| abstract
| - Those who say nature is serene must never have traveled on foot through the deadliest forest on the whole planet. I have, and I can’t believe I’m going to again. The Lahari forest is one big frakkin’ of a forest. Poisonous plants at every turn and worst of all, the Spindells. They are these huge spiders that love to build large webs and trap unsuspecting travelers. The females are what you have to worry about, they are so poisonous that one bite from it will kill you, even if you just happen to be alongside the top doctors on Maynus. Which if that’s the case, you have no reason to be in the Lahari forest in the first place. So now I find myself packed, patched and drunk out of my mind. I have no clue how, but my new friends here have top of the line Maynian ale. Where I come from the Maynian ale was made with the wrong kind of polluted water. Our’s mostly contains human waste and only a small amount of what we’ve come to call Vandoid water. The stuff these guys hadwas just Wealoof and water, the perfect mix. After another sip I swear I almost passed out and I barely cared that in less than an hour I would to be heading back into the Dalemon’s mouth. After the few more sips of ale, I blacked out. The next thing I remember was waving goodbye and saying, “I’ll miss you guys,” which was not something I would say sober, I hated those guys. Now to start the great journey onward. I was given the directions to Calahari, which finally told me where I had been this whole time. I had heard about Loka from a couple of old traders who came into the rear sector every once in awhile. They would hand out food to the children. I remember the old man talking of home, Loka, he called it. Now upon seeing it, I know why he left. What I at first thought was only a ghetto ended up being the whole city. Houses were made of wood and were run down. At least in Belaham’s rear sector, the poor that could afford shelter had either cold steel or muddy stone houses. Well there was nothing I, a fellow poor man, could do. So I walked on, abandoning the hopeless here in Loka. I must say that the Gevorians do maintain their empire’s travel well. The road I was on was well paved, much better than that pebble covered road that I first encountered, I’m pretty sure that it had been a secret back road. I wanted to keep on the roads as I didn’t want to have to be in forests more than I needed to. Also a benefit of the road was than there were no trees overhead and almost zero chances of a Spindell finding its way to me and finishing me off. After what seemed like a lifetime of the same old scenery, I finally found a thick wooden sign that read, “Calahari, former home of the first Grad”. It seemed this town was very proud of their past. As I entered the town, I saw a beautiful red lake. It must have been hundred of years since the Vandoid sickness nearly wiped all life off this planet, yet there is still little remainders of the horrors that happened. It was when I focused on the lake I felt an odd feeling, a burning in the pit of my gut. I tried to tell myself it was nothing, but before I could send any sort of command to my brain, my legs started moving. Before no time I was at the lake, staring at my red reflection. The burning grew in intensity and I felt a yearning just to leave. Forget about the money and just run away. I felt like a child once more. I stood there, stoic yet fearful until the burning was to much. I ran away, away from the pain and the history of the lake. It is said that Vandoid water sources are filled with the blood of the dead, its not true but staring into that lake almost made me believe it. Now what I needed to do was find the big gold triangle, but this proved harder than I had expected. I am pretty sure that I walked around the town for the whole day until I realized the sun was starting to set and the moons began to show. The smaller moon, Culor, was extremely beautiful. I could not stop staring at it until a shimmer of light caught my eye. I stared back down and saw the ground around me shining. It looked as if I was walking on some sort of magic path. I followed it until I saw that on top of the front point was a house. It was old and decrepit, but it was still that largest one in the city. As I approached I saw yet another wooden sign, this one read, “Here lies the house of Jacen Gevorian II, the greatest Grad of Maynus. This house has been vacated for tourism purposes”. I decided that it would only be the right thing to break in, though to my surprise the door swung open before I could touch the knob. “Why hello!” a short, plump man said. “Hi, so this is the Grad’s old house?” “Why yes it is. I’m Nomdal Rennav, I take care of the house. You know, make sure its in tip-top shape for tourists,” he said chuckling and lightly punching my arm. This man was strange. “So is there a guided tour or am I free to walk around?” I was hoping for the latter, if not this man would drive me crazy. “Well you are free to walk around, but I could tell you some interesting facts. Like, did you know that Jacen Gevorian II, or as I like to call him, Junior, traveled to Belaham from here on many occasions. It is said that he used underground tunnels and the best part is the entrance is in this house!” the fat man could barely contain his excitement. “Where is this entrance? It sounds interesting,” after hours of searching and searching, I was finally knocking on the door to Belaham. “Well, uh, no one actually knows. It’s just what I was told to tell you guys.” Nomdal’s excitement faded away and what was left was a sad old man. “Oh,” I said, not trying to sound as defeated as he was. “I think I’ll just finish this tour alone then.” “OK, I’ll be outside if you need anything.” the man slowly walked out, leaving me all alone. I was pretty sure that the entrance was somewhere in here. So I searched, high and low, far and wide. I’m almost positive that I checked every room three times. I checked for small cracks, warn carpet or the smell of moist cave air. I had almost reached the end of my patience when I heard a knock coming from the front door, “Everything OK in there?” I heard the man call out. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” I answered back, hoping I could just get out of this dusty house. I decided that one more scan of the main bedroom would be the end of my search. So I walked in there. It was really large, with blue walls and a large bed in the center of it. I half expected a rug to be under the bed as that’s how I picture a palace bedroom to be like. But there wasn’t, just a worn wooden floor. I did one more look over the walls, stepped into the large closet and then gave up and sat on the bed. The bed creaked as my backside fell atop it, and with a few more ghostly sounds the entire thing collapsed and I fell. The fall was much longer than one would expect, much longer than the fall from the truck. It was only when the feet and hands started hitting makeshift steps that I realized I had found the beginning of the tunnels. I was lucky that I didn’t break a bone on the way done, but I knew I was surely bruised as my skin already felt tender to the touch. When the tumble ended I looked forward but all I saw was darkness. I touched the wall in front of me. This wall seemed to be the only guide I had to Belaham. My footsteps echoed as I took my first few steps and the cold air bit at me. The walk was much longer than I expected, but after an hour, the air I breathed felt fresher. Confused, I looked up. What I saw was a blessing. Above me was a large metal grate and through it was the Lahari forest. The moonlight pushed passed the trees and I felt relief. I didn’t know how much longer I had left to go, but if there were more of these in the future, my journey wouldn’t be as bad. Also, sunrise would bring light, and I could finally see what I was traveling down. I continued my trek, and I was rewarded no less than a few hours later with sunlight. Great beautiful light guided me down the path. The smooth walls I brushed my hand across was made of an unknown stone. The tunnel was plain and had very few turns in it, it also seemed very sturdy. Which explains why it hasn’t collapsed in all the years its been inactive. I was met with more grates more frequently as the journey went on. Though most were covered with Kerotrene needles, air still forced it’s way through and I received fresh air. I wish I could have taken full advantage of the sunlight, but I was extremely tired. I mean, when was the last time you walked for an entire day fed only on good thoughts and adrenaline? I knew that a few minutes resting my eyes would be good, I was exhausted... — — — I fell asleep, so what? Like I said, I was tired and the rest served me well. When I eventually woke, I had sore limbs, tender skin and a headache with more intensity than that of a city-wide bombing. The tunnel was faintly lit, which meant that sundown was now upon me. Which meant that I would be needing to use the wall guide again. Ugh, this sucks. I set my hand on the wall to get up but immediately pulled away when I felt a furry substance on the wall. It was a slight fuzz that could only come from one thing, Spindells. I would have bashed by head against the wall for my stupidity, but that would’ve had a horrible, lethal result. I used the last bit of light to look around, and what I saw was bad. The walls near and far were covered in the black spiders. I knew some were bound to be the non-lethal males, which meant certain safety, but I couldn’t take my chances by just killing any that were prone to approach me. So I did the only reasonable thing. I took tiny steps forward, hoping not to make too much noise, which would surely scare the spiders, resulting in my death. This slower trek took longer than I would have wanted, but the spiders were still crawling around me. I tried not to make any sudden movements, but it didn’t seem to work. At long last I encountered my end. I felt my neck tense as a spider cascaded down its web and onto my crown. “Oh shit,” I muttered. “Why me?” I repeated as I reached my hand on my head and felt its fuzz. I knew its gender that second it dropped from its web, female. My heartbeat accelerated and I did the only feasible thing. I swatted the thing from my head and ran. The screeching of the spiders would’ve normally scared me, but as I ran my mind seemed to clear and I acted as most work droids, without thought. I don’t know how long it took before I reached a part of the tunnels without the spiders. But when that lack of spiders came, I fell to my hands and knees, grateful, out of breath and thirsty. I tried to push aside all my feelings and continue on. Luckily, in no time I felt my foot hit a step of raised ground. I immediately knew what I had hit, the beginning of the stair case to the exit. I walked carefully and soon my finger tips brushed against a door. Faint candlelight peeked through the creases, letting me know there was only minimal light at the exit. What the light would show, I didn’t know, but I was excited to find out. I reached my hand out and felt the entrance gently swing open, I then held the door and walked out. Closing it softly behind me. I spun around and saw, well I saw that largest bedroom in all of Maynus. The room was twice as large as “Junior’s” room had been. This one also had more items and less dust. Purple linens draped along the walls added an elegance to the room. I stood in awe until I heard something faint. I looked toward the bed, which was also purple, and stared in complete shock. I was staring at Noover Gevorian. The Grad. The most important person in all of Maynus. His long brown hair and beard concealed most of his face, but when I approached I could see that it was him. I heard a murmur come from his mouth and that was all it took for me to practically run out of his room. Once out of his room, I found myself in the dark corridors of Belaham palace. This was a horrible place to be, as Belaham palace was famous for being a maze of twists and turns. Worst of all, royal guards and SecPol were stationed everywhere. Actually that even isn’t the worst part, being caught and executed on sight was the worst possible thing that could happen. I needed to be cautious if I wanted to live.
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