Chapter One: Road Trip

Once upon a time there was a deserted countryside somewhere in the southwest. On a lonely winding road, a single car traveled containing a group of people on a road trip, escaping the craziness and overcrowded world. Hoping to find some excitement, they had left the main roads and wandered into areas that had been vacant for years. It was a modern-day ghost town.

"Where are we?" asked Oregano, the female companion on this trip. After seeing all there was in Canada and Iceland, she had set out for some variety in the landscape and hopefully to build some lasting memories.

"Not sure," replied Dann, burnt out from driving for five hours straight. He was escaping the world of computers, and the people who couldn't use them, who used him as a resource for help instead of consulting their manual, or calling tech support both which would know more about their problem and probably be more help, but were never used and instead lay dormant while Dann was given poor directions to a house that took twice as long to find then the problem would take to fix, but would never be considered billable hours, and each person would then tell friends where the word would spread faster then a jackrabbit population in Australia.

"Hmm," Oregano thought, "Any suggestions Viscid?" Viscid was a tagalong that thought a road trip would be 'fun'. Underestimating driving time and the possibility of never finding anything interesting, he did not reply since he was passed out from too many slushies. The slushies were the responsibility of the United Arab Emirates foreign exchange student, tagged 'Fahd' for short. No one knew why he was along for the ride, but he had offered slushies, and an offer like that is not to be turned down.

As the four travelers sped down the dusty road, they passed by many old decrepit buildings, each one looking as if they had not been used for at least a century. As curiosity arose in each of the awakened passengers, Oregano suggested a lunch break, which was also doubled as a possibility to do some exploring. Dann agreed since he was tried from the long drive, and Viscid just wanted more slushies. Dann pulled the car over to the side, and unloaded the picnic gear from the back of the trunk. There was an open field surrounded by dense forest and was perfect for a relaxing lunch.

"I'm going to head into the forest for a second." Viscid stated, "I shouldn't be long."

"Ok, I'll save you a sandwich and a slushie." Oregano replied, and then turned to the group, "so do you have an idea of where we are?"

"Not really," Dann said, "there haven't been signs for at least a hundred miles, and all I've seen for hours is trees. I'm sure we'll get somewhere soon; this road can't go on forever."

"Well, I would like to spend a little time here. These buildings could have some interesting things in them; it would be a shame to pass them by."

"Okay, then let's plan on spending the night." Dann said, "I'll grab some things from the car and be right back."

As Dann went back to the car, Oregano wandered off towards an old barn. Inside was poorly lit; the only light present was the beams slipping through the thick seams in the roof boards. The barn contained empty horse stalls on the ground level, and a hayloft up above. Continuing her exploration of the bar, Oregano started climbing the ladder up to the loft. Most of the hay was gone and any remaining strands were home to small creatures. A family of mice disturbed by a foreigner's presence, scurried into a hole in the wall.

Since there was nothing here of interest, Oregano turned around to leave. As she was climbing down the ladder, the stable churned to life. Each stall was filled with a horse. Then a man walk in and started pouring feed for the horses. As he was doing so, he glanced up and saw Oregano on the ladder. She hurried back up into the hayloft and hide behind a wide support beam. After a few seconds of silence, she peered around the beam and saw no one in the loft. Oregano crept up to ladder and looked down into the stable; it was empty.

"Where did she go now?" Dann though out loud back at the picnic site. Fahd just sat there slurping his slushie, trying to get the icy parts that wouldn't go up the straw out. "There she is." Dann said as Oregano walked up to them. "Find anything interesting?"

"Well" she though for a second, "well not really, I guess."

"Okay, then lets sleep in the barn then, it should provide enough shelter for tonight," said Dann as he took off towards the old barn, Fahd wandering after him. Oregano was about to say something, but it occurred to her that Viscid still wasn't back. "I don't even want to know what he's doing," she thought to herself and headed off to the barn. Upon arriving, Dann had set up everything in the hayloft.

"Night Oregano," Dann said.

"Night," Oregano replied.

Fahd would have replied but he was slurping a slushie.

Chapter Two: Confusion

Dawn broke early in these parts of the country, and the birds disturbed a sleep that would have continued a few hours longer. Oregano resentfully got up from her interrupted sheep dreams, and rolled up her sleeping bag.

"Gets light early here doesn't it," Oregano grumbled.

No answer.

A quick look around showed no signs of Dann or Fahd.

"Maybe they went looking for Viscid, or maybe they're packing up and let me sleep a little longer." She thought. Oregano cautiously crept to the ladder, weary from the previous day's experience in the stables.

Nothing.

Outside the bright morning light was a sharp contrast to the poorly lit barn. The familiar sounds of the birds singing gave a brief sense of feeling at home. But that feeling was all too brief; looking around she could not find a trace of life. Even the car that she had traveled in lay untouched. Oregano decided to check the car for any notes that may have been left behind for her.

Nothing.

She was about to turn back when she noticed something odd. Around the edges of the car, there were rust spots. At closer inspection, the whole car seemed older. The tires were flat, the painted faded and rusty, and a thick coat of pollen coated the surface.

"This couldn't have happened overnight," Oregano thought, "It's impossible." But it had happened, and left her deeply confused. Writing a quick note in the pollen, in case Dann or Fahd came back, she set off for the forest. There was much less light once she got inside. The songs of the birds faded away as the clearing drifted farther and farther into the darkness. Replacing the pleasantness of the countryside, gloomy images of gnarled tree branches and wet leaves were spread around. Not even small animals like squirrels chose to make this their home. In the distance howls of wolves could be heard. The canopy of leaves above drowned out most of the light which hindered growth of small shrubs and plants, so the path which may have been there for many years, was still visible and passable. Oregano continued on the path; she had no idea of the size of the forest, so this was the safest bet. The others may have gone into the forest as well, and probably would have gone the same way. Hours had passed it seemed, and the scenery changed little. Oregano felt like resting, but she was unsure of the safety of her surroundings, and if she fell asleep, there was no guarantee of being undisturbed. "A little rest wouldn't hurt," she thought. But as she was thinking, a faint voice could be heard up ahead. Filled with a brief hope of safety, she started running along the path despite the fact that she was more tired than she had even been. The voice became louder the further she ran, until she came to a large gorge where a river once was ages ago. Across the clearing, she saw Dann. Dann caught sight or Oregano and shouted out, but was pulled inside a cave by a creature that she could not make out through the darkness. Oregano rushed down the hill to the other side in hopes of meeting up with Dann. She made it to the cave entrance, and as she entered into the darkness, she felt a cold claw grab her, causing her to loose consciousness.

Chapter 3: Realization

Before she woke up, Oregano dreamt that everything was fine and that had made it out without any problems.

Then she woke up.

Her vision was slightly blurry at first. The cavern was entirely lit by torches, all spread out so you got just enough light to see what you were doing. It was hard to make out where she was in the cavern, but slowly, as her vision cleared, she could see the bar imprisoning her. Dann sat next to her, a bit groggy himself from the experience. Fahd was in the corner, apparently very annoyed, most likely because of the empty slushie cup lying on the ground. Viscid was also in the cage, but not conscious. Outside, Oregano could make out the extent of the cavern's size. There were a few guards lazily sitting by the cage, not paying much attention to the group inside. Oregano moved closer to the edge of the cage to see beyond the ledge that laid a few feet beyond the cage's doors. As she approached closer, she saw the nightmare come true view of the cavern below. For hundreds of feet down and to each side, thousands of slaves were mindlessly pulling ropes, and turning gears. As Oregano was taking this all in, there was an abrupt clang on the bars, as one of the guards hit the cage with his sword, inches from her face.

"Get out of the cage." The guard demanded. As the group walked single file out of the cage, they received grim stares by the creatures holding them captive. Oregano thought about trying to take them out, but there were too many, and they looked like they could hold their own. For now it was probably best to go along and see with they were wanted for.

The guards led them down a dimly light corridor, towards a room with a large number of the evil creatures. These beings looked more distinguished than the guards, and were presumably higher ranking.

"I bet your very curious right now," one of the leaders said, "well you'll figure out everything soon enough." He walked over to a ledge overlooking the slaves pit below. "For hundreds of years, we have taken lost people in. Ones who have wandered too far out of society's reach and will never have a chance to be rescued. Once here, they do our bidding and will do so until they become exhausted or they try to escape; both which end in death. Don't try to be heroes; it's been tried before, and never with success."

At this time, Viscid awoke and started asking questions. Oregano slapped him in the face so he'd be quiet. The group was then led back to the cage for the night. A large bolt locked the door shut.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," one of the guards joked, "at least the poisonous ones. Hehe."

Oregano thought she'd never get to sleep. But it happened eventually.

Chapter Four: The Workforce

"Okay, sleep times over slaves," one of the guards yelled, as he abruptly clanged on the cell bars with his spear, "Time to get to work."

The group was herded out of their cell and down a winding staircase that hugged the side of the pit's wall. As Oregano descended into the void even more of the slave pit came into view.

"How did you get so many people here?" she asked a guard.

"No one ages here," he replied, "you will be here forever." He then let out a sadistic chuckle.

Oregano grew angry at this remark but stayed silent, at least for the moment. She knew that there was no way that she was staying here forever. One of the head guard hobgoblins up ahead was waiting for the group. As they approached, he started briefing them on what they would now be doing.

"Your jobs as humans will be mainly transport of materials. The goblins and kobalds will be in the mines digging out raw materials. They will then process that material and separate the useful metals, which will then be moved to the furnace. Between each step you will join the others and carry whatever needs to be carried."

As the instructor finished speaking more humans, goblins and kobalds started filtering into the cavern, mindlessly moving into position. Oregano and the group were split apart and given different positions. Oregano's job was to pull a rope that lifted raw materials up from a cave so they could be processed. Hours went by as she repeated this simple task hundreds of times. There were times where she thought she couldn't go on, but remembered the lead orc saying that exhaustion will lead to death, so she went on. Then finally the workday ended. As the hobgoblins moved the group back to their cells, Oregano moved past the portion of the cavern where the processed metals were melded into usable weapons. It was there that she first saw the dragon. It was enormous, about 200 feet long and at least 50 high. But a glimpse was all she could get at the moment before the crowd pushed her up the stairs back into the cells.

These were different cells than the one she was in earlier. They were much bigger but also had to contain many more people. She was with only humans in this shared cage but there still was barely enough room to move about. She walked over to the edge and slumped down against the wall. Another slave walked over and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Abbey," she said. "what is your name?"

"Oregano"

"I see that you're new here. You'll need a few tips on how things work here." Abbey explained. She went on to tell how everyone should act in order not to raise any trouble with the hobgoblins and orcs. She also explained the food schedule, work schedule and what happens to people who do not follow the rules. They continued talking for a while until bowls of some slop arrived, and everyone flocked to receive some.

Everyone then found a place to lie down and went to sleep. Oregano sat around for a while but a guard commanded her to lie down, so she did to avoid trouble. She tried to sleep but thoughts of the dragon remained. She promised herself to get a better glimpse in the morning.

To be continued...