A Unknown Loss, and a Return

[Quavinir_Twiceborn 1050]

 

For the past 13 years in the land of Vailor, a certain homunculus would appear to not be around.

In truth, the pale ‘man’ would not have been seen by the eyes of any descendant for nearly 14 years!

 

Having recently had the Aethermoor mine created, Mr. Quavinir had gone down to inspect the new area, though- briefly he promised himself.

 

You see, Quavinir hated the underground, it unsettled him deeply. The cold stone tunnels, the deep permeating darkness- the idea that there could be things lurking in the unseen, cobolds, tommyknockers, and all sorts of creatures.

 

So with that, Quavinir sought to inspect the mine as fast as he could, checking the ladder down to be alright, checking the supports, making sure all was well. Yet, in his quick inspections, he didnt take notice of any of the pitfalls, and holes miners had dug before he had inspected the area, and due to his own ignorance- fell down one.

 

The only thing Quavinir remembered was seeing the light from the torch he had brought down to the mine appearing smaller, and smaller, as if it was the torch he had dropped down a hole- instead of himself, and that the fall was ludicrously long. 5-...6-... 7 seconds long-...

 

Than it all went dark.

 

And it remained dark.

 

Quavinir awoke to the feeling of wetness all around him. He opened his eyes- yet saw nothing. He flailed panickedly to reach at his eyes and scratch away whatever was obscuring his vision, yet to no avail. Unable to see, he tried to rely on his other senses. Het felt water all around him, weighing on his clothes and limbs, yet he was flat laying on his back, he smelt nothing, and bore no extra sensation on his tounge save for the faint taste of his own blood. Had he been bleeding?... He moved to push himself up to stand out of what he could feel to be shallow water, yet hit his forehead on the top of the low cave ceiling.

 

He was trapped.

 

Quavinir began to panic. He couldnt see, he could barely move, and he was lost in a dark cave he had never been to. And to be fair, he remained panicked for quite a long time, shivering and crying out for help fruitlessly for a solid hour- before briefly falling asleep out of exhaustion. After awaking, Quavinir felt an odd amount of calmness with the situation. He was trapped, he couldnt see, he didnt know where to go, so he’d need to fix all that.

 

For a solid hour,  Quavinir struggled to shimmy his way out of the narrow flooded tunnel, groping along the narrow walls to have some sort of bearing and direction, eventually making it out to a wider space, the tunnel opening up to a cavern. He groped along the walls, feeling his way through the treacherous tunnels.

 

Eventually, Quavinir began to feel thirst again, so he groped his way back to the water he had came from, and drank from the spring water. It tasted metallic, and bitter. Yet, in this return to the water, he discovered something else alive in these tunnels. Moss. And quite a bit of it at that. With shaking hands, Quavinir scratched at the moss, tearing a portion of it from its home on the cavern wall and eating it. It didnt taste good… But it wasnt that bad?

 

And with that, Quavinir had his home, his base of operations. his prison.

Spoiler

 

 

 

With what could be called ‘his day’ Quavinir set off from the oasis of water and moss to grope along the tunnels to find a means to escape, going slowly as to assure he did not lose track of his source of sustenance., and even slower due to a lack of sight. He had to build memory by touch, and touch alone. In the span of a day, he made the progress a man with a torch could make in an less than half an hour, venturing forth, yet slowly retracing his steps back to his abode to drink and rest, repeating this every ‘day’.

 

In truth, Quavinir did not know when it was day or night, he slept when he felt tired, and explored when he didnt. He didnot know how long he had, and would be in the caves, yet he did not think it was that long. Knowing how it is easy for time to seem longer than it is, Quavinir always assumed that it was atleast 10 times shorter than he initially perceived it to be, and his eprception was more than warped.

 

With little more than his sleep cycle, and the occassional commemoration of catching a cave rat or a bat for his meal, Quavinir couldnt tell any time in those caves. Devoid of knowledge of the hour, day, or even his own physical appearance. Quavinir’s hair grew long and matted, his nails grew to nearly claws, and given his already larger than average fangs, Quavinir was a beastly sight to behold-... If anyone had actually seen him at this time.

 

In truth, Quavinir was completely alone in the darkness, surviving in the monotony of careful exploration, doing very little save for walking and drinking.

 

Tp be fair, the only reason he didnt go completely insane due to deprivation of both social interaction and physical sensations was his own imagination.

 

He imagined various and vivid scenarios, both relating to the outside world, and his own state. He imagined that this wandering in darkness was perhaps an construct of his own mind, that the homunculus nature of his body had trapped himself in this physical manifestation of a psychological idea, trapped in his own mind.

 

He fancied with this scenario that his actual body was in fact living a hedonistic lifestyle, partying, drinking, and sleeping with lots of men and women alive. He chuckled at the idea that his body without his mind would somehow be able to bed more people than he was able to with it, that his personality would infact his least attractive trait.

 

Yet this was not the case. All of him, mind body and soul, was in the mine.

 

He imagined that this was infact caused by his shadow, that somewhere in the darkness there was a physical manifestation of the evil and darkness inside of him, a dark Quavinir persay, leading him astray. Nudging him in the wrong direction every so often to keep him locked in this deep dark purgatory.

 

Yet this was not the case. He was completely alone.

 

He imagined that there was a devoted rescue party searching for him, that they were missing him by only a few meters, and that any minute, they’d find him, that his mate would break through the cold hard stone with a flash of light, and carry him out of the darkness back into the light.

 

Yet this was not the case. None knew where he was.

 

And in this manner, lost, alone, an unknown, did Quavinir live in these mines, for 13 years. Believing that it had only been a month.

 

Yet, after nearly 14 years, either by intense searching, or dumb luck, Quavinir saw a light.

 

It was faint, and at first Quavinir thought he

 

He followed the light to its source, a small torch. It was fresh, and seemed impossibly bright, Quavinir has to squint to look at it. THe colors… From the deep brown of the wood, the tan of the cloth-... And the deep deep yellows and reds and oranges- Quavinir felt as if he had never seen such a display of color in his life.

 

Quavinir looked around, to see that he was in an established mine. Supports, torches, a path- he had found his way out.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Running through the mine, Quavinir eventually found his way out, walking out to the resource island. And goodness, was he weary.

 

It was night, and every star shown with amazing brilliance to Quavinir, every blade of grass waving greeting to the newly emerged homunculus.

 

And with that- Quavinir collapsed into the grass. Yet not losing consciousness. He spasmed slightly in the green plant life, his body, and mind desperate for sensations other than that of the cold stone, and the soft grass provided such perfectly. After that, Qauvinir walked to the nearby sea, bathed, flailed a bit more in the warm salt water, and after dealing with his hair and nails, limped to the cloud temple, and ate some monkbread, ignoring any and all attempts with social interaction from any passerby until he had finished eating.

 

Quavinir, was lost no more.

[Kvasir 1121]

(( Welcome back, llir ;) )) 

[1 1393]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.