The disaster happened on the most beautiful of days. The wind was blowing through the pleasant meadows, sending cherry blossoms drifting through the air like snowflakes. The rich smell after a rainstorm tickled the ex-jester's nostrils as he wandered through the meadow, feeling the warm sun upon his back. Today, for once, was a day in which he did not regret the way things had gone. This was the life, the life of ... well, he didn't know what yet, but for once, a day out here was better than life at the castle. Oh, how quickly that had ended ... he had insulted the king a few too many times for his comfort, and after seeing the monarch cast a leering glance at him, it took Gustav only a split second to decide it was time to walk a different life path. So he had jumped out a window and set out to find one. And what a beautiful day it was! Perfect for looking!

Gustav whistled blithely upon the path, and the bells on his shoes and brightly colored coat jingled merrily to the tune of his boisterous mood. But he stopped abruptly when he saw the deep hole at the roots of a crooked and wizened tree. That hole was massive. So big ... bigger than King Crow's gilded boots. That hole could only have been made by one thing ... Gustav paled. That hole could only be Its home.

All the villagers knew It was there. The old wives and mothers told Its story to their children when they misbehaved. Gustav himself remembered quivering in his little shoes after hearing Its tale. The only consolation was that they had no reason to fear It as of yet. It never left the vast tunnels that it had dug underneath the roots, though people had gone missing in the meadow before.

Gustav gasped and slowly backed away, wondering how he could have been so foolish as to have wandered into Its meadow. Why, of all the meadows in the world, did he set his jingling feet towards this one?

Gustav heard the rumbling before he saw the monster. His feet were running as fast as he could through the grassy and sparsly flowered meadow as the monster of legend slowly crept closer and closer and closer to the heels of his feet. His shoes were definately not made for running.

He was sprinting so quickly that he didn't bother looking where he was going. That mistake would hurt him when he fell into one of the giant holes dotting the meadows in three, two...

Gustav's head hurt by the time he gained the strength to stand up again. His vision was swimming and he knew based on the fact that the sun had now set, he had been unconcious for a while.

"Well, look who finally woke up."

Gustav spun his neck around to locate the source of the voice.

A woman was leaning against one of the walls of the tunnels, a lit torch in one hand and wrap of bandages in the other.

"Who... How...Where am I?"

He asked groggily.

The woman chuckled lowly.

"We call this place the underground. Congrats on making it to the home of the tunellers newbie. I'm Sarah."

"Gustav."

He replied curtly, rubbing a hand over the thin layer of dried blood on the side of his head from where he had hit it in the fall.

They spend what felt like hours walking through the tunnels, occasionally pressing themselves into small alcoves to avoid the monster that Gustav was still yet to see in the light. Apparently it was called a Klineith, or so Sarah said. There were almost fifty of them now, the tunnelers, people who had fallen down the giant holes trying to run from the monster who created them.

"Four of us have tried to escape on different occasions."

Sarah continued talking.

"It knows. None of us know how or why but somehow it can sense when you're trying to run and it makes sure you can't."

Gustav gulped as his foot hesitated before taking another step.

"So I'm stuck down here. Forever."

Sarah nodded, barely visible in the light of her torch.

"Welcome home Gustav."