Pressing Luck

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Garrett screamed out in pain as the loss of his right hand began to reach his brain. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees. Lyman followed shortly after, clenching his jaw as tight as he could as he held his bloody wrist.

"What's going on?" Iadre asked, pounding against the closed entrance of her box. "Why are people screaming?"

Garrett couldn't find the strength to explain right now. Right now, he needed something to stop his bleeding. He didn't have any kind of medical kit, nor the strength right now to tear his clothes to make bandages. As Garrett quickly looked around, the bracelet of his clattered to the ground, no longer stopped by his hand being present. A rough idea formed in Garrett's head as he picked up the bracelet with his left hand and put it on.

"FLARISEO!"

A small ball of fire formed in Garrett's hand, which he stuck his bloody wrist into in a crude attempt to cauterize it. The pain of the fire mixed with the pain of losing his hand, but he fought through it, his breath seething through his teeth. Once the bleeding stopped, he looked over to see how Lyman was doing.

He was wrapping his bloodied wrist into his clothes in an attempt to quell the bleeding. "Here, Lyman!" Garrett held out his hand to Lyman to allow him to use the fire as well. Lyman nodded and stuck his wrist into the fire, wincing in pain.

"What's going on? Someone explain!" Iadre cried out, banging on the walls of the box to let her out.

Slowly, while Lyman and Garrett were distracted, Zerat noticed that the blades were retreating back into the ceiling. As they did, the holes that had their limbs trapped opened up, and Iadre flew right out.

"AHH! WHAT HAPPENED!?" Iadre screamed as she focused on Garrett and Lyman.

"Blades came down and sliced off their hands," Zerat explained, but it didn't help calm down Iadre.

She fluttered over to Garrett as the fire he created died out. "I'm fine now, Iadre," Garrett said, gritting his teeth hard, trying to fake a smile.

"Don't you lie to me!" Iadre said, concern permeating her words. "Your hand is gone!"

"Yes, I know," Garrett said, still trying to smile for Iadre. "But, there wasn't any other way." Slowly, the pain of everything began to fade, but his muscles still twitched. He stood up and looked inside the box, seeing his severed hand resting on the button. Carefully, he grabbed it and took it out.

"What exactly are you planning to do with that?" Zerat asked, walking over to the other three.

"You're not planning on keeping it, are you?" Lyman asked with a look of disgust. He didn't even bother to look into his box at his hand.

"I am," Garrett said as he put it into his backpack. "I may be able to find some kind of healer or healing magic thing that would be able to put it back."

"I still can't believe that you would have-"

Iadre stopped mid-sentence as the four of them heard the box in the center creak open. They all turned their attention to see the lid wide open. Slowly, they approached it. Inside was a sheet of parchment paper with a drawing of the sun. As Zerat picked it up, they saw the other side had a moon drawing. There were also X's on different parts of both of them.

"A drawing?" Lyman asked, exasperated. "That's what we lost our hands for?"

"It has to be important," Garrett said as he looked it over. "Whoever built this probably wouldn't have gone to all this trouble if it wasn't important enough."

"But, what does it mean?" Zerat asked as they turned the paper over repeatedly.

"Well, whatever it means, we can figure it out after we leave this room!" Iadre said, already making her way to the door. The three others followed after her before any more traps started to activate. Now, they were back in the room with the mosaics.

"Okay, let's think about what this all means," Garrett said, taking a seat on the ground. "Why are there specific parts of a moon and sun marked?"

"Well, obviously, it's a map of sorts," Lyman said, crossing his arms. "It is a map of cosmic proportions. We must venture towards the stars above!" Lyman did his best to strike a dramatic pose.

"That seems highly unlikely," Iadre said, sitting on Garrett's shoulder. She tried her best to look at the map, but she couldn't help but stare at Garrett's missing hand. "I don't quite know what it could be."

Garrett turned the paper over a few times, then looked up and down at the room they were in. "Maybe it has something to do with these?" He pointed to the mosaics on the ceiling and the floor. "This is the only place that I found any sun and moons. And we already used the stone that we found. So, I think that it has to be related to here."

"But, what could it mean?" Zerat asked, taking the paper and looking at it.

"Well, if it's a map, then those markings must be where the treasure is!" Lyman said triumphantly. "All we must do is then dig in those places!"

Zerat tapped their hands on the ground, listening to the echo on the ground. "And how are we to dig? We have no tools and this ground is far too tough."

"So, if we aren't supposed to dig, then what are we supposed to do?" Garrett asked as he pondered the possibility.

Iadre looked around, then fluttered over the mosaic, looking at them both. "Can you show me the drawing again?" Zerat took the drawings and held them up to Iadre. She looked it over, then turned to the mosaics. Then, she flew over to some parts and stood on one of the mosaic tiles. To everyone's surprise, the tile sank a little bit into the ground. They all held their breath, awaiting something to happen, but nothing did. They all sighed as Iadre flew back up, the tile remaining sunk into the ground. "So that's what we have to do! Just press the tiles the picture tells us to!" Iadre flew around, pressing the tiles as indicated on the drawing.

Then, as she pressed the last one, the cavern rumbled.