Sequel to Feeling Adventurous
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Hearing the doors close behind them, both Jesse and Petra flung around on the spot, letting out surprised gasps. Just in time to see the last strip of light closed up, as everything around them was bathed in darkness.

"Okay... that's not good." Jesse said, turning her head in Petra's direction. It was too dark to make out her friend's face, barely the outlines of Petra's form visible.

"Hmm." Petra hummed in response, not sounding particularly concerned. "I guess there's going to be some crap waiting for us in here then. Some puzzle we have to solve, or a gazillion mobs to fight. Usually that's how the doors open again."

"You sound awfully calm about this." Jesse said, her voice rising a pitch in panic.

"Yeah, because freaking out is only going to get you killed quicker." Petra said, giving Jesse a playful slap to her shoulder. "Loosen up, Jess, you can freak out if we actually start running out of oxygen or dying from dehydration."

"Oh, very comforting." Jesse muttered in response.

Hearing Petra's footsteps start to move down the hallway, Jesse was quick to spin back in that direction, jogging after her friend. In fear of something coming out of nowhere and pulling the two of them apart, Jesse was tempted to cling onto Petra as they walked. But she had a pretty strong suspicion that would result in her receiving a punch to the gut.

"I wish we brought torches." Petra said, her voice echoing down the hallway. "We could walking right past something valuable and not even-" She didn't her sentence, something below them all of a sudden making and audible click noise. Both girls froze in their tracks.

"Petra?" Jesse asked anxiously. "What was that?"

"A pressure plate." Petra breathed, glancing around in the dark.

There was a low rumble echoing throughout the building. Suddenly a torch burst into flames on the wall, it's dim light illuminating the hallway in a fiery golden glow. Jesse and Petra blinked in the sudden light, exchanging glances.

"How the hell did that just work?" Jesse asked as Petra reached up, taking the torch off the wall.

"Ever flipped a light switch?" Petra pointed out.

"Yes, but there's a logical explanation to how electricity works!" Jesse hissed at her friend. "I can't see how a bit of redstone wiring can physically light a torch!"

"Jesse, if you question everything you see in these places, you're life is going to be filled with more confusion than you'll ever be able to process." Petra said, calmly proceeding to walk down the hallway.

Jesse just groaned in response, once more jogging to catch up with Petra until she could fall back in stride beside her friend. She supposed Petra did have a point, a lot of things in temples didn't make sense. Mob spawners, mysteriously opening passages... It was all yet to be explained.

As they moved down the hallway, the torch's light began to reflect off of more than just the walls. Statues of skeletons were chained up against the wall, made out of what appeared to be copper.

"This is so creepy." Jesse said, shivering as they walked past the shimmering statues.

Petra just nodded in response, seemingly not phased much about the creepy statues. The two of them continued walking on in mostly silence, passing more of the odd skeleton statues. The hallway finally came to an end, leading into a large room.

"Woah." Petra breathed as they stepped into the room, the walls all made out of solid gold.

"This is... yeah, woah." Jesse replied in awe, gazing around the room.

"I don't get it though, there's no other doors or anything." Petra muttered. "What's the loot meant to be? Should I have brought my pickaxe to mine the walls?"

"Who's questioning the temple now, huh?" Jesse pointed out with a chuckle. "Come on, let's have a look around, the place can't be completely bare." She gulped, glancing over her shoulder. "If it is... I don't know how we're getting out."

Petra nodded, placing the torch back on the wall. Both she and Jesse walked into the room, going separate directions as they slowly inspected the walls for any hidden buttons of levers.

Jesse stopped, noticing a change of texture in the smooth golden surface of the wall. Frowning, she began to wipe the coating of dust off so she could see what was going on.

"Found something?" Petra asked from the other side of the room.

"There's some words engraved in the gold here." Jesse said, squinting her eyes slightly so she could read.

"Well what does it say?" Petra asked, frowning.

"Long description of the temple's history." Jesse said thoughtfully. "Apparently this whole desert used to look like this oasis... rivers, trees, grass, animals."

"And some natural disaster caused a 360 turn of the climate?" Petra suggested sarcastically.

"No." Jesse's frown deepened. "According to this, some sort of curse was cast on the land-"

"Oh, please." Petra snorted. "Now that's taking it a little far."

"Hey, I don't believe it either, but if this information is somehow going to help us get out of here again, it's worth having a read." Jesse responded, glancing over her shoulder at Petra, before fixing her gaze back on the wall.

Rolling her eyes, Petra continued to walk around the room, looking for anything else that could be a clue.

"Okay, it's just getting really cryptic at this point." Jesse said from where she was still reading the engraving. "But from what I'm gathering, some sort of sorcerer was able to preserve this part of the land, shielding it from the curse."

"Interesting." Petra replied vaguely, not sounded interested in the slightest.

"It says here that whoever is able to survive the sorcerer's creations, will be rewarded with his greatest treasure." Jesse went on.

"What are the creations and what is the treasure?" Petra asked.

"That's all this thing is saying." Jesse replied, shrugging.

"Guess we'll find out whenever we find a way out of this room." Petra responded as she bent down to inspect something on the ground. "Hey, Jesse, look here!"

Jesse came walking over, kneeling down beside Petra. She raised her eyebrows at the book that Petra had picked up, a leather journal.

"Look at the date on this thing, it's nearly 20 years old." Petra said, raising her eyebrows.

"I mean, isn't this temple meant to be like a thousand years old or something?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, but this book doesn't seem to be a part of it." Petra said. "It's just a diary... it's like somebody forget it here or something."

"Anything useful in it?" Jesse asked.

Petra lifted her head, glaring across at Jesse. For a second she was confused, before realising her mistake and holding her hands up apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to quote PAMA."

Rolling her eyes, Petra directed her attention back down at the book. She flipped it open, paging through the old diary entries. Every few pages, either Jesse or Petra would sneeze from the dust.

"Let's see, this is the last entry made." Petra said as she reached the final page that was written on. She ran her fingers along the lines, skimming all the information. When she got to the last paragraph, she began to read.

"The doors closed behind me when I entered this temple. I don't have any food or water on me, so let's hope I'm not stuck in here for too long. I'm confident that I'll find my way out again."

"And it... ends there?" Jesse asked nervously. "Do you think this person-" She broke off, sneezing. "-made it?"

"I don't know." Petra replied, tossing the diary aside and getting up. "Maybe he just forgot it here when he left."

"Yeah..." Jesse breathed, not sounding convinced. She looked up at Petra with a nervous gaze. "Did we bring any water?"

"Yes, calm down." Petra said, opening the bag that was slung over her shoulder and holding one of the water bottles out to Jesse.

She looked around the room, thoughtfully biting her lip. They've pretty much been through the entire thing, and there was still no sign of a way out. A frown formed on Petra's face as she walked back to the engraving that Jesse had read.

"You on to anything?" Jesse asked once she finished drinking from the bottle of water.

"This isn't part of the wall." Petra said, her fingers tracing the edge of the golden plate that the words were engraved on. "I wonder..."

Placing both her hands on it, Petra pressed down. As expected, the golden plate was like a giant button, sinking a bit into the wall under the pressure. It was followed by another low rumble echoing through the room.

"Petra, you did it!" Jesse suddenly squealed as a section of the floor parted, revealing a staircase down into a lower level of the temple.

"Yes!" Petra bellowed in excitement, punching the air.

"Now let's hope whatever is down there, isn't going to kill us." Jesse said, shuddering slightly.

"Oh please, can it be worse than a wither storm?" Petra pointed out, making Jesse chuckle.

Taking the torch off the wall again, the two of them began walking down the staircase. A few steps down, both of them froze in their tracks, eyes locked on something slumped against the wall.

"Petra, is that what I think it is?" Jesse asked in a small voice.

"I believe so." Petra said, gulping slightly. "A skeleton... and not the type that spawns at night. I guess the owner of that diary really didn't make his way out of here again."

Jesse let out a small whimper. Petra reached over, giving her friend's shoulder a quick, reassuring squeeze, before gesturing for her to continue down the stairs.

"Can this please be the last of these temples for at least a few years?" Jesse asked as they continued walking down the stairs, subtly glancing back at the skeleton.

"We need something to keep life interesting." Petra pointed out.

"Life can be interesting without risking it every few weeks!" Jesse exclaimed, earning a chuckle from Petra.

The two of them continued down the stairway, following it into a another large room. This one was pitch black, the walls made out of what looked like obsidian. Right at the back of the room, there were three, glowing symbols.

Jesse and Petra exchanged glances, both them visibly excited. Nodding at each other, they both broke into a jog, running all the way up to the back of the room.

"What are these?" Petra asked in puzzlement as they came to a stop.

There were three golden pedestals, barely visible in the shadows. On each of them floated a glowing symbol, not looking like they were actual, physical objects. Jesse took the torch from Petra, kneeling down and holding it next to another plate of engraved writing.

"You have reached the prize, but only time will tell if you actually get to keep it." She began reading out loud. "Only choose one. The correct treasure will call out to you."

"Only one?" Petra threw her hands out to the sides in frustration. "But there's two of us!"

Jesse stood up again, examining the symbols. One appeared to resemble a sword, one appeared to resemble a shield, while the other appeared to resemble a book.

"What do you think these mean?" Petra asked. She gestured towards the first two symbols. "I'd say those are for weapons and armour, but the third I don't know."

Jesse frowned, feeling her hand twitch slightly, wanting desperately to reach out to the third symbol. She balled it into a tight fist, not giving into the desire.

"Anything to say?" Petra asked Jesse.

"Well, if that truly is what the first two stand for, we both already have strong armour and incredible weapons." Jesse said. "Maybe we should go for the third."

"And what if we just end up with a history book?" Petra pointed out, not sounding excited.

"Come on, Petra, we don't need excess armour and weapons." Jesse argued back.

"Anything can happen, there's nothing wrong with having a good a backup." Petra deadpanned. Then she sighed, and gave in. "Fine, take the book. It better be good, otherwise you owe me."

Jesse gave Petra an appreciative smile and a nod, before finally allowing her hand to reach out to the symbol. Her fingertips barely touched it, when there was another low rumble echoing through the room.

In a flash of light, the symbol transformed into an actual book, glowing a vibrant purple. It landed in Jesse's hand, her fingers instantly clasping around it.

"Ooh, an enchanting book!" Petra said excitedly. "What enchant is it?"

"I don't know." Jesse said with a frown, turning the book around a few times. "It's not like any enchant I have ever seen before."

"Well, let's get it out of here." Petra said. "We can figure out what it is once we're out of here."

"And how are we getting out?" Jesse asked Petra as she carefully tucked the book into their bag.

"Well, we reached the end and took this so-called prize." Petra pointed out. "Maybe the doors will open again. Don't know when we're supposed to defeat whatever creations the thing mentioned, but I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"I can't wait to get out of here." Jesse said with a shudder as she and Petra began walking back up the stairs. "I'm telling you, no matter how good this enchantment is, it isn't worth all this stress."

"Yeah, yeah, you say that now." Petra said with a chuckle, earning an eye roll in response from Jesse.

The moment Jesse and Petra reached the top of the stairs, another low rumble echoed through the temple. They exchanged glances, both of them unsheathing their swords. Before they could even think about continuing on to the hallway out again, figures began to emerge from the shadows.

Skeletons, but not normal ones. Similar to the statues in the hallways, theses skeletons were a gleaming copper colour. Carrying bulky golden swords instead of the usual bow and arrow.

"Crap." Jesse breathed as she and Petra both raised their swords. "I wonder how strong these things are."

"Only one way to find out." Petra responded, before leaping forward with a fierce battle cry.

Jesse followed behind her friend, her own diamond sword raised. It clashed with the golden sword of one of the skeletons, who aggressively shoved Jesse backwards. Acting quickly, she somersaulted beneath it's approaching blow, her blade slicing the monster in half. It crumbled to the ground, turning into nothing but a pile of copper coloured bones.

Breath racing, Jesse attacked the next one. And the next. And the next.

It was like an endless amount of skeletons poured from the hallway. Jesse had a feeling that the only way she and Petra were eventually able to cut them all down, was because there was two of them.

"Is... that... all?" Jesse gasped after cutting down what felt like the millionth skeleton, leaning heavily against the golden wall.

"I... think so..." Petra panted in response, leaning down to rest with her hands on her knees.

Jesse reached up, subconsciously touching a bleeding cut beneath her eye, where one of the skeletons' sword had nipped her. She was lucky, a centimetre higher and she wouldn't have had that eye any more.

"You okay?" Jesse asked Petra once she's managed to catch most of her breath, turning her attention to her friend.

"Eh." Petra held up her arm, revealing a gash in her armour, blood seeping out. "I'll live, it's just a cut."

"No wonder the owner of that diary didn't make it out." Jesse said as she and Petra sheathed their swords again, once more heading for the hallway.

"Yeah, that was pretty rough." Petra said. "I'm glad neither of us were in this one alone."

"Look!" Jesse said excitedly, pointing to the doors slowly sliding open again. "Freedom!"

The two of them ran the last few metres out of the temple, the doors closing behind them moments after they were out. They high-five each other in victory before falling into a relieved hug.

"I can't wait to get out of this desert for good." Jesse said as they walked back to the horses. "This was great, but now I honestly need a break. A break and a cooler biome."

"For once, I'm actually going to go ahead and agree with you." Petra said, chuckling. "But once we're out of here, I know what's at the top my priority list."

"And that is?

"Finding out what sort of valuable enchantment we earned today!"

___

Okay, temple adventures are definitely not my strong point, but still really fun!

I had a vague idea for what was in the temple in Feeling Adventurous, but didn't really know how to flesh it out. This was yet another make-it-up-as-I-go-along one shot, but I enjoyed it!

I was planning on shedding more light about the enchanting book, but all the ideas I had for it kinda fell down. So I decided that we'll explore that part in (hopefully) another sequel!
I don't have any strong ideas for it yet, so putting it out there - if anybody here would like to come up with and write a sequel to this, let me know and the idea is all yours! I've seen more than one person do this with one shot sequels out there, and it's always resulted in something awesome. So I thought, why not give it a go as well?

That aside, I don't think I have much else to say here!

I hope you all enjoyed this one shot, and I'll see you tomorrow with whichever prompt I draw next!