Chapter 3
Eric continues to stare at the entrance of the mines. He is determined to find out if the treasure in the mines are true or not. He is not sure how long will it take to reach the bottom, but he wants to try. With his chin lifted high, he knows that his hard work will guarantee his success!
When he walks in to the mines, he sees nothing but of large stones in an empty room. He searches for any evidence that someone has tried to reach the bottom. But just as the book in Mary's library said, every time someone leaves, the mines would always reset itself. This is a phenomena that has never been explained, and the main reason why a treasure is believed to rest in the bottom.
Eric begins digging through the floors looking for paths that leads to the floors below. As he finds them, he draws a map in case he needs to come back. He also uses the map to record how many floors has he descended. At times, he would need to use his hammer to clear away the large boulders that get in his way. The use of his hoe and his hammer slowly saps his energy, but he refuses to give up.
Several hours later, he takes a break. He sits on a boulder as he consumes some of the Elli leaves he has in his backpack. The medicine is bitter, but it gives him lots of energy. He checks his progress, he finds that he made 41 maps, so excluding the first map, he knows that he is in the 40 th floor. Just the thought that the mines have 40 floors are impressive enough, but he has read that people have gone down 100 floors, and still found nothing.
Eric takes a second break after 80 floors. The time is now 5:00pm, it's late, but he still has a lot of work to do. He wants to leave, and try again tomorrow, but he isn't sure if the map he made is going to be of any help to him. He checks his supply of Elli leaves. He has only enough for a few more breaks. He is also concerned about the trip back up. It took so long to get down, but how long will it take to get back up?
While he was digging up the last 40 floors, he finds some strangely dark colored tools. One is a hoe, another is a sickle, then a watering can, a hammer, an axe, and finally, a fishing rod. They all give off an eerie aura to them, so he puts them into his backpack for later. Since he has found them, he feels that maybe Mary can tell him something about them.
He takes another break at 8:00pm. Judging by the maps, he has reached the 120 th floor. That alone breaks the record, but he still finds nothing. He is starting to feel that the mines are endless. Or possibly the mines go all the way into the earth's core. But thinking this way is not going to help him get to the bottom. So after eating his Elli leaves, he picks up his tools, and continues to dig.
His next break is in floor number 160. Besides the Elli leaves, he also packed some coffee just in case he needs to pull an all nighter. He checks the time, it is getting close to midnight. Getting out of the mines is becoming a serious issue for him. Will he get out before passing out? Will he have enough energy to deal with the cows when he gets home. And his most frightening question so far, will he be able to get out at all?
He finally reaches floor number 200. It is now 3:00am, and the sun will rise in only a few short hours. After eating the bitter Elli Leaves, he checks his stock, and finds something that leaves him making a daring decision. He is out of Elli leaves and food! Because he picks up random gems from his journey deep into the mines, he fails to realize that he is running out of supplies.
So, he needs to decide whether to go back up, or keep going down. Continuing down may cost him his life, but he promised himself that he will make it to the bottom without fail. He thinks carefully, he is afraid of dying, but he is also afraid to fail. Imagine coming back to the library, and Telling Mary that he failed in his journey like the many others who tried. And since the mines reset themselves mysteriously, he will just make it back to the same floor, and give up again. After thinking about it, he decides to go on ahead.
But before he does, he decides to write a letter just in case something horrible happens while he is deep in the mines. The letter he wrote is for anyone who finds it if in case he loses his life. The letter contains a warning to turn back instead of moving forward so that nobody would make the same mistake he wants to do.
So he continues to go down the floors one by one. Without food or Elli leaves, he is risking everything for a treasure that is only said to be a rumor. But he is determined to get down to the bottom floor. He checks the time, it is 5:50am, and he is in the 254 th floor. He is dead tired, and about to drop. But he wants to push on, he does not want to fail.
He finds the next hole in the ground, and jumps in. As soon as his feet touches the 255 th floor, he falls over and collapses. He is in his last ounce of energy, so he decides to take a short break. But before he closes his eyes, he looks up and finds something odd.
He finds something that looks like an altar, and a black stone in the shape of a cube rests on top. The stone is giving off a strange onyx glow. He wants to rest, but fining the hidden treasure of the mines gives him a sudden rush of energy that he cannot ignore. He stands up, and walks up to the mysterious stone. Nothing is stopping from taking it, so he grabs the stone, and holds it in his hands. He is not sure what it is, but he thinks that Mary has a book about it.
Just in case Eric is not at the last floor, he continues to dig around for any more paths that lead deeper into the mines. All he has found in that floor is a black stone, but he is still not completely sure if what he found is really the treasure that he is looking for. But the problem is that he is still very weak from digging, and getting out is becoming a scary factor. He hits a hunk of junk ore, but he is so tired, he cannot tell what it is.
He takes out his rag and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He then says, “Wow, I'm so beat from all this digging. I wish I can just go back to the entrance of the mines so that I can rest and-”
The black stone glows brightly in Eric's backpack. Eric then suddenly vanishes out of the mines! Just then, Gray drops in the 255th floor of th mines and takes a look around. He scratches his head and says, “Strange, I could have sworn I just heard someone here a moment ago.”
Eric takes a good look around and realizes that he is in front of the entrance. Even though he is seeing it with his own eyes, he has trouble believing what he sees. A moment ago, he was in the 255 th floor of the mines. Now he is outside. He pulls the stone out of his back pack, and takes another good look at it. “No way! This thing did this? I knew that it has to have magical powers, but not like this!”
The morning sun suddenly greets him, it is now 6:00am. The only thing that he needs to do is go home, and finally rest. He walks home, and crashes on the bed. He leaves the stone next to his diary so that he could find it as soon as he wakes up.
Eric wakes up at 2:00 PM. He takes a deep look at the clock amazed that it has gotten late. He only has 2 hours before the library closes, so he needs to hurry. After changes his clothes, he finds the black stone on the table next to his diary. He picks it up and thinks for a moment.
“I wonder, how did I get this thing to do that? Could this thing be a wishing stone? If it is, then maybe it could make my life in the farm easier!”
Eric runs out, and lifted the stone in the air. He then yelled, “I wish that all the farming chores were done!” He waits as something would happen, but nothing peculiar does. He even runs to the barn and checks, but the cows are still hungry. He then thinks for another moment.
“Could be that the stone only grants miracles? Like it would only take a miracle to get out of the mines, and it granted it for me. . . Let me try it out.”
He runs out of the barn, and goes over to the watering hole. He then yells, “Miracle stone, grant me this miracle. Turn the water in this well, and turn it into soda!” Just like before, nothing happened. He sighs, and takes a seat next to the well. He checks the time, it is now 3:00pm. He only has an hour before the library closes. He thinks he should run there now, but if he does, he will never get the daily work on time.
He looks at the stone and says, “Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I got out of the mines on my own, and thought that I was magically teleported out. But enough of that, I need to go to the coop, and-”
before he finishes his sentence, he finds himself into the chicken coop. He stands up, and takes a quick look around. He is seeing himself in the coop, but he barely believes it. He takes another look at the stone and says, “I get it now! It's a teleport stone! I just tell it where I want to go, and it'll take me there! Let me give it a test. . . I want to go to the top of Moon Mountain!”
Eric vanishes once again, and finds himself at the peak of Moon mountain. He hollers excitedly from the top, and asks the stone to go back to the farm. Using the stone's power, he does all the chores of the farm quickly and effortlessly. Then he takes a look at the time. It is 3:59pm, no way he would make it to the library on time normally.
Back at the Library, Mary stares at the door waiting for Eric to visit. At 4:00PM, she stands up to close the library. After locking the door and turning the open sign to close. She sighs and says, “Looks like he is not coming today. I hope he's okay, after all, digging deep into the bottom of the mines is not that safe.”
Suddenly, she feels two hands covering her eyes, and a familiar voice say, “Guess who?”
Mary becomes so happy, and turns around to greet Eric. But when she does, she finds nobody there. She looks around the room for Eric, but she couldn't find him. She thinks for a moment, and feels that it may be her imagination playing tricks on her. But then she feels someone tapping her shoulder. She turns around, and feels Eric's lips suddenly touch hers. She jumps back, but feels relieved to see Eric's face.
“Wow Eric, you really surprised me. But how did you get in the library?” asked Mary.
“That's not important. I have something I want to show you. Maybe you have a book about it.” answered Eric.
Mary is still confused as to how did he get into the library after she locked the doors, but she is too happy to see him to care. So they both go over to the table where they usually sit at, and Eric shows her the stone he found in the bottom of the mines. Mary checks several books, the only thing she finds is a rumor about a treasure that defies time and space. But they are all just rumors, and nothing has been confirmed. Eric does not tell her what it really does yet, but maybe in the future he will.
Eric also asks Mary about the strange dark tools he found in the mines. The only thing Mary finds are old diary entries of another farmer who has attempted to find the treasure many years ago. The Farmer never made it out of the mines alive, so Eric believes that he may have found the old farmer's tools. But since he died in the mines, the tools may have been cursed by the farmer who once owned them.
After taking the time to study the items he found in the mine, he takes everything with him, and leaves the library. But not before leaving behind a long tender kiss for his beloved Mary. She was really worried about him when he said that he is going to the mines to look for the hidden treasure. But now she feels relieved that Eric returned to him safe and sound.
To be continued.
