Chapter 41: Of Diaries and Sins

I stumbled down the hole, into the Stronghold of Security.

It was almost exactly as I imagined it. Filthy, rocky black walls seemed to moan with pain. A rotting skeleton lay nearby, with a strange green book within it. Blood spattered the floor, and there was an orange portal nearby. Carved into it was, 'You may not enter this portal unless you have beaten the floor'.

"Beaten the floor?" I asked thin air, nonplussed, having vivid mental images of me smashing my fist into the floor, as people climbed down behind me. "What does it mean by that?"

"It means a lot of things," a voice said from the shadows. From them, a man came. He wore shiny, but very dirty and blood-spattered, white amour. He held a meat pie in his hand, which he was munching on vigorously. Osrie1 glared at him jealously from behind me. He had sludge-green eyes, and, as he took his helmet off, I saw black hair. This man looked rather young, but very tired.

"I am Sinlimitless1234," he said as-a-matter-of-factly. I tried to memorize the name. He laughed at my furrowed brow. "You know, to save your memory, just call me Sin." I sighed with relief. That was a shorter, easier name to remember.

"Well, to answer your question, the Stronghold of Security has four floors, which gets more difficult the further down you travel. Recently, some sort of darkness has taken over the whole thing. All the creatures are possessed, the gates won't open for you, and need to be forced open; corridors are collapsing, and even the final rewards for each floor have been meddled with. It will be a very dangerous and life-threatening trip through the stronghold; you'd better be fully prepared." I nodded. Sin smiled warmly. "I will accompany you-Saradomin knows I'm putting my life at risk, living in a place like this."

While Sin went to repeat what he just said to me to everyone else, I went towards the skeleton with the book inside. Cringing, I bent down to touch a rib, to crack it open so I could get the book. Just as my skin went in contact with the bone, the eye sockets of the skeleton were filled with red light, and it jumped up. The book clattered noisily inside it as it jumped up.

It screeched loudly at me, bones clanking. It lunged forwards. I dodged it, and struck the skull with my hammer. A small crack appeared, and the skeleton lost hit points. Mark sent a throwing axe flying at it, only for it to sent some ribs flying. Capablanca sent a massive, brown, cracked, gassy ball of energy at it, and it crumbled to dust.

I thanked him for his 'crumble of the undead', and knelt over to pick up the book. It was a vomit-coloured green, with a metal buckle keeping it shut. The lock was so rusty; it collapsed into a pile of brown dust when I touched it.

I turned the page, and on the very first page there was the title: The diary of an explorer. I stared, bewildered, at the title, and began to read.

Day 1

I was mining today in the village of the Barbarians. As I smashed my axe into a coal rock, the rock cracked open, crumbled to dust before my very eyes, and a small, thin black tunnel was visible, just the size for a man to squeeze through. The reason I was mining today was because I knew there was some sort of tunnel under here. That is why I made this diary; to record my findings.

As I finished reading the first entry, Sin went up to me.

"I knew that explorer," he said, sadly. "We were friends, years ago. He was famous for finding the Stronghold-he only wrote this entry for the day he found it. The next entries were written only a month or so ago.

Day 2-years later

I haven't been writing in this book for a while now, simply because I discovered a cave-which is now the famous Stronghold of Security. But, recently, strange things have been happening. People have gone in, and haven't come back out. I've packed my bags-I'm going in to re-explore the whole place.

I've now entered, and it is darker than the last time I was in here. Not only that, but the gates of security, which normally ask me questions, have turned some sort of red-and I have to now force my way through them. I have encountered thousands of possessed creatures-and I'm only on the first floor.

At last, I have reached the first reward-the gift of peace! It is amazing-light pours from every pore of this magnificent area-no monster, possessed of not, can enter without great suffering. Inside the gift of peace, there are rewards-they seem normal to me, not even close to meddled with. The only exception is that there seems to be half a skull inside. I decided to leave it there, and not to tamper with the unknown.

As I enter the second floor, I smell something rotten in the air-I fear for my life.

Day three

The gates seem to be made out of dust and filth. I am very concerned about what I will encounter. There are new beasts on this floor- creature called flesh crawlers. They were also, sadly, possessed. I fought through hoards of flesh crawlers, zombies, and spiders. I feel my health depleting after every second in this place. I am running low on food, and have been forced to eat the remains of the flesh crawlers. This isn't helping me one bit.

I have finally reached the grain of plenty! Inside, there are typical rewards, including what looks like half a staff carved from bone. I feed on the grain, and it fills me with food and joy. I fill my bag with the stuff, and go down to the third floor.

Day four

The moment I entered this floor, a large handful of green shit fell on my head. This place is disgusting-it smells something dreadful, and green tentacles emerging from the wall ooze green slime. My boots tramp through all this sludge-and huge, bull-like, green beasts attack me from all corners. They seem to be draining my health.

I was attacked earlier by a huge scorpion. I managed to fend the creature off, but I was severely damaged. I have eaten all my grain-it does no difference. I feel the scorpion's poison fill my body. I will die soon, I know it. I crawl back to the entrance through the green, sticky vine. Maybe the Barbarians will help me, if I make it. I am dying….

The rest of the pages are blank. Sin reads sadly over my shoulder.

"He only made it as far as here before he collapsed, and died," Sin said, sniffing. I put the diary back in its rightful place-the dust of a brave explorer.

Just as I turn around, I hear yells of "Die! Die! Die!" from the corridor. As I turn around, dozens of dark wizards came around the corner, hissing, and red-eyed rats at their feet. I grab Silverlight, preparing to fight to the death. Just as I run forward, I hear some sort of whooshing sound, like some sort of mechanical device starting up.