Promptings from Valhalla - 37. The Temple of Doom

Sebastian peeked around the corner. His eyes narrowed as he spied the treasure high above. He settled close to the ground, analyzing the safest way to approach the precious object which had eluded him for so long.

While the approach looked fairly straightforward, it was probably full of traps. Kind of like that movie where the guy had to run from the giant ball. He hoped there weren’t any giant balls lurking around to thwart him.

He decided to take a chance and darted across the open distance to the nearest cover. He exhaled in relief. So far so good. The next step looked more complicated. He’d have to do some climbing, which would make him vulnerable to his enemies. He’d have to be quiet. And fast.

After scoping out the area for several minutes, he readied himself for the arduous task ahead of him. He dashed ahead until he reached the steep incline, then lifted his legs lithely as he bolted up the small mountain and rested at the top, sides heaving, stretching as low to the ground as he possibly could.

The treasure was now at eye level, but still tantalizingly out of reach. He practically salivated at the thought of finally touching it. His enemies were nowhere in sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t lurking close, hidden, waiting to smite him.

The lure of the shiny thing so close was too strong a pull. He was a good jumper, so the leap to get to the treasure should be fairly straightforward. He’d have to be careful to avoid the surrounding objects, since any of those could hold deadly traps.

He crouched low on his haunches, then after two strides, launched himself into the air, and landed softly next to the treasure. He jostled the tall thing next to it, but thankfully it didn’t contain any traps. He reached out to touch the shiny treasure… finally his after so long!

“Sebastian! Get off there! If you break that, I’m going to kill you! Bad cat!”

Shit! He’d been discovered! He leapt off the shelf, the treasure and traps reaching the ground at the same time he did, shattering around him. The human shrieked in horror. Fuck! He’d have to go into hiding.

Until dinnertime.

Check out Cole Matthews' vastly different take on the same prompt in "Shuffle off to Buffalo".  We had a blast this week, writing the prompts.  A huge thank you to all who followed us on this journey.  Until next time!