Lava.

I fell forward when I tried getting up. Before I could do anything else, I was in someone’s arms. My vision blurred and hazed.

What was going on? I was fine!

Sure, I’d been stumbling for the past hour, but, but…

My thoughts refused to come forth as I stared at the lava, then at the noirette holding me. My head lolled back, and I saw Lawrence in Maple’s arms as they sprinted.

Were we holding them back?

If they left us, would they survive?

“…” I breathed, my mouth formed the words, but nothing came out. The feeling in my throat was odd, and I realized something I should have a while ago.

That giant monster poisoned us.

The healing potion didn’t work on the poison like we thought it did.

No, wait.

Were we poisoned?

My thoughts were as slow as my memories, and I couldn’t recall if that had been a different dungeon or not. Was I just thinking of the goblin dungeon?

I couldn’t recall.

What… What did happen, with the giant monster? I couldn’t recall. What even was the monster?

Actually… No, no, I’m certain. The last thing I did was stay with the twins and comfort them as they cried. Why, then, were we at the bottom of a cliff?

We didn’t fall. No one would have survived that. Not even to administer a potion. More than a mile. More. Than. A. Mile.

Even if Lawrence was somehow able to keep glass from breaking at that distance, he’d be in too much pain to administer it to himself, let alone others.

Why were the twins asleep?

What was the last thing they remember?

Was I just tired? Did we actually fall?

But even exhaustion wouldn’t make me lose my voice. Wouldn’t make me suddenly collapse when I felt fine. The lava was wavering in my eyes.

My arms reached out, and Mable stumbled back with a gasp. My hand snapped out and Maple tripped, and I dragged us back.

An illusion.

It was an illusion.

I couldn’t speak, though! Shit.

My arms gestured, but it was hard. I shook my head even as I rasped. Back. Back.

WE HAVE TO GO BACK!

The twins couldn’t hear my thoughts, though, glancing at each other then at me. I tugged at them, but I was losing strength in my arms. I pointed the way we came, at the lava covering the ground and slowly coming toward us.

Back.

We have to go back.

It isn’t real.

We’re being herded.

Mind… mind…

Where’s my tinfoil hat?

Was I going crazy?

mind control.

It was hard to think, and I felt hot tears streaking down my face. The pain only confirmed it, though. That meant I could speak. If it was mind control…

“Go back!” I said, my voice not listening, no noises escaping me, “It’s a trap, the lava isn’t real.”

Not real.

Not…

Not…

My camera.

Did I get a new phone?

No. No, my radio.

“SOS. Mind control. Illusions. Am I going crazy? Is anyone there? I can’t tell if I’m speaking,” I spoke into the radio.

It crackled to life.

“We hear you loud and clear,” A familiar voice washed over my ears, “Permission to connect to your camera?”

“My camera? If you can, do it. Tell me what’s real.” Is that what they did after they “made my camera more durable” after the third dungeon in Chicago?

I tried standing, searching through Lawrence’s stuff. I took the potion, taking a mouthful, giving him a mouthful, and handing the rest over to the twins. It was gone, now.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Hopefully it was real enough to make me stand up.

I did. Reaching out, I grabbed the twins. They clung to me, looking scared. Their mouths moved, but they weren’t speaking. They couldn’t hear me either, I mused as I held Lawrence in my arms.

Three people.

“Can you see? Is the lava real? Do I need to run?” I asked.

“There is only snow and ice in front of you. Look behind you, I think I saw something,” The radio supplied.

I did.

“Shit—evacuate the area!”

Turning, I ran, speaking into the radio, “Tell me where to go. I’ll follow your instructions immediately, I don’t trust my sight. Just to confirm, you see the three with me, correct?”

I stepped into lava. It burned. Tears ran down my face as I continued running, not as held back by the lava as I should have been.

“Take a right!”

I lunged right. My face twisted at the expanse of wall. I kept running, jumping just to ensure my legs couldn’t suddenly stop.

“Keep going straight. Confirmed, you are carrying three people.”

“Describe them by their hair.”

“Brown, Black, White. Duck! There’s a yeti!”

I ducked, feeling colder as I slid on seemingly nothing. My surroundings hadn’t changed, it still looked like I was running toward a wall that wasn’t getting any closer.

It felt trippy, like I was in a video game or something. It felt unreal, and my mind felt hazy because of it, giving me the feeling of being in a dream when the strain I felt in my arms and legs from running clearly told me I wasn’t.

“Right! Right!”

I kept running, following instructions from my trusty radio. Soon enough I found myself staring at creepy figures standing around.

“Slow down, slow down. You’re running toward us.”

I was already slowing down, though, staring at the black figures with very white eyes and very white teeth, all covered in cloaks, looking stretched upward.

Mandela Catalogue-esque creatures?

I swallowed as I stared at the creatures. My heart was pounding, and I felt only fear.

Unable to help myself, I took a step back.

Then the world went white, my ears ringing. The creatures stayed for naught a moment before flickering away, and I stumbled back.

When I regained my senses, I saw the camp I’d brought the twins to. Glancing behind me, I saw weird insectoid creatures squirming and writing as they were shot, grenades and flamethrowers in great use in the battle I was useless in.

Lawrence was slumped against my side, Mable covering her ears and curled up with her eyes closed while Maple held his eyes and cried at the pain, his sobs quiet but sounding pained.

Looking down, I saw a giant gash in my side. A knife was in the middle of carving out something squirming in my flesh.

Looking up, I saw—

“Oh, yeah, you did come here, huh green guy?” I asked the old man in green that had been promoted to a five-star general.

The old man looked up, his blue eyes hard, “Don’t talk, I don’t want this critter escaping my hold.”

I remained silent, staring as he covers himself in my blood. It covers his face and his arms, but his blue eyes were focused on the task.

He seemed very reliable.

Despite his earlier actions in inviting me to see five other Very Important People without my permission, he was currently carving an isopod-looking creature with thinner striped limbs and sharp lamprey-like mandibles full of thin sharp wisp-like teeth out of me.

Because of that, I had a good opinion of him.

Nausea immediately filled me at the sticky bonded orbs that remained in my stomach, covering everything. My pink and red insides didn’t have as much blood as I hoped, and the small eggs covering my entire intestinal tract, important organs, and spine shivered as my insides pulsed.

“Uhh, I’d like to request immediate death by fire. Preferably before I throw up and find more of those things.”

The man hesitated as he stared at the bubble-looking frothing eggs.

“Fire might work.”

The scent of gasoline reached my ears, four potions handed out to the four of us.

“Drink these after you’re set on fire. You’ll heal, those things won’t,” Another person said.

“Blood? What’s going on?” Maple asked, sounding afraid.

I glanced at Maple, not at all repentant as I spoke, “We’re being burned alive. It’s going to hurt. Chances are these things are in all of us, if we’re seeing things and no one else is.”

Maple swallowed, “Burned? Does it hurt more than…?”

“Yes. It is the most painful thing one can experience in their lives,” I answered calmly, able to relax as I personally pour more gasoline in my open wound, watching my organs quiver and grimacing at the burning feeling of the gasoline.

After I had the others put the glass in their mouths so they could bite down and get the potion and doing the same, I watched as someone lit the fire.

BOOM!

Everything was, and the sound of screaming echoed out from everyone except me.

Sure, it hurt, but honestly? Much preferable to eggs being inside me. I didn’t bite down yet, waiting until my clothing melded to my skin and my skin started sloughing off to bite down.

A bunch of gross shit was pushed out of my body, and I watched as the same was done to my friends.

Removing my helmet, still on fire, I threw up. At the sight of more eggs, I continued retching.

Mable and Maple just looked confused, but Lawrence was screaming.

The fires were being put out as glass and blood fell out of our mouths, retardant thrown at us with no concern for our coughing and suffocating.

As we struggled, more potions were shoved down our throats. My helmet was put back on my head as all of us were roughly dragged from where we’d been and thrown elsewhere, more gasoline being poured over the red, brown, and black mess we’d left.

Me keeping my helmet on was for naught, though, all of us stripped as boiling water was poured over us.

My skin was still crispy enough that I didn’t mind, but I still let out an “ow” before the end.

Lawrence was gasping and sobbing, and the twins were curled up, not looking too good.

I stared at my crispy skin, peeling it off. Inspecting myself, I didn’t see anymore bugs or eggs, so I nodded. Then I stood up, dazed, and put on the clothes I was handed. Taking the last potion I needed, I only took a sip. It fully healed me.

Huh.

Just how strong were these potions?

Going over, I helped Mable and Maple dress, giving them sips of my potion instead of letting them open a fresh one.

Lastly, I went to Lawrence. It took me and three other men to pull him apart as he attempted to remain curled up, dressing him and giving him another sip of my potion, fully healing him.

“So, illusion bugs. Fuck that,” I mentioned casually as I walked up to the green general. Ooh, that was a nice title. The Green General, “Anyway, are there any spare bats? I should probably go out and—“

“There is no way in hell you are okay after that, Blood. Go get some rest, we got the rest of this floor. It seems fire is the best bet, here, anyway. I’ve already ordered men to go get some more flammables from the outside.” The Green General ordered.

I nodded, not even bothering to walk away as I sat down where I was. Curling up on the ground, I closed my eyes. Soon enough four arms were wrapped around me.

Opening my eyes, I saw a flash of white hair covering my visor, and I closed my eyes again.

I regret existing for long enough to have the sight of eggs coating the inside of my abdomen. The sight of my skin deforming and wriggling as millions of small things move around inside.

The only thing that made it so I could keep my eyes closed was the memory of fire burning and purging everything.

My vision flickered between fire and pale writhing flesh underneath which held an entire eaten-out cavern of my skin.

The flickering of fire soon won out, the warmth of the twins and—after only a few minutes—Lawrence able to keep the nightmare I’d seen at bay.

For the first time in a long time, though it’d only been a few days Earth-time, I felt comfortable.