We came for glory.
We came for love.
We came for adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We landed on a tiny island not marked on any map. Small enough to see the opposite shore if you squinted. Barren. No birds. No trees. Only a single stone outcrop with a cave carved into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six of us entered.
The rest stayed with the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Torches lit, we stepped inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light wouldn\u2019t travel more than a few feet, as if the darkness were swallowing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We stumbled forward, one after another, until the tunnel opened into a wider chasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told one of the crew to push ahead, then follow our light back and report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His boots thudded against the stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then a shriek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His body came tumbling back toward us, limp, nearly knocking us over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told the others to be quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silence fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No dripping water.
No wind.
No breath but our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the cave screamed back at us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sound hit like a wave. We covered our ears. Two men stumbled forward, clutching their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We thought they\u2019d made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their bodies dropped at our feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another man tried to run. He struck the wall and collapsed cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only two of us remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No treasure was worth this price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No movement. No words. No breath we didn\u2019t have to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only the dull pounding of our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I held my torch low. The shadows flickered and twisted, almost playful in the silent light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the torches finally died, the darkness loosened its grip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pressure lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cave\u2026 retreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We walked out slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back at the ship, no one asked questions. When the mapmaker requested the island\u2019s position, we told him not to mark it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leave it blank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spot of silence in an unforgiving sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We came for glory.We came for love.We came for adventure. We landed on a tiny island not marked on any map. Small enough to see the opposite shore if you squinted. Barren. No birds. No trees. Only a single stone outcrop with a cave carved into it. Six of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-short-stories"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}