The creature is too big to fit in the cave if it tries to attack and you need to hide as soon as possible.
You make a run for it, gagging and stumbling the whole time. Eventually you do get to the cave. You don’t think the creature even saw you.
You continue to fumble around in the dark cave that you call home. You can still hear weird noises coming from outside and you’re desperate to drown them out as you feel like its doing something to your mind. In fact, you’re feeling a little deranged.
“WHAT?! WHAT?! UNDEAD WEREN’T ENOUGH?! NOW THIS?! HAHAHAHA! YOU CAN’T KILL ME! I’LL SURVIVE! I SURVIVE EVERYTHING! Who am I here? Who goes there?”
You look around the cave and start seeing the rocky walls transform into writhing masses of worms. You grab your sword and start hacking away, only to fall to the ground half laughing and half crying.
“You don’t understand…I’ve lost it all…(sob) why? WHERE ARE THE GODS? WHY HAVEN’T YOU STOPPED THIS?! DAMN YOU FUCKING ALL! Ha ha ha ha!”
You look into the small fire that lights your cave and see it change into a blue color. You begin to think you see faces in it.
“Randi? Is that you? I’m sorry…I could still save…”
You burn your hand badly when you shove it into the flames in some misguided attempt to save your sister who is not there. It’s at this point; you realize you’re losing your mind. You didn’t survive this long just to lose that. You start trying to block out the sounds, but it’s relentless.
And that’s when you see your mandolin on the floor nearby. Music. It always takes you to another place. A better place. You can’t play it right now with your burned hand, but your music is always with you. In your mind.
You begin to focus on one particular song in your head. You close your eyes think of yourself playing. The tune is nearly drowned out by the noise, but eventually the music gets louder and the creature’s noise is getting quieter, until finally that’s all you can hear.
You have no idea how long you do this for, but eventually you open your eyes again, and everything is normal. The walls are rock, the fire is red. Your hand still hurts, but it will heal.
You stay in the cave for days, unsure of what to make of all this. Ultimately you leave to explore cautiously, and everything outside seems normal as well. There is no sign that the creature was ever around. You don’t know if it moved on, disappeared, or what.
Did you go temporarily insane? Did all of this really happen? You do know you burned your hand, so you’re pretty sure it did on some level. In any event, you never want to encounter anything like that ever again. Death almost seems preferable than complete madness.
You’re still shaken up by the experience for months to come but eventually you get over it. Just like you have with every other hardship you’ve faced.
Twenty years pass…
Forty years have passed and you feel death closer than ever. Old age has been taking its toll and while you’re somewhat fit for your age you can’t stop the ravages of time.
Still, it’s not just that. It’s the world in general. The place has slowly become a dead world, quite literally from what you’ve seen during your travels.
Eventually you abandoned your cave in the mountain when the dead began to congregate in the area. The dwarven settlement was probably attacked. You don’t know, you didn’t stick around. You continued to stay on the move.
After a few years of wandering, you noticed dead trees. Not unusual in the lands of the Great Lich Lord, but you were sticking to places at least on the outskirts of his domain. But it didn’t seem to matter. His influence was obviously extending. The magic in your amulet no longer works, and you briefly thought of the pixies. You know they didn’t survive.
Soon grass was no longer growing. Hunting was becoming scarce. Animals were dying out. It almost reminded you of when the farm was going through a rough patch, but this time there would be no recovery. You walked along another shoreline and saw fish and other sea creatures washed up dead in massive quantities.
You’ve had to fight undead monsters at almost every turn, always having to stay one step ahead before you’re overwhelmed.
Even the air itself feels like it’s harder to breathe no matter where you go.
Right now you’re very far north, where nothing ever existed save ice and snow. You’re living in yet another cave, but you’re pretty sure this one is going to be your tomb. You haven’t eaten in days, as you haven’t spotted a living creature in days. You haven’t seen another intelligent living creature in years.
It’s very cold, and all you want to do is sleep now. You think you might have one or two more days left tops.
However, you’re not allowed to leave just yet…
While you’re drifting in and out of consciousness in your weakened state, you suddenly see a dark hooded figure by the fire. You know who it is.
“So…you’ve come for me personally? I didn’t think I was important enough.” you ask.
“You aren’t really. Let’s just say that I have a lot of free time and with less and less living now, I take a more personal approach whenever I can. Besides, given how remote this place is, I doubt if any of my necromancers could’ve found you anyway. That is if I hadn’t killed them all.”
The Great Lich Lord’s voice doesn’t sound anything like you thought it might. It’s actually not very scary at all. Almost calm.
“Heh. I killed a necromancer once…” you say.
“You have my thanks then, one less treacherous fool that I didn’t have to deal with.”
“You didn’t really need to come all this way you know, I think I was dying before you got here.”
At this point the Great Lich Lord begins walking around your cave looking at your meager possessions. He immediately notices your very worn mandolin and picks it up.
“Please feel free to take it. I won’t be needing it anymore.” You say.
“Not sure what I’d do with it. I’m not musically inclined at all. I’m pretty much only good at killing things as you can tell.”
“Yeah, you’re great at that.”
“My mistress Catalina likes music though; perhaps she might find it interesting. This looks very old, where did you get it?”
“Oh in a town that the demons destroyed when they lost their leader Velzix.”
“Hah. Demons. I think everyone was glad when I got rid of those assholes.” The Great Lich Lord remarks.
“That thing probably saved my life when I found it. Some weird ass vampire called Warnov wanted me to play for him. Said you were after him or something…”
“Yes. Vampires weren’t my favorite people. Arrogant creatures. Well they’re dead now. Excuse me, but did you say Warnov?”
“That was his name. Yes.”
The Great Lich Lord is silent for a moment and then speaks again.
“I know who you are. I can’t believe it’s you, but I know who you are. I remember before I tracked down and killed old Warnov, he stated that he was glad he heard you play before he died. He also said that if I ever encountered you that I should insist that you play for me before I killed you. Something about your playing being beautiful or something. You also served in the Zalan Empire army. Weren’t you supposed to be a hero or something?”
You laugh weakly.
“Mostly or something.” You reply.
“Hm. I wonder if you ever met…” the Great Lich Lord then pauses for a moment. “…nevermind. It’s the past and that no longer matters. So can you still play this thing?”
“Well of course, but…”
“Good. We’re leaving this place then, got a job for you.”
Before you can speak another word, you feel yourself teleported.
You make a run for it, gagging and stumbling the whole time. Eventually you do get to the cave. You don’t think the creature even saw you.
You continue to fumble around in the dark cave that you call home. You can still hear weird noises coming from outside and you’re desperate to drown them out as you feel like its doing something to your mind. In fact, you’re feeling a little deranged.
“WHAT?! WHAT?! UNDEAD WEREN’T ENOUGH?! NOW THIS?! HAHAHAHA! YOU CAN’T KILL ME! I’LL SURVIVE! I SURVIVE EVERYTHING! Who am I here? Who goes there?”
You look around the cave and start seeing the rocky walls transform into writhing masses of worms. You grab your sword and start hacking away, only to fall to the ground half laughing and half crying.
“You don’t understand…I’ve lost it all…(sob) why? WHERE ARE THE GODS? WHY HAVEN’T YOU STOPPED THIS?! DAMN YOU FUCKING ALL! Ha ha ha ha!”
You look into the small fire that lights your cave and see it change into a blue color. You begin to think you see faces in it.
“Randi? Is that you? I’m sorry…I could still save…”
You burn your hand badly when you shove it into the flames in some misguided attempt to save your sister who is not there. It’s at this point; you realize you’re losing your mind. You didn’t survive this long just to lose that. You start trying to block out the sounds, but it’s relentless.
And that’s when you see your mandolin on the floor nearby. Music. It always takes you to another place. A better place. You can’t play it right now with your burned hand, but your music is always with you. In your mind.
You begin to focus on one particular song in your head. You close your eyes think of yourself playing. The tune is nearly drowned out by the noise, but eventually the music gets louder and the creature’s noise is getting quieter, until finally that’s all you can hear.
You have no idea how long you do this for, but eventually you open your eyes again, and everything is normal. The walls are rock, the fire is red. Your hand still hurts, but it will heal.
You stay in the cave for days, unsure of what to make of all this. Ultimately you leave to explore cautiously, and everything outside seems normal as well. There is no sign that the creature was ever around. You don’t know if it moved on, disappeared, or what.
Did you go temporarily insane? Did all of this really happen? You do know you burned your hand, so you’re pretty sure it did on some level. In any event, you never want to encounter anything like that ever again. Death almost seems preferable than complete madness.
You’re still shaken up by the experience for months to come but eventually you get over it. Just like you have with every other hardship you’ve faced.
Twenty years pass…
Forty years have passed and you feel death closer than ever. Old age has been taking its toll and while you’re somewhat fit for your age you can’t stop the ravages of time.
Still, it’s not just that. It’s the world in general. The place has slowly become a dead world, quite literally from what you’ve seen during your travels.
Eventually you abandoned your cave in the mountain when the dead began to congregate in the area. The dwarven settlement was probably attacked. You don’t know, you didn’t stick around. You continued to stay on the move.
After a few years of wandering, you noticed dead trees. Not unusual in the lands of the Great Lich Lord, but you were sticking to places at least on the outskirts of his domain. But it didn’t seem to matter. His influence was obviously extending. The magic in your amulet no longer works, and you briefly thought of the pixies. You know they didn’t survive.
Soon grass was no longer growing. Hunting was becoming scarce. Animals were dying out. It almost reminded you of when the farm was going through a rough patch, but this time there would be no recovery. You walked along another shoreline and saw fish and other sea creatures washed up dead in massive quantities.
You’ve had to fight undead monsters at almost every turn, always having to stay one step ahead before you’re overwhelmed.
Even the air itself feels like it’s harder to breathe no matter where you go.
Right now you’re very far north, where nothing ever existed save ice and snow. You’re living in yet another cave, but you’re pretty sure this one is going to be your tomb. You haven’t eaten in days, as you haven’t spotted a living creature in days. You haven’t seen another intelligent living creature in years.
It’s very cold, and all you want to do is sleep now. You think you might have one or two more days left tops.
However, you’re not allowed to leave just yet…
While you’re drifting in and out of consciousness in your weakened state, you suddenly see a dark hooded figure by the fire. You know who it is.
“So…you’ve come for me personally? I didn’t think I was important enough.” you ask.
“You aren’t really. Let’s just say that I have a lot of free time and with less and less living now, I take a more personal approach whenever I can. Besides, given how remote this place is, I doubt if any of my necromancers could’ve found you anyway. That is if I hadn’t killed them all.”
The Great Lich Lord’s voice doesn’t sound anything like you thought it might. It’s actually not very scary at all. Almost calm.
“Heh. I killed a necromancer once…” you say.
“You have my thanks then, one less treacherous fool that I didn’t have to deal with.”
“You didn’t really need to come all this way you know, I think I was dying before you got here.”
At this point the Great Lich Lord begins walking around your cave looking at your meager possessions. He immediately notices your very worn mandolin and picks it up.
“Please feel free to take it. I won’t be needing it anymore.” You say.
“Not sure what I’d do with it. I’m not musically inclined at all. I’m pretty much only good at killing things as you can tell.”
“Yeah, you’re great at that.”
“My mistress Catalina likes music though; perhaps she might find it interesting. This looks very old, where did you get it?”
“Oh in a town that the demons destroyed when they lost their leader Velzix.”
“Hah. Demons. I think everyone was glad when I got rid of those assholes.” The Great Lich Lord remarks.
“That thing probably saved my life when I found it. Some weird ass vampire called Warnov wanted me to play for him. Said you were after him or something…”
“Yes. Vampires weren’t my favorite people. Arrogant creatures. Well they’re dead now. Excuse me, but did you say Warnov?”
“That was his name. Yes.”
The Great Lich Lord is silent for a moment and then speaks again.
“I know who you are. I can’t believe it’s you, but I know who you are. I remember before I tracked down and killed old Warnov, he stated that he was glad he heard you play before he died. He also said that if I ever encountered you that I should insist that you play for me before I killed you. Something about your playing being beautiful or something. You also served in the Zalan Empire army. Weren’t you supposed to be a hero or something?”
You laugh weakly.
“Mostly or something.” You reply.
“Hm. I wonder if you ever met…” the Great Lich Lord then pauses for a moment. “…nevermind. It’s the past and that no longer matters. So can you still play this thing?”
“Well of course, but…”
“Good. We’re leaving this place then, got a job for you.”
Before you can speak another word, you feel yourself teleported.
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- ID: 56085
- Nickname: runcave
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