The City of Darkness

I checked my equipment one final time before descending into the cave. I knew nothing about it besides the fact that there was an abandoned city down there. Nevertheless, I listened to my curiosity and climbed further down into the dark abyss.

By bathing the walls in a warm light, my torch allowed me to see the path. With each step, the passage became narrower and more and more sinister. When I turned around, I could no longer see the daylight. Wow, this cave had a lot of turns and twists. At some point, there was a dark abyss in front of me. I carefully dropped a stone to hear how far down it went. Relieved, I heard the impact of the stone shortly after I had let go of it. Fortunately, because otherwise, it would have made my way into this underground city way more difficult. Eagerly I climbed down the steep rock face. Once back on solid ground, I saw the stone from earlier. I kicked it around a bit until I decided to keep going.

I must already be quite deep underground because the rocks surrounding me slowly turned black. A stale smell rose to my nose and I knew I couldn't be far from my destination.

One more turn and I was there. A huge room with stone walls opened up before me. In it, I faintly recognised old, crumbling buildings made of stone just as black as the cave walls around them. But where was the light coming from? My torch certainly did not reach the other end. Overwhelmed, I propped my hand against the wall beside me. However, immediately I withdrew it, for what I had felt there was definitely no stone. It had felt like moss. But that could hardly be. Moss that deep in a cave? Never. Therefore, I held my torch closer to examine the soft growth more closely. But as my nose drew closer, something else replaced the musty smell from before. The air I was now inhaling bit into my nose. Immediately I took a step backwards, knocking down some loose pebbles. I thought nothing of it, except that I was dangerously close to the precipice until a bluish light flickered briefly nearby. I looked down in wonder. What was this place?

However, I did not give myself time to ask questions. After all, I was here to plunder the fabled treasures of this city. Determined, I took my rope from my bag of equipment, threw the rope around a jutting rock and climbed down the cliff face. The rough, uneven stone made it possible for me to take my torch down with me, for which I was very grateful.

My feet came to rest on the soft ground. Wait... soft? I bent down and examined the ground. Sure enough, I was standing on a kind of mossy blanket. Again, that acrid smell rose to my nose and throat. I coughed, whereupon the same something from before lit up again. Now I also noticed where the light was coming from, enveloping the city in a gloomy atmosphere. The moss carpet on which I was standing was glowing. Individual bright spots kept glowing blue and allowed me to make out the silhouettes of the buildings. Apparently this plant - I just assumed it was a plant - could also climb walls.

But I was not here to admire the vegetation of this city. I was much more here to admire its treasures, all alone in my cosy house. So I took a step forward, only to stop again. That something had flared up again. I took another step towards it, whereupon it lit up again. But now I was close enough to see that small tentacles danced on its surface and began to glow with every movement of mine. Cautiously, I dared to take another step, this time quieter, in the direction of the decayed city. Now the tentacle-light plant remained quiet. Did it only react to sounds? Probably. I couldn't explain it any other way, but it was unnerving.

Now I finally made my way to my prey. The soft ground took some getting used to while I was sneaking around on it, but it shouldn't distract me from my mission. Finally arriving at one of the many buildings, I stepped onto its floor. The thick woollen carpet muffled my steps and I allowed myself to walk normally. I placed my hand on the finely crafted walls, that were bathed in a warm light from my torch. Although the material was the same as the rocks of the cave, they were nothing alike in texture. These were far too finely polished. Whomever the inhabitants of this city were, they were very highly developed.