The Amber Grave
"It was a beautiful midsummer afternoon when we first saw it. I still remember the crisp taste of the cool lake air as our vision crested over the top of the cliffside to see it roiling above the pristine mountain lake. A mountain of iron and earth twisting in on itself like a colony of snakes burrowing through loose soil sat perfectly suspended above the water. Not a single ripple rolled across the water's surface despite the twisting earth above.
Lissa and I stared in silent awe of this incredible sight.
As the sun began to retreat behind the mountaintops in the distance, rays of light cascaded down onto the surface of the water illuminating the entire lake. A single ray slowly crept its way across the roiling earth, eventually finding its way to the center of the mass.
The mass let out a loud groan that echoed across the surface of the lake with one pronounced ripple that quickly made its way to the shore. Three massive stones slowed abruptly. Five pillars of iron slithered into joining positions parallel to the lake. The rest of the soil and iron slowed to a gentle orbit around a dark amber light that pulsed in rhythm with the revolving material. The whole structure slowly ground to a delicately balanced halt as the amber light bathed the water's surface in its glow.
Lissa and I crept up to the edge of the cliffside to get a better look at this incredible spectacle. This almost cost us our lives when the ground began to fall out from underneath us with a great tremble and crash. After we scrambled back up to the top of the cliffside, we turned to see that the amber light now revealed an opening in the center of the lake that appeared to be swallowing the lake above.
A chill ran down my spine. We heard shrieks from somewhere very deep within that new hole. I completely froze. Lissa grabbed my arm, yelled at me to run, and pulled at me with all of her strength. I could not turn away as the legion of terrors poured out of the hole into the sky above. Like an army of twisted bats and drakes, the night terrors filled the lake valley with a cacophony of shrieks and screams.
When I finally came back to my senses Lissa was already running away. I did my best to catch up with her, but she was much quicker than me. Time slipped away from me as I scrambled down the mountain, through the trees, and to the hillside camp that we set up the night before.
The next three hours felt like three days as I waited for any sign of Lissa. You can imagine how overjoyed I was when she finally came stumbling out of the treeline. I ran over to her frantically yelling her name. When I was finally close enough to see her, my stomach dropped. Her eyes were wide, focused, and had a dark stare to them. Blood was trailing down from her ears onto her neck. Her hair was matted with mud and blood. She looked like she had fought off an army in the woods, but one thing stood out that told me a different story.
Her wicked twisted smile.
I will never go back there. So if you happen to find her when you go: kill her. I couldn't."
Hovell McRorty of the Vezrennan Cartography Guild
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