Friday, August 1, 2025

The Magnificent Cavern

 

            Patrick looked up from the map that he had made of the tunnels. “Hey, Dwayne! Have you broken through yet?”

            “Almost,” came Dwayne’s voice from farther down the tunnel.

            Patrick walked down to see the progress Dwayne had made. They had been exploring the tunnels under Paris for weeks. Patrick had hoped to find Pierre’s ancient lost treasure down here. Legend had it that Pierre the Explorer had hidden a dangerous treasure deep in the tunnels beyond the catacombs. The stories said that Pierre had meant to go back to retrieve the treasure, but he had been mysteriously killed.

            Patrick was only interested in the historical significance of the treasure. He didn’t need any money because he had a large family inheritance. He had convinced his best friend, Dwayne, to go on this adventure with him. They had hired a crew to help with the excavations. Today, they were digging out the side of a tunnel wall that appeared to have been another tunnel at one time, but had later been sealed off. Patrick whistled when he saw how far they had gotten. Nearly half of the opening had been uncovered, and there seemed to be a large space beyond.

            Patrick lifted his lantern toward the opening. The air smelled stale here. “Could this be it, do you think?” he asked Dwayne.

            “I dunno. We won’t be able to shine a light far enough inside until we clear the rest of this area, but it shouldn’t take too much longer.” Dwayne put a reassuring hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “We’ll be able to see in a few minutes.”

            Twenty minutes later, the last of the debris had been cleared, and Patrick anxiously led the way inside. It was the darkest tunnel that they had yet explored. Their lanterns couldn’t completely chase away the darkness.

            The farther they walked down the tunnel, the more excited Patrick became. “There’s got to be something down here,” he said, slightly out of breath. The tunnel twisted and turned, and then it ended abruptly. Patrick and the others were lost for words as they gazed into the magnificent cavern.

            The cavern, at least 50 feet wide, was dominated by a large pool that seemed to shine from deep within. A bluish light illuminated the entire cavern. A path lined the edge and Patrick led the way along it. Precious gems peeked out from the rock walls.

            “I think we found the treasure,” Dwayne said in awe.

            “It would seem so,” Patrick said slowly. “But why was this tunnel sealed off? There are enough gems in here for a king’s ransom. Why would anyone just leave it?” He continued walking along the path until he reached the very back of the cavern. “Here we go,” he said with satisfaction.

            A large chest was set with a lock and was inscribed with the words “Pierre the Explorer.” Patrick held his hand out to Dwayne who handed him a shovel. With a few good whacks, the lock broke open and Patrick carefully lifted the lid.

            The entire crew was gathered around Patrick as he looked inside. They all sighed in disappointment when they saw the contents. Three oval rocks sat on a black velvet cloth inside.

            “Is that it?” Dwayne asked in a worried voice.

            “Let’s see if there’s anything else in here.” Patrick carefully lifted out the rocks one by one and set them on the ground. He took out the black velvet cloth and laid it on top of the rocks. “Nothing else,” he said with a sigh.

            Suddenly, Patrick stood up and bumped into Dwayne who had been leaning over him to get a better look. Dwayne dropped the lantern in his hand. It fell on top of the velvet and broke. Flames erupted on the fabric, which quickly disintegrated, revealing the oval rocks beneath. Instead of dying down, the fire seemed to find fuel in the rocky material.

            No one said anything as the fire continued to blaze. Patrick expected the fire to burn itself out, but it only grew hotter and then started changing colors. First, a bright yellow turned into green, followed by blue which moved into a deep purple.

            One of the crewmen thought to fill a bucket with water, but he stood transfixed by the colorful flames. Finally, the fire turned a brilliant white and then suddenly went out. The cavern, which had seemed brightly lit before the fire started, now seemed very dim.

            Patrick blinked the spots from his vision while Dwayne said, “What on Earth was that?”

            When he was able to see again, Patrick leaned down to investigate the remains of the fire. “Did these rocks always look like this?” He studied the rocks which were now a shiny black with veins of different colors running all along them.

            “I thought they were just chunks of gray rock before,” Dwayne answered uncertainly. “I think I would have paid more attention to them if they looked like this – magic rocks. Don’t touch them!”

            Patrick had laid a hand carefully on one of the rocks. “It’s cold,” he said, surprised. He went back to check the chest again, which had somehow escaped the flames. He ran his hand around inside, looking for anything he might have missed before. He stopped when he felt his hand brush against something attached to the inside of the lid. Pulling it out, he saw that it was an envelope.

            The paper was nearly disintegrating with age as Patrick carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a note inside. He brought it closer to another lantern, so he could see it clearly. He read it out loud:

            To whoever finds this treasure chest,

            These are the last dragon eggs in existence. The leadership is planning to obliterate all memory that dragons ever existed. We were able to rescue these three eggs from the worldwide purge of dragons. Dragons and humans once worked together, but the war between us has brought us to this. We couldn’t bear to completely erase an intelligent species.

            If you’ve found this, you have a chance to correct the mistakes of the past. Dragons and humans can be friends again. It’s up to you. All you need to do is bathe the eggs in fire. Once they hatch, they will need someone to care for them.

            Please don’t make our same choices. It’s up to you.

            Signed,

Pierre the Explorer

            Silence followed the reading of the letter. All eyes were on the dragon eggs. The men shifted uncomfortably and Dwayne finally voiced what they were all thinking. “Are we really going to believe that letter?”

            “You saw the fire,” Patrick said solemnly. “I, for one, intend to see this through. Do you know what an amazing discovery this is? If nothing else we’ll be able to study something that no one else has seen for centuries. No wonder the stories about Pierre are all so mysterious.”

            “Well, we’ll leave that to you, then.” Dwayne turned back to the cave walls. “I think we should get a bunch of these gems to take back with us.”

            The crew eagerly started to mine the exposed gems. Patrick, however, stayed to look after the eggs. He lined the box with a few shirts to cushion the eggs. Reaching down, he went to pick one of them up.

            A loud CRACK rang out through the cavern. Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to the eggs as more CRACKs rang out, louder than the first.

            Patrick watched as one of the eggs exploded open, and a small blue dragon stretched and unfurled its wings.

            “I can’t believe it,” Dwayne said breathlessly.

            Two more dragons exploded out of their eggs, and Patrick thought he had never seen anything so beautiful. He looked up at the men around him with a grin and said, “We are the first to witness a dragon hatch in centuries. Let’s make better decisions about them than those who came before us.”

            From that moment, Patrick became an advocate for dragons. Many resisted the idea of dragons at first, but Patrick used his wealth and influence to protect and raise the dragons. They had harvested so many gems, that Patrick had no lack of funds. He went down in history as the man who reintroduced dragons to our world.


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