DDOlympics: Storytelling: PRELIMS 1

NightofTheLivingCats spoke correctly. I will begin presently.******Forget-Me-NotPart One: At a GlanceIf you can read this account then you are either impossibly clever or have already learned the truth. If it is the latter I offer my deepest condolences and what small comforts might be shared with miserable company. If you have managed to decode this forgotten art, perhaps using a piece of ancient technology, I beseech you to halt this narrative and try, for your own sake try, to forget. I lay with my palms facedown on the bleach-black road, recruiting its latent heat to combat the nipping wind. I inhaled deeply. A breeze brought fresh, unidentified scents, tainted slightly by the musty aroma that gathers in the cracks of the road. I exhaled, and I imagined the wisp of vapor I'd released. I opened my eyes to catch the barest traces of the cloud before it faded into a blue and grey background. My gaze advanced several paces before it halted at a blue and grey skyline--grey from the squarish hollow mountains (we call them "grand caves") interrupting a great faultless cloth of polite blue. Near one of my hands breathed a woman I knew. She was curled like a fetus, covered in rough cloth that she had torn from the wall of a cave. She also chose to rest in the warmth. I flicked my gaze back to the horizon. Why was I here? I knew why I was reclined on the road, of course; warm naps seem to fend off hunger. However, I had forgotten what had possessed me to live so far into the Land of the Caves. The rugged rock formations like the road stretched for days, making growing difficult. I examined the shapely hollow caves, as if for an answer. At the day's end, sometimes the whole Land would catch fire as the caves would seize and loose the sky's fiery hues. I recalled the awe that would sweep over me on such occasions, and a sense of meaning it would inspire. It is hard to imagine such grandeur as accidentenal. I liked how small the grand caves and the sky made me feel, for thier inexplicable scale made their creator seem that much more magnificent. I sat up and walked to the traps. The sides of the road were lined with trees. Beyond those trees, if you know the way, you can reach the grand caves quite quickly. I meandered through the forest, cautious of the roots, my fellow adventurers, who hardly showed such courtesy to my feet. Although I had frequented the path, I managed to gather a handful of tasty tree droppings that I had missed on previous journeys. The base of the caves came into view as their peaks seemed to diminish. The trap I made from a curious entryway into the grand cave marked "S" "E" "A" "R" "S." This grand cave, like several others, could be breached using a three-part system of clear, mobile walls. However, this entrance, as far as I know, is unique. When I first approached the entrance, the wall in front of me moved away from me without my coercion, and the wall to my rear revolved toward my back. My ensuing panic was short-lived, since the walls halted when I had entered the grand cave. In order to exit, however, I had to forcibly push the wall-piece with my arms, like the other tri-wall entrances I was more familiar with. Subsequent trials lead me to discover that I only need step near the wall for it to begin revolving, whereas on my exist I consistently had to rely on my strength. I had used this devise to entrap small, furry animals. I would place seeds near the wall of the entrance, and as the animals approached the bait the walls would suddenly revolve. I had blocked the entrance into the grand cave, so that if the furry creature did not espace the approaching door, they would be stuck in the cell between the walls. I saw one such creature clawing at the blocked entrance. The grand cave had multiple entrances, allowing me to approach the trapped animal. I carried a black hard rod that I had discovered in the cave. I was always amazed at the uniformity of the caves, yet another piece of evidence for Creation. I entered the trap and quickly closed the blockage behind me. I brutally knocked the creature senseless, and wiped the floor and rod with cloth found inside the grand gave. If the entrance were not clean, I found that the animals would become suspicious of the seeds and ignore them. I replenished the bait with the seeds I had found and pushed my way out of the grand gave. I retrieved my case of flammables and poured out some clear liquid from a red carton into a small hole in the flaky ground. I had already prepared sticks and a flat rock in the hole. I found my second rod and began to strike the two together, releasing a small spurt of light. The liquid caught fire, and then the sticks. I tore at the skin of the dead creature will the flames settled to coals. I brushed some of the coals away, clearing the rock, and then dropped the carcass on the rock. The blood hissed. The one who lay on the road next to me approached. She had no doubt smelled the smoke. I gathered the carcass remains into two piles. She sat down and began to eat. "Will you give thanks?" I asked. She paused, looked at me, and resumed chewing. "Please?" I mumbled. She looked at me long in the face. I turned away. She sighed, and raised a scrap of food to the sky. I mimicked her. We both faced a particular queer grand cave. "Thank you," we murmured, and buried the scrap with our hands while we sat. We returned to our food. I stared at the top of the building we had saluted while I ate. Though she mostly focused on the task at hand, she would also occasionally glance at the conspicuous heights of the conspicuous grand cave. I chewed, swallowed, and mused. An enormous clang pierced the quiet. Her head whipped around. My gaze did not flaulter, being already, conviniently, directed at the site of the interrupted peace.******