POETRY LINKS

(the first 300 lines out of 2,771 lines)

“My lost friend Avien; you must get through this maze you see,

Or else you will find that your dog food, you mean nothing to me.”

The evil and deep voice crackled in glee at the moment’s chance,

Continuing to pace about the room the dark figure, took a glance.

“You pitiful creature, foul and undeserving child of the light,”

A wide smirk spread as he continued, “what a truly a pitiful sight!”

The figure on the floor looked up at the menacing evil man,

The beaten figure on the floor lay writhing on the floor of sand.

Deep blood flowed from his arms and his chest heaved,

Hands broken, ribs bruised, piercing pain beyond any he believed.

In sputtering words, amidst the blood that filled his mouth and lungs,

“I the pitiful man of which you speak, broken now, yet so young,

I will regain my stature and I will beat the maze before me,

Dregalon, I will be the last thing that your black eyes will see!”

Dregalon stepped forward and kicked Avien, who slumped more,

Avien crawled across the floor heading for the small stone door.

“Avien,” scoffed Dregalon, “You my pitiful, will never succeed.”

Avien crawled into the opening of the maze, as he smirked a last time,

Whispering under his breath, “You Dregalon will pay for this crime.”

Darkness crowded in as Avian fell through the door of the maze,

Slamming into the ground below, leaving Avien in a slight daze.

Avien lay there for many long moments, thinking of his position,

Slowly he collected his thoughts and corrected his low disposition.

Each move he made cause pain to course through his body again,

A move of the leg sent pain so sharp yet he was determined to begin.

“The pain…” he gasped as he finally gained his footing and ground,

Avien looked around the chasm and listened for any form of sound.

The room is darkened with no light except the hole from above,

The fall was long and Avien still felt the pain from the ruthless shove.

A shove that sent him falling into this infernal maze and started the pain,

Yet, in the darkness of the chasm Avien realized he had a lot to gain.

Moving over the uneven and wet floor, which was covered with slim,

The air was foul and heavy with the scent of death, like intangible grime.

The steps came labored and heavy with pain, even breathing was hard,

Stunning pain pierced Avien's mind, yet he never faltered his guard.

Avien moved across the damp ground carefully feeling the around,

Inching across the slick surface paying attention to all the sounds.

In the darkness drips could be heard, as wall as creaks and taps,

Echoes of the sounds bounced off the walls like soft sounding slaps.

Avien considered the echoes and quickly realized the difficulty,

To locate a predator by sound would be beyond any form of simplicity.

The wet ground made it hard to keep a solid footing and Avien slipped,

He went down hard, yet caught himself before he had completely tripped.

Avien found the wall.  It was made of mortar and fitted stone,

He sat and leaned against the wall, remembering that he was all alone.

There was no one else in the defiled place, no one at all,

No one to talk with, no one to answer his desperate pleading call.

“Dregalon,” Avien whispered beneath his hushed breath,

“I will find you and so then ensure your quick and painless death.”

Avien tried to sleep a little as he leaned against the wall of stone,

But, no sleep came and his hunger had since then grown.

Avien stood up slowly from the ground and bandaged his wounds,

Setting his shoulder and binding his leg, as he began to swoon.

He fumbled in the darkness and then found something he could use,

Use as a splint for his broken leg, but the shape had him confused.

In the very dim light of the cavern room that he was in it was hard to see,

Under a touching examination Avien found it was a bone he had freed.

A femur it seemed, long and thick with a notch on one end,

Tearing his shirt into strips he tied his leg so that it would not bend.

“This should hold,” Avien stuttered under the pain of the wounded leg,

Avien limped and started to follow the wall, walking with a limp or lag.

He stopped dead, when his foot struck a soft body on the floor,

Searching with his hands, Avien found the body now rotten to the core.

Avien, slumped in despair at the discovered dead body now rotten,

Depression and fear crept into his mind, as he felt alone and forgotten.

The depression was deep and the solitude was so very freezing cold,

Avien’s mind drifted about in the haze, as the fear took its icy hold.

Slumping to one knee he found the corpse of the fool from before,

Avien felt the putrid and cracked flesh and the bones on the floor.

His hands searched in the lightless room of the dark maze, the fallen man,

His hands reached out and touched metal and then he realized the plan.

Furiously Avien’s hands moved about and disassembled the metal,

His mind working feverously and rattled thoughts like a boiling kettle.

Strapping on the leather, created a sense of hope from deep within,

Avien reached around and strapped the last strap. “This theft is no sin,”

He muttered silently as he stripped the rotted corpse of the leather,

Boldly binding the armor to his body tightly with the leather tether.

The leather was thick with the smell of death from the dead,

“Surely this must be stained,” Avien stated aloud, “dressed in red.”

He chuckled at that thought of his current dilemma and situation,

The chuckled made Avien smile amidst the oppressing depression.

Avien, decided to fumble around a little longer in the darkness,

Finding a backpack, a knife and a leather sheath and harness.

Avien stood up from the corpse that lay so lifeless on the floor,

He began to search the backpack, which proved no easy chore.

It was stuffed with stuff and things and miscellaneous trinkets,

The deeper that Avien dug the more useless were the gadgets.

Taking only what he found to be of use in the maze that he was in,

Avien kept the candles, the chalk, the food, paper and even a pin.

As Avien stood he lit one of the candles that he had found,

And at last was able to see the slim covered and slick ground.

The glow of the candle illuminated the small cavern room,

Avien looked shocked, the room was larger than he had assumed.

Though the light was dim and did not illuminate it all,

Avien could see the spot that he had hit after his unpleasant fall.

Avien surveyed the dead and rotting body on the ground,

It was long dead and worn away by the vile creatures,

Twisted and contorted with no face left and no distinguishing features.

The bones were not bare but still had meat decaying and hanging on,

It looked like the poor soul had not been dead and gone for very long.

Avien looked about knowing that the stench would attract creatures,

He did not know how to use his knife and needed no enemy as a teacher.

With light now to see the ground, Avien made his way faster,

Making every attempt to avoid any unpleasant and obvious disaster.

Avien walked into to a larger room that split into a few tunnels,

Each one split off into a different direction twisting away so subtle.

One went to the south and was smaller than all of the rest.

The largest one that smelled the worst went off to the west.

The only one that looked and smelled reasonable was the north one,

Avien, looked deeper into the north tunnel, wishing only to see the sun.

In stead all he saw was the dim candle that he held before him,

Avien laughed aloud at the magnitude of the light that was so dim.

The simple light from the little candle dances ever so slightly,

Yet it gave a direction of the wind that blew ever so lightly.

Turning around on his heels Avien spun to follow the flow,

Using the air as a guide, Avien decided on which way to go.

The light danced into the west word tunnel, that smelled so awful,

Although he decided it was better than a guess or random raffle.

The hall was wide enough to walk reasonably; Avien noted it was dry,

Not so wet with slime, walking here is easy, Avien did not have to try.

Slowly did the tunnel drop into the deeper depths under the ground,

Still there were the slight and always echoing surrounding sound.

Drips here and small thuds there, always keeping Avien on guard,

The walls got smoother and Avien touched them yet they were still hard.

For a few minutes the hall meandered through the deep,

Avien followed the winding tunnel, as he shrugged off sleep.

He rounded the corner to see the hall wider than they had been before,

Moving still as quietly as possible, he made his way across the floor.

Seconds passed in a blur as the floor swallowed Avien up all together,

“Help!” Avien screamed as he plummeted like lead, not nearly like a feather.

Avien clawed at the stone to get a grip, grasping and ripping without care,

Sand covered him as he tumbled down the crevasse into the open air.

The candle was out and the air was dark and cool as it rushed by,

Avien tried to get a bearing without a view of the ground or sky.

The shock of the cold water rushing around Avien nearly killed him,

Suddenly beneath the cool water, Avien forgot entirely how to swim.

Moments underwater passed on like eternity and time stood still,

As the seconds passed and Avien regained his position in the waters chill.

The leather and metal studded armor soaked up the water fast,

Weighing much more now than when dry in the not so distant past.

Struggling and gagging on water Avien pushed his arms hard to swim,

Pushing the water past Avien forced himself harder, quickly finding the rim.

Avien held there hanging on the rim of the pool of water for a while,

Slowly his horrified face spread the dim light of a smug smile.

He took many minutes to pull himself from the edge of the water hole,

On his back he stared up at the blackness, “black as the feathers of a crow.”

Avien stated out loud. Now that everything was wet, once again had no light,

“What I would have given to be able to see in the deadest of the night.”

His words echoed about the room and returned to him outright,

With the echoes Avien continued his rant, “or even an evil bats sight!”

A weird feeling settled over Avien as he lay there on the stone floor,

A feeling like his life-force was being drained away, chilled to the core!

The draining feeling persisted, and Avien’s smile started to fade,

“What the!” Exclaimed Avien in astonishment as he fumbled and drew his blade.

On his arm was attached by some sort of suction or device a leech,

Or so it felt to him in the darkness since it was within his reach.

The horror of it all struck him only seconds later when he found another,

One on his arm, another on his leg, stripping everything he looked for others.

Six in total sucking away on his blood, the foul leeches remained,

As in the dark Avien carved them out with his knife as he screamed in pain.

He cringed as he cut his own flesh from his bare arms and legs,

Stripping all of his clothes off he remained only in his tattered rags.

Avien could smell the thick scent of the blood in the air all around,

His imagination fell into horror of his cuts that he has now found.

Deep the cuts must have been, since Avien could clearly hear the drops,

Each one striking the stone ground and coming to a sudden stop.

Using the remnants of the under clothes that he had at hand,

Avien bandaged the deepest wounds to keep out the grim and sand.

Using all of his meager strength Avien stumbled to his feet,

His head spun wildly and he had a sudden sensation of heat.

Avien struggled to focus on the blackness that was in the room,

Instantly there was a bright light as Avien felt the feeling of doom.

When Avien woke up many minutes passed in total confusion,

For when waking from darkness into darkness there is some delusion.

He moved his right leg and the his left and the his arms and head,

Quickly he determined that he was alive and not completely dead.

Though the disorientation kept him reeling and off balance for a while,

He simply lay on the floor in a heap all curled up in a bodily pile.

Avien’s dreams danced off to green fields on warm summer days,

Where he would dance and sing and run and forever play.

He watched the sunrise over the wheat in the northern fields,

To the end of the day when the night with the sunset is silently sealed.

The kiss of the summer and the night so cool under the stars,

Memories and dreams wound so tight and so strong as if iron bars.

Plums and cherry’s and apple’s in the groves of the forested wood,

Where Avien in his dreams now in silence and solitude now stood.

He looked up at the trees so full of the fruits of the labor and growth,

Avien did not hesitate to reach out and start to climb them both.

As he reached for the apple of the largest apple tree,

The branch cracked with an echoing crack as Avien fell free.

As he lay on the ground the echo of the sound remained,

And when he looked at his once clean clothes now they were stained.

The crack echoed around through the air of the dreams,

And he awoke with a start to the blackness of reality it now seems.

Another scuffle to Avien’s side sent him into a flurry of motions,

As he was buried in the sea of undulating and rapid emotions.

Instantly it seemed the knife that lay on the ground was in his hand,

Avien spun around as he leapt to his feet and started to make his stand.

The knife felt comfortable in his grip, weighted and balanced so well,

Though his leg and back ached from the leeches and from when he fell.

Suddenly Avien’s leg gave out and he dropped to one knee,

“You, are you okay?” came a voice, though Avien couldn’t see.

Avien felt and sensed that there was not a need at all to fear,

He shielded his eyes from the light that was so blinding and shear.

“I am,” Avien started slowly, “Avien.” He finished outright,

“I was thrown into this maze on this very treacherous night.”

Avien continued even though his breathes were becoming harder,

The man with the lantern took a step closer, “You have come further,”

He paused seeming to wait for something, “than most others.”

The new found companion continued, “I guess that makes us brothers.”

He laughed quietly, “or at least in our cause and fight in this place!”

“What is your name,” Avien asked inquisitively, “may I see your face?”

“Pardon my weariness, for I have many enemies in this maze,

I, am a warrior from above my name is Stephen of Palindraze.”

Stephen paused to see the response of the poor fellow,

Only to smile broadly and let out a tremendous laughing bellow.

“I see that Palindraze has no meaning or note for you,” he said.

Avien was quick to respond, “I have heard of it in a book I once read.”

Avien stood back up from his bended knee, with his new aid,

“You should know, “Avien chided, “When you arrived I was afraid.”

Continuing he smiling smugly, “I thought you were death come to take me,”

Avien moved closer and continued, “Yet I am here as you can see!”

Stephen spun on his heels and illuminated the hall with his light,

“This is the way that I think we should go,” Stephen stated out right.

Avien could not disagree and took a few moments to survey his friend,

He noted that Stephens armor was strong and solid and set to defend.

A large wooden shield on his back also displayed artists perfect work,

Stephen also wore a dagger at one side and at the other a small dirk.

The long cloak that was now pulled tight must have kept him warm,

Avien mused that it must protect in even the most violent of storms.

“You could use some clothes.” Stephen stated to Avien very bluntly,

“What?” Avien retorted, “You do not think my look is very montely?”

Stephen stared at the disheveled Avien and smiled broadly at him,

And begin again to mock Avien, “Your rags are truly a sin!”

Stephen turned as he continued down the twisting hall under the ground,

“We should be quite since, many creatures may be attracted to our sound.”

Avien nodded in agreement and walked as silent as possible,

Attempting solely to maintain the lowest possible decibel.

Always listening out for anything other the echoing drips or drops,

That prevails in the winding tunnels, echoing with resounding plops.

The stench was getting worse as the delved deeper into the cave,

Avien noted the stench was putrid, like decay or a lump of slaves.

Slaves piled high and deep and never washed or cleaned at all,

A stench the penetrated the senses preventing hunger and stature so tall.

Forcing you to hunch over and try your best not to get sick,

Then Avien noticed that the ground was now again slick.

He examined it as they continued down the hall, “Stephen” he said,

“I think that we should look at this,” he continued, “It looks red.”

Stephen stopped and bent over and touched the slick red ground,

Rubbing his fingers together with the slick red; it was blood he found.

“It is almost dried.” Stephen continued as he turned, “almost like plaster,”

Stephen then abruptly turned around and continued walking faster.

“We must push on and get passed this eerie place and stench!”

Exclaimed Stephen, “This foulness will make my very gut wrench!”

The stench became overwhelming and overtook the two,

Air crowded them and the stench as thick, so thick it was like stew.

The lantern light soon found a solitary door in the hall at the end,

Stephen shined the light around, and found no other path or bend.

The door looked as if it were made of solid wood and brass or gold,

It looked ancient in a way, with a sense of being very, very old.

The wood was pitted and cracked in many places around the door,

While the metal was still shinny.  It went from the ceiling to the floor.

Filling the whole space in which it was placed, it still looked solid,

Avien realized that from behind the door came the stench so putrid.

“Should we double back,” Avien quietly questioned Stephen,

Stephen looked at the door, “I say that the odds of either way is even.”

Stephen took a few steps closer to the door, for a closer look,

An intricate carving showed a woman and child reading a book.

He looked closely at it and read aloud, “Walk careful, watch the lines.”

Glancing back at Avien he continued, “For the lines are the ones the bind.”

Stephen’s head dropped in thought over the words on the carving,

Avien piped in, “This is a maze, we should be careful if we plan to survive.”

Stephen nodded in silent agreement as he worked the puzzle in his head,

To survive this game, “we need to solve them or else we might be dead.”

Stephen said in a deep and sincere voice that almost uncharacteristically,

“Thanks for that,” Avien smirked, “Like I needed the dose of reality.”

Avien gripped his sore arm and leg and surveyed his wounds so deep,

Wounds that he would have long after they escape this maze he would keep.

For a long time Avien gazed at his wounds and at all of the dried blood,

When he had cut off the leeches he must have caused his own flood.

The blood had covered his already dirty and foul leather studded armor,

Had flown down his arms and legs to his feet at this point he was no charmer.

He stunk of death, reeked of foul odors and was caked with blood and grim,

His hands were cut and bruised, his arms too, and his feet covered in slime.

He wore the small back pack though he thought it was useless right now,

He also carried the knife and other trinkets and a few days of chow.

A slight shake on his shoulder almost made him jump out of his skin,

“You okay,” asked Stephen, “You seemed dazed.” Stephen asked staring at him.

“I am fine,” replied Avien, although he was slightly shaken by it all,

Stephen turned back to the door, “I guess we should answer its call.”

He stepped forward closer and looked at the door once more,

And found it just as he had when he looked at it just moments before.

Reaching slowly out, Stephen touched the round handle of the door,

He pushed it open with all his might as it creaked across the floor.

The room inside was light with some torches on the walls,

On the far side an opening could be seen breaking into another hall.

“What manner of trick is this,” mused Stephen at the mess in the room,

Avien glanced in and responded in kind, “A trap with the sense of doom!”