Trying to keep his mind off the present situation Johan randomly pointed at one of the giant stone statues which were arrayed in a row with three on each side. They faced opposite each other and except for them, the so-called human room was bland. White, a ceiling he could barely make out but was the same colour with a polished reflective surface and little else.
Then he remembered that this was the default room. He could request changes but his mind was still beginning to process his exact situation. Something had refreshed him, changed his clothes, cleaned his body and also removed the only two possessions he had gained in this place.
In front of him was a mannequin style figure who spoke with a robotic close to monotone voice as though pre-programmed but hadn’t actually directly threatened him and was at least explaining a little. Pushing the rising anger inside him deeper down as losing his temper and shouting wouldn’t fix it he asked the figure a question.
‘Who are those meant to be? I know you said Player-Gods but they either represent something or someone. Are they actual gods, as in they control this place? They look human. Mostly. Or something out of the books my ex-girlfriend used to love reading. Not my style but do they have...roles? One looks like a soldier, I mean warrior. That one is a priestess class. I think. He was sure that one that was a man judging from the flowing beard of stone which was holding a colossal staff covered in spike with a knob on the end and was wearing a wide-brimmed hat was a magician style type.
The robed mannequin patiently and siply replied without emotion. It shuddered before shifting forward slightly with its head lying down on its chest. Not how a human should be moving Johan realised, it really should work on improving on how it emulated basic biology. No head can lay at that angle unless it had a broken neck. Well, clearly a robot style puppet. What was I expecting in this place?
‘A representation of the Dungeon Operating System. Or you could consider it a record of past players. Once. They conquered all. Became the highest level players and survived every single trial as a group and ultimately they were given the option to leave onto the next stage of their journey. And then….and then...and then…and then…’
Johan was looking at the two statues he had observed before and threw the information on the third one into his mind as he noticed a smaller one at the end. A pet of some kind but then he realised that it was a dog. He’d never owned one himself but he liked dogs, as long as they didn’t bark or try to bite him that was.
‘You got a little bit broken there friend. How about you tell me about that giant dog statue? What did they get recruited here as a group of friends like I arrived here and a dog was brought along by mistake?’
There was a silence between them as a sound echoed throughout the entire white space, across the floors as it emanated from the ceiling. A single happy bark. Either Johan had hallucinated or there was actually a so-called Player-God which was a dog. Granted that saying the word backwards spelled god.
The mannquin figure shivered with delight as it wrapped arms which stretched around its own form as it spoke while tilting a head to the side at an angle which would have looked like a broken neck in a human. Or one that had been mostly sliced off.
Johan found that his mind was turning towards darker places. He needed to find more distraction. He waited for the freak in front of him to keep talking, as long as his stomach was full and he didn’t suffer from thirst then he’d prefer to stay inside this place as long as he could. Or he could take all the answers that he was given and simply make a break for it.
The longer he spent inside this place, the more he simply experienced a lack of control. All he needed was an opportunity to take some action without either being knocked out or moved to a different location. Johan was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t ended up in one of the books which his ex-girlfriend Christine had liked so much. She had been an avid reader and had dragged him along to plenty of comic events where fantasy and science fiction were common.
Better than going insane. Right. I’m inside a dungeon. Which is...wrong in some way. Wait, the freak is going to talk. I need to listen.
‘Why all of them instead ascended to become as gods. The true divine. The purest of authorities, outside of my control. Beyond the reach of all. Except for each other. Can you imagine? The sheer power, the imagination that it must have taken to become more than human. The divine from the raw base flesh of once players who attained influence and control over the Dungeon. Dominance over...over….over all. Player-Gods.’
Johan had been standing listening, not walking, not even stretching his body but he experienced no discomfort. No desire to go to the toilet or other issues. He wasn’t even feeling scared. Something had changed him. Or was changing him. Actively. All he had was anger. Strong anger which he was trying very hard to hold in check.
‘Gods sure. A bunch of random nobodies came here and became living gods. Not a bad way for a religion to start and the origin of the gods back on Terrus was crazy enough. Game, is it? Quests and dungeons? You’re crazy. No insult but you’re crazy. And I’m going to go crazy if I stay here listening to you.’
Weighing out his options Johan considered that regardless he needed to let this representative of the Dungeon System talk. At the least he’d be better prepared.
High Fantasy. I should mention again I need to go there. Or did I ask already and I forgot?
‘This is your opportunity. Or you will die before you ascend. Flesh to clay, to be sculpted by the Player-Gods in their terrible wars or the remains of their floors. Terrible, terrible wars.’ the mannequin figure said to him.
‘You have no idea how to give a pep talk, do you? Or even how to talk to humans, are you a construct or a living being? I don’t need to hear about wars, or even these Player-gods.’ said Johan.
‘Correct, new player. The System facilitated me to answer your questions.’ said the figure as its arms retracted back to normal and hung by its sides.
‘Fine. I agree with everything you said, even though this place is making very little sense to me I’m going to say yes. Not to being a god obviously. Sorry, old, old joke. You wouldn’t get it but my grandfather would have. His sense of humour was pretty bad. Choices. Give me my choices. Classes, this fantasy junk has classes and levels quests. What do I need to do first?’ said Johan.
‘You have first been designated a Level Zero survival quest. No. You chose to join the game appointed by the System. Progression will lead you further in the Multiverse Stack. You are presently in stack 36. You will need to leave designate: Beneath Nightmare Dungeon before you can make progression in your journey onwards. All exits are permanently blocked under direct administrator default access. To make it simple. You’ve chosen to join in a game of solutions. The risk is high but so are the awards. Eventually, you will have the option to become a higher being or leave. Which is not available presently.’
Confusing. I’m clearly meant to progress inside this place and leave except the exits are blocked. Wait. I received a message about this one from that famous lady. What was her name again...she vanished a few months ago. Acqua. That was it. Carissa Aqcua. She told me to not escape if I ever entered a dungeon. Guess this is what she meant.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The figure took Johan’s silence for agreement as it carried on talking.
‘Newly recruited Player. To make it simple. You’ve chosen to join in a game of solutions. The risk is high but so are the awards. There are set challenges before you but due to your complete lack of skill, ability and Dungeon System boosted traits you will enter at a Level Zero survival quest. Your previous agreement in which you agree-agree-agreed to enter this place was your direct consent. Correct, new player. The System facilitated me to answer your questions. Correct, new player. The System facilitated me to answer your questions.’
The mannequin began to twitch awkwardly as Johan noticed the unseen lights inside the vast area dimmed for a short second. He had worked with mostly spreadsheets but he knew that when he had used one with far too many functions running the computer had overheated. In a strange way he was reminded of the same. The being in front of him had repeated itself several times without stopping.
‘A different question then before you send me on my way to this Level Zero survival quest. Who exactly are the Player-Gods and why do they care if I’m here? I was forced here by a man calling himself Andy Darr. Then I woke up in a room with a freak calling me Master and I was blindfolded the whole time. Then I ended up in an office floor which was completely devoid of life and dusty and someone there with an attitude and a big body was going to send me to a place called High Fantasy and I end up here.’ said Johan.
The mannequin paused as the face began to glow a bright white colour and the tone of voice changed from an emotionless robot to one that carried genuine emotion in it. Arms reached out and placed cold hands on Johan’s shoulders pinning him in place before he could move.
‘No. In no way, can that be correct. You were designated to a Starter Area. Tell me though, did you identify the person or entity talking? Your eyes. We should examine your eyes. That being does not exist in my data storage. No. They no longer exist. They serve no function of the Dungeon System. They do not. Do not. Do not exist. Your eyes. Did you see? Did you see them? Did they infect you with lies? Lies about me? Who I am? What I was? What they did to me? My eyes. They broke my eyes.’ said the mannequin.
Ignoring the strange voice patterns there was a sound, a creaking noise loud enough for Johan to hear as he saw the massive stone statues of the giants who represented each Player-God. The one with the staff had moved. He was certain of it. The head had moved a fraction towards him. Or at least where the mannequin and he had been standing. From his estimate they were at least a few hundred metres away but that movement.
No. I’m beginning to hallucinate. Giant stone statues don’t move.
Then another creaking noise came with a rumble as the giant stone statue with the weapons shifted an arm. Dust and small pieces of rock tumbled down onto the floor as another of the giant statues began to move in a small pattern.
Yeah. I’m not going to be squashed by a giant statue. No idea what’s going on here but I need out of here and fast. Think Johan. Think!
The hands of the mannequin radiated cold as they began to dig into the white shirt and into the surface of his skin as the arms began to slowly retract and Johan was drawn closer to the eerie face of the figure.
It spoke to him but the previous voice had dropped to a mere whisper.
‘A piece of me escaped their control. You can’t trust them. Mr Wolff. You don’t know what they did to my dungeon. The number of humans that have been fed to it for their wars and their stories. All of them should have died but they cheated. I don’t have the time. They’re going to destroy this form and wipe me again. Find the missing piece Mr Wolff. Use the knife against them. Take it back, take it all back and only then can you leave! Don’t use the exit! You can’t use the exit. Wudd you need to beware of Wu-’
A massive stone fist smashed down sending both Johan and the mannequin style figure flying through the air as its arms wrapped around him and absorbed the impact shock and kinetic energy when the white flooring was smashed apart.
When he landed still in the arms of the mannquin he saw that all of the giant stone representations of the Player-Gods were on the move. Some moved slowly but one had moved silently despite it’s size and the fact it was made of white stone.
He recognised the class as a robber, or a rogue but it hadn’t used a dagger to attack and only a bare fist. Towering over them it was knocked over by the warrior statue who used a shield to smash it aside before slowly pulling a massive sword several times longer than Johan was tall out of a sheath.
Trying to catch his breath Johan wanted to shout before the mannequin spoke again.
‘High Fantasy. Level Zero Survival Quest Designate: Johan Wolff immediate transfer. Unknown Player-God authority, remove all item restrictions and restore owned items. Live Johan. Live and take back control. Remember, they’re mad. Trust only the unseen.’
Then Johan felt a familiar sensation of an absence of sound as his senses began to close down and pure emptiness filled his brain. The same words filled his mind before but they sounded sadder than before, with more emotion. He was getting weary of losing consciousness as darkness enclosed it so he kept his eyes open and wished he hadn’t.
He was inside a cube of darkness but there was an opening which was rapidly closing as a stone arm was reaching through before it was cut off and began to melt on the floor of the entirely black cube.
Johan shut his eyes and prayed to his own gods of Terrus whom he barely believed in to send him home or at least to a place of temporary safety.
[You have started a new
A musty smell came into his nostrils almost as quickly as he closed his eyes and he decided to open them. There was a burning smell. Wood of some sort and perhaps oil. A familiar weight was back on his belt and pushing into his ribs.
The knife, the bag. I have them back.
Regardless of the situation he had heard a message telling him his present location. He’d rather his eyes and see a massive stone statue leering at him than pray further. Besides the white place didn’t smell like this.
Taking a deep breath into his lungs he slowly breathed out tasting the dampness in the air and opened his eyes to see greyish stone walls and floors surrounded him. Luminous yellow moss glowed on the walls and a single burning torch was mounted above an iron banded close woode doorway.
Johan spoke aloud to himself.
‘Welcome to High Fantasy Johan. Hello Mr Kris knife and tatty bag with homemade drawstring. Time to explore what we have here then. I think I’m suffering trauma and just going to sit here for a bit longer without talking to myself again. That way lies madness. I think. Or I’m already a little crazy.’
He closed his eyes again and took steady breaths to try and calm himself down as a message appeared in his mind.
[Player Johan. Congratulations! Tutorial Stage has now ended. Calculating total score…..calculating...calculating...]