Ta-tump! Ta-tump!
‘Oh god that sound, it’s getting closer!’
Ta-tump! Ta-tump! Ta-tump!
‘Got to keep running, but getting so tired…’
ROAR—!
With renewed strength born from fear the man continued to run as he tried to pick up his pace, but in his haste due to being startled the man stumbled and fell onto the ground. Struggling to get up the man took a quick glance back and directly in his view was the two-headed monstrosity about to make its kill. Two giant wings unfurled as the giant beast took flight. Each second seemed to last an eternity and slowly the man continued to watch in horror as the beast flew straight down towards him. Raising his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself the man began to scream as the jaws of death approached closer and closer.
“Ahh—!”
Ding!
You have learned the skill: Banshee Scream!
A scream of absolute terror! All those that hear your scream will get the feeling of absolute fear, which can affect even the bravest of warriors!
Duration: 10 sec
“Huh?”
Even after the nightmare was over Dave continued to scream for 5 minutes straight, unaware that he was awake and that the monster chasing him was just a dream. The Banshee Scream, a skill only enabled to those that can scream for a long period of time with another condition of having the mindset of one who is absolutely terrified. Such is the unpredictable nature of Royal Road where new discoveries are being made each and every day!
Staring at the notification window in front of him Dave slowly began to take in his surroundings as he looked up, down and side to side.
‘I’m in a fancy bed, the room is clean, and that is definitely not my ceiling… oh no, oh no, no-no-no-’
“Ah, morning Human! I see you have awoken! But do tell me, does your kind scream when they wake up for if they do I’d rather be miles away for your screams rivals those of those ghastly banshees!”
…
“Human?”
‘No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-’
“Um, human are you awake?”
‘Oh no-no-no-no goddammit no-no-no’
“Human?”
‘Go away- go away- go away- please don’t be there- please don’t be-‘
Tap tap*
…
Feeling the tapping sensation of a claw on his shoulder Dave slowly turned around praying desperately that it wasn’t who he thought it was.
“Morning Human! …human? W-wait, no human! Don’t go through that—!”
Scared out of his wits Dave continued to run. His vision grew hazy and his body felt heavy as everything soon turned black.
“No—! Don’t eat me eat the butler! Ahh—!”
With heavy breaths Dave had finally woke up after suffering through another nightmare of being hunted down by the flying two headed beast. A small window popped up, which brought Dave back to his senses.
Ding!
Banshee Scream: [2] 13%
Quickly getting up from the ground he was passed out on Dave quickly scanned the area for the manticore. Breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no manticore or any other monsters Dave slowly began to calm down as he observed his surroundings.
‘Where am I now? This place is definitely different from the last one, actually… what’s up with this place it’s freaking huge!’
Looking up Dave kept shaking his head for he couldn’t see the ceiling no matter how hard he tried to strain his eyes. He was definitely not indoors for he could not feel the breeze or see the sky nor the sun but the area was so vast that he couldn’t confirm whether the place actually had a ceiling or if it was just another feature of the game and the fact that the background was pure white didn’t help him at all. Even the very floor he was standing on was white giving Dave the impression he was floating.
The place would have driven him crazy if it weren’t for the peculiar thing he was staring at. In front and behind him were enormous books of all kinds of sizes arranged neatly on the biggest bookcases he had ever seen. For all he could tell Dave guessed he was in the middle of an aisle for there was a bookcase on his other side as well.
‘This is insane these bookcases might be really tall but how can it stretch so endlessly? I can’t even see the other end!’
From behind as well as in front of him Dave couldn’t see the end of the aisle. He could only assume there were probably several rows since he had no means of confirming the fact. Looking around he could see that some of the books were as big as he was and others ranged from the sizes of small houses to the size of a large castle. Even the little ledge the books were on were more than half of Dave’s height making the idea of climbing up a rather grim idea especially with nothing but his bare hands.
Walking past each book Dave also noted that despite the difference in size the books were all of the same color, a dull charcoal grey. The seemingly endless length of the bookcases made it impossible to tell if he was moving forward at all because everything looked the same. After spending about a three and a half hours walking endlessly he finally flopped down to rest his body which was depleted of stamina; a rumble of complaint from his belly reminded him that he hadn’t had a bite to eat for quite a while.
‘Ugh! This game’s creator sure is something, I mean too even feel tired and hungry in a game is just cruel… wait, this is a game so maybe.’
“Log out!”
Logging out feature is currently unavailable.
“WH—AAT?”
Staring in disbelief at the message Dave quickly lost his cool.
‘The bloody hell? What do you mean I can’t log out! Fuck it, I’ll try again.’
“LOG OUTTTT!”
Logging out feature is currently unavailable.
“Okay this is really bad. What should I do? …Oh right the A.I. said something about if I need help say Contact Player Support”
Ring-ring-ring-click*
“Hello sir, are you in need of assistance?”
“Yes, I’m having trouble logging off”
“I’m sorry sir?”
“I’m having a log out problem”
“Well sir, have you tried saying log out”
“Yes…and it says the feature is currently unavailable which is why I’m calling for your help”
“Ah I see, hold on for one second sir I shall consult with my superiors on how to best aid you”
15minutes later…
“Sorry for the wait sir, before I began would you happen to be Dave Grudginer?”
“Um…Yes, but why do you-“
“Ah! Then the matters all clear sir, as requested your log in feature shall be available for you within 27days and 9hours in game time which is about 7 days in real time sir.”
“…What?”
“Well sir, it states here that you specifically requested for this. We have your signatures of approval given to us by your manager.”
“My what?”
“Your manager sir, I must say I’m quite surprise at how dedicated authors can be. Requesting to be stuck in game in order to help inspire your next work is very admirable. Well I wish you luck on your next book sir”
“Wait hold on, there must be a misunderstanding here. I don’t have a manager and I am definitely not writing a story”
“Haha good one sir, but your manager said you might say something along those lines so he asked us to remind you about a video. Not sure why but that’s all he said. Well glad I could assist you, goodbye sir and I wish you luck on your story”
“W-what? No! Don’t go there’s a misundersta—”
Click*
Unfortunately for Dave the so called player assistance service was of absolutely no use to him. So much for that idea he thought to himself and with a sigh Dave pondered on who could be pretending to be his nonexistent manager. With a groan it finally hit him.
“Wait a minute…video? Oh god that son of a—”
Stunned Keith continued to sit there as he pondered why the cruel butler wanted him to stay in the game. He would have continued to sit there asking himself why if it wasn’t for another grumble of complaint coming from his stomach.
‘Let’s see I think the A.I. said something about how we start off with food and water Now how do I take it out…oh I remember now!’
“Open Inventory!”
‘Now let’s see here all I have is 10 rye bread and a canteen of water… that’s it? Well I am a beginner so I guess there’s not helping it. Hmm press here and whoa! That’s kind of neat to see food just poof into your hands. Wonder how it tastes… yuck!’
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
It wasn’t until Keith took the first bite of the horrid bread that he finally realized just how miserable he truly was. From the encounter with his niece’s demonic butler to meeting with real monsters and demons along with the fact that his body was tired from over 3 hours of walking which seemed to have taken him nowhere and the idea of being stuck in this hell for another 27 long days. As his teeth bit into the bitter, rock hard bread tears dripped onto the floor as he continued to eat.
Replenishing his stamina and his spirit by resolving to get even with the villainous butler Dave got back up and continued to push on.
1hour later
‘I can do this, I’ll get out of here and get that bastard’
3hours later
‘Getting tired again, no! Got to keep going, can’t let that bastard of a butler win!’
5hours later
‘What the hell! I still can’t see the bloody end! What’s the point of going on? Butler? Screw the butler I’m freaking sick of this!’
After 8 hours Dave couldn’t go on any further. Just as he was about to collapse Dave felt a weird sensation. It was at that moment that the book next to him started to shake. Rubbing his eyes in case he was seeing thing Dave looked at the book again, but it was still shaking by itself! Suddenly without any warning the book shot out and smashed right into his body!
Bam!
-50hp!
Thud!
-20hp!
The book tackled him with such force Dave’s body flew backwards causing his body to do a full three rotations! After the third rotation he landed painfully back on the ground.
‘W-what the hell? That took out almost ¾ of my health! Huh? What’s it doing now?’
Looking back at the book that had just sent him flying he could see the book emitting a strange light. Slowly the book’s cover flew open and the pages began to flip themselves.
‘Oh god this isn’t just creepy, this is the twilight zone creepy now!’
Soon the flipping pages stopped and as Dave continued to stare at the blank page a circle began to form. Inside the circle was a fuzzy image that was getting clearer and clearer. It was a heartwarming picture of a family…well as heartwarming as a family of goblins could be. Their lower jaws protruded out as a pair of ridiculous fangs jutted upwards. Their noses were ridiculously big and the swamp green complexion of their skin made them look that much more hideous to him. It didn’t help that the picture showed a family of goblins devouring a live helpless deer.
Slowly backing away from the book that suddenly began to glow Dave continued to watch until he began to hear voices.
“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk that was so easy to kill!”
“Mmm I can still taste it in my mouth!”
“I wish there was more my belly is still empty!”
“Heuk-heuk-heuk but we can’t hunt anymore now the deer all run away!”
“We go try tomorrow we go home now!”
With his guts urging him to hide Dave jumped up the ledge and climbed onto the smallest book he could find. From there he jumped up to next taller book until he was on top of one the size of a house. Making sure to keep his body down flat Dave peeked down from his vantage point observing the glowing book. He continued to watch as the surface of the book’s picture started to ripple like the ripple effect across a surface of water. Slowly a leg emerged from the rippling image and soon a pile of other arms and heads popped out.
“Argh! Stop pushing!”
“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk me stuck!”
“Move your hand it’s in my face!”
“Heuk-heuk-heuk me can’t move!”
“Ah! My leg! Stop pushing!”
The circle which he assumed to be a portal was large enough for a couple of goblins to get out but not a whole mass of them. The portal flexed and contorted and with a splat the portal spit out the last of the goblins. The portal soon disappeared revealing a blank page once more and flew back into its shelf looking like any of the other books. Removing themselves from the entanglements of a pile of limbs the goblins shook their heads to regain back their senses.
“Bleghk me hate portal!”
“It’s no portal fault you just fat!”
“EH? You take that back! You fat!”
“Hyuk-hyuk you both fat!”
“Heuk-heuk you fatter then all of us heuk!”
Suddenly Dave became a spectator to a battle royal match as the bigger goblins slugging it out while the little goblins laughed and giggle as they began to imitate their elders.
'Well now that they’re all fighting each other now’s my chance!'
Slowly moving away from the mass of goblins Dave crawled up and down the various books hoping to create enough distance to make his escape. As he was about to reach the top of the next book Dave grimaced as he touched his forehead.
‘Blood? That book must of hit me harder than I thought… damn you stupid game creators, the pain doesn’t have to be this realistic you know!’
Suppressing a big sigh Dave continued to climb over towards the next book swearing to himself that if he ever meets the creator of this game he would bop him one in the head.
‘Just a bit further, if I can make it to that next book I should be fine and—‘
Sniff sniff*
“What’s that smell?”
Dave froze as he slowly turned to look at the goblin. The goblin had his head up towards the air while his nostrils flared open as he continued to sniff.
“Hmm? Now that you mention it… I do smell something”
“Heuk-heuk it smells delicious”
“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk I think it’s coming from over there!”
“Mmm let’s go check it out!”
‘Oh no-oh no- oh no- oh no-no-no-no-fucking dammit!’
As the goblins hobbled towards his position Dave quickly got up as he leapt up towards the next book and jumped down to the next one in front of him, with every jump taking a small chunk of his stamina Dave’s situation kept turning worst and worst.
“Heuk-heuk it’s fast!”
“It’s weak though, look! It’s slowing down!”
“Keep running me will climb and chase him above!”
“Heuk-heuk me too!”
“Yay we get to eat more!”
‘A-at this rate it’s only a matter of time before they catch up. I have to get out of here but how? There’s got to be a way to—!’
Dave continued to climb over the top of every book, his eyes glinting with a faint sign of hope.
‘It’s that sensation again!’
Looking ahead Dave could see one of the books was trembling. With renewed hope Dave put on a burst of speed, which in turn caused the goblins to speed up. The book was beginning to shake even more but luckily for Dave the goblins hadn’t notice for their attention was focused solely on him.
‘Not yet got to let them catch up a bit and… now!’
With all his remaining strength Dave jumped clear past the shaking book onto the top of the book next to it. It was at that moment the goblins chasing behind him had finally caught up as well as the ones chasing him from the ground. Unfortunately for them that was precisely when the book chose to shoot out.
“Heuk-heuk we can catch it now!”
“It’s dinner time!”
“Hyuk-hyuk me hungry!”
“Kill it!”
“I can almost touch i— gah!”
With a big ‘oof’ a group of about 10 goblins got body slammed by the book sending them crashing into the books on the other side of the aisle. Due to their smaller stature the goblins bodies weighed about 1/3 of Dave’s body weight so it was no surprise to see the book sending the goblins flying straight through the air. The goblins that were chasing him on top of the books had planted their feet on top of the shaking book so when the book shot out the goblins were jerked off and fell violently onto the floor.
Not waiting for the goblins to recover Dave continued to run across the tops of the books.
‘Hahaha! I can’t believe that actually worked! I’m going to live! I’m going to— wait if goblins came out from the other book what’s going to come out of this one?’
Looking back as he continued to climb up one of the more slightly taller books Dave continued to stare at the book that began to glow. For some reason his heart begun to squeeze painfully and the more he stared the more he found it hard to breathe. Not wanting to believe what he saw Dave tried to run but due to fear all he could manage was a pitiful crawl as he fell and crash on top of the next much smaller book.
ROAR—!
Staring helplessly Dave could only watch as the beast unfurled its giant bat like wings as it leapt straight into the air. As it flew closer and closer to him Dave closed his eyes as he gave up to the fate he had seen in his dreams.