"...See? It's just a skeleton. What's there to be scared of?"
"I'm telling you, that's how it starts! First, the skeleton looks dead, and when you try to disrespect its body, it'll place a curse on you or something like that!"
Alan was shocked, watching his friend squat and poke the skeletal remains with his pickaxe. He thought, If you know that, then why are you messing with the body? Are you just insane?
Ethan, having thoroughly poked the skeleton—the only thing of note in the small cavern Alan's collapse had revealed—turned around upon noticing the silence, wanting to ensure Alan hadn't disappeared. He was already prepared to run at a moment's notice.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ethan said, waving a hand. "Can't you see I'm using the axe? It doesn't count as touching, don't worry." He gestured for Alan to come closer. "Come here, pull that ring out of its finger bone for me. I can't get it out."
Noticing the continued silence, Ethan turned and saw Alan's face, which was a perfect mask of 'are you stupid?'
"And if you pull it out yourself?" Alan finally asked.
Ethan's expression turned sheepish. "Come on, you dragged me in here. Can't you help us obtain the only thing that might be of value? That's a spatial ring. Judging by the robes and the soulband on him, he was a member of the Order. So, don't worry, there's a solid sixty percent chance you'll be fine."
Alan, still looking utterly disgusted by Ethan's shamelessness, refused. There was no way he was touching that bone after the curse talk.
Ethan turned back to the skeleton, clicking his tongue as he cursed under his breath. "Wuss."
Standing up, he hefted his axe, measured a safe distance from the bones, and took a wide, powerful swing with the flat side of the pickaxe head.
CRACK!
The sound echoed sharply in the confined space. The bone finger shattered, and the ring went flying. Ethan walked over to where it landed, picked it up, and muttered,
"My precious... Now, let's see what we have here." He was preparing to prick his finger and bond with the ring when he heard Alan shout at him.
"'Let's see what we have here?' What happened to not disrespecting the body?!"
Ethan replied with an innocent blink. "I told you. The axe doesn't count."
Alan breathed out, tired of his friend's unpredictability. "Whatever. Are you going to bond with it or not?"
Immediately, Ethan's face turned from playful to deadly serious. His head snapped up, and he spoke as quickly as he could while already running for the cave entrance. "We have to get out of here, now! Do you hear that? Those vibrations coming from deep inside the mountain!"
Ethan rushed out of the cave with incredible speed, his senses screaming. The entire mountain was vibrating gently, a tremor he was sure was picking up in intensity.
Alan, facing the full brunt of the mountain's soporific energy, moved sluggishly, trailing behind. "What do you mean, vibrations? I can't hear or feel anything!"
"It's a vibration coming from everywhere at once!" Ethan called back, not stopping. "It's small but it's increasing! We have to go, trust me! Are you coming?"
"Of course I'm coming, but slow down! How do you still have so much energy? My body feels like I'm pulling a horse!"
Ethan, already far ahead, skidded to a halt. He'd forgotten—he was the only one not being crippled by the energy. Reluctantly, he turned and ran back to Alan, throwing his friend's arm over his shoulder and supporting his weight as they trudged forward.
It was only then that Alan finally noticed it. "Damn, you were right! The mountain is shaking! What's happening?" He pinched Ethan's side in a sudden spike of panic.
"What the hell? Don't pinch me again or I swear I'll drop you and run!"
Alan grabbed onto him tighter. "I believe you wouldn't, but don't worry, I'm not testing it today."
As they pushed on, Ethan finally felt it—the subtle pressure, the "harder to breathe" sensation Alan had complained about from the start. So I'm not immune, he thought, his mind racing even in the crisis. Just more resistant. Why?
Suddenly, Alan's weight increased, his steps dragging. "Look, I'm trying to get us out, but I need your feet on the ground! Come on!"
"....."
Ethan slowed, realizing Alan hadn't fired back a retort. "Nope, you're not sleeping here. Not now. Wake up!" SMACK! He delivered a sharp slap to the back of Alan's head.
"Ow! Come on, be gentle!" Alan jolted awake, yelling.
"Try dozing off one more time and I'll show you gentle! Now, come on, we're almost there!"
Shaken into awareness, Alan pushed his body harder, with Ethan supporting him. "Hmmmm... Why does it look like there's light coming from inside the tunnel?" Alan was the first to notice, while Ethan was focused purely on forward motion.
Ethan stopped and looked back. The sight filled them with pure, ice-cold dread. A wave of dense, beautiful, and utterly deadly blue energy was rolling down the tunnel from the depths, surging toward them. It would reach them in less than ten minutes.
"The surge!" they thought in unison, their blood running cold.
Luckily, the cavern's exit was in sight. All they had to do was reach the teleportation platform before the energy washed over them.
"Alan, come on! I can let you sleep and come back for you, if you let me!" Ethan urged, half-serious.
"Don't you dare leave me! I swear I'll haunt you from the nether!" Alan gritted his teeth, putting every ounce of will into his steps. "And how the hell are you not affected by this stupid blue energy?!"
Panicking, Ethan responded, finding that the absurd conversation was a welcome distraction from the doom at their heels. "How the hell would I know? I've always suspected I was adopted anyway! Maybe the emperor behind that blue thing is my long lost father!"
"Come on, come on, come on, Ethan! It's just a couple of meters!" Alan yelled over the growing rumble. He looked at the teleportation platform and shouted, "The teleportation token! You have it! Take it out now! The portal takes time to activate! I can make the throw from here!"
Ethan didn't hesitate. He fumbled for the bronze token engraved with an "A" that the guards had given them. Alan, remembering how their teacher Kaelin had used one, calculated the distance. He took a deep breath, aiming for a gentle, low throw. The token just had to land on the platform.
But as he prepared to throw, a wave of debilitating weakness washed over his arm. The token slipped in his sweaty palm, its trajectory doomed before it even left his hand. To wait and pick it up was to be bathed in the disastrous energy now just a few desperate steps behind them.