Soaked from head to hoof, our group set off on its way to the next landmark on the map.  There were heading towards a massive cavern northwest of the waterfall, exactly as it was portrayed on their maps.  If they were lucky, they would make it to the other side of the cavern before nightfall and set their camp for the night.  Of course, when was Lady Luck ever on the poor man’s side?

They continued their trek across the huge cliff at the head of the waterfall, carefully avoiding the edges, wary of loose rocks and giant insects.  Doctor would never forget how he almost became a spider’s lunch.  He also didn’t expect Big Mac to let him live it down.  Nevertheless, the quartet marched onward, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

After about half an hour of trekking on the other side of the waterfall, the group decided to stop and rest.  They were still soaked, and the weight of the water on their coats and pouches burdened them.  They stopped and pulled their belongings from the pouches, allowing them to dry.  Amazingly, the maps and books had all gone completely unaffected.

Chance was wringing his pouch dry when Doctor noticed something odd behind him.  “Chance, look out!”  Doctor leaped from his spot on the ground, starting a dash toward Chance.

But it was just a bit too late, and a massive bird latched its claws onto Chance’s body, lifting him into the air.  Chance squirmed and shouted, “Let go of me you damn bird!  Yo Brain, mind giving me a hand?!”  He pointed a hoof at the knife lying beside his pouch.

Brain took off in a dead run to the knife, snatching it up from the ground and pulling it from its cover.  Without a second thought, he launched the knife at the bird, catching the tip of one of its wings.  In pain, the bird dropped Chance and took off in a nosedive toward the attacker.  Brain leaped out of the way as the bird drew closer, and it crashed headfirst into the cliff face.  Rocks began to crumble over on top of the bird, and it screeched one loud, dying screech.

Doctor and Big Mac were the first on the scene, checking to ensure the bird was dead.  Once they diagnosed that it was, they headed over to Brain and Chance.

Chance laughed, “Ha ha!  Not very often you get caught by a giant bird!  Nice job dodging, buddy.”

Brain chuckled, rubbing his scraped arm, “Yeah.  I didn’t feel like being suicide bombed.”  He looked over at the bird.

Doctor sighed, “That’s twice today one of us nearly became lunch.  Did you see anything while you were up there?”

Chance shook his head, “No.  And that’s the problem.  The cliff ends in about one-hundred yards.  We’ve reached a dead end…”

Doctor and Brain both dropped their jaws in disbelief.  “You can’t be serious!” they both exclaimed.

“Eeyup, it’s a dead end alright.  O’ course, that’s if ya don’t count this here cave that bird made for us.”  Big Mac called from the collapsed rock pile.  In front of the pile was a deep, dark, eerie opening.  Big Mac’s voice echoed inside the cave for a moment before fading away.

“Who would’ve thunk it…?  That bird suicide bombed our way into the cavern!”  Doctor exclaimed in utter disbelief.  Between the giant spider, Chance’s ninja moves, and the giant bird helping them, he didn’t think things could get weirder.

Brain snapped Doctor back to reality.  “Let’s go everyone.  The sooner we get through this cave, the better we’ll be.”  Brain started walking into the cave’s entrance, when Chance stopped him.

He held out a hoof to stop Brain from continuing.  “Hey genius, we’re about to go into an extremely dark, dank, probably insect and bat infested cave.  Don’t you think we might need a torch?”

Brain hadn’t actually thought about a torch.  If one of them was a unicorn, he could simply use magic to light the way.  But, again, Lady Luck and poor men…  “Do we have anything we can make a torch from?” he asked irritably.

The stallions looked at one another before nodding in agreement.  “Nope.” they all said in unison.

Brain sighed, “Well then, what the hell do we do?”

Chance opened his pouch before strapping it on himself.  He pulled out a small round object.  “Well, I do have this bad boy, if it still works.”

Upon seeing the object, Doctor began rooting around in his own pouch, pulling out a similar object.  “As do I, Chance.”

The two looked at each other with pride.  “Guess we’re ready for the worst, eh?” they laughed in unison.

Brain recognized the objects in their hands.  “Flashlights?  You guys really are prepared for the worst…”

Big Mac laughed, “Then I guess we’re ready to head in, right?”  He strapped his pouch back around him, Brain doing the same.

“I’ll take point.  In case we get split up, let’s try and stay in groups.  Doctor and Big Mac, myself and Brain.”  Chance stepped up into the entrance to the cave, turning his flashlight on.  To his surprise, it still worked, even after being bathed in water.

“Sounds good to me.”  Brain stepped up behind Chance, Doctor and Big Mac following suit.

“Let’s go.”  Chance took a few steps forward, before something bad happened…

Not even a foot inside the entrance, the cave turned into an extremely steep slope.  Not prepared for this slope, Chance immediately lost his footing, and tossed his flashlight into the air.  Brain caught it as he watched Chance slide down the slope, screaming all the way down.  Brain jumped in after him.

“Hold on Chance, I’m coming!”  He shouted as he leaped into the cave.

Big Mac and Doctor shared a look of concern, and nodded in agreement.  They stepped carefully into the cave, gently sliding down the slope.  Doctor held the flashlight in front of them.  They heard Chance’s continuous screaming as he continued to fall.  They could hear the echo of the rocks still coming loose.  Whatever this cave led to, it hadn’t been used in ages.

Finally, after about five minutes, Chance’s screaming was replaced with a loud thud.  Brain’s voice called out, “Try and make an easy landing, fellas!  It’s kind of a long fall!”

Another few minutes passed before the duo found themselves falling straight down.  They landed on top of the collapsed stallion below them.  Brain greeted them with a laugh and a light.  “So much for being careful, eh?”

An angry grunt came from below the stallions.  “Excuse me, but I am not a pillow!”  Chance screamed.  Doctor and Big Mac immediately hopped off of him.

Doctor took it upon himself to scout out a little ways down the tunnel while the other three were laughing about what had just happened.  When he returned to the group, he had great news to report.

“Give it to me straight, Doctor…  Are we gonna make it?”  Brain quoted an overly-used movie cliché.  Chance facehooved.

Doctor smiled as he said, “Just a little ways down this tunnel is the exit!  I don’t know if we went the right way, but that steep slope carried us all the way through the cave!”

The other three stallions cheered, following Doctor through the tunnel to the exit he had found.  They emerged into the light of the setting sun.  Brain couldn’t believe they had actually spent that long in the cave.  It honestly didn’t feel like that long.  Off in the distance, Chance spotted something that he couldn’t ignore.

“Brain!  Look over there!”  He placed one hoof on Brain’s shoulder, and pointed the other into the distance.  It didn’t take long for Brain to spot the attraction.

Off in the distance, seemingly just a few miles away, a blue glow emanated from the top of a giant stone figure.  Not even a day’s worth of adventuring, and they could already see the temple from the texts.  Brain and Chance looked at each other with excited grins.  They leaped into the air, cheering wildly.  They hugged each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in years.  They rested a single arm upon each other, staring at the majestic blue glow of the temple.

Big Mac and Doctor left the two to their own devices.  They set up a makeshift camp, putting up two tents and gathering some sticks and twigs to build a fire with.  In the distance they could hear the faint roar of the waterfall.  They shared a look of smugness before lighting the fire and pulling out some food packages from their pouches.

After minutes of staring at the glow, Brain and Chance snapped back to reality.  They plopped down on the solid rock, gathered close to the fire, as they opened their own packages of food.  The group sat in silence, enjoying their food and watching the fire burn.  The faint roar of the waterfall, mixed with the glow of the temple, comforted Brain and Chance beyond all comparison.  But deep down in his heart, Brain started feeling emptiness.  He tried to cast it off, but it wouldn’t go away…

As the sun slowly set in the western sky, the group decided it best to get an early rest.  They climbed into their tents and quickly passed out.  They dreamed of the rest of the journey to the temple.  They dreamed of just what exactly waited for them at the strange blue glow.

Chance dreamed about how he would get Brain out of the picture should the time come.

Brain dreamed about the emptiness inside of him, and what could have been causing it.

Doctor dreamed about the stories he would be able to tell.

Big Mac dreamed about how Mythol would repay him for helping to find the temple.

A voice echoed in the air.  It spoke quietly, softly, and eerily.

To he who would seek the portal to the other world…Turn back now.  No good awaits you in the temple.  Only pain and suffering and jealousy.  Turn back now…