Born in Darkness

Torben paused at the sight of the hideous creature limping his way towards him. His heart hurt, although only a moment before the anger surged and perception became a blur. He charged the creature with full force, swinging his blade. The first swing missed completely, as Torben swung too early, not nearly close enough to strike his adversary. His second swing connected, slicing deeply into the creature’s neck, sending it to the floor. The next several swings came from desperation as Torben chopped into the flesh of the fallen creature. His second blow ended the creature, yet it took five or six swings for Torben to realize he had emerged victorious.

His heart felt on fire, the corridor seemed to spin around his head. He felt as if he came up from the depths of deep waters as he gasped for breath. He couldn’t remember if he breathed at all during the battle. Every nerve in his body trembled. His legs shook, his fingers quivered, yet Torben still grasped his dark blade in an iron clutch.

His heavy breathing turned into a cough. The cough caused him to dry heave several times as he tried to calm himself down. The torch had fallen by the wayside, luckily still lit, providing much needed light. Torben still felt like vomiting but started regaining his senses.
“I’m alright. I survived. I… won.” Engulfed in his emotions, he didn’t even fully know what he attacked.

Torben examined the fallen creature, poking it with his sword, ensuring its lifelessness. Though clearly dragon, it had a humanoid form, something he had never seen before. Its back looked contorted and twisted into a hump, with spikes protruding along its spine. Small wings that looked like tiny arms grew out of its back. The creature’s upper arms, in contrast, looked very large and humanoid for a dragon. The arms looked strange and mutated, with several of the fingers fused together. Its head and face looked dragon, although snarled, weathered, and deformed. It had random and oddly placed horn growth along its head and back. The creature truly looked like a being born in darkness.

Torben wondered for a moment if it was the same voice in the dark that talked to him. Although the closer he looked, this creature appeared horribly mutated, and unwell. Torben’s instinct told him the dragon lacked any intellectual ability. The creature also didn’t put up much of a fight. It may have been injured to begin with. It didn’t seem to have the same confidence as the creature that had talked to him before.

Muffled noises reverberated above.

Torben looked up. He heard movement in the distance. He held still, looking up toward the noises. Then he heard movement again. It could be the creature that followed him, the voice in the darkness. Once again, he felt the initial reaction to find a place to hide. Then he looked down at the slain dragon creature, then at his sword.

“No more. No more running.”

Torben’s mind surged with anger. He lived in nothing but darkness since falling into this dungeon of a valley. He stared at the fallen creature.

“If it’s darkness they want, it’s darkness they’ll get.”

He grasped his dark blade, picked up his torch, and ran into the dark tunnel.

Torben followed the noises through the corridors, crawling through cracks in the walls, doing whatever he could to draw closer to the noises he heard. He knew and accepted that the noises most likely came from a horde of hideous creatures of the valley. But he also dreamed of finding his friends. He imagined they made the noises as they ran into some of the same creatures that Torben did and are fighting for their lives. Torben dreamed of showing up at the last minute, sword in hand, fighting for their escape. They would be so surprised to see him like that. He smiled, dreaming of what might happen next as he climbed through narrow corridors and crevasses of the valley.

                  Torben could tell he drew closer. He could feel the rumblings growing louder and louder with one large sounding crash. He wondered what he heard. A collapse? Another cursed monster of Myrr? In either case, he had to find out if his friends needed help. They could be in danger, and he could come to their rescue. Torben’s eyes lit up with excitement, imagining the glory of such an adventure.

As he drew closer and closer to the rumblings and vibrations, they grew silent. He continued in the same direction, hoping for any additional noises, although nothing indicated life or movement. Only the occasional creepy ambience of the valley. He also grew concerned about the lack of decent passageways. At some points, he had to crawl through the cracks of giant rubble piles just to move forward, making several desperate leaps over open chasms in order to climb through. He wondered if the noises died out, or he somehow traveled too far past them.

Exhausted, he stopped to rest.

                  As he pondered the next steps he would take, he gazed at the flames bouncing off the rocks. Then he noticed a faint glow coming from some cracks below him. He crawled over to the opening in the rocks; he cupped his eyes to block out his torch light. Light emanated from below.

                  Finally! Signs of additional life. Good or bad, he was ready to face it.

                  Torben grabbed his torch and shimmied through the cracks crawling downward, and dropped into a small yet well-built passageway. Light glowed from several openings along the passageway. Torben approached the opening. It overlooked a much larger cavern. Torben stepped up to the edge.

                  His stomach dropped.

                  Jonas and Yerik!