Dare the Darkness:Mario's Heart-Thumping Adventure

"The tunnel begins here, sir." The man pointed toward the dark hole on the ground.

"What's down there?" Mario asked the man.

"It leads to an underworld. I've never been too far in myself but you should be careful going down there."

"Right. Well thank you for your time," Mario said as he opened his mouth to step into the darkness of the tunnel.

"Wait. I have something for you," the man said as he reached into his pocket and took out a small red key about the size of a quarter. He handed it to Mario and before he could say anything else, Mario stepped into the darkness without even looking at it.

There was nothing for a moment and then he felt himself falling forward. He closed his eyes tight and waited for impact but the fall stopped suddenly when he felt his feet hit solid ground with a thud. When he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by darkness that seemed to go on forever but he swore that he saw movement in all directions around him. It was only after a few seconds that he realized that it was just his imagination playing tricks on him because even though he couldn't see anything at all, somehow, a few yards in front of him, there was light shining through from somewhere above him.

He walked slowly toward what looked like a hole in the ground and when he got closer, he could see that it wasn't just any hole, it was actually a caved-in tunnel entrance with parts of wooden walls still standing in place where it had fallen off. As he approached closer, it became clearer and clearer until finally, what looked like a pile of stones from far away now stood out as a stone wall with an opening big enough for one person to walk through if they duck their heads down in order to not hit the top of the tunnel as they pass through.

As Mario approached closer, something rustled in front of him in what sounded like leaves being blown in the wind but when that happened again and again, each time getting louder than the last, he knew that whatever made those noises was getting closer and closer to him every second. When something touched his right foot and tickled him ever so slightly before running off into the distance behind him, Mario lost his temper and let out a loud scream while raising both his arms up high above his head while shouting loudly at whatever was making these noises around him.

"WHO'S THERE? SHOW YOURSELF IF YOU HAVE ANY COURAGE AT ALL!" Mario yelled at whatever creature or men had invaded his personal space without permission or warning. Seconds later, dozens of creatures jumped out from all directions surrounding him on all sides without warning but none of them showed their faces or spoke another word after seeing how angry this man was at them for doing such a thing right now when they were so close to getting killed by this infuriated man who had no idea who they were or why they were here trying to kill him instead of hiding somewhere where their nasty presence would remain unknown to him and all other humans like they should be doing!