1 Rock Town

I always dreamed of something beyond my home in the ground. My home was part a larger community that lived underground. We are a mining group that survived by selling anything precious that we dig up. There really is nothing special about where I live, unless you just the site and smell of damp, moist dirt and rock all the time. We did have a small underground river at the far end of the oldest tunnel so we do have fresh water .

I tell my father that humans are meant to live on the ground, not under it.

"We make a living in the dirt, not in the clouds," he would always tell me when I complained.

I have always been told the reason we are down here is because there are to many dangers on the surface from Orcs to Ogres, Trolls and Dragons. The only two times we venture outside the gates is to gather wood for our mine shafts and cooking furnaces and gather meat. Twice a month we get a merchant visit and we trade what we dig up for essential items like clothing and such.

I dug out a few interesting stones yesterday. One was a brilliant red color and oddly clear as if it was a chunk of tinted glass. The other was a black stone similar to the red stone. Both about the size of a closed fist.

"Hey Ered!" my father, Rant, yelled. Breaking me from my thoughts. "Come look at this!" I could hear him off down the new shaft we started a month ago. We didn't have to worry about cave ins because of the way we formed the shafts. They have a narrow top that widens to the base. Along with the supports every few feet we had no worries.

"What's wrong, father?" I huffed as I neared the hulking figure of a man. He had mined his whole life down here and had the physique to prove it. I wasn't a slouch myself even being only 16 years of age. He turned to face me with a huge smile on his face and held out his hands towards me.

"Look son! We are rich now!" he exclaimed as I gazed wide eyed at the lump of gold in his hands. He both started laughing. "Finally we can get out of Rock Town and move somewhere else" I said I called down and my father shook his head at my words, "Sorry son, but we are staying here and digging for more gold." I was so upset that any elation I felt about this discovery was instantly drained. I just hung my head and left as he smiled at his golden nugget.

"It's late. I'm going to bed," I didn't even look back to see if he acknowledged me. Our home area was dug out by my grandfather and my uncle a long time ago. We have a main room with a larder type room off the side. A narrow hallway from the main room has two doors on either side of the end, one door is my father's room and the other is mine. My room was just big enough for a bed a desk type table and a box that i keep my clothes and belongings in. I lit a new candle and I could tell what time it was by how much of it had burned because I drew lines in the wax for each hour. it's short enough that when it burns out it will be morning.

I stripped down to a light pair of shorts be for laying down then pulled an animal skin over me for a blanket. I drifted off to see my dreams of something more.

I was woken from my sleep when I heard what i thought was someone rummaging through my box. I glanced at my candle and saw about an hour left of burn time before my day officially started. I looked over to where I hears the noises and saw small figure bent over my box. a few items were tossed out behind the little person and I very slowly moved the blanket off my legs.

Just about the time I tried to stand up from my bed the person head popped up and stared directly at me. Greenish yello eyes glowed in the dim candle light. my head was still down on my bed so it appeared I was sleeping. "what is that?" my only thought and I tensed up thinking it might kill me if I moved. it turned back to digging through my box and I relaxed enough to slide my hand under the edge of my bed. I felt the handle of my iron dagger, it took a while to save enough to buy it, and I slowly slid out of my bed and crouched down.

I crept low towards the little figure, my dagger at the ready. my feet made no noise on the earthen floor so I had complete surprise or so i thought. the figure wheeled around as I passed the middle of the room, being alerted by my damned shadow moving across the wall.

I swore in my head and then heard a loud screech as the figure was on me. Biting and clawing as it tried to climb me.

Mind you I am not a small being by any means because I started swinging a pick axe at a young age. I stabbed my dagger at the wriggling figure and only managed to tare it's sleeve. I guess I scared it because it jumped off me and made for the door to its left. I saw this and thrust my fist towards what looked like it's head and it fell. I saw it didn't move right away and I reached to grab my candle for a better look.