Pursuit of Wisdom

The air in the cave was cold and damp. The fire from their camp had died out and with it, their hopes of finding anything more than a few empty chests. Lars looked over the group that he had been traveling with for the past month. "I've never seen such a poor set of caves." He kicked at the ground, sending rocks flying into the darkness. "I once saw a cave so tough, they were able to withstand a dragon attack."

Derek yawned as he stared at his feet. "Well, this is pretty disappointing."

Lars threw up his hands. "We've been here for nearly a month, now. We haven't even found one damn clue about what we're supposed to be looking for!"

Celine sighed and went to her pack, pulling some food out. She handed it around to those who hadn't already packed up their things. After eating, Lars continued to look around at the rest of the group: Derek, Sanne, and Celine sat huddled together next to their campfire, which was now just glowing coals. A few feet away sat Alice, who had been sitting quietly by herself since they first arrived in the cave a month ago. Finally, Sven walked up beside Lars and put his hands on his hips, shaking his head slowly. Sven was tall and burly with long blonde hair and beard tied in braids around his head and down his back.

"It's not like they said," he said to Lars quietly so as not to wake up Alice.

"What do you mean?" asked Lars as he turned towards Sven.

"The legends never said anything about an artifact or anything like that."

'So what are we even doing here?" asked Lars as he looked down at Alice's sleeping form again. "She doesn't seem to be helping us at all."

"I think she's trying," replied Sven with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "That's why I don't mind staying here with her." He rubbed his hand through his beard before continuing on in a whisper. "Why don't you just let me take charge of this little journey? You can go back home and report failure."

Lars shook his head quickly. That wasn't an option for him; no matter how bad things were going right now, he would figure out something that would help them get closer to success! His master wanted him to find whatever it was they were looking for so badly that he'd sent Lars on this quest while still being an apprentice! He couldn't imagine how angry his master would be if he returned from this meeting empty-handed after abandoning Alice along the way! Besides, this trip had been good for him so far; he really liked traveling around and seeing new places! The journey so far had been quite enjoyable for him! If only there had been more gold or treasure involved in all of this! He sighed heavily before walking over towards where Alice laid curled up on top of some blankets that she'd brought along with her on their journey through Scandinavia's tundra. As he approached her sleeping figure, she suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up straight while looking directly at him. Her eyes were unnaturally bright green in color and shone brightly in the darkness of the cave as if they were two small lamps lighting up everything around them like they were daylight outside!