Chapter 41: Place under the rock
They walked down on a long staircase. Catherine made a small ball of light that followed them around and lit up the place. The stairs ended into a circle shaped cave that went on left and right as well. On the other side of the cave there was an other staircase. Joseph looked around in the place.
"This place is weird."
He touched the wall. It had a smooth surface.
"It seems like this was made with magic or something. I can't imagine anyone making it this smooth with pickaxes."
Catherine touched it as well.
"You might be right. Let's head even deeper."
They continued on the other side and went on downwards. After a few minutes they reached an open room. It had doors on the sides and a table with candles and other stuffs on top of it. The whole place was dusty and decreped.
"This seems like an oltar to something. Also these rooms might be the places people lived at. Joseph open one of the doors."
"Okey!"
He walked to the first door on the right. As he tried to open the door, it fell down as the hinges let go. Joseph dodged it and the door felt to the ground in pieces.
"It seems like noone has been here for a few years at least."
Catherine walked to the oltar while Joseph looked into the room. There was only a bed and a desk with a chair in the room. It seemed like it wasn't used for anything else, then sleeping. The desk was empty as well.
"I have found nothing. What about you Catherine?"
As Joseph looked out of the door he saw as she was reading a book. As he walked closer he saw that the book was from the oltar. The outline of it was on the table.
"It is an enchanced book. Anyone made it, knew what they were doing. It speaks about experiments, but I need time to read it. Meanwhile you can look around."
"Alright then. I'll be back."
The other rooms were just as the first one, except for the one on the far left. It had a table with some plates. It looked like a dinning room.
"There is nothing worthwhile here."
She stopped reading already and was waiting for Joseph.
"This book is speaking about some people worshipping a "god". They raised a creature as the instructions said in the beginning of this book and the creature eat them. For some reason they liked the idea. It says that they got close to this god by getting eaten. This book makes no sense."
"Really? Then this place is useless?"
"Not fully. The creature they raised was a giant worm. Apparently that made the big cave above us."
"That is a big worm. I hope it's not around."
"It shouldn't be. This book was written at least a few decades ago."
They started to climb back on the stairs. Joseph was still wondering about it.
"Do you think this thing is the reason that people have gone missing?"
"I think so. Also there might be more than one of that thing by now. Who knows. I think it's best if we avoid this place and let the towns near by known about this."
"I think you are right. It is too dangerous."
As they left the underground they looked back at the place they were travelling from. Joseph sighed.
"We have to take a big route around."
"It's better then trying to fight these things."
"True... True..."
They climbed down to the base of the mountain and started to walk around it. It took them a week to get around. On the otherside was a forest. In the middle of it was an elven village. They headed that way.
"This place feels nostalgic."
"It's just a regular forest. There is nothing strange about it. It has some magical energy scattered around the trees."
"I didn't mean it like that."
The sun was going down just before they spotted the village. The houses looked like the ones in Elfheim. The people inside were friendly and welcomed them without a problem. They headed to the inn called Wrinkled Leaf. The bartender looked like the name of the place. He was a really old elf with wrinkles all over his face and white hair. Joseph walked up to him.
"Good day to you sir!"
"Welcome! Welcome! What can I get for you my friend?"
"I want some ale and my friend here would like some of your finest wine."
"That I can help you with."
He poured it out for them.
"So what bring you hear in these weird times?"
"We are just travelling through. We wanted to cross the mountain, but changed our minds after hearing all the stories and finding some strange place on the base of the mountain."
"Strange place? I would like to hear about it."
They told him what they found there.
"Those damn worms? I thought we killed the last one of them hundreds of years ago! Yet there is still one left?"
He drank a shot.
"Seems like there is a big problem. Best if you go and report to Helen. She is the leader of this village. You can find her if you go to the middle of this village. Though I would wait until the morning if I were you. Going there in the night would be really rude."
"Then we would like to rent two rooms."
"Alright."
They went to their rooms to sleep after a few more hours of chatting.
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