Chapter 2
In the Dark
Darkness, stillness, what is day? What is day but the opposite of night? What is light but the opposite of dark? What is life but the opposite of death? Darkness, stillness.
Lleu woke with a start. Where was he? He pulled himself up and looked around, although there was nothing to see but darkness. "Marie, Marie," Lleu yelled but there was no response, nothing, nothing but darkness. Lleu stumbled off in a direction, looking for the nearest wall, but there was nothing. Darkness, stillness.
Lleu continued to stumble in the dark, until he ran into a wall. Running his hand along it, he began walking. Darkness, stillness. Lleu fell to his knees. Crying he pounded his hand against the ground. "Where am I?" He questioned himself, "But, where is anything, but where it is? There is nothing here, nothing, but darkness, stillness."
Suddenly he heard a distant sound, instinctively he pushed himself against the wall, melding with the darkness, the stillness. Voices, voices were what he had heard, and they were moving closer. Straining his eyes, he could see a distant light.
Trotting along the corridor came five hulking figures, three of them carrying three separate forms. "Are we there yet? I'm tired of running through these stinkin' caves." "Shut-up!" the first figure replied, "Keep you're smelly mouth closed till we reach the main cave!" The shapes trotted by Lleu, holding their torches high. "Here we are!" the fifth figure yelled to the rest, "about time too, I'm getting hungry!"
Lleu slid along the side wall of a small passage, following the creatures. He skidded to a stop at the entrance to a massive cave, rounded at the top, with three stalactites hanging down from the ceiling, like a cheap chandelier. Lleu noticed that he was standing in one of three entrance ways to the cave.
Throwing their burdens to the ground the creatures headed off into one of the exit ways, where Lleu heard the sounds of an argument. Jumping into the main cave he picked up the torch of the careless creature that threw it aside and ran over to the lumps the creatures had been holding. Placing the torch to his side, he examined the three objects. Two of them were tightly wrapped, while the other was strangely loose. Unwrapping the third lump, he saw a face he knew well.
"Marie" Lleu whispered under his breath. Picking her up, he reached for the torch. Suddenly, shouts and the sounds of a brawl echoed out of the passageway the creatures went into. "You dirt eating scum, I outta run you through!" "Better try to catch me first eh, hehehe have a good time trying." "I outta rat on you Glorvat yah scumful idjit, how would Lashorn like to hear about this!" "Wait you! You scum you wouldn't dare tr..." The sound of something crashing jarred Lleu's memory. Turning towards the way he came from, Lleu started running towards the exit.
"Wait!" A shrill sound echoed in Lleu's ears, "Whater you doing runt!" Turning around, Lleu saw what the creatures were, and he knew the myths of them as well. He knew the ancient myths of the goblins, that they were once men, but had been thrown into a mine to work all their lives, that the men who died in the mines rose from the dead to haunt the ways they carved.
"Who are you" inquired the goblin searching Lleu with his eyes. He stopped staring, turned toward the tunnel, and yelled at the top of his voice, "INTRUDER! INTRUDER ALERT!"
With that Lleu was off, but in his confusion, he ran into the third tunnel. He fled along the dark passage ways of the tunnel, scraping himself along the walls. He heard the sounds of his pursuers behind him, and hefting the body of his sister, he ran for his life. Fear tore at him like a howling icy wind, and the weight of his sister seemed to continue to get heavier. Panting, he heard the sound of whooshing air, and ducked in time to avoid an arrow that whizzed above him. Horror struck upon Lleu, and he ran with the dead strength inside of him. Lleu knew he couldn't outrun the goblins, goblins are masters of the deep, and can speed through darkness like a horse, but he would try his best to live as long as he possibly could.
Finally, he tripped and he knew that his life had come to an end. As he fell, he waited for his face to hit stone. He braced for the impact but felt none for some seconds, then he hit the ground on his back. Sprawled out, he pushed himself up, wondering why he wasn't dead.
"Why you scum eating runt! Come on, move downwards, through the door passage!" Looking up he saw the light of the goblins torches fade. Lleu smiled, knowing he had fallen into a hole, and the goblins were too large to enter.
"Lleu?" a weak voice spoke to him, "are….you…..all right?"
"Marie? You're alive?" Lleu responded to his sister's weak voice, "I can't believe you're alive!" Smiling, Lleu lifted her to her feet.
Lleu looked around the room they fell into, on one side there was a doorway, on the other, was something very different. "What in the world?" Joining him, Marie looked at the odd object behind them. "What is it?" Marie wondered aloud. "I have no clue" Lleu replied. The object they stared at was a large open door beyond which lay billowing red clouds. The doorway was surrounded by skulls, bones, and altars. Red mist flooded from the door, and made a sheet of clouds over the ground. Atop the doorway sat a large red stone, which glowed brightly in the darkness.
Taking a step closer, Marie and Lleu stood near the entrance to the dark land beyond it. Placing his hand on the frame of the doorway, Lleu felt an ancient magic spiral up his arm and into his body. From that moment on, Lleu was transformed by the ancient magic.
"There ye be!" came a gruff voice from the entrance to the room, "Caught like a mouse in a trap!" As the goblin started toward them, taking out a mace, Marie grabbed onto Lleu's waist, and jumped backward, along with him, into the swirling red mist.