CHAPTER 14: FIRST DUNGEON (2)

Chairs around a giant table with no real context to it whatsoever, could it potentially be that this is a puzzle of some sort? I didn’t think something like this would exist within a dungeon so I’m a bit shocked.

"A bit weird but this doesn’t seem to be a life threatening situation." I say while looking around.

"How can we be sure?" Ghost asks while her grip tightens more around the sword.

She’s got a good point there since I don’t know for sure if there’s any danger in this room or not. There’s a lot of mystery in this place but I’m not sure if there’s any clear indications.

"Just don’t stray from me too much, I’ll check it out." I say while keeping calm.

Getting a closer look at the chairs I could see skeletons were sitting on each one, the table was covered in all sorts of weird debris. It wasn’t obvious where the debris came from it what caused it to appear there.

The room was lit up quite well for us to see and there didn’t seem to be any levers or buttons, not any obvious ones at least.

It could just be better to check the door instead of searching for anything else in the room. If it’s locked then we’d have to search for something but I don’t want to waste any time if the door is just opened.

My lack of knowledge could be my downfall in this dungeon if I’m not careful but I don’t have a lot of options. Most people will charge a fee to give any "real" information on the inside of the dungeon.

That’s also hoping that it’s the same dungeon too. Multiple dungeons exist and the number of them is unknown.

I walk over to the door and give the handle a pull... Surprisingly the door begins to open up and all I can see is darkness.

"Are there any torches that you can grab?" I ask while looking down the dark hallway.

"Yeah.. I’ll grab one." Ghost responds while going for a torch.

I can feel my heart racing once again as I continue to stare down this dark abyss of a hallway. Something has to be waiting ahead for us, there’s no way something isn’t.

Ghost came back with the torch and it immediately brought light to a bit of the darkness in front of us. I could see even more writing on the walls, broken pieces of marble flooring, and some more skeletons.

"Seems this is the way to go but I don’t know what killed these people exactly." I speak with a bit of fear breaking past my calm demeanor.

Be brave.

Something I tend to lack a lot of the time, how could I be brave now?

Don’t you want to find your purpose?

Finding my purpose was the whole reason I came into this dungeon in the first place so of course I want to. It’s dumb to think that I’d be in this decrepit place for any other reason.

Then venture further into the dark.

I began to walk down the hallway while keeping an eye on each side of the walls, making sure they wouldn’t just cave in on us. Eventually we found ourselves at the end of the hallway with yet another big room standing before us.

"I can hardly see anything in there." I speak with a bit of fear in my voice.

I’m letting myself get overwhelmed by the fear of what lurks in the dark but I can’t be doing that. Ghost won’t be able to be strong if I’m not strong so we have to be strong together.

"I forgot that I could see without the torch, remember I’m not human." Ghost speaks with a bit of sadness in her voice.

Most cyborgs could see with those old night vision optics that were installed within them but I didn’t know if hers worked. It would’ve been something good to test but I forgot all about it.

"Human or not, it doesn’t matter. What do you see ghost?" I ask while trying to reassure her a bit.

I’m not the best at making people feel better, it was never my strong suit... Even before the collapse I couldn’t make anyone feel better about anything.

No response. Just her breathing, steady behind me. I gripped the wrench tighter, knuckles whitening in the dark.

The silence in this room was wrong... not quiet, but waiting.

Then something changed, A faint click. A brush of air across my neck.

I turned... CRACK!

Something slammed into my side like a battering ram. I hit the stone floor hard, wrench skittering out of reach. Pain shot up my ribs like someone had jammed a knife under them.

"Rokuro!" Ghost’s voice snapped out in panic.

I couldn’t see it. Just flashes... a ripple in the dark, the sound of claws scraping stone, then nothing.

I scrambled backward, hand dragging across the floor, searching for my weapon, or anything that could help.

Another hit, less like claws, more like a blunt force, a shoulder or limb made of iron or something along those lines.

I swung my fist blindly. Connected with cold air.Something snarled. Close. Wet breath over my face.

"Ghost!" I shouted with a bit of panic in my voice.

She tossed the torch my direction after picking it up and then it was finally able to be seen.

A long, twisted thing made of jointed limbs and dripping black sinew. No eyes, just a mouth full of teeth like broken glass. Half of it was fused with shadows, pulsing like a parasite that hadn’t finished forming.

"Holy shit," I muttered.

It hissed, recoiling from the light, then lunged. The creature had jumped out of the light and I had no clue where the hell it went.

The only thing that was abundantly clear was the pain in my gut and the sound of blood dripping onto the floor once again. I should’ve expected that it would open my wound up with that kind of attack... And the lack of healing...