It was a normal summer day, in the woods of Monteverde Cloud in Costa Rica. Animal sounds, and insects buzzing, it was a dream come true and from afar you could see a group of people casually taking pictures of these exotics beauties. these people were biology students, doing research for a big project, they had been there for two weeks now and still hadn’t gathered enough evidence. So one of them suggested going deeper into the forest in hope of finding a golden-skinned frog. Everything seemed to be going as normal until they came across a weird tombstone in the ground. One of the students decided to go near it, and the moment he touched it the earth started vibrating, and suddenly they fell into a deep hole.
After everyone come to their senses, they tried to check where they were but it was so dark inside that even the flashlights they had couldn’t shine enough to break the darkness. Eventually, they decided to explore this weird place in hope of finding an exit. As they were walking they noticed that the walls were engraved with some strange symbols, some of which resembled animals like monkeys, birds, fish, etc. After walking for a long time they entered a room in light blue lights with animal statues that looked as if they were watching them, and vines all over the walls. In the middle there was a tiny pedestal, on top of it was a stone tablet, which had engraved the words “Welcome to the dungeon of the misfortunate. To earn your freedom you must pass the challenges given to you”. Confused they looked around hoping to find a clue to what was happening when all of a sudden the old statues covered in spiders web started to move and approach them. As they came closer and closer their hearts started pounding faster…
The statues got so close you could see the carvings the tools used to carve them left. One boy had the desperate idea to push the statue away from him, which surprisingly made the statue to go back to its original position; against the wall. After seeing this unexplainable action everyone tried it and thankfully all the statues rolled back to their place. All of the sudden one of them saw a tunnel and yelled. Everybody follow me I think I found a way out. Everyone ran as fast as they could in hope to finally put an end to this nonsense. A bright light appeared, was this the entrance to freedom, were they finally out of this trap? Many questions roamed their heads as they proceeded to come closer to the light and as they went through it, their faces became as white as a sheet. This time what they saw was horrific. They saw bones, skeletons and pieces of flesh beginning to rot. Did all those people die here, would these students have the chance to escape. As they looked around in hope to find something that would help them, they saw a luminous sky on top of them.
Unfortunately those weren’t stars shining in the dark sky but an optical illusion created by many crystals. From where they were standing they looked like millions of stars. While everyone was taking a closer look to them, admiring them; one of these students ripped out one of the crystals from the walls. Water started to pour from the hole. It was as cold as ice and it was rising higher every passing moment. Students began to pass out and drown, slowly everyone had lost their consciousness. A voice started speaking in their heads. Wake up- it shouted as the students woke up terrified. But they weren’t in the dungeon anymore; they were in hospital beds. It turns out that these students had been in a coma for the last 10 years. What was that dream they all saw.
There was no explanation to what had happened…
Theme: Dungeon.
By: Erajla Karamuca