The Lost City, Pt. 1

At long last, they had arrived. The lost city of Lollapalooza. The two ragged travelers were the first to lay eyes upon it in centuries. Gazing down upon the vast ruins that sprawled throughout the valley for miles, they couldn't help but wonder; how had no one found this place before? There was, after all, carved boldly into the mountainside, a giant greeting. “Lollapalooza”, it said. This particular ancient civilization must have been extremely full of themselves. After carefully making a mental note to themselves to vandalize the monument on their way out, they began their descent into the valley.

The path down was treacherous, the way narrow and steep. The elf, however, with his long stride and natural agility, made it seem effortless, despite carrying an immense weight on his back. He was much stronger than his comrade and therefore carried most of their supplies in his pack. He did not resent his friend for this. It was simply a fact that elves are much stronger than dwarves, and he was content to smugly flaunt this superiority in character. He looked behind him to see that the dwarf had fallen behind again. He could hear, with his incredible elf senses, his shorter counterpart grumbling into his beard, as dwarves are wont to do.

“Make haste, Grywio, or do I need to carry you?”, the elf jested.

“Shut yer trap, Lathandros, 'fore I shut it fer ye,” snapped Grywio.

Lathandros smiled and turned his back once more to his unlikely companion. Their fellowship had been born of the strangest circumstances, and out of necessity, but the elf had grown rather fond of the grumpy bastard. But he could reminisce all he wanted later, he told himself. He must now concentrate on the task at hand. Returning his focus to the path that lay before his feet, he quickly took in his surroundings. They were almost to the bottom.

Even in ruin, the city was like nothing they had ever seen before. The path they had taken to get here was the only entrance. Completely surrounded by mountains on all sides, the civilization filled the entire valley. Even large parts of the mountainsides were covered in the structures of these ancient people. The Lollapaloozans had been a great and powerful race in their time. Their empire had stretched far beyond this secluded place, to be sure. They had conquered many civilizations and obtained massive wealth for themselves. That much could be derived from the history of the surrounding lands. But what, then, had befallen this mighty people? They seemed to have been completely erased from the face of the earth, save for these ruins. An uncharacteristic chill ran up Lathandros's spine. It was rare for him to feel fear, but he felt it now. Something wasn't right about this place...

“Hello masterzzz. We lovez you. We so glad to see you! GOLEM! GOLEM!”

“Oh fer the luv of the gods, Conor, you scared the bajeezus out of me!”

“We're sorry, masterzzz. GOLEM! GOLEM!”

“Lathandros, remind me why we let this good fer nuthin' thing keep following us?”

“Because I pity him. He is the foulest of creatures.”

“Can't we just kill him? He'll probably just try 'nd kill us in our sleep anywey.”

“...Alright. But be swift. We must press on.”

Grywio swiftly removes the disgusting creature's head from its neck and watches the body collapse to the ground.

“That's one already! HAHA! I'm winning!”

Wait til next week for Pt. 2

-Classic