Laska's slide finally came to a stop in a room near a small tunnel. Her armor was covered with wet mud and blood, although the smell of death was becoming very intoxicating. But she shrugged it off. This was not the time. She was surrounded by powerful creatures and survival was a bigger issue than revelling in her bloodlust.

She checked her body and thankfully found she had no broken bones, but merely a few bruises. Looking up, she did notice, however, that there was now a solid granite ceiling over her head. Only one way to go, she considered.

After commanding her aching body, somewhat stiff and unresponsive from the fall, to stand up, she slowly made her way into the tunnel with the light in the distance beckoning her. It was narrow and dark, but Laska pushed through. While waving her sword in front of her to keep herself from bumping into thinks in the dark, she came to the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a wall. Luckily, a single brick in the badly masoned wall seemed to have fallen through. Laska wouldn't be deterred and a swift kick to the wall loosened the bricks enough to be pushed through... but as soon as she actually entered the room, she wished that she hadn't.

In a room which obviously was part of the monastery they had entered earlier, lay the remains of hundreds of young children, unceremoniously stacked upon each other as if discarded like mere waste. No doubt the priestesses had stashed them her to hide any evidence of their involvement with the disappearance of these poor children. The stench of death and decay is this room was overwhelming, but they idea that so many children had met their gruesome end hit her like a slap in the face. The smell finally became too much to bear. After being careful to find a spot where there were no bodies, Laska pressed her shoulder against an old doorpost and quietly wrenched out the few things she had eaten this morning.

Great sorrow mixed with great surprise when the stench was suddenly completely absent. The giggles of a playful child echoed through the room. Being careful to keep herself from stepping on one of the ancient bones, Laska continued on her path through the narrow chambers. And there she found a child, the same child she had met in the streets earlier, giggling as she lay down several cards while sitting in front of a semi-circle of one positioned skeleton and two bodies still in a state of decay.

"No, silly," the girl giggled as she spoke to the skeleton. "Two pairs of Rothe. You won! Congrats."

"And you," the girl spoke to one of the decaying children, "if I catch you cheating again, I will never play with you again, so there, hllll," extending her tongue in his direction. "Nah, just kidding, I'll play with you."

"Um, hello?" Laska asked, finding this whole scene too strange for words.

"Hi!" the girl said, not turning around. "Nice of you to come down and play with me! Oh, and these are my friends Vala, Allaria and Yafein," she said while pointing at the remains. "Don't mind them, they're very chatty and cheerful all the time."

"Uh, yes," Laska said as she watched the blissfully empty eyesockets of the skeletal girl. "I can, um, see that."

"You can?!" the girl grinned as she turned around to Laska. "Most people can't."

"Well, um, I, um, am talented."

"Oh, okay.... you're no Drow, though, so you must be nice."

"How did you know?" Laska said. "My disguise is supposed to be full-proof."

"Oh, I can see right you... through everybody, really... See all the stuff inside, the blood, the bones, the mind... Your mind isn't so nice. It could be nice, but it isn't at the moment. But at least you're no Drow."

"Drow?"

"Drow is a bad thing. Drow do bad things... I don't like bad things, so I don't like Drow."

"You hate Drow?" Laska asked. "But you are a Drow."

A long silence fell over the girl as she regarded Laska. "That's a bad thing! And only bad things say bad things! Are you a bad thing?! Because bad things have to be punished! I hate bad things! Bad things do bad things and that's why they're bad things!" the girl seemed no mere child now. She seemed to have a commanding presence that encompassed the entire room, pressing deeply into the remnants of Laska's spirit. For a moment, she seemed larger than life itself. The walls seemed like they were closing in on her, a dangerous light flickering off the obsidian bricks they were made of.

"No, no, no," Laska said quickly. "No bad thing... Just a little cranky at the moment."

Suddenly, the girl watched her intently, then her eyes filled with great sorrow. "A bad thing stole something from you. And now you're turning into a bad thing yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Laska blinked. "That's not true."

"There is a hole in your mind," the girl said. "The hole is empty and wants to be filled. And bad thoughts are moving into it and filling it, making you do bad things. Until Laska is gone and banished and the bad thing is all that's there. Then you'll be a bad thing that does only bad things."

"Oh, don't be silly, kid," Laska chuckled wryly, desperately wanting to avoid this line of questioning. "How do you know what's going on in my head?"

"Because I can see it, silly," the girl giggled, then narrowed her eyes. For a moment, Laska felt as if the girl looked right through her. "Now, you wanna go away to drink some icky tasting water that makes you go all funny in the head."

"Alright, alright, you can see in my head," Laska admitted. "How come you're alive here? And so young? This outpost was abandoned so long ago."

"I don't know," the girl spoke. "I... I think I escaped the bad things, and then they left... Here, wanna see my drawings?" the girl said and handed Laska a few grimy drawings. They were made with crayon, apparently having been worked on for quite long. What she saw was a child's rendition of the horrors outside, or, rather put, the horrors outside were the child's renditions. The buildings towering over them, the hideously deformed sack-creature, the bloodied playground, the faceless priestess. There were several others, hideously deformed creatures, bloodied walls, dismembered corpses, bloody battles between childishly drawn Drow. But one drawing caught her attention. It was a huge black void, seemingly drawing her in and pulling her inside, not willing to let go. She felt herself falling and falling ever deeper into this pit with no bottom, no end... no hope...

"Hey, you okay?" the girl asked, snapping Laska out of her sudden fear.

"Um, yes," Laska asked and showed the Void to the girl. "What's this one?"

"Oh, that's where all bad things go. The blackness. The Maw. That's where bad things go to be punished," the girl spoke.

"What about the creatures wandering outside?" Laska asked. "Didn't they hurt you? Or do they try to catch you?"

"Oh, no, don't be silly," the girl giggled. "They hunt bad things! Only those who know bad things, think bad things or know bad things can see them."

"My friends are still out there!" Laska said. "Those creatures attacked them and I can't help them from here."

"They're bad things," the girl said puzzled. "And if they can see your friends, then they are bad things and bad things have to be punished."

"Yeah?" Laska snarled, getting quite cross. "Well, I saw them too! Doesn't that make me a bad thing?"

"No, don't be silly," the girl giggled. "You came to see me, so how can you be a bad thing?"

Laska didn't have an answer. But when the girl stood up, Laska noticed she was wincing.

"Something wrong?" Laska asked.

"My arms hurt sometimes," the girl spoke, softly rubbing herself just beneath the elbow. "My legs do too sometimes. But it isn't too bad."

Then, as if hit by thunder, Laska knew. "Where does that door lead?" Laska asked.

"Up, to the temple," the girl grew grim. "A BAD place."

"Can we go there?"

"Will you play with me, if I go?" the girl clapped her hands happily.

"Promise," Laska smiled.

"That's it," Viconia said as she slid a metal bar between the two door-handles to the garrison. "It'll keep our friend inside."

"Vic," Imoen gulped. "What's that?"

Turning around, Viconia noticed a strange hunched creature coming out of the fog, soon revealed to be a spider... but not an ordinary one. This one seemed to have had all of its eight legs violently pulled off. It was sliding over the floor, using the movements of its hind-body to push itself forward, leaving a trail of goo dripping from its gaping leg-wounds behind. It let out a shrill shriek when it noticed the three friends in the distance.

The creature didn't seem to feel any pain, in fact, its mandibles twitched in anticipation as it slowly but surely worked its way towards the stricken Imoen.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Imoen felt a little greenish.

"Let's not stand around," Viconia said after the creature let out an ear-piercing cry, followed by several more ear-piercing cries in the distant fog.

"We can only go into the monastery," Imoen wailed, desperately wanting that she'd stayed home in bed today. Viconia took the two by the hand, not wanting to lose track of either of them in this thick fog.

"Where?! Where is this enemy!" Minsc protested as he was being dragged through the doors.

"Sweet Sune," Imoen gasped as she regarded the now changed interior of the monastery. Walls dripping with blood, the smell of decay rampant and penetrating, and a sound coming from the statue of Lolth with seemed like deep breaths. "Does anyone feel as if we've just stepped inside the lion's den?"

"Would you rather be outside with the maimed spiders?" Viconia said.

But when Imoen noticed a small bag on the sacrificial slab where the skeleton used to be, she replied : "yes."

There was obviously someone inside the bloodied bag. Muffled cries came from it as partially severed limbs thrashed about. Then, four more deformed priestesses as the one that assaulted them in the garrison, entered the room, carrying their vicious daggers. Immediately, Viconia and Imoen were on the defensive, but the priestesses paid them no heed. Instead, the four creatures towered over the frightened being in the bag, letting their daggers hover it for a moment. Then, as one, the creatures stuck viciously... again and again and again.

Imoen turned away, pressing her body into Viconia's for comfort. Viconia remained transfixed on the scene, transfixed in her revulsion.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of anguish, the cries from the bag stopped altogether. It was as if the entire outpost had suddenly gone silent, silent as before, when they had first entered it. But soon enough, the sounds of shuffling feet could be heard as the priestesses drew their whips and advanced on the three friends.

"Um, Vic," Imoen asked. "What's that?" She pointed to a large black crevice forming in the floor, breaking through stone and walls. The hole was blackness itself, emanating a feeling of despair, seemingly endless in pain and sorrow awaited those who would disappear within... and right now, the creatures were driving them towards it.

"I don't like being here," the girl spoke as she hugged herself. Laska and the girl stood in the monastery, which looked again as when they had first entered the outpost. "This is a bad place."

"It gives me the creeps too," Laska said. "Some Drow are downright freaky, you know? Who'd want to have a spider looking in on your business for 1000 years, huh?"

"Why'd you bring me here?"

"Come here," Laska said as she moved to the slab and slowly removed the cloth she had put over the child earlier. "Recognize her?" she said as she pointed at the old skeleton.

"No, no!" the child backed off and covered her eyes.

"You seemed to like the others," Laska said. "Those are your friends."

"Not her, not her!" the girl wailed. "I don't know her! She's a bad thing."

"She's you, isn't she?"

The girl started to sob. "Stop saying that! That's a bad thing!"

"Two hundred years ago, this whole place went to hell," Laska said. "Everybody disappeared or died. This is the last sacrifice they ever made otherwise they'd have thrown the... your body on the pile with the rest. So, something happened to them immediately after the sacrifice."

The girl nodded.

"Think about it. You've been here for 200 years, and you've stayed little."

"Isn't that... normal?" the girl asked.

"No, no," Laska grinned. "I'm 29 and I'm quite a bit taller than you as you can see."

"But... I... I'm... dead?" the girl blinked. "But then... then I'm a bad thing!"

"No!" Laska said, fell to her knees and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "You aren't even close to being a bad thing."

"You're lying!" the girl yelled, that dangerous light appearing in her eyes again.

"You can see in my head, right?" Laska said. "You know I'm not lying to you."

"But... if I'm dead, why did I stay here?"

Laska suddenly started to feel very tired. Her limbs grew numb, her eyelids heavy. Laska tried to fight the sleep, but it overcame her to quickly. Everything she saw was through a haze.

"Laska," the girl wailed. "Laska!"

"She is alright. Just somewhat dazed," another voice spoke in melodic tones, causing the girl to start. A bright light filled the room from what seemed to be some sort of a doorway. In the light, the outline of a beautiful tall silver-haired Drow female could be seen. "Do you want to know why you stayed? You stayed because you wanted to, Xare, because you couldn't let go. But now that you know the truth, there is no reason for you to stay."

"But... my friends..."

"They are there," the female said and pointed towards the doorway. "Vala, Allaria and Yafein. Them and more. You've suffered long enough, Xare. It's time for you to rest in peace. Arvandor awaits you."

Xare looked up at Laska with tearful eyes. Laska blinked once, twice, then somewhat recovered from her sudden haze. The elf complied, picked up the girl and let herself be hugged. "Laska?" Xare kissed Laska's cheek. "Don't become a bad thing. I can see inside you... and you don't want to be a bad thing."

Laska put the girl down, being stumped for a reply.

"Here," the mysterious Drow female reached out for Laska. The elf felt a bit of a magical tingle as a book appeared in her hands out of thin air. "I believe this is why you're here. Hold on to this... Laska, you will not remember me when you wake up, only what is important..." That said, the female picked up Xare, who smiled at Laska once more.

The last thing Laska saw of Xare was her waving at her while she and the female Drow disappeared into the tunnel of light.

And immediately, the world changed, causing Laska to sink to the ground.

Just as Viconia, Minsc and Imoen were fighting for every last centimeter to keep themselves from being thrown into the void, behind them, the entire world changed. The monsters faded into nothingness while the void filled with matter until the floor returned. The building, and presumably the buildings outside, suddenly had the appearance of buildings that had not been in use for 200 years, like they were supposed to be like.

And before them, Laska's prone emerged from the mists before it disappeared completely.

"Typical," the still panting Viconia said, "we're fighting for our lives and she's sleeping it off."

"So everything here just existed in that little girl's mind?" Imoen asked as the four friends were on their way towards the entrance of Vilaya, now very much in a state of disrepair and decay.

"If so, she was very special," Viconia said.

"She was," Laska replied. "I just wish I knew what happened. I woke up with this book in my hands and this whole city suddenly falling apart. A rotten beam in the monastary almost crunched me when it fell down."

"Did that void thing exist outside of her mind? What about the blood-sisters she banished in there?"

"Well, wherever they are, I don't think they're coming back," Laska said. "And good-riddance to bad rubbish, I say."

"She truly believed she was still alive," Viconia muttered. "Your undead detector never even picked her up, so strong was her belief."

"Do you think that she was, you know, a Banshee or something?"

"Possibly," Viconia replied. "Or maybe a shade. But she herself certainly didn't believe she was dead and that belief was powerful enough to influence entire outpost. She created those monsters, whether she knew it or not. Everything we saw were twisted representations of her last few hours of life. That poor little girl must have had a truly tortured mind."

"Poor kid," Imoen sighed. "Taken from her parents to a strange city, put in a sack, horribly mistreated by those stupid blood-sisters."

"She got her revenge right after they killed her," Laska said. "Her own disbelief in her own death and her strong spirit saw to it."

"Minsc likes that he did not see the monsters... It means Minsc is pure and strong!!!! Hmm, it was frustrating that I did not get to kick butts, though. Uh, Boo, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I wonder if she was special before this ordeal, or if her death created it," Viconia said. "It is another interesting piece to the puzzle that is Vilaya."

"Maybe we'll find out. I found this in Xare's stack of drawings," Laska said and took out a nearly crumbling piece of paper. "It's a picture of her family's home. They took her from this house, and I think her family should know what happened here. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow I know that Xare is now at peace. I think her family might like to know that."

"That's nice of you, Laska," Imoen said.

"Perhaps," Laska said. And in her mind, Xare's words echoed : 'You don't want to be a bad thing, Laska. Don't become a bad thing.' For the first time in a long while, Laska felt unsure of her current path.

Well, that's my horror-story. :) Inspirations for this story certainly were the Silent Hill games and Jacob's Ladder, and maybe a touch of Sixth Sense and Evil Dead. :)