Geve

I was in my room playing video games online with my friends, when someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” I said, and the door opened.

A man with a thick beard and a bald head entered the room, he was my father, a always serious and rigid person, who always dresses elegantly. He, together with my mother, runs a neurotechnology company.

"I have to talk to you, Geve, follow me." He ordered in his usual deep voice.

“Sure father,” I said, taking off my headphones and placing them on the desk.

I followed him into the corridors of the company headquarters, located under our house. We stopped in front of an armored door, where a guard with the face covered by a helmet, was waiting for us.

The man opened the door, and I entered with my father. Once inside I noticed some buttons like those of an elevator located on the wall, my father clicked the lowest one and we started to go down.

"Don't you think this world is boring, my son?" he asked

"Yes, there is nothing that can truly satisfy me, I feel as if all emotions are just an illusion" I answered sincerely.

"Exactly, this world is a dull place, there's nothing beautiful here, nothing can make a person happy," he continued.

"Why did you ask me, father?"

“You don't need a reason to want to get to know your son better,” he replied.

"You are right, sorry"

"You know Geve, your father was an avid gambler," he explained.

"Now you're not anymore?"

"No, now I don't need it anymore, I managed to find something that satisfied me enough. I only gambled to experience the thrill of taking risks."

“What do you mean with thrill?” I asked curiously.

"When you put something important at stake, like money, your life or someone dear to you, you feel the thrill caused by the fear of losing these things, and it's a fantastic emotion that you can't do without"

"I think I understand," I said, "I think so too, father."

The elevator doors opened in front of us, revealing a huge balcony inside a huge white room.

"Follow me Geve, I want to show you the truth behind the progress of this company."

We approached the balcony railing and, as soon as we reached it, my father, with a hand sign, told me to look down and I did.

Below us I observed dozens of rows of hospital beds, where hundreds and hundreds of children lay completely bandaged, with their heads half open and their brains attached to a strange machine.

Some of them were without the limbs, some had only one arm, some the legs and some completely whole.

What...is this?

I have never particularly cared about what happened to others, I have always been selfish, I only thought about myself, and yet looking at those boys in such a bad state, hurt me.

"Seeing a scene like that for the first time is always painful," my father said, observing my face, horrified by the horrible view from that balcony.

"Do you have empathy for them? Would you like to help them?" The bearded man continued.

“No, it's none of my business, I don't want to intrude,” I replied. "But I would like to know what you are trying to do with these children."

"We want to reach the perfect shape of man, son, a form unattainable in this world."

"Explain better I do not understand"

"I can't tell you anything else, I'm sorry, but tell me, in your opinion, what is the perfect shape?" My father asked.

I thought about it for a moment but then I replied: "Death"

"Interesting"

The elevator behind me opened and a woman of about forty came out of it, wearing a long black dress, she was my mother, I don't know why but she always wore funeral clothes.

"I see you're already here," he said

"Hi mom" I greeted.

“Hello dear,” my father greeted.

"Your dad and I need to talk to you about something important" he stated leaning on the balcony to my right.

“Geve,” my father called. "Do you want to achieve the perfect shape?"

"I don't know" I replied thoughtfully "Being perfect doesn't mean being happy."

“Exactly,” my father replied with a smile.

"Why? Didn't you say you were trying to achieve perfection with these experiments?" I asked, amazed by my father's words.

"We said it to test you" my mother replied "We wanted to make sure that you thought like us, and that you had the strength to admit it"

“So what are you using these children for?” I said as I continued to observe the horrible view.

“This world is boring,” my father stated

"Y-yes" I replied confused "But that doesn't answer my question"

"What we're trying to do is create a world where we can escape from the boredom" my father explained while observing the atrocities he himself had committed.

"Geve" The bearded man turned to me "Contribute to this project with us, we will allow you to live a better life full of fun and thrills, but you will have to trust us, do you understand?"

"Are you saying that…I should become one of those kids over there?" I asked, pointing to the boys under the balcony.

"Are you trying to refuse our very kind offer?" My mother observed, looking at me with a terrifying gaze. "We're giving you this great opportunity because we love you." The woman in the black robe embraced me. "Don't be rude, and accept our kindness."

I didn't know how to respond, given the situation I couldn't afford to refuse, they were forcing me, even though it seems like I have the possibility of choosing, if I had said no, they would have done everything to destroy my life.

“Okay…fine, Mom, I'll do it.”

"Good boy!" She exclaimed, pulling away from me, "I knew you would accept."

After accepting, my parents sent me back to my room, I went back to playing online with my friends, as if nothing had happened, but in reality, at that moment the same questions kept recurring in my head: What should I do? Should I let them play with my body? Should I let myself be reduced to a pitiful state like those children?

I kept thinking of a way to resolve the situation, and finally I gave in to a macabre idea, I knew it wasn't the right thing to do, but it would help both me and those poor children.

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Around three in the morning, my parents were sleeping peacefully in their room, at that moment I decided to act.

I reached the kitchen, opened the drawer under the stove and grabbed a knife with a twenty-centimeter blade.

I reached the room where my parents rested, and I stopped, I was still uncertain of my decision. I forced myself and approached my mother's sleeping body, grabbed the knife with both hands and raised it.

3…

2…

1…

0

I stuck all twenty centimeters of the blade into my mother's neck, blood splattered everywhere, she opened her eyes and squirmed, but it was too late, within a few seconds her body was left lying motionless on the bed, lifeless. I observed the knife, then my mother's body.

This feeling is…amazing.

My father was woken up by too much movement and looked at his wife's dead body in disbelief, with frightened eyes. I hid the knife behind my back, and took advantage of the fact that dad was just awake, he wasn't lucid.

"Dad!" I screamed embracing him.

"Ge-" Before he could say my name, I stabbed him in the back of the neck, with a huge smile on my face."

"Goodnight," I whispered in his ear before he lost consciousness.

The feeling I felt in that moment was indescribable, but one thing was for sure, killing is…amazing.

That day was the most pleasant and fun day of my life.

I perceived death with all my senses: I saw the corpses, I smelled the blood, I felt the heat of their bodies fading and I heard the breathing stop. However, the taste was missing.

Bringing the blade closer to my mouth I licked the blood left on it.

I smiled at the corpses of mom and dad.

Once the fun was over, I dragged the corpses to my room, I took a sheet of paper and began to write on it with my parents' blood, I told about all the atrocities committed by my parents, and the joy I felt in killing them, one once finished I left the letter on the table and left the house.

Roseth Evertin

I woke up on the ground, in a strange underground cave, resembling a tunnel.

What happened? Was it a dream? A dream from my past life? Why now?

"Good morning, Roseth, I'm glad you had a nice dream, but now get up, there's no time to rest."

"I don't want to."

"I said, get up."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't."

"But you haven't even tried."

Sure, it's annoying, but wait, his voice... it's not Mel's.

"Indeed, I am Arter."

"Arter? Can you read my thoughts?!"

"You're mistaken; this entire conversation is happening in your head."

"Who are you?"

"I am a god."

A god? Am I really dead?

"No, you're perfectly fine."

I had heard a lot about gods from my mother; she was passionate about mythology. In her stories, she narrated the gods of this world, there are ten of them, and they often interacted with humans for their own purposes, sparking various wars.

I looked around to understand the situation I was in. I was in some kind of underground gallery, with no signs of a collapse nearby. How did I end up here? Is this not where I fell? Is it the work of Arter?

A blinding light appeared before me, taking the form of a man with a perfect physique, long blond hair, and a wide white robe. His skin was fair, and his eyes were a bright blue.

"Pleasure to meet you, Roseth. I am Arter."

I remained open-mouthed, observing the scene.

"I'm sorry, but what you're seeing is not real," he explained.

"What do you mean, some kind of hallucination?"

"No, I'm a part of you; only you can hear and see me."

"A part of me?"

"I know you have many questions, so let me explain everything from the beginning." the god said.

"I don't have time to waste."

My words seemed to have no effect on him; he completely ignored me.

"Three years ago, I reincarnated a boy and brought him into this world, breaking the rules imposed on us gods. In punishment, all the deities decided to align against me, but since we gods are immortal, they had to seal me. Fortunately, I had time to imbue some of my mana into the boy I reincarnated, which is you, Roseth Evertin. You are the cause of my downfall."

"Don't blame me, I didn't ask you to do it."

"Relax, I was just joking. I was well aware of the risks I was taking."

"Then why did you do it anyway?"

Arter remained silent, deliberately choosing the information to share.

"Who reincarnated my brother Mel?" I asked curiously.

"It was still me, but I managed to keep him hidden from the other gods."

The god sat down and crossed his legs, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Yara, your mother, and Jackal, your father, both died in today's incident."

"I know," I replied, my gaze remaining impassive.

"All the collapses that occurred today are not a coincidence; they were caused by the gods. They destroyed this village, making its inhabitants massacre each other, and the reason they did it was you, Roseth. They knew you lived here, but they didn't know who you really were, so they opted to have everyone killed by the beasts to ensure you died too."

"Why are you trying to impose guilt on me?" I said, still remaining impassive.

"As I expected, it didn't affect you, Geve. I know you well."

"What do you think you know about me?"

"Being a god, I can understand you perfectly. I know the feelings that pushed you to the edge, I know what led you to kill your own parents."

I was surprised by those words and recalled the moment of the murder. "I had my reasons," I replied, irritated. "I don't know what else you know about me, but don't cause me problems, understood?"

"Oh, I'm sorry; I wouldn't want to anger a psychopath who kills for fun."

"Are you provoking me?" I asked.

"Try hitting me."

"I won't even try; it's obvious my punch would go right through you."

"The boy is very sharp," the god retorted.

"You didn't need a genius to figure that out."

Are we... arguing? Until a moment ago, it was a calm conversation. At this rate, I'll have a hard time getting useful information about this world. He's a god, so he should be able to help me more than anyone else.

"I-I'm sorry," I said reluctantly.

"Don't worry; I was also having fun," he said, smiling. "Anyway, what do you think of this world? Is it different from where you lived? Is it a better place? What's your opinion?"

I was taken aback by that unusual question and looked at Arter, puzzled.

"The question itself doesn't make sense. The problem isn't the place we live, but the presence of humans that makes every place full of hatred. We could turn paradise itself into hell just by living in it. But for me, that's better this way. Without hatred and war, everything would be boring."

Arter smiled before responding, "That's what I expected from you," he said, chuckling. "Tell me, Roseth, what is it that you want?"

What do I want…

My lips curled into a smile as I listened to that strange question. "Initially, I didn't know, but with today's battle, I've figured it out. It's power that I want, the feeling I had while slaughtering those beasts was indescribable, something I can't wait to experience again."

Arter seemed momentarily surprised but then started laughing. "I think I understand; you've become addicted to the battlefield. However, I warn you, by doing so, you'll become its slave."

"No problem; if the battlefield manipulates me, then I'll manipulate the battlefield."

"You make it sound easy, but all right, if it's power you want, I'll help you. But first, you need to know something."

"What do you mean? Speak up," I said, irritated by his strange behavior.

"The mana I implanted within you allows us to communicate, but it has a drawback. When you die, it returns to the stone in which I am sealed, so the other gods can use it to determine if you're alive or not," he explained, rising from the ground.

"So, since my mana hasn't returned to the sealed stone, they know I'm still alive, right?"

"Exactly, so they will continue to hunt you down; you'll have to be careful," I explained.

We had gotten lost in conversation, and I had forgotten that I was in a dungeon. Strangely, it was all quiet, and there were no beasts in sight. Probably because most of them had escaped. But there was another question bothering me.

"Arter, why am I in a tunnel and not where I fell?" I asked.

"While you were asleep, I reactivated the dungeon barrier. In addition to preventing the monsters from destroying the cave to escape, it also creates a kind of illusory maze, which prevents the monsters from finding the exit," the god explained.

"Exit? So you can enter and exit dungeons as well?"

"Yes, sometimes groups of humans try to enter, only to get trapped in the illusory maze," the god explained.

"How does an illusory maze work?"

"When you enter the dungeon, you're teleported into a random tunnel," Arter said. "At that point, you can only go in two directions, forward or backward. One of these is wrong and will take you back to the starting point, while the other will lead you to the central room, an open space where the crystal that sustains the barrier is located."

"So I suppose I need to reach this crystal to get out of here, right?" I guessed.

"Yes, the crystal is a kind of control center. Without it, I can only activate and deactivate the barrier, but if you bring me to it, I can teleport you out."

"Alright, I understand. So we'll go in search of the crystal," I stated.

"Yes, but be prepared. The closer you get to the center of the dungeon, the more monsters will increase in number and strength. Once you reach the central room, you'll find entire hordes."

"I can't run away; if I want to get out of here, I'll have to reach the crystal," I said, annoyed.

"I see you're motivated," Arter remarked.

"You're right," I replied. Approaching the wall, I materialized a dagger in my left hand and made a mark on the tunnel wall, then withdrew the weapon.

"It's to see if we've taken the right direction, isn't it?" the deity asked.

"Exactly."

"It's a good idea," Arter affirmed. "But I think we should hurry. If we don't take the right direction, we risk not finding any monsters to feed you."

"Quiet, I already know that, but if we start running, we'll waste energy."

"What if you use mana?"

"Now that I think about it, you're right. By enhancing my body with mana, the energy we're using to walk right now would be equivalent to running." I noticed

"It's clear you're not yet in the mindset of this world. You're not used to these innovations," the god said, chuckling.

"It's not that; I would have figured it out eventually. But right now, I'm particularly tired."

"Do you want to rest? I can stand guard for you," Arter kindly offered.

I passed him by, ignoring him and then enhanced my body with mana.

"Get ready to run."

I started running, leaving him behind without giving him a chance to reply. After a few meters, Arter appeared ahead of me, floating at my speed. He seemed to be truly an image created by my mind, or perhaps some kind of spirit, if such things exist.

We glimpsed a group of feline creatures along the tunnel. They turned toward us upon hearing our footsteps and ran toward us. Fortunately, my mana reserves had recharged while I was unconscious, allowing me to fight at full strength.

"So, are you ready?" Arter said dissolving himself.

"What are you doing, running away?"

"No, as I told you, I can't interact with the outside world, so I'm just distracting you."

"Alright, do as you wish. There are only 7 of them, it won't be a problem."

And so, we began the first battle of the dungeon.