I felt incredible agony. A keening filled my ears and I realized that it was me. I stopped and instead my gurgling breath was the only sound. My entire body hurt. I looked down and saw my guts strung out across the twisted wreck of my car, hanging like curtains. Eventually I heard the wail of sirens approaching. I wish I could say that I died then, but no. I died several hours later in the hospital. The medic that pulled me out of the wreck told me that I was going to be okay, that I was going to make it, but her eyes, looking around at the gore spread everywhere, couldn't hide the truth from me. They told me that I should already be dead. I have no idea why they even bothered to take me to the hospital. At least they gave me what I suppose was morphine, so my last moments were pain but with a rosy warm glow surrounding it.

I don't remember what came between the moments of my last life and the first wakening into my new life. I was in the hospital and after what seemed like a million years, I woke up in a new place. I gradually become conscious of the steady slow sound of water dripping into a puddle. It was a cave with stalactites hanging down, and stalagmites rising up to meet them, like the wet stinking maw of ravening monster. I gradually regained my vision, and took stock of my body. looking down I didn't see the white and pink tangle of my abdomen. Instead I was greeted with startlingly white bones, with minute bits of gray dried meat stuck to them. I ran my hands down my chest and my rib bones clicked as I did so. I held my hands up and saw bony phalanges. I made a fist, wondering, and the small bones grated and crackled. The dim light that filled the chamber came from a glowing crystal to which I felt a connection. I stood up and walked nearer to it. It came to about my knee. It pulsed with light. I felt it urging me to leave the chamber it was in, so i did.

The hall outside the chamber wasn't the melted looking calcium walls of the crystal's chamber. Instead it was comprised of large stone blocks without mortar. I ran my bony digits across them and they felt cool and dry. I pushed one and I felt that it would never move, no matter how hard i pressed or pried. I set out to explore the new place in which I found myself.

The corridors all met in right angles, but other than that I couldn't grasp their layout or intention. I tried to talk to myself but all that came out was the sound of the sea, very faint. I trudged along, taking stock. I was dead. There was no doubt about that. Dead in the hospital and now doubly dead here in this place. Did the crystal bring me back to life? If so, why? Was I meant to protect it, like a MOB in an RPG? I tried to pull up a stat sheet. I pressed the air where a button might be. I tapped my temple. I concentrated really hard. But nothing.

I don't know how long i wandered those corridors, exploring my new unlife while remembering my past life. My school friends with whom I eventually lost contact. They married and I didn't. They had children and softball practice and dance classes. I had my work and videogames. The occasional girlfriend but always, they eventually left. A boring routine until driving home from work one evening, a minivan plowed into my car. It was going the wrong way on the freeway. I tried to pull off the road but it was like he was aiming at me. In the split second before he hit, I saw him through his windshield. He must have been 90 years old, and looked almost asleep at the wheel.

Ahead, down the corridor, I saw yellow light reminiscent of the headlights of the pensioner that killed me. I clacked down the hall to investigate. As i got closer, I saw that it was a young man and a young woman, both in leather armor. The man had a short sword and a shield, the woman similarly had a shield, but held aloft a glowing fluted mace. They looked European. I waved at them and then got on my knees and held my hands up to show that I meant no harm. Companionship would be great. They shuffled forward in fighting stances, the man leading with his dull gray blade. The woman said something sharp and the man glanced back at her and responded. I couldn't understand their language. It seemed mostly S's and K's. "Skush Wush Kulsh shash." The man smiled, leaned forward and poked me with a finger. I held still hoping not to scare them off. Then man turned as if to talk to his compatriot, then suddenly spun back towards me, swinging his weapon in a wide arc. Chips of my cranium scattered and hit the wall. I fell back, then jumped up and ran as fast as I could. The laughter of the two adventurers followed me down the corridor.

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I don't know how long I ran. The long echoing corridors seemed to go on for miles. I eventually found myself in a large open cave, through which ran a small cold stream. On the banks of the stream were fluorescent mushrooms and the walls were spotted with glowing moss. I sat atop a large mound of rubble piled in a corner. I reached up and felt the side of my skull, startled at the jagged edges of the long hole that the man's sword had made. Would I eventually heal? If not could I make some kind of concrete to fill the hole? I spaced out for a bit, listening to the chatter of the water and noticed small crabs crawling along the water's edge. I made my way down to the stream and grabbed one of the crabs before it could run under a rock. I tried to eat it, just to see if i could. I bit it in half rather easily but the peices just fell through the inside of my jawbone.

It was then that I faintly heard, echoing from afar, the singsong voice of a man. "shuksha... shukshaaaa". It must have been the adventurer. There was only one exit from this cave, so rather than get trapped, I went back into the stone passage, and took the first turn. I saw the faint yellow light, far away, so I went back and took a different turn. I don't know if they were following me, or it was just poor luck, but it seemed unless i stayed on the move, the yellow light soon approached.

Eventually I went down a hall that had quite a few turns, but ultimately ended in a blank wall. I turned back around and to my dismay, again heard the falsetto singing, "shukshaaaa". The woman's blinding mace banished the dark and replaced it with long shadows. Her partner approached, back lit by the light, slapping his sword against his palm. I retreated as much as I could, but soon found the wall behind me. I frantically looked around for any escape, but there was none. I got on my knees and put my hands together in a begging gesture. I didn't want to die again so soon. I don't know what he said to me then, but I did know the meaning of his smile, and it wasn't anything good. The woman behind him looked bored. He started singing a song, and every stanza was punctuated by a swing of his sword, and chips of me went flying. I blocked a few with my forearm, until that cracked, and then the hand, which soon cracked too. I felt like crying but no tears would come. My resistance seemed to infuratiate him. He beat his sword against my head and I blacked out for a moment.

It must not have been for long because I was still mostly whole when I came to. I had to put up a resistance if I didn't want to return to the void. It wasn't fair. I hadn't done anything to this guy and he was trying to destroy me. I reached up and caught his sword as it was coming down. My hand crunched but held. I stood up. Around me was a faint, high pitched sound. I wrenched the sword out of his grasp. He looked incredulous, like he couldn't believe his sword was taken from him. I took a step forward. As i did so, the noise gained strength, and I realized it was coming from me. It was the wheezing screech I made as I lay dying in my car, except that was quiet, and this was loud. He looked scared and jumped back, while the scream continued to gain volume. It wasn't anything that I consciously did. He turned and yelled something at the cleric accompanying him and she threw a bottle of water at me. It broke and doused me in water, which quickly became white fire. I screamed and screamed. It hurt so badly. I ran forward and grabbed him and choked him, tore at his neck, ripped out his eyeballs and ripped off his arms, all the while, my unlife burned away. He was quickly turned into a mess of meat, a butcher's mistake. I stood and put a foot on his chest and pulled his head with all my strength. His head popped free, a few vertebrae trailing down. I staggered forward carrying his head by the hair, white fire dripping off me and pooling on the dungeon floor. I have no idea why I wanted his head. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I stepped past the cleric, who had fallen down, eye wide with terror, staring up at me and trying to push back farther against the wall. I walked down the corridor, my death scream continuing unabated.