A Fire in the Dark

After searching the room, he found a collection of materials to start a fire. Based on how they felt, he believed he found several pieces of rope, various cloth-like materials, and wood fragments from what at one point seemed to be furniture. He cut the section of rope, unraveling it into a loose ball of very thin fibers, ideal for catching sparks. He gathered them together, skimming his dark blade across a piece of stone in the middle of the pile. Sparks flew. Torben’s heart leapt with excitement.

After what seemed like ages of failure, a spark finally landed on the dried tinder. He blew on the ember as it surged with burning light, birthing a small flame!

Fire!

His face glowed with excitement as he placed the collected materials on top of the flame as it grew. The light expanded his perception of the environment. Torben looked around the room. He could tell he sat in a collapsed building, buried deep underground. It looked like the interior of a majestic and extremely large super structure.

“What happened here?” He thought to himself.

As he observed every aspect of the room, he understood the nature of the valley. Nooks and gaps in the collapsed debris created potential tunnels, entrances, or escapes. Travel could venture up, down, forward, or backward, left or right. He realized the ample opportunity to climb his way out. It also explained the many opportunities he had to fall.

Torben looked back at his fire, realizing he could finally see his dark blade. He held the sword, glinting the fire-light off the blade, amazed at the craftmanship of such a wondrous sword. He noticed the metal of the blade looked to be a darker alloy, fitting for the nickname he already gave it. It looked to be in pristine condition, other than the collected dirt still lodged in the fine details of the sword. Torben felt a swell of emotion. How did he ever have the luck to find a sword such as this? Still sharp. Good things just don’t happen to Torben. He felt like destiny had finally gifted him with something great.

Torben looked back at his fire. He had shelter, light, and warmth. He could wait there securely until his friends found him. Then the thought came back to him, “What would Ella do?” He pushed the thought aside, knowing exactly what Ella would do, knowing how it terrified him to consider such action. Again, the thought pierced his mind, “What would Ella do?” He looked at his immediate surroundings, then out to the darkness not illuminated by the fire, and then back to his found sword. He knew what he had to do, even though the fear cut to the core of his soul.

With the aid of his firelight, Torben found sufficient materials to construct a torch, collecting plenty of additional material to keep it lit. Torben gazed into the embers of his fire, and then at his torch, took a deep breath, and with his torch in one hand, sword in the other, he ventured into the darkness.

The collapsed buildings proved challenging to navigate. Torben crawled through narrow clusters of collapsed walls, allowing just enough space through the cracks and crevasses for him to climb through. He believed if he traveled farther down, and through narrow holes in the ruins, the voice in the darkness could not find him. After some serious worry about getting trapped, Torben finally found a decent tunnel that made travel much easier. He continued to descend farther, looking for an alternate route to the surface.

Then the tunnel opened, leading to a much wider open cavernous room. Torben noticed an altar sitting in the middle. He listened for any movement, yet the room held silent other than the flicker of his torch. As he stepped in closer, he saw what looked to be a sword sheathed on the random altar. Curious by the find, he approached the altar. It was a sword! A sword sat sheathed in the strange looking carved sepulcher. As he looked over the interesting workmanship, he saw a massive, damaged spear mounted in the middle of the altar with the sword to one side. The altar held a variety of inscriptions that he didn’t understand with a large, damaged center piece that looked to be broken off. Torben’s attention drew directly to the sword.

He set down his dark blade, then pulled the sheathed sword out of its resting place. The sword seemed to have a pearlescence sheen to it. Very well built with intricate workmanship. Torben looked over the fascinating relic. The luck of not only finding one sword, but two in this dismal dungeon of a valley fueled the hope within Torben.

“This is an amazing sword.”

Torben checked the scabbard of his missing sword. Since he couldn’t fit the dark blade in his scabbard, he figured he should bring a backup weapon in case something happened to his current weapon. The sword barely fit. It felt tight, although he was able to wedge the sword into his scabbard and lock it into place with his leather straps to ensure it would be secure for the rest of his journey.

Torben picked up the dark blade, waving his torch around the room to see if there would be any other useful finds. He noticed the many inscriptions on the walls but found nothing of interest, no further weapons or useful tools. Torben checked the security of his second found sword. He ventured into a nearby tunnel.

While traveling through the tunnels and climbing through various rooms, he ascended upward. He found a comfort in the calm stillness of the depths of the Valley. Normally, a silence would be disturbing in such a dark world, although Torben found peace feeling far away from anything living. The lengthy travel gave Torben time to think about his predicament. The fear of being trapped, but also the opportunity to become the heroic Torben he dreamed to be. He grasped his dark blade all the tighter.

“Now is the time for Torben to shine,” he said to himself. “Now is the time to be heroic!”

Torben’s mind surged with a sense of newfound energy and determination. As he continued to ascend, he heard more noises of movement. He figured he drew closer and closer to living things. It also meant he may get closer to finding Ella and the other girls. His mind played out his wildest daydreams of finding the girls and safely escorting them back to the surface. He would be their hero!

Then, rounding a corner of a corridor, Torben heard something. He froze and listened. Something moved in the darkness. Was it the voice he heard before? His torch! The light would surely attract whatever came his way. He had to douse the torch. He reached out his arm to drop it on the ground, and kick out the flames but stopped.

“What am I doing? What am I doing?”

Then he heard the noise again, a growling, purring breath. His intuition told him to run. Torben shook his head. He was tired of being afraid. Tired of running, tired of hiding. Even though he knew he could be strong and brave, he felt like nobody ever saw that side of him. They only focus on his failures because nobody would ever believe he can accomplish great things. His mind raced as he thought about being all alone. None of his friends were there for him. He wondered if they even came looking for him.

The more his doubts flooded his mind, the angrier he became. Nobody believes in him. They only expect him to mess things up. Nobody believes he’s capable of heroism. He is only the son of a simple farmer. Torben’s eyes furrowed as he imagined what others thought of him.

“That’s not me!” Torben mumbled to himself, as if to argue against the voices in his head.

In a rush of angry passion, Torben reacted out of what he could only comprehend as an out-of-body experience. He clutched his torch and his sword and brazenly walked headstrong to face the noise he heard.

Torben rounded the corner, his stomach dropped. A large grotesque dragon looking creature limped towards him.