1 Lost in The Caves

Arath woke up surrounded by countless stalagmites and other rock forms having no idea where he was and how he ended up in such a precarious situation. He was lying in a quite large pool of blood but he couldn't see any possible source of it, there was no one around nor was he really injured. When he tried to get up and assess his situation only then did he notice what a mess he was. All that was left of his only shirt were few strips of cloth on his chest and his best weapon - a bastard sword he had named "Despair" - was broken in three pieces, each lying in a different corner of the pit he was standing in. It was very unfortunate, he had been saving for this weapon for few long months and now it was nothing but scraps.

'I guess that I will end up just the same.' He said grymily.

Yet instead of mourning for the wasted money he climbed up in order to see what exactly had happened there. He was in a middle of a giant cave and only thanks to his darkvision granted to him by cultivating space element didn't he trip and fall into an even deeper part of the cavern.having closely examined his surroundigs did he start to understand the events that led to his current situation.

The place he climbed up from was a deep pit like that after an explosion, different parts of many mosters were lying across the cave, yet none close enough to be able to recognize it's previous owners' race or size. Without wasting any more time he decided it was about time to get out of this hell. While searching for a way out he picked up everything that had any worth. Having found a small hole leading to another part of the cavern he had already collected quite a collection of different bones, shiny stones and mushrooms.

'Well, I have to admit that for being lost in the Lower Caves I'm really lucky no monster has eaten me yet. I have no idea what killed those creatures back there nor why I'm still alive but I can't complain, all this loot will earn me at least a week of hot food and fresh water, maybe even a new set of clothes and weapons.' He thought while looking for a landmark that would help him find a way back to the First City.

The First City is the only relatively safe place in the entire known world, at least until the summoning cycle was complete and a new set of the so-called 'heroes' appeared. It was built in the largest cave surrounding the Tower loooking almost like a gigantic ring on a very unnatural finger. It was divided in many districts such as Artisans' District or the Market District. Arath being an orphan who didn't even know their parents' name lived in the outer part of the town and payed for accomodation by venturing in caves looking for valuables and food. If he was lucky he would find weak beasts and get enough food to get by for few weeks. When he was younger he would receive some help from the city but now that he was of of age the only one he could depend on was himself.

After few hours of wandering he finally saw a dim light in a distance - a guiding lantern. Guiding lanterns were the equivalents of lighthouses in the underground maze, their light could pierce rocks to some extent. He carefully approached the light as bandits would sometimes use them to lure inexperienced Cave Lurkers and get their hands on their loot. As he was getiing closer he could hear laughter and drunken singing of at least a dozen men. He reached for his sword and was about to unsheathe it when to his surprise all that he held in hand was just a handle with few centimeters of blade.

'Fuck me, what am I supposed to do now?' was his only thouhts before he noticed a guard sitting on a stone about 50 meters from where he was standing. Arath quickly took cover praying for the guard to be blind and not notice him. Unfortunately today luck was not on his side. The guard immediately stood up and picked up his bow while looking around.

'Now that I'm close to the camp it's obvious this is no official Guiding Lantern, City's soldiers would never be that loud, and that guard doesn't have any emblem on his armor. I'm really unlucky to meet them now, if only I had my sword I could kill this guy and run away without anyone noticing. My only option now is magic, but this guy is already alert and him being a bandit also means there is a chance he also knows some magic tricks.'

Arath was blessed by Space Element, a very rare but also mostly useless element, that would grant great passive bonuses but no abilities that could help him in a fight, at least on the beginner level. It allowed him to sense any danger in his surroundings and granted better sight, hearing and smell at his current level. In his current situation it would be of no use especially if his opponent could use even the basics of any magic.

After few seconds enemy guard climed down from his position and changed his bow to a short sword. Without any delay he ventured between different rock formations looking for the owner of the shadow he noticed a while ago. After arriving to the place he saw it the last time he put up his guard and prepared to stab the enemy. He rushed to the other side of a giant stalagnate but to his surprise there was nothing behind it. He immediately relaxed all his muscles.

"God damn it, I'm being too paranoid, I need to take a break." The guard turned around, sheated the sword and started to go back to his position when he noticed that shadow again.

But it was already too late to do anything as a sharp rock approached from his side and turned his face into a bloody mess. He wanted to scream from pain but a slender hand quickly put some rags into his mouth while the other hand knocked him over. The guard tried to put up a fight, but continuos hits with the stone soon caused him to lose consciousness. As soon as Arath felt that enemy stopped struggling he reached for the sword and without hesitation took all his clothes and equipment just to finally cut the guards throat. He had witnessed too many bandit attacks on fellow Cave Lurkers to have any mercy for this kind of enemies.

"Well, well, well now comes the part where I do everything those assholes wanted to do with me." He said while his eyes followed the lines of the sword.