to her.
"Yes, I was there," she said. "I have been observing the three of you for some time, and I think it's time to reveal myself." She paused. "And tell you that the world is in grave danger."
1 vote = 1 extra cactus rolling over Sid in his nightmares.