‘Wh… ‘ Where was he, Jack thought to himself. ‘Where’d that guy go? Why do the anime protagonists seem to know what’s going on when they teleport, but I don't? I should be less unaware than them, not more!’

He looked around, seeing his surroundings properly. The place was made of wood, with holes in it in a bunch of places. Like, the knotholes fell out of the planks and the paint had dried a long time ago and had been flaking off for quite awhile. But, the planks weren’t that great to start with. Like, most of them were either carved a little wrong or had warping to make space between the boards. Not all of them, but close enough.

There were six pews, with only one of them intact and standing upright, though the mildew or moss or whatever it was had turned the wood green. All of the pews had what looked like wood that had absorbed water from somewhere, encouraging the growth of the plant. That counted as a plant, right?

Turning around, there was a little podium that looked to be made out of better wood, or at least darker, but it was only skin deep. This was proven by the thing showing some obvious cracking in the wood, revealing the same color wood as the pews, or at least the part of them that wasn’t moldy. There was a slight glow behind it.

Jack walked forward, and took a look around the podium, looking into the small alcove built into it. There was an open book with smeared text and pages that got wet at some point then dried, making it look like the book would never close properly again. Next to it was a large marble that looked to be the source of the faint light. It was gray, and almost looked like the marble itself was hollow and it had some swirling mist or smoke in it.

It was interesting enough that Jack found himself unable to resist trying to touch it. Though, as he reached for it, he noticed something. He could see through his own hands, arms… he was still wearing the clothes he had on before, but he could see through himself and his clothes, and did so very easily.

He stood up from his crouching position in a quick jerk. ‘What the?’ he said out loud. ‘Okay that paperwork didn’t say anything about this. What did it say…? I can’t remember…’ He shook his head to clear his mind. Moving around to properly look in the podium alcove, he got a better look at the glowing marble and tried to touch it again.

[Move Core?]

‘What?’ he said to no one. No reply came. He tried to touch the marble again.

[Move Core?]

‘Yes’, he said to the voice. Jack was now listening with more intent, to try and discern where the voice was coming from.

[Select new location for Core.]

Jack looked around the place, seeing nothing that could count as a landmark except the podium. There was a little hole in the piece of wood on the top, where a small knothole used to be. Or maybe some other kind of hole. Either way, it was smaller than the marble, but big enough that it should keep the thing from rolling off and breaking.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He could feel the marble in his hand, and could even see it when he looked. But it was a ghostly version he could see through, but it didn’t glow. The gray marble in the podium alcove was still there, glowing.

It wasn’t like Jack hadn’t played games like this. He’d played too many, really. It was just a basic FPS survival thing where you had to build… shit. He’d have to build stuff now? Decide what place he was going to build, then do it all manually?

'At least in some games, it would smooth out the ground for you once you placed something. Would it work that way for me, though?' he thought to himself. He continued talking to himself inside his mind. 'But weren’t dungeons like big labyrinths underground with traps and monsters and loot? Loot. Treasure chests!' Something came back to him. 'There was supposed to be a chest somewhere… okay yes.' He put the Core, apparently, in the knothole on top of the podium instead of inside it. As soon as he did, he got another of those odd… maybe voices? Messages? He wasn’t sure yet.

[Core Relocation in progress. Time to relocate: 38 seconds.]

‘That’s a heck of a long time to move a marble a foot and a half’, Jack thought to himself. He looked around for the chest again. No, he’d have noticed a chest. There wasn’t one. Where was it, then?

He heard a sound, but couldn’t make out what it was similar to. Maybe it acted like a timer, but it definitely didn’t sound like one. Looking at the podium, the Core was there now, glowing. Checking to be sure, it wasn’t in the alcove anymore.

Jack walked over to the only doors he saw to the place, and reached out to touch them and try and open one side. Then he got a really strange set of messages, in his opinion at least.

[Trap Discovered: Creaky Door]

[Trap added to research list.]

[Trap Discovered: Stuck Door]

[Trap added to research list.]

'Okay, so how do I get out of here?' he thought out loud. 'Maybe...' Jack tried to walk through the door as if it wasn't there, and succeeded. Or failed because he wasn't there. He wasn't sure. Either way, the doors were still closed and he was outside. The sun was dimming, though he was only able to tell that there was a sun, and it was sunset, because of the color of the light and long shadows of the many blades of grass just off the staired porch he found himself standing on.

'Grass? Weeds? At least something else is familiar. Doesn't help me find the chest though... maybe it's against one of the outer walls?' Jack took a couple steps forward, going down the wooden steps that didn't look any better than the rest of the building.

[Trap Discovered: Crumbling Stair]

[Trap added to research list.]

'Another one? I guess normal aging is a trap. Ha! I'm so right. Good thing I died young, eh? Eh?' Jack thought. But there was no one to nudge with his elbow. He sighed, and continued walking around the outer edge of what used to be a church.

'Holy crap, I didn't think the chest would be that big!', Jack thought to himself. It was as long as he was tall, almost as deep, and more than half as tall. That by itself made it huge, but seated against the back of the church, it looked even bigger. 'Then again, those pews were rather thin. Well, religious places were supposed to make anyone who showed up uncomfortable, right?' He tried picking up the chest, and heard stuff again.

[Clear a space for the Dungeon Treasure before Dungeon Treasure can be relocated.]

'Okay that makes sense. Be right back, chest. Just don't get looted! As if anyone even could loot you.'

The inanimate object didn't respond.