A ragged cough kick started my lungs, sucking in a deep breath I shot upright finding myself still under the archway of moss covered stone and flamethrowers. My arms were a grotesque mess of scorched flesh and melted iron armour, as I moved away from it the utter lack of pain I felt dissipating any worry I had as I glanced around the room again and exhaled before I tried to push through the arch.
Breaking into a sprint I ran across the stone tiles, up the two large steps of the arch and leapt through it a shout of exertion fleeing my lips as I passed through a shroud of black shimmering space behind it and the world warped, shifting and moulding until I was spit out into the dark halls of a barely lit dungeon.
I barely had time to adjust to the much darker light level before a shambling remnant of a person clattered down the hall, the silhouette of reddish tinted bones awkwardly held together with flayed ligaments and muscle with what skin remained falling off its face.
Sucking in a sharp breath I raised the broken sword to attempt to deflect the sword it over swung at me, the wide arc it threw tore right through my poor defence cold iron digging into my shoulder and preempting the skeletal monsters armoured foot smashing into my ribs.
Crack
The shatter of bones elicited a cry as I was forced to the ground as crimson fled my body like a fire hydrant as the skeleton wrenched the sword back, my right arm fell to the ground with a wet thud, my mind running a million miles to scramble away from its next attack.
Narrowly avoiding the blood covered blade as it whipped out toward me, a gargled mess of a yell caught in my throat as I grabbed my throat.
Falling over my head hit the ground, vision blurring and white hot pain numbing my thoughts as I choked on my own blood.
Life drained from my body slowly seeping out with the last beats of my heart.
Flickering vision turned to black, no last words or thoughts coming to be as I died.
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Gasping for breath I woke in a dark hallway caked in dried blood, blinking I flexed my fingers and toes. Everything was still attached and working, looking around I found the broken sword I’d failed to use lying next to me where a smattering of red painted the stone.
“I’m alive?” An unsure feeling rose in my chest.
Rubbing my eyes I looked around again and tried to make heads or tails of my situation recounting what I remembered up until I woke, in that I found my body was new again like it had been when I arrived in that room with the table.
“So I’m immortal now and my body comes back brand new when it happens?” I asked the dark stone hall as the flames of several candles flickered in a gentle breeze pulling my attention toward where it originated.
‘Where there’s a breeze there is a way out’ I thought before taking my first step of this life toward it.
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My steps echoed off the stone as the armour I wore- not quite tight enough, as it shifted on my shins and the pieces on my shoulders bounced, the forearm armour still melted into slag spikes. I tightened the straps best I could.
Taking a deep breath my knuckles cracked and popped loudly as I tightened my grip around the handle of the sword ready to take the offensive this time, as empty and vacant as I felt through it I didn’t want to die again. I had no clue of knowing whether I would simply come back or if I would find myself actually gone-gone.
Walking for what felt like hours toward the rush of air I found myself at an intersection of featureless walls that split left and right.
I had never been good at making decisions so I took my scenario for what it was and simply took the right, heading down the hall the walls slowly transitioned from otherwise featureless to those with intricate carvings along the support columns that appeared every ten metres. Amongst the space between the columns small murals etched into the walls showed figures praying to a tall robed figure with a crown that sparkled.
I wasn’t really sure what to make of them, I did take away that there were knights with pole arms surrounding the King? And in a few of them massive wolves then half armoured soldiers with swords and shields. I got the feeling I might have been in some kind of tomb and a spark of fear embedded itself in my gut at the realisation I might run into these knights or the wolves-
“I can’t even defend myself against a shambling skeleton.” I verbalised my concern as I stopped to look at another mural.
Part of my mind told me this style of etching was familiar, that I’d seen it somewhere before but another part of me wanted to gloss over it and forget about it. It was just flavour and I didn't have to care about it so long as I found my way out almost completely, letting the wind I’d been following fall to the wayside as it had been over half an hour since I felt it against my skin.
When I continued walking again I found myself approaching a normal door sunk into the wall on my left, trying the handle I found it was unlocked and opened it-
“Aaagghh!” A howl erupted from me as a force struck my chest hard enough to make me stumble backward.
“Fuck!” I spat saliva as I looked down at a foot long wooden bolt poking out of my collar.
Turning my gaze back into the room the door hid an animated skeleton with its melted flesh drooping off its bones and muscles rotted black as it stumbled forward with a crossbow in hand.
Wincing in pain I raised the sword and ran at the monster before it could re-arm the crossbow, slamming my shoulder into it and ramming it into the wall opposite the wall the bag of bones tried to wrap its arms around me to stop me from smashing its skull with the hilt of the sword.
“Sunnovabitch!” I cursed as shards of skull dug into my flesh.
Rotting marrow made contact with my wound as blood poured from the gash in my wrist while I fought to free myself from the skeleton, its death grip struggling against my attempts to separate us. My release came when I kneed the remnant in the pelvis shattering it and the barely attached spine.
It went limp and fell off me clattering to the ground in the dark room.