Do I really want to go down there?  He asked himself and he hooked his harness to the safety rope.  The abyss he was about to lower himself, along with seven other crew members, seemed to draw back against the light in a derisive manner as if to say, “Welcome to Hell,”  He shuddered.

            He heard his name being called, and looked over to see one of his comrades ambling towards him.  He was a silly young man, who had a miraculous, incessant ability to always get himself into trouble; in fact, he had earned the nickname of “Quagmire” because of it.  Living up to his reputation, he got his ankle caught in a rope coil and tripped; an event all but arbitrary. 

            The man shook his head slowly at the boy, and helped him up.

            “Thanks, Mike.” The youth said.  Then, with an air of mock adulation, “You always were the saintly one.”

            Mike chuckled.  “Thanks, kid.  You’re not so bad yourself.”

            The boy explained that he had come over to tell Mike that they were going down in a few minutes.  He thanked him, and the complacent youth hurried off to get himself ready, managing to only stumble once.

            Less than five minutes later, they were scaling the steep wall of the chasm, the thick darkness enveloping them more and more with each step.  No sooner had they become fully submerged in the inky dark than a horribly acrid smell assaulted their noses.  Now I really don’t want to be here… Mike thought as he covered his belabored nose with his neckerchief. 

            They reached the bottom at long last.  One man produced a strong UV lamp and lighted it.  The scene about them looked like a reenactment of the Bubonic Plague with strange looking creatures.  In all directions were skeletons and rotting carcasses.

            Well, at least we know where that smell is coming from.  Mike mumbled to himself, “Come on, and try not to touch anything.” He said to the group, goading them on through the graveyard.

            The confounded explorers reluctantly followed him, wincing at the crunching and occasional squishing noises beneath their feet.  He saw in their faces the distinct caprice of their being there; no longer were they excited, but thoroughly disgusted and frightened.  And of course, Quagmire found himself face-first in the still fleshy rib cage of a huge beast of a creature, which made the poor youth so ill that he could not get up on his own.

            He was given a large piece of cloth to wipe himself off with. 

            In the next chamber was a series of low tunnels that led to who-knows-where.  Choosing the corridor to the far right, they continued on, leaving trail markers every so often.  Forty-five minutes later they found themselves in the second chamber again.  Only something was amiss: Quagmire was missing.  Figuring he had gotten himself stuck in a crevice in the wall, Mike sent two members back through the tunnel to search for him. 

            Ninety minutes passed and they still hadn’t returned.  Mike radioed them, but all he got was static.  Finally deciding to leave a marker on another tunnel entrance indicating which way he and the other three men were headed, they continued, hoping that the missing members would catch up.

            A ways down the second path, one man made a very unusual supplication to stop and rest.  He never wanted to stop and rest.  However, the most curious thing about it was that he told Mike and the other two to go on ahead and that he’d meet up with them later.  Not wanting to stay in the passage they agreed and left him.  They had only gone fifty paces when they heard their comrade scream.  Rushing back, they found he was gone without a trace.

            Unnerved and wishing desperately that they were no longer there, the three men ran.  How long they ran, Mike didn’t know.  But by the time he stopped, he was so exhausted his legs couldn’t hold him up.  He caught his breath and his head ceased its sickening spinning.  The deafening silence engulfed him.  He was alone.

            Forcing himself onward through the crypt-like labyrinth, he finally found himself in a large, dimly lit circular room where a gigantic beast of a creature slept, snoring loudly.  He ducked behind a pillar.  The beast had stopped snoring and seemed to be in a sort of pensive meditation.  Suddenly, it raised its great head and spoke, “Frivolous humans.  You squander your lives away searching for your treasures, your love, your purpose, when it is sitting right in front of you.  Come forth, delegate of the humans.”

            Slowly, Mike came out from behind the pillar.  The beast watched him with its large yellow eyes.

            “Speak.” The creature said.

            “Where are the others?” he asked.

            “Gone.” The creature answered dully.

            “Gone where?”

            His question went unanswered, for he heard a noise in the shadows behind him.  A blurred image of a silhouetted figure jumped out at him, knocking him off his feet.  The colossal creature sighed deeply as the man fell to the ground.

            Mike was thrown into darkness once again.