Eryphia

The Beginning

In the dawn of time, when men had just arrived in Helmia, a huge majority of them chose to live above ground. The resources were rich, transport was easy, trade was growing and civilizations were forming. The records for this ancient period are mostly lost and the remaining documents are very vague. However there is a legend that survived and was found by modern historians. This is the deciphered version of the document left by the ancient civilizations.

The Legend

Somewhere close to Illerya a small tribe called Eryphia decided they would go down under where no man had ever stepped foot. Nobody really knows where exactly they started digging or what their motivation was in this journey. As the whole tribe went underground with a limited amount of supplies, people expected them to come back above ground to resupply sometime. A few weeks passed and people didn't think much of it. After a few months had passed, someone realized that the tribe never came back up above ground. They should have starved underground as there is nothing much to eat there. A search party was sent down the mines but came back empty handed. As the people assumed the tribe was dead, they held a ceremony for the passing of the tribe. Some time passed after this ceremony and people forgot about this tribe. However, the tribe never actually died.

First Journey Of The Tribe

As the tribe went underground, they had enough supplies for a month maximum. The men were very motivated in the first two weeks. Everyone had high morale and were sure that they would find a place to settle underground. After 14 days passed, some people started to spread worries. They had to still go up to resupply and going back above ground would take some time. Their leader told them to continue mining and exploring. After another week passed, lots of people were scared and were really worried. They told the leader they wanted to go back up. The tribe only had about a week worth of food left. It would take a week to travel back up, so it was now or never. The leader however was convinced they were really close to something. Many discussions and challenges came toward the leader, but he managed to control his men and keep mining. When it was clear they were running out of supplies, they ordered a strict diet of only 1 small meal for each person. This would give them an extra week. The men were exhausted and needed a break, but their leader ordered them to continue. As they reached the last meal. Someone shouted at the leader and blamed him for leading everyone to their death. Being underground and under stress for so long had made everyone's mind blurry and grumpy. The leader tried to solve this problem without violence but the man was getting angrier by the minute. Right as he was about to pull his sword out, one of the miners shouted "I found something!". Everyone rushed to see what it was. It was a small opening, a crack. There was light on the other side. They enlarged the crack and couldn't believe what they saw. A humongous cave with greenery and animals they had never seen before. There were vines coming down from the ceiling that had some weird orange fruit on them. As everyone was starving, they immediately started eating the fruit. It was delicious. As they examined the place more, they realized the cave looked like what their leader was aiming to find. The man that had previously challenged the leader, apologized. The fruit they were eating were glowing, so there was some light in the cave. It wasn't enough to see everything though. So the leader put his men to work to find something to burn. They quickly found coal nearby and used it to make torches. They explored the cave and planned on what to do next.

Life In The Cave

(to be continued)