Maggie woke up and discovered that she landed on some soft sand. She looked up and found that she fell far down if the small hole of the ceiling was any sign.

She found it hard to see in the dark area and didn’t have much light in the vicinity, but knew it to be a prominent place by the sound of silence echo resonating through the air. They probably filled it with sand. But how was she supposed to get out of here and find her way back to the others?

A sharp pain hit her lower half; Maggie glanced at the ground. She found her crystal underneath her butt and under the sand. Maggie picked it up and dusted off the sand before thinking of an idea. She rubbed the crystal and found it glowing again.

Excellent, it still works. If I can use this to find the real gem and grab it, then the jewel can float back to Jamie’s like last time. All I need to do after that is follow the gem back to the obelisk. Then, summon the others back via a portal, if that lady cooperates.

“All right, let’s get to it, no way am I giving up now!” Maggie got up and brushed herself off before trekking along the sand at a slow pace.

.-.-.-.

Antonio had noticed that the surrounding area got darker as he continued to walk down the stairs slowly but surely. He looked over at his laptop. There should be a built-in flashlight of some sort to help him see where he was going.

Mandy called him to ask where he was and how he was doing since they hadn’t talked to her in a while, but before Antonio could answer, the two saw Samuel walk over to the monitor, who had just woken up.

“Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?” Mandy asked.

“Well, maybe,” Sam replied, rubbing his eyes. “I had enough sleep for now, so I should — huh?” He took notice of Antonio and the isolated area around him. It didn’t look familiar to him in the slightest. “Where are you? What do you think you’re doing?!” He roared at his nephew.

“We’re collecting some gems for this alien girl,” Antonio explained.

“But why are you getting those?”

“She said she'd take us home if we do what she asked...”

“Are you serious? You probably just met this alien, and you’re going to trust her instantly? Even in life-threatening quests like this?”

“Isn’t this already dangerous enough? Being stuck in a place, you don’t know? And where were you beforehand!?” Antonio questioned.

“I was sleeping. I needed to rest from working so hard...” Sam explained. He paused and sighed before continuing. “Look, get out of there and stay away from that girl, you hear me? We’ll get it done and bring you back home, I promise.”

“But...”

“Wait somewhere safe, ok?”

“Ok,” Antonio said in defeat as he continued to walk.

There weren’t any more stairs, just a large concrete floor waiting at the bottom. He closed the laptop and left the flashlight device before continuing. As Antonio reached a dead end, he noticed something strange in front of him and looked up.

“No way, it can’t be!” Antonio’s eyes widened with alarm as beads of sweat ran down his face as he looked at what was in front of him.