Immersion World

by Max Jager

  "Sure." Kaden said, he took the makeshift club out of his bag and handed it to Estellese.

  "Can I have your knife? You don't use it and I threw all but one of mine." Zanath asked Estellese.

  "Uh..." Estellese hesitated. "Sure." She said and handed him her knife, he was pretty good at throwing those things. She just hoped he didn't lose this one too.

  Mendelen took a deep breath. "Alright, lets go everyone. Keep your weapons in your hands, as always." He said before he began leading the way into the city.

  Estellese shook her head a little and followed along. "So, now that we are here. What exactly are we doing here?"

  "Surviving." Kaden answered simply and bluntly.

  "Searching for supplies." Mendelen answered. "We need weapons, food, and shelter. We can probably find food and shelter here. Maybe weapons if we are lucky."

  "Overall, we just need to find a safe place to stay, we could probably eat goblin if we needed to." Kaden spoke up.

  "Eew!" Estellese countered. "What the hell is wrong with you? Those things are dirty, disgusting, they smell horrible, and they look like people." When Kaden gave her a rather unamused look she added "You are either insane, or an idiot."

  Kaden raised an eyebrow. "Why not both?" He asked, causing Zanath and Mendelen to chuckle very briefly.

  "You are right, definitely both, my bad." Estellese replied and shook her head.

  Mendelen chuckled a little, "We do need to focus and keep quiet guys. We are not exactly walking through a field of lilies." He stated as they turned the corner and froze. Lying in the middle of the road was the sleeping dragon, or, what was a sleeping dragon. The dragon growled quietly and slowly opened it's eyes, looking up at the four humans.

  "Ooooh, you woke up the dragooon" Kaden said in a teasing tone as he turned to Mendelen. Mendelen and Estellese both shot Kaden a glare. "What? He did." Kaden replied.

  "Slowly back away, maybe it won't attack us." Mendelen said quietly, trying to ignore Kaden for the time being. The four of them began very slowly backing away, trying not to anger the dragon and hoping it would just go back to sleep. Maybe, if they were lucky, it wouldn't be hungry and would have eaten a few goblins or something.

  But it was no good, the dragon stood up and let out a loud roar. Baring it's teeth and staring down at the humans who had trespassed in her domain yet again. Kaden, Mendelen, and Estellese quickly spun around and began sprinting down the street, but Zanath did not run just yet.

  Zanath took the knife Estellese had handed him and took advantage of the fact that the dragon was close to him. With a flick of his wrist he threw the knife point-first straight into the dragon's right eye. As soon as the knife struck the dragon's eye the dragon let out a roar so loud that the ground shook, and Zanath spun around and sprinted after the others, his speed allowing him to catch up to the rest of the group in no time flat.

  "I just gave you that knife and you already lost it?!" Estellese questioned him.

  "I got the dragon's right eye, probably blinded the thing in that eye. With the way a dragon's head is shaped, the eyes are on the sides. It probably can't see anything on its right side now." Zanath stated. "We should stay to its right." He added.

  Mendelen nodded "Good thinking." He replied. Then, as a strong gust of wind signaled to the group that the sleepy dragon had taken flight, he began giving out instructions. "Dragon's probably going to try another flyby fireball. Be ready to dodge then rush to the alleyways on the left before it can turn around. We need to lose the dragon and get some distance from the area before that roar attracts the hordes again."

  "Got it." Kaden and Zanath replied.

  "Why the left? He's blind in his right eye we should go right." Estellese questioned.

  "When the dragon turns around, his right side will be our left." Mendelen answered.

  "Oh, makes sense." Estellese replied.

  As he had predicted, the dragon swooped down from above and spat another fireball down at them once it was directly over their heads. The four of them could feel the searing heat from the fireball before it even came close to them and immediately all four of them dove to the sides to get out of the way. Kaden and Estellese landed on their stomachs while Mendelen and Zanath tucked into a roll and ended up back on their feet.

  Mendelen grabbed Estellese's arm to help her up, and Zanath did the same for Kaden. Once they were up they looked to the sky and saw the dragon starting to circle around to come back at them again. "Quick!" Mendelen called out as he sprinted off into the alleyway to their left with the three others following right behind him.

  As they ran down the alleyway they heard the dragon swooping past and felt the gust of wind as it flew by them. They could hear the distant roar of the furious dragon, having lost its prey. But as Kaden looked up at the sky he could see that it was circling around the area, searching for them. "We need to get somewhere where it can't find us. Fast." Kaden stated "It is flying around and looking for us." He added.

  "That's not all that is looking for us, eyes on the road not the sky. We'll hear the dragon if it comes after us." Mendelen replied as they ran out the other side of the alleyway, only to see the goblins pouring out of the houses and alleyways yet again. But, oddly enough, there was one place the goblins were not coming out of, an old subway entrance. Just a big staircase going underground, of all the places the goblins wouldn't be, that was the one place Mendelen had expected the goblins to be. And they were not there. Why? "The subway entrance. Only place they are not coming out of. It's very risky, I don't know why they aren't coming out of there, but the dragon won't find us there and it's the only place we will be able to get into from here without fighting through the horde of goblins. Unless we do another rooftop run, but if we did that the dragon would surely spot us." He instructed.

  The group was hesitant about this idea, the fact that goblins were not coming out of there was both a relief an a concern. It was great they had a seemingly goblin free place to run to, but what was in there that was keeping the goblins out? Then again they didn't have much choice in the matter, so the four of them sprinted for the subway as the goblins started closing in on them from all sides. They made it in and rushed down the stairs, with hundreds of goblins right on their heels. But... It was not a subway entrance. The stairs came to an abrupt end.

  At the bottom of the straight subway stairs was not a subway, but a very deep hole with a small spiral staircase going straight down, so far down that the bottom could not be seen, looking down the humans only saw black. Having nowhere else to go, the four humans rushed down the spiral staircase with the goblins following right behind them. The goblins were fighting each other to get down the stairs first, each one of them wanted to get the humans for themselves and were shoving the others out of the way. This resulted in several of the goblins being pushed off the stairs and plummeting down to their deaths.

  They rushed down the stairs for what felt like forever, evading the occasional falling goblin on their way down. When the four humans reached the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in one very small room. The only things in the room were the stairs, the dead goblins who fell off the stairs, and a big eerie looking double door. The door was black, metal, and huge with pointy iron poles sticking out of it as part of the design.

  The door looked anything but inviting, it was pretty clear that whatever was behind that door was not happiness and sunshine, most likely the complete opposite. But as they looked back and saw the hordes of goblins rushing down the stairs after them… There wasn't much choice.

  "Through the door, push it open and watch for the points. Be ready for whatever is on the other side." Mendelen instructed. "And pray it isn't worse then the hordes of goblins…" He silently added in his head.

  Mendelen and Zanath took the left side of the double door while Kaden and Estellese took the other side. Being careful not to jab themselves on the metal bits sticking out of the doors, they pushed the heavy doors open. An eerie blue glow emitted from inside th
e room but they didn't have time to figure out what it was. All four of them rushed into the room and then slammed the big doors shut behind themselves just as the goblins started reaching the bottom of the stairs.

  They could hear the shouting of the goblins on the other side of the door that didn't have the reaction speeds to stop in time, and ended up running into the sharp metal bits sticking out of the door. The door shook as several of the goblins hit it, but they couldn't maneuver around the spikes well enough to get a firm grip on the door and push it. And then, there was silence, for now.

  Next Chapter: Into the fire.

  Chapter 7: Into the Fire

  - Chapter 7: Into the fire. -

  Silence. The four of them remained holding the massive doors shut long after the goblins stopped trying to get through. Nobody dared to move, everyone was frozen in place. It was several long minutes of silence before the four players stepped away from and door and turned around to face what they had gotten themselves into now. It looked to be a cave, but was oddly shaped. It would have been pitch black if it weren't for the blue crystals that lined the walls and emitted a light glow giving the area a blue-ish tint and making it just barely bright enough to see. There was stalagmites and stalactites on the floor and ceiling of the cave. The ground was uneven and rocky as if it were a natural cave, but the way the room was carved out in a squarish shape as if it was meant to be a room brought question to if it was natural or not. None of them could really tell.

  There was one doorway-like opening on the far end of the room that lead deeper into this cave, and beyond that the room had nothing else in it. The four of them took a moment to look around and take all of this in before they turned to each other to try and figure out what their next step should be.

  "Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Kaden replied simply. "Whatever is deeper in this cave… Is probably far more dangerous than a goblin. But, on the other hand. Maybe there won't be such an overwhelmingly high amount of whatever it is."

  "Keep in mind…" Zanath spoke up. "That could be a bad thing. There wasn't very many werewolves attacking us, but we still stood a better chance against the goblin hordes then the werewolves." He stated.

  "Of course." Kaden replied. "Just commenting on the situation, so we can try to brainstorm some sort of plan."

  "So…" Estellese started. "Do we take our chances on the cave, or go back out and pray the goblins are gone?" She asked. "My vote is to try our luck in the cave, the bad luck has to end sometime right?"

  "My vote is for the cave as well" Kaden replied. "Don't think our luck will be any better, but we need to give the goblins time to move on to someplace else."

  "Yeah, cave." Mendelen replied.

  "Agreed" Zanath added.

  "Alright, cave it is then." Mendelen stated as he began walking across the room, towards the doorway like exit to the room. It seemed to lead to a long hallway, further making them question if this cave was natural or not. They all silently walked down the hall, trying to make as little noise as possible. Keeping their weapons held tightly in their hands and staying on alert. They knew something had to be down here… What was with the big door? And the oddly shaped room-like caves? The strange glowing crystals in the walls? Is this where the humans of the city are hiding? Are they friend or foe? Is there some monster down here? Treasure? Death? They didn't have a clue what it was but they were sure something was here.

  At the end of the hall they came to a choice. There was three different paths they could take, four if you count the one they came from. To the west, on their left, the hallway seemed to continue too far down for them to see the end of it. To the north, straight ahead, there was what appeared to be a big and empty room, all the crystals were too high up to shed light on the ground but it seemed like there was a lot of small things scattered all over the ground. And then to the east, their right, was a room with water in it. The half closest to them seemed like a normal room, but the other half of it was covered in what appeared to be deep water. And then, of course, there was the path to the south where they had come from, the long hallway leading to that first empty room with the door.

  The four players paused for a moment at this crossroads and looked around, thinking of where to go. "Don't split up." Kaden spoke up, as if predicting what everyone was thinking. "We don't know what is in here, if it turns out to be something like the werewolves from before, we will not survive if we are alone. It is slower and more time consuming, but we need to stay as a group of four. It is the only way we can bring down the tougher monsters of this world."

  "I agree." Mendelen said. "Take it slow, stick together, watch eachother's backs. It is what has let us survive this far, and it will continue keeping us alive." He said. "Any votes on which way we should go? I vote north." He asked, then looked around at the others.

  "North." Kaden, the only one to speak up said. "There is something in the room, we should check it out. Be cautious though we don't know what else is in there, not bright enough to see much."

  With that the group cautiously walked into the north room, trying to get a closer look at the little objects on the ground. The closer they got the more the little objects took shape until eventually, when the group was near the center of the room, they could see that the things scattered on the floor were bones. Human bones, from many different people.

  A bit shocked by this finding the group was stunned for a moment, and suddenly there was a loud crash from behind them. They turned to see the stone walls on either side of the doorway they had entered through slam together. The entrance, and the only exit, to the room was lost between them. There was no way out of the room now but that was the least of their worries.

  Suddenly all the bones in the room sprang up into the air and came together to form five living skeletons. Two of the skeletons wielded sharp iron swords, while the other three carried some extra leg bones as weapons. One swordsman was in front of the group, one was behind them. Two of the bone wielders were to the right and one was to the left

  "Everyone stay close!" Mendelen shouted "Take out the ones with swords first," he paused for a moment as he took in his surroundings. They were surrounded and he saw all five skeletons dash in towards them, intending to strike as a group from all sides. They had to get out of this circle of skeletons, they couldn't handle an attack from all sides. Not when outnumbered and against foes who were both immortal and better equipped.

  Mendelen had to make a call, quick. "Follow my lead! Blitz the left skeleton!" He called out, hoping that they understood his slightly tactical orders. Mendelen turned and sprinted as fast as he could at the lone skeleton on the left, raising his club in preparation to block the skeleton's bone weapon.

  Kaden was right behind Mendelen, having heard the order and followed Mendelen closely. Zanath and Estellese were a few steps behind Kaden. The skeletons turned to chase the four humans, but with the humans moving out of the center of the room, now all of the skeletons except the one they ran after were behind the humans, not surrounding them anymore.

  The lone skeleton that the group charged stood its ground. As Mendelen charged at it the skeleton swung its bone club for his ribs. But Mendelen was quick to use his makeshift club to block the bone.

  Kaden moved in to take out the skeleton while it clashed weapons with Mendelen, he gripped his knife tightly in his hand and stepped forwards to stab the skeleton. But then he stopped as the realization hit him. What good would a kitchen knife do against a skeleton? It can't pierce bone and there is no skin or inner organs to target. So, what could he possibly hope to achieve by stabbing or slashing the skeleton with the knife?

  In Kaden's moment of hesitation the skeleton pushed Mendelen back, and he had to act quick. So Mendelen kicked the skeleton in the ribs as fast and hard as he could. He was hoping the bones would fall apart and scatter, instead the skeleton remained in one piece, but it was knocked backwards and onto his back. Unharmed but knocked over.

  Seeing the skeleton fall to the ground
Estellese jumped on it. Landing on her knees with one knee on each side of the skeleton's ribs. She immediately began smashing her makeshift club into the skeleton's skull, trying to crush the skull.

  Zanath turned around, trusting Estellese to finish off that skeleton. Mendelen and Kaden also turned to face the other four skeletons.

  With four hard slams of her makeshift club, the skeleton's skull caved in, the front of the skull was shattered and gone. Thinking it was dead Estellese went to stand, but the now headless skeleton reached up and grabbed her by her long hair with one hand while the other hand moved to try and claw at her throat. She let out a yelp of surprise and a grunt of pain before grabbing the skeleton's attacking arm as fast as she could to stop it from reaching her throat. Then, using the leverage of her position over the skeleton, twisted its arm and brought her knees out from under herself. Slamming her foot down on the skeleton's elbow and snapping its arm. And yet, with no head and one broken arm, the skeleton continued struggling, pulling at her hair, and would not die. It truly was immortal, but not unbreakable.