With all the members assigned to the mission together, it was finally time for the obligatory list of safety protocols. The whole S.I.D. had long since memorized them all, but regardless Geisinger insisted on going through them every time. Some found it annoying, but others saw it as necessary.

“Okay.” Geisinger announced in a loud voice. “We will go through the proper safety protocols and then head in there and hopefully get this done as soon as possible. I hate this cave and I’m sure most of you do as well.”

There were many nods at his statement.

“Alright, first of all, never EVER go out on your own. You will be assigned to groups of five people, and make sure to ALWAYS stay together in those groups. Pay attention to where you and your group members are at and do not wander off. Wandering off is a death sentence.”

“Second of all, you all have communication devices and an electronic map system. Keep them on at all times and keep in contact with the other groups. Check in every thirty minutes, at least. As you all know, the Forbidden Cave is enchanted in that the entire structure, all of the inside of the cave, completely changes at midnight every day. It is absolutely crucial that we know where everyone is at all the time, and all leave the cave before dark. If someone in your group is missing or not accounted for, report it immediately.”

“Third of all, your weapons. Do not put them in the ‘kill’ setting unless you are in danger. NEVER point them at any of your group members and have them on your back at all times. The last thing we need in here is another death. Does everyone understand?”

“Yes.” All the members replied, almost in unison.

“Good, any questions?”

No one raised their hand or was confused about any of his instructions.

“Fantastic.” Geisinger said as he clapped his hands. “Let’s get you all into groups. One of the groups will stay out here and construct a magic barrier. Everyone else will go inside. Oh, and one last thing, there was a strange white light reported to shine right before the kid died. It is most likely dangerous. Keep watch for it and avoid it if you can. Attack if necessary. Is that all clear?”

The S.I.D. workers nodded their heads.

“Let’s get this done.”

***

Traversing through the Forbidden Cave never became even the slightest bit comfortable, no matter how many times the S.I.D. members went inside it. It was always the same dark, damp, cramped series of caverns, every time. It was extremely dangerous to go through without equipment, and the maze-like structure that changed completely at the end of every day left most people lost in there to die of dehydration.

Luckily, if this mission was a success, they’d never have to go through this cave again. Nothing was gained by allowing them access to it. No amount of research was worth the danger. The place would be left to rot, and it would be for the best.

***

At this point Geisinger had been leading a group of four people down a series of cramped passageways for a full hour. There wasn’t anything in immediate sight except the walls and intense darkness that enveloped all that surrounded them.

“Geisinger.” Someone said behind him. “I just realized, since the entire structure of this cave changes every twenty four hours, that would also include this kid’s dead body. So why are we even looking for a bunch of rocks?”

There was some audible groaning in the back. The S.I.D. members had heard this explanation about a million times, but there was always one person who didn’t catch on, so it had to be repeated over and over again.

“Okay, so I kind of lied when I said the entire structure changes. Most of it does, but not all of it.” Geisinger answered. “There is one exception, whenever a person, dead or alive, ‘makes a home for themselves’ somewhere in the cave, that area stays the same, albeit in a different location. So if someone dies somewhere they will be in an identical looking place when the cave changes. Of course, a lot of people who get lost in here don’t know that and wander around everywhere, which only decreases their chances of survival. It’s kind of weird, but you get it, don’t you?”

“I guess…”

“Good, because I’m kind of tired of explaining it.”

A slight feeling of guilt flashed through that member’s face as the group slowly trudged further through the long, linear path of the cave. For the longest time, most of the group was able to keep their complaints to themselves, but eventually, there came a time when one of them couldn’t take it anymore.

“Shit!” They exclaimed.

“What?”

“It’s these fucking bugs. They’re everywhere.”

The group quickly looked at the walls and floor around them and realized that the place was almost covered in spiders.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“There weren’t this many bugs before. What happened?”

Geisinger quickly turned his flashlight to a higher intensity and flashed it in front of him. In the distance, the group was able to make out the faint image of a rock wall, a dead end marking the point where the path they were traveling on stopped.

“The girl said the place where he died was full of spiders.” He said. “This might be it.”

“Of course it was full of spiders. Why wouldn’t it be?”

That member’s complaint was ignored as Geisinger marched forward onto the path. Everyone following him was very peculiar about how they stepped to avoid as many spiders as possible, which still proved to be pretty tough. The pests were crawling everywhere. The only bright side was that the spiders weren’t very big, and none of them resembled the venomous kinds.

It was in the middle of their walking that Geisinger suddenly stopped.

“What is it?” Someone asked him.

“I just saw a drop here.”

That same person stepped forward and confirmed his observation.

“Huh.” They said.

The rest of the group walking forward and noted just how uneven the ground ahead of them was in this small section. It hadn’t been perfectly level before but here it was especially noticeable.

“Does it mean anything?” Someone asked.

“The kid was crushed to death. This floor looks like it broke off and fell below. This has to be the place.”

“Fucking finally.” Someone said beside him. “I’m sick of this damn place.”

“Believe me, I am too.” Geisinger agreed. “If this is it we can finally shut this hellhole down for good.”

Geisinger stepped forward a bit and took out the second gun strapped to his back. Everyone in the mission had two guns strapped to their backs, the first being the shock cannon, and the second being the “carrier cannon”, which through magic energy, was able to lift objects off the ground and move them through the air. Since each member assigned to the mission had a spell placed onto them that prevented them from accidentally taking out the shock cannon when not intending to, there was no problem with having the two guns strapped so closely together.

“Alright guys, let's get this over with. The sooner we’re done, the better.”

The rest of the group followed his lead. Taking out their carrier cannons, they began getting to work.

“How come they still haven’t released better tech yet?” A member asked. “It’s insane how fucking small the bits of rock we’re picking up are.”

“It’s ridiculous.” Another member affirmed. “This might take a while.”

“God fucking dammit.”

Geisinger couldn’t help but grin at their expense.

***

“My fucking god, we’ve been walking around this place for ninety minutes and haven’t found jackshit.” Stephen said.

Ben laughed. “See? I told you this place sucked.”

“It’s awful.” Stephen agreed. “I feel like something’s gonna jump out and kill me.”

“Good description.” Someone else cut in. “Accurate too, a lot of people have died in here.”

“Good job keeping our hopes up.” Stephen said back.

“Oh quit whining, those people didn’t have the tech and equipment we did. You’ll be fine.”

Each of their communication devices began vibrating soon after that was said, interrupting their conversation. The designated group leader picked theirs up and responded to the call.

“Group two to Group one, what is it?” They asked.

“We believe we have found the place where Antonio’s body is located.” Geisinger said. “My group is currently working to take the bits of rock off the ground here. We will check in later if this is it. Relay this message to all other groups. Do you acknowledge?”

“Yes, I acknowledge.”

“Group one out.”

The call ended and the group leader began sending the call audio as a message.

“What’s going on?”

“Geisinger’s group found where the kid’s body is, maybe.” They answered. “We’ll probably be hearing a message back pretty soon.”

“Soon?” Another person asked sarcastically. “You know how slow those guns are, we’ll be waiting here for a while.”

“I doubt it will be that long.” The leader answered.

“Well, either way, I’m taking a break.” That person replied. “I need to sit down, my feet are killing me.”

No complaints were raised as they laid down and rested their head on a rock.

Seeing them relaxed, Ben realized that he was also quite tired, and as such he leaned his back onto a rock wall. Unbeknownst to him, a small square rock sticking out was pushed in by his left shoulder.

“Anyone doing anything interesting soon?” Ben asked. “I’ve been thinking of taking a vacation next month and-”

Ben was cut off when the floor beneath him suddenly disappeared and he falled into the created hole. It happened so fast he didn’t even have time to scream or yell for help.

“BEN!” Stephen called out, but it was useless. The floor was covered back up as soon as Ben had fallen under. None of the group was able to reach where he went.

Underneath the floor, Ben found himself going down what could best be described as a tube slide. A tube slide in a cave with perfectly level rock walls. Doing his best to keep cool and not panic, he tried to avoid his head hitting the walls. He didn’t know quite how fast he was going, but he was sure his head hitting the walls would be dangerous regardless.

He had no idea how long he was sliding for, but eventually he saw himself being dropped into a pool of water. Submerged in deep water, he had no choice but to remove all the heavy equipment weighing him down. Quickly and with all his strength, he pushed himself up to the surface.

Breathing heavily, he saw that dry land was not far from where he was, only seeming to be about thirty feet out. Gritting his teeth, he swam through the almost cool water to get to it.

There was no gradual increase in the slope of the land into the water, it was a steep and instant drop. It caused him a bit of trouble when trying to get out, but given some time, he was able to do it.

Lying down and dripping wet, he moved his head around to really look at the place he had fallen into. The first thing he noticed was how spacious it was. Most places in the Forbidden Cave were rather cramped, with the ceilings in most areas being only slightly higher than that of the average house. But this place was huge. How high the ceiling was exactly Ben wasn’t sure, but he estimated at least forty feet. Nevertheless, it was the only time he’d been in this cave when he couldn’t touch the ceiling.

Getting up on his elbows, he slowly started standing up. He had no idea where in the cave he was, and no doubt the other groups were already starting to look for him. He reached for his communication device, only to realize it had been dropped along with the rest of his equipment.

“Shit!”

How was he supposed to be found now? How long would it take to find him? That water he had just been in was about sixty degrees or so, and not having a way to dry off and warm up soon was incredibly dangerous.

He shivered, trying to keep as much as his body heat in as he could. It was really the only thing he could do. He held hope he would be found soon, trying to ignore the voice inside him saying how unrealistic that was.

As he was shivering, something suddenly hit him. The room he was in was visible. It may have been rather faint, but he was still able to see without his flashlight, which had also been dropped in the water. That shouldn’t be the case. He was deep underground in a dark cave. With no exit in sight, there should have been no way light would be coming in.

Turning his head, he looked at the walls and ceiling again. He froze immediately once he caught sight of a sphere of white light, close to the top, illuminating the entire area.