Chapter 22

The light evaporated to nothingness as the giant double doors closed behind me. There was a moment of complete darkness and then I found myself in my living room during Christmas time. There was a decorated Christmas tree in the corner with all the ornaments and lights we would put on it. There was the black tv stand that seemed to fit in just right in our living room with all the mismatched furniture.

On the stand were also picture frames. What was missing was the pictures in the frames of my family. The kids, my wife and some others from relatives that we would get every few years in mail. The living room was dead without my family there. It looked like something someone took out of my memory but left off all the best parts.

I looked around. It seemed so real as there was a car in the driveway that I could see from out the living room window with snow falling on it. Then I noticed under the Christmas tree. There was a single wrapped present with a giant bow on it. I opened it up and saw a colorful blue, green and red action figure box with a picture of a boy holding the toy in his hand with a big giant grin on his face. I looked at the box and read the title.

Rock Em Sock Em Golem

Get your very own Rock Em Sock Em Golem today and have fun for hours!

Attack

Defend

Guard

Patrol

This Rock Em Sock Em Golem does it all

Collect all 5 types for most fun!

Optional Accessories not included.

Batteries not included. This Rock Em Sock Em Golem requires Two AA 250 Mana batteries to operate to full capacity.

Please turn to the back for operating instructions.

I turned the box and read the basic instructions on how to operate the golem and suddenly the box opened like it was a case rather than a usual toy box. Inside it was a Six-inch-tall Golem. It didn’t look like the ring golem I had just survived but rather this was a boxier looking robot. It almost looked like it could change shape like a transformer but because it was so boxy, that would just be like a cube or something simple. I pushed it into my pants pocket for a quick draw if I needed it. Normally I would be worried about losing this but fortunately this was a soul bound item. As soon as I placed the item in my pocket, I heard the doorbell ring.

Curiously I walked to the front door and as I was about to open the door, I looked down and saw a floor mat with the word ‘Desperation’ on it. I paused for a moment wondering if I should still open the door. I thought about my options and there really weren’t many. Was my home like a puzzle room and I didn’t realize it? Should I have tried to walk through the areas of the small house? I turned to walk away, and the doorbell rang again. The dungeon clearly wanted me to open this door. I was not ready to call it quits so why not, I opened the door.

I found myself in another room. I never went through the front door of my house when the bell rang. I just simply ended up here as soon as I opened the door. At the far end of the room, there were big words written in red graffiti:

Choose the way you end it and leave this world!

In this room there were no doors or windows. Even the door I had come through had disappeared. In the center was a glass table with grey metal legs and on top of it was a revolver. It sat on the table by itself and nothing else.

The front left corner had a similar table with an obsidian bottle with a symbol of skull and bones on it like the old-time symbol for poison. The front right corner held a table and on it was a knife which I assumed was for me to either stab myself or cut my wrists given the theme of this room so far.

I turned around to look behind me and, in the back, right corner was a rope hanging from the ceiling. There was a fragile appearing chair right under it. How thoughtful that they left a chair for me to stand on to hang myself. I turned to the back left corner and there was a small creature. It had the head and chest of a rooster, bat like wings, legs like a bird and then the torso became a scaled body that ended in a pointy tail like a dragon.

I could not believe that I was looking at a basilisk. These things were extremely rare and even deadlier. What made them dangerous was their special ability to petrify people. Even monsters stayed away from them for the same reason. They were fast, could fly and if they got close to you, you would have no idea because you would already be turned to stone. There were several different stories of how they came into being. One of them was that they were created with the fusion of a rooster, a baby dragon and an eagle by a mad god who just wanted to cause a little bit of havoc in the world. When I saw the basilisk, I knew then, yeah, I was in the house of the mad god. He wasn’t really a mad god. I liked calling him that and some others did too though I probably wouldn’t say it to his face. He could be infuriating at times from I recalled.

“Well, this room is pretty depressing is it not? I mean like really the puzzle is for us to kill ourselves?” Jimmy spoke up in my mind.

“That it is Jimmy. Got any suggestions?” Just as I said that a timer came up over the basilisk and started counting down from 5 minutes.

“I mean I really don’t like any of these options. I know that bird thing from playing some of my games, that thing will turn us to stone in a split second. Maybe we can just kill it while its frozen.”

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“I don’t think that will work Jimmy. I have no attack on me that will kill that thing within a short time. Even if I had beads for projectiles, they would not be able to get it. I’m all out of lightning bolts. And I’m pretty sure if we attack it in any way or even approach it, it will become active. All the options in this room are meant for me to kill myself in one way or another. To complete this room, I have to choose the right option to die and hopefully that will help us in some way. Or maybe it is to somehow survive despite all the options. If we decide not to do anything, that basilisk will come to life in about 5 minutes and make the decision for us as it is the default option.”

“Maybe, we need to examine all the options closely and then decide. All except that bird that is.”

“I was thinking the same. We have no clear guide on how to approach this puzzle or mystery or whatever it is. The big graffiti sign says to choose the way you end it and leave this world. That could mean to choose a weapon to end my life and leave the world or it could be to choose one or none of these options to leave this world meaning the dungeon level.”

I walked to the gun first. I walked around the table to look at the gun without picking it up first. It was a simple Six chamber revolver. There was nothing else to indicate a clue on the outside including any symbols or writing. There were six bullets loaded into each of the chambers. I picked it up and examined it but got no other clues.

“Maybe we need to fire the bullets at the basilisk and kill it that way?”

“That does not seem like that would be the way. This room was meant as a way to decide on a manner of us dying not killing the basilisk. I’m not even sure a bullet would do much to that creature. At this point, with my constitution, a bullet probably wouldn’t do much to me either unless it was a critical strike and I know those things are extremely durable. We could probably fire all six bullets into it and still not kill it.”

We went to the bottle next. Clearly meant to be a poison though I had no idea what kind. Was Jimmy, right? Was I supposed to fight the basilisk and survive? Or was I supposed to try and survive one of these other methods of deaths? The poison I’m sure would not have as much of an effect if taken in a small dose given my constitution. I also wouldn’t die from cutting my wrists or hanging. The bullet might do it, but I would have to aim it right at my heart and under the rib cage to avoid the chance of it not doing an optimal kill. But then could I still survive it? The only thing I was sure that I would not survive was the fugly critter. So was that maybe the right choice…to choose a surefire death. All the other options were not a surefire death.

The timer was ticking down and now was 4 minutes.

I used my mana sight on each of the 5 options, but it did not show much. Each of the options had many small purple color tendrils coming out of them. There was strong magic emanating from all of them including the basilisk. Nothing stood them apart when I looked at them through mana sight. I walked to the rope and the knife next and found nothing special that made me think one way or another. The rope was of a rough texture and made into the perfect noose with a single knot to hand with. The rope hung from the ceiling without any obvious opening in the ceiling. Was that a clue as that was the only thing hung from the ceiling? Was that enough of a difference to make me choose the rope over the other options?

I looked at the knife and it looked like a simple chef’s knife. Even without picking it up, I could see the edge was extremely sharp. The handle was plain without any distinguishing features. The knife was the simplest thing in this room. Was that a factor in me determining this as the right choice?

I still had about 3 minutes left until I was turned into a piece of three-dimensional art by the sociopathic rooster, so I sat down to think in a meditative way. I crossed my legs and closed my eyes. I cleared my mind of distractions and focused on everything in this room. From the words on the wall to each of the items. Attempting to figure out if there was a common thread amongst all these or if this was a puzzle of exclusion. Could the saying on the wall mean something? Was that a clue on its own or just explaining what to do.

There were five ways to die. Only one of them was a living beast which would be the default choice if I did not make a choice but the instruction on the wall told me to choose. The gun sat in the middle but that did not have to mean anything. Rope was the only item that hung from the ceiling. There had to be a clue amongst all these things. Worst case scenario was that I had 20 percent chance of getting it right. If I could eliminate even one or two options, that would greatly increase my chances.

“Hey broski, not trying to rush you or anything but we are at 30 seconds now. I say we use the gun and bam, quick and easy. It was also in the center so maybe that’s a sign that it’s the right choice.”

20 seconds

15 seconds

10

I opened my eyes and ran to the back right, got on the chair, placed the noose around my neck and kicked the chair over with just a couple of seconds left.

I shouldn’t have been choking but here I was struggling to breathe. I could feel the blood filling up my face, my eyes bulging. At least my cervical spine had not broken. This should not be happening. With my physical stats, a rope is not something that should be able to kill me. What went wrong? Did I choose incorrectly? Perhaps, I should have gone for the center option like Jimmy had suggested. No, this had to be the right choice. This was the only one that made sense. I tried to pull myself up on the rope which should not have been any more difficult than blinking but still I couldn’t. I hung there for minutes but did not die. I continued to struggle and choke. And then, I let go. I realized that what I was doing was struggling against my own choice. I had chosen and I had to stand, or I guess in this case, hang with my decision. Once I let go and accepted my choice and the way to end it, it did. The darkness came. I felt myself losing consciousness as a flash of memories from my past flooded my mind. Then, it stopped.

The rope uncoiled on its own and I dropped to the ground easily landing on my feet. The other options had disappeared and at the far end now was a door.

I got the usual congratulatory message and choice to leave or go on. I was not leaving. In front of the door were three options. One was a potion, the other a scroll all rolled up and tied with a thin piece of string. The last option was a big red box. I was curious about the potion, and I wanted to pick the box but I chose the scroll instead. Most would have gone with the box, and I probably would have as well if I had thought about it longer. It was likely a magical item though it was hard to say what kind. I needed spells though, as of right now I had only the magic projectile, sleep, path of frost, thunder stun, summon water and the two from my items, chain lightning, and revealing light. I also had the mana shield through my skill. I opened the scroll.

Spell: Set Tether

Spell Type: Movement

Cost: 250 MP

Cast time: Instant.

Duration: Caster level in minutes – willpower of target

Cooldown Period: Special

Range: Touch

Effect: Caster flags a spot for tether by touch. Caster may then cast tether by touch on target sentient being. The sentient being will be teleported back to the spot that was flagged by the castor. The flagged area must be within the range of 3 miles per caster level for the spell to take effect. The caster will remain bound to the tether until it escapes, the spell expires or is cancelled. Maintaining an unbound tether costs, nothing. The target may resist the teleport if its willpower + level is greater than the caster intelligence. Target can also choose to voluntarily be teleported. May only have one location flagged at a time.

This was an amazing spell and I committed it to memory quickly. If I was reading it correctly, I could use this spell offensively and defensively. It could be used by me to escape a situation or to send another person to a location. My level was not very high so I didn’t imagine that they would be held for very long, but it was a decent amount of distance that I could send the person to so that was good. This was a good way to remove an opponent from a battle temporarily or save myself or a friend.