The explorer rushed through the cavern, terror in his mind and evident in his body through his pounding heart and copious perspiration. He was doomed, he just knew it. They never should have come to this accursed place, full of darkness.

Hiding behind a rock he found, he didn't dare peek his head around the corner, he just carefully lowered his body and curled up, cowering as he resisted the urge to rock back and forth where he sat while trying to control his breathing.

An ominous groan filled the air, along with that terrible, terrible rattle. The dim torches the explorer had left behind them as he entered the old ruins faded and went dark yet again, along with the dim light of the pale blue glow of the growths along the ground and walls. The air was thick with a sweet scent, which was darkly ironic considering the nature of the growths producing the scent.

A loud pounding rang in his ears; he couldn't tell if it was his own heart, or that of the beast following them. The sound seemed to come from every direction at once, and it was overwhelming, but at least the fear was paralyzing and keeping them quiet. He just needed to stay quiet, that's all. If he could just stay quiet, it would all go away, and he could escape, never to return. Nothing here could ever be worth it, his friends lives were worth more than any riches or historical artifacts, or any ancient magics to be found here, and as evidenced by the horrid corruption coating the walls and the thing chasing them, there certainly was magic here.

The beast didn't appear to agree that their lives were worth more than these secrets though, judging by the way it casually crushed their steel plated armor and bodies in one fell strike, as if they were made of straw. It was horrifying to witness just how easily they were turned into red mush, or how even when one of them got a lucky strike and buried an axe into its eyeless head, it simply ignored the intrusion of metal. Even the undead couldn't survive such a blow, yet this monstrosity was able to shrug off having its head split open?

There was that rattle again, and the creature stepped out in front of the rock, with a reverberating groan echoing into the cavern, as its heavy foot cracked the stone underfoot. What was it hearing? It hadn't turned its head towards the explorer, so it must have been something else that set it off.

Then again, perhaps it was them and it just didn't trust the sound; he observed pretty quickly that the creature was blind, so as he ran, naturally he tried to distract it by scattering stones in every direction other than where he was going, but it seemed to be intelligent enough to know that some sounds were false leads.

Thumping, again, then uncanny silence. He didn't dare let out the sigh of relief he wanted to release as it began to wander back where it came from, away from him.

He waited several minutes, straining his ears to try and hear if it was still about. Hearing nothing, he finally started to make his way out again, carefully this time, in order to avoid awakening the warden of this raisin-scented tomb again. It wasn't much further to get back to the normal caves, where the worst he'd encounter is creepers!

But in the darkness, he failed to see a small hole in the ground, and lost his footing, falling down into an even deeper pit that he had seen and would have avoided had he not tripped. He broke his leg on the impact, but he didn't scream with the pain, as he knew it would only endanger him more. But alas, his brave silence was all for nought; the rattling blue tendrils sticking out of the ground were quick to notice the sudden vibration of his impact, and a nearby set of bony jaws protruding from the ground let out an unearthly shriek.

How could this have happened? Why didn't I see that?! He wondered desperately as his breathing hastened and became shallow, watching and listening to the beast crawl out of a glowing, shadow-coated wall. He tried to stay silent, but it was no use; he couldn't move away, and the monster was coming over to investigate the place he had fallen, sniffing the air as it did so.

I'm going to die, he thought as tears flowed down his face, and the beast lifted him into the air by his shirt. It roared in his face as he began to hyperventilate, and its other fist flew towards his head.


He awoke with a jolt and yell, clutching his chest and hyperventilating. He realized it was just a terrible dream formed from terrible memories; he was safe.

He wrung his head in his palms and loudly sobbed, screaming again as loud as his lungs and throat could muster. He was safe, and oh how good it felt to be able to scream.