The Underworld

Chapter 1- earthquake.

It was a bright, chilly morning when Diana left the den she lived in together with her family.

The sky was blue, and there was barely any wind. It promised to be a beautiful day.

Diana carefully sniffed the air before she left the den.

She had always been terrible scared that she would be attacked by sabers, wolfs, or worse yet: humans.

But there were no unfamiliar smells of sounds.

She ran to the stream on four legs, leaving a long trail of small paw prints behind her in the snow.

She was always very careful, which was not as strange as you might think. She was a weasel, and weasels have many enemies.

They were both hunter and prey, and since they were not that big, they were a very easy victim for predators like sabers.

She washed herself in the stream. She liked to have a clean fur. So, unlike some other weasels, she always washed herself every morning.

As the sun began to rise higher in the sky, other animals also woke up and went out to find food.

When Diana went back to the den, the rest of her family was awake too.

Her father was already out hunting for their breakfast.

"Good morning, dear," Diana's mother, Anna, said. "did you sleep well?"

"Good morning, mother," Diana said. "I slept fine, thank you."

Diana's older sister Liza, who had always been more the 'weirdo' of the family then her parents and sister, immediately began to tell about a strange dream she had.

Dorian came back with breakfast, and they ate.

Everything seemed like a completely normal day, just like yesterday, and the day before that and all the days before that again.

But when the four weasels went for a walk at noun, she seemed to shake a little.

They stood still for a minute, but when nothing happened, they shrugged and said that it must've been their imagination.

Only Diana didn't believe that. There was something wrong, she could feel it.

They walked past a big tree, and suddenly heard someone calling.

They all stopped and turned around to see who it was.

A young, handsome weasel stood behind them.

"Well, hello Elco." Anna said. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you madam," Elco said.

He was a good friend of Diana's family. Diana had known him since she was a little weasel kit.

Elco was most certainly a very handsome weasel, with his blue-greyish eyes and light brown fur. But he wasn't very strong, even though he pretended to be strong.

Still, he had always been the one to protect Diana's family.

Elco smiled at Diana.

"Hi, Diana." He said.

Diana blushed. "Hi." She said.

The past few months, Elco had shown a special interest in Diana.

To be honest, Diana did not really know what to think of it. Elco was nice and handsome, but she wasn't sure if she felt anything special for him.

"Do you mind if I accompany you?" Elco asked Dorian.

"But of course you can join us, Elco," Dorian said.

"Thank you, sir." Elco said.

The earth shook again.

The weasels looked at each other.

"What was that?" Elco said.

"We felt it too before we left," Liza said. "maybe it's an earthquake."

"Don't be silly, Liza," Anna said. "I'm sure everything's fine. It was just thunder."

"Yeah, on a bright day like this, and from under our paws," Liza said sarcastically. "no, that's totally thunder."

"We should get away from here," Diana said. "this doesn't feel well."

"Now, don't worry, dear," Anna said. "it's fine. Completely fi..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the earth shook so hard that they all fell on the ground… But a few moments after that, there was no ground anymore, and they all fell in a deep, dark chasm that had appeared in the ground because of the earthquake.

They kept on falling for a long time.

Diana believed she fainted during the fall, because she never remembered the moment she landed on soft, green moss that broke her fall.