For king and country, we cried, full of courage, ambition and vitriol we marched towards
our inevitable victory. The morning dew still hung heavily as the battalion three hundred
strong marched deeper into the valley, the enemy was inhuman deprived of faith or
culture it was no more than vermin ripe for slaughter. Our victory assured. Through the
afternoon we continued without break or faulter, our pride knew no bounds desperate
to prove our worth. As the valley fell away it was replaced by sharp stone devoid of
foliage the arid landscape swallowed the troops like a gaping maw, the steep stone
walls threw long shadows across the men as if to claw us away from the fate that lay
before us. Before we could cast light upon the growing darkness then came the call,
like the song of a siren it drew men to their feet swords in hands hearts in throats. It
came shrill and blood curdling over the horizon like no noise ever produced by man nor
beast, the call reverberated around the stone walls of the valley making the haunting
cry settle into my very bones. It was unpleasant but familiar the sensation casting my
mind back to that night; like so many men here I too had a score to settle with this vile
creature, a score that could only be settled with blood.
That night the shadows played tricks, but the beast kept its distance, although the night
was free of violence my dreams could not say the same. Ghostly vestiges of faces now
gone; lost to me in the eternal ether they remind me of why we embarked on this
mission. The morning air brought with it a renewal of vigour and within the hour we
once more set course for the den of our tormentor, some of us had lost sons some
wives and some entire villages of friends to this fowl demon. We could not let such
crimes go unpunished, a fate fitting of one’s crimes would soon befall this brute. This
single-minded motivation drove us on throughout the morning and into the late
afternoon before we came to a halt in front of a rugged cliff face. The tops of the cliff
loomed high above us, casting cool shade over the valley floor and at the base of the
cliff lay an opening, wide enough for two men abreast. The fissure ran irregular and
sharp as if to split the earth itself. The gaping aperture emanated malice striking
apprehension into the hearts of everyone standing before it, despite the fear coursing
through our veins we stood firm contemplating who would be first to enter the cave.
He was a boy barely a man and yet we allowed him to step forward as if it would bring
solace to our own nerve, we allowed him to approach the cave and encouraged him
when his bravado faltered. With him we sent a small army all willing and eager to put
an end to the era of bloodshed, they were two dozen strong armed to the gills with
every weapon and armament under the sun. As the afternoon drew into evening, we
sent more and more squads like lambs to the slaughter they strode obliviously into
oblivion. I knew it was a fruitless venture and yet I agreed that bombarding the enemy
was a viable strategy, a battle of attrition surly an army against a single beast the
outcome was certain. Yet as the evening drew to night not a single squad returned not a
whisper was herd from the maw as it sat patiently awaiting its next meal.
We debated on what the plan of action would be, unable to retreat with our pride intact
we stubbornly stood our ground.
The moon had just crested the cliff top, and the wind hummed listlessly throughout the
stone creating a whipping sound that accompanied the pounding beat of my heart.
From the graces of some god I had lasted until the final squad, indecision somehow a
valued asset I assured myself as we took our first steps towards our fate. The air that
met us at the mouth of the cave was putrid and stagnant imbued with scents of copper
and rot. Sweat rolled freely down my spine as we crept onward, the moon light from the
entrance slowly fading, it was at that point I noticed the curve of the tunnel slowly
shifting us away from the salvation of the open air. The darkness hung oppressively
until a torch was lit by the man in front shedding the grip of the darkness for now. Not a
word was spoke as we edged on; the tension so thick in the air I feared I may choke on
it the only sounds apart from the shuffling of feet was the clink of armour and huffing of
men beside themselves with fear. The passage continued on with no branching
pathways nor intersections meaning our men must have all travelled this path and yet
we seen no sign of them. Before long the tunnel began to widen and before we knew it,
we had emerged into a vast cavern so expansive we could not see the ceiling; spires of
stone rose from the ground stretching high into the air where their tops were obscured
by looming darkness. The walls of the cavern that we could see were pock holed with
other passages numbering in the hundreds if not thousands, stretching high into the air
to meet the spires in the darkness above. On we marched into the vast room where now
no walls were visible only the suffocating darkness on all sides that was now barley held
at bay by our torch light. Ahead of our party I could see nothing but more spires and
more darkness, I was fooling myself into thinking all was going to be okay when it
happened.
A Shrill click like that of an insect called out from the darkness, it bounced around the
chamber reminding me of when it called us outside the cave. And before I could react
an object came herding out of the black and struck me right on the bridge of my nose, I
was tumbled by the force of the blow and soon felt blood coat my throat as I lay there
staring at the darkness of the ceiling. That’s when I heard the commotion, I rolled over
to see what has struck me with such force blood now spilling from my nose; that’s then
I seen it... the severed head of the young man the first one to be sent into this
hellscape. His face was pale and his eyes sharp but the horror in them remained fresh,
he sat there just a head surrounded by the very men who had sent him to this fate. I felt
sick but before I could empty my stomach I was forced to swallow it as then again
came the *Click* from behind us in the darkness. I barked at the men around me to
take defensive stances and move slow and steady back towards the tunnel we entered,
that’s when a whole new fear set in as I realised none of us knew which tunnel we had
come from. We moved in formation making assumptions on where to turn and
eventually just as our second torch began to burn low, we could see the wall of the
cavern come out of the darkness and into focus. I began to scan the wall desperately
hoping the tunnel home would present itself to me before that thing emerged again.
Suddenly the man behind me cried out in abject terror and then came the blood before
I could turn the man had been dragged into the dark a streak of his crimson life-force
left stricken upon the stone where he stood moments ago. The slaughter had resumed
as one by one the men around me were picked off, some were dragged other walked
into the black hoping for an easy way out their screams told me there was no such
thing. Eventually only a handful of us stood backs to the wall swords raised in a pitiful
attempt to ward off the evil that surrounded us. My mind flew wild with the impossibility
of our current circumstances and how the fleeting hope of escape was dwindling. At
that point our forsaken last stand has come to its inevitable close when the torch barer
was ripped screaming into the dark and along with him our only source of light. With his
demise came the suffocating blanket of darkness that had so patiently waited for this
opportunity to strike. With the darkness also came the screams not a short burst as
they had been before but a choir of harrowing death throes as men around me were
consumed by the void, we now found ourselves within.
I spun spastically locking eyes with nothing but the ever-present darkness that now
threatened to consume me alongside the men I had embarked on this mission with. I
glanced down seeing nothing but darkness and yet I could feel my trembling hands, I
was struggling to grip my blade as I considered what to do. In the end I choose what I’ve
always done I ran like a yellow-bellied coward I dropped my blade and ran; crawling like
an infant I made my way to one of the tunnels lining the cavern wall and pulled myself
inside. I continued to scuttle and crawl along the tunnel floor until the sounds of the
men’s screams began to fade, and even then, I continued to drag my body forward until
my knees bled and my hands were cut to ribbons on the sharp stone. As of now this is
where I find myself huddled in a tunnel of an underground labyrinth with no escape in
site and I fear my time is fleeting for only moments ago as I heard the retched call of
that demon once more. My fate is sealed with those I doomed with my indecision; a
fate fitting of such a coward, may the gods have mercy on my soul.