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Grace and Rocky crept through the ancient temple, carefully avoiding the loose pave stones and fallen debris. Rocky, a concerned expression on his face, was two steps behind Grace. Both of them were covered in dust and dirt, making them look like they’d just got done with rolling in the mud before they went into the temple.
“Oh god,” Rocky said, noticing large orange-and-black tarantulas climbing onto Grace’s back, the flickering torchlight barely enough to illuminate them.
Grace turned, mildly annoyed at the inconvenience the spiders were giving him, and brushed them off with the long bullwhip in his right hand. Rocky shook slightly as he realized that there were spiders on him, too, all up and down his back and shoulders.
Wondering why the spiders would just climb onto someone’s back and just… sit there, Grace brushed all of them onto the ground with swipes of the coiled bullwhip as Rocky shook with fear.
They continued forward. Grace noticed a slit in the wall and stopped, Rocky slinking to the ground with fear. He carefully activated a small trigger in the floor, and massive spears shot out of the wall, pre-loaded with an old skeleton caught between the spikes.
Rocky screamed, but Grace just watched the spikes impassively. He knew what this temple had in store for them. With a sigh, he pushed the spears back halfway into the wall and shimmied past them, Rocky composing himself enough to follow.
They came upon a large pit with spikes at the bottom. Luckily, a thick tree had fallen across the top of the temple where a ceiling may have once stood. Grace took out his whip and perfectly wrapped it around the branch, using it to easily swing himself across. He threw the end back to Rocky, who looked up with confusion.
After a moment’s hesitation, Rocky swung across, but the branch slipped slightly. It didn’t show on his face, but Grace was slightly annoyed that Rocky wasn’t as competent and suave as he was. He effortlessly grabbed Rocky’s shirt and pulled him to safety, both of them caught in an awkward hug. Grace shoved him away, tucking the whip into a thatch of vines so it wouldn’t swing away and they could use it on their way out.
After a few corners, they found the treasure, shining in a pillar of light like The Lord himself wanted them to find it and put it in a museum in America.
Grace studied the room. Rocky rushed forward; he said “Come on, there’s no traps here!”
What an idiot. Grace grabbed him and pulled him back, shoving him towards the wall. He spoke, low and suave, “That’s what scares me.”
Of course, he wasn’t actually scared. He was suspicious. Big difference.
He grabbed a log from the wall, finding a strange pile of dirt on the floor. Scratching at it revealed a foot panel. He pressed it, a deadly arrow flying directly towards his heart, where it was thankfully blocked by the large stick of wood.
“Stay here,” Grace said, handsomely.
“If you insist,” Rocky replied, crouched on the floor in fear.
Grace carefully stepped across the room, looking almost like he was waltzing if you were into that sort of thing. A couple close calls later, he was right in front of it- the golden artifact.
The gold reflected golden-orange light from the sunset to his face, illuminating his most beautiful features. Grace took the sandbag that he always carried in his adventures out of his satchel, hoping that it would be the same weight as the solid gold idol in front of him. It actually felt a little too heavy, so he poured some of the sand out, making awkward eye contact with the artifact as he did so.
Rocky watched in awe as Grace took the artifact, the sandbag landing smoothly where it once stood.
He tucked the priceless gold artifact under his arm and turned, thinking he’d outsmarted the trap, but he hadn’t. The weight must have been wrong!
The temple began to collapse. He rushed forward, uncaring of the traps. Every arrow missed him as he ran, rocks tumbling around him.
They rushed out of the room, Rocky swinging across the chasm with the whip. It pulled free of the branch as he landed.
“Throw me the whip!” Grace demanded.
“Give me the idol!” Rocky shouted, the sounds of rocks crumbling and crashing all around them echoing through the hall. A wall started to close behind them, to block their exit. “No time to argue!”
Reluctantly, Grace threw the artifact to Rocky, who, with only a small amount of consternation, said “Goodbye.” He dropped the bullwhip and ran, ducking underneath the closing door.
Anger in his chest, Grace stepped back and took a running leap across the pit, barely catching himself on the other side. His feet slipped against the rocky wall as he reached for a tree root growing through the soil, his fingers slipping against it as the door continued lowering.
Just as he grasped the root to pull himself up, it slipped slightly from the wall. He pulled and pulled, the tense music increasing as he did, until finally, he was safely on the other side. He rolled under the wall, grabbing his whip just before it slammed shut with a mighty, rocky boom.
He scrambled to his feet, immediately finding Rocky’s bloodied, speared-through corpse hanging from the wall, a look of shock on his face.
Grace huffed and grabbed the artifact from where it had fallen.
“Bye, Rocky,” He said, rushing forwards out of the temple tunnel. Behind him, there was a sudden rumbling- a huge rock dropped from the ceiling and rolled towards him!
He sprinted through the hallway, gripping both the idol and his bullwhip as tight as he could. Finally, he saw the exit. It was covered in cobwebs, but that was the price to pay for survival. He dove through the opening, tumbling into the brush.
Grace smiled slightly. He was still alive.
***
“That was stupid, statement,” said Rocky, “Why did my human die? Why did you keep saying how handsome your human is?”
Grace shrugged, the motion somewhat taxing as the malnutrition really began to set in. It was getting harder to think, harder to move, by the day.
“That’s just how a lot of action movies go,” replied Grace, “Action-adventure, I guess. The guy who betrays the other guy always gets killed, unless the traitor is a woman, in which case she’s usually redeemed by the end.”
“Does not make sense. Grace-character save Rocky-human life multiple times, and then Rocky-human does not care? Stupid. Human stories stupid,” He complained, stomping his feet.
“Oh yeah? Well how about you tell me an Eridian story?” Grace suggested, “Since they’re so much better.”
“Yes. Grace listen carefully,” Rocky demanded.
***
During the great eruptions, when Eridians were few and separated by lava flows and dangerous terrain, there was a small group of Eridians that dared to travel between volcanoes to spread knowledge and save lives.
There was Rocky, the leader, Grace, the smart but somewhat misguided one, Adrian, the navigator and scout, and Apollo, the fighter and defender.
They were about to leave a small village when an older Eridian stopped them, respectfully asking for their help. Their pebbles and their grandpebbles had left to find a better life in a bigger city, using the route that Adrian had made and distributed their last trip through about 15 years earlier.
They simply wished to know what happened to their family, and would wait for the adventurers to return with news. Of course, being gallant and brave, they all promised to look out for them.
Rocky and the others forged ahead, having just completed their sleep cycles in the town and ready for a few days of travel. They took careful precautions, avoiding lava flows and updating their map as they went.
Eventually, after many days of travel, they found evidence of someone’s abandoned camp on the path.
“I wonder whose camp this is,” Grace asked, poking at the remains of a shelter that had since fallen.
“Could be that Elder’s family,” Adrian suggested, “And this is not very old. Could still be nearby.”
“But the Elder said that they left weeks ago,” Grace reminded, “So why would they still be within a few days journey of the village?”
Adrian hummed. Meanwhile, Rocky was listening into the distance for signs of other Eridians. The lava flows were typically slightly calmer this time of year, though, as with all volcanoes, unpredictability was still expected.
“We should keep going. This path will be flowed over in a few days, we need to scout a new one to put on the map,” Rocky said, tapping their foot.
Apollo, who did not speak, pointed into the distance, where two different lava flows were beginning to converge, their rumbling and popping barely audible. Rocky clicked their claws together.
“You’re right, Apollo, we must move. The lava will flow faster when the streams are combined,” said Rocky.
The group fell into step once more, the heat already ramping up slightly as the lava flowed down the side of the volcano. A few hours of walking later, they heard shouts of alarm. They had been following along a cliff face, their steps careful and sure on the side of the mountains.
“Skipper! Skipper!” An adult Eridian shouted. Rocky rushed forward, the scene slowly becoming audible.
A group of seven Eridians, two adults and five pebbles, were traversing the cliff face. One of the pebbles, who looked to be about 20, had slipped off the cliff and fell to a lower shelf, their cries just barely audible over the rushing of the wind.
“What’s going on!?” Rocky demanded. The pebbles were all pressed against the cliff wall, their parents trying to reach down to grab their other child to no success.
“We were walking and a rock slipped! Skipper fell down the wall and we are not big enough to reach!” One of the parents wailed, their voice strained.
“We can help,” Rocky declared. They looked to Apollo, who immediately removed a xenonite rope from their bag. Focusing on Skipper, Rocky realized that they were still healing from an earlier injury, one of their legs splinted awkwardly. They would not be able to hang on to the rope on their own.
“I’m going down there,” Rocky said.
“What? Rocky, that cliff edge is too small, you’ll fall down the mountain!” Grace said.
“That pebble is already injured! They will not be able to get a proper grip on the rope,” Rocky yelled, “And I have the best grip strength of all of us.”
“Rocky is right, Grace,” Adrian said, nuzzling the side of Rocky’s carapace.
Apollo tossed the rope over the side of the cavern, having tied it to a protruding rock up on the cliff edge.
“Fine. But you aren’t allowed to fall, you hear me!” Grace said, going to make sure that the rope was secure.
“I won’t,” Rocky assured, nuzzling Adrian back and grabbing the rope, descending hand-over-hand like they were on a simple ladder. The pebble whimpered and cried below. Rocky’s foot slipped a few times, but they made it safely, grabbing the pebble in one hand and bracing themselves against the wall with two, then holding onto the rope with the final two.
“Pull me up!” They shouted. Everyone pulled with all their strength, rock grinding against rock as they slowly, but surely, pulled Rocky and Skipper over the edge of the cliff.
Steaming from their vents, Rocky delivered Skipper back to their parents. Everyone was safe.
***
“We have stories like that too, you know,” Grace said, half-asleep, “I just picked one that was action-adventure-y because you said that’s what you wanted.”
“Was dumb. Rocky’s story way better,” said Rocky, “Grace go to sleep now. Being stupid and dumb.”
Grace held up his middle finger and burrowed deeper into the blankets. Lately, he’d been sleeping longer and longer. He had the bare minimum needed to keep himself alive- carbs and proteins in the taumoeba, and the scant few vitamins he could synthesize from the backup oxygen system and the other chemicals onboard the Hail Mary.
He just hoped it would be enough to get him to Erid. Maybe then he could attend a real poetry storytelling, instead of listening to an Eridian who was never a big fan of stories try to recite it from memory.
He drifted off to sleep listening to Rocky’s quiet working, knowing that they were there to watch over him.