We survived the Dragons, the Goblins, even the Orcs feared our home in the cliffs. No, it was not these known forces of evil which ended the lives of all but myself, that leave me trapped alone, forced to choose between a painful but quick and certain death and praying for rescue whilst slowly starving into nothingness.
We knew the tales, the ancient legends, but when our miners found the vein of precious Adamantine, greed, pure and simple greed overcame us, and we followed it, we dug out that metal straight into the hearts of the mountains, and we became richer because of it.
Then we broke into the chamber. Words cannot describe the horrors within that strange pocket of space in what should be solid stone. Rotten and rotting corpses strewn everywhere, chained to the walls and to the floors, their faces contorted in such a horrific fashion one of the two miners who found the pit died of a heart attack, the other began babbling uncontrollably. Or maybe it was the images engraved on the walls of that place, crude carvings that betray the imagination to the worst thoughts. I'm still not ruling out that they might have seen something much worse though, for they had strong minds and I retained my sanity from the sight, or at least I believe I did. Whatever they witnessed, it destroyed their minds.
We soon sealed the chamber back up, and tried to forget about the horrors within. Not long after the final sealing stone was placed, screams began to fill the halls leading to that wall, sounds of howling pain crept up our spines. By the gods they were horrible, it sounded as if children were in pain, were calling out for us to help them from through the walls. A head-count of the fortresses many residents revealed all children were accounted for. The living can't scream like that...
Seal after seal, wall after wall was built, we collapsed and abandoned halls, trying to block out that sound. We failed, time after time, every night the calls for help grew louder and louder, until the government decreed enough was enough. We should have abandoned, have left our homes and belongings, that would have been the safe and sane action, but we had all been half-maddened by the terrors of that place, and instead it was decreed we would put down whatever foul spirits dwelled within.
The entire army, one hundred soldiers strong, gathered as the miners tore their ways towards that den of demons. Each dwarf was afraid, but ready to give their lives to end the terror. And give their lives they did, the instant the chamber was re-opened, the cries could be heard, the cries of dying warriors. The evil inside claimed the life of every dwarf present, and it wasn't satisfied their. No, it carried on killing, spread like a wild fire throughout the fortress, unnameable horrors slaying at will. I managed to escape the initial carnage, and lock myself in this small chamber. It is well reinforced, but I can hear them trying to break through to me even now, and I know they are getting closer.
Help cannot come, no army could defeat that which threatens my life and ended those of my friends, my lover, my children. I shall join them all soon in the halls of our ancestors. Should these writings find their way into some mortal being's hands, then take this as a warning.
A warning of the horrors of the pits, and of the dangers of delving too greedily, and too deep.
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The End...
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Topic: [Short Story] Dangers of the Deep (Read 1121 times)