Mother and Father barricaded the doors and windows again. Little brother didn't understand why, Montezzi was dead, there was nobody for Montezzi to send monsters to kill and slaughter, there was nobody for giant spiders to be sent against. Those who took over in the shadows of Montezzi's demise hardly seem the type to run chaos in the streets, throughout Lower.

Then, I heard the screaming--no: hissing, squealing, and scratching of terrible claws.

Chosen.

Running amok the streets of lower. Chosen at our doors and windows, tearing through, breaking apart the zurkhwood.

Tearing.

They tore through the windows. Broke down the door. Mother and Father picked up what weapons they could to hold them back. Even little brother picked up a broken piece of zurkhwood furniture.

I ran. I ran as they swarmed in clawing and tearing and biting.

I ran into the back room. Into a closest. The small closest. I slid my little body inside and turned around. Staring back as I saw Mother run into the back room, bloody, bruised. Running into the back room to protect me.

The chosen followed her. She struck at them with a piece of furniture, a chair leg. Her arm still swinging, she looked over her shoulder screaming at me. Her face frenzied and frantic.

"Close the door, Lilith! Close the door! Close the door and close your eyes!"

I grabbed door of the closet. Pulled with all my might, shutting it tight. Blocking out all sight.

The chosen, just outside that door, screeched and screamed. My eyes, wide open, stared into the darkness of the closet. Seeing nothing but darkness, but my ears saw everything. Including Mother still screaming.

"Lilith! Close your eyes, Lil--!"

I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes.

One second later, I closed them again. But the image that I saw I could not shut out. Mother, body ripped apart, face torn. Lying there on the floor, one dead, lifeless eye looking at me, hiding in the closet. Staring at me with one eye because the other was gone.

Father, Little Brother. When I crawled out of the closet, searched the rest of the house, I could not find them. I found pieces, but not them.

I took one step out of our--my--broken, destroyed home. And I never looked back.

I stepped into Lower. I stepped into a world so dark and lonely and scary.

For a few days. I slept on the streets, in nooks, crannies. Beneath garbage to hide myself. I stole from others. Food, gold.

I lived so wretchedly.

I woke up to hear a man speaking. He was searching through the trash pile I slept and hid within, muttering to himself, his voice ragged, crazed, pleading.

Though my body curled into itself, huddling away from the man's prodding hands searching the garbage, my ears remained open. My mind reached out.

He was not blubbering, or raving madness. He was praying. To this Mistress of the Night he prayed. To this Lady of Loss, he begged for guidance. To the Dark Goddess, he prayed for the will to continue living within the darkness of the Underdark.

The man eventually walked away, finding nothing within the garbage pile that I slept beneath. I considered stirring, getting up. But I had eaten so little the day before, and had little slip.

Before I let my mind rest, so that sleep took me yet again. I considered something. For the briefest of moments, I wondered who this Goddess could be. I wondered if she could help me.

I finally let my mind rest, let sleep take me. But just before, my lips parted, uttering a few, quiet words in prayer:

"Goddess of darkness, night, and loss, who are you? Can--will--you help me...?"

"I am the darkness which surrounds you so far beneath the sun, so far from light strong and bright. I am the darkness which you will embrace, for it will give you strength; for the darkness is a time and place to think and act.

I will tell you my name. A name not to be spoken to any other but only to be remembered in your heart and mind. A name to underline all of your acts and thoughts.

That name is ----------.

Now, go forth and let the darkness guide you as it surrounds you."

It is always dark in the Underdark. And so I acted. No more sleeping in the garbage, no more eating from the scraps left on the ground and in the trash.

The Underdark is always dark. And the darkness is the time and place to act. I could not survive in Lower alone, not in any decent state I would be content with. So I climbed those stairs to Upper.

Finding work in Upper is easier than in Lower. But finding permanent, consistent, paying work? That will likely be difficult.

But it is one plan that will lead to comfort and contentment in this darkness. In the most simplest of forms: gold. In its abstract: power. And to get the both of these?

There's always the established powers: the Watch, the Spellguard.

Working for either of these could lead to both.

The men and women on the walls. The men and women patrolling the streets. Does anyone truly notice them on their duties? Who looks to the walls? Who looks to the streets? The people of this city are too preoccupied with themselves.

The men and women of the Watch stand and walk. They are paid little attention, but they are also paid gold.

I can stand. I can walk. For a salary, I'll even do both.

But of course, I'll not just stand and walk. No one looks to them, after all. No one pays them that much attention.

Mistakes. Everyone is prone to mistakes.

Greater the risk, greater the reward, greater the mistake.

I had a chance to gain so much. To become rich, knowledgeable, powerful.

But there were too many loose ends. Too many others to depend on. Too many things that could go wrong.

And things did go so, so wrong.

I have to act quickly now. I have to act before I lose what chance I have to fix things. Before I am dead.

I pray that this darkness protects me. That it gives me the chance to remove my mistakes--all of them.

A chance to impress Councilor Dentra and the Spellguard presents itself.

This book is found on Lilith's body, wherever it is and whatever happens to it.