When Lucia told me that the dungeon was, indeed, venomous, I began to get excited at the possibilities. When she told me that it even came with a venom reservoir for traps, I was practically drooling. This was going to be legen- wait for it- dary.
It didn't take long to get the new dungeon set up, even though it was at least twice the size of my old one. Not only did I get to keep my other dungeon's equipment, but it adapted to the new environment on its own. Instead of spiked pits, jury rigged cannons, and the medieval version of a pipe bomb, I had dart traps in the walls, massive slings that fired delicate canisters filled with acid, and enough grisly tools of death that I damn near had nightmares.
I thought it would be enough.
"Donovan! It's time!" Niko burst into the Boss Room right as I was opening the door, sending us both sprawling to the ground in a twisted heap.
"What the hell man!" I began to chastise him, but stopped as what he said clicked in my head. It was already time. We were being attacked. I quickly donned my armor and grabbed Bone Breaker, which had taken on a faint green hue since we had taken up residence in the new dungeon.
A few minutes later, I was fully dressed and standing in front of the army confronting my dungeon. And boy, was it something. Row upon row of red skinned demons stood with a myriad of bone weaponry not unlike Bone Breaker, only theirs were covered in bits of rotten flesh from their past victims. Behind them towered undead behemoths that had to be at least fifteen feet tall.
Scary shit for sure. Until, of course, my warriors made an appearance. They looked almost identical to the minions from my old Dungeon, with one stark difference; Each of them had a growth on their back that looked like the sickly love child between a tumor and a mer-person. They wielded twisted, mottled bows that looked like sand that had been struck by lightning, and the hafts of dozens of arrows protruded from slings at their waists. If I had to guess, the place was probably a water dungeon before I came. The dark attribute from Felix must have converted it to poison.
An arrow whizzed by my face, snapping my errant thoughts back to the invading army. Their footmen were advancing, shouting infernal curses as they charged. As the Dungeon Master I was supposed to provide a witty one-liner, but all I could manage was an inarticulate scream. Dozens of demonic warriors fell as my tumor-growth archers opened fire, but just as many were there to take the place of the fallen until finally, our sides clashed.
I struck out at the nearest enemy, cleaving its arm off just under the elbow. As it recoiled in pain, a spear punctured its skull. After a quick nod of thanks to an undead, mer-tumor warrior, I rejoined the battle with a cry of rage.
Despite the upgrades to my minions, we were slowly but surely being pushed back by the demons' sheer numbers. One by one they were cut down, until only a handful remained. Before we were entirely overrun, I slipped into the next room.
Even through the Dungeon's thick walls, I could still hear the last of my minions being cut down. Their screams were swiftly cut short, and while their death wasn't permanent I still felt awful at abandoning them.
Many eager faces stared at me, ready to fight, kill, and die in the next few minutes, but I ignored them as I mentally went over the chances of us winning.
Basically, things were looking alright. We were outnumbered by a considerable amount, at least two or three to one. But, with the bonus that the water part of the dungeon gave against the fire demons, the gap between our forces was covered slightly. We also had the benefit of this being a siege, with chokepoints and traps that could use their numbers against them. So unless something drastic happened to change the tide of battle, this should be a fairly easy win.
Right?
◆◆◆
I stumbled, crashing to the floor as my feet slipped on the slick dungeon floor. It took me a while to realize that it was slick with blood. My blood. The room spun around me as I took a few deep breaths, focusing on the far door as best I could. It was the last door to the Boss Room, but the forty feet separating me from it might just be too far.
I pulled up my character sheet, grimacing at what I saw. My Health was down to 46, and dropping rapidly. I flicked through my Inventory, hoping for something, anything to help heal me, but I had used all of them in the fight.
This is gonna suck.
I formed a magic missile in my hand, and brought it up to the most grievous of my wounds; A deep slash across my stomach and chest that laid my ribs bare, and threatened to spill my guts to the world. I'm not talking metaphorically either- I had already caught several glimpses of my small intestine.
"Holy fuck a duck!" I yelped, manly as ever as the missile burned my wound closed. It wasn't the most conventional used for the spell, but it got the job done. Kind of.
Either way, my Health leveled off... at just barely 17. With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet and began shuffling toward the Boss Room door. It felt like ages, but I finally reached the cold, faintly green stone portal and managed to push the heavy thing open. I collapsed as soon as I made it through, and a small spurt of blood shot from my mouth.
"What the hell happened to you?" Niko rushed to my side, pulling up my character sheet as he did so. "Oh, no. This is bad, this is real bad Donovan. But I can fix this, I-I can fix you." With agility I didn't know the Necromancer possessed, he leapt to his feet and frantically searched around the room, grabbing herbs, multiple dead animals, and even a knife before coming back to me.
Instead of making a potion, like I expected him to, he arranged the animals and herbs in a strange pattern around my body. Of course, he could have also been placing them into a bowl, but it was hard to tell with my eyes not wanting to work anymore. The only thing I truly noticed was when Niko held the knife aloft, murmuring something unintelligible before plunging it into my chest. Despite the act of blatant treachery, I could have sworn I saw a tear run down his face.
"You- bastard! I trusted you... And now you're turning me into a zombie." I managed to say through my suddenly numb lips, hating Niko for what he had done. And all the while, Felix just stood, silent as ever, and watched the whole thing happen.
Disrespectful, lecherous bastards.
The world faded into a blinding whiteness, before... clearing? Feeling flooded back into my numb body, and I jumped to my feet as a surge of energy rushed through me.
"Niko!" I shouted, "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you." But he couldn't hear me. He was curled into a ball on the floor, a shrunken, dessicated husk. Niko, the man that was once my enemy. The man that had become my friend, and eventually given his own life in exchange for mine. And my last act was to call him a traitor.
I fucking hated this world, and myself. Who was I to try and challenge the underworld? Who was I but a-
Felix's metal gauntlet cracked solidly against my cheek, snapping me out of the hole I was falling into. "Enough!" He barked, "We've got better things to do right now than mourn. His death was a tragedy, yes, but do not waste the life he gave to you. Stand with me, and fight."
I nodded, confidence restored at his stoicism, but even he seemed unsure when I relayed the story of what happened to me.
The battle had been going well, and we were within reach of a decisive victory, when it came. A towering giant of pure flame, he merely walked through even the most resilient of our defenses. Any attacks launched at him ended in melted weaponry or death. At first I had assumed the titan to be a fire elemental, but he was much, much too powerful. Only one word came to mind, and even for this place it was a myth, not to mention it was supposed to be a place, not a being; Muspelheim.
It only took a few minutes for me to hear the screams of my minions, loyal warriors dying for my cause. They slowly grew into a crescendo that was deafening, piercing my brain and making my ears let loose a trickle of blood. Then, finally, silence.
The Boss Room's stone door began to glow red, then white, before collapsing in a molten pool before Muspelheim's heat. Felix marched forward with his sword drawn, but didn't stand a chance as he slo
wly melted and fell apart thirty feet from the fiery beast.
"You fought well, for a mortal." The evil creature said with a chuckle. Tears began to drip down my face at the loss of yet another friend, but they evaporated with a sizzle as Muspelheim drew closer. I could feel my skin dry and crack, before melting and sloughing cleanly from muscle as the heat intensified. I screamed, staring wide eyed until my vision faded to black and the pain ended. If not for the noise, I would have thought I was still alive; My nerve ending were fried, leaving me blissfully unaware of the torment my body was going through. Finally, sweet oblivion called to me.
◆◆◆
Death was surprisingly peaceful, believe it or not. There were no sensations, no colors, nothing. My memories were fuzzy, unclear. Who was I? A warrior, a mage? Maybe a priest, or even a scribe.
But that didn't make sense, what were any of those? What was I? Was I me? Or was me not I?
A mighty whoosh-clap! Split the bliss of emptiness, and suddenly I could feel an odd sucking sensation, like what an object probably felt when I stuck it in my Inventory. With a blinding flash of light, I was reborn.
I woke with a gasp, flinging my arms wildly about at some unseen, nonexistent enemy. Only, none of my limbs wanted to work. I sucked in a huge air of breath, but winced at the pressure crushing my chest. It felt like somebody went a few rounds on me with a Louisville Slugger.
I cracked open my eyes, but it took a few seconds to blink the grit out of them enough that I could see. Of course, the first thing I saw was what looked like a giant spider perched on my chest. And there was nothing I could do about it, paralyzed as I was.
The thing was massive, easily the size of a large Mastiff, but as far as I could tell it had no legs or even eyes. It seemed to be breathing, but other than that it was completely immobile.
Resigned to be stuck there for a while, I looked around the room I was in. A fine layer of sand covered the floor, under which was a dull brown stone. The walls were pure white on one half, but faded into pitch blackness on the other. The room was perfectly circular, with no doors or any other means of leaving.
Piles of rock were scattered haphazardly around the room, ranging in size from smaller than my fist to the size of a large bull. Over all of that, the ceiling was a masterpiece unlike any I had ever seen before. Thousands of streaks of color, more than I had ever imagined could even exist, swirled around a single point of brilliant white. Directly under the point of white was a matching point of inky blackness. Between them sat a gem that put the rest of the room to shame.
The gem slowly shifted to match every color present in the room, ranging from pure white, to shiny, iridescent rainbows and down to pitch black, with every other color in between. It didn't even look like a physical object; The only way I could think to describe it was a tear in the world, a viewpoint to a realm that my mortal mind was unable to understand. And so, my eyes laid sight on the most beautiful thing I could comprehend.
As if following some unspoken command, the odd spider beast rolled off of my chest. It stopped near the piles of stone, and its hair collapsed down to form a protective covering over that looked... exactly like stone.
With the creature off of me, my limbs decided to start following my orders again. I shakily pushed myself to my feet, astonished at how weak I was. I felt human again, after so many months of being strong enough to step in a boxing ring with an elephant. That wasn't the least of it though. I looked down at my hands...
And they were both normal! Soft, faintly tanned flesh covered both of my arms. My left arm was no longer a skeletal atrocity, was no longer a simple weapon of war. It was mine again, flesh and blood. If that's what death did for me, I would gladly do it all over again.
I shook my head, astonished that I was whole again. With nothing better to do but marvel at my arm, and not wanting to go near the legless rock spiders, I approached the gem. I doubted it would kill me, as it or something else in this room had brought me back to life. Of course, it could also be a portal back to hell or something, but either way I didn't have much of a choice.
It took me longer than I would have liked to cross the room to the gem. It only looked like it was fifty or sixty feet away, but it felt like I had to walk a mile before I made it. Finally, I approached the gem. I reached out with a tentative hand, ignoring the nervous tingle in my stomach that made me feel like I was making a truly awful decision.
I grabbed the gem, and found myself paralyzed again.
"A mortal? After all this time, I have fallen so far. This is better than nothing, though." A faint voice spoke into my head, making me jump. Well, it would have if I could still move.
"Do not fret mortal, I will not harm you."
The gem compressed, all of the colors melding until it became a single, impossibly bright speck. Then, it exploded into millions of tiny particles. With the explosion came pain, as if someone had lit a match inside of my skull.
Over the course of what felt like hours, the particles zipped around and collided with each other, colliding and growing, and growing, and growing, until they zipped around like meteors the size of my head. With each collision the pain in my head grew, as if my brain was having trouble comprehending what it was seeing.
Because what human mind could withstand the birth of the universe?
"Yes, good. You have caught on quickly for a human. You are witnessing me, in my prime. Creation. In the past I was wielded by only the most powerful of beings, celestials and titans with power even on the universal scale. But with the death of my previous host, I was abandoned here, a shadow of my former self. My power has bled into the universe, leaving me a shell of what I used to be, a mere shard when I was once whole. Now, I am not even a tool fit for a god. So I turn to you, mortal. I give you another chance at life, with me as your companion."
I listened to the gem's story with rapt attention, not wanting to miss a word. It was difficult, trying to listen and watch the formation of the universe at the same time. Talk about a multitasking nightmare. I managed to mentally agree to the mysterious, apparently sentient gem. What other choice did I have?
"Good." It drawled, "You have but two choices, as I only have the power to bring you home. Given your time spent in different realms, that could be one of two places; Earth, your homeworld, or Irunthia, the world you were transported to. Before you make your decision, know that Irunthia is unstable. The war that began when you lost your life was only a small part of the whole. During the fiercest fighting, the planet's core was corrupted. The world you travel to will not be the one you left."
Well damn. To my surprise, I didn't actually want to go home. If I could have held back Muspelheim, maybe the world wouldn't be on a path to self destruction. I owed the place, or at least felt like I did.
"So, you've made your choice?"
Yes, take me to Irunthia. Though I prefer the name Videogameland, thank you very much. Also, I'm calling you Shard from here on out.
If an eternally old sentient gem that created the universe could sigh condescendingly, that's exactly what Shard did. I felt the odd suction again, and in a flash I was back. Not quite better than ever, but I was alive.
◆◆◆
I opened my eyes to a lush, green forest. It was deciduous, not pine, which I was thankful for. Especially considering that I was stark naked, and a pine forest would have been absolute hell. Of course, a forest wasn't the best place to appear in general.
"Shard, where the fuck am I?" I asked, turning in a slow circle. "Actually, never mind that. I just need to find some water. I don't know if I'm dehydrated or what, but my head is messed up. Then again, I did just come back from the dead."
"There is a nearby river northwest of here."
"Uh, Shard I don't really know which way northeast is. I can't really see the sun through all of these trees."
"Northwest. But fine, I will help. Mortal."
I barely managed not to sigh at Shard's condescending tone, but dealing with him (it?) was worth it, b
ecause a minimap popped up. There was indeed a river nearby, but it was to the right and slightly behind me.
Lord of Creation Page 6