20 years ago,

Inside an old cottage near a lonely town in the woods, there lived a relatively well known family. The family consist of a man in his late 30s, and a boy no older than 7. The father was well known by the townsfolks as a lunatic, for he was claimed to have gone to another world by going through a cave.

Inside the living room, the father was sitting on a rocking chair, looking up at some of the treasures of gold, dragon skulls, as well as supposed ancient artifacts when his little boy walked over to him. This is the son named Adalbert Hammington.

Adalbert: Daddy?

The father looked at his son, and smiled.

Father: What is it, my son?

Adalbert smiled.

Adalbert: Can you tell me a story on how you got into that 'strange world' that you've been through?

The father looked at him with a briefly shocked look on his face, before smiling.

Father: Oh, I uh…didn't think you would take an interest in my story, boy.

Adalbert nodded with a cheery smile.

Adalbert: Oh course, daddy. It's so interesting!

The father chuckled as he took Adalbert and sat him down on his knees.

Father: Okay. Well, here we go. Long ago, when I was in my younger years, about 27 or so, I was out hunting in the woods near the kingdom of Corona.

*Flashback*

A younger version of the father was walking through the woods with a rifle on his hand, looking for some rabbits to feed himself for lunch. The forest he was in was dark, and having some rocks covered in moss sticking about.

Father*narrator*: I was a young boy, oh yes I was; out there hunting by myself to feed my wife…

As he looked around, he heard the sound of bush rustling. He then turned around and aimed his rifle at the bush, fearing that it may be a bear. However, a creature came out, and…it was a small bunny.

Father*narrator*: I was startled by a young rabbit. Of course, upon realizing what it was, I decided to shoot at it.

The young father sighed in relief just as the rabbit hopped away. The hunter then followed after the rabbit, wanting to kill it and take it home for food. He shot at it several times, but he missed each shot, and the rabbit went further and further away.

Father*narrator*: Of course, because of the ridiculously stupid accuracy of my musket, I ended up missing the stupid rabbit. It kept running and running away from me, and I thought I was gonna lose it. This rabbit was a lot smarter than all the other rabbits I've hunted…

The young father continued chasing this rabbit through the woods, hardly noticing where he was going.

Father*narrator*: I chased it, and chased it, and chased it…and chased it. I could barely tell where I was going, hehe…

Soon, the young father eventually approached a small waterfall, with a river streaming downwards beyond a pond. He looked at the waterfall, and smiled at such a beautiful sight. He then looked around for the rabbit, wanting to continue hunting for it. But unfortunately for him, there doesn't seem to be any signs of the rabbit. The young father widened his eyes, before he furrowed his eyebrows and went into a small fit.

Father*narrator*: Once I got to the waterfall, I lost the darn rabbit. I was upset of course, but then, I discovered IT, the cave to the new world…

The young father was fuming, and kicked a small rock, and it rolled through the grass and towards a layer of hanging vines. But then the rock went through the vines, and the young father saw this. He was taken aback a bit, before he stared at the vines. Now, curiosity hits him, and he slowly approached the vines.

Once he approached the vines, he took in a deep breath, got his musket ready and ran through the vines. What he saw was amazing; inside the cave…was a set of ancient ruins, lit up by candlefire. The young father widened his eyes in amazement, and walked further inside to explore some more.

Father*narrator*: I stumbled into some sort of ancient ruins from what must've been long ago.

The young father looked at the ruins, and saw various statues of creatures he'd never seen before.

Father*narrator*: The sculptures of various strange creatures, some tall, some small, and many…downright bizzare... But they weren't the most exciting part of my trip.

The young father walked further and further through the derelict buildings. Many of them have cracked tiles with water dripping downwards from the humid air in the cave, and said air seemed to be getting more and more humid the further he walked inside. As he walked about, he felt himself a bit wheezy, like the air is sort of becoming thinner, and it also appears to be getting hotter as well. But he pressed forward, his curiosity wanting him to investigate further. Soon, he approached a long bridge beneath a large chasm that seemed to go on down endlessly. He looked down, and upon seeing how far down he would have to go if he wanted to go down, he stepped back and sighed in fear.

Father*narrator*: There was a long bridge made out of stone built across the chasm, which seemed to go down endlessly. I even tossed a pebble down there.

The young father looked around and found a small pebble before picking it up, walked over to the chasm and threw it downwards towards the chasm. He waited for almost 3 minutes. Nothing…

Father*narrator*: I couldn't hear the pebble hitting the ground. And THAT worried me very much. Once I got through my fear, I crossed the bridge, and I came on about and saw something that I would never forget in my life.

The young father began crossing the bridge. There were no railings on the bridge, so he was very anxious about falling off. But before he knew it, he made it across, and saw some small light coming from a path that leads to an architectural archway, which was blocked by a rock. It was very large, about 75 feet tall and 60 feet wide, and the pathway was surrounded by another set of ruins, seeming to be similar to a small town. The young father was more curious about the strange light; why is there light in the middle of a cave? Had he reached the other side already?

Doubting it, he approached it curiously. Most of the archway was blocked by the boulder, and at first, it doesn't seem like there could be a way through. The young father inspected the boulder, and sighed to himself, a little bit disappointed at not going to explore what was behind this boulder.

Then, he looked at one end of the boulder, which had a small gap for him. It seemed big enough for him to squeeze through. With a sigh, he took in a breath and began to squeeze through the hole. It was a little bit difficult, but soon, he was able to squeeze through and he looked on ahead. Then, his eyes widened in shock.

What he saw…was a magnificent sight to behold; beyond where he was standing was a seemingly endless set of jungle, with tall trees and what appears to be strange, horselike creatures scurrying across the ground, terrified of the man's prescence. The young father was shocked to see another world living a couple miles from the surface.

Father*narrator*: There was this strange, new world down there…something I've never seen before. It was like a jungle, with strangle mammal like creature that were scared of me.

The young father looked on in sheer amazement of seeing such a beautiful sight. He then smiled as he began laughing.

Young Father: Hohohohooo! I've got to tell the others about this!

He was bouncing with excitement as he ran back into the cave, across the bridge, through the ruins and back into waterfall in the surface. He was so excited, that he had forgotten about why he was out there.

Soon, he made it back into town, and began to tell everyone about what he had seen. The people looked on at him, with confusion at what he was talking about. Then they just walked off, not believing his story in the slightest.

Father*narrator*: I ran back as fast as I could and told everyone. But they all looked at me, like I was crazy and had lost my mind. So they just ignored me, and I was then labeled as a 'crackpot'. *sigh*

*Flashback ended*

The father looked down in a bit of sadness as Adalbert looked at him in sympathy.

Adalbert: Daddy, why didn't they believe you?

The father looked back at him and sighed.

Father: Well, I didn't bring any proof of my claims, and people say "it's impossible" for a world to be in the underground.

Adalbert thought about it for a brief moment, then he looked at his father.

Adalbert: So daddy, what can I do to make people believe you?

The father looked at him with amusement in his eyes.

Father: Son, why are you asking this?

Adalbert looked at him with confidence.

Adalbert: Because not only will we have a new treasure in our living room, but the town will see you as a new hero. We'll have new land and make good use of it!

The father listened on, and chuckled at him proudly.

Father: Hahaha, well…when the time comes…what I need you to do…is bring me the head of that flying creature living down there. That'll be the PERFECT proof of my claim, son.

Adalbert looked at him with a confident smile.

Adalbert: Yes, daddy. I promise, when I grow up, I'll restore our family name to former glory!

Adalbert then hugged his father, who hugged him back proudly. Since then, Adalbert had a clear goal in his mind, and in addition to having a new treasure in their living room, they'll be recognized in a positive way to the villagers; there'll be new land for them, and new resources, food and water for the village. Things could work out after all…