„Finally! The moment I get back into the town I should propose the idea to mark the entrance to the mines in some more visible way. Wouldn’t want to enter another three goblin lairs while trying to find it the next time.“

Under the light of the evening sun stands Violet now in front of a cave entrance in the mountains. Surrounding the entrance are only rocks and old traces left behind by a horse drawn waggon used by the miners. Taking out the lantern she lights it before binding it to her hip and enters the cave.

Entering the darkness with only her lantern as lightsource Violet treads carefully holding her sword in hand and ready to respond to any form of danger. The sound of her footsteps echoes through the darkness accompanied by the drops of water falling from the stalactites. The shadows of the stalagmites dances on the walls to the rhythm of the sounds. Small pieces of rock falling from the wall and rolling through the area are making the creepiness of the cave only worse as it causes Violet to react every single time by entering a combat stance before she relaxes and continues on her exploration.

The unchanging environment and the darkness that swallowes the light while slowly reclaiming the area she already left behind are making it difficult for Violet to keep a track of time or her progress in general. ‚Did I enter deeper into the cave? How long do I still have to go? Are those really shadows or is there something else lurking in the dark, watching and waiting?‘ It is rather easy to have such thoughts in this place especially if you are alone, have no map of this area or any experience exploring such places. Luckily these things don’t apply to Violet as she already had to enter these mines once a long time ago and ventured into many caves in her long time as adventurer but she is alone this time…

She is alone, right?...

Having now walked an unknown distance for an unknown amount of time Violet finds her first sign of progress because suddenly parts of the walls reflect the light of her lantern. Metal ores! And lots of it if we consider the pure length of the ore vein she can see. Upon closer inspection she finds traces of something hitting parts of the walls repeatedly. Even some the dripstones show traces of mining.

„Looks like this really is the mine. I’m glad I didn’t just find an abandoned mine but with my luck I probably could have. If I don’t find anything here I will go back and take a look at the monster population around the mines. That should be enough scouting work so that the guild can find out anything.“

Releasing a sigh she ventures further into the deep darkness still searching for any traces of monsters. Continuing the exploration Violet finds many things. Her path having an intersection where he splits into two, three or even five possible directions deeper into the mountain, bioluminescent moss growing in the stalagmites and giving off a very weak light and gemstones sometimes hiding inbetween the metal ores. And dead ends. Lots of dead ends. That cave system in which the mine was is a really big underground maze.

„Not another one! Maybe it would be better to leave the mines and search outside for something.“

Turning around she started walking but stopped as she saw something on the ground. Kneeing down besides her found she examines it.

„These are footprints? Seems to be from a human and are still fresh, no dust, but they are too big to be my own. So, where did you come from?“

Following the footsteps she enters another pathway she hasn’t entered yet. It also looked just like every other tunnel of this maze with metal ores, the glowing moss, the stalagmites, stalactites and stalagnates. The problem now is that the footsteps suddenly stop at a random place inside this path.

„Now then, where did you disappear too? Is that a mana crystal?“

Near the footsteps and in front of the wall lies a crystal only half as big as her hand. Picking him up and examining him brought her no new clue.

„Now that is troublesome. An empty mana crystal and disappearing footsteps. Did he teleport? That would make finding anything even more difficult.“

Thinking about her finds she suddenly starts to notice something. It’s very subtle and hard to notice but the wall to her right has traces of mana hanging on it.

„Now that’s strange. Mana sticks only to enchanted things or magical enhanced resources. There shouldn’t be either of them here.“

Stretchting her hand towards the wall Violet tries to study this strange phenomenon but is surprised as her hand causes a ripple in the rocks and just glides inside the wall.

„Of course, the same old ‚cover the entrance with an illusion‘ trick. Why did I forget about that?“

Shaking her head she steps through the illusion and enters a long corridor made out of stone bricks. No, wait, it’s not made out of bricks. The walls are carved into to make them look like bricks and even this corridor is covered in darkness but it looks like someone or something has already removed the moss that grew here. Why we know that? The moss left traces of itself in the places were it grew.

Before advancing forward Violet covers her lantern with a piece of cloth to dim its light as much as possible and reduce the chance that whoever awaits her at the end of this corridor will have as little time possible to discover her. Staying close to the wall she took the first step deeper into the darkness, slowly and carefully as she still needs to adjust to her now limited vision. Was it minutes, hours or even days, how long was she walking through this corridor now? We don’t know but it took quite some time before her environment changed.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Echos. Someone is talking deeper down this corridor but it is still too far away to understand the gibberish the echoes tell her. Advancing further she also finds doors and paths that lead away from the main corridor or into small rooms which are mostly empty except for rotten wood, stagnant air and cobwebs. At one point she encounters a problem. A light source is slowly closing in on her position from the front and deciding that fighting whoever it is may be a bad idea she chooses to hide inside of one of the rooms to the side. Sitting in a corner behind the door she waits for the lightsource to come even closer. She starts to hear footsteps echo through the hallway and getting louder as the light shines through underneath the door throwing shadows into her room. Holding her breath Violet waits and listens, ready to knock out her oppenent should he enter her hideout. Lucky for her they are just steadily walking down the corridor but they don’t talk so she can’t get any information and the echoes make it difficult to know if there is more than one person walking. Making sure they are far enough away she continues onwards.

A little while later she encounters the same problem again. A lightsource from the front coming closer but the problem this time is that the ones from back then are now closing in from behind and the only way out for her is a small stair. Taking the risk she starts going up the narrow stairs as fast as possible while also being quiet. Reaching the top she looks back over her shoulder and releases a sigh as she realises that nobody is following her. Turning back she now walks down this new hallway that looks like a perfect copy of the corridor downstairs but this one doesn’t have the doors at the side and isn’t as wide which makes it only a slightly better place for fights than the stairs.

This time it doesn’t take as long for a change to happen. Another light appears hidden behind a corner but this time it doesn’t close the distance but Violet does. Walking around the corner she enters a great hall connected to the corridor. Looking around she sees a railing standing a few steps in front of her spanning to the left and right until it turns and goes around the entire floor creating something like a balcony. Violet crouches and steps closer to the railing to be able to take a look at the ground floor. A group of people all wearing a red robe with white and black lines are kneeling on the ground raising their arms above their head and praying in front of an altar. On the walls to the side hang torches to illuminate the room. From the wall behind the altar hangs a banner with a symbol. It shows a scythe and a halberd forming an ‚X‘ behind a giant reptilian eye with three pairs of wings made out of bones and a ring of lightning around it. On the altar itself stands a small construct out of bones mimicking a tree with a red pearl held up by it.

„What are they doing?“ Quietly murmuring to herself Violet questions the scene she is witnessing and continues observing the people‘s actions.

Stepping through the rows of people was another person whose robe not only has black and white lines but also purple colored ones decorating it. Stopping in front of the altar the figure turns around and begins a speech.

„Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, oh, you lost lamb without a sheperd, you, the ones who lost the guiding light in their life, you, the ones who are lost on the path they seek to tread, I welcome you my fellow lost ones. Fret not, lonely wanderers, for you have now found a place, yes a place where you belong, a place to mingle with your kind, a place where you can find another purpose in life. Yes, a place where WE will NOT lie to you! A place for the ones thrown away by society, for the ones that have no worth for the society, a place for the ones that are strangled by the rules of society, for the ones who need to hide their true self from society!! THIS IS A PLACE WHERE THE NORM DOESN’T EXIST!!! You will not need to worry about someone throwing you away for being different, about someone throwing you away for being worthless, about being hunted down even by your loved ones. This is our place my dear fellows, a place where we accept you however strange you might be, however strange a form your desires manifest. This, my dear fellow believers, is OUR UTOPIA!!!“

The people erupt into ear-rupturing cheers, screaming loudly and jumping into the air. Meanwhile Violet still watches everything with a slightly perturbed look on her face. The cultist standing in front of the altar raises his hand to signal the others to calm down.

„Now, my dear chosen ones, this utopia is a gift, yes, a gift granted to us by the one whose rule was lost, who got hunted and driven away by the one who claims rulership of our wworld. Our almighty lord got taken from us through the hands of those that forced their rules upon us. Yes, my dear friends, the worship of the Order not only forced us to hide but also took away the one who granted us our eternal happiness. But how can we be happy in this situation? How can we be happy If there are still so many brothers and sisters walking under the light of Order, having the rules suffocate them, forcing their norm upon our fellow lost ones and forcing them to hide themselves? HOW CAN WE BE HAPPY IF THERE ARE STILL TOO MANY SUFFERING THROUGH THE ORDER!! So, my dear friends, let us share this gift with them, let us invite them to our utopia, let us welcome them under the rule of our lord, the almighty Chaos! But! Before we can do so let us begin the cleansing Ritual, so that we can get rid of all the illness and poison the Order infected us with.

MAY THE RULE OF CHAOS FREE US ALL!!!“

„MAY THE RULE OF CHAOS FREE US ALL“

„MAY THE RULE OF CHAOS FREE US ALL“

Chanting and the cheering of the people fills the room as the people start to take bottles out of their robe. Taking a closer look the people’s bodies are loosely covered with chains hanging from all over their body and Shaking with their movements which gives this scene a strange background noise. But Violet’s focus while observing doesn’t lie on the chains but bottles. Clear glass bottles filled to the brim with liquid and closed with a cloth that… is that burning? Before she can identify them the cultists throw them straight up into the air letting them fall upon themselves and smashing apart. They scream in pleasure and in frenzy as they start to burn alive while still chanting. Their flesh slowly starts to form bubbles from the heat, patches of black starts forming in some parts of their skin, the smell of cooked meat starts permeating the air and the cultists even hug each other to spread the flames to the ones not yet set ablaze. Some cultists already lost their hair, some really fanatic and crazy ones start increasing the heat of their flames and have their eyeballs begin to melt. The chains wrapping around their bodys are slowly turned orange from the heat and burn their form upon the skin of the cultists all while the smoke starts gathering underneath the ceiling and the chanting of the cultists echoes through the hall along with the rattling sound of the chains.

„MAY THE RULE OF CHAOS FREE US ALL“

„MAY THE RULE OF CHAOS FREE US ALL“

Violet stares completly petrified upon the spectactle unfolding before her, the horror written on her face. Surpressing the need to throw up she averts her gaze. Violet has seen many things on her journey but a fanatic cult that burnes themselves alive was not in her list.