The water slowly dripped from the ceiling of the cave, and a cool breeze rolled through the cave, whistling softly as it blew through the tight cracks in the limestone. As the breeze blew past Louis he felt a wave of goosebumps flow down his back. The cave was eerily quiet, besides to soft dripping of the water, and whistling from the breeze, the only other sound was Louis’ heartbeat. His heart thumped against his chest as he ventured deeper and deeper into the cave. 

He started to see angry glowing eyes, in the inky shadows. He started to imagine voices telling him to turn around; but his quest was too important. Suddenly there was a loud screech that echoed around the cave and a colony of bats flew right at him. Their beady little eyes seemed to follow him even as they flew away. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Then he saw it, a small wooden sign hammered into the wall of the cave that read, ‘La Fuente de la Juventud’ he easily translated it to ‘The Fountain of Life.’ Louis shivered with anticipation, he was almost there, he took another step forward into the darkness and fell into nothing he was falling for what felt like minutes until he crashed into an underground reservoir. 

He coughed and sputtered and he rose to the surface paddling as fast as he could to any shoreline. Until he noticed a slight glow coming from deep beneath the water’s depths, a soft-pink and green light that shone for the floor of the reservoir. Curiosity got the best of him and he took a deep breath and dove under the surface, he forced himself to dive deeper and deeper. His ears popped from the pressure as he dove to the cave floor. There he nearly gasped as a large stone monument stood protruding from the limestone lake bed. Pink and green crystal glowed around it and a small lever was built into one of the pillars. 

As Louis switched the lever, he could hear gears screeching to life, as the water slowly drained from the cave lake, and soon he was standing at the bottom of a massive valley in the cave. He took a few careful steps toward the monument and found a small fountain that bubbled and gurgled, and was filled with the clearest water he had ever seen. Louis slowly knelt and as he sipped up just a few drops of the water he felt less tired, he felt younger. He downed a gulp of water, and then another, as he dropped decades. Until suddenly he was 20 again, strong and athletic, handsome and tall. He greedily began to fill everything he could with the water, his water bottle, food containers, and once he was done he looked up to find a small creature with intelligent eyes staring back at him, he stumbled backwards in shock. 

“Who.. What are you?” he stumbled through the words. As the creature flapped inky black wings and snarled with sharp teeth. 

“I am the guardian of the fountain” It hissed. “You dare take my water for your own selfish desires? Dear mortal you shall perish” The creature lunged forward at Louis. His youthful reflexes came in and he rolled to the side. He started searching around for any method of escape before finding the hole the water had drained out of. As he ran as fast as he could he saw skeletons of those he had tried to take the water before him. “I drained their life energy just as I’ll drain yours” The creature cried, “No one can take my water and live.”

Louis' feet pounded against the rocky floor, before he arrived at the massive hole, the water drained from, he looked back at the creature which was flying right at his face. He then took a breath and jumped.

Falling. That's all that Louis could feel. Time seemed to slow as he fell and fell and fell. He could hear the creature's laughter from the top of the hole. “Oh silly mortal," It laughed, “No one can survive a fall that far.” Louis feared he was right, and once he saw the ground beneath him he knew it was all over. He braced himself for impact, and he crashed right into the floor below.