Follow the glow
Realizing this may be a good thin, that this is likely going to lead you to something that is hopefully good, you start to swim in the direction of the glow, moving slowly so that you can be mindful of when it dims or gets stronger.
As you swim, you again have the sense there is something there with you. But you ignore it and keep going, watching the glow become increasingly more powerful until at last you find it illuminates the entire shipwreck - or rather, the entire cave, for you see now that the ship had sunk and merged with an enormous cave filled with jagged rocks and the remains of the ship. And, you notice, the remains of people.
Skeletons decorate the walls of the cave, some which seemed to have met their unfortunate end by getting stuck, or worse, there. You are surprised to see this, and wonder if these are real bones or fake - yet your attention is again stolen away when you realize how close you have come to stabbing yourself!
The bracelet has kept you alive, you think; the glow has tugged you away from the edges of the spiky extensions from the cave walls. You are grateful now that you decided to keep the bracelet.
Many of these skeletons appear to be wearing the remains of clothing. You spy weathered hats and coats and what could have been boots - these are in tatters, and you’re frankly amazed they’re still in tact to some degree considering everything else.
You notice one in particular whose hand appears to be pointing down. It is missing the bottom half of its jaw, yet you can almost tell that the expression on its face - if a skull could have an expression, of course - is one of yearning.
You shove this consideration aside. You don’t wish to end up like them.
You swim lower, following the glow - it has become a sort of spotlight now, shining down in a very particular direction. You follow it, lower and lower, into the cave, until you come to a very large open area, a cave within a cave. Here, you see the glow from the bracelet has thinned and is concentrating in one specific direction through the murk surrounding you, one that is lower.
Filled with a new sense of interest, you move toward it, pushing through the dusky clouds and navigating around a ship’s mast that appears to have lodged itself into the ground down here somehow.
You soon find that the glow points to a chest - a very large, ornate blue chest, sitting rather snugly in the center of a circle of stones. The designs on the chest are like nothing you’ve ever seen before; they are odd spiralling shapes, a mix of silver and gold colors jutting out from the blue. The chest itself is also weirdly shaped, appearing more like a big oval than the usual chests.
You admire it, until you remember the glowing bracelet. You aim it toward the chest and watch the gleam move on its own, until it points directly at one of two rather weirdly shaped keyholes. They remind you almost of eye-holes.
You look at the bracelet and notice, perhaps for the first time, that the part which is glowing is a small emerald-shaped orb. You feel that the answer to this is to pluck the orb from the bracelet and place it into the slot on the chest, yet in doing so, you imagine you will lose access to your ability to see in this cave.
Written by Hollowpages on 02 May 2019
