"Mom... how do you get excited?"

"Hmm? What do you mean, sweetie?"

Ever since I was little, my mother taught me how to keep a cold heart, to have steady nerves... I've always enjoyed her lessons, and I felt joy listening to her. However, deep down, there has always been a faint emptiness slowly consuming me, a void I couldn't fill. I had trouble finding pleasure in living, excitement in doing activities, something that allowed me to move on while feeling fulfilled by what life offered me...

"Mom, when you hug me... I can feel your heartbeat. It's fast... and it's beautiful, and you're happy, your heart is full of joy... I want to feel like that, too."

She softly chuckled, gently running her fingers through my hair. "Sweetie... It's because you make me happy. I can't hide how grateful I am to you. My heartbeat races every time I see you, sweetie, because I love you."

"I love you too, mom. But... but I want to feel alive, too... I want to have the same beautiful smile you have every time you see me. I want to feel my heartbeat go as fast as yours. I want to feel the way you feel."

"Sweetie, this is something I can't teach you, but something you have to discover for yourself. You just have to find your own happiness," she told me, continuing to tenderly caress my hair.

"Before me, mom, were you happy? Was your heart ever filled with joy?" I asked her with eyes full of curiosity.

"Of course, sweetie. Though, the joy I felt before having you could never compare to how I feel now," she replied.

"What did you do that made your heart beat?"

"Oh, you want to know about my past?" she tilted her head.

I nodded. "Hmm-hm."

She smiled, playfully, before bringing her finger to her lips. "That's a secret."

I angrily pouted at that.

"Don't worry, sweetie. One day, you shall find something that will make your heart race like never before. I'm certain of it..."

...

"I found it!"

I kept slicing through the monsters, only a few remained, while I displayed a laugh and a smile with a purity and genuineness I had never felt before.

"I found it, mom! I found it!"

I was drenched in monsters' blood, with some of mine as well. Each step I took was accompanied by the sound of my shoes splashing through the pool of blood I had created. The blade of my dagger was rapidly losing its effectiveness, I could feel it; I had more trouble slicing through the monsters, and they were also adapting to my speed.

"Danger! Danger gets me so high!"

I was so drenched in blood that my grip on the dagger often loosened due to the blood dripping onto my hand; but I always managed to keep it steadily.

One of the remaining monsters approached me, trying to slice my head with its claws. I moved aside to evade it, the stained floor making me faintly slip, causing the claw to graze my cheek.

"I can't get enough of it!"

I was elated. Each scrape, each cut, only fueled my excitement further.

"My whole body is burning!"

I felt like I remained underwater for hours, finally emerging, sucking all the air my lungs could possibly manage, now clearly seeing the light. I felt alive, as though I had just learned how to breathe, like I had risen from the depths of an abyss.

"More! Struggle for me! Haha!"

I enjoyed inflicting pain on those monsters; the more I killed, the more their fury grew, driving them to attack me even more violently.

I dashed forward, going behind one of them, planting my dagger right into its neck. Another monster was coming from the front; I ducked, avoiding its attack. Then, I retrieved my dagger from the neck of the monster I had just slain, now plunging it on the one that just tried to attack me. It's blood gushing over me.

"I feel so good..."

At the same time, another attack was coming, I had no room to catch my breath yet... I felt like I didn't need it. I kept on fighting, seeing the attacks clearly, reveling in every moment. Time seemed to have slowed down...

"I'm grateful, mom..."

I kept dancing between the remaining monsters.

"I'm grateful... to you, and to that dragon that killed me."

More the blood flowing down from my own scratches.

"The death that dragon brought upon me... opened a door within me..."

More the blood pumping inside me.

"It's as if I've been intoxicated by the devil itself... and now the poison keeps on stacking, and stacking, and stacking... filling my void to its brim, bringing me to the pinnacle of its climax..."

With my blade sinking into the monster's flesh, the last one finally collapsed to the ground.

"And now I'm addicted to it..."

I relaxed my body, allowing myself to fall to my knees in the pool of blood, surrounded by whole masses of lifeless bodies.

I was panting heavily... All the exhaustion accumulated during the battle was now simultaneously hitting back at me. I pressed my hand against my chest...

"Ah... what a beautiful sound," I murmured to myself. I never felt my heart beating so loud, this was without a doubt a new record.

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I turned my head to the sky. I didn't even realize this room had a sky. It was night, a giant moon flew over my head; it was going pretty fast. Time seemed to flow differently in this room. Well, in the dungeon itself.

"Fuck..."

Despite me remaining still, my heart seemed to have no intention of slowing down, I was drenched in sweat and blood, my muscles were throbbing in pain, thinking about the battle I just went through. During it, I cast my first spell a total of eight times. Normally, I wouldn't sweat this much, but ever since that dragon killed me, my body hasn't followed my orders as it usually would. But the thought of it didn't disturb me, not at all; I was turned on.

"Fuck, I need to calm down..."

I got up from the pool of blood, directing myself to the side of the arena. Leaning my back against the wall, I let my body sink down, eventually sitting.

What a strange feeling... I had reached my climax; my blood still boiling through my veins, saliva accumulating in my mouth. I couldn't stop feeling aroused, I felt like I had reached heaven.

Slowly, I managed to calm down and steady my breathing.

"I'm a mess..."

My clothes were all painted red now, just like my skin. The blood was beginning to dry, and the monsters were gradually disappearing, dissipating into nothingness as time passed.

"I need to rest..."

I couldn't sense any monsters around, it seemed a safe place to rest.

"This room is practically cleared. If I sleep I won't be able to keep track of the time, but... whatever; I'm asking for too much now. I'll just keep my guard high while I sleep, mom taught me well."

I felt like I had discovered a new page of myself. And so, satisfied, I closed my eyes, letting the world slowly fade away...

... When I opened them again, the monsters had all entirely dissipated.

"Hm, I had a good rest."

I glanced at the sky, I still had a giant moon flying over my head.

"How much time could have passed?"

As I got up, I stretched my whole body, reaching my arms high above my head and arching my back, feeling the pleasant tug from my fingertips to my toes while savoring the satisfying crackle of all my joints.

"Hmm... judging by how my body feels, and the cuts on my skin..."

Some of my muscles still hurt. I wasn't losing blood from the scratches anymore, though. I felt quite rested, but I smelled... I could definitely use a bath. My stomach also hurt, and my mouth felt dry. I really need food and water.

"I would say... a lot of hours... sixteen hours, approximately."

Yet, I felt pretty good. I felt confident in myself; I was in a good mood, despite my situation.

"Well, time to go. I must find the others."

Reuniting with the others was now my top priority. I had enough fun, I enjoyed myself and felt satisfied, but I needed food and water to survive, I couldn't ignore it anymore. And so, I moved on. However, I stopped right before the door to proceed.

"What should I do...?"

Despite my confidence, I was troubled; I had to pay attention...

"If I encounter another group of monsters like this one..."

My life would surely meet its end.

"I'm not in the right condition to face something like that again... Should I enter the Dynamic Zone?"

The Dynamic Zone: a concept my mother taught me. It is a state of absolute focus and awareness where all unnecessary thoughts and unconventional movements vanish; each sense becomes heightened and sharpened to the very peak. My mother described it as opening a door in the depths of an abyss that made you switch places with a demon. Only few talented people could enter this state, and even less could do it at their own free will. My mother could enter and exit this state whenever she wanted it, instantly and effortlessly, and she could maintain it for whole days. However, I wasn't as skilled. It required some minutes for me to enter it, and I could sustain it only for a few hours at most.

In the Dynamic Zone, my perception would reach its peak. I could clearly feel the slightest wind caressing my skin, my own clothes gently brushing against me, the air softly entering my nostrils, the blood coursing through my veins, the sound of my own heartbeat...

How many times do we blink? My mother once asked me this very question. No human can answer this question, we don't pay attention to such details. Of course, even I couldn't answer it. However, my mother could. She revealed to me that, in a single minute, she would typically blink around ten times. When I was in the Dynamic Zone, I could tell as well; I could distinctly feel my eyelids blinking. And I could also perceive whatever was around me, every single detail, whether it was a leaf gracefully drifting to the ground or a drop of water slowly dripping from a cold glass. I could sense it all.

While being in this state allowed me to conserve, physically speaking, my energies; mentally, it was exhausting, even draining... and it would irremediably weigh down on my physical condition as well. So I had to choose carefully when to utilize it.

"If I use it now, and the next room is full of monsters, I would've made the right decision. But if it isn't, I would have to undo it, and then I wouldn't be able to re-enter that state again for several hours, and just the act of entering it would exhaust me mentally..."

What is the right thing to do...?

...

"Argenta, you're overthinking again!"

My mother scolded me about it several times in the past.

"Ouch! Mom, you're hurting my shoulder like that!"

"You're too tense. Relax your body," she advised.

I learned how to enter the Dynamic Zone when I was twelve; it was an extremely challenging lesson.

"I can't enter that state, mom. It's too hard for me..." I lamented with frustration.

"You're wrong. You're more than capable, but you must clear your mind. You think too much; you seek it when you don't have to. You just have to let it happen. Let your mind sink," she explained.

"Can you show it to me again?" I asked her.

She sighed, stepping back. Then, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them, I could clearly feel her gaze, coldly posing upon me.

I watched her, once again, with astonishment. She seemed like a completely different person; she was in trance... She then closed her eyes once more, stepping out of it.

"Mom... you're incredible," I praised.

She patted my head, gently caressing it. "Argenta, you can do it, too. Your only problem is that you overthink everything."

...

"My mother is right. Even now, I'm overthinking..."

I decided to simply open the door.

"If something happens... I'll deal with it, somehow. I don't have the luxury to waste time overthinking as I always do."

As I opened the door, a wave of hot air welcomed me. In front of me: stairs. A staircase so long I couldn't even see its end. It was surrounded by lava. It didn't look inviting.

I stood still for a second; I couldn't sense any monsters. Just lava and a seemingly endless staircase. I began my climb, I couldn't afford to lose any more time.

Slowly climbing... The sound of two metals clashing against each other reverberated in the air.

"Traps... how sweet."

I had just blocked an arrow coming from the right with my dagger. Strange... I hadn't stepped on anything that could trigger a trap, and I still couldn't sense monsters.

I watched the arrow plummet into the lava beneath me, when the sight of it suddenly alerted me.

"It's rising!"

The lava was rising. Even here, I really couldn't afford a break, could I?

And so, my rush to the top of the staircase began, swiftly intercepting every arrow that came my way. At some point, I could see the end of it, and so could the monster that stood in front of it see me. It looked like the one I had slain in the previous room, but bigger. It jumped my way as soon as it spotted me, but I wasn't taking any chances.

"Bianca!"

I summoned my demon, which immediately went straight for the monster; my spell had the upper hand, quickly tearing it apart, letting its pieces fall into the lava below. I then rushed past the scene, rapidly entering the other room, collapsing to the ground from exhaustion as I opened the door. My legs were in pain, and I was panting.

As I caught my breath, I scanned the room ahead, I've reached a celestial room; it was suffused in a blue glow, with a little pool of water in the middle, illuminated by the moonlight.

"Water!"

I immediately dragged myself to the pool, immersing my face in it to drink and quench my thirst, finally replenishing my body with fluids. I didn't even wonder whether it was poisoned or safe to drink in general. It tasted good, and it was also fresh.

"Ah... Is this... a checkpoint?"

Checkpoints: safe rooms in dungeons, like sanctuaries; devoid of any monsters and usually aesthetically pleasing. How considerate of the Deities to put something like this inside their deadly creation.

Once drank some water, I made my way back to the door I had just opened. The lava had stopped, but just to be sure, I closed the door behind me. I was now in a safe room. I lay down on the floor, with my gaze facing the moon, letting out a loud groan in exasperation. I don't know for how long I ran up those stairs.

"I'm so exhausted..."