Through the Serpent's Eye, an introduction to the Black Lakes of Trumatyreon

Through the Serpent's Eye

Darkness pervaded the damp corridors on the farthest reaches of Matholtyr. Few of the giant Arroae ever came here, even in the larger caverns big enough for them to stand upright. Glùblu found himself fascinated, yet again, by the towering mushrooms that dotted the floor of this cave. Small, nearly invisible specks of light slowly moved through them, from the base of their stems upward into the cap, and then slowly diffusing outward to the rim. Today however, there was no time to admire the slow dance of lights. Today, he had to go the long, dangerous path to the home of the Arroae, the cavern city of Matholtyr, to trade the Pargems in his pack for as much silver as he could get.

And then, he considered as he hauled himself up a particularly steep slope towards the entrance of the next tunnel, he'd have to drag it all back down home again for the Drawers. With a sigh, the finally clambered into the convoluted passageways called the winding warrens, leaving the mushroom chamber to fade back into darkness. This was the hunting area of the enormous pale spiders the giant called Bleachbone Spiders, and Glùblu could advance only slowly, as he had to poke and prod around the many corners with his light-staff continuously. Every now and then, it would get caught in one of the myriads of old webbs and silk threads, and Glùblu would freeze, slowly untangling his staff, quietly wishing there would not be one of the bloated, monstrous arachnids making its way towards him now, drawn by the movement of the threads and tracking him down by his own bodyheat.
The tell-tale orange glow of Oodru's Lanterns was the first sign Glùblu found that heralded the exit of the warrens he needed. Gratefull he did not encounter any spider bigger than his fist, (he had with great pleasure squashed almost half a dozen spiderlings he encoutered on the way), the Darkling's stepped up a bit.

But as soon as he stepped into the mushroom-encrusted archway that would lead him to the first lake he would pass towards Matholtyr, he knew there was something wrong. This small pool usually had at least a dozen Paprabaab around it when you entered the chamber, but the invasive growths of lantern muchrooms illuminated nothing but a still, black surface. Glùblu shrugged. It was probably just a Arroae giant that pased through here, and scared them away, and he had beter things to do than looking for a few missing Paprabaab. He slowly wove his way through the rock-littered floor of the cave, towards a monumental tunnel, large enough even for the Airrihrraoei to use with ease. The slight slope, and gently meandering bends and cuves had earned it the name of the Serpent's Way, even though there were no particulary noteworthy snakes or worms to be found here. The way was easier from here on, and he should reach the great cavern that held the city soon enough. Once there, it was just a matter of activating the beakon, and get picked up by the floater to be brought to the city.

A soft, warm breeze played with the darkling's deep brown hair, and Glùblu froze completely.
The gentle wind filled the tunnel, carved by a river long vanished from the world llong before the first mortal being first stepped foot in the caves. It bore strange smells, and the sound of a distant whisper, as if thousands upon thousands of people were murmuring at the other end of the tunnel. The winds of the World could bear strange sounds through passages from every direction, not to mention the monsters that would glide on them, silently hunting their quarry, but this felt... different.
Glùblu warilly continued on his way to the exit, that would lead him into the safe halls of the Arroae, even though a tiny little voice seemed to be screaming at him in his head, trying to get the Darkling to turn around and go back into the cold, damp passageways of the warrens. It was not untill he saw the shadows moving around the entrance of the tunnel, several hours later, that Glùblu wished he'd done just that, and by then it was far to late. The world was burning.
Flames roared towards the ceiling of the great halls of Matholtyr, and black clouds of smoke obscured the myriads of stalactites there. Some of the faster leatherwings still survived, their high-pitched cries achoing furtively through the sound of a hurricane wind, whipped up by the heat of the flames. As Glùblu watched in frozen horror, one of the largest flying survivors was caught by a sudden flame, and its burning carcass smashed to the red-hot ground only a short way from Glùblu and the tunnel entrance. Slowly, the state of things caught up with Glùblu, and he turned, slowly at first, but before he hit the first bend, running with every bit of energy he had left. Far behind him, the cavern ceiling, heated to unbearable temperatures by the burning oil sea, started to give way.

When Glùblu heard the CRACK, it was already to late to try and reach the winding warrens. A hammer of hot wind picked the little Darkling up, and depisited him at the edge of the small oil pool he had passed earlier. As the flow of hot air picked up again, light began to shine from the Serpents Way behind him, and Glùblu knew he was about to die if he did not find a way to escape the torrent of flames that was being pushed down the tunnels within a few moment. Desperate, he threw himself into the viscous mass of the pool, feeling a strong current dragging him down deeper into the well immediately. As he struggled to keep his breath, all went black as Glùblu was sucked into the swirling maze of tunnels.

Seconds later, the inferno from the Matholtyr lake lit up the crystals of the small cave in a spectacular array of colours, before consuming every bit of life that might have withnessed this miracle of light. When the flames at last died out, nothing remained but caved-in tunnels and soot, with not even the slightest indication that a small Darkling's routine journey had taken such a dramatic turn here only days ago.

To be continued in the next installment of the Introduction to the Black Lakes of Trumatyreon; The Shores of Elbatryon

A few notes on strange terms;

Arroae- Airrihrraoei (Fire-City-Kings), the Darkling word for Trumarim Dwarves.
Darklings- The Darklings encountered in this tale will remind many Santharians of the Brownie race that inhabits their lands. Although neither Brownies nor Darklings have relatives in the surfacelands of Nybelmar as far as the Compendium knows, it is entirely possible that the Darklings are indeed a long-forgotten tribe of this diminutive race.
Paprabaab- strange, jelly-like creatures of the black lakes.
Pargems- Pargems are rare gemstones of great beauty, that emit a faint glow in the same shade as the gem. They are found only in the caverns of Trumatyreon, and the Trumarim charge ridiculous prices for these luminous stones.
Trumatyreon- The Trumarim, also known as the Black Oil Dwarves, have dubbed their realms below the surface of the Disk Trum-Mar-Tyrserons, which translates fairly accurately into Rock(God)-Blood-Caves. In the human tongues however, this word has rapidly been eroded to Trumatyreon, a term nowadays used not only for the massive cave systems of the Trumarim, but also their aboveground holdings.