//------------------------------//
// The Journal 
// Story: Journal of a Starving Sister. 
// by Fujimi200SX 
//------------------------------//





"When god is gone and the devil takes hold,
Who will have mercy on my soul?"





Zipp peered down into the hole, staring at the beams of timber scattered about the edges. She looked up at the full moon that beautifully lit up the hole and surrounding area, creating quite the peaceful location.

Looking down at the hole, she smiled.

"Finally," she said. "Something more my style!"

With a fleeting whip of her wings, Zipp dove into the hole. As she fell, she counted the seconds it took for her to reach the bottom.

1

2

3

4

She quickly extended her wings to stop her decent, landing on the cold rocky floor with practiced ease. She took this moment to look around the cavern, tilting her head in wonder.

It was much bigger than what she was expecting. All around it lay more beams of timber, shriveled and rotting yet still dutifully holding up the ceiling. If it even needed holding. There were also pieces of mining equipment scattered about, most half in or half out of a body of water situated in the center. It wasn't deep. She could wade through it if she so desired.

But something on her right caught her eye. Something just out of reach from the entrance. Something on a very old and rotting desk.

A book.

She walked up to the book, excited to see what secrets it held. It looked to be missing several pages, but the few pages it held would surely give some interesting data on this dark and mysterious place.

And if it didn't, she could just travel deeper into the mine.

The book - if one could even call it that - was worn and broken. It had no markings of who it was owned by, no signs of a name. Its brown hard cover was shriveled from years upon years of being left scarcely protected by the elements.

Zipp sat in front of the desk and raised her hoof to the book. She picked it up off the desk - chastising herself for continuing to think stuff like this melts into dust - and raised it in front of her.

With a devious smirk, she opened the book and began to read.