Into the Underdark

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Abstract

t you feel emanating from the tunnel before you.</p><p id="afe9">The bleak darkness and the steady drip of moisture from the ceiling consume your senses. You release a crackled sigh and force your shoulders back. Your chest puffs out and holds your breath.</p><p id="3d37">You want to believe it’s just a cave, but it feels nothing like any other cave you have encountered. This chasm is the cave of all caves. A subterranean hellscape where abominations and fiends lurk in anticipation for an adventurer like you.</p><p id="b418">You are not welcome in their sinister lair. The alternative scenario entails that you are properly roasted and seasoned before being gobbled up. You exhale forcefully and take a shaky step forward as a chill runs up your spine.</p><p id="7d68">The sensation spreads over your scalp and tickles your mind. You hold on to your breath, for it is the only possession you have left. Every hair on your body stands straight like a battalion of eager soldiers. Going deeper into the darkness feels like a dire mistake, but you stumble on.</p><figure id="ae19"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*dWJRbv3DH65kTtt-fB4ZnA.png"><figcaption>Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash</figcaption></figure><div id="4378" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium

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A Dubious Trek

Photo by Brad Helmink on Unsplash

Salty streams drip off your chin as you look up at the blinding sun. It’s around mid-day, which marks your third full day of travel through this perilous wasteland. The heat has bestowed dry burns and blisters upon your body as homage. You decide it’s time to do the unthinkable and delve between the cracks of the shattered plains.

You almost slip on the shifty, ochre floor before finding a grip on damp rocks. The cavern descends into a deeper darkness, and you stop in your tracks. A barely perceptible shift takes place. It might be the thick, cool air or the pressure in your ears. You’re not sure. You can’t be certain.

For all you know, you are breathing in noxious gases that leak from cracks in the underground chamber. It feels like you stand on the precipice of an abyss and begin to lose your balance. You strain your eyes, looking for some telltale difference in the stone, hoping to find some proof of your fears hidden in the opaque fog and black shadows. You stand silent, listening for the threat you feel emanating from the tunnel before you.

The bleak darkness and the steady drip of moisture from the ceiling consume your senses. You release a crackled sigh and force your shoulders back. Your chest puffs out and holds your breath.

You want to believe it’s just a cave, but it feels nothing like any other cave you have encountered. This chasm is the cave of all caves. A subterranean hellscape where abominations and fiends lurk in anticipation for an adventurer like you.

You are not welcome in their sinister lair. The alternative scenario entails that you are properly roasted and seasoned before being gobbled up. You exhale forcefully and take a shaky step forward as a chill runs up your spine.

The sensation spreads over your scalp and tickles your mind. You hold on to your breath, for it is the only possession you have left. Every hair on your body stands straight like a battalion of eager soldiers. Going deeper into the darkness feels like a dire mistake, but you stumble on.

Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash

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