The Caves
The
Caves are a *huge* system of apparently natural caves that wind beneath
both the Lands and the Dark Place, with openings in both places. One could
wander lost within the Caves for a lifetime and never find the way out,
they are so vast. The Caves are filled with strange, inhuman creatures,
like twisted, melted, botched attempts as human beings, which we call
the Denizens of the Caves. Although they may appear much like humans,
albeit broken, twisted, deformed ones, they do not seem to be entirely
intelligent, or at least not self-aware or conscious in the way that human
beings are. They can be quite dangerous and violent, but do not seem to
have a great capacity for reason.
It is suspected that many if not all the Denizens of the Caves may once have been human. We think that many of the children who once lived through our school days from the ages of six to thirteen or so may have, for whatever reason, ended up here and trapped in this half-alive existence, but we cannot be sure. Perhaps giving up their humanity was a last desperate attempt to escape from their reality. I don't think we will ever know.