Five years ago a young man went down into the haunted mines, promising to clear it of evil. Today he emerged, covered in ancient armour stained with the blood of unimaginable horrors, glowing of magic. He demands we dig deeper.
“Finally, you’re back!”
Karlof stepped into the wooden mining shack. The ancient metal of his armor, meant for a war forgotten by time, clanked as he walked inside. The green patina of the armor was stained with the black blood of countless horrors.
Karlof looked over at the woman who welcomed him. She sat in a wooden chair, gray hair coming down to her shoulders. Her simple outfit looked worn from years of use.
“You can’t stay here,” Karlof said. “We need to warn the village. We must dig deeper into-” After a moment, he looked at the woman again.
“Mom?” He asked.
“We’ve been waiting for you for so long,” the woman said. “They said you would come back soon. Listen, Karl, a lot of things have changed since you were gone. The government-”
But Karl didn’t wait. If his mother was still alive, perhaps some of the others from the village might still be, too. He opened the door, still expecting the charred remnants he had seen in the vision far below.
He was startled by the loud “FWEEEEEEEE” of a whistle. The head of the whistleblower turned and faced him. Two fiery orange eyes with pupils slitted like a cat’s drew his attention. Above them, rising from the new woman’s head, rose two horns, curling backwards. A pair of fangs pushed downwards from bored lips. She was wearing a sturdy outfit of cloth and leather.
The horned woman looked back at him for a moment, before turning her head and shouting. “Alright, ‘e’s out! You can get back to digging!” In the corner of his eye, Karlof saw the mass of some huge brass contraption move.
“What’s the meaning of this?!” he said, looking first at the horned woman and then at his mother.
“The government was taken over by these Otokyaryi, oh, several winters ago now.” Said Karlof’s mother.
“We lost the war?” Karl said the words, but after years of fighting in the dark recesses of the Underworld itself, he had almost entirely forgotten the fighting on the surface.
“No,” objected the horned woman. “We bought this territory fair and square.” She gestured in a “come here” motion with her hand. “Now step on out of there. We’re two million pounds overbudget and three months behind schedule.”
Karlof just stared back in disbelief.
“Well don’t just stand there looking at me,” said the horned woman. “If this energy well isn’t finished and converting nightmares into crystal rock in the next three months, I’m going to get fired. You didn’t think magic carpets fueled themselves, did you?”
