MagiTale

Underground

    "L.O.V.E., too, is an acronym. It stands for 'Levels of Violence.'"

    These words have repeated in my mind ever since I woke up. I'm not sure why, but then I'm not sure why I woke up in a dark cave, surrounded by yellow flowers, with the only light being the faint glimmer of twilight fading away from a hole far above me.

    Sitting here, I've come to realize two things. First, my head is throbbing and I'm covered in scrapes, so I probably fell in here. Which explains the second thing... I can't remember anything. Not my name, nor where I came from... I don't even remember if there is someplace I came from.

    I haven't tried to stand and leave the flowerbed yet. I keep getting the feeling that if I do, something's going to happen. That somehow, not moving from this spot keeps me safe. Not very rational, I know, but... still.

    After a few more minutes of sitting around, I force myself to rise to my feet. As much as it scares me to move, I can't stay here forever. I can already feel myself getting thirsty.

    I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, enjoying the feeling of squishing the flowers under my feet. Without letting myself think too much, I take my first steps toward the edge of the flowerbed, carefully avoiding the flowers as much as I can. Coming to a stop at the edge, I examine the cave for any possible exits. At the far end, there's a dimly lit tunnel, closed off by a few skinny stalagmites like the bars of a cage.

    At first, I write this off as an exit, but there ends up being no other options, so I step out of my flowery line of protection and walk up to the "bars." I prod them with my fingers a few times before wrapping my hands around two of them. They're cold to the touch, and almost seem to hate that I'm doing this.

    I ignore the chill that's now traveling down my spine and begin pulling at the stalagmites. To my surprise, they break almost too easily and I soon have enough space to enter the passageway.

    As I step through to the other side the light behind me seems to disappear and I'm left in near total darkness. Once my eyes adjust, I pick up one of the sturdier pieces of stalagmite—one no bigger than a small dagger—to use as a defense weapon and creep further into the path.

    It doesn't take long for me to reach the next chamber. It's bigger than the one I just left, but not even close to as lit. In the center, there's a patch of dirt. I decide to avoid it, for some reason I can't really place, and skirt along the edge of the cave looking for another exit. This one is more difficult to find, but eventually I manage it.

    This path is shorter than the one before. Soon it's no longer a cave, but some kind of structure. The ground is now flat stone, instead of the uneven rock from before. The walls are the same, and in front of me is two sets of stairs leading up to the same door. A square of red plants sits at the base of the stairs, with a giant bowl in the center of them.

    At first, I think about turning back, but I shake that idea out of my head pretty quickly and inch closer to the bowl. Inside are some black ashes and burnt pieces of wood. A fire probably sat here once upon a time. They're cold to the touch, so it wasn't recently. Somehow, that's a bit of a comfort...

    My eyes now turn to the door above me. From here I can see two windows as well, and a plaque above the door. Slowly, I scurry up the stairs and peek in one of the windows. The next room is home to a closed door and a lever. On the other side of the door is a plaque, and on the ground in front of the lever is some stones in a funny pattern.

    Before entering the room, I try to decipher the plaque above the door. The symbols on it are strange, and hard to see in the dim light. It'd be some bad luck for it to say something like "abandon hope, all ye who enter here."