The Kobold

I slowly open my eyes, feeling a little sore and cold. I suppose it’s better than wet and warm in the belly of that tunnel horror. My eyes shoot open at the memory and I press against the wall, looking for the monster I was fleeing from for… I don’t even know how long now.

I replay the events of earlier in my head, piecing together what was and wasn’t a dream. Being chased definitely was real, no matter how I wish it wasn’t. Being captured by some strange snake… probably happened? I remember being levitated here, not walking here. Is that snake still here?

I look around and don’t spot it, but I do spot three odd little bundles. I slowly approach, and I see they’re mice. My stomach seems to like the look of them, but why are they wrapped in webs? Shouldn’t they be dead from spider bites? They’re definitely still alive, I can see them breathing. Well, it’s hardly the worst meal I’ve had recently.

I eat one and find it tastes a little better than the mice I’ve had before. They’re usually only little snacks and are a bit bland, but I wouldn’t mind eating more of these. Three is a good breakfast, though, and with my strength returning, I also find my mind clearing.

Could this truly be a Sanctuary? I remember the thought crossing my mind before blackness took me, but could it really be possible? The old legends speak of them being a haven and refuge for my people, but kobolds have been scattered and disparate for ages now. Those on the surface take us as simple monsters, and those underneath it take us as food or slaves.

I need to explore. I carefully peer out of the little cavern, and see only more natural stone walls… and little else. There’s not even glowmoss in here. I strangle my imagination before it can run wild with theories of a sealed Sanctuary. With my luck, there’s something so vile in here, even glowmoss can’t grow.

Pessimism firmly and reassuringly in place, I slowly explore barren tunnel after barren passage after empty cavern. Eventually, I can hear some kind of rustling, and only survival instinct keeps me from crying out when I find the source.

The horror is sleeping, gathering its energy to resume chasing me! No, wait… what?! I can only stare as I see a bone start to protrude from its mouth, before a rat wiggles out and finishes extracting its prize. My eyes widen as I finally notice all the activity around what is now clearly the corpse of the tunnel horror.

Spiders, rats, and ants are all busily doing… something… to the body of the monster. I slowly step forward as I see signs of a higher intelligence guiding the actions of the simpler creatures. I’ve never seen anything like this! The only time I’ve even heard of something like this is…

“It is a Sanctuary…” I murmur in awe, my pessimism evaporating. The rats should be eating, not pulling out bones. The spiders should be eating the rats, not helping them pile bones! The ants should be more interested in the flesh, not in the bones of the creature. I reverently walk around the work, wondering how such creatures could fell the monster, when I spot what defeated the beast.

Or at least, its handiwork. There are several pairs of large punctures in its side… so the Sanctuary must have something mightier than the simple creatures now processing the body. Somehow, knowing the Sanctuary has something that could lay such a monster low fills me with peace, rather than terror. If it wanted to treat me the same, it easily could have. Does the Sanctuary accept me?

Feeling more bold, I walk to the pile of bones and select one that I think could make a decent club. I’m not great with a club, but it’s better than nothing. My delusions of grandeur are quickly snuffed, though, as one of the larger ants zaps me! I drop the club in surprise and pain, worried I may have insulted the Sanctuary. If even ants can call forth lightning, even at ant scale, what might does the Sanctuary keep secret?

Thankfully, the other ants and creatures return to ignoring me after I drop the bone. I suppose the Sanctuary has plans for it? Do Sanctuaries have plans? Well, if they’re intelligent, they must have some goals, right? The goals of something like that are surely unknowable to the likes of me, though.

I leave the body of the monster behind me, glad of the fate it suffered, and resume exploring. There are many passages deeper, with writing webbed to the walls. I can’t read what they say, but I definitely don’t feel the need to go any deeper right now. I know what dangers lurk there, and only safety seems to lurk here.

I almost shout for joy when I find a small spring pool in a quiet cavern. The water is crisp and clean and wonderful on my parched throat. After taking a drink, I try to consider what I will do next. I have food, I have water, I have safety. If the Sanctuary is going to offer me these things, I need to offer it something in return.

But what? Offering it my life seems a bit ironic at this point. Well… if it has been sealed, maybe it could use someone to explore some more? I don’t know what else I can offer it that it might actually find useful.

I wander around, doing my best to go places I haven’t yet. I’m encouraged when I spot a new thing that I’m pretty sure is part of the Sanctuary: a slime! They’re incredibly rare in the deeps, and the ones that are there don’t just sit in the middle of tunnels. Perhaps it’s uncertain of the sunlight I can see at the end of the tunnel.

I’ve been on the surface before, but do my best to avoid it. It’s too bright, too open, and too… weird for me. My musings on the surface world are interrupted by the clear sounds of metal on stone. Does the Sanctuary have other kobolds serving it? That’d be wonderful!

I freeze as I come upon what’s making the sound. It’s a dwarf! He’s pillaging the Sanctuary! Why’s he pillaging the Sanctuary?! How is he pillaging the Sanctuary?! It destroyed that tunnel horror, how is a simple dwarf beyond it? The dwarf spots me as I gape, and though he pauses and looks at me, he soon resumes mining some kind of metal from the Sanctuary.

I look back at the slime, wondering if it’s going to actually try and stop the dwarf defiling its home, but it doesn’t seem to care. Not that it’s easy to get a read on a slime, but they usually head towards anything making noise to try to eat it. How long has it been watching the dwarf mine?

How long have I? The dwarf finishes his scarring of the poor Sanctuary, and heads back to the surface. I don’t want to follow… but this is the kind of thing I told myself I could offer. Nervously, I peer over the edge, wondering what the poor Sanctuary has been opened to on the surface.

It’s… There’s so many! Surface dwellers are practically swarming up there! I spot some wandering what looks like an ill-kept yard, gathering various plants. I recognize ochredill as they pluck some from the earth. More defilers! Over at a gigantic bramble patch, I see a catfolk sprinting with a load of wood in his arms.

What madness is that? Who sprints with their arms full of lumber? Who stops and takes a breather only a few steps beyond whatever they were fleeing from?! As I look around, all I see is activity! Even on the roof of that abandoned building there, I see more defilers wandering around, fighting various things.

I’m pretty sure I’m still in the Sanctuary, but it must be overrun! My eyes settle on a large black shape on the roof… and its eyes settle upon me as well. It… It’s part of the Sanctuary. It’s watching, observing, but not acting against the defilers. I can sense its strength from here, it could easily clear them out, but it doesn’t. Why?

Perhaps the building holds some clue. The various defilers notice me as I nervously pick my way across the open ground, but none make any moves to hinder me, thank all that is good. I don’t find any entrances until I get fully to the opposite side of the building, where I see a door with more writing webbed to it. I wish I had been able to learn to read, but there’s precious little time to learn for a kobold in the deeps.

I cautiously try the door, and it opens without fuss. Inside, I can see a multitude of rats and spiders attacking and devouring an endless horde of small creatures, mostly mice and flies. It’s hardly a surprise the windows are so thickly-webbed if that many flies are trying to get in. Across the large room, I can see stairs headed up, as well as a small group of defilers at the top. They head into a new room before they can spot me, and I’m glad for that.

I explore a little more and soon find stairs down, and am all too happy to descend them. In the basement, I can even see an opening back into the caves below, and I’m relieved to be able to get back down there without having to brave the hustle and bustle of the yard. Part of me wants to return to the quiet of the cave system, but I made a promise to myself to pay the Sanctuary back! I’m not going to run back to safety until I’ve surveyed everything I can up here!

Even if it seems the Sanctuary is fully aware of what transpires up here. Still, I climb back up to the first floor, and then up to the second via the stairs. There are quite a few large black birds perched on the railing now, but they ignore me as I scurry past them. This second floor seems full of random rooms, until I encounter something I’ve never been able to take a close look at before.

It’s an alchemy lab. It doesn’t seem the most well-furnished, but it is definitely still a place to brew potions and do whatever else alchemists do. I never thought a Sanctuary could have a lab in it. Am I not the first kobold here? I don’t think the defilers would set up a lab in a random abandoned building.

I leave the lab behind, as I don’t know the first thing about alchemy, and resume my exploring. I don’t meet the group that I saw at the top of the stairs, and once I find a ladder, I’m pretty sure I know why. I don’t want to follow after those defilers, but this ladder seems to be the only way I haven’t looked yet. I sigh and steel myself, before slowly and carefully climbing up.

At the top, I don’t see the group, but I can hear voices coming from beyond a large window on the far side of the room, past an open chest. Curious, I move to it to look inside, just in time to see a rat drop a coin inside before scurrying off. I go ahead and close the lid, and try to process everything.

This place is still within the Sanctuary, but why are there so many defilers? Sanctuaries are supposed to fend off intruders that come to plunder and harm it, right? Is this not a Sanctuary, after all? There has to be some way to know for sure! I close my eyes as I try to think back to the legends, trying to think of something to prove, once and for all, that this is a Sanctuary.

Creatures following guidance is one of the signs, but it could just be something a wizard or a tamer did? Surely they’d want this place to themselves, though, instead of letting everyone muscle in on their riches.

Think, Aranya. Think. Slowly, memories of stories being told resurface in my mind. I can practically hear the voice of my grandfather as he relays the stories of old. Legends tell of the heart of the Sanctuary, something truly vital to it. If you are part of the Sanctuary, you will know where its heart is, and you must protect it. That is a Sanctuary’s true treasure, and one that must be safeguarded at all costs!

If it is a Sanctuary, I’m pretty sure it’s accepted me. I just need to follow my heart, and I’ll find the one that belongs to the Sanctuary. My eyes still closed, I let my feet take me. I almost stop trying, as I get the feeling that it’s very close, but that couldn’t possibly be right, could it? No… it is. I can feel something, and it’s very close. It feels so warm and inviting.

My hands brush against bricks and I slowly open my eyes. I can feel it. The Heart. It’s here. I can’t see it, but I know it’s there, just on the other side of the bricks. I can’t help but smile and just bask in the presence of a legend from my people’s past.

“Sanctuary…”