Stepping into the dark hall Davin had wished that he had a flashlight, the curtained walls made the place feel even darker. Propping the door open only offered so much light, the hall became almost completely dark by around twenty feet in, which to Davin felt like it was way too fast. He just hoped that he'd be able to find the light switch that should be on the wall somewhere along this hall, feeling around in the dark along the wall he found the light panel, the cold metal plate could be nothing else. Davin remembered at that point in time, that some places required special keys to be able to turn the lights on and off.

"Wow, why is it so dark in here? There must be magic." Hugh sniffed around like a bloodhound on a scent.

"Why are you sniffing? Can you smell magic?" Davin stared him down, thinking about the elf stats that he could remember from all of his gaming experience.

"Oh, no, but there is a sour smell in the air…" Sniffing again as he made a disgusted face as he looked around as if to try and find the offensive odor.

Davin sniffed and caught the smell. "Oh, gross… that’s vomit." Davin covered his face with the bandana that was part of his outfit.

Hugh went pale, the sour face that he had been holding almost turned into another pile of sick, turning quickly he rushed out of the hall. Davin could hear retching and coughing, pretty sure that he was adding to the smell in his own way. Davin shrugged, as he continued to pat down the wall, hoping to find a secondary light panel. It was several minutes before Hugh returned…

"How does that smell not bother you?" Hugh asked as he seemed to be holding back another way of nausea.

"I have kids… had…" Davin took a deep breath, shook his head, and continued. "I have been hit with every kind of mess that can come out of another human being, so, this isn't actually all that bad." Grabbing the seemingly endless curtain and attempting to yank it down.

Hugh's entire body let out a series of involuntary spasms before he could speak. "That is disgusting…"

"Yup, but sadly not the worst, I would have to say, that some of the worst had to be from when I worked in a fast food restaurant, week old used fryer grease is pretty bad if it gets a chance to fester." Davin made a sour expression. " Good thing I ate beforehand, would have lost my appetite if I hadn't"

Hugh's face went a few shades paler as he looked at Davin in a mix of fear and respect. "That is officially the saddest and most impressive thing you've said yet."

Davin shrugged. "I honestly doubt that this will be the worst smells we face in our adventures, plus, didn’t you say you grew up on a farm?"

Hugh shook his head. " I did, but we grew vegetables mostly. The closest that I got to animals was when they would drop off the manure for the fields.

"Ah, I guess that they are vastly different types of farms. My grandparents had a farm, but they mainly had chickens and such."

Their reminiscing done they stepped further into the darkness, and the door closed slowly behind them. From the little light that Davin could see, I kept catching Hugh rubbing his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"You okay?" Davin let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

"I can't see. Well I can see, but it's too dark to see anything notable and I can see in the dark, why can't I see." A mild tone of panic in his voice.

"It's the lights, they're just bright enough to not let your eyes settle into 'night vision' and the décor is set up to absorb light, so it's likely messing with you."

"Why do you have this?! Why is this a thing?" Hugh looked around in disbelief.

"All of this is designed for humans, we can't see all that well in the dark, so anywhere that it's dark and we need to be, there is usually some kind of light for us."

Hugh stared Davin down. "AND it just so happens to have adverse effects on me?"

Davin shrugged, "Not on purpose, our darkvision is all through tools, and they aren't things most people had."

"You had tools for darkvision?" Hugh started to sound annoyed. "I thought you said there was no magic."

"It was all technology… Everything in my world is based on some kind of technology."

They made it to the end of the small hallway, taking their first steps into the auditorium proper. Looking around it was exactly what Davin was expecting, the 'silver screen' was dimly lit, as if the projector was on and there wasn’t anything playing, giving the room a far more eerie glow than it ever had when he was on earth. Looking around, it seemed as though this theater was left uncleaned before it made its way here, popcorn and other garbage were littered through the aisles and rows, seeing what he could only guess were empty cups and popcorn buckets. Looking through the auditorium he didn’t see anything that stood out to him.

The silence was immediately broken when Hugh spoke.

"I thought you said this was a theater? Where is the stage?" A tone of confusion in his voice.

A shiver ran down Davin's spine, as every piece of horror movie survival rules ran through his mind. Looking around quickly and putting his finger over his lips in the universal sign of 'be quiet'.

"Huh? What's up, Davin?" Hugh not catching the cue.

"Shhhhhh." Shooshing Hugh, looking terrified. "I don’t think that we're alone."

The ticking that started at that moment Davin knew too well, but hadn't heard it in person since he was a kid… the ticking grew in speed. The sound of a classic film projector starting. The lines showed up on the screen, quickly lining up and creating the iconic frame that would be on all older movies just before they started. Watching the screen as the two of them stood in shock, watching as an enormous number three filled the screen. Hugh's wide eyes seemed to go even wider.

In a whisper. "What does that mean? Hugh asked

"It’s a countdown… It'll go three, two, one, and then the previews should start… or the movie if that’s what's happening, but really, your guess is as good as mine, this is a new one for me too, but get ready." As he pulled out one of his daggers.

A low hum filled the room as what Davin could only guess were the speakers coming to life, the beep that went along with the countdown, the three lingering on the screen far longer than Davin could ever remember. The next beep seemed deeper, longer as if it was another countdown, the tension was building in Davin's mind, the idea that something big was about to happen made a wave of panic run through him.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The next beep was almost a gong and the number changed, now showing a two on the screen. The air in the room felt oppressive as if it had a more physical presence than it was ever meant to. Trying to move Davin found himself stuck, as if rooted in place, making his sense of dread grow even more. Thinking of his status screen he focused on one part.

Condition(s): Rooted, Feared, Caffeinated, Diseased

The Caffeinated he expected… the Feared and Rooted, on the other hand, made a lot of sense for what was going on. He felt like he was stuck watching a cutscene and there was no way to skip it. Another gong, deeper than before, the circle behind the two hitting its halfway point. Davin tried to force his mind to calm down… trying to calm his breathing seemed to have the opposite effect, as another strong wave of panic hit him.

GONG!

The number ticked down to one, the spinning disc behind it moving quicker than the others…

GONG!

What Davin could only assume to be the final chime hit his ears like a punch, leaving him reeling. The brightness on the screen began to grow, the light destroying what Davin had gained in night vision, wanting to shield his eyes and not being able to.

Condition(s): Blinded, Rooted, Feared, Caffeinated, Diseased

Thinking his status into existence, it confirmed two things, one, his status screen was still visible no matter the condition of his eyes, and two, he was blinded…

Waiting as all he could see was a glowing light. The sound of paper tearing coming from the screen making his mind go through every single monster, ghost, kaiju, and villain that has ever passed through the silver screen, the fear swelling in him once again. His mind raced, trying to make a plan to come out of this ahead, his health was thrashed, and he still didn't have much of an idea of what kinds of monsters existed in the afterlife, let alone in this pocket dimension ripped from his world. The light slowly started to dim, the tearing finishing as a loud snap as if a rubber band was stretched to its limits and then cut. His eyes began to adjust to this new level of brightness, the thrum of the speakers crashing into a heavy staccato beat, every fiber of his being thinking one thing and one thing only…

Boss fight.

The crashes came as if something huge rammed into the front rows of seats, letting out a roar that could only be described as an old television blasting static at maximum volume. The beast that stood in front of Hugh and Davin was a collage of monstrosities, taking up most of the screen in its size glowing in the darkness, Davin couldn't begin to identify what movies they could be from, thinking he recognized some, but that was a passing thought as the beast roared again as it locked its glare in the direction of them.

Letting out another roar, swinging its massive arm into the row of seats that stood between the beast and them, launching the chairs in all directions causing Hugh and Davin to dive off in different directions, Davin catching some of the shrapnel in his leg before crashing to the ground, hearing Hugh let out a grunt of gain assuming the same happened to him. The bright flash of red light as Hugh launched his fiery beam into the beast, the scorch marks leaving blacked-out space as the flames lingered, from what Davin could see Hugh was trying to put himself in the hallway to offer cover. The roar of static hit Davin again, fear clenching his mind once again he could only watch as the massive fist of the beast swung to Hugh, catching him, causing him to fly back a bit more and landing awkwardly. Davin started to move, moving to try and get farther away and behind the monster, staring into the absolute darkness that was the back of the creature a corona of light was the only thing that confirmed that it was the same thing. Throwing his knife into the center of the dark mass more in desperation than actually hoping to be effective. So when the unknown creature started to crumble into paper cinders and fade away, Davin was confused.

"What the…?" Davin asked, all of the fears that had clutched him instantly fading.

"Was that it?" Hugh asked sounding just as confused as Davin felt.

Davin looked at his experience total.

Experience: 187/300

"Twelve xp and the music stopped, so I think that we're safe for the moment."

"The music? You mean that noise?" Hugh dusted himself off as he came over to look over what they'd just fought. "Hmmm, didn't drop anything either."

"What would it have carried anyway?" Davin looked around, noticing that the screen that the monster had seemingly pulled itself from seemed to still be in one piece. "I don't think that they are fully real? I think that they're just projections…"

"Projections?" Hugh asked as he dug through the rubble that surrounded them.

Davin pointed up to the screen. "The screen isn't damaged, and it went down in two hits, and it looks like that fire you hit it with was pretty effective."

"You might have a good point, when it hit me it didn't feel like it had any substance, like it wasn't fully real."

"Real or not, I'm in no condition to fight these things and whatever is making them." Davin started to pull some of the bits of debris that had hit him out of the creases in his armor, feeling the bruise already starting to form on his leg.

"We need to find our way out, so we have to fight some of the m at least. Just have to be smarter about it and make use of the skills that we have."

Davin nodded, massaging his leg that was hit. "Sneaking and blasting it with magic?"

"Basically. It didn’t seem to react until we started talking."

"We? You're the one that started talking first."

"Yes, but it was still the two of us," Hugh stated.

"Fine, so what? I sneak in, look around and then get out?"

"Basically. We don't know how many of these things are lingering around here, or what's making them, the other 'theaters' are laid out similar to this one?"

"Yup, they vary in size, but pretty much the same layout."

"Hmmm, and we are trying to find a key in all of this? I think we are going about this the wrong way… You said that there should be stairs leading up there?" Hugh pointed to the small glass window that was on the back wall where a slight glow was coming from.

"Yeah, You thinking we should just break the door open?"

"No, why break a door, when we can go through the window."

Davin blinked dumbly, as every thought he'd had didn’t even include the windows as a viable way of entry. "Shit, we could, the janitor's closet had a small ladder, and could likely reach up there with it. But we should see if we can figure out anything about these monsters first, last thing I want to do is throw myself into a nest of them."

Hugh nodded, looking around at the absolute bedlam that just one of these things could do. "What weakness do these projections have normally?"

"How the hell would I know? We don’t have monsters, this is just as new to me as it is to you." Davin stared at Hugh like he'd grown a second head.

Waving his hands, and gesturing up to the screen. "But those are from your world."

Davin's face shifted into a mask of confusion as he tried to part out what Hugh was trying to say. "Projections? Uh, I guess other light sources, like if it was too bright in here we wouldn't be able to see anything, it would just be a… big… white… screen…" Understanding hit him before he finished the thought. "Do you have any light spells? Like really bright ones?"

"Yes?" now it was Hugh's turn to be confused. "I have a few, but nothing that bright." With that Hugh whispered a few words that Davin couldn’t understand and a host of small flickering lights floated into being. " I can do a stronger one too but only can do that one twice a day."

"The little ones will be enough to test with, we need to trigger a second one of these monsters and see what they do before we start throwing stronger stuff at it, I can check to see if there are any flashlights, didn’t even think about them earlier." Davin headed back out to the lobby, the bruise causing a bit of a limp as he walked.

Davin found a few flashlights, they were the classic monster scaring style that he'd kept for his kids, pulling off the plastic housing over the lens made them brighter, but still not as bright as he was hoping for. Tossing one to Hugh.

"What's this?" As he did the single most iconic thing and aimed it right into his face as he hit the switch. "Gah, what is this?" Sputtering as he dropped it.

"A flashlight should come in handy."