In the early morning, with the sunlight filling the skies though the valley itself is still in shadow, Alunya could get a better view of the valley from where they are. The group is somewhat close to the snow-capped peaks, and it’s noticeably more chilly and windy up here, without as many trees to block the wind currents.

  Alunya’s eyes sparkle, standing up on one of the boulders with his arms outstretched, taking in the sight. Even Antares’s perch above the village didn’t have nearly this kind of breathtaking view. Maybe literally breathtaking, since it felt harder to breathe up here…

  Alunya’s reverie is interrupted when he hears Tavr’s footsteps returning to camp. The hunter had gone out to locate the cave, while Risa made breakfast, and if he was back this early, that probably means…

  “It’s just up there!” Tavr announces. “I don’t know how we didn’t find it last night, we stopped practically right on its doorstep. IShould be fairly easy to reach, once you get up on the ridge it's practically at ground level.”

  Alunya stands up, dusting himself off, while Risa groans in discontent. “Alright! We’re gonna get to see the cave then, huh? Should we pack up camp or just leave it here for when we return?” Alunya asks, cocking his head sideways.

  Tavr strokes his beard for a moment, then shakes his head. “We’ll be coming right back out here after looking around inside. Might as well leave the camp up and only travel with what we need.”

  The rest of the way up to the ridge takes some time, largely because climbing over boulders and precarious terrain is quite difficult for the more exhausted members of the party. Alunya and Antares go on up ahead and help Lyrin, Vekt, and Risa up the slope from above. The sun is only just peaking above the eastern mountains, far upriver from them, when the cave comes into view.

  Alunya stares up at the round gap in the mountainside with curiosity. He’d never seen anything like it before; Even the concept of a cave is a somewhat foreign one, only heard of in stories. But here he is in the flesh, staring into the gaping chasm, an oddly consistent round shape puncturing through the mountain suddenly, not blending into the surroundings whatsoever; Inside, the gravely topsoil from outside quickly gave way to smooth bedrock, with a rhythmic undulating pattern on the walls, like so many carved rings of stone.

  A quick glance around quickly reveals that everyone else is having about the same experience, save Tavr who had seen it before. The cave is considerably larger than anyone would have guessed, maybe five or six meters in diameter, and there is a cold draft emanating from the open passage.

  Tavr clears his throat to get everyone's attention. “Ahem. Alright, everyone stay close to me. Hold onto your lamps, but only ignite them if there’s an emergency, as we need to conserve light as long as possible.” Tavr instructs, handing out the small terracotta oil lamps which resemble little more than a ceramic spigot with a hole on top. His and Gatrick’s are lit, but the rest are left dormant for the time being. Holding the lamp in his hand, he strides uncertainly into the cave first, the dull firelight of the lamp casting the stone walls in an amber glow, such that it would quickly become impossible to tell what their actual color was.

  Alunya tightly holds onto his lamp and follows Tavr as they step into the cave. The tunnel starts off very straight, so there is still some sunlight to speak of, catching on each rib of the undulating wall patterns. The rock is not super easy to walk on, but as long as Alunya makes sure to step on the top of each ridge it isn’t so bad; certainly better than if the floor had just been rubble or jagged stone.

  Alunya traces his hand over the edges of the walls, feeling the stone underneath his fingertips. It’s smooth, oddly so; he expected the surface to be rough, but it feels more like glazed ceramic.

  “Remember everybody, keep your eye out for ore, that’s what we’re looking for.” Tavr reminds everybody. “You know what it looks like, but it might look a bit more orange than usual because of the lamp’s. If in doubt, ask Gatrick, he’s the expert. Aren’t you, you old badger?” Tavr claps Gatrick on the back, who rolls his eyes.

  “Whatever. Just don’t waste my time.” Gatrick mutters sullenly.

  “It's a lot colder and darker than I thought it’d be…” Risa speaks up, looking around the cavern fearfully, clinging close to her brother's side.

  “But would you ever see something like this back home?” Vekt asks, poking Risa’s cheek. The girl hesitates then shakes her head. “You said you wanted to get to see more, right?” Risa nods, her fear and discomfort overtaken momentarily by awed wonder. It was such a different environment than one anyone had ever seen, the feeling of being surrounded by smooth bedrock and cold air.

  I doubt anybody back home has been somewhere like this. We’re already on an adventure! Alunya thinks to himself, smugly. The group is making very slow progress, given the need to watch where they stepped carefully and keep an eye out for possible deposits.

  Speaking of, Antares catches sight of something glimmering in one of the cave walls. Climbing up with some difficulty, he looks back. “Hey, mister! Is this what we’re looking for?” Antares calls out to Gatrick.

  There is a set of stones embedded in the walls, breaking the otherwise smooth curvature; seemingly whatever had formed this tunnel hadnt been able to cut through these. They glisten in the light, a sort of glassy texture which catches the light inside of it, though it's diffused by streaks of white that are more dull in appearance. Some of the rocks appear faceted, almost angular though with curved surfaces, while others have an almost bubbly appearance.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Gatrick snorts. “We’re looking for ore you imbecile, not shiny rocks.”

  Antares cringes away, looking down. “I was just trying to help…” He mumbles, before staggering along after the group to catch up before the light leaves.

  The sunlight is distant now, and only the light of the oil lamps provides enough to see the surrounding cave, as it suddenly expands, leaving the opposite walls too distant to see, the slope downwards becoming much steeper.

  The stone is different here; It looks almost wet, like some kind of moisture is flowing down it, yet it’s perfectly dry to the touch despite how it glistens. Alunya traces his hand against the walls in curiosity- even more than the stone on the way in, it’s distinctly odd-feeling. Although it is glossy and still smooth, it’s darkly colored, almost like black glass, and it has a unique cooling sensation, almost a burning numbness that seemed to seep into his fingers where they touched.

  “What’s this?” Tavr wonders aloud, gazing up and around in the dark. “Alright everyone, stay close, we can’t get turned around or we might not be able to find our way out again.” He cautions. “We’ll hug the left wall, that way we can just follow the wall back to find our way out. Nobody go down any cliffs.”

  Alunya’s eyes strain to make out the far walls, slowly adjusting to the darkness. His keen vision can just about make out the dim shape of a vast cavern, encompassed by myriad gaps that he can only perceive as black holes; it’s hard to tell what they are from this distance, dark stone or gaps in the rock or something else entirely. “Woah…” is all he could really say. I wish we had brighter lights, I wanna see what this whole place is really like!

  But before the group can progress farther, there's a movement, like a shudder, in the stone underneath their feet. Risa shrieks and falls down to her knees, as the ground seems to vibrate. Alunya feels a tremor pass by and through them, like it came from one side of the chamber and then out through the other, staying firm and holding onto the wall for balance.

  “Hold on to the wall! It's a quake!” Tavr shouts. Antares leans against the wall as the violent shaking intensifies, and then disappears suddenly, having only lasted a minute.

  “I-is it over?” Vekt’s voice asks, just as shaky as the ground had been a moment ago.

  “Seems like.” Gatrick announces.

  “Should we head back?” Lyrin asks, a note of fear in his voice. “I… Don’t think I wanna be in here if that happens again.. a rock could fall on us…” Lyrin stares up at the ceiling with apparent nervousness. The cavern had seemingly endured the quake without much harm, the dark bedrock must have been tremendously strong, though dust and smaller bits of stone had fallen from the ceiling, peppering the cavern in an echoing sound of distant clitter-clatter. Some of the bubbly and faceted stones which are embedded in the walls had been shaken loose by the motion, and Alunya quietly-with just a surreptitious glance around to see if anyone was watching-stoops down to pick some of them up as souvenirs.

  Meanwhile, Gatrick was growling out in response to Tavr. “I did not march several days out here to leave empty handed. We’ve only just started looking.”

  Tavr furrows his brow. “The boy might be right, Gatrick, it might be safer to come back later…”

  Gatrick spits on the ground. “I said no, this cave goes deep enough there will surely be something of value in here.” Gatrick’s eyes gleam with avarice as he speaks.

  Alunya smiles, flashing a bit of his teeth, and stands up by Gatrick. “Mhm! We can keep going!” He affirms eagerly. This is the best adventure I’ve had my whole life, I’m not ready for it to end yet!

  Tavr frowns, looking uncertain. “...Fine, I suppose. I hope I don’t come to regret this.” Tavr murmurs, worriedly.

  The group continues in somber silence, Gatrick leading the way along the leftmost wall of the cavern while Alunya prances along right after him, eager to explore. Not much farther in, Alunya catches a glint of something in the lamplight.

  “Hey! Over there!” Alunya tugs on Gatrick’s sleeve. “What’s that? Is that something?” Alunya asks, triggering a scowl from Gatrick until he looks and, peering deeper into the darkness, can barely see what Alunya is pointing at, a spot where the otherwise dark rock is green and shiny.

  Gatrick snorts in apparent disbelief. “Huh. Well I’ll be, you actually found something.” Gatrick leaves the wall to approach.

  “Sh-shouldn’t we stay near the left wall? We could get lost!” Risa protests, but Gatrick just huffs and looks back.

  “We came out here looking for ore, not to dawdle around in the caves. Tavr, you ought to put a muzzle on your brat.” Gatrick responds, striding across the rough ground with only a modicum of caution while Alunya prances on ahead to the green rocks in the walls and floor. The shape of this cavern isn’t quite the same as the way in, the rhythmic roundness replaced by a more amorphous shape full of dips and ridges.

  “Hrm. This is malachite, alright. Lyrin! Bring me my pick! We’re digging!” Gatrick announces, but before Lyrin can get more than a couple feet he stumbles and falls over as a loud rumbling sound and tremor passes through the cavern.

  “Ow!” Lyrin moans, bleeding from his knee as he falls onto the rock ground. The rumbling lasts longer this time, though it is not as powerful; some dust falls from the roof of the cavern.

  “We should head back. If another tremor happens while we’re in here… Who knows what will happen.” Tavr states.

  “I am not leaving empty handed, especially not after finding what we’re looking for!” Gatrick retorts, eyeing the wall with avarice. “You can leave if you like, you sodding coward.”

  Tavr growls out and grabs Gatrick by the collar. “Now look here, you bastard, I’ve dealt with your insults to my kids the whole way out here, but you’re putting us all in danger. If the cave is fine, we’ll be able to just come right back in here once it calms down.”

  “And if it isn't?” Gatrick responds simply. “Lyrin! Get over here, you waste of skin! I said, ‘Get my pick’!” Gatrick barks out, ignoring the whimpering of his son as he wrests the pickaxe from him and starts hammering away at the ore.