# the ghost town



## Welserwies (May 22, 2011)

I traveled the forest alone. Such was my way. Normally I cared not which way I wandered. As a wisp with no particular intentions I would set out and walk. No path did I take or destination would I check. I would only wander. But this many days were different. I set out with a single purpose in mind. It was knowledge that I did seek. Yet where to find it I did not exactly know. Only a vague direction as a clue to the information I was looking for. 

As it happened after a number of time I did not count that I came across an old forgotten path. At least I believed it to be a path for it was much overgrown and seemed as if it had been many years indeed since some being had strolled this way. At times I was certain there was no path. Only very small clearings that I came across set to trick my mind. And at other moments I saw the signs of walking but they were faint and would quickly dis appear before my eyes. If I had been weak in the head or tired or hungry I would have ignored these signs but as it was I was well nourished and feeling quite well so I followed the age old path the best I could.

I could see in the distance better. It was as if the forest was starting to thin and it was here that the path was much more visible and easy to tread. Soon the path took the form of an over grown road. I was sure now that it led some place but where. Why a road in the wood. I had not heard of any old forgotten city that should be this way as if one would know off the forgotten, hence its name, and there was nothing on any of the maps I had seen and I did look at some very old maps before I started my journey. 

To my surprise the old road came out of the woods to a large expanse of grass and beyond that was a town. It was still a distance off but I could make out the shapes of various sized buildings. Excited at the find I quickened my pace. I had it in my mind that the knowledge I sought would be there amongst the town’s people. What type of people were they I wondered? What language did they speak? What if they were not friendly? I had lost my sword some time ago. I had a pen. A lot of good that would do me I thought. An old gnome told me one time how mighty a pen could be. I stabbed a man with it once and was soundly beaten around the face with a few low blows to the groin. It left me incapacitated for days. A mighty pen in deed. Mighty at getting one into trouble I thought. Stupid gnome. 

Now at the edge of the town something didn’t feel right. I saw no people. I saw no animals. No sign of life at all. Down its main street I slowly walked. Listening. Peering into distant windows. There. In the building to my left I see some one. At least I thought I did. As I ran to it and looked inside I saw nothing. Broken and old furniture was all. I slowly opened a door. I poked my head in with a meek “Hello” I called to no answer. “hello” again I called a little louder. It was abandoned. If dust were alive it would have welcomed me for that was all I found amongst the old furniture. For what the room had been used for I had no Idea. A desk. A table. a chair. All mis matched not set for any purpose. I happened to glance at the floor in my dejected mood. I stared a long while. Not wanting to move my head less I lose sight of the sign I was looking at.


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## Welserwies (May 22, 2011)

*Re: the ghost town pg2*

There on the floor didn’t I see what seemed to be foot prints in the dust. Soft faint foot prints. Forgetting why I did not want to move my head I looked up and scratched and just as I had been worried I looked back down and the prints were gone. Or were they. At one angle they looked like foot prints. At an other angle not. I was seeing things was all. Back out into the street I looked around some more. The entire town was deserted. Or so I thought but then I heard a faint voice. Again I wasn’t certain if my mind was playing tricks on me. What did I hear? The wind? Then again I heard it as if it were calling a name. A name I could not make out but I would swear I heard it. I moved towards the direction I heard it from as silently as possible so that if it called again I would know the name or at least know where it was coming from. 

Then it did call but from a different direction. It certainly did sound like the same voice but it could not have moved so. Then I heard a different voice call out a name. I heard it more clearly but could not pronounce the name and it was followed by a phrase but I could not make out the words clearly. It did give me leave to find it, I knew exactly which building it came from but as I entered “Hello! Where are you?” I exclaimed because there was nothing there. It was a small building of two rooms and only one entrance. I was certain the voice came from here but not a being was to be found. Not one of flesh and blood at least. Of what could be un seen I did not know. It occurred to me as an after thought that even though I was absolutely certain the voice came from this tiny building that it also sounded like it was far away at the same time. I pondered this and then I heard a clear voice call from outside the building. This one was different all together and it was clear as a bell and called “Finduilas!” so I ran out the door to the street but there was nothing. I echoed the call “Finduilas!” but no answer. “who calls Finduilas!” I yelled but there was nothing. Finduilas was no longer here and by the looks of the town the being was probably dead some many years. 

I was scared. I was not a person taken to fear but something strange was going on. Another voice I heard. I did not care what it had said for now I was in flight. I cared not which way I ran but as if instinct played a part I ended up running to the direction from which I had come. It had occurred to me in a flash what was going on. This was not just any town. It was not even just an abandoned town. It was a ghost town. Haunted by spirits of the past ; who knew what they would demand of me. My warmth, my blood, my very soul they might devour. I still felt the knowledge that I sought was there but at the moment I was not brave enough to seek it. I ran like a coward as fast as I could clutching my pen for comfort. It was all had to protect me.

Then in a blink of an eye I was on the ground. One of the apparitions had caught my leg and was trying to prevent me from leaving. Slashing wildly with my pen at something that wasn’t there I yelled and struggled. My ankle being twisted as I turned and rolled to face the vile thing that was attacking me from the rear. “Get Back!” I yelled. “I have pen!” Breathing heavily I saw nothing. I felt nothing except the twisting of my leggings around my ankle. “Oh” Knowing if some one had been watching they would think the whole thing quite entertaining. My leggings were caught on a jagged piece of wood sticking up from the ground and it had tripped me up. That was all. I chuckled a little and came to my senses, at least to some small point that I could think more clearly. Loosening....


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## Welserwies (May 22, 2011)

*Re: the ghost town pg3*

Loosening my leg from the woods evil grip I reclined back on my hands to think and one hand came to rest on something hard under the dirt of the road. I felt a bit and found its edge and picked it up. It was the rest of what appeared to be a post. It was a post. A sign post with the sign still attached. Frantically I brushed and blew the dirt from it. I spit on it and whipped it with my sleeve. It came a little cleaner so I poured water on it from my skin and wiped it some more. The word was clear. TOLKIENFORUM. The name of the ghost town was TOLKIENFORUM and from the looks of things it had been very much deserted for many years. The voices of ghosts were its only inhabitants. Yet still a nagging feeling weighed down on me. It clenched my chest and forced a sigh. The knowledge I sought was there within its now deserted streets. 
' Deserted ' ,I thought to myself. If so deserted then how did I see the foot steps in the dust. Ghosts do not walk and I was certain of my mental faculties now. I did see those foot steps. some one of some kind of flesh had been there at least not to long ago. It did make me wonder. Sitting back on my hands it did make me wonder so. What to do Next?


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