Raven Empire

Chapter 5

     Seth had come back from his exploration of the caves below (MUCH later than anyone expected), and he did look fine, like he promised. He came back holding two stones and sat down in between me and Carvath.

     "What are you holding?" I asked him.

     He opened his hands and revealed a sapphire and an emerald. "Apparently these caves are full of precious stones." He said, tucking them into his pocket. "Also bones. Lots and lots of bones. Probably was a dragon's lair at one point."

     Carvath seemed to put his head down in resentment, seeing as he couldn't exactly speak.

     "How many bones?" I asked. "It's a weird question, but I feel like I should at least ask it."

     "Plenty of them." Seth said. "Hang on." He turned to Carvath and started communicating with him in a weird series of grunts, shrieks and growls.

     Carvath merely nodded and shook his head, giving me the impression that he could at the very least understand Seth.

     Seth turned back to me. "Well, apparently Carvath didn't live in this cave." He said.

     "I'm sorry, you thought this was once HIS cave?" I asked Seth, startled.

     "Yep." My friend said. "It wasn't, he was just murdered by the actual dragon who lived here. The two of them are dead now."

     Carvath obligingly rattled his bones, as if to say "See? I'm dead."

     "Huh, that's interesting." I said. "The sun looks like it's going down." I noticed, seeing the amount of light in the room gradually dying down.

     "You're right." Seth agreed. He yawned and stretched himself out. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to sleep." And off he went. He found another break in the wall and climbed inside of it, putting himself into a position to sleep.

     The twins followed suit, leaving behind the bones they were playing with and trudging behind a crate. They were apparently so tired that they didn't even fight for the best spot.

     I couldn't tell when it was, but I eventually nodded off, watching Sina train with Liliana. The crate wasn't a great place to sleep on, and I really didn't enjoy it's proximity to that weird cabinet, but it would have to do.

     I woke up suddenly, though I wasn't on the crate. This wasn't anywhere even close to it, probably nowhere the mountain this cave was even in.

     All I could see was a desolate wasteland, devoid of any life other than trees. Even those had been blackened and burnt until they looked like hands reaching out of the earth. I shuddered and looked behind me, where the same landscape continued, although with faint fires burning. The sky was an eerie grayish-red, almost as if a storm was about to arrive. I attempted to go back to sleep, but the ground was burning to the touch, so I decided to look around.

     The place just got weirder and weirder as I walked along. More fires were appearing, burning brighter and brighter each time. Lightning began to strike the ground. It wasn't near me, but I decided to take cover anyways. There happened to be a convenient cave nearby that had an entrance just large enough for me to fit into.

     I ducked inside and found a spot where the ground wasn't burning, so I sat down. At my feet was a strange black stone. It wasn't obsidian, or onyx, but something different. It was so dark that were no reflections in it, no light bouncing off it. It Looked like a piece of the void had been torn away and molded into the shape it was. So, being the idiot I was, I pocketed it.

     The storm overhead rained down on the area outside the cave. The drops were crimson and acid-green in color, and sizzled when they hit the ground. I heard a low noise but thought nothing of it, seeing as the storm outside was weird enough as it was. The noise grew louder and louder, and now low thumps were coming towards me. This got my attention.

     The footsteps stopped outside the cave mouth and a figure was silhouetted in the rain. I could very loosely make out a pair of arms and legs, and saw something that could have been a tail.

     Whatever the thing was, it charged at me. My guesses were correct, it had two arms, two legs and a tail. It also had a snout reminiscent of a crocodile's, with the teeth and everything. I shook in terror as I saw that it carried six swords. Three in each hand. As it got closer, I saw that they weren't swords, they were its claws, attached to its hands by hauntingly long fingers. It was covered in scales that were anywhere from scarlet red, to mud brown and to midnight black. It's eyes were bright red and poison green, both glaring at me in hatred.

     I braced myself for its attack and it pounced. It's jaws opened wide and I got a view into its throat, which was the color a normal throat but with a blue sheen to it, almost as if it had been frozen over. The beast's jaws bit down, and before I could any pain, I blacked out.

     When I woke up, I was no longer in that burning wasteland, but was instead in an unfamiliar cave. The stone walls around me were probably made out of obsidian, not the shade of black of that void stone. I quickly checked my pocket and found the stone. It was still blacker than ink, no light was reflecting off of it and the green and red details were gone. That thankfully buried the memories of the creature's eyes deeper into my brain, less likely to be remembered.

     I took a good look at the new cave I was in. The walls were entirely made of stone, and was lit by a few torches. Wait...torches? That couldn't be right, it made no sense. I checked the torches. They were burning bright, meaning they were newly lit.

     I didn't understand it. There were no signs of anyone having been here for several years. How could there be newly lit torches? I got the feeling that something (hopefully not someONE) was watching me, though that could have very easily just been my fear speaking.

     I looked at the walls again and saw drawings on them. I walked over and decided to take a look. The drawings were of...faces. Snarling, growling, scarred faces. I sincerely hoped for all our sakes that these creatures were just a myth. One of them even had the rest of its body drawn as well, and I could make out a tail, long legs and two or four dark tentacles on its back.

     "Great." I muttered to myself. "It's a Karrus. So it's not a myth that they drew about."

     The next drawing was what looked to be the room I was in. The same torches were scattered, and the same opening was in the room. In the drawing, the opening had two, glowing eyes in it. Just below the arena drawing, was the hilt of a sword and a scabbard.

     I picked up the sword and took a good look at it. The scabbard was a dull green color, probably once a brilliant emerald color. The blade itself looked like polished steel, it almost looked new, except for the ominous stains that covered parts of it.

     I looked back at the entrance and saw two eyes glaring back at me. One of them was badly slashed and the other was a ruby red color. I didn't care about fighting it, so, I grabbed the sword and ran.