Swinging my lasso across the gorge, I swerved safely out of danger. The boulder chasing me fell into the pit behind me as I steadied myself. After herding through a gauntlet of booby traps, I was finally near the end of the cave.

On the cliff I landed on was a simple door, seeming modern, one out of place for an old Indian temple. The village nearby had tales of travelers leaving at its final challenge. From my research, an old shaman cursed the temple to have travelers face their greatest fears. I wondered what it could be? Of course as a bold action hero I was afraid of nothing! Not even venomous snakes or living skeletons! I gripped my lasso whip in great anticipation.

Expecting horrors and danger inside, my jaw dropped.  No beast or monster lurked. Instead, inside was a beautiful arrangement of trophies and gilded statues displaying all the great treasure hunters. The Treasure Hunter Hall of Fame. Minnesota Jones, Ohio Jones, West Virginia Jones, and of course my personal hero, Illinois Jones. I was absolutely stunned, smiling up at them in utter respect. It was amazing to see so many great treasure hunters that I looked up to all here at the same time, being praised for all of their hard work and great discoveries. 

I was in awe witnessing the glory of all of these great legends, with each statue I could point and recall each of their greatest adventures from Egypt to Sudan. My recallings of their great adventures shortened and shortened as I moved onto each upcoming statue with an increasing anticipation that it would be a statue of myself.

However, no matter how long I looked, I never saw my name. Statues of far less remarkable adventurers took up any room for a statue of myself, my glory, of course, not to discredit any of their accomplishments. At first, I thought they were ordered alphabetically, but pass down the hallway, I speculated it was measured by the greatness of their achievements. 

Of course, this meant I should go to the end, where I would obviously be furnished. Instead a grand Illinois Jones statue stood. My mentor, my hero. I smiled back at his bold appearance, his chiseled chin, his dashing hair, and firm stare advanced his sense of adventure. With further observation, I noticed a small trash can, almost completely hidden in Illinois’ shadow. I walked over and looked at the small gleam in the trash bin. There, was a dainty copper trophy with a faded name. ‘Johnny Deezl’

I could not believe all of the hard work I have done in my lifetime and all they could do to recognize me is one dainty little trophy! My brain nearly short circuited, do they even know who I am or what I have done?! Whose pitiful judgement was this? I was furious to see all of the great accomplishments I have made in my lifetime be reduced to one small trophy. How dare these morons humiliate me! I’m here for the glory of adventure and I deserve it.. My accomplishments are so much more impressive than whatever Illinois has done. Screw it! I will ensure that the treasure hunting Hall of Fame rues the day they decided to leave me out of the Hall of Fame.

Catching myself in my fit, I noticed the room had become larger… or was I becoming smaller? I shrunk more and more, inclined to run out before I shrunk to the size of an ant. But, I didn’t head back, I had to pursue and persevere it, I simply could not be left out of glory.  I will find what I came here for: relics, gems, ancient talismans, and a burning sense of adventure.

As I made my way through the cave, the meager hallway turned back into a dusty, rocky cave. I felt pebbles turn to rocks, turn to boulders. I was still shrinking. Finding myself distracted, I forgot what I even came here to look for. I reopened my notebook in my satchel. Ah, yes, the Kaz Stone, certainly an item worthy of glory and fame, according to the sketches. Something that will make me be idolized. Something that belongs in a museum to have anthropologists pick and poke at to find interesting historical facts.

Looking back up from my notes, I could feel the caves shifting, turning, making me lose my sense of direction. Right, I had to remember how to return back through the cave. One end of a temple is only halfway throughout my glorious expedition after all. I felt dizzier and smaller as I walked throughout the caves. Was poison gas filling up the air? I felt drowsy, but I had to keep down through the cave to find this gemstone.

With strange steam filling up my lungs, I finally saw the end of the caverns - the end of the Hall of Fame.  There was a copper colored gemstone. I nearly scoffed as I saw the size of it, picking it out of it’s socket, I observed it was the size of a crabapple. It’s jaded copper wore down like the pages I saw with the gem sketched on. I thought it would be much larger, more glowing, and certainly, certainly not copper. 

I thought it would’ve been gold. This wasn’t a gemstone, it’s a glorified rock.

This rock wouldn’t be enough to put me on the Treasure Hunterer Hall of Fame, it looked pathetic. For all my efforts in this treasure hunt doing my research, interviewing the locals, locating this ruined temple, and treading through all of the booby trap hazards, this pathetic little rock was my reward. I’ve seen other adventurers with much grander artifacts and talismans from adventures half the effort. They just got lucky. That’s all.

Feeling the cave crumble around me, I tossed the ‘gem’ into my satchel and booked it. I was grateful that I shrunk, it would mean I would have an easier time squeezing through tight rocks. Just as the thought went through my mind, I felt myself growing back to normal. It meant a wider hitbox for me meant that rocks were more likely to hit me. At least it gave me a proper sense of accomplishment, growing back into a larger-than-life figure.

I leapt through the hallway as it magically transformed back from a cave, almost instantaneously. The gilded statues crumbled behind me, wrecking the Hall of Fame. Deserved for not putting up a grand adventurer like me there. I passed by the poorly made bronze trophy, not even acknowledging it. I’d let such an award, unfit for someone as magnificent as me, crumble away in this temple. I spent not one second considering taking it back with me.