Squinting my eyes as the daylight hits them, I adjust to the sudden brightness outside. We’re standing in a clearing in front of a cliff face, surrounded on all sides by a forest, different from the one inside the dungeon; it lacked any type of shrubbery but had large, dense trees. Taking a look behind me, I can see the open dungeon doors, with people coming out of it, as it stands at 3 metres tall.
Inscribed on the door is two packs of hounds mid fight, with a small three headed dog watching over them. Cerberus’s Pup, the guardian to this dungeon, and if defeated the dungeon will reward those that killed the guardian. At least this is what Alice taught me before we went inside yesterday, it may just be a rumour however. After all, no one has ever stepped past the forest inside, and the humans wouldn’t dare face the guardian since they might get hurt. Glancing once again at the door, I prompt the System to show me the dungeon’s information.
[Level 8 Dimensional Dungeon, Hounds Hell]
Turning around, I walked towards one of the carts and placed my sword and sack on it, as the other hybrids did the same. Taking a moment to relax, while awaiting the humans to command our next move, I notice Thomas, Number 9, staring at me in a strange way that gives me a chill down my spine. Tilting my head I stare back wondering if he wanted something. Looking away, he pretends to scratch his head instead and moves away from me. Shrugging, I look over my body checking my injuries.
Face pounding and numb from the kick I received earlier, I look down on my thin shirt that barely clings to me, covered in blood, dirt and sweat, with tears around my torso where I was scraped by the hounds, and bruising on my stomach from being hit by Gerald. I can barely tell what colour it was. My pants reaching down to my knees are in better condition, but still covered in an excessive amount of dirt and blood with only a few cuts. Not bothering to dust myself off, I pour some water on some of the worst injuries and dig some dirt out of the wounds. It’ll have to do as we’re not allowed to have medical supplies, my body should recover naturally but it’ll take some time.
“Numbers 8, 9, 32 and 14, you four will pull our cart. Numbers 41 and 19 will pull the equipment cart. The rest of you are to walk on either side to protect the carts from monsters!” Ryan, another human handler, shouts from a cart. Holding back a groan, I move over to the first cart that the humans are resting on. Standing next to Sally, I braced myself and lifted the handle with the rest and we started dragging the cart forward while slowly walking forward. With only 3 hours of daylight everyday, we could not afford to be slow in returning.
A trip like this will take us a bit over an hour, and any sign of slowing down will result in a whip being struck on us, followed by being killed if we are still slow afterwards. We continue forward into the forest, with those dense trees surrounding the path, this is the most dangerous part of the trip. During the day, monsters will usually be inactive, and at night they will roam around attacking anything, even each other. The forest is dangerous because monsters can still be active, so we move carefully but keep up a fast enough pace to make it through within twenty minutes.
We manage to get through the forest and into a simple grassland. From here, it’s straight to the City of Crater. Looking around, we see some monsters however they avoid our group, either out of disinterest or instinct, and we continue moving. As time passed, Crater slowly came into view. For some reason, monsters avoid this city and we’ve never known why, I doubt humans understand it either. Looking at the city, there is a badly damaged stone wall, beyond it lies the slums where hybrids are kept. There is no housing, there are some tents made from scrap cloth, otherwise we bundle up leaves or straw for beds on the ground.
Going past the slums are huge stone walls that are well maintained with guards patrolling on top of this wall. Past this wall is where the humans reside. Having never seen anything past this wall, I do not know what is beyond that point, nor how populated it is. At the far back, past all the buildings, there is a cliff face that reaches far into the sky, the only thing seen that high is the sky. According to Alice, there is a legend that says there is another world past the sky, however I think that’s impossible. If there was another world up there, we’d be forced to sacrifice ourselves for the humans to enjoy it.
Internally shaking my head at such a thought, I continue pushing the cart until we’re just outside the second wall. Dropping the bar of the handle from the cart and before I can relax, I feel a strong hand grip my hair and I’m yanked to the ground with my hair still tightly gripped. I haven’t seen who grabbed me but I know it’s Gerald. Being dragged through the dirt and lord knows what else, I try and breath, but end up with a mouth full of foul tasting dirt.
Struggling to get the dirt out, we go deeper into the slums, towards one of the few guarded buildings here. The place where we were bred, born and raised, and soon to be imprisoned here in isolation. There is a prison below the building, and while rarely used, it is kept stock with monsters that they starve, their purpose is to torture hybrids, as I’m about to experience.
Entering the building, Gerald drags me to the right and downstairs. After a long, painful and bumpy ride down the stairs, we arrive at the lowest floor, about twenty metres below the surface. I can already hear the sounds of monsters growling down here. The entire place is pitch black, with the only light being two torches at the entrance. Grabbing a torch with his free hands, Gerald continues dragging me forward, turning left and right randomly, and down more stairs. Reaching the lowest level I can make out a door. Dropping me, Gerald pushes the door open with some force, grabs me once again and throws me in.
Hitting the wall and then the ground, I groan from the pain of my wounds that have once again opened. Hearing metal hit the ground, I barely make out a canteen, and by the sounds of it, with barely any water inside. Looking up, I see Gerald in front of me. Without another word, he punches forward, striking my nose, sending my head smashing into the wall. Gasping, trying not to scream, I try to stand, glaring at this hateful hateful human, and wondering how he’d taste.
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Strange, why did I have that thought. I was thinking of killing him, not eating him. Stumbling forward, mood going from sheer anger to confusion, I land on my knees in front of him. Another kick from Gerald and I’m sent against the wall.
“Do try and survive, you'll be useful to me with a few more levels. Hopefully those monsters don’t get in or else haha!”
Closing the door with force, I’m left in complete darkness, with the sounds of monsters around me. I can hear them scraping on the wooden walls around me, attracted by the sounds of my heart beating and the smell of fresh blood seeping from my wounds. Carefully sitting up, I try to treat my wounds as carefully as possible, getting as much dirt out as possible and cleaning the worst ones with the little water I had. Closing my eyes, not knowing how long I’ll be down here, I try to rest.
[Sally’s PoV]
Lowering the handle, I let go of it and grab my knees, panting for air. Suddenly from my left, I hear a thud and see Alisha sprawled on the ground with her handler standing over her. Grabbing her hair, he purposefully drags her in the dirt away from the group. I hear the humans behind me laughing at Alisha’s pain.
Others may feel anger at that laughter, but I feel empty. Being around longer than most here, this was just how it was, Alisha was just another one of us to be treated like this, and she wouldn’t be the last one either. Showing any emotion, pain, anguish or responding to any taunts would just lead us to being tortured by the handlers that enjoy our pain. Prompting my status open, I see what the System displays.
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Sally
Monster/Human Hybrid (Monster Species: Unknown)
Level 8
Health: 900
Mana: 100 (Locked)
Experience: 800/900
Class: None
Class Level: Not Available
Experience: Ineligible
Skills: None
Magic: None
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Sighing, I close my status. My next dungeon will be my last, once we level to 9, we are killed by the humans for experience, or most likely to prevent us getting too strong to compete with them. I usually keep to myself so others won’t be emotionally attached to me for when I eventually die, I don’t have any friends to miss me or grieve for me. I know deep down I wish to experience what it feels like to have friends, to have memories that aren’t just doing the wishes of humans, and more than anything, have freedom to do things I want to. But I’ve lived long enough like this, some part of me welcomes the embrace of death, while the other part wants to survive…but I’ll never have that chance.
Following behind the group, we walk through the slums back to our so-called homes, along the self made paths. Along the way, we pass groups of hybrids gathered, mostly children but some in their teen years as well. Some of the children are weak, living off what scrapes we find or are given, if any at all, and most look malnourished. There were corpses of hybrids that were just laying there from the day, most were too weak to move them away from here. Some turned to look at us before looking away, while others either stared at us with an empty gaze or some, mainly children, looked at us with curiosity. The rest just ignored us completely.
Everyone here was younger than eighteen years of age as most are killed in dungeons either by monsters, humans or just outright executed the moment they reach level 9. Continuing on, I eventually get back to my bed, a bunch of straw on the ground, and tossing between the idea of sleeping or going to the river just outside the wall to wash myself, I decide on the latter, and continue down towards one of the holes in the wall, or as the humans explained “a defence point for you monsters”.
Getting through the hole and walking along the wall for a bit longer, I finally arrive at the river, looking around I see I’m the only one here. Some hybrids think this is a secret spot hidden away from the humans, but they know. They know and they take advantage of our ignorance, in turn for us bathing here, they will watch without us noticing. Feeling disgusted at the thought they would be watching, I take off the thin shirt and pants and look at my reflection in the river.
My usually silver hair, that matches my eyes, is completely stained with blood and dirt, while my body looks weak, like I haven’t eaten for weeks. There are scratch and bite marks all over my body, mixed in are scars. Three scratch marks run diagonally down my face, from my forehead, over my right eye and down to my lower left jaw. Thankfully it’s not deep enough to scar, but it stings.
Gently getting into the cold water, I do my best to wash the blood out of my hair, clean my wounds and wash the clothing I have. They are my only set left. If I am to die next time we go out, I want to at least be as clean as I can be. Not that it matters, but I want to look better than this. After cleaning myself with the cold water, I take a handful of what I hope is blood free water and drink. One of the only times I can drink my fill is when I’m here. Getting out, I put my soaking wet clothing back on and started slowly moving back to my bed. Even though I am wet, I am somewhat clean and will sleep well. Thinking of what Alisha is going through for a moment, I shake my head to get rid of those thoughts and head back to my bed to get a good sleep.
[Thomas’s PoV]
Watching the new girl, Alisha, be dragged away, I gulp down my excitement. Her first time in a dungeon and she’s already being punished. If I perform well in the next dungeon, maybe my handler will give her to me to torture, like the last girl he gave me as a reward. That fresh face, innocent eyes, I want them to myself, I want to experience the terror in her eyes as I take her as mine, the screaming from the first girl as I tortured her is my fondest memory, so was the taste of her flesh and blood as I devoured her afterwards. Males don't compare, they act all tough while I torture them. My handler, Ryan, will surely let me experience that again, I just need to win a favour from him.
Moving towards my tent, something I took from the pathetic hybrid that died in a dungeon, I change my clothes and eat some food I stashed away, another one of the rewards given to me from the previous outing. Sitting down and munching away, I can’t help but let my face curl up in an excited face daydreaming about obtaining Alisha.