After a few minutes, the boat hit a rock. Half the
orcs flew off. Shade and I were hanging
on to Thunder Maul's beard while he stuck his hammer
in the deck and desperately tried to
hold all three of us. He was not very successful and a
few seconds later we all got thrown
off. We landed safely on the shores of an island and
watched the ship flip on to its side and
continued to burn. We got up and walked towards the
center of the isle. A great forest
could be seen in front of us. But all the trees seemed
to be dead.
"I wonder how far up north we are" Shade asked.
"Donna worry yer little head off, Thunder Maul will
find a way out. If there's something
dwarves are known for, it's their sense of direction.
In fact, my own grandfather used to be
a great explorer, and was present when 4 of the great
citadels were built. He was a man of
character and..."
"You don't have the slightest clue as to where we are,
do you?" I interrupted.
"No." The dwarf bowed his head.
Shade looked terrified.
"What's wrong?"
"The trees, I cannot feel them."
"What do you mean?"
"You elves are a strange folk"
"I talk to trees all the time. They are wise. But
these, they won't answer."
"Silly elf, they're dead"
"They're trees dwarf. They never really die. they just
sleep until they turn to dust and the
wind spirit takes them into itself"
I gave the dwarf a
menacing look then put my arm
around Shade.
"Maybe you had a special connection with the trees in
Silvermyr."
"No, all trees can talk to me!!!!"
She started crying and I could not comfort her. The
dwarf looked bored.
"I wonder if they have any ale on this island. Hold
yer tears woman, ye may be an elf, but
yer brave enough. Let's start moving, some of those
damned orcs might be roaming about."
Shade did not calm down but did get up. We started
walking deep into the forest.
"Ay don't suppose any of you know how long it is until
the sun rises?"
"That's strange. It should have been up already."
We looked up. The moon was full. It seemed to look at
us with hate. Stars could be seen
everywhere. They were like eyes, eyes of hidden beasts
waiting to pounce. I climbed up a
tree and looked around. Far into the distance I saw a
large mountain and lights could be
seen.
"Move on north, we might be able to find some
shelter." I yelled down at my companions.
I jumped down and followed them.
After walking for what seemed like hours we were
finally in sight of what produced the
lights. A small village could be seen, with a huge
castle at the far end of it. Shade looked
at the castle and whimpered.
Thunder Maul looked like he had just struck gold.
"Finally! Where there's a village, there's a tavern.
And where's a tavern, there's ale!"
He tried to run but I grabbed his shoulder.
"More caution is advised, my long-bearded friend."
We walked forward slowly and knocked on a door.
Nothing could be heard from the
inside. I knocked again. Nothing.
"Looking for something mister?"
We turned around, startled. A little girl dressed in a
pink gown stood there.
"What is this place?"
"The village of the damned...damned...damned..."
I was tied to a pole on a boat. There were body parts
of slaughtered elves and dwarves
everywhere. In front of me, there was an altar. A
person was tied to it. The altar was
standing up and I could not see who was on it. A
figure dressed in a black robe came. It
turned the altar around, and on it, Shade was tied
with a dagger stuck in her head. The
figure looked up. It had no face.
"Wind...Wind...WIND!"
I came back. The little girl was gone and both Shade
and Thundermaul were looking at me
with concern. Suddenly, in the middle of the night,
the sun came up in the center of the
sky, out of nowhere. While the village had seemed
almost deserted before hand now,
everywhere around us, people were running about
laughing. A great market had appeared
out of nowhere and merchants were trying to sell their
merchandise to anybody with
enough gold.
"What in the name of Khalid is going on here?"
We looked back. The forest was alive. The gates to the
castle were open. The little girl
was there, waving at us. We walked through the market
towards the castle.
When we arrived the little girl laughed then
disappeared. We continued onward into the
castle. As soon as we went in the gates shut, the sun
disappeared and the moon showed its
face. It was blood red.
"Where the hell are we?" I asked.
"Yer too curios elf, Who cares where we are, I'm
thirsty."
"We're not here to drink, we're here to close a
portal."
"So? It won't hurt us if we got a few drinks along the
way."
We entered the main building. The door closed and the
little girl appeared. She giggled.
"Who are you?"
The girl stopped giggling and started screaming. The
scream was unnatural, something I
had never heard before. I fell to the floor in agony,
covering my ears.
"ENOUGH!"
The girl stopped screaming and started crying. The
same man from my vision appeared,
face cloaked in darkness. He snapped his fingers and
the little girl disappeared.
"Welcome to my humble abode. I, am Death.”
I looked at my friends. Shade had a wound in her head,
with blood pouring out. Her eyes
glowed red, and her skin was scarred and cut
everywhere. She had a couple of fingers
missing. Thunder Maul had his head split in two and
had tentacles coming out of his
stomach. I started backing away. Death put his arm on
my shoulder. He raised his arm and
a mirror appeared.
"Look upon yourself Wind."
I looked. My head was missing.
