Tears of the Sun Goddess Chapter 04 (Patreon)

Continued from Chapter 03 

Morning comes, and the blinding shine of the sun peers into Yoko's resting eyes, waking her. Sitting herself up, she stretches to relieve the stiffness from her shoulders. While it's functional as a futon, the ship's seat is not very comfortable for sleeping. Hearing the faint sound of splashing, she steps outside to investigate.

Yoko finds the camp site empty. She looks towards the spring to find no one. She calls out for the others, but to no avail. Suddenly, something erupts from out of the spring.

"Still got it!" Wolfgang boasts proudly to himself. Yoko snaps towards his direction, and instantly covers her eyes, flustered.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaims.

"Testing how long I can hold my breath underwater," Wolfgang says, "It's been a while since I've had to do any diving, and it might come in handy. What's got you so upset?"

"You know damn well what! You're nude!" 

Wolfgang looks down at himself, standing thigh-deep in the water, dripping wet and nude. "Well pardon me for deciding to take a quick bath. What's the issue? If I recall correctly, Dino men are nude throughout most of their lives!"

"That's different and you know it!"

Wolfgang snaps coyly, "Ahh, and I suppose it was different when you snuck a peek at me the other night, was it not?"

Yoko uncovers her eyes to give a scowling glance, but upon realizing what she did, covered them right back up again.

Wolfgang laughs. "You're very cute when you're blushing," he remarks.

"And you are exhausting," Yoko groans, as she turns around to return the ship. Just as she does, however, a flash of pink zips past her, freezing her in place.

"Banzai!" screams Zhuang as his bare-naked body leaps belly first into the spring. The resulting splash is so massive that Yoko leaps back to avoid the barrage of water. A useless gesture.

"Ha ha ha! What a wonderful way to start the morning! Join us Yoko! The cold water will spark some life into you!" Zhuang says as he rises back up from the spring. Without a word, Yoko marches away. She has seen enough.

"Zhuang, you have no idea how to act around a lady," Wolfgang nags mockingly.

"I don't need one, Wolfy! I'm married!" Zhuang says as he goes into a hearty fit of laughter, his belly bouncing in rhythm. 

"...Don't call me Wolfy."

--

An hour or so passes, and the trio begins their trek down the river, towards the sinkhole. The sun is now out at full force, and an air of heat and humidity fill the forest. Being a Dino, Yoko is perfectly comfortable in hot climates, and Zhuang's hardy Ork exterior can handle much harsher climates. Wolfgang, however, is awash in sweat, dabbing away at his forehead with a cloth. So busy is he with wiping his face, that he did not notice that the others have stopped, their path ending at the face of a cliff.

Wolfgang looks up to gauge the height of the cliff's peak, "Time to break out the Clawshots, Zhuang."

Zhuang lets down the burly backpack, and from it, he retrieves what look to be three gauntlets with a long spike and four large, sharp pincers at each side. Along the bottom of them is a leather harness, meant to go along the chest and right arm.

"This will get us across," Wolfgang says as he straps the clawshot harness onto his shoulder. He tosses the other clawshot over to Yoko. "It's not as scary as it looks. I promise," he says with a cheeky grin.

From the harness, Wolfgang pulls a blank shell and inserts it into the clawshot's chamber. With a bang, the claw flies out from the gauntlet, zooming through the air and penetrating the cliffside above. With a running leap, Wolfgang swings across the gap, landing in a clearing below. "Come on!" he hollers.

Yoko loads the clawshot and aims it upward With a wince, she shoots the claw, latching it. Hesitating, she takes one last look at the drop below.

"Don't be afraid!" jeers Zhuang, surprising Yoko with a hard pat to the back, sending her falling the cliff's edge. She wildly flails about as she tries to hang on, swinging into the clearing. The hook releases itself from cliff, landing Yoko on her rear.

"Zhuang, you bastard!" she shouts, her body shaking. Wolfgang helps her up from the ground, as Zhuang swings over to them.

"Heh heh, sorry about that," he chuckles.

The three look below the clearing, as the river falls into a vast underground cave. Blasting at the ground, Wolfgang hops onto the edge of the clearing and rappels downward. Zhuang and Yoko join him.

Turning on a harness mounted flashlight, Wolf checks the area for land to walk on. Seeing it, a tunnel cutting away from the river, he swings over.

"Remarkable!" he says as he looks along the walls of the tunnel. "Yoko, look at this!"

Coming to the entrance, Yoko examines the wall. "It's man made for sure... But how? There's no support beams, no concrete, yet it's so cleanly carved. Could this be new?"

"Don't think so," Wolf adds, "There's many broken chunks and cracks from the settling earth. This tunnel has been here a long time."

"Have you seen anything like this before?" asks Yoko.

"No, but there are still many techniques and tools lost to time. Perhaps the culture who made this tunnel were wiped out millenia ago. "

Wolfgang looks down the path ahead.

"But we're not here to look at dirt."

The trio set forth through the dark tunnel. It seemed to go on for miles, so much so that they had to stop and rest. The effort seemed fruitless, at first, but as they ventured further, an interesting sign revealed itself.

"Is that...? It is!" says Wolfgang, as he leaps over to his discovery. "Skeletons!" he exclaims, his tail wagging in glee. Seeing this, Yoko can't help but smile.

"Those poor souls. Died trying to find the flower as we are now," says Zhuang.

"Not these..." remarks Wolfgang as he examines the corpses closely."These are the casualties of a battle fought long ago."

Removing the flashlight from his harness, he highlights a set of stray arrows sticking from the tunnel walls.

"Incredible!" he says, gently pulling from the ground a rusted, long since retired longsword," Look at this inscription. Ancient Runes! Do you realize what that means? These people died nearly 2,000 years ago!"

"You mean... They're from the Alpha Age?" gasps Yoko, stunned at the revelation.

"What does that mean?" ponders Zhuang.

"It means," says Wolfgang, "We're on the right path."

Revitalized, the trio continue their journey.