"Yes! Finally!" Alex yelled after hours of looking under their belts. He reached into the crate and pulled out an idol of a bodybuilder. This wasn't a regular, part-time bodybuilder though. This one would make all the heavyweights feel inferior. Alex grinned at his prize and headed back for the exit.
"Hey! What about mine?" Jakob yelled after him.
"That's your problem. I've got what I came for." He tossed the idol up and caught it with one hand. With that, he headed out. Just as he was about to step out the way they came in, he noticed a second door over to the side. Opening it, he grinned at the ladder that led up into darkness. Just to be safe, he checked for any signs, puzzles, or traps before starting his climb. Tossing the idol into the backpack he'd brought, he headed up the ladder.
Even with his flashlight, the tunnel he was in was long enough to make it impossible to see the top or the bottom. Having to stop to dry off his hands which only made it take longer. His watch beeped the hour. He groaned as his alarm was set to 4 a.m., the latest he'd been willing to stay before he'd have to leave in order to get ready for work. Wiping his forehead and adjusting his backpack on his aching back, he continued on. He thought he heard Jakob yell something to him from somewhere below but he'd climbed so far, he couldn't be sure and he didn't really care.
His watch beeped 5. "Shit," he muttered. He only had an hour to get home and showered before he had to leave for work. And he still had no idea how much longer he had to climb. Redoubling his effort, he tried taking two rungs at a time only to find them becoming more unstable fast. Stopping on the next stable rung, he flashed his light up the tunnel. For the first time in over an hour, his light caught something. Sighing in relief, he carefully made his way up the last couple dozen rungs. As he got closer, he noticed cracks in the walls with sunlight and moss coming through them. The moss was even worse on the side with the ladder. No wonder it was getting so rickety the closer he got to the top.
Two rungs came out of the wall before he reached the top. The shaft was capped by some sort of well lid grate. Pushing as hard as he could nearly took out the upper most rung with him on it but he finally managed to move the grate. Dragging himself out, he collapsed on the floor, panting. Once he caught his breath, he looked around. The entrance was indeed disguised as a well and was hidden in some sort of shack. One of the walls had collapsed and that's where the rising sunlight was coming in. Bushes and weeds surrounded the hole and puddles formed all over the floor from the rain a couple nights ago that had been shielded from the worst of the autumn heat.
He glanced down at himself as he stood up, grinning at his enlarged muscclllleeeessss.....
"What? Where are my muscles?" He screamed. Tearing into his back pack, he found the idol was indeed there. "Hey you! What gives?!" he shouted at the idol. He was about to throw it against the wall when he noticed the corner of another building through the hole in the wall. Glancing out, he found the shack the well was in was attached to the manor itself and the front gates were just visible at the very edge of what he could see. "I'm still in the manor! Of course! And I could have skipped all those stupid traps and puzzles by..." He glanced back at the grate and noticed the top was perfectly smooth. And wet to boot. Even had he known about this way in, there was no way he would have been able to open it from this side. "Oh well," he shrugged, "not that it matters now."
Beaming his perfect teeth, he stepped into the hole, careful not to cut himself. Taking a calming breath with the statue still in his hand, he stepped out onto the manor yard and officially stepped out of the manor. Alex looked down at the statue as it felt warmer in his hand. The golden idol glowed more intensely than the early morning sun should have allowed. He gaped at it as the glow slowly spread up onto his hand, elbow, shoulder, chest, other arm, down his legs, warming his entire body until he felt like he was on fire. He groaned as the heat entered into his aching muscles, soothing them.
He stood there, moaning as if he were in the best massage or shower of his life, relaxing all his muscles until his watch beeped again. He shook himself out of his stupor. "Crap! I need to get going!" He took one step and immediately stopped. Looking down, he laughed as he could see his pecs through his shirt. Sure, his shirt had shown off his pecs before, but it had still been kind of loose. Now he could could see the valley between them. His shoulders were also restricted and glancing at them showed Death Star delts like he'd been working towards for years. His bis and tris strained his sleeves and his pants felt ready to split at a moments notice if he wasn't careful.
And considering he was officially late, he didn't have time now to be careful. With his second wind thanks to the statue, he took off as fast as he could for home.