The Secret Vault

"Can you keep a secret?" I stared at her, puzzled. It hadn't occurred to me until now that my friend could be hiding something.

"Sure." I said.

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know where the vault is.”

My jaw dropped in amazement. "You....what?" 

“You heard me," she said inching closer, "I know where the vault is."

"But, that's just a legend.” I stammered.

She tilted her head. "Is it?" I didn't answer. What would I say?

She pulled her face away from mine.

"Come. Follow me." She led me out of the pantry. She walked out the back door, not bothering to turn her head to see if I was still following. 

I ran through the kitchen to go after her. In the distance was a large mountain. Several trees were scattered all over it with a long river flowing down the middle. We both stared at the mountain for a few minutes. After a while, I was beginning to get impatient. 

"Olivia, where is it?" I asked eagerly.

Without answer, she sprinted toward the mountain. I guessed I was supposed to follow her, so that is just what I did. I found it hard to keep up since it was easy for me to lose energy. I nearly collapsed on the  ground when we finally arrived in front of the lake that the river formed.

"We'll have to swim." Olivia said as she took my hand. I was about to protest when she jumped in, pulling me after her. She let go of me and started to swim to the other side of the lake. I panicked. I couldn't swim. My hands splashed the water in all directions as I struggled to keep my head above it. I felt someone pulling my arm. I found myself on dry ground and looked up into her face. I choked up some water. Disgusting lake water. 

I got up slowly. My whole body was completely soaked.

"Now to climb to the top of this mountain." Olivia said casually, as though it were as easy as spreading butter on bread. I looked up dizzily. I definitely did not feel like climbing anything at the moment.

There was no obvious trail on the mountain. I fell down more times than I could count. Olivia, on the other hand, didn't fall down the whole hike, and didn't seem to notice whenever I did. She just kept walking like she wasn't on rough terrain.

"This vault better be real." I complained, as I tripped on a rock and fell on my rear. She didn't answer. I was starting to wonder if she could hear me at all. I got up and grumbled to myself, following Olivia wherever she went. Finally, Olivia stopped in front of a cave. I halted just before I ran into her. Suddenly, I thought of something. What exactly was in the vault? Before I had the chance to ask her, she spoke.

“‘Legend has it that an ancient king hid a vault somewhere in his land where no one would find it for centuries. People have been searching for years for the vault to discover what contents were inside. Many discoverers have searched but had no luck. It still remains a legend to this very day.’”

Olivia turned to me and smiled. "This very day, the vault is found."

She walked over to the cave. There was a large boulder in front of it. It nearly covered the entrance of the cave. Nearly, but not quite. There was a little hole that we could barely squeeze through. Olivia went in first and I went in after her. It was completely dark in the cave. Olivia pulled something out of her pocket. I heard a striking sound and I saw a small flame.

"Waterproof matches." She said, sounding pleased with herself. She picked up a stick off of the ground and held the match under it until the tip of the stick was on fire. Olivia held it up to the cave walls. They were completely covered in ancient writings and drawings.

One of the drawings was several stick figures fighting each other. They were holding spears, swords, and bows. Some of them were riding on horses and bears. I couldn't understand what the writings meant. It looked like a very complicated language like Egyptian.

I looked at more of the petroglyphs. There were five stick figures hunting a deer with bows and arrows. One of the petroglyphs really stood out to me. It was the largest one of all. It was two people wielding swords. They weren't stick figures. They are looked much more realistic than that. The two figures mostly looked the same.' They both had the same angry face. The only differences between them was their clothing. The person on the left had red clothes on while the one on the right had blue.

In between the two men was a rock poking out. It had a small hole in it that Olivia stuck her finger in.

"Get ready." she said as she rotated the rock clockwise three times with her finger. She pushed the rock into the wall. The cave started to rumble. The wall split open, revealing a large room. Olivia lit the torches in the room so that we could see better. 

The light sparkled off everything in the room. Coins, statues, pottery, gold, silver, diamond, ruby, emerald, and countless other things. I saw a wooden chest in the center of the room and wondered what was inside. I walked over to the chest and tried to open it. Locked. I glanced around for a key. I looked through the coins, shuffling them around frantically. I found a key and struggled to open the chest. Finally, I figured out how to unlock it. The chest gave a satisfying click as it opened. Inside was a statue of an ancient king. I had guessed that it was the same king that hid the vault in this cave. Underneath the small statue was a symbol. It was a circle with five lines poking out from the center. It was my family symbol

It was then that I realized that I am related to an ancient king.