Hero's Bane

Chapter 2: Only Getting Started

Steve's eyes shot open after a heavy droplet of cold water pelted his forehead. He quickly sat up in his bed and wiped away the irritating liquid. Through his disorienting daze he had realized just how cold and humid the room was, but upon closer inspection; he wasn't sleeping in a room and apparently he wasn't even in the Inn anymore. The walls were made of stone and the floor was very murky, the interior of his new space was open and filled with random formations; rock formations of stalagmites and stalactites. Steve rubbed his eyes thoroughly but it didn't help wipe away this outlandish illusion, he was definitely inside of a cavern. But how did he get here?

"Hello?" He asked but all he heard was the echo of his voice and the sound of water droplets continuously pattering against the stone ground. 'Where am I? Is there anyone here?' He thought. A sudden alarm went off in his head when finally realized that he was in an open dark space where monsters normally lurked. He pushed the damp covers away and hopped up off of the mattress. Steve staggered around with his hands and arms held out in front of him to feel for the chest that was supposed to be next to his bedside, it's where all of his items were stored for the night. Unfortunately, it wasn't there. His hands only met a cold wall.

It was then when Steve realized he was stranded in a cave without any lights or weapons or any means of supplies, he was starting to panic now with the thought of being surrounded by mobs with no means of defense. Though it was dark; he could still make out the shapes of his surroundings with his eyes still adjusted, the only thing that really caught his eye was the shape of a hole in the wall on the far left of him. It wasn't very open but it looked big enough for a person to fit through, like a dug-out doorway. There wasn't any other place to go except through that hole so he bravely moved towards it with his bare feet, carefully taking his steps so that he wouldn't slip and fall on the wet stone beneath him.

He grabbed the edge of the rock wall and peered through the large gap to see a natural staircase of stone descending further into the cave, there was a light; a very dim glow was softly illuminating the bottom of the tunnel. Steve was quick to head down towards his only means of protection, the only source that monsters would stay away from.

He nearly tripped midway, but he didn't let that stop him from making it down the stairway in a hurry. As he reached the radiant source it had appeared to be a Redstone torch. These torches weren't know for the light that they produced, but for the energy they gave off. 'So is it powering something?' He thought, looking around for any indication of a automatic devise. His quick search provided nothing, it wasn't attached to nothing in particular and there wasn't any Redstone dust to connect the power to anything. It was just a dim torch sitting in a dead-end cave. There was nowhere else to go and nothing to do from his standpoint, so how did he get here? How did the torch get here? Mining in his sleep was definitely out of question, his hands where surprisingly clean and the walls had no evidence of being picked at. So was he kidnapped? The village was filled with a bunch of quiet and scared weirdoes, so that wouldn't be surprising if he was kidnapped. Steve decided to pluck the torch from it's precarious spot and return to his so called 'room' where maybe there would be some kind of button or lever that could be powered to open a passage way and hopefully lead him to an escape to the surface.

As he removed the lit rod from the spot on the floor; sounds of monsters could be heard from everywhere almost instantaneously, especially through the walls. The sudden, loud groans and growls form the creatures terrified him, all he had was his fists and a Redstone torch. He couldn't fight like this, not with so much darkness and the possible horde of monsters that could be surrounding him. Steve dashed back towards his stone enclosure and prayed that he could get out of this bizarre mess soon. He then steadily crept back through the doorway and right over to his bed with caution, making sure no mobs had been occupying the area. He waved the torch around to see anything to help him escape but he came up short. He then proceeded to the right side of the room where he scanned the walls and floors but he had also found nothing on that side either.