Stor felt his legs weaken at the sight of this cave. Caves were rare things in this part of the world, most of them were turned into storage cellars and caches or used as residences. An untouched cave, even this far away from the village, was a strange thing. The only reason Stor knew that it was untouched was because of a trip with his father where they hunted a magical beast at the request of a nobleman.

There was a feeling from it, something like light, yet this light had a feeling to it, like it was part cloth. More than that, there seemed to be a shimmer covering the entrance, like how colors danced in the thin layer of a water bubble. Stor felt like the world was trying to close the mouth of this cave, to shut it and destroy it, but the cave stood resolute in apathy.

Stor looked around, hoping and praying that someone would tell him this was a bad idea. He wasn’t brave nor was he cowardly, he could feel danger to a certain degree. This cave was dangerous in a way that he couldn’t understand, like it was cursed or housed a dark spirit or was haunted by something. If this was a bear or a wolf or even a magic creature, his intuition wouldn’t be this crazed.

His friends and allies were mixed in opinion. Some like him were fearful of this place, others had a strange anger in their eyes like they were staring at something horrid. Stor understood the feelings to a point, this cave seemed to be evil but not in the disgusting way of a found bug in stew. These glares stared at this cave like it was their natural enemy.

“I think we should head back,” said Stor, grabbing his waterskin to moist the bone-dry skin of his mouth and throat. They were just hunters, not heroes. Just living close to these dangerous forests didn’t make them warlocks or barbaric fighters capable of ripping a man apart like the rumors of the kingdom liked to fantasize. This was beyond their understanding.

“I don’t think we should. This ‘thing’ needs to be killed immediately,” said another hunter, failing to hide the hatred and malice plaguing his eyes.

“What ‘thing’ are you talking about, it's just a cave,” said another as their voice betrayed their anxiety and fear.

“Indeed, it is just a cave,” said Stor as his eyes kept wandering towards the doorway to the underground. The more he stood near it, the more he felt something from deep within calling to him. He didn’t want to be here anymore.

“We went to find food, and all the animals went in there. Wouldn’t that mean that the animals we need to hunt are in there?”

Stor struggled to find anything to counter that argument but his stomach growled and burned. They were starving, and if there was food in there, then that meant they needed to go in there. They knew that there were risks to this. They knew that they could die; they knew that they probably would die investigating the strange situation in the forest.

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“Your…you’re right, we need to investigate the cave,” replied Stor, swallowing as his throat became dry again. He slowly, with labored steps, approached the cave. His mustered bravery faltered and crumbled - with each step he took his skin started to crawl as every bit of him screamed to retreat and fall back.

He and the rest approached the cave and, like his body moved on its own, he stepped in.

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“Dungeon lord, there are sentient beings just outside the dungeon entrance.”

Alex felt his soul drop through a basement floor while the rusted gears of his mind slowly broke apart what the dungeon fairy said. People, already? Granted, in the game, adventurers appeared early in the game but that was different. By that point he had enough soul points to make a decent dungeon, not like this shithole.

It was too early for people to come. He had almost no defenses targeting humans or whatever sentient aliens lived in this world. He screamed and started spinning in circles, trying to find something to do, anything to do. After turning around a few times, he floated and shot towards the entrance to see what his enemies were like.

It took some time, but eventually a group of five went in. They were…human, something that he didn’t expect from the alien looks of animals he had been fighting. They looked human at least, maybe there were hidden tails or their faces split open to reveal mouths. He waited but they were more cowardly than they should, in the game adventurers and humans were daredevil psychotics.

They took careful steps and their eyes seemed to leak out of their heads from how hard they stared at everything. There were two, though, that seemed much more aggressive than the rest, like they were partially affected by the mania afflicted on the animals that attacked his dungeon. While they displayed a level of caution, their careful steps and skinning gazes seemed to be the product of habit and experience, not anxiety.

They went through the cave until they arrived at the edge of the cliff. They stared at it for a long time before they started grabbing things. The more aggressive members were pointing into the hole and arguing with the rest while torches were made and lit.

Was his cave dark? Alex looked around and he had no trouble seeing anything. Neither did many of the animals that attacked his dungeon. He looked and the two people that appeared to have some of the mania seemed to have better eyesight in the dark. He was surprised; did he need to create lights? There was no need for lights in the game.

He watched them create a torch and drop it down the cliff before grabbing ropes from their packs and tying them together. They tied it to a bit of rock jetting out of the cliff and the aggressive ones took the lead as they went down first. There was one problem though, there were no good places in the cave for a rope to be tied to, and the rope slipped out.

Alex started to panic as he began controlling the animals in his dungeon to prepare for their new guests.