Chapter 8 – Oops, We’re Trapped

"Of all the places to be stuck, why here?" I groaned, propped up against the cold stone wall of what had been a perfectly simple dungeon. A fetch quest gone horribly wrong.

We had been sent here to retrieve a rare herb for an alchemist, just a standard, boring errand. The dungeon was supposed to be a low-level, easy job—just get in, grab the herb, and get out. But now, thanks to my bad luck, the simple mission had turned into a nightmare of confusion, missteps, and one massive cave-in.

It all started when we walked into a side corridor, a narrow passageway that looked like it was built for sneaky adventurers. We figured it was probably just a shortcut to the treasure room or something. It wasn't. As soon as we took the turn, the ground beneath us shook. And then it collapsed.

Whoosh!

Debris tumbled around us, and before I could react, the whole corridor was filled with dust. The ceiling, once towering above us, was now a mess of jagged rock and rubble.

"Great job, genius," Lina snorted, brushing dirt off her fiery outfit, somehow still looking cool and collected despite the collapse. "You do realize we're stuck, right?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly planning on causing a cave-in today," I shot back, dusting myself off. "But yeah, now that we're in this mess, I'm just thrilled to be stuck in a damp dungeon with no way out."

Iris, who had been standing perfectly still during the entire ordeal, blinked once before she sighed. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, I know. I've got that part covered."

We all stood in the middle of the collapsed corridor, surrounded by rubble, the path we had come from now completely blocked. My first instinct was to panic, but I tried to keep my cool—after all, I wasn't exactly a master adventurer, and I needed to make a good impression if I wanted to keep Iris on our team.

"Well, now we're in this mess," I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing. "The best thing we can do is camp for the night and hope the entrance gets cleared by morning."

"Sure," Lina said dryly, sitting down against the wall, "but where's the food? Or the comfy bed? Or the chance to not die from boredom?"

"Right now, I'm more concerned about not dying from starvation or the possibility of some weird monster showing up," I muttered, setting down my pack.

There was an awkward silence that settled in as we all looked around, unsure of what to do next. The whole situation felt like a bad dream—how had things gone so wrong, so fast? The only thing we had left now was a small campfire that Iris had conjured up in her usual calm way, and a few rations that I had, somehow, remembered to pack.

"You know," Lina said after a long pause, "this isn't exactly the kind of adventure I signed up for. A comfy inn and a drink would be way better than this."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled. I was trying to look around, find any possible escape routes, but there was nothing. The walls were solid rock, and the debris from the collapse looked sturdy enough to keep us trapped in here for a while.

Iris, the ever-cool and composed one, stared into the fire. "We'll get out. The dungeon will probably reset by tomorrow morning."

"Great, we're stuck with no way to escape but to wait for a dungeon reset," I muttered, throwing myself down beside the fire. I could already feel the pressure of the awkward silence weighing down on me. It was just me, Lina, and Iris, and the space between us felt larger than the dungeon itself.

I tried to make small talk to fill the silence, but nothing came out right.

"Um… so… how's everyone holding up?" I asked, clearly the worst question to ask in this situation.

Lina gave me a blank stare. "Are you really asking that? We're stuck in a dungeon, genius."

"I'm just trying to keep things light," I said, flustered.

There was another uncomfortable silence, and then Iris spoke. "I'm fine," she said, her voice still as monotone as ever. "But you need to stop doing stupid things."

"Well, if it helps," I tried to joke, "I'm not planning on causing any more cave-ins for the next hour or so."

Iris raised an eyebrow, but Lina chuckled softly. "Yeah, that's a start. If you can keep your cool for the next few hours, we might actually survive this."

"You two sure know how to lift my spirits," I said with an exaggerated sigh.

But as the hours dragged on, I noticed something strange. While I was busy wallowing in self-pity, both Lina and Iris were surprisingly relaxed. They didn't seem to mind the uncomfortable situation. It was like they were so used to this kind of chaos, they'd learned to just roll with it.

I couldn't help but wonder: how were they so calm? I had no idea how to handle a situation like this. Being trapped in a cave wasn't exactly something you could prepare for. But then, I had something they didn't.

"Well," I said, "at least we're alive, right? Not like we're gonna get eaten by a giant rock monster or something."

"No promises," Lina said with a wink. "But for now, yeah. We're safe."

I sighed in relief, though I knew I had to get better at handling these kinds of situations if I wanted to keep my team intact. As I lay back and stared at the fire, I felt something unexpected: a sense of camaraderie. This wasn't ideal, but I wasn't alone.

For now, that was enough.

End of Chapter 8