He found it… Months of painstaking searching, learning, spying, and disappointment. Now it was just before him… Smaller than he expected, the chest’s wet surface gleamed from the light leaking in and from his torch’s fiery glow. The cave walls were still soaked from the recent tide recession. Getting down to the cave from the cliffs above was no easy task… yet it seemed to Zio to have been the simplest and least dangerous part of his quest. The sword at the bear’s hip had more than played its part in the red-haired bear’s journey.

Zio’s blue eyes shown and a smile crept across his muzzle. Could it be true? What if it was all wrong? What if this was merely another lost chest from an ill-fated voyage. But everything he had done lead him here… part by chance… part from fate… but yet he knew… he knew, in his heart, the legend was real. He hoped against hope and the thrill of finally reaching his goal welled up within him, just as the tide would soon well within this cave.

He reached his paw with the key toward the wooden chest. The only question that remains to be answered… “What is in the chest?”

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Incredible artwork by  Zestibone

Cannot even describe how awed I am at the fantastic work and brilliant lighting! He captured it perfectly!