A large intricate skeletal door looms in front of me. Glancing back, I see a dark treeline cutting off all forms of escape. Monsters peek out at me from the bushes, waiting for my inevitable return, like all the poor sods who came before me.
Feel free to wait there all you want, I won't be going back that way. There is only one path out of here for me now.
My heart begins to race as I stare at the door. Seeking out some form of comfort I grasp at Arkaios' medallion, praying with all my heart that I succeed in my mission.
"Please Lord Arkaios, guide me on my path forward. Let all that block me be purged in the light of your wake..."
The alternative is an eternity of torture after all... Unless I'm lucky enough to be eaten and absorbed instead.
The medallion hums as it comes to life, pulsing ether through my body, reminding me that I am not alone.
That's right... My Lord is here with me as well. Over the past two-hundred years I've failed only a handful of times. Surely this time won't be any different? It can't be a failure after all, not this mission...
One last pulse from the medallion sends a single thought into my soul.
It is time. Begin.
Letting go of the medallion, I do my usual one-fisted pump across my chest, an ancient salute from a nation long since dead. A slight sense of melancholy overrides the fear as I realize this is the last time I will be doing this. Finally, the time has come... The very last mission before I am released from my atonement.
Now then, how the hell do I get this door open? My Lord said that the Demon in charge of this place loves to play tricks, so even the entrance itself should be a puzzle of some sort, one full of traps. Not exactly what I wanted my last mission to be, but beggars can't be choosers...
Scouring over the door, I find it appears to be designed as nothing more than something to intimidate anyone who approaches. It's in the shape of a large skeletal head, with the 'door' being its mouth. The edges of its bony mouth form into a sneer, clearly intended to mock any who are stupid enough to approach it.
"There's an old door knocker made of bones, but that's probably where the trick is. Even so, it's been ages since I've seen one of these knockers... Only medieval worlds have them."
Honestly, the freakiest part here is everything else. While I have no idea of how far the wall goes in either direction because I can't see past the forest, vertically the damn wall goes on forever, and I can see that because it's lined with torches the whole way up. It keeps going into the clouds... How is this possible? If it's not an illusion... Well, this is going to be a very long mission if it's not. I don't even know if I'm supposed to go up or down yet, but if it's up then I'm fucked.
"Hmm, the other option is these four finger-sized cutouts. I'd prefer not to put my fingers into any unknown holes, but the only other option is the knocker, and if that doesn't work..."
Reaching out for the bone knocker, I grasp it and smack it into the door a couple of times. Immediately the sound of a chain shifting could be heard, except there was a slight 'clink' at the end, leading to the chain sliding backward.
"Locked huh? Which only leaves..."
I feel sick to my stomach as I look back at the four holes.
"Only one way to find out. Please be ready my Lord, I may need your assistance shortly."
The medallion pulses as I put four fingers from my left hand into the holes. I reach over and knock on the door again. As the chains got to the same part as last time, a different sound emerged, leading to the door opening. I tried pulling my hand out at the same time as it opened, but it was too late. Something inside the holes chopped all four of my fingers off.
"AAGH DAMNIT!!!"
The monsters growl in excitement at the smell of blood. Dropping to my knees, I hold my hand up as blood spurts out of the now fingerless hand. Ether flows from the medallion down to my fingers, slowly sealing the wounds shut as the pain dampens at the same rate.
Damnit I knew it!! Fucking Demons, where is the 'trick' here?!
Eventually, the wounds sealed shut completely, making my fingers look like I had lost them years ago. The pain lingers as my brain tries to catch up to reality, but that's normal in this line of work.
People always told me that you get used to pain. Over the past two-hundred years I learned that they were all fucking liars. You never get used to this. Whether you're five years old or closing in on two-hundred and thirty years old like me, pain is pain.
Fighting through the lingering pain, I stand up and slowly push open the ancient wooden door. Inside, a long stone tunnel with another wooden door at the end awaits me. There is a long red carpet with golden frays adorning the path forward, while torches line the walls on both sides, making me squint as I make my way forward. However, right before I reach the door, I find a small barred opening near the floor on the left side. Ducking down near the opening, I hear what sounds like heavy breathing and footsteps deep below.
Not that I would drop down there if it wasn't barred, but I hope the first thing I find ahead of me is not stairs going down.
Standing back up, I walk to the door and try the handle, which fortunately gives way immediately this time. As I'm opening the door, my smile vanishes upon seeing the large golden predator eye looking at me through the barred opening below. Rushing through the door, I quickly close it behind me.
Well that didn't take long... I thought the first jump scare would be at least an hour in.
The room I'm in now is circular in design, with four different doors spread out evenly across from one another. The stone flooring continues towards the middle, with the areas between doors covered in ferns and bushes. The carpet however, appears to have ended at the door behind me. The center of the room has two points of interest. A waist-tall podium covered by what looks like the lid of a pot? The other note of concern is the giant hole in the ground next to the podium...
Surely the creature below can't come up through there? While the hole is quite large, I think the creature was a bit too big to fit through that. Just in case though...
I sneak over to the bushes, ducking down behind them. For the next ten minutes I stare straight forward while listening for anything out of place. Nothing moves besides the flames of the torches, but I swear I can hear something snoring inside the hole.
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Hmm... Either those doors are soundproof, or there is currently nothing behind them. For now, I'll try opening the one to my right and pray nothing jumps out at me.
As I begin to stand up, the door on the left opens, revealing a young man in his early twenties, clad in leather armor with a dagger in his hand. He quickly hides behind a bush just as I had.
Strange... I thought the door behind me was the only way in? That aside, should I reach out to the boy? Any humans randomly appearing in this type of place have a much higher chance of being allies than enemies. Sadly, there are no guarantees on that... He could be a plant by the Demons, or a selfish thief who doesn't want to 'share' the prizes within this place. I have no interest in such things, but most people won't believe that... Yeah, I think I'll just watch for now. My Lord prefers it when I save those within my reach, but this man may be a threat, so he'll understand.
Less than a minute later, the boy jumps back onto the stone path and rushes towards the podium. Once there he peaks down into the hole. He squints for a few seconds before giving up, turning his attention towards the podium instead.
Couldn't see anything huh? That's disappointing.
The boy grabs the top of the lid and pulls it up, revealing a key and a small blue orb. After one quick glance around, the boy tries picking the key up, except a small string attached to the bottom of the key yanks it back down, resulting in a loud ringing sound emanating from deep inside the hole. The boy, realizing he had screwed up, turned to run, but it was already too late. A large hand covered in blue and white fur quickly emerges from the hole, grabbing the boy before he can move even one step away. Dragging him below, the boy's screams are cut off by a sickening crunch. The sounds of crunching and slurping echoed off the walls for a few minutes before the area settled back into a muted silence.
Dear god, I kind of knew what to expect, but that was still disgusting... With that said, I do have to thank the boy, since I now know how to get the key. Which I assume will be necessary to proceed forward. Unless that is also a trap...
A few minutes later I can hear the creature snoring again.
I was never all that great at Puzzles. Hopefully they're all solvable puzzles. If this area and everything going forward is like the door, where I need to sacrifice something to go forward, then my Lord will have no choice but to pull me out of here until I can form a party to tackle this place with others. Can't say I'm all that excited at the idea of meeting people who would want to come to this place, but I'm in no position to talk.
I've never heard of a Demon who loves puzzles before though... My Lord, what type of Demon is it?
The medallion hums.
Unknown.
Even you don't know? Yet you do know it's a Demon... What a strange situation. Oh, hang on... Puzzles? The door, it... Shit, I think I know how I was supposed to solve that. There were multiple fingers behind me in the bushes, weren't there? I may get a chance to test that if I fail before passing through the first area. I really hope I don't though.
Sneaking through the bushes towards the right door, I realize about twenty feet out that the door doesn't have a handle.
It only opens from one side? I didn't look at the door I came in through, could that also...?
Sneaking back the other way, I find that my door is indeed barren as well.
The hell does that key go to then? Also, I'm worried that cutting the string will ring the bell down there regardless. Isn't it going to be yanked when the key isn't holding it down? Possibly that's what the orb is there for, but it would need to be a rather long string to tie to an orb...
Moving ever so slowly, I make my way up to the center of the room, pivoting around the hole towards the podium. Something feels very wrong as I look down at the lid.
The boy... He didn't put the lid back. I remember it falling to the ground when the monster grabbed him. How did it get back to the table?
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I reach out towards the lid.
Shit, it doesn't matter how long I live, situations like this are hard to handle. It might even be worse because of what I am. Only my Lord knows how many times I've died up to this point. I lost count ages ago...
Lifting the lid, I see the same orb and key as last time. The orb is a plain-looking white sphere, while the key is in the shape of a skeleton.
A skeleton key? I severely doubt this key is going to open every single door I come across. I think the Demon merely loves this aesthetic, seeing as how I've come across it twice already in such a short amount of time.
Putting the lid on the ground, I slightly lift the key to take a look at the string. Turns out the 'string' isn't physical in nature at all, but a connection made of ether.
Whether an ability or magic, I assume this is something anyone can touch. Otherwise the 'puzzle' is meaningless if only those versed in this particular spell can touch it.
Using the thumb on my now fingerless hand, I clamp down on the ether hard and pull it off the key. The hardened ether comes off the key slowly as if it were tape. Once the key is completely free, I lay it down and pick up the orb, moving it over to where the key was. My hands begin shaking as I attach the string of ether to the bottom of it.
Please... Please don't ring.
Attempting to steady myself, I shakily lower the orb to where the key was previously. As it reaches the table, I pull back and listen for the inevitable ring... But nothing comes.
Thank the Lord that it worked... Simple enough, but still nerve-wracking.
Looking around, the only thing I haven't checked is the door that was opposite of where I came in.
I don't see a handle, but I think there is something else there... Hard to tell at this distance.
Crouching back down, I make my way over to the door. On approach, I do in fact see a keyhole, but nothing else. As the key nears the hole, it's sucked in up to the tip, turning sideways all on its own. The door ever so slowly begins opening, making the loudest creaking noise I've ever heard. Glancing back as a precaution, my heart almost stops as I see the monster's head peeking up above the hole. Only its claws, ears, and beady black eyes can be seen. It doesn't move an inch as it stares at me. The time it took for the door to open enough for me to squeeze through felt like ages. Before I could take stock of the new room, the key fell out of the hole and the door slammed shut.
M-My Lord, you've had many branded over the years. Do any of them ever learn to fight back the fear? I don't mean powering through it, that is something I learned long ago. I mean being able to negate it entirely.
None. You are human.
I see... Thank you, my Lord. Honestly, the idea of going through rooms like the previous one over and over is doing quite a lot of damage to my morale. It is my last mission though. One more and it's finally all over... I'll be able to join my comrades in death soon enough.
The room I'm in now appears to be rather basic. Three massive doors, almost thirty meters in height, with the width being closer to ten meters. Next to each of them is a stone plate that has art etched into it.
Bowl, Sword, and Spear...? What does any of this mean? I can understand if there is context nearby to make sense of these illustrations, but no matter where I look, there is nothing else. Although I do feel like I saw the bowl image somewhere... Was it in the previous room? Shit, if the answer to this is in the previous room, then all I can do at this point is guess... Lesson learned, now I know to scour every room before I leave for any extra clues that might be needed going forward.
I sighed as I walked up to the door with a sword drawn next to it. This time the key wasn't sucked in, I had to unlock it the normal way. Once the key fully turned right, the massive doors opened on their own, revealing a pure white space. The medallion hummed before I could move.
Careful. Teleportation.
Teleportation... So walking through there is going to warp me somewhere else? Definitely more dangerous than being able to see what's in the next room before moving forward.
I enhanced myself as a precaution as I walked into the white space. A new scene unfolds in front of me almost immediately. I hit the ground hoping to hide myself, but it was for naught. A monster as tall as the doors I just went through, picked me up and slammed me down onto the ground. Shockingly I was still conscious, most likely thanks to the enhancements, but the hit itself went through most of my defenses and drained a large chunk of my mana. Over and over the creature smashed me into the ground, breaking my arms, legs, ribs, spine, and finally my skull. The next thing I knew I was in front of the skeleton gate again, gasping for breath.
F-Fuck... There's no way... There's just no way that's the correct door... Some mistakes are inevitable given the nature of this mission, but I don't think I've ever had a mission that hurt me this badly that fast. This damned phantom pain hurts so much! It's going to take forever to go away too...
Glancing down at the medallion, I see it's now around sixty percent full.
The door is locked again sadly. It was to be expected though, as time in this area has been reset to the last time I was here. But if I look on the bright side, I'm gonna get the chance to test my theory involving the monsters...