Turq | Inlet - Part Two

The following is a vignette of backstory for my D&D character, Turqoise Stormwave, a water genasi paladin. Enjoy!

When Turq woke up some time later, it took him a moment to remember where he was, or what had happened. Part of the problem was that, when he opened his eyes, he couldn’t really see a difference from when they were closed. He could hear flowing water, with telltale reverberations promising he was still in the cave system, but beyond that, he had little to go on.

Groggily, he felt around beneath himself and found cool, damp stone, patches of lichen tickling his fingertips here and there. Reassured somewhat, he pushed himself up into a cross-legged sitting position. He gazed around slowly, trying to make out any details in the darkness, but all he could see was a tiny pinprick of light directly above.

After a moment he realized that this must be the hole he fell through. But it looked so small from here! There was no way he could have survived a fall from that far. And yet here he was, completely unharmed.

Someone else might puzzle about this for some time. Puzzling, though, had never much been Turq’s way. He dragged himself to his feet and brushed himself off. With one last glance around, he decided to call out, to determine if anyone else was around. But just as he drew in a breath to speak, another voice cut through the murmur of the waters.

“Yes, my boy, someone else is here.” The voice was low and harmonious, sharing an echoing nature with the cavern itself. The voice spoke softly, but the words filled the cavern, and Turq felt a soft, misty breeze push against his face in rhythm with the voice.

“Oh, hi there!” replied Turq with a cheerful tone, breaking out into a grin. “Did you fall down here too? Maybe we can help each other get out!”

A deep chuckle rumbled through the air. “No, my sweet young friend, I did not fall down here. I live here. And you didn’t fall down either, strictly speaking. I have invited you.”

“Oh, okay. Um. Mister voice, I’m confused now. Because I’m pretty sure I did fall.”

“Ah, yes, you did. But only for the first little while. I brought you the rest of the way.”

“Oh. Is that why I didn’t get hurt?”

“Precisely.”

A brief moment passed where neither Turq nor the voice said anything. Then Turq shuffled his feet, scanned the darkness again, and murmured, “Mister voice? Do you…do you like the dark? I’m learning how to be brave because my mom says that’s real important, but I don’t really like the dark. leastaways, not this much dark.”

“Mmm, of course. Forgive me, little friend, I have grown used to old ways. Here.” The voice said several more words that Turq couldn’t understand, once again bringing a deeply musical quality to the words. As the final word reverberated outward, light bloomed gradually, coming from tiny mushrooms that lined the walls of the cavern. The light revealed a massive chamber, so large that Turq imagined his family’s whole house could fit in it several times over. The domed ceiling reached easily a hundred feet above the boy’s head.

Turq spent a moment taking in his surroundings, then turned his eyes toward the source of the voice. He gasped, tried to say seven different things at once, and immediately dropped to one knee, bowing his head respectfully.

“Come now, little friend. We will not stand on formality in this place.”