¶. Without paying attention to my surroundings, I climbed down the table and let the rush of emotions I felt collide all at once. I shouted at Jack and Lucas, " my God, my God, did you see that! Did I really just do that! I'm invincible"! I could barely see them, but it looked like one of them was pointing behind me.
¶. There Evan was, standing as tall as he could a foot away from the throne. At first, his eyes were calculating yet clouded with confusion, but he quickly dropped his guard and ran to hug me. "I thought you were dead, I thought I was going to be alone here forever"! I broke one arm from his grip and awkwardly patted his back, "I'd never abandon a friend". He laughed a bit to himself, " so why didn't you take the ladder"? I felt myself pause for an uncomfortable amount of time, "there was a ladder"? He burst out laughing, "yes, it's right there", he pointed his thumb at the wall behind him. In hindsight, I don't know how we could've missed it. It was a massive mahogany ladder that looked like a tree sprouting it's way to the heavens.
¶. I shouted as loud as I could, "Ey, Jack! Lucas! There's a ladder right there"! Evan's eyes lit up brighter than before, "is everyone else also with you"? I felt my eyes fall and shook my head. While Evan and Lucas made their way down, Evan led me to the other table, "You must be famished. You can eat as much as you like. All the plates end up restocked no matter how much you eat". I hadn't thought about food in I don't even know how long. Seeing it all in front of me made my stomach grumble, and before I could muster another thought, I scarfed down all the food I could fit in my mouth. From the corner of my eye, I saw Evan greet Jack and Lucas and lead them beside me at the table.
¶. After my fourth plate, I finished my meal with the finest cup of honey and milk I've ever tasted. Jack and Lucas were stuffing their faces while Evan averted his eyes from our direction. I heard Jack let out a loud belch followed by a soft, "Excuse me". Evan offered a somber small laugh in the shape of a breath escaping his lungs, then almost as if he was bored, he placed his hand over his lips and leaned forward. Jack began recalling the small adventure we just had, while Evan nodded his head and acted interested, yet his eyes were glued to the wooden table.
¶. When Lucas finished chewing his food, he spoke, "So how do we get out of here"? Evan lifted his eyes, but they were bewildered by the mere question. "Why would we leave"? Now Lucas's eyes seemed just as confused as Evan's, "because we're trapped here". Evan stood up in defiance, "were safe here. We have food, shelter, water, why would we ever leave"? I stood up, "because our friends are still out there, somewhere". Jack began picking at his plate like he was at the movies eating a bag of popcorn. "They'll make it here like you did. We probably already reached the end, why else would this place be perfect". The room began to tremble, breaking all our heated thoughts.
¶. Lucas slammed his hands against the table, "that's the second time that happened! What in the hell is going on"! Lucas scoffed and rolled his eyes, "that happens every hour or so, it's not a big deal". I felt my eyes widen, "Why would you say that! It's Movie 101"! Lucas sat down and rolled his eyes, "this is real life Reeling, nothing is going-". Right as he said that, a dragon ripped through the roof and released a terrifying screech. I looked at Lucas and blamed him with my glare, but there wasn't time for that. Evan shouted, "how do we get out of here"! Lucas rushed to the throne and we followed him. Meanwhile the dragon was tearing up every part of the room. It exposed that beyond the cobblestone walls was yet another endless void.
¶. Lucas shouted, "there's a tunnel beneath the throne! Help me push it out of the way"! The throne must've weighed more than a two hundred pounds. We pushed as fast and hard as we could, but the dragon kept getting closer. The dragon was hesitant, slowly watching us as it took steps forward. Luckily we managed to move the throne before it reached a quarter of the way to us, none of us wanted to wait and see it's next actions. Beneath the throne, there was a ladder going down for who knows how long. Evan quickly pushed his way through us and went down the ladder first, followed by Evan, I nodded my head at Jack, he gave me a second glance and made his way down.
¶. The dragon was mere seconds away from me. I could smell the horrible scent of it's scales, it reminded me of coal burning. It opened it's mouth but before it could make it's move, I jumped down the hole. As I fell down, I saw my friends reaching their arms out for me and blue flames above the hole. I tried to grab their arms and save myself from falling, but I missed their arms by a hair. As I fell furter down the hole, I tried stopping myself by pushing my hands against the walls, but I didn't have the arm strength to stop the momentum. All I achieved was scarping my hands the ugliest shade of red and white. Before I hit the bottom, I somehow hit the sides of the wall and every rung from the ladder hit my sides. Untill finally, I landed with a splash.
¶. I felt the first batch of water flood my every taste buds with the taste of salt, my eyes stung as I forced them open, and my every muscle felt weightless as I kicked my way for air. When I broke through the top of the water, I quickly devoured as much air as I could, but at the same time I tried coughing out all the water I inhaled. It took a while, but I managed to get my bearings. I looked out in every direction, but there was nothing but water and solitude. I felt myself begin to panic and asked myself "after all the trials I made it through, is this how I die. I can't keep this up, my arms are on fire, I can feel my legs sinking. Should I just give up here"? Before I could answer my fears, something fell from the sky and made a splash big enough to distract me from my fears.
¶. I stared at the lingering ripples with anxious anticipation, until finally, three face all bobbed their heads out of the water. Evan's instantly shouted, "I told you this wasn't a good idea"! Evan barked back, "Who cares it worked"! I held bewildered eyes and asked, "what happened"? Jack explained, "after you fell down the shaft, we jumped after you. Before I could thank them, Jack shouted, "is that a pirate ship"! I turned my head and saw a massive boat that hadn't been there just a second ago.