You would think that going after the guy who most likely killed my brother would be motivating. It was actually the opposite. I have a family that needs me, and the idea of going into the lair of a mass murderer had no appeal. What finally convinced me was the thought that we could slow down his murderous rampage, or at least make it less enticing for him. If we stole the trip lever, his armor could no longer absorb the experience from dead users. I felt a moral obligation to slow him down from killing others and getting more powerful, hopefully giving someone with a good heart a chance to win this messed-up game. Someone with a good heart who would bring us all back. Or at least the ones trapped.

The toilet swirled. The water moved more and more rapidly, splashing out until it swirled a few feet above the toilet, something unseen keeping the water contained. The center of the swirl opened, revealing a dark hole at the bottom.

“As my current form makes handling things difficult with the whole no appendages thing, I command you to do the retrieval for me. I will, of course, allow you to be in my presence while we are there,” Stercus said.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said. “Wait, what do I do?”

“You just jump in. The tunnel will do the rest. We will sneak up to this William fellow, take my trip lever, and return to finish this trial.”

I nodded. Stercus was putting on a brave front, but I could tell they were anxious.

“Ready?” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Enter!” Stercus bellowed.

I jumped headfirst into the torrent of water. I could hear Stercus speaking as I was sucked in, something about how I was supposed to go feet first.

The next thing I knew, my head crashed into hard, cold tile. I held in any noise trying to escape. I sat up, feeling my face. It was wet with blood and already starting to feel puffy. I saw that I had taken 1HP of damage, so I popped one of the healing pills.

It was dark, almost pitch dark. Twilight-like light was coming from the open door. My eyes adjusted, and I saw I was in what looked like a prison bathroom. The toilet reminded me of what I had seen in TV shows and movies, with the metal toilet and metal sink combo.

The water was spinning like it was in the spaceship bathroom we had come from, but in the opposite direction. Luckily, it was completely silent. As I stared, Stercus flew out from the toilet portal high into the air, then fluffed out his form, allowing him to float slowly to the ground, landing gracefully.

“Why are you sitting on the floor?” they whispered.

“Had a rough landing,” I replied quietly.

“Didn’t I tell you to go feet first?”

“You might’ve left that part out.”

“Well, ask better questions, my boy.”

I got up and tiptoed to the doorframe. I could see there was another door to the left, and I peeked my head around to the right. I jumped in shock, seeing what my brain finally realized was just a statue. It looked familiar. It was a large statue of a goat figure holding up a finger and thumb like doing a finger gun to the sky. It had that five-pointed devil star thing on its forehead, with large horns going high. Moonlight was spilling in from a large stained-glass window, the same devil star taking up the stained-glass decor.

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There was an altar in front of the goat statue, blood covering it and the floor. We were in a short hallway that had two doors: one to the bathroom we were just in and the other unknown. The unknown door had a pair of boots that left a trail of blood towards the altar. We walked down the hall, following the blood boot trail. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a naked middle-aged woman on the altar, a large knife in her general heart area. She had one leg draped over the side, unmoving. She didn’t seem frozen like the other dead people I had seen before on Level 1. She looked dead, dead, not frozen.

This place was literal hell. It looked like a sacrificial chamber to some evil god. Or the devil himself. Color was hard to discern with the faint light and stained glass diffusion, but everything was either stone or red either by design or by blood. I walked down the center. There were pews on either side and a stretch of red carpet leading to the statue and altar. As I got closer, I felt my boots squish into the carpet. Looking down I saw the carpet was soaked in blood. I stopped close enough to see the cross next to the woman.

Nanie Doss

Fort Collins, Colorado

Sacrificed by William Hunter

I looked around and didn’t see another door connected to this fucked up chamber room. I knew he had to be where the shoes were. I didn’t even know why I had bothered to come over here.

We walked back to the short hallway, and I stood in front of the door. My heart was beating so loud I was worried he could hear me coming.

“Get on with it,” Stercus whispered next to me.

I hadn’t realized I had been stuck for so long. I slowly turned the door handle, a small squeak sounding out. I paused, waiting to see if there was any sound of movement on the other side. I didn’t hear any, so I continued to turn the handle until it was all the way. I slowly pushed the door open, taking a peek through the slit. It looked like a vampire’s bedroom, just without the coffin, or maybe it looked like Lucifer’s childhood room. Yeah, that was it. There was a large, ornate four-post bed with another giant stained glass window behind the bed with the devil star. All the walls were painted crimson, with tapestries hanging that didn’t depict anything nice.

I opened up the door wide enough for me to get through. My heart was thumping so loud. If William woke up, we would both be done for. Well, maybe Stercus could make it out of here while William was slaughtering me. That was something he would probably do without a second thought if it wasn’t for that toilet guy saying he would die if I died.

I slowly walked towards the bed the toilet roll holder in hand. He looked peaceful, a seemingly innocent old man lying in bed. My innocent description went away when I saw his glasses resting on a small nightstand. A nightstand made of bones. Just the tops of his armor could be seen the rest under the blanket. Lucky for me, the bastard was sleeping in his armor. I was really hoping he had it draped over a chair.

I looked back to see Stercus waiting by the door. I didn’t need its help right now, I guess, but the bastard looked like they were going to bolt at any moment. I put my attention back on William, who was slowly getting closer. He moved, and I ducked down lower than the mattress. He made some sleep grunts, and then he was still. After a moment, I got back to my feet and stood over him again.

He was now laying on his stomach, his face facing mine. I could see about a foot of armor not covered by bedding. I reached over and pressed the toilet roll holder down on the armor below his neck. I pressed the holder all the way down until it was fully pressed. I heard a click from his armor from down below under the sheets.

“Shit,” I mouthed.

It sounded like it worked, but now the trip lever was somewhere under the covers. I went to the bottom of the bed and started lifting the covers up and peeling them back. I wished in that moment that I could use my Light Orb spell as it was intended. I couldn’t see a damn thing. I peeled the covers back further and further until I was past his waist. It smelled like old people farts, but I pushed through the smell. There it was, glinting off the dim light. It was a standard lever that you would press on a toilet. As I went to grab it, he started to move. I looked up to see William blinking his eyes open, now staring at me. I grabbed for the trip lever clutching it in my hand.

“What the hell?” William exclaimed behind me in shock.

I turned and started to make a run for it as I placed the trip lever into my inventory.

In front of me, the orcs started to materialize in the shadows. I pushed through but one fully materialized in my path and our shoulders collided, my low strength sending me spinning to the ground. Another orc grabbed me by my throat, picking me up and held me, a few inches off the ground. I lifted my hand to send out a Light Orb, but another orc came in front and grabbed my wrists. The orc twisted until my wrists broke. I cried out, a choked cry.

Fuck. I was going to die.