Jakob came back into consciousness, his eyes already open and staring up at the ceiling. The oil lamp above him had gathered a flock of moths that spiraled around it, believing it to be the sun. But no, the sun was far above them, beyond dozens of floors roamed by beasts and adventurers. The previous night’s events flashed through his mind and he groaned, hiding his face in his arms.
His arms were squishy and skinless, his entire body lacked even a single bit to cover up the bright red muscles within. Pain was a distant memory, one he had to sit down and focus on to even remember. How long had it been since he last saw the outside world he did not know—it was not like there were any clocks down in his small cell.
The dungeon, Jakob’s new residence and place of work. A large maze of tunnels that spiral deep into the earth, traps, and monsters awaiting anyone brave enough to venture in, to risk their lives to reach the bottom where a great treasure lies. A great treasure that Jakob did not know—he only knew he had to protect it from the hands of the adventurers, that was his new purpose, his sole reason for existing.
The witch girl was his first kill since he arrived at the dungeon. And it was an accident—he simply wanted to talk with the group, to see if they would help him, only for his arm to be chopped off and hit the poor girl that did it.
Absorption. That girl’s soul now resided within him. Her powers, her mana—little, but there—all became a part of him. He felt stronger than before, Jakob feeling he could collapse a wall with a punch. She was strong, that was for sure. But mistakes and rash judgment kill even the man who slain a thousand lions.
As expected, he saw her in his dream last night, her voice calling out to him and begging for her soul to be extinguished, to be released from him. However, Jakob could not do such a thing—by the gods he tried to do so with her, but there she was, sitting behind the witch, staring cold daggers at him in silence. And when he awoke, he still felt that coldness pierce into him, despite or perhaps despite his lack of ability to feel the cold.
At least her entire body was destroyed, Jakob thought, getting out of bed. Who knows what the other monsters would have done with it if they came across it. No, I know what they would have done with it.
Unlike Jakob, most of the other monsters were born and raised in the dungeon, their sole purpose to kill any intruders. Goblins, shadow people, skeletons—all never had the taste of humanity Jakob had, and so they treated others without humanity, even when they were already dead.
Especially if they were female.
Jakob heard a knock at his door. Without even having to open it, he knew exactly who it was behind it. He walked to it, yawned away the rest of his delirium, and opened it.
Sure enough, he was right.
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“No, that simply cannot be,” the middle-aged man said, gripping Ayaka’s shoulders so tight she could feel his nails pierce her skin. “My daughter, she simply... no, I can’t.”
The man fell back into his chair, finally letting go of the witch. Ayaka kept her head bowed, her eyes never fully meeting with the man’s as she spoke, her lips quivering a little as she did.
“I am afraid it is. Kalie fought well and despite how short we were together, I could tell she was a very talented young girl.”
“She was only sixteen, sixteen! I should’ve never listened to her, allowed her to go off to that fucking dungeon.” The man clung to his face with his hands. “You did get the son-of-a-bitch that killed her, right?”
Ayaka opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
“...why are you silent?”
She cleared her throat. “We were unfortunately unable to kill the beast that killed your daughter and had to do a strategical retreat to prevent further losses. Rest assured that we will return to vanquish that—”
“Get out,” the man said in a flat, almost listless tone.
“Sorry?”
“Get the fuck out of my house!” The man shot up from the chair and grabbed Ayaka by the arm, tearing her across the room and flinging her out the door before slamming it shut.
Ayaka stood up and wiped the mud from her face. Despite being a powerful magia possessor, she still viewed herself as a lady deserving of some respect so being flung out of a door and into a puddle of mud was almost enough to send her into a fiery rage. Before she could even conceive of such a notion, however, as she stared back at the now shut door, a hand landed on her shoulder.
"So I take it that your conversation did not go well?"
She knew that voice; Ayaka turned and came face-to-face with Belle, a rouge short-haired tan-skinned girl of her age thin enough that a strong light pressed against her back could illuminate the organs within, or at least Ayaka thought so. She was from the south, a land of better summers and shorter winters against the rolling ocean that spanned miles to unknown lands or more deep blue. Ayaka wanted to get away from the more temperate depressing landscape of her birth, however only here was where the dungeon was.
Belle gave Ayaka a soft kiss and smiled. Ayaka felt her cheeks warm up and the anger within vanished. "Yeah, I guess you can say that."
"I mean, that guy would never understand as he wasn't there that night, to see what we saw." Belle sighed. "I looked through the Encylopedia of Known Monsters as you asked—no mention of something that can cause someone to explode and then absorb their remains like a walking sponge or some shit."
"So it's undiscovered."
"So it seems. We'll need to go back down there and bring back its corpse if we want to have it documented, but I've let the guild know what we saw that night, but it seems that a bunch of our party members already went ahead and did so." They started walking back to the inn, their place of residence for the last few months since they arrived in the city. Belle glanced at Ayaka from the corner of her eye. "Did you know her well?"
"Kalie? No, not extremely well. We talked only during prep, otherwise, we never got to know one another."
As they made their way from the outer regions of the city, the sounds of their footsteps and a soft breeze was replaced by the distant barking of dogs and the throngs of people that flowed through the vein-like streets. Men shouted at passersby from their stalls, packed with armor, food, and other goods. A woman dressed in a cloak cradled a child in her arms, seemingly lost in her own world as she stared blankly at the sky. Children with sticks chased after a rat that scurried across the cobblestone for its life, dipping between the feet of men clad in armor and witches clad in cloak. A range of smells greeted whoever walked those streets: cooked glazed meat, salt, smoke, when wet silver, when dry stone. Thousands witnessed the beast they are a part of, a beast they feast with hard work and time, the beast known as the city of Cathair.
"Me neither," Belle said, her golden eyes following the humanoid shapes that they passed by. "She kinda just kept to herself though she seemed nice. Her screams though, that probably will stick with me for a while."
"It'll stick to everyone, I imagine," Ayaka said, wiping another splat of mud from herself. "Especially Saya."
"Saya, huh. Probably wasn't the greatest idea to put her at the front. You've known her since the academy though, right? Wasn't she an honors student or something?"
"Always scored high in practical and written tests. I'd say she's one of the better possessors I know, though she's a total wimp." Ayaka sighed. "If she doesn't snap out of whatever show she is putting on now, I'm going to kick her from the group, can't be having people like that drag us down even further."
"I agree."
Soon, they reached the inn—Lea's Corner was a bar/inn hybrid that was situated in the south-eastern sector of the city where similar establishments were present. It was five stories tall with subdued yellow painting and white corner bricking that made it stand out from the rest of the buildings in the district which were mostly gray and consisted of little character. That was the main reason Ayaka and the others decided to make it their home base—well, that and the fact that Ayaka's aunt ran the place and gave the group a discount to stay there.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
As they entered, they were greeted by the rowdiness of the bar patrons as they clinked mugs together and laughed. The thick smell of ale and sweat assaulted the nostrils of anyone who entered but again, any joint popular enough in this city would smell the same as the heat inside fermented whatever malodor decided to spawn from the mixture of men spending their earnings on drinking the night away in bliss.
The aunt was busy behind the counter, wiping it and talking to those sitting nearby, laughing and enjoying their company, so she did not notice their entrance. Ayaka and Belle went up the stairs that were behind the bar that led up to the inn portion of the establishment. Their legs ached after a long day of walking from place to place, from the guildhall to report Kalie's passing to the library, a day without little rest for legs that were still burning from the night before. Naturally, the wounds they gained were gone, washed away after healing spells and a warm bath.
When they reached their room on the third floor, Belle placed the key into the door when Ayaka spoke up.
"Shouldn't we check on Saya before heading to bed?"
Belle sighed and lightly touched Ayaka's arm before pulling the key out. "Fine, but can we make it quick?"
"Sure, it won't take too long." Ayaka could feel the pull of sleep, but her duty as party leader came first.
They both went up another flight of stairs to the room of Saya and her roommate Michaela. Ayaka knocked lightly on the door and she heard Michaela's voice from within telling them to wait a minute. As they stood outside, they heard a loud bang from within as if something fell and rapid footsteps march about the room inside. They shared a glance, wondering what the hell she was doing, only to hear her footsteps approach the door and open it.
Michaela was a short blonde with light blue eyes, a small round nose, and freckled pale skin. She was without makeup, her eyes surrounded by darker baggier skin that made them appear like two stars shining out from the reflection of water at the bottom of a deep well. Pretty, but strange, her voice sounded like wind passing through a cave filled with icicles that vibrated to the tune of a wail, and her hyperfocus on peculiar subjects made her difficult to talk to.
"Come in," she said, clearing her throat midway.
Both girls entered the room. As with the rest of the rooms in the inn, there were two beds separated by a set of drawers against the wall where a small square window looked out onto the city landscape. This room's window was opened and the curtains fluttered in the chill of the growing darkness of the night. Apart from the drawers and bed, there was also a desk and chair where tomes sat as rickety towers that leaned against the stone wall. In the righthand bed laid Saya, her face pale and her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.
When they approached her, she did not react. She had been in this position ever since the night prior, not eating, drinking, or sleeping. Ayaka had heard of soldiers returning from war with a similar condition, however could not shake the feeling that Saya was merely doing this for attention. Having known the girl for some years, Ayaka came to know her as an attention seeker, doing extreme things just so another can tend to her as if she were a baby.
One time, in the academy, she was found on a pathway by some students passed out and when she came to the nurses' office, Saya acted like she had amnesia and pretended to have forgotten who she was and everyone around her. After a day of this act, however, she miraculously recovered and only a couple of years later while drunk did she admit to Ayaka it was all a show.
Ayaka shook Saya's shoulder. "Oi, Saya, cut the act out."
"Ayaka, it's not an act," Michaela protested. "I've been trying to get her to respond for the entire day, maybe we should get a doctor now."
"I'd rather not spend a pretty penny on this girl, especially since I know she's just messing around for attention."
"I agree," Belle said. "Well, what are we going to do then?" Belle winked at Ayaka, seemingly transmitting the rest of her intention with that simple gesture.
"Ah yes, well," Ayaka stood back from the bed and looked out the window. "I was just discussing it with Belle and the others: if Saya's condition doesn't improve by tomorrow, we'll be removing her name from our party list."
"W-wait, you can't do that!" Michaela said, grabbing Ayaka's arm and spinning her around. "After what happened in that dungeon, you seriously can't tell me that there's not a single chance, not even a slither, that's she's not at least traumatized by it."
"I'm not saying she's not traumatized by it—everyone in the fucking party is traumatized by what happened," Ayaka shook her arm from her grasp. "But ever since Saya has joined our party, she's been a burden, always cowering at any monster we come across. I don't even think she has ever gotten a wound from anything other than her falling to the ground in fear. Perhaps Kalie would still be alive if she didn't just sit there and cry."
"Now that's too far," Michaela spat. "It was Kalie's fault for her own death, she was the one who sliced that beast's arm off, to let it whack her in the face like a fish jumping from the sea into the fisherman's cheek."
"If she hadn't pissed herself, she would have annihilated that creature before it even had the chance to reach for her and you know it. Now enough of this, I'm tired as shit and any further discussion on the matter will make me want to throw you out with her." Ayaka walked back to the door with Belle and called back to the bedridden woman. "You hear me, Saya? If I come here tomorrow and you are still playing pretend, I will fling out that damn window, understand?"
Belle and Ayaka left, leaving Michaela to stare at the shut door for moments after their departure. Saya blinked.
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"You are moving up in the world fast, huh? Or should I say down?" Rika said, giggling.
Jakob nodded as they went down deeper into the dungeon. His feet were the only ones to greet the ground as they went, Rika's floating only a few inches from it as they descended. Her white hair and red eyes matched with her pure white cloak with red lining and her tights that showed off her dainty legs. Whenever someone saw her, either monster or human, they immediately ran to her, trying to get her attention, only for their hand or claw to pass right through her transparent body.
She was a ghost, a spirit that had yet to pass on. A semi-rare monster in the dungeon only witnessed in latter floors who uses their abilities to scare adventurers and witches to death, an ability called Charon's Wish. Most ghosts were created by the dungeon, however, some, like Rika, were once human, a fact that bonded Jakob to her once she told him that what felt like decades ago.
Rika was Jakob's only friend in the dungeon; the other monsters were either too mindless to talk to or ignored Jakob's very presence, believing him to be not worth their time. Rika is also the only one who can see the souls that are trapped within him.
"So has that girl started bothering you as well?" Rika asked, referring to the witch he killed the night prior. "I imagine it must be a pain to be surrounded by three dead chicks all the time, including me of course." She winked.
"Unlike those two, you at the very least give me a moment of peace when I ask you to." Jakob kept his eyes on the ground, trying to not trip over the broken bricks that jutted out of the ground every once in a while. "Not that I expect them to. If you were trapped in your murderer's heart for eternity, you'd probably want to at least bother him as well."
Rika scratched her head and went quiet for a moment. Jakob stole a glance at her, seeing that she was deep in some form of contemplation. "I guess that's true."
Jakob knew little about who Rika was before she died, but from the tidbits of information he gathered, he knew she was once a witch who traveled down into the dungeon in search of the great treasure. She would end up dying in the dungeon, to someone or something she had yet to divulge, and became a ghost. From what Jakob could tell, from her apparent experience and know-how, Rika had been in the dungeon a long time, now protecting the treasure she wanted all her previous life.
They were moving deeper into the dungeon, or rather, Jakob was, but Rika decided to tag along, mostly out of boredom it seemed. Because of her wrap sheet, the number of people she killed, she was relegated even deeper than a lot of ghosts, meaning it was rare for her to see anyone she could fight. Monsters, like any living entity (though including her in that group might be incorrect), got bored when all you see is darkness and all you hear is silence for days and weeks on end. So Rika would often hit up Jakob for conversation to stave off this boredom, a fact Jakob himself could not understand because he felt like he was a boring conversation partner.
Maybe all she wants is someone to just talk to, Jakob wondered.
He felt the cold air rush into his ear, causing him to jolt up. Jakob saw Rika laughing, rolling in somersaults as her face turned red.
"Would you cut that out?" Jakob said.
"Sorry, it's just so funny!"
"...I don't find it very funny."
Jakob had a few personal problems with the girl, including her seemingly incessant desire to prank him, but overall he viewed her company as more worthwhile than a life of isolation. And anyway, it was not like she would go away any time soon.
As they reached the floor of Jakob's new residence, they spotted a couple of goblins conversing among each other in their gobbly, turkey-like language. Jakob sighed to himself; it seemed that his new neighbors were the rowdy type, those set to seemingly annoy the very universe that spawned them. They both entered his new cell and closed the wooden door behind them, reducing the gobbles to a murmur that somehow soaked through the brick walls.
The cell was similar to his previous one: it contained only a bed and an oil lamp. The bed was no longer a sheet on the ground however but a proper bed with a frame, though Jakob could tell at a glance that it was not one fit for royalty. The moment his backside touched the mattress as they sat down, the bed met his cheeks with little springiness, as hard as stale bread.
"Wow, I remember when I had reached this level," Rika said, trying to bounce on the bed. "I was so excited to finally have a bed only to find it nearly impossible to sleep on."
"Ghosts can sleep?" Jakob asked.
"We don't need to, but if you want to pass the time, you can." Rika fell backward onto the mattress with a sigh. "I imagine you won't be here long though. All you need is another strong person like the one before to come along and you'll be sleeping on a softer bed in no time."
"I don't plan on killing anyone," Jakob said, resting his head on his hand.
"Hm? Why not?"
"That witch was a total accident, I didn't mean to..." His words trailed off; she already knew this so why repeat it? "Anyway, I just want to get out of this place."
"You know that's not possible, right? Haven't I told you as much?"
Jakob nodded. He recalled walking up to the dungeon entrance and the euphoria sent him running towards it, only for him to immediately blackout and return to his cell. The dungeon was built with some protective seal around it to prevent monsters from escaping into the upper world. When Rika told him this, he felt like crying though his body would not produce tears.
"And anyway," Rika continued, kicking her legs off the end of the bed. "The outside world is no longer a place you can call home. The second a human sees you, they will brand you as a monster and try to kill you. Down here is where denizens like us can live freely, without having to pay rent or anything. Trust me, you should give up the idea of getting out of here, it'll only bring you disappointment and suffering." Rika's face had grown a little darker as she said this, Jakob noticed. Then suddenly, she stood up and started hugging him, saying, "And anyway, you have me! What more can you ask for?"
True freedom. To wander the fields, brushing his hands against the grass. The breeze carrying the smell of nature with it blowing softly against his face. Ex cetera. That was what Jakob asked for but never vocalized outside of his head. His memories of such things were still solid images in his mind, living as a human wanting to become an adventurer, only to have that dream destroyed by the very person he called mommy...
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess you are right." A slight smile appeared on his face, though if he had a mirror to see it, he knew it would look anything but happy.
Rika did not seem to notice the fakeness of his smile and let go of him, standing up from the bed with a twirl. "Well, I have to head—it seems that my floor has some brave adventurers that need slaying." She went for the door but stopped midway and turned back around to face the skinless man. "By the way, Jakob, that group of witches you fought, did anyone there look like... you know what, never mind. See you around!"
And she disappeared through the door.