V. The Maiden
"Wanna go explore?!" His voice was high and excited as he rubbed his hands together and looked to the man in plate.
"It'll be fuuuuun."
Silver hair fell in curls to the now steel colored plate that was once golden and Vance looked him over quizzically for a few moments.
"You sure you're ready?"
"OH YEA!" He blurted out like an excited child trapped in a young man's body.
"Been practicin' for weeks!"
And he had been, he was able to take down a doe, and an eagle, with his new boomerang that he had fashioned himself. Not too shabby if he did say so himself.
Vance laughed heartily,
"Alright son, let's go. Where to?" The second word becoming less a joke as the weeks went on.
"Do you know of any cavern entrances?" Galryth leaned in, putting his mapping of the caverns on the table in front of Vance.
"And also...where this is..." He pointed to the rough area he believed to be the spot he had seen in the mines.
And so they're journey began, passing over the different areas around the Fort, making their way to whatever cavern entrances Vance knew of, and one that he was most excited about. In his own mining by his new house, there was a small underground river he had come to, and at its other bank, he saw a stone stairway in the darkness, another entrance! A way to another side of the river. What potential ore would be there? He had to know...he had been mapping every vein and every turn of the caverns he had encountered, and already the map was promising to be his greatest work...these rivers created problems though, impassable, and stopping his progress. This was to be a great leap forward in that endeavor.
He was excited, almost giddy, the thoughts of exploring places he'd yet to be, to delve into caverns he hadn't touched yet. To boldly go...where many (but not him) had gone before...
Strange creatures were at this forest that, according to his calculations, was around where the shaft should be. Things he had never seen before...trees that moved! Trees that could actually attack, their limbs making horrific creaking noises as if in a terrible wind, as it brought its long branches to bare against them. Huge monstrosities, twice as tall as a building and fast, tried to stop their advance, but they were able to make their way below, where Galryth thirstily took to the rock formation with his pickaxe.
So consumed by his obsession with mapping the ore veins that he didn't hear half of what happened next. It wasn't until the fourth time Vance yelled for him that he finally stopped, hearing a strange sound before walking over to join him at the river...was that...was that a flute?
There, across the river, where he had stood a few days ago, there was a woman. A beautiful woman, with long black hair and eyes that glistened despite the low light, they're color as mysterious to him as the ore veins he so sought. She was pale as the moon and didn't seem to notice them at first, happily playing a "little diddy" on her flute, dancing around. Oh...and she was completely naked. His heart bounced as did her assets. It was only the second time he had seen a nude woman, the first was more of a blanket of fat than a woman, and there was no figure to her...no dimensions other than girth. He honestly didn't know woman's bodies could be so..curvy.
Upon noticing them, almost like a startled rabbit, she disappeared into the darkness of the cavern, and they were left standing there, looking after where the visage had gone.
{Insert dirty Vance "dad-joke" here}
The rest of the journey...he couldn't even remember. Like a blur, or a moment in time that his brain just didn't care to recall. All he could see in his mind's eye was that hauntingly lovely figure...and all he could hear was a strangely intoxicating melody...one he couldn't shake.
