Chapter 1/10

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e gathered in a circle and one by one began to share our stories—even if we fought the urge.  One young and attractive female stepped forward and started to share her tale of demise.  We could hear she was speaking against her will—a tear formed and rolled down her cheek  The reaper gently brushed his scythe against her face wiping the tear away.  "My name is, Sharon Rufiina” she said."My friends and I decided to camp in the local wilds to get away from the busy town of Solitude and relax.  We had planned our outing for possibly two weeks.  The time had come and we put together the coin we needed to fund our little adventure.  We found a beautiful spot.  It was absolutely breath taking…  It was high up on the mountain and the view was outstanding.  The air was crisp and not tainted with the stench of beggars in the city.  We pitched our tents and made a small fire and soon the air was filled with the aroma of burning wood—pleasant and comforting.

s silly girls do, we played some simple games of hide and seek as the sun began to set.  As the dark of night encroached on us, we shared our hopes and dreams with one another.  Everything from tales of meeting princes to becoming fierce and respected women heroes.  As I lay sleeping, in a tent my partners and I made, I was awakened by the sound of my friend Patricia screaming.  An orc had happened upon our small camp and smashed his axe right through the fragile tent of wool.  I could hear her bones cracking as the axe continued to smash and rip her away.  The rest of us girls—there were about 4 of us—scattered in multiple directions.

e ran as swiftly as we could through the night and if though in a horrific nightmare,  we could hear each others' shrieks of terror….. Patricia's cries of agony echoed through the camp ground as we were panicking and continued running fruther away.  I ran through the woods wearing only my night gown.  The branches were sharp and I could feel them cut me as I ran past them, but I didn’t care.  I kept running and running.  The night was so scary.  I ran down a little hill and I could swear the orc fiend was behind me.  I didn’t dare stop to look back—out of fear of seeing an axe swinging down on me.

 did come across an old abandoned cabin, so I rushed inside and slammed the door behind me.  I gasped for my breath as I barred the door.  When my eyes slowly began adjusting to the new darkness of the cabin, I could see that things were out of place.  I found a candle and uttered the only spell I knew that cast a minor flame—it’s enough to light a candle and that’s about it.  As my eyes danced all around I saw what looked like human skin nailed to the wall.  I could see skulls of all types were arranged neatly in front of the fire place.  An odor so foul permeated the cabin which caused me to dry heave multiple times.  I normally wouldn’t have stayed in such a creepy place, but I was finally safe from the orc.  However, I did wonder if he would notice the candle light flickering from under the door.

he longer I stayed in this cabin I could feel a heavy weight pushing down on me.  "What was this place?"  I wondered to my self.  It was somewhat of a large cabin and I began searching from room to room.  My exploits led me to discover many manuscripts with chaotic scribbles.  I found arcane tomes which gave instructions on preparing corpses for multiple purposes.  One room in particular had a spine hanging on the wall.  The spine must have belonged to a child……   It was so tiny.  In that same room,  I found a jar full of animal claws and human nails.

 could hear….things….in the cabin.  I can’t really explain what the noises were though.  They were soft noises, but it sounded like people speaking.  I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look, no one was ever there.  I found some stairs that lead down toward an incredibly dark and small chamber room.  By candlelight I slowly descended down stairs.  As I walked down, I saw runic messages written in what looked liked dried blood.  A cold air rushed up against me as my foot hit the bottom of the stairs.  I was so scared there; I didn’t want to stay nor did I want to leave.  There were no other doors at the bottom of the stairs, just an empty room with hay spread out all over the floor.  Words written in a language I didn’t understand were all over the walls.  I ran my fingers down the blood to see if any of it was fresh and none of it was.  The place was certainly abandoned.

y bravery, if that is what you can call it, finally left and I began to cry.  I just…..cried.  I brushed some of the hay aside to set my little candle down so as to not accidentally start a fire.  When I brushed some of the hay away from me, I found that there was a little latched door in the floor.  I didn’t know if I should try to open it or not.  By this time, I knew that I was in a necromancer’s abandoned cabin, and I had the idea that possibly the door would lead to a tunnel.  I thought maybe that he snuck cadavers in through there.  I didn’t know what to think anymore.  My friend was just brutally slain and the others ran off in different directions.  Did they live?  Did the mad orc kill them too?  I was all alone--just a girl, without any weapons or armor.  I felt so helpless.

 did try to open the latched-door, but I was unable to.  It wouldn’t budge.  Maybe because it had been shut for so long or maybe because I wasn’t strong enough to open it, so I eventually gave up.  I leaned back in a corner and took rest, silently watching the candle light flicker-dance off the walls and light up the bloodied writings on them.  I wondered what the writings were.  Maybe conjuration spells?  Maybe a grotesque diary?  I didn’t know.  I didn’t really want to either I guess.

 don’t know how long it was before I fell asleep, but I was awoken by the smell of smoke and burning hay surrounding me.  I must have knocked the candle over in my sleep—so stupid.  I dashed where I could, trying to avoid the flames at all cost.  However, the heat was already causing my skin to burn.  I made my final jump near the stairs when I heard a growling so dark and demonic that it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  I didn’t know where it had come from.  I stepped up on the ladder and noticed that the latched-door was opened!  I quickly turned around and dashed towards the upper floor.  I saw that the dried blood was now wet and even the blood was running down the walls.  What hell did I step in?

nce I was atop the stairs again, I could see shadowy movement in every direction and more disturbingly,  I also heard children whispering.  I could even hear a very clear and audible voice in a warning-tone telling me to leave.  I wasn’t going to stand around and ask it why.  I made haste to the barred door.  At this point I didn’t care about the orc.  I wanted out of that cursed cabin!  I threw my arms around the wood barring the door and tried pulling it up as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t budge!  The heavy weight I felt earlier was now unbearable—it must have been holding the barricade down too.  I let out a shrill scream to alert anyone—even the orc—that I was trapped inside.  I could see the shadows moving more rapidly now.  I ran from room to room looking for anything to help me get out.  Eventually, I entered into the room with the spine again…

 saw a most horrific site unfold before my eyes—a dark shadow forming out from beneath the cracks in the floor.  It slowly took the form of a disfigured man.  It looked like part beast, part demon, and part person.  Its face looked like that of a skull with sunken eyes that was filled with an eerie mist.  In its hand was formed such an ungodly weapon that I don’t even know how to begin to describe it.  My peripheral vision was quickly drawn to a flash of light.  I looked over to it and saw a mirror with my reflection along with the demon's.  The reflection showed the demon-shadow lunging the weapon of the devil's into my throat and my reflection looked back at me while blood squirted out of its throat and collapsed to its knees.  I turned back to face the demon just in time to see him lunge his weapon into my throat.  The pain was so unbearable….  I could feel the weapon eating at my soul.  I tried looking down, but all I could see was my own blood as I fell slowly to my knees.  I closed my eyes……….   and then I opened them.  I was laying in a grassy meadow….”

fter saying that, the reaper smiled at her.  It was a strange grin….  It was sinister and comforting at the same time.  He spoke to her: "When I call your name, you can run…..   but your soul yearns to submit to my calling.”  After saying that he continued to play his soft melody and the next person of our group stepped forward. . .