Many times in this great life of ours, we take things for granted. For instance, the smell of a rose, or the taste of frailly cooked meat. We never stop to think about what truely might happen if those things where suddenly ripped from us, like flesh from bone. I can tell you friend, I cherish these things more now then ever. But you see, it's only once you've lost everything you've had, that you see clearly and understand the mistakes that you've made. And all of this was brought on by a single death...

I suppose I should start from where it all began. The sun touched the earth as it rose, causing a warm glow upon the earth, and casting myserious shadows that withered and whaled at the presence of light. I awoke in the same bed I had been so used to sleeping in, the cold earth. I rubbed the tiredness away from my eyes and stood, stretching and yawning as I did so. the day started just as any other, I packed my things and put the embers of my once lively fire out.

But I could sense something. Something that was out of place. This day would not be like the others, and unbe know to me, it would change my life, forever. Once my things where packed, I began to walk, unaware of where I was going, but not caring. I had become a refugee ever since my village was destroyed al ittle under a year before. I had no home, no life, no familly. it had all been burned with the remnants and memories of my village.

In my wonderings I had seen many strange and wonderful things which I told tale of to villagers and childeren that played, in the towns I passed through, but on this day, I saw no village, no town. There was only a forest between me and my destination of nowhere. I shrugged lightly and sighed. "Well, I guess if I have to go through it, I may as well explore a bit."

I was not eager to enter the forest, for the sounds of the night, and even the day repeled me, but, this was the only way through, so I had to go. I walked slowly through the brisk morning air. The trees and bushes where woven neatly in the pathway, providing a since of encloser. Good or bad, I hadn't a clue.

The further I ventured, the more clumped and flourish the trees become, as if to attack me in some way. I scrapped my arm on a low hanging branch as I tried to pass underneath and cursed violently at it. It was only then that I noticed...

Just barely visable, was a cave, no more the 50 yards from me, the mouth of which taunted my to go in. I moved the branch aside to get a better look, and sure enough, my eyes had not decived me. The darkness of the cave was disturbing, as was the almost complete silence around me, for I heard nothing. This may not strike you as odd, but the normal bustle of the forest, while very low in tone, was always there. But in this forest, nothing sounded, not even a cricket.

My instinct told me to run from the forest and never return, but my curiosity led me to keep going. So I pulled a torch from my pack and light it. The dim glow casted shadows on the ground around me. I stepped down lightly into the cave, very warey of my surrounding, surveying everything closely. 

The first chasm was small. Relatively the size of a living room. Nothing but dust covering the walls an floors withen. It made my curiosity spike further, and I continued foreward. There was a large opening that lead to a tunnel, which seemed to continue deeper, down into the depths of even hell prehaps. I steadied my hand on my long sword, ready to draw it if the need arose. The tunnel seemed to go on forever until finally it opened to a very large chasm. At the center of which, the glow of the torch revealed a gastly pale white creature, bending over what seemed to be human remains. I heard the snapping of flesh, and the ominious sound of blood dripping.

I held my nose and contained myself well enough not to vomit from the smell of rotting flesh. I drew my sword and made for the creature, in an attemp to scare it off and help the man. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I yelled at the being, and it turned to me, gulping the small bits of flesh it had torn off, and as I drew my sword, it scampered off into the darkness that my torch did not touch.

I made a run from the man, kneeling by his side as I got to him. but I was far to late. he looked, and smelled as though he had been dead some time, and that the creature, or creatures or the cave, had gnawed him just about to the bone. I searched the corpse for anything useful, but found nothing, save a few gold peices, which I pocketed.

A noise came from behind me, a chattering. Of teath, or something else, and as I stood and raised the torch, two more of the thin, ghoulish creatures stood at the door. Only, I felt more. As I searched the cave walls around me, more, at least 15 to 20, where crawling down, perhaps waiting to get their fill of my flesh.

"Shit..." was the only thing I could think to say as I feebly lift my longsword and prepared to fight for my life...

To be continuous...