Space twisted around itself, and I once again found myself in an entirely new place, but this time without a portal of retreat behind me. This was the danger of this floor, one cannot simply leave, when lost in the haunted forest.

A giggling, a scream, several wails. The creatures here made no actual sounds, so I was sure it was only my imagination, but that just made them all the more terrifying. I could feel their presence here, and I was confident few of them were of my fellow adventurers. They were wiser than I once were, as they decided to forego this floor entirely, content with the rewards of the first two.

I walked forward and regrew the leaves upon my head, using them to help me navigate, but it was a futile endeavor for those powers were greatly weakened here. The land was dead, the air stale, and the gnarled trees around me had been robbed of their leaves, their branches reaching uselessly into the night sky.

My instincts screamed at me, and I whirled around, roots already striking and trying to wrap around an enemy. But the ghosts had no physical form for me to see, nor were they easy to grab hold of. They were resentment given form, and while my roots can slow them down and even disrupt their form, they could still make their way through me where others would falter.

I was forced to dodge, which wasn’t terribly hard. I just wasn’t used to having to do that anymore. I evaded the next dives of my unseen but slower enemy a few more times while my roots kept on clinging to its form, until the monster eventually destabilized enough and dissipated, to be remade anew by the world someday. Or very soon, given that this was a dungeon.

Troublesome.

There were more ghosts in hiding, this floor really tested someone’s more esoteric detection skills, and mine were less effective because if the environment.

They hid within physical objects, the dead trees and the barren ground, far harder to detect than when they were in motion. One managed to surprise myself hard enough, grabbing hold of my guts. Roots immediately lashed out, not from the ground but from the landscape of my verdant robes.

The ghost was obliterated by the kuch stronger roots, but the damage was already done, if small. It was insidious in a way, I felt weaker from that small amount of contact, and I knew now that the feeling was of my very life and vitality being sucked away. It was something that was harder to heal with my powers, unlike common cuts and bruises.

That was how my party was nearly wiped out before. We didn’t know, we thought the discomfort was nothing, we could still move like normal. None of us spoke up about it, unwilling to be a burden.

How stupid… I wish we just talked and communicated, but it was now too late. We died slow deaths, and only I was saved.

I don’t want to be here anymore.

I broke into a run that left all the ghosts no time to try and give chase. A few ghost traps waiting in hiding did manage to make contact, but the damage was small for I was immediately out of there. I was not particularly fast for an immortal-rank adventurer, but it was still enough against these inherently slower monsters.

My eyes swiveled around, looking for the telltale signs of a portal. The ones here were weird, but they could bring me either up or down according to my will. Meria’s notes actually had information about where to find them, and without that I may have died along with my friends a century ago.

Maybe that– I banished all the thoughts about how I would’ve preferred that. I was here looking for immortality, it’s obvious that I did not wish for death. Not entirely, at least.

I searched around myself, and went toward the direction where it felt like there were more ghosts. The dead trees were denser, as if they were trying to hide something.

I found my objective, a portal hidden in between two particularly large trunks. There were plenty of ghosts in the vicinity, and they crowded around at the entrance. Many more were catching up, it seemed I’d attracted quite the audience with my mad dash. I could just barrel through them and reach the next portal. I was relatively resilient, I knew I could take it. But allowing these ghosts to run amok through our bodies was what killed the one dream that I held. My adventure with Flowar, Leon, and Amylis was cut short.

I’ll not make the same mistake again.

I reached out with my hand, and a piece of my robe bent toward it. I broke off a piece of the fabric that looked like a patch of fertile ground lush with grass.

I placed it on the ground and watched as the barren soil changed to accommodate it. I dug through that single patch of life on this barren wasteland, and my brown gloves with a very green thumb increased the verdance of the new soil further.

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I reached toward a pouch by my waist and pulled a gray-white seed that pulsed with power. I planted it gently in the hole that I’d dug, and my gloves pulsed with magic through the entire process, giving life to those that it touched. I stood back up, and used my roots on my surroundings, keeping away the ghosts that grew too curious. I would kill them all in time.

The ground underneath lightly shook, and a sprout blossomed. It soon grew to be a plant, visibly becoming bigger, until it was the size of a full grown tree tree.

I laid my hands on its trunk, my boots sunk into the ground. New roots began to sprout around us, all of the same make and monochromatic coloration as the tree that I held. A purgatotree capable of touching upon the immaterial, holding them in place, and in conjunction with my powers; Squeezing the undeath out of them.

The ghosts died. Their wails were imprinted upon my head, and I felt no guilt nor sorrow. It was even mildly cathartic for the experience I once had with them, and it was enough to bring a smile to my face.

I went through the portal and toward the next floor, ready for a challenge.

~~~

I was dumped into the middle of a colosseum. I had never been here before, but I knew of its existence thanks to Meria’s notes. This wasn’t one of the two new floors.

I looked around at all the sand, and I knew that in just a few minutes, the gate opposite of me, currently shrouded in shadow, would open. I would have to fight the ghouls of fallen challengers that come from within if I wished to advance.

I walked up to the center of the arena and broke off more pieces of my robes that had already fully mended itself. I laid the fabric down upon the sand, giving me a patch of lush earth with which to plant.

The gates began to open, but I didn’t pay it any mind for the moment, busy planting a seed with care. Once that was done, I stood back up, and my supposed enemies walked out of the gate. They were far weaker than I now was, but they were more than similar to myself. I might have preferred to fight a dragon instead.

Something like this had to be deliberate.

I faced my dead friends.

~~~

Time seemed to have stopped as my rozenmaidenless tree grew to its full height. Its canopy was blood red, and all other parts of it were covered in the sharpest of thorns.

The enemies in front of me were ghouls. They looked just like my friends did in life, if ashen grey in skin, and with hair dried and flaky. Even the way they walked was familiar, with Leon’s confident gait, Flowar’s even more confident strides, and the way Amylis watched her surroundings, keeping both allies and hostiles in her sight. I was the only one who was missing…

“Hey, dungeon. Eternal Dungeon. I came here to partake of your challenges fairly. I have found in the end that I want your reward of immortality. But was this truly necessary?”

No response. I received no response. My friends only fanned out, with Leon at the lead, and Flowar drawing her bow from the side. Amylis was watching for ambushes, and my absence was glaring as she still moved as if I were right beside her.

I’m right here, and we’re enemies. Stop trying to protect someone that isn’t there!

I sighed and allowed my boots to root me in place. I watched as if the world had slowed down as Leon charged with his big tower shield, only for me to realize that I was just that much faster now. I remembered being unable to keep up with him physically at all.

I sighed and tied up his legs, not using the thorns of my tree just yet. Leon tried to hack them off in response without leaving himself open, keeping the shield aloft.

Flowar nocked her bow, and tried to shoot at me, but I yanked her hand down with a root. The shot never came close.

This would be the part where she’d grunt and curse, but for once she remained quiet, reminding me so vividly of her undeath. The only parts remade into reality were their habits when it comes to battle, but speech was not. Because that’s what it meant to be a ghoul. Not a disposable fighter like most undead, but an ancient wizard’s attempt to keep a useful servant around.

Flowar drew a dagger and began hacking at the intruding plant.

Amylis examined the situation and shot balls of flame directly right at me. I used a wall of roots to block it, and I felt the heat on them as the spells impacted, but they were unable to even set my roots aflame.

I should finish this now. I could have finished it from the beginning. Going through this is only painful for all of us.

Or perhaps, only for me. You are only… frozen paintings in time, of people who are long gone.

Flowar finally managed to free herself, and it was still so weird to see her this calm. She charged right for me, this time with a short sword. She was always the strongest of us, and she had all the ways to deal that damage.

I ensnared her feet, just like I did to Leon, who still hadn’t broken free. I summoned up the will to end them, to never see them again forever. Whether that be because I succeed in my quest here, or I do not.

Thorned roots crawled their way out of the ground and into the air. The two of them kept on struggling all the same, intent on taking the fight to me. There was only one among them who recognized the danger

M

Amylis shot her own ally, and I freed Flowar’s legs in surprise as the fireball landed on the roots restraining her. Amylis pushed the other girl away, and took the attack in her stead. She showed no emotion as the roots constricted around her and drank of her dead and stale blood.

Even in undeath, even if there was no longer any will behind her actions, Amylis still knew to sacrifice herself for another.

I killed Flowar and Leon in the same way right after, offering one last choked sob to the party we could have been.