Loop 01

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Brian woke up in cold sweat. When we went to wipe the sweat from his brow, he realized he had been chained to a stone wall, fully naked.

“What the fuck..?” He said in half confusion and panic.

Brian surveyed the room and found that there was nothing in the small room other than himself, the chains, and a set of bars, making this some sort of prison.

“Uh, Hello? There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding, I don’t belong here” Brian called out, hoping someone, anyone could hear him.

An arcane purple text filled the space in front of Brian.

“Congratulations Subject 00237. You have been selected to participate in the Endless Dungeon Alpha Test phase.

Complete Missions, bounties, and survive to earn XP. Good luck.”

Brain laughed, feeling like he had gone insane. ‘What? What the actual fuck are you talking about? What the bloody hell is going on? How am I supposed to do anything when I’m chained to the — OOF”

As he was talking, Brian's chains seemed to vanish into mid air, and he fell flat on his face. He fell so fast that he didn’t have time to react, crashing down nose first, shattering it.

Brian screamed invective at the chains, at the world, and at himself before eventually getting the pain under control.

“I hate this. I have no idea, what's going on, no idea how I got here, I can’t even remember…anything.”

Brian searched his brain for some kind of memory, but his mind felt blank. He knew he should have memories, like he could feel them, yet they were locked away, and all he knew was that He had been called Brian.

Having nothing else to do, Brian Approached the area where the bars had been, until they had lowered once the message appeared, that had called him “Subject 00237”

Walking outside, Brian reasoned with himself.

“Just find the nearest guard, explain the situation, and everything will be fine. They’ll understand. They certainly won't beat me to death for leaving my cell?”

Having formulated some form of a plan, Brian cradled his nose as he walked. He now had a searing headache and was bleeding more than he imagined could be healthy

The area he was being held in seemed to be some kind of prison, but Brian couldn’t recognize any of the infrastructure. He also couldn’t find any people. The first thing he did find was a shiny iron helmet that seemed to glow like an item from a video game.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Brian touched it, experimentally. When he did, a screen popped up in front of his face, like in a video game.

“Ah!!” He shouted, startled by the unexpected brightness now in his face.

“You have acquired ‘Iron Helmet’. Would you like to equip: ‘Iron Helmet’ [New item discovered: 5 XP]

[YES / NO?]”

“Uh…Yes?” Brian said, tapping the yes option.

The Item vanished, and reappeared strapped to his head. He noticed a flashing light at the corner of his vision, and realized there were options for him to tap on. Tapping on the flashing icon, a new screen appeared.

“Inventory, huh? I guess this makes sense…"

Brian continued adventuring, hoping he could find some pants and shoes at the very least, when he stopped dead on hearing some nasty growling and howling near him.

As he crept closer, Brian saw what looked like the silhouette of a person, and called out to it.

“Hey, are you one of the guards? I don’t really know what’s going on, but —”

Brian froze dead still as the creature turned around at the voice. It was a grotesque mockery of life, its form a twisted semblance of something perhaps once human, now corrupted and rotting.

Brian ran, nearly puking, but having nothing to throw up, he dry heaved as he ran. He ran, truly, terrified, confused, and lost. As he ran, he kept wishing to himself.

“Please wake up, please wake up, please wake up.”

If he was dreaming, he didn’t wake up.

Tears filling his eyes, adrenaline pumping, Brian didn’t notice the slick spot as he slipped, crashing backward on to his head. All he heard was a crack realizing it had been his skull. Dazed and confused, Brian watched as the creature, as well as several other animal creatures gathered around him.

Brian scrambled to his feet, but one of the creatures picked him up by his leg and crashed him into the ground, cracking his skull even harder. Brian was unsure how he was still conscious, but was beginning to wish he was.

Horrified screams of agony and terror filled the Corridor as Brian watched the monstrosities begin tearing apart Brian’s torso. They devoured his intestines, his kidney’s everything. Brian could only continue to scream as the creatures ripped his legs apart, devouring them like vultures to roadkill.

Brian didn’t even black out until his entire body had been completely annihilated by the foul creatures, and he had no eyeballs left to see.

“You are dead: All items have been lost. You may [Respawn] in 23 hours and 11 seconds”