“When darkness falls, they will come. Powerful creatures with the cry of a child.” But that’s only a legend, right?
Chapter 1
As I walked back from my branch mine, I felt as excited as the day I had found my diamond. The obsidian in my knapsack both mystified, and intrigued me. It has been said that when a ring of obsidian is formed, it will open a powerful portal to another dimension, another plain of existence, or nothing at all. At the time their were a lot of rumours about the portal, and I wanted to know the truth. It was sunrise when I reached the surface, plenty of time to make the portal, see where it went, and be home before dark. I had already picked out a spot for it to go; set into a stone cliff, not a moment’s walk from my house. When I started to place the obsidian, something strange happened. The obsidian started floating in the air, spinning around and round, until it arranged itself around the obsidian I had already placed. It wasn’t a circle like I was going to make; in fact, it looked like a big oval. I took a couple of step back, and felt a jolt of fear run through me. That was when I started to think to think that this entire thing was a bad idea. The portal started to glow purple. Then, there was a flash of black. When I looked again, there was some kind of purple ooze in the center of the portal. I was still scared, but I was prepared. As I stepped into it, I could feel an intense heat. In a moment, I was on the other side. Despite the consequences of making the portal, I still find it funny that my first thought on the other side was “Well, it would be a nice place to visit in the winter”. There was fire, and lots of lava. The ground was made of some kind of red stone, and all around me I could hear strange sounds. I spent what I thought was an hour in that place, but I never strayed far from the portal. I didn’t encounter any of the local wildlife, but I did find some glowing stone. When I came back to the regular world, it was dark. I hurried back to my house and went to bed. I laid there for an hour before I came to an interesting, although unlikely, possible explanation. Because no one knows what is on the other side of the portal, it’s possible time moves slower over there then it does here. That would explain why it was dark when I came back. I sat up, and was getting ready to write down my findings when a strange noise came from outside my window. I looked out just in time to see something white move by it. I ran over, and looked out into the darkness. In the sky there must have been fifty of them; huge floating ghosts. Suddenly, the wall and window exploded, throwing me to the floor. When I looked up at the hole, one of the things that we now call Ghasts, was looking back at me. I jumped up and ran into the next room. I heard what sounded like a child screaming, just as a black, on fire ball flew through the doorway; blowing a hole into the wall behind it. I didn’t even have time to grab me knapsack, but I was still holding my journal as I jumped out the newly made hole in the wall. As I ran, I could hear them above me. There would be a shriek or a scream, then an explosion. I barely made it into my mines entrance alive. When I got out of there sight, they started to make crying noises. From there, I traveled by mine cart to a mine track station, under a local trading post. I thought someone in there would know what was going on, but when I reached the top of the stairs, all that greeted me was smouldering runes. I went back into the station; I got on the railway going to Escher. The largest city on this side of the Farlands Sea. It was going to be a long trip, so I laid back to take a nap. Thankfully I didn’t fall asleep; because if I had, I wouldn’t be writing this now. The tunnel was quiet, but even then; from the oinks to the sword going through the side of the mine cart was only two seconds. But, it was just long enough to jump, tuck, and roll of the side. The landing hurt terribly, and I could feel every bump on the track until I stopped rolling. I stood up and tried to run, but I fell down after only a couple of steps. When I looked, there were some kind of pink zombie creatures running towards me. That was all the encouragement I needed. I jumped up and started running. By the time I could see the light at the end of the tunnel I thought I was going to collapse. After this tunnel ends, there would be a bridge. On the other side of that, would be a forest I could hide in. I was almost there. I could hear them close behind me, but I was going to make it. I was so focused on running that I didn’t notice that the bridge was gone until I was one step from going over the edge. Below raged the Ocelot River; and between me and it, a forty meter fall. I turned to face my attackers. They stopped six meters away. I got into a fighting stance. It wouldn't do me any good to fight them; they had swords, and I was unarmed, on the verge of passing. One of the pigmen stepped forwards. It had a gold crown so I assumed it was the leader. As it walked forwards, I had to make a choice. I could stand here and let it kill me, or... I lifted my front leg, leaned back, and fell. The pigmen let out a horrible sound when it realised what I was doing, but it was too late. I allowed myself to be completely relaxed. I never even felt the impact...
Chapter 2
I woke up to the sound of running water. Everything hurt. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was lying on my back, facing the sky. The water had pushed me onto the bank of the river. I still don’t know how I didn’t drown.
I climbed up, into the forest. The sky was black with red streaks running through it. The forest was dark, but I could see enough to avoid the trees as I walked.
I had no idea how far down river I had been carried, so I followed close to the river, hopping it would lead me to a village or town. The thing that disturbed me the most was the noise; or more accurately, the lack of it. Any forest should be filled with the sounds of birds, or other animals. There was no sound at all, other than the noise of the river.
With no sun or moon to tell the time, I couldn’t judge how long I had been walking. Only the growling in my stomach let me know time was passing at all. If I hadn’t found the camp when I did, I surly would have starved.
Through the Trees I could see light. When I was two trees away, I crawled under the leaves of the trees to avoided being seen. The camp wasn’t much. Just a tent and a fire pit in the middle of a small clearing. Next to the fire was a human, dead. I waited there until I could see what had killed him. In a couple of moments I heard my answer. Pigmen sounds from inside the tent.
I was at an impasse. I needed supplies, but I was still unarmed. I wouldn’t be able to fight a sword wielding pigman. Then, I thought of an answer. If the dead person had a sword on them, I could use that to kill the pigman.
I crawled out from under the tree, and ran to the body. It was laying face down, but in his hand was a sword. I grabbed it and crept up to the entrance of the tent. The handle on the sword was to small for my hand, making it uncomfortable to hold, but it would due for what I had in mind.
The pigman was lying on a small mat in the tent. I keeled next to it, holding the sword in a reverse grip. I lifted it up, and brought the tip of the sword down on its head. It twitched once, and then was still. I checked its body, and found a gold coloured sword. Just like the one the pigmen in the tunnel had been using.
I tested how it felt in my hand. It was nice. The grip was my size to, so I decided to take it with me. Next to the mat was a small chest. Inside it, it was filled with apples, oranges, and cheese. I ate only enough to stop my stomach from growling, and went outside to look around. I had no idea no idea how long it would be until I found more, so that food was going to have to last.
Looking around out outside, I noticed something I hadn’t before. In the light of the fire, I could see that the tree leafs where entirely black, and felt crunchy to the touch. Whatever was happening was affecting not only the sky, but the plants as well.
I didn’t find anything useful around the camp, so I went to see if I could get anything useful from the human body. I took a small knapsack off him, then rolled him over to check him pockets. Looking at his face, I suddenly realized the ‘He’ was really a ‘She’. To me, dead is dead. But seeing the face of the person snapped my back to a more civilized time; that in reality had only been a few days ago.
I left the body alone, and filled my new knapsack will all the food from inside the tent. With a couple of days worth of food, and a strange new sword, I returned to the riverbank and continued on my way.
It took what I assume was two days, but eventually I arrived at Fishing Village. Yes, that was the name of the town. A small town made mostly of fishermen and shipbuilders. Unfortunately, was completely abandoned. All the ships there were either partially destroyed, or gone.
I didn’t want to stay for very long. So I grabbed what little food I could, and started looking for what I needed. It didn’t take long to find it. In the center of town was a note board. It was completely blank, except for a single note, calling for a complete evacuation of all citizens to Escher. Even though it didn’t say what was going on, I was happy to hear I was going in the right direction.
I started walking along the main road; but just as I past the last building in town, I heard something let out a short cry. If it was a baby, I couldn’t leave it in there alone. So, I walked inside the wooden, two story building to try ‘n find it. Inside, it was even darken then outside. The windows were boarded up, and there was no light coming from inside the house. I stumbled around the ground floor of the house until I found an ink lantern. Three years before, Sir Etho Labs discovered that squid ink could be refined into a slow burning oil, mainly used in lanterns.
I picked it up and clicked the spark button. The room lit up in a warm orange glow. I had only over seen an ink lantern once before, and feeling it in my hands brought me back to a happier time. Another cry coming from above snapped me back to reality. I found the stirs going to the second floor, and ascended.
At the top, I found it was almost like one large area, with a door to another room in the corner. As I carefully approached the door, I noticed there were rows of couches along the wall. When I reached, and opened the door, I knew it was a trap before I even turned around. The room was completely empty, with no signs of a child over being there.
I drew my sword as I turned, being thankful that I had the lantern in my left hand. The pigmen had been hiding behind the couches along the wall, and they were now blocking the way out. There were six of them, and even though I had a sword to fight them with, I was still greatly outnumbered.
One of them approached me, keeping its sword pointed towards me. When it got close enough, it attacked. It lunged forwards as I stepped to the side. I slashed at it, but it blocked me with its sword. After that, it was twenty seconds of it non-stopping attacking. It was hacking and slashing at me, and I was doing my best to avoided being hit.
Finally, the barrage stopped. It backed up a couple of steps, and stared at me. I thought for a moment it was done, but then, the other five pigmen started walking forwards. My mind raced trying to think of a way out. There was no point in falling back into the small room. The door way would act as a funnel, but they could still rush into the room.
As they came closer yet, the weight in my left hand clicked my mind into a solution. Ink lamps are very safe, but the ink inside is still flammable. In fact, in the right conditions, it is even slightly explosive.
Using all my strength, I raised my left arm up, twisted my body, and slammed the ink lantern in front of the leading pigman's feet. As the lamp shattered, the small flame inside came into contact with the refined ink in the tank. As I jumped back, and flung myself into the floor, as the small cheerful flame became a burning inferno.
Chapter 3
The pigman that had been there moments before disappeared into a wall of fire. It let out a short, horrific screech. Then the rotten smell of burning pork wafted through the air. The room was nearly completely engulfed in flames after only a couple of seconds. The sweat smell of ink had been replaced by the stink of wood burning, and the air was filling with black smoke. The small part of floor I was on was almost completely surrounded by fire. I had to get out of there before I roasted. Maybe they used different types of wood, or maybe the floor had been treated with fire resistance, but there where long strips on the floor that were not burning. I found one such path, and followed it. The heat was so intense that I thought my cloths would catch on fire. I moved as quickly as I could. At some points the smoke would be so thick, that I had to crawl on the floor. Somewhere ahead, I could hear the sounds of pigmen screeching. I thought they would be trying to escape. But sure enough, one found its way to the small path I was on. The fight felt more like fencing, because if we stepped to the left or right, we would be standing in fire. The pigman was skilled, but so was I. I had never liked sword fighting, but fencing was a hobby of mine. Neither one of us was going giving up. I could push it back, but it would push me right back to where we started. That could have gone on, but by luck a burning support beam fell from the roof, landing right on top of the pigman. I turned around, and followed my shrinking path back to a slightly larger, fire free spot. When I looked back, the roof was starting to collapse in on itself. There was now a large hole where the support beam had fallen from. I thought to myself “If I can climb out that hole, I can get out of here”. I tried to get closer to the hole, but the heat was intense. I couldn’t get any closer then I already was. Over the sound of the fire, I heard the same sound that got me into this mess, a child’s cry. A white shape moved across the opening, let out a screech, and suddenly the floor in front of my exploded. I took advantage of my good fortune, jumped through the fire, and down the hole in the floor. The first floor was hot, but the fire hadn’t spread down here yet. There was a red glow coming from the stairs. I found the door, and collapsed into coughs just outside it. My lungs, skin, and eyes all burned. I laid there, breathing in the fresh air, just as a burning shingle fell on my back. I let out a scream, jumped up, fell down, and started rolling on the ground. The shingle fell off, but the damage was done. There was a fresh rectangular hole in the back of my shirt. The skin under it was a little tender, but it would be fine. I was looking at the hole, when I heard that same cry again. I turned around, and there, above the burning building, was a ghast. I started running to the forest before I even heard it cry again. I ran in a zigzag until I reached the forest. In the trees, it couldn’t see me. The road going to Escher city had a small clearing over it, so I had to walk just to the side of it. I couldn’t see if it was following me, but it was better to be safe then dead. I slept off to the side of the road when I had to, being sure to be nearly completely hidden under trees when I could. Eventually, I reached the edge of the forest. Up ahead, I could see Escher Mountain. But in the clearing that had been a result of over logging, was a huge pigman camp. Campfires burned brightly, casting long shadows. I could see pigmen walking around, talking with each other, and doing random pigmen things. The road was going right through the middle of the camp, and I had no intention of taking the long way around after talking this long to get here in the first place. I checked my knapsack to see if there was anything I didn’t need. It was nearly empty, so I had a last minute snack, and got ready for the best act of bravado I ever had. I calmly walked up to the camp, and followed the road. I had just passed the second tent, when I saw one of them turn towards me. It had a puzzled look on its face as it ran over to me. It had its hand resting on its sword handle, but it wasn’t drawn. I smiled, and waved at it; and calmly kept walking. It stopped in front of me, and started making pig sounds. I stopped and pretended to listen, and when it stopped, I nodded and walked around it. I didn’t look back until I was ten steps away, and when I did, it was gone. I was getting closer now. I could see the road that would take me to the gates of Escher city. It looked like I was in the home clear; and that’s when four pigmen walked in front of me, with their swords drawn. I smiled, and pointed at me, then the city. They looked at each other. That was all the distraction I needed to run around them. I ran as fast as I could. They were right behind me, but the path in front of me was clear. When there was only three rows of tents left, a handful of pigmen blocked the road in front of me. Thinking fast, I took a detour and started weaving around the tents. I must have been quite a sight, because even though I was running around them, all they did was stare at me. I reached the base of the mountain, and continued up the road. My legs were already burning from all the running, but I knew at the top, I would finally be safe. I looked back, the pigmen had fallen back a bit, but they were still chasing me. When I passed the sign welcoming me to M C Escher, short for mountain city Escher, I felt like jumping for joy. The stone brick walls surrounding city still stood tall, the path I was following ran right up to the city gate. Then, I noticed the city gate was down. “Open the gate” I shouted as I got closer. I stopped directly in front of it. There was no way to climb the wall, and the iron bars were too small to crawl through. Only someone inside the city would be able to open it, and if they didn’t, the pigmen closing in behind me would probably be more than happy to take me back to their camp; dead or alive.
Chapter 4
The gate wasn’t opening, and the pigmen were closing in for the kill. I was going to try to run away from them, but there was nowhere to go. Seven pigmen had the way I had come blocked off. Even if I could get past them, I would never be able to bluff my way through the pigmen camp again.
I collapsed onto the ground. I wasn’t only tired after the running, but having come all that way, just to die in front of the gates of the city I thought would save me. A pigman approached with the tip of its sword dragging on the ground. I rolled back and stood up. Regardless if there was no one opening the gate, I was going to get inside that city.
Thinking fast, I used the iron bars to climb out of the pigmens reach. There were several of them below me, but they didn’t climb after me. I looked around from my perch; the bottom of the wall was smooth stone, I wouldn’t be able to climb it. Then, something caught my eye. On the left side of the gate was a single glassless window, probably used for someone inside the wall to observe the gate from.
I edged my way as close to it as I could, but it was just out of reach. I wouldn’t be able to safely climb through in, so I prepared to make a jump for it. I brought by foot up by my hand, curled up, and lunged at the window. My hands caught the solid stone frame, but my body slammed into the wall. I climbed in, and was shocked to see a man sitting in a chair, in the corner of the room.
He wasn’t moving, so I assumed he was dead, but when I checked him, he was still breathing. I could smell the stench of beetle juice on his breath. Beetle juice was an alcoholic drink, not made with real beetles. I tried to wake him, but it was no use. I opened a wooden door behind him, and started looking for someone that could explain to me what was going on.
I walked around inside the wall for a bit, until I found some stairs going down to the ground floor, then, a doorway outside. Inside the city, all was quiet, but down the main town road, I could see light. I walked past the darkened building. Some of them had burned down, of had large holes in the sides of them. Whatever was going on, Escher city had seen its fair share of fighting.
I found the building that the light was coming from. It was the city hall. Outside, the original sign of the town still stood proud, “Welcome to Mountain City Escher. Enjoy your stay.” I walked up the stairs, and knocked on the large wooden doors. After a moment, they opened; and I was greeted by a small crowd of people inviting me in.
We went down to a small restaurant in the back of the building. They had a stockpile of food that would last a year, and I took the opportunity to eat until I was stuffed. They asked me a couple of questions about who I was, and where I came from, but they were respectful enough to wait until I finished eating to ask about my trip there, and what I had seen.
They asked about how I managed to get so far not using the railway, and about what kind of conditions I faced getting there. I told them as much as I could, but I explained that I hadn’t seen anything that would explain what was going on. They all got quiet. A man spoke up and stepped forwards “Have you ever heard of ‘The Legend of the Portal’? It was a book talking about what people thought would happen when...” I stopped paying attention to what he was saying after that; I already knew all about that book. It was the same one sitting on my desk back home.
“What does that book have to do with what’s going on?” I asked, trying not let on that I had borrowed, read, and created the portal from the book. “We think whoever has borrowed it may be responsible for causing all this” the man led back to the main room at the entrance to the city hall, takes a left, and we arrive in the same library I borrowed the book from. The shelves are neatly lined with books; and at the front of the room sat the same librarian that signed the book out for me.
“Hello Gladis” The man said in what I found to be a normal indoors voice. He was quickly hushed by her. “This is a library” she spoke in a whisper “If you don’t want to respect the people reading, you can leave right now”. After dealing with him, she turned to me. My mind was racing trying to think of a way to inconspicuously get out of the room. If these people where looking for someone to blame, I would be at the top of the list if they thought this was my fault.
“You have a book that’s due soon” She said before opining one of the drawers in her desk. “What’s your name?” “How can you tell that I have a book due if you don’t know my name?” I said, realising I should have just lied and said I didn’t borrow a book. “His name is Daxter” the man told her. She ruffled through a stack of yellow papers. As she looks she tells me that she remembers faces, not names.
She pulled out a card that had my name of it. She happily said “D. Daxter. Books borrowed, The Le...” It wasn’t a big book really, just a thick cover and notes on what materials you need, as well as where you can find them. It didn’t say anything about what would happen if you actually made one. That’s probably why there were so many rumours about what it would do.
The people handled the news about as well as I thought they would. They didn’t react at first; we just talked about it, where the portal was, and what I had seen on the other side. But, the more people thought about it, the more they realised I was the one responsible for causing all the pain and destruction they had felt recently; a fact that I did not, and would not, accept at that time.
Thankfully they didn’t resort to some kind of homemade justice; instead they held an actual court case. The second story of the city hall had its very own court house, and that’s where I we had a trial. It only lasted a half hour. A handful of people stood up to defend me, and I even gave a small speech, but in the end the trial was just a show. The judge had lost his daughter in a pigmen attack, and he decided to blame me. I was given a life sentence in the tower prison. “A lone tower standing above the city that will give you a view of the destruction you’ve caused” were his exact words.
A town guard and his wife walked me over to the tower. They had been very nice to me during the trial, and they apologized for the judges sentencing. By chance, the guard was the same one I had seen passed out in the room guarding the gate. Because of how nice they had been, I kept my mouth shut when she started talking about how her husband had quit drinking when this all started, and now volunteered to guard the gate everyday by himself.
I was amazed when we reached the tower. It was a single tower built of the wall. The bottom was originally used for archers, but later they converted the top room into a prison. The sturdy iron door leading into the stair room would be one challenge of escaping. At the top, both of us, the guards wife had decided to stay outside, entered a small room that would be my cell.
The guard told me food would be delivered three times a day, and that there was no escape. After that, he walked out; locking the door behind him. I spent what must have been five hours looking at every nook and cranny for a way out. I tested the door, but it didn’t even rattle when I rammed it. Finally, I sat down. I accepted that I wasn’t going to be getting out of there on my own, and settled in for a long wait.
Chapter 5
I spent three weeks alone in there. I kept track of the days by watching the lights in the houses next to the city hall. They must have had a clock somewhere in the town, because they would turn out the lights at the same time each day. When I saw that, I would carve a line into a brick next to my bed. They put a plate of food under the door three times a day. They always used the same plate, and it always had the same tasteless food on it. For the first week I would try to talk to whoever was on the other side of the door, but they never responded, or gave any sign they were there. I wanted whoever was there to say something so badly that one day I didn’t put my empty plate back under the door; but all that happened was I missed two meals until I gave in, and put it back under the door. I tried my best to keep active by running back and forth in my small room, but that only help to further send me along the road to madness. The only thing that helped stop me from dying of boredom was trying to find a way to escape. I tried pulling on every bar on the window, tried pushing on every stone brick in the wall. I would even kick the door for fun; but I never would have gotten out of there if help hadn’t come from an unlikely source. The entire time I was trapped, I never heard or saw the pigmen from the camp attack the city; until the third week I was there. I heard the sounds of children crying, so I looked out the window. There must have been the better part of thirty of them flying around, bombarding the houses below. I knew that this attack was going to be my only way to escape. I shouted and waved at the closest Ghast, but I couldn’t get its attention. I took my shoe off, realising just how rundown they had gotten after all this time, and threw it at the creature. It hit it on the side, causing it to let out a surprised shriek. It shot a fireball at me, I dived out of the way, and it destroyed the bars on the windows. I did the same thing again, and it destroyed at door that been keeping me trapped. I ran out the now open doorway, and started down the stairs. By the time I had reached the bottom, I had taken my other shoe off because of how difficult it was to run with only one. As I opened the door leading back into the city street, I could hear shouting. I kept my eyes on the skies as I ran, but no fireballs ever came my way. I debated where to run to as I went, but my feet decided to take me to a clothing store. Despite the town being under attack, the inside of the store was peaceful. It was very dark towards the back of the store, but near the front there was enough light to see what was on the shelves. I picked things out as fast as I could; I hate clothes shopping, and settled on a pair of green camouflage with a t-shirt and heavy jacket. I also picked out a good pair of hiking boots that fit perfectly. Going back out into the street, I realised that I had to get my sword and knapsack back; as well as some food. I didn’t want to go back to the city hall, but I didn’t have any other options. I kept close to the building as I went, so that I would have a place to duck into if a fireball was shot my way, or if some pigmen found me, but luckily nothing saw me. When reached to road leading to the city hall, my heart sunk. It was surrounded by pigmen and the far side was on fire. I could hear the shouts of the people trapped inside, but I didn’t know what to do. I needed supplies, and the only place I was going to get them was from inside that building. I ran to the building next to it. I was testing my luck being that close to so many pigmen, but I had to get inside the building. I waited until there were no pigmen between me and a window, and then made a run for it. Just I got to the window, a pigman spotted me. It started to run towards me, but by then I had already jumped through it. The inside of the building was starting to get smoky, but I could still breathe and see as normal. I ran to the library to see if anyone was there, just to find it was the place where the fire had started. I backed out, and ran to the restaurant in the back. It still had food, but I had nothing to carry it with. I was trying to think of where they could be, when I heard a shout coming from upstairs. I went over to the stairs, and ascended. At the top I was met by ten very scared survivors. They had made a crude fort in the court room. Among the survivors was the same judge that had sent me to the tower. I was not very happy to see him, nor him me. “Look” I said as I approached him “I just need my knapsack and sword”. Everyone else moved off to the side of the room. “You caused this. Now you want me to help you? Did they give you that sword for helping them kill other people?” He shouted back angrily as he walked over to the judge bench. From behind it, he pulled out my knapsack and sword, and tossed them both to me. The knapsack was empty. I walked over to the closest person and asked where everyone had gone. She told me almost everyone had gone by ship to Alcatraz Island. They had an underground vault that everyone could live in. The only people that had stayed behind had chosen to, mostly people that wouldn’t leave the city they were raised in. I went back down the stairs. I could see flames coming from the other side of the library door, and the smoke was getting thicker. I ran to the restaurant and filled my knapsack with as much food as I could, and two wooden bottles of water. I didn’t give much thought into why the pigmen hadn’t charged into the burning building until I started trying to find a way out. I ran back to window I had jumped threw, but there were two pigmen standing directly outside it. I went to nearly all the windows in the room, to try to find an unguarded one; I couldn’t. I must have been lucky to get in, but now I had no way out. I went back to the stairs, and found the group of survivors coming down them. The smoke was filling the upstairs, of the building. Even the judge was willing to listen to me when I told him my plan of escape. If we all went out of one window at the same time, the people with swords would be able to protect the people without them. Then, I found I was the only person with a sword as well as the fact that there were to other swords in the building. “Does anyone know any other way out of the building?” I asked with a bit of hope as we gathered around the window I had jump in before. No one answered, so I took that as a “no”. I looked out and saw a pigman looking back at me, whoever was going first was going to get stabbed. The judge was standing next to me, telling me to go so they could get out of there. So, I placed my hand on his back, and gave him a strong push through the window. The pigman went after him; I jumped out and stabbed it, but not before it managed to kill the judge. Out here, more pigmen see me, and start to run over. People are still climbing out of the building, but there are too many pigmen for me to fight off. I tried to give them more time, but in the end, I ran. I ran, and I didn’t stop until I found a hole in the city wall. Once I was on the other side of that, I kept running. I didn’t stop until I was in the safety of the forest once again. Once there, I tried to get some kind of bearing on what side of the city I had come out of. The trees gave no indication on where I was; so I kept walking in as straight a line I could keep, and started looking for a road.
(Some things have come up, and I'm not going to have as much time to write for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to put new chapters up when I finish them.)
“When darkness falls, they will come. Powerful creatures with the cry of a child.” But that’s only a legend, right?
Chapter 1
As I walked back from my branch mine, I felt as excited as the day I had found my diamond. The obsidian in my knapsack both mystified, and intrigued me. It has been said that when a ring of obsidian is formed, it will open a powerful portal to another dimension, another plain of existence, or nothing at all. At the time their were a lot of rumours about the portal, and I wanted to know the truth.
It was sunrise when I reached the surface, plenty of time to make the portal, see where it went, and be home before dark. I had already picked out a spot for it to go; set into a stone cliff, not a moment’s walk from my house.
When I started to place the obsidian, something strange happened. The obsidian started floating in the air, spinning around and round, until it arranged itself around the obsidian I had already placed. It wasn’t a circle like I was going to make; in fact, it looked like a big oval.
I took a couple of step back, and felt a jolt of fear run through me. That was when I started to think to think that this entire thing was a bad idea. The portal started to glow purple. Then, there was a flash of black. When I looked again, there was some kind of purple ooze in the center of the portal. I was still scared, but I was prepared. As I stepped into it, I could feel an intense heat. In a moment, I was on the other side.
Despite the consequences of making the portal, I still find it funny that my first thought on the other side was “Well, it would be a nice place to visit in the winter”.
There was fire, and lots of lava. The ground was made of some kind of red stone, and all around me I could hear strange sounds. I spent what I thought was an hour in that place, but I never strayed far from the portal. I didn’t encounter any of the local wildlife, but I did find some glowing stone.
When I came back to the regular world, it was dark. I hurried back to my house and went to bed. I laid there for an hour before I came to an interesting, although unlikely, possible explanation. Because no one knows what is on the other side of the portal, it’s possible time moves slower over there then it does here. That would explain why it was dark when I came back.
I sat up, and was getting ready to write down my findings when a strange noise came from outside my window. I looked out just in time to see something white move by it. I ran over, and looked out into the darkness.
In the sky there must have been fifty of them; huge floating ghosts. Suddenly, the wall and window exploded, throwing me to the floor. When I looked up at the hole, one of the things that we now call Ghasts, was looking back at me.
I jumped up and ran into the next room. I heard what sounded like a child screaming, just as a black, on fire ball flew through the doorway; blowing a hole into the wall behind it.
I didn’t even have time to grab me knapsack, but I was still holding my journal as I jumped out the newly made hole in the wall. As I ran, I could hear them above me. There would be a shriek or a scream, then an explosion. I barely made it into my mines entrance alive. When I got out of there sight, they started to make crying noises.
From there, I traveled by mine cart to a mine track station, under a local trading post. I thought someone in there would know what was going on, but when I reached the top of the stairs, all that greeted me was smouldering runes.
I went back into the station; I got on the railway going to Escher. The largest city on this side of the Farlands Sea. It was going to be a long trip, so I laid back to take a nap. Thankfully I didn’t fall asleep; because if I had, I wouldn’t be writing this now.
The tunnel was quiet, but even then; from the oinks to the sword going through the side of the mine cart was only two seconds. But, it was just long enough to jump, tuck, and roll of the side.
The landing hurt terribly, and I could feel every bump on the track until I stopped rolling. I stood up and tried to run, but I fell down after only a couple of steps. When I looked, there were some kind of pink zombie creatures running towards me. That was all the encouragement I needed. I jumped up and started running.
By the time I could see the light at the end of the tunnel I thought I was going to collapse. After this tunnel ends, there would be a bridge. On the other side of that, would be a forest I could hide in.
I was almost there. I could hear them close behind me, but I was going to make it. I was so focused on running that I didn’t notice that the bridge was gone until I was one step from going over the edge. Below raged the Ocelot River; and between me and it, a forty meter fall.
I turned to face my attackers. They stopped six meters away. I got into a fighting stance. It wouldn't do me any good to fight them; they had swords, and I was unarmed, on the verge of passing. One of the pigmen stepped forwards. It had a gold crown so I assumed it was the leader.
As it walked forwards, I had to make a choice. I could stand here and let it kill me, or... I lifted my front leg, leaned back, and fell. The pigmen let out a horrible sound when it realised what I was doing, but it was too late. I allowed myself to be completely relaxed. I never even felt the impact...
Chapter 2
I woke up to the sound of running water. Everything hurt. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was lying on my back, facing the sky. The water had pushed me onto the bank of the river. I still don’t know how I didn’t drown.
I climbed up, into the forest. The sky was black with red streaks running through it. The forest was dark, but I could see enough to avoid the trees as I walked.
I had no idea how far down river I had been carried, so I followed close to the river, hopping it would lead me to a village or town. The thing that disturbed me the most was the noise; or more accurately, the lack of it. Any forest should be filled with the sounds of birds, or other animals. There was no sound at all, other than the noise of the river.
With no sun or moon to tell the time, I couldn’t judge how long I had been walking. Only the growling in my stomach let me know time was passing at all. If I hadn’t found the camp when I did, I surly would have starved.
Through the Trees I could see light. When I was two trees away, I crawled under the leaves of the trees to avoided being seen. The camp wasn’t much. Just a tent and a fire pit in the middle of a small clearing. Next to the fire was a human, dead. I waited there until I could see what had killed him. In a couple of moments I heard my answer. Pigmen sounds from inside the tent.
I was at an impasse. I needed supplies, but I was still unarmed. I wouldn’t be able to fight a sword wielding pigman. Then, I thought of an answer. If the dead person had a sword on them, I could use that to kill the pigman.
I crawled out from under the tree, and ran to the body. It was laying face down, but in his hand was a sword. I grabbed it and crept up to the entrance of the tent. The handle on the sword was to small for my hand, making it uncomfortable to hold, but it would due for what I had in mind.
The pigman was lying on a small mat in the tent. I keeled next to it, holding the sword in a reverse grip. I lifted it up, and brought the tip of the sword down on its head. It twitched once, and then was still. I checked its body, and found a gold coloured sword. Just like the one the pigmen in the tunnel had been using.
I tested how it felt in my hand. It was nice. The grip was my size to, so I decided to take it with me. Next to the mat was a small chest. Inside it, it was filled with apples, oranges, and cheese. I ate only enough to stop my stomach from growling, and went outside to look around. I had no idea no idea how long it would be until I found more, so that food was going to have to last.
Looking around out outside, I noticed something I hadn’t before. In the light of the fire, I could see that the tree leafs where entirely black, and felt crunchy to the touch. Whatever was happening was affecting not only the sky, but the plants as well.
I didn’t find anything useful around the camp, so I went to see if I could get anything useful from the human body. I took a small knapsack off him, then rolled him over to check him pockets. Looking at his face, I suddenly realized the ‘He’ was really a ‘She’. To me, dead is dead. But seeing the face of the person snapped my back to a more civilized time; that in reality had only been a few days ago.
I left the body alone, and filled my new knapsack will all the food from inside the tent. With a couple of days worth of food, and a strange new sword, I returned to the riverbank and continued on my way.
It took what I assume was two days, but eventually I arrived at Fishing Village. Yes, that was the name of the town. A small town made mostly of fishermen and shipbuilders. Unfortunately, was completely abandoned. All the ships there were either partially destroyed, or gone.
I didn’t want to stay for very long. So I grabbed what little food I could, and started looking for what I needed. It didn’t take long to find it. In the center of town was a note board. It was completely blank, except for a single note, calling for a complete evacuation of all citizens to Escher. Even though it didn’t say what was going on, I was happy to hear I was going in the right direction.
I started walking along the main road; but just as I past the last building in town, I heard something let out a short cry. If it was a baby, I couldn’t leave it in there alone. So, I walked inside the wooden, two story building to try ‘n find it. Inside, it was even darken then outside. The windows were boarded up, and there was no light coming from inside the house. I stumbled around the ground floor of the house until I found an ink lantern. Three years before, Sir Etho Labs discovered that squid ink could be refined into a slow burning oil, mainly used in lanterns.
I picked it up and clicked the spark button. The room lit up in a warm orange glow. I had only over seen an ink lantern once before, and feeling it in my hands brought me back to a happier time. Another cry coming from above snapped me back to reality. I found the stirs going to the second floor, and ascended.
At the top, I found it was almost like one large area, with a door to another room in the corner. As I carefully approached the door, I noticed there were rows of couches along the wall. When I reached, and opened the door, I knew it was a trap before I even turned around. The room was completely empty, with no signs of a child over being there.
I drew my sword as I turned, being thankful that I had the lantern in my left hand. The pigmen had been hiding behind the couches along the wall, and they were now blocking the way out. There were six of them, and even though I had a sword to fight them with, I was still greatly outnumbered.
One of them approached me, keeping its sword pointed towards me. When it got close enough, it attacked. It lunged forwards as I stepped to the side. I slashed at it, but it blocked me with its sword. After that, it was twenty seconds of it non-stopping attacking. It was hacking and slashing at me, and I was doing my best to avoided being hit.
Finally, the barrage stopped. It backed up a couple of steps, and stared at me. I thought for a moment it was done, but then, the other five pigmen started walking forwards. My mind raced trying to think of a way out. There was no point in falling back into the small room. The door way would act as a funnel, but they could still rush into the room.
As they came closer yet, the weight in my left hand clicked my mind into a solution. Ink lamps are very safe, but the ink inside is still flammable. In fact, in the right conditions, it is even slightly explosive.
Using all my strength, I raised my left arm up, twisted my body, and slammed the ink lantern in front of the leading pigman's feet. As the lamp shattered, the small flame inside came into contact with the refined ink in the tank. As I jumped back, and flung myself into the floor, as the small cheerful flame became a burning inferno.
Chapter 3
The pigman that had been there moments before disappeared into a wall of fire. It let out a short, horrific screech. Then the rotten smell of burning pork wafted through the air. The room was nearly completely engulfed in flames after only a couple of seconds.
The sweat smell of ink had been replaced by the stink of wood burning, and the air was filling with black smoke. The small part of floor I was on was almost completely surrounded by fire. I had to get out of there before I roasted.
Maybe they used different types of wood, or maybe the floor had been treated with fire resistance, but there where long strips on the floor that were not burning. I found one such path, and followed it.
The heat was so intense that I thought my cloths would catch on fire. I moved as quickly as I could. At some points the smoke would be so thick, that I had to crawl on the floor. Somewhere ahead, I could hear the sounds of pigmen screeching. I thought they would be trying to escape. But sure enough, one found its way to the small path I was on.
The fight felt more like fencing, because if we stepped to the left or right, we would be standing in fire. The pigman was skilled, but so was I. I had never liked sword fighting, but fencing was a hobby of mine.
Neither one of us was going giving up. I could push it back, but it would push me right back to where we started. That could have gone on, but by luck a burning support beam fell from the roof, landing right on top of the pigman.
I turned around, and followed my shrinking path back to a slightly larger, fire free spot. When I looked back, the roof was starting to collapse in on itself. There was now a large hole where the support beam had fallen from. I thought to myself “If I can climb out that hole, I can get out of here”.
I tried to get closer to the hole, but the heat was intense. I couldn’t get any closer then I already was. Over the sound of the fire, I heard the same sound that got me into this mess, a child’s cry. A white shape moved across the opening, let out a screech, and suddenly the floor in front of my exploded.
I took advantage of my good fortune, jumped through the fire, and down the hole in the floor. The first floor was hot, but the fire hadn’t spread down here yet. There was a red glow coming from the stairs. I found the door, and collapsed into coughs just outside it. My lungs, skin, and eyes all burned. I laid there, breathing in the fresh air, just as a burning shingle fell on my back.
I let out a scream, jumped up, fell down, and started rolling on the ground. The shingle fell off, but the damage was done. There was a fresh rectangular hole in the back of my shirt. The skin under it was a little tender, but it would be fine. I was looking at the hole, when I heard that same cry again.
I turned around, and there, above the burning building, was a ghast. I started running to the forest before I even heard it cry again. I ran in a zigzag until I reached the forest. In the trees, it couldn’t see me. The road going to Escher city had a small clearing over it, so I had to walk just to the side of it. I couldn’t see if it was following me, but it was better to be safe then dead.
I slept off to the side of the road when I had to, being sure to be nearly completely hidden under trees when I could. Eventually, I reached the edge of the forest. Up ahead, I could see Escher Mountain. But in the clearing that had been a result of over logging, was a huge pigman camp.
Campfires burned brightly, casting long shadows. I could see pigmen walking around, talking with each other, and doing random pigmen things. The road was going right through the middle of the camp, and I had no intention of taking the long way around after talking this long to get here in the first place.
I checked my knapsack to see if there was anything I didn’t need. It was nearly empty, so I had a last minute snack, and got ready for the best act of bravado I ever had.
I calmly walked up to the camp, and followed the road. I had just passed the second tent, when I saw one of them turn towards me. It had a puzzled look on its face as it ran over to me. It had its hand resting on its sword handle, but it wasn’t drawn. I smiled, and waved at it; and calmly kept walking. It stopped in front of me, and started making pig sounds. I stopped and pretended to listen, and when it stopped, I nodded and walked around it.
I didn’t look back until I was ten steps away, and when I did, it was gone. I was getting closer now. I could see the road that would take me to the gates of Escher city. It looked like I was in the home clear; and that’s when four pigmen walked in front of me, with their swords drawn.
I smiled, and pointed at me, then the city. They looked at each other. That was all the distraction I needed to run around them. I ran as fast as I could. They were right behind me, but the path in front of me was clear. When there was only three rows of tents left, a handful of pigmen blocked the road in front of me. Thinking fast, I took a detour and started weaving around the tents. I must have been quite a sight, because even though I was running around them, all they did was stare at me.
I reached the base of the mountain, and continued up the road. My legs were already burning from all the running, but I knew at the top, I would finally be safe. I looked back, the pigmen had fallen back a bit, but they were still chasing me. When I passed the sign welcoming me to M C Escher, short for mountain city Escher, I felt like jumping for joy. The stone brick walls surrounding city still stood tall, the path I was following ran right up to the city gate. Then, I noticed the city gate was down.
“Open the gate” I shouted as I got closer. I stopped directly in front of it. There was no way to climb the wall, and the iron bars were too small to crawl through. Only someone inside the city would be able to open it, and if they didn’t, the pigmen closing in behind me would probably be more than happy to take me back to their camp; dead or alive.
Chapter 4
The gate wasn’t opening, and the pigmen were closing in for the kill. I was going to try to run away from them, but there was nowhere to go. Seven pigmen had the way I had come blocked off. Even if I could get past them, I would never be able to bluff my way through the pigmen camp again.
I collapsed onto the ground. I wasn’t only tired after the running, but having come all that way, just to die in front of the gates of the city I thought would save me. A pigman approached with the tip of its sword dragging on the ground. I rolled back and stood up. Regardless if there was no one opening the gate, I was going to get inside that city.
Thinking fast, I used the iron bars to climb out of the pigmens reach. There were several of them below me, but they didn’t climb after me. I looked around from my perch; the bottom of the wall was smooth stone, I wouldn’t be able to climb it. Then, something caught my eye. On the left side of the gate was a single glassless window, probably used for someone inside the wall to observe the gate from.
I edged my way as close to it as I could, but it was just out of reach. I wouldn’t be able to safely climb through in, so I prepared to make a jump for it. I brought by foot up by my hand, curled up, and lunged at the window. My hands caught the solid stone frame, but my body slammed into the wall. I climbed in, and was shocked to see a man sitting in a chair, in the corner of the room.
He wasn’t moving, so I assumed he was dead, but when I checked him, he was still breathing. I could smell the stench of beetle juice on his breath. Beetle juice was an alcoholic drink, not made with real beetles. I tried to wake him, but it was no use. I opened a wooden door behind him, and started looking for someone that could explain to me what was going on.
I walked around inside the wall for a bit, until I found some stairs going down to the ground floor, then, a doorway outside. Inside the city, all was quiet, but down the main town road, I could see light. I walked past the darkened building. Some of them had burned down, of had large holes in the sides of them. Whatever was going on, Escher city had seen its fair share of fighting.
I found the building that the light was coming from. It was the city hall. Outside, the original sign of the town still stood proud, “Welcome to Mountain City Escher. Enjoy your stay.” I walked up the stairs, and knocked on the large wooden doors. After a moment, they opened; and I was greeted by a small crowd of people inviting me in.
We went down to a small restaurant in the back of the building. They had a stockpile of food that would last a year, and I took the opportunity to eat until I was stuffed. They asked me a couple of questions about who I was, and where I came from, but they were respectful enough to wait until I finished eating to ask about my trip there, and what I had seen.
They asked about how I managed to get so far not using the railway, and about what kind of conditions I faced getting there. I told them as much as I could, but I explained that I hadn’t seen anything that would explain what was going on. They all got quiet. A man spoke up and stepped forwards “Have you ever heard of ‘The Legend of the Portal’? It was a book talking about what people thought would happen when...” I stopped paying attention to what he was saying after that; I already knew all about that book. It was the same one sitting on my desk back home.
“What does that book have to do with what’s going on?” I asked, trying not let on that I had borrowed, read, and created the portal from the book. “We think whoever has borrowed it may be responsible for causing all this” the man led back to the main room at the entrance to the city hall, takes a left, and we arrive in the same library I borrowed the book from. The shelves are neatly lined with books; and at the front of the room sat the same librarian that signed the book out for me.
“Hello Gladis” The man said in what I found to be a normal indoors voice. He was quickly hushed by her. “This is a library” she spoke in a whisper “If you don’t want to respect the people reading, you can leave right now”. After dealing with him, she turned to me. My mind was racing trying to think of a way to inconspicuously get out of the room. If these people where looking for someone to blame, I would be at the top of the list if they thought this was my fault.
“You have a book that’s due soon” She said before opining one of the drawers in her desk. “What’s your name?” “How can you tell that I have a book due if you don’t know my name?” I said, realising I should have just lied and said I didn’t borrow a book. “His name is Daxter” the man told her. She ruffled through a stack of yellow papers. As she looks she tells me that she remembers faces, not names.
She pulled out a card that had my name of it. She happily said “D. Daxter. Books borrowed, The Le...” It wasn’t a big book really, just a thick cover and notes on what materials you need, as well as where you can find them. It didn’t say anything about what would happen if you actually made one. That’s probably why there were so many rumours about what it would do.
The people handled the news about as well as I thought they would. They didn’t react at first; we just talked about it, where the portal was, and what I had seen on the other side. But, the more people thought about it, the more they realised I was the one responsible for causing all the pain and destruction they had felt recently; a fact that I did not, and would not, accept at that time.
Thankfully they didn’t resort to some kind of homemade justice; instead they held an actual court case. The second story of the city hall had its very own court house, and that’s where I we had a trial. It only lasted a half hour. A handful of people stood up to defend me, and I even gave a small speech, but in the end the trial was just a show. The judge had lost his daughter in a pigmen attack, and he decided to blame me. I was given a life sentence in the tower prison. “A lone tower standing above the city that will give you a view of the destruction you’ve caused” were his exact words.
A town guard and his wife walked me over to the tower. They had been very nice to me during the trial, and they apologized for the judges sentencing. By chance, the guard was the same one I had seen passed out in the room guarding the gate. Because of how nice they had been, I kept my mouth shut when she started talking about how her husband had quit drinking when this all started, and now volunteered to guard the gate everyday by himself.
I was amazed when we reached the tower. It was a single tower built of the wall. The bottom was originally used for archers, but later they converted the top room into a prison. The sturdy iron door leading into the stair room would be one challenge of escaping. At the top, both of us, the guards wife had decided to stay outside, entered a small room that would be my cell.
The guard told me food would be delivered three times a day, and that there was no escape. After that, he walked out; locking the door behind him. I spent what must have been five hours looking at every nook and cranny for a way out. I tested the door, but it didn’t even rattle when I rammed it. Finally, I sat down. I accepted that I wasn’t going to be getting out of there on my own, and settled in for a long wait.
Chapter 5
I spent three weeks alone in there. I kept track of the days by watching the lights in the houses next to the city hall. They must have had a clock somewhere in the town, because they would turn out the lights at the same time each day. When I saw that, I would carve a line into a brick next to my bed.
They put a plate of food under the door three times a day. They always used the same plate, and it always had the same tasteless food on it. For the first week I would try to talk to whoever was on the other side of the door, but they never responded, or gave any sign they were there.
I wanted whoever was there to say something so badly that one day I didn’t put my empty plate back under the door; but all that happened was I missed two meals until I gave in, and put it back under the door.
I tried my best to keep active by running back and forth in my small room, but that only help to further send me along the road to madness. The only thing that helped stop me from dying of boredom was trying to find a way to escape. I tried pulling on every bar on the window, tried pushing on every stone brick in the wall. I would even kick the door for fun; but I never would have gotten out of there if help hadn’t come from an unlikely source.
The entire time I was trapped, I never heard or saw the pigmen from the camp attack the city; until the third week I was there. I heard the sounds of children crying, so I looked out the window. There must have been the better part of thirty of them flying around, bombarding the houses below. I knew that this attack was going to be my only way to escape. I shouted and waved at the closest Ghast, but I couldn’t get its attention. I took my shoe off, realising just how rundown they had gotten after all this time, and threw it at the creature. It hit it on the side, causing it to let out a surprised shriek. It shot a fireball at me, I dived out of the way, and it destroyed the bars on the windows. I did the same thing again, and it destroyed at door that been keeping me trapped.
I ran out the now open doorway, and started down the stairs. By the time I had reached the bottom, I had taken my other shoe off because of how difficult it was to run with only one. As I opened the door leading back into the city street, I could hear shouting. I kept my eyes on the skies as I ran, but no fireballs ever came my way. I debated where to run to as I went, but my feet decided to take me to a clothing store.
Despite the town being under attack, the inside of the store was peaceful. It was very dark towards the back of the store, but near the front there was enough light to see what was on the shelves. I picked things out as fast as I could; I hate clothes shopping, and settled on a pair of green camouflage with a t-shirt and heavy jacket. I also picked out a good pair of hiking boots that fit perfectly.
Going back out into the street, I realised that I had to get my sword and knapsack back; as well as some food. I didn’t want to go back to the city hall, but I didn’t have any other options. I kept close to the building as I went, so that I would have a place to duck into if a fireball was shot my way, or if some pigmen found me, but luckily nothing saw me. When reached to road leading to the city hall, my heart sunk. It was surrounded by pigmen and the far side was on fire. I could hear the shouts of the people trapped inside, but I didn’t know what to do. I needed supplies, and the only place I was going to get them was from inside that building.
I ran to the building next to it. I was testing my luck being that close to so many pigmen, but I had to get inside the building. I waited until there were no pigmen between me and a window, and then made a run for it. Just I got to the window, a pigman spotted me. It started to run towards me, but by then I had already jumped through it.
The inside of the building was starting to get smoky, but I could still breathe and see as normal. I ran to the library to see if anyone was there, just to find it was the place where the fire had started. I backed out, and ran to the restaurant in the back. It still had food, but I had nothing to carry it with. I was trying to think of where they could be, when I heard a shout coming from upstairs. I went over to the stairs, and ascended.
At the top I was met by ten very scared survivors. They had made a crude fort in the court room. Among the survivors was the same judge that had sent me to the tower. I was not very happy to see him, nor him me. “Look” I said as I approached him “I just need my knapsack and sword”. Everyone else moved off to the side of the room. “You caused this. Now you want me to help you? Did they give you that sword for helping them kill other people?” He shouted back angrily as he walked over to the judge bench. From behind it, he pulled out my knapsack and sword, and tossed them both to me. The knapsack was empty.
I walked over to the closest person and asked where everyone had gone. She told me almost everyone had gone by ship to Alcatraz Island. They had an underground vault that everyone could live in. The only people that had stayed behind had chosen to, mostly people that wouldn’t leave the city they were raised in.
I went back down the stairs. I could see flames coming from the other side of the library door, and the smoke was getting thicker. I ran to the restaurant and filled my knapsack with as much food as I could, and two wooden bottles of water. I didn’t give much thought into why the pigmen hadn’t charged into the burning building until I started trying to find a way out. I ran back to window I had jumped threw, but there were two pigmen standing directly outside it.
I went to nearly all the windows in the room, to try to find an unguarded one; I couldn’t. I must have been lucky to get in, but now I had no way out. I went back to the stairs, and found the group of survivors coming down them. The smoke was filling the upstairs, of the building. Even the judge was willing to listen to me when I told him my plan of escape. If we all went out of one window at the same time, the people with swords would be able to protect the people without them. Then, I found I was the only person with a sword as well as the fact that there were to other swords in the building.
“Does anyone know any other way out of the building?” I asked with a bit of hope as we gathered around the window I had jump in before. No one answered, so I took that as a “no”. I looked out and saw a pigman looking back at me, whoever was going first was going to get stabbed. The judge was standing next to me, telling me to go so they could get out of there. So, I placed my hand on his back, and gave him a strong push through the window.
The pigman went after him; I jumped out and stabbed it, but not before it managed to kill the judge. Out here, more pigmen see me, and start to run over. People are still climbing out of the building, but there are too many pigmen for me to fight off. I tried to give them more time, but in the end, I ran. I ran, and I didn’t stop until I found a hole in the city wall. Once I was on the other side of that, I kept running.
I didn’t stop until I was in the safety of the forest once again. Once there, I tried to get some kind of bearing on what side of the city I had come out of. The trees gave no indication on where I was; so I kept walking in as straight a line I could keep, and started looking for a road.
(Some things have come up, and I'm not going to have as much time to write for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to put new chapters up when I finish them.)
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