Dweller

The smell of gunpowder lingered in the air, loud clanking noise could be heard all around. I watched my hand - I think? Raised and swiped off beads of sweat on my forehead. I was covered in sweat and dirt.

I had control over my head and looked around, I was in a pivot which looked like it came off of a cave. I could see shadows of a small person with something in hand swing over the shoulder and with all of their strength hit the ground.

I looked down and saw the pickaxe in my hand. My body then moved on its own and continued mining. I realized by the shadow of the other person but also with how wide this cave was that I was super small. The cave was small, and there was a chart at the edge of the cave that I assumed I created. My arms continued to move mining into the tuff stone.

All of a sudden a loud clunk noise came out instead of the usual sound. I kept hitting the wall eventually revealing a bright orange jem poking through. I quickly then lost all control of my body as it jumped up and down and squealed with excitement. Making some weird noise, which I concluded was their language as the other small human-like creature came into the small cave.

He was small, had no shirt on but had jeans and overall that covered his whole chest only his shoulders weren’t covered. When he looked over at what I was pointing at and he too then bounced up with excitement and squealed. My setting then changed. I looked to be outside of the same cave, not too my shock it was the same one I was just in.

Charts of the same yellowish orange gems came out in charts of the small humans pushing them out. All of a sudden the ground started to shake. It felt as if an earthquake was passing through and even started running away from the entrance of the cave, as everyone in the cave started running towards the entrance.

The cave was collapsing.

The entrance started to cave in as pieces of the seiling soon became part of the ground. Some of the small-humans made it through. While the others were either crushed under the falling rubble or got trapped inside.

I awakened gasping for air, why were my dreams always terrifying! I had sweat covering my arms and forehead. Stray stuck everywhere on my body. The sun was now high in the sky. I had slept all through the night and a good chunk into the day.

After that dream I was even less confident to walk into the cave, now having a free of the cave collapsing in on me. However there was no other way around, and I didn’t like the idea of walking the long way around the mountain. It was just a dream. Someone has walked through this cave so many times there was no way my luck was that bad and it collapsed the one time I’m going to walk through it.

I wiped away any of the remaining straw that had clung onto my body. I picked up my bag from underneath the hay, wiped off the remaining hay and opened the gate. I walked in front of the cave and stared down at it. It didn’t look any brighter than it did at night.

I prayed one last time that it wouldn't cave in before I walked into the mouth of it and continued glancing back a couple of times before turning a corner. It progressively got barker making it harder and harder for it to see. I eventually relayed on the walls to lead me through it.

It was like a maze. There were many dead ends which ended up getting me lost. It was so hard to navigate and I wasn't sure If I was still even walking the same way. I had tripped on stones as my feet kept solid on the ground sliding them around.

The cave slowly started to light up, revealing the end was nearing. I started to walk faster trying to get out of this dark bleak cave. I went into a full sprint as I saw the exit of the cave. The thought of the cave collapsing lingered in my mind the whole time.

I bursted through the cave exit. Looking around out in the horizon I could see buildings that would be where I headed next. Trying to get some sort of directions so I can start heading back home. I slowly started going down the mountain not even worried about using the path. I slowly slid down the steep sides, I reached the ground a lot faster than if I walked.

I went near a small patch of trees collecting some sticks for tonight. I went near a very calm looking river and saw some fish peacefully swimming around. Deciding to change up tonight's meal instead of the usual bunny. I prepared to try and collect some fish.

It was now dusk and I had finally been able to catch a fish. It took awhile as I was not used to it. It was a lot of fun. I got sprayed with water from either the fish falling back into the water or me falling in. Who knew fish were so slippery. They constantly kept falling out of my hands.

I had now achieved a small fish. I speared a stick through it and hover it over the fire I had created. Once I thought the fish was done I took a bite. Only to almost puke it out afterwards. It tasted horrible but it was food that I had earned and was not going to waste.

I devoured it in the evening, paying attention to the rotten-tasting fish. I set my backpack up against a tree trunk and prepared to stare up at the stars for the night. With the weird dreams that constantly appeared I was done with dreaming for a while and would try my best not to fall asleep for a while.