A perfectly cylindrical ray of light gently awoke Arn. Except, it wasn’t a gentle awakening and the ray of light turned out to be an excruciating beam of heat. He hastily rolled off of the small medical cot and onto the stone floor.
Why the hell am I camping? I hate camping. Shuffling to his feet, he took a deep breath and looked around. When did I enter a cave?
The cave had just enough light to see from one blank, featureless wall to another, although Arn noticed a large wooden door embedded into the far wall behind his cot. It had a purple hue and gave off a faint glow, allowing Arn to see.
It was then that it hit him, he was not on Earth…
“Sick, it was real,” Arn turned as he spoke, “Babe, we’re actually in another world!” Arn’s voice echoed around the cave. Where the hell is my wife?
Moving towards the door, Arn began looking over his body. He was the same height, had the same chestnut skin, and he was still fat. That’s unfortunate, but maybe when I get some epic training montage I’ll lose most of it. Wait a second… I can see! I don’t have my glasses. How the hell are they gonna give me my vision and still let me be fat. Help a man live out his isekai fantasies. Oh, I bet Anna doesn’t need her glasses now either.
Opening the door, Arn’s excitement began to grow. The room turned out to be an armory. It was a long hall with an assortment of weapons along one wall, and different armors on the other. From cave to medieval armory, this is definitely a tutorial. Patting himself on the back for his incredible deductive skills, Arn approached the nearest rack of weapons and selected what looked like a long, wide, and flat sword whose tip ended in two right angle prongs. Much to his embarrassment, he could hardly lift it above his hip with both hands.
Setting the sword back on the stand, Arn quickly walked through the rest of the hall. His eyes glistened with eagerness as they passed over row after row of strange weapons, trying to come to a decision on what he wanted to try out first. However, that could all wait for later, he needed to find his wife.
The hall ended in another door just like the first, but this one seemed warm to the touch. Arn slowly opened the door, the heat giving him some pause. Before Arn could see what his vision was blocked by a large white screen.
New Quest:
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Death’s new recruit:
Die until you win.
What the actual fuck. UNTIL I win, what does that even mean?
All of Arn’s thoughts were suddenly cut off as the screen disappeared and he heard the most gut-wrenching sound of his life.
“ARN!” The terrified plea came from the other side of the door. Arn flung open the rest of the door and ran past, not noticing that it closed behind him. As he ran towards the sound of his wife’s yell, he heard a loud pop and crack. Arn found himself once again in a cave around 20 meters wide that seemed to go on into darkness. Roughly 20 feet up, near the ceiling of the cave, hung a lantern that dimly lit the area just enough for Arn to see.
His eyes first landed on his wife, lying flat on the cold, gray stone of the cave. Her face was turned up towards him, her once beautiful dimples missing as Arn could see directly into the flesh of her gums. It was like she had been burned on only one side of her face.Her left arm attempted to drag her towards Arn, while her right moved awkwardly, bent into a cruel and grotesque shape. Arn felt his heart shatter at the sight, unable to speak, tears flowing freely as he ran to help her. It wasn’t until he was less than 10 feet away that he noticed the creature that gripped the back of her head.
It was bent over, but it was clear it was the size of a child. Its body seemed to be made of stone with cracks running along its skin. Within the cracks flowed magma constantly bubbling towards the surface. It had the snout of a lizard with large pointed ears on both sides of its head. Its jet-black eyes squinted at Arn as it opened its maw wide. The lava lizard, for lack of a better term, let out a high pitched wheeze. It’s laughing, the bastard is laughing! Arn realized as he attempted to lunge at it.
The lizard used its free hand to crack Arn’s jaw and knock him back. As Arn fought to get back to his feet for another lunge, the lizard squeezed its claw holding Anna’s skull. Steam rose from the back of her head and in almost the blink of an eye, the love of Arn’s life lost her head. It looked as if it became a dry husk and evaporated into debris.
“Noooooo,” a strangled sob escaped Arn’s mouth and he once again attacked the lizard, this time managing to land a punch before the creature could retaliate. Rage coursed through his veins. Arn swore then and there that regardless of what he had to do, he would kill this beast. It was going to pay dearly for what it did. Foolishly, Arn thought he had a chance. As Arn swung another fist towards its head, a hot pain lanced through his bicep. He’d been impaled by the lizard's claw and was dragged roughly to the ground.
Arn believed it was probably over, that the lizard would desiccate his skull as he had done to Anna, and for a moment, he was glad. I’m such a fucking idiot. Of course she’s gone, of course I couldn’t save her. I had no business being here in the first place.
However, the end didn’t arrive quickly. Arn felt the first bite into his torso, tears smearing his face as he tried desperately to push the lizard off. Anything to get rid of the pain. His attempts failed as the lizard chose to bite his hand off next, the bloody stump bashing uselessly against the lizard's stone body. He cried out incoherently several times as the lizard continued its macabre work, stripping chunks off of Arn’s body as it held him down. First it was his arms, then his legs, finally, the lizard continued gnawing through Arn’s intestine as it had done originally. It was only then the shock finally got the better of his senses and he felt his mind slip into the embrace of death.