I Got Fire on It

With fifty minutes left on his clock, Agon and the others reached the dungeon. It was massive, towering several feet over them all, decorated in glittering boulders and stones. The very top of the cave had writing on it that read “CAVE OF ZAHMIDAS”.

“Zah…Midas…?” Agon tried to repeat.

“The big bad that’s gonna be waiting for us at the end of all this,” Strauss answered. “Alright, everyone. Ready to go?” Strauss gripped the hilt of his sheathed sword. Kiche murmured to himself as he held his rapier up to his face. Agon looked at him with a mystified expression.

“He really uses a rapier?!?” As he thought to himself, he saw Kiche give him a quick side eye, as if he could read his mind. Agon immediately shifted his gaze to Mars, who had his head down with his right hand covering his mouth. When he leaned a bit closer...

"Is he...praying...?"

Agon turned back to face the dungeon’s darkness. He felt the fear creeping back up in his throat, but he swallowed it down as much as he could. He took this time to check what ability he accidentally activated. When he opened a prompt window, he saw his Heartburn ability and one highlighted next to it.

ABILITY: DEFIBRILATE. ALLOWS YOU TO CHARGE AND EXPEL A STATIC SHOCK FROM YOUR BODY.

“Defibrilate…” Agon repeated to himself.

“Okay, let’s go! Strauss commanded. They each stepped beyond, disappearing into the shadows of the dungeon. Inside, the air felt cool. Several torches were lit along a hallway.

“I really don’t like this…” Agon thought. He watched as the others pressed on with confidence. “They’ve probably done this so many times. I can’t imagine doing something like this even once, and yet here I am…I should’ve said no…” A small whine escaped from his lips.

As the group traversed through the cave, they came across a strange writing on a wall.

“Take a look at this…” Strauss muttered. “It’s a little rough, but it says…’Pride is the gold of the mind’. Huh…”

“Think it could be some kind of warning?” Agon called out from behind the group.

“Maybe, but I'm not sure what they mean by this. Still, we should keep our wits about us. Also, why are you all the way back there, Agon?”

“U-uhhh,” He quickly searched around for an excuse. “I-I just wanna make sure that I don’t miss anything back here! You know, just double-checking we didn’t pass up any more mysterious wall writings.” Mars side-eyed him and grumbled. Strauss chuckled.

“Not a bad idea! Just make sure to stay close. And…make sure Mars stays out of trouble.” Even though his smile was as bright as ever, Strauss’ voice became dark all of a sudden. Agon looked at Mars, who said nothing. His hand trembled at his side. The four of them pressed on as they walked into the main room of the dungeon. Everything was encased in gold, shimmering unapologetically along the walls and floor. In front of them was a grand staircase that led up to a giant locked door. Along the door were two golden snake statues stretching across the frame of the door, decorated with bright red jewels for eyes.

“Looks like we need a key if we wanna say hi to Zahmidas,” Strauss said, looking around the dungeon. “Everyone, look around for another room.” The party began to search as Strauss instructed. After several minutes, Kiche found a hollow part of the wall.

“Gehehehehe!” He called out. The others came over towards him.

“Nice work, Kiche! This must be a secret path.” Strauss praised him, then turned around to face Mars. His voice became stern, his face deadpan. “Knock it down.” Agon watched as Strauss switched so effortlessly between his emotions. When he would talk to him or Kiche, he seemed so peppy and considerate, but when it came to Mars, he always looked disgusted, like it killed him to even speak in the same vicinity as him. Nevertheless, Mars obeyed the command and used his left hand, clad in dark energy, to knock the wall down.

“Wow…” Agon was in disbelief at the sheer power of Mars’ arm.

“Don’t rile him up, Agon. Gotta keep him humble! Hahahaha!” Strauss tickled himself with that joke and kept moving forward, not even acknowledging Mars or his efforts. Agon was stunned. This was not the same person that he shared a meal with in the Caldivere tavern, was it…? Within the secret room were two doors; one was beaten and made out of old wood, and the other was made of pure gold, fitted with a diamond knob.

“Old door, it is!” Strauss beamed, walking towards the door.

“Why…?” Strauss stopped as he heard Mars question his decision. He turned around and squinted his eyes at him, like he wasn’t sure what he was looking at.

“Repeat that?”

“Why do you say that door?” Mars continued.

“Because, if we choose the golden door, that would be us choosing greed, and setting off a trap.”

“I don’t think that’s right.”

“Oh, well, it’s a good thing I didn’t ask, huh?” Strauss said flatly. He lowered his head, but kept glaring at Mars, searching in his eyes for another response so he could shut him down again. Mars’ body trembled, but he persisted.

“So…?”

“What do you mean, ‘So’? You do know I’m the leader, right?” he chuckled. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing right now.

“The leader of a team I’m not a part of.”

“And whose fault is that?” Strauss walked closer, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword. A gust of wind blew through the room. Agon put an arm up to his face to try to split the forceful air away from him.

“So I can’t ask questions anymore?”

“You shouldn’t even be talking right now.”

“Oh, darn. And yet, here I am.” Mars said, sarcastically. Agon tried to step in, but Kiche put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. The wind in the room grew stronger, howling through Agon’s ears. After a few seconds, Mars closed his eyes and sucked his teeth. “Whatever.” He turned his back. Strauss huffed, and the wind subsided. The room fell silent except for his footsteps clacking towards the broken door. Once he opened it, he looked inside and saw something shining in the distance. His eyes grew wide as he stepped out of the way.

“EVERYBODY MOVE!” He shouted. As everyone followed him out of the way, a flood of gold coins came rushing out of the door. The floor quickly disappeared under them, replaced with this glittering currency. Agon picked up a piece to study it. On one side, there was a snake with red eyes. On the other side, there was small writing.

“ ‘Wanting better is not always wanting more.’ ” He read aloud.

“Oh, you hear that? Looks like it’s okay to pick the finer things! Isn’t that something, leader?!?” Mars grumbled.

“Feel free to shut up any time!” He retorted. Kiche looked around the room and pointed to the hole Mars had made earlier.

“Gehehehe!”

“Good idea, Kiche! Let’s get over there!” They all tried to wade through the gold ocean, but as they began to move, a second flood of coins rushed from out of the door and blocked the hole before they could even reach it. A wave of coins splashed back and pushed the four of them against the golden door that was still not open. The sea of gold was rising faster by the second. Strauss tried to dig through to reach the doorknob, but he couldn’t get to it.

“Not good!” He strained his voice as he pulled his arm out from under the weight of treasure. They could barely move as the gold rose to their waist. Agon began to hyperventilate. Mars turned to him and got directly in his face.

“Hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me, man.” Agon struggled. His body naturally wanted to flail and panic, but he forced himself to heed Mars’ words. “We’re gonna figure this out, okay? Just breathe. Breathe.” He lowered his voice and began to take deep breaths, holding eye contact with Agon. He complied and breathed with him. After he calmed down, a clear thought came to his mind. His eyes lit up as he looked at Mars.

“Wait...Mars…hit me.”

“What?!?” Mars and Strauss said in unison.

“Gehe…?” Kiche followed, in his own way.

“Hit me! Right here!” Agon patted the left side of his chest. “Use your left hand!”

“Agon, are you talking about-” Strauss started, but immediately got cut off.

“Yes! Mars, just do it, hurry!”

Mars didn't know what to make of his request, but it seemed like he had a solid plan that he believed in; that was all the confirmation he needed. He twisted his body around as best he could to face Agon. He cocked his left arm back.

“HAAAAAH!” With a slam, he sent his fist straight into Agon’s chest, per his request. He was knocked back into the pile of coins.

“Agon!” Strauss called out. There was no response, only the continuous sound of rushing coins.

“Come on, guy. Show me something.” Mars, muttered.

“HEARTBURN!!!”

A red glow appeared over the coins, followed by the sound of a light sizzle. Mars and the others leaned back as they listened to the sizzle evolve into a violent crackle and watched the coins get hot, melting into a beautiful liquid. Agon rose from the melting gold with an incredible blaze shooting from his lips. The flames were so great that the coins and golden door melted in seconds. The party burst through the golden sludge, with Agon being last. He fell to his knees, wheezing and grabbing his chest.

“Agon!!!” Mars turned to rush to his aid, but was roughly pushed out of the way by Strauss.

“Are you okay?!?” He intervened, crouching down to pick Agon up and lay him on his back. He opened up his vest to see a scorch mark over his left chest. “Please, Agon!!!” He couldn’t respond; his body was overwhelmed with heat; all he could do was take shallow breaths as splotches of melted gold clung to his skin.