Alex moved around the tree and caught sight of another sign, this one pointing north to the Mt. Fagbu Dwarves. Not that he could even see a mountain in the distance with all the trees in the way. A nice path meandered off to the north, still a little overgrown like the other paths he had seen, but it would be easy enough to follow.
A howl echoed through the woods behind him to the south.
"Fuck.. the wolves." Well, that settled it he started towards the north. The howls kept coming though, each time sounding closer. Despite the ground tearing up his bare feet Alex tried to pick up the pace, until he was in an all out run, the sounds of the wolves gaining on him. A root caught his foot and sent him tripping, he fell off the path and into a ravine on the side of the road. Cut and scraped, he tried to push himself up, but as soon as he moved the mass of leaves and branches under him gave way and he fell even further, tumbling over rock and stone until he came to a stop.
"Just my luck." Alex muttered to himself, looking back the way he came. It hadn't been a ravine, but a cave entrance that had become hidden under fallen forest detritus. He pushed himself to his feet and took stock of himself, brushing girt and gravel from some nasty looking scrapes and bruises, but otherwise he seemed fine. The way back was a loss though. The slope back to the surface looked far too steep to even attempt, and it would probably just lead him into the jaws of the wolves anyway. The faint light trickling down was enough to light up the small cavern he was in, which was mostly empty save the leaves and sticks that had come tumbling in with him.
There was too much light though, he could see the cavern just a bit too clearly. It was then Alex noticed some light trickling into the cavern from another passageway. "Well, it's not like anyone is looking for me, I could sit here waiting for rescue until I died." And with that, he turned and walked towards the source of the light. He winced at the sharp rocks underfoot, not that there was much to be done for it.
The passageway was short, leading into a cavern even larger than the last. The entirety of the rock around him twinkled. Tiny glowing crystals dotted the rock like stars, and sitting in the middle of the cavern was a crystalline growth, the golden crystals glowing with the brightness of a fire. The path continued on, but into darkness.
Alex felt the urge to linger in the room, but he knew it was as bad a place to wait as the last cavern. Sure, there was light, but nothing that could pass for food or water. He just hoped that this earthen passage led somewhere other than deeper and deeper into the earth. At least one problem was solved.
Alex walked around the glowing crystals, eventually finding one length of crystal about eight inches long. He reached out to wrap his hand around it, and was surprised to feel that it was warm under his touch, and loose. A little wiggling, and he was able to free the chunk of glowing crystal from the rock, and it stayed lit in his hand. "Well, this solves one problem." Alex muttered.
He wanted to lay down in this cave and rest, but the twinkling lights made him feel woozy. So holding his crystal torch up in front of him he made his way to the darkened passage and on. Luckily the passage remained wide and open, and he barely had to duck as he walked along, but he didn't come to any more caverns. Occasionally light would trickle into his subterranean path from far above, but any hint there might be an exit was quickly dashed. There weren't even puddles or some small plants that could serve to calm his growling stomach. Alex's only solace was that his feet seemed to be going numb as he walked along, or else the constant prods and jabs of the sharp stones underfoot simply weren't registering anymore. He barely even noticed he was walking along completely in the nude.
Eventually, he knew it was time to sleep. Sitting down on the floor of the narrow cave he pressed his back up against the wall. He set down his crystal light and tired to ignore the gnawing sensation in his gut. Instead he massaged his feet as he slowly drifted off. Feet that felt swollen and stiff, as did his hands. Not that there was anything to be done, and despite the rumbling of his stomach he finally started drifting off to sleep.