Adventures in Geraptiku

     As Zadar went along, he sang aloud from the newest albums of his favourite bands, Chomby and the Fungus Balls and Twisted Roses, and the jungle closed in around him. Soon, he was aware that he had lost all sense of direction. Zadar halted, and tugged an ear nervously.

     "Hmmm, I think I'm in serious trouble," Zadar muttered to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow and contemplating his next move. From far away, he detected a rustling noise. Nonplussed, Zadar kept on going.

     Within an hour, the lost Kyrii found himself entering a small clearing. It was over, at last! It wasn't over, however. Zadar's smile faded away as he recognised the ruins around him. This, he realised, was Geraptiku.

     A snap and rustle caught his attention, and Zadar picked up a rock from the ground. He tossed it into the jungle from which he had only just exited moments before. "Owww!" came a voice, and Zadar prepared to attack his pursuer, until the unknown person stepped into the clearing, surrounded by a dazzling green light. Zadar halted and groaned in annoyance.

     "Ccaenine? What are you doing here?" Zadar tapped a foot on the ground and glared at his brother in annoyance. The startled Blumaroo rubbed his ear, where the rock had grazed him.

     "Uh, I followed you?" came the reply. Ccaenine smiled weakly at his brother. "I saw you leaving the house this morning, so I decided to tag along. I boarded the ferry and kept out of sight, and then I followed you into the jungle." Ccaenine smiled sweetly. Zadar growled.

     "Ccaenine, I wanted to be left alone in peace. You just had to follow along!" He paced for a moment with a frosty brow. "Well, never mind. Since I got lost, I'm glad I got lost with a familiar face. Come on, then. Let's see if we can find a way to get out of here." The two boys began to explore the ruins around them.

     "Zadar, over here!" Ccaenine shouted, pointing to a crumbling stone building. Zadar came over and ran a clawed hand over one wall, trying to find an inscription of some sort. After a minute, he sighed, then pushed Ccaenine ahead of him, into the building. Next, he grabbed a bit of vine, and proceeded to tie it around Ccaenine's wrist.

     "Hey, what's the big idea?" protested the Blumaroo, as Zadar checked the knots. Zadar smiled at his little brother, and tied the other end around his own wrist.

     "This is so we won't lose each other in this place," he said with a shrug. "I feel funny about wherever we are, so I want to be certain we won't end up more lost than we are already. There, the knot is secure. Let's get going. As it so happens, we don't even need a light!"

     Ccaenine blushed. It was true, since he was a glowing Blumaroo. He put a hand in front of him, and began leading the way. The inside of the building was dark, dank, and very gloomy. The walls were crumbling and covered in mossy growth. The floor was made of slabs of stone, covered in layers of sand and moss. Small puddles could be seen every so often.

     The boys went on, not saying a word. It grew darker. It grew cooler. They passed several rooms on each side, glancing into them, yet never entering any of them. At last, they saw a narrow doorway just ahead of them. The doorway was the entrance to a small room, a set of closed doors on the opposite wall. After a moment's hesitation, Ccaenine entered it first, and Zadar followed just behind him. Suddenly, Zadar set his foot down onto a raised object, and a panel slid down, sealing them into the chamber. Ccaenine pounded on the panel, and Zadar grabbed him and pulled him over to examine the floor.

     "Look here, Ccaenine! See that? I stepped on that little disk on the floor, and that triggered some sort of mechanism to seal us inside this place, whatever it is. Watch your step, or something worse might happen to us." Ccaenine examined the protrusion in amazement.

     "Zadar, if that little disk on the floor closed the panel, certainly there must be another device that releases it, too?" Ccaenine looked up at his brother, who frowned in thought. "Maybe we should look around for it, you think?" Ccaenine asked, looking at his brother and hoping that Zadar wouldn't argue about it.

     The two boys, after some hasty discussion, finally came to an agreement and looked around for another disk or device that might release the panel's mechanism, and allow them to escape. After a minute or so, Ccaenine glanced up and finally caught sight of a lever a few feet above them. Being slightly taller, Ccaenine coiled his tail and jumped up to grab the lever. "Got it!" he shouted, and landed next to Zadar. His smile faded as he realised he'd also set off some sort of trap.

     A cloud of smoke filled the air as several arrows shot out of concealed panels, missing Zadar and Ccaenine by inches. They both howled in fright, then they cheered for joy in the next moment. The panel had gone up, giving the boys a chance to escape. They ran through the doorway, and Zadar stooped to pick up a rock from the ground and tossed it into the room they had just escaped from, hoping for good aim to reclose the panel so no one else would end up trapped in it ever again.

     "Success!" the Kyrii cheered as the rock hit the small projection on the floor. "Let's get out of here!' he shouted to Ccaenine, and they bolted from the ancient building as fast as they could. After what felt like an eternity, the boys were safe, and out in the open again. It had started to rain, but the boys merely grabbed huge leaves to serve as umbrellas, and ran into the lush green jungle.

     Quite some time later, the great adventure came to an end. Zadar had recognised a young Tyrannian Poogle at the edge of the jungle as they came out of it, and the startled, wide-eyed Poogle had looked up at them, waved, and then taken them to his own house, where a warm fire, rest, and good food awaited them. The Poogle was ToxicBloom, one of their cousins. Toxie listened to the tale with wide eyes.

     "You guys always have the fun adventures! Too bad I wasn't there!" was Toxie's cryptic reply, as he stirred up the fire and refilled their cups of hot tea. Zadar and Ccaenine looked at each other, and had a good laugh. Toxie merely shook his head, thinking to himself that his cousins certainly must be crazy! Then the three boys shared a toast of victory, to an adventure worth remembering for a long time to come.

The End