We find a wooden door at the end of the treacherous forest path. If not for the guide, who genuflected and politely opened it for me, I wouldn’t have known of its existence.

“Please, this way.”

“...right.” I nod.

‘Why so much secretism and mysticism? I don’t think there’s any need to hide the entrance… After all, nobody else would ever want to come here.’

I follow the guide inside the passage, and the door closes behind me as soon as I step inside.

I gulp. There’s no way back now.

*Fwoosh!*

The sound of a fire being ignited surprises me, making me jump. Ah, it’s just a torch… Then, following the first, several torches light up, showing a path in this dark cave.

I’ve seen this a lot in movies and films; every time I see it, it looks majestic. But for some reason, I can only think of it as creepy.

“Follow after me, sir.” My guide turns around, staring directly into my eyes. I shudder at the glint in his eyes. “Otherwise, you might get lost.”

“...Sure.”

We continue.

A short time later, I can feel the moisture stick to my skin, and a weird smell fills my nostrils. What could this smell be…? I think it’s better if I don’t ask. The less I know, the better.

‘Calm down, me. We’ll soon finish this and I’ll go back home and forget about everything that happened today…’

This is what I thought at the beginning, expecting this path to lead to our destination. But belying my expectations, the path soon splits into two. The guide mutters something to himself and takes the right path.

‘Hmm? Is there something else in this place…?’ Curious, I try to peak at the other passage, but I see nothing other than torches and the same stone walls. ‘...maybe not?’

From this point on, the path divides a lot more times. We turn left, right, go up and down… I could swear we passed through the same place thrice… Not all the passages are illuminated, either. Most of them have torches, but some don’t, forcing us to put a hand on the wall to not get lost.

Meanwhile, my guide keeps murmuring to himself, reciting something all the time. From time to time, he screams and hits the wall with his head before apologizing.

Scared, I decide to stay quiet and feign indifference.

My eyes start spinning after so much turning around. After a certain point, everything ends up looking the same.

‘Again, why so much secretism? Nobody except for them would ever want to come here…’

It takes a while, but the path starts getting wider and taller. It seems we’re finally reaching our destination.

Then, after one last turn, a black door appears in front of us. I say a door, but it’s so huge it can’t be called as ‘a door’ at all. At least ten meters tall, and five wide.

“Wow…” I exclaim.

The first impression is so big that I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. As we get closer, the awe only increases. So much detail! Every part of this pitch-black door is engraved with drawings and something that looks like letters.

As if hypnotized, I can’t stop myself from getting closer. I caress the engravings, trying to understand what they represent. But as if repelled by some mysterious force, I can’t concentrate on them. As soon as my eyes land on one of the drawings, a headache overcomes me and my vision turns black.

‘Is this… the entrance to hell?’ I think while touching it. ‘Well, for me, it might as well be.’

*Khm!* The guide makes a fake cough to get my attention. “Are you ready?”

Thanks to him, I snap out of my thoughts and recover my majestic posture before nodding.

“Yes, let’s proceed.” I convince myself that I have to do this once again.

Now that I’ve recovered my normal state of mind, I notice the melody coming from the other side of the dark door. It’s low, barely audible. It’s a fascinating melody, formed by multiple voices. They entwine and change drawing you in, digging into your brain. But, at the same time, it feels disgusting… nauseating.

With metallic grinding noises, the door opens and the dark melody inundates our surroundings.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I hold my breath at the scene on the other side.

“This… this…” My eyes spin around. “Do I really have to do this…?” I stumble inside, trying to capture everything.

Wide, tall columns, reaching to the sky.

Hundreds of hooded figures, kneeling and chanting. They’re split into two groups, leaving a passage in between so we can walk through them.

At the front, twelve more figures in a line, standing proudly on the altar.

Thousands of candles are everywhere, illuminating the dark cathedral with their scintillating flames.

From above, the moonlight passes through the glass panels, focusing the rays on the most relevant element of the whole scene, the thing that draws my eyes and from which I can’t look away.

A colossal statue, sitting behind the twelve hooded figures on the altar. A colossal statue of a deformed humanoid with a rat’s face, laughing maniacally while manipulating lightning.

“Oh my god… I want to die in shame…” I mutter, in the lowest voice possible. I don’t want to die yet, so it’s for my good that nobody present hears what I’m saying. “...I don’t want to be here…”

Trembling, but hiding it as best as I can, I walk to the altar, escorted by my guide. I can feel the eyes of everyone on me, crawling on my skin, inspecting my every move with fervorous devotion.

‘Keep calm… Keep calm… This’ll soon end, and I’ll be able to forget about everything…’

Mental note to my future self: never do anything without thinking about the consequences again, or I’ll kill you.

I force my right foot to advance. Then, the left. With every step, I feel as if I’m digging my own grave.

Cold sweat covers my whole body, or it would if this wasn’t a game. I can feel shivers running down my spine. In fact, I can feel them running all over my body.

It seems as if I’ve been walking for ages, but I’ve only covered half the distance. From here, I can now read the text below my statue. I thought it was some pedestal, but it turns out it has text too. It reads:

[All Shall Despair! Fufufu! Hahaha!]

‘I never said this! How dare they put this on my statue!?’

Well, there’s no use arguing with madmen… If I say anything now, I’ll make them explode. Forget about living a ‘normal’ life, if I anger them with my words, I might not have any more ‘life’ at all.

Come on, Andreu. Just a few more steps. A few more steps, then you say something stupid and then you can go home. You’re almost there!

‘Sigh… I want to go home… I don’t want to do this…’

Finally, I reach the altar, where the Leader is eagerly waiting for me. I can see the excitement in his eyes, and the undeniable craziness too.

I dreaded the walk with everyone staring at me, but at the same time, I didn’t want it to end. Because now comes the worst part.

The Leader raises his arms and all the chants stop immediately.

“All Shall Despair!”

“ALL SHALL DESPAIR!”

He shouts, and everyone present, except for me, repeats his words.

“Oh, Great Mad Rat, we’re honored to have you here today with us…”

Somebody.

Anybody.

Please… save me.

----------------------------------------

“Aah, I’m so excited!” As I prepare everything I need to play DMA, I keep talking to myself. “Today’s Thursday, and as every Thursday, we’re delving into a new dungeon! What dungeon will we visit today?”

I’m so happy I switched schools! I met my two best friends there, and now I can play every week with them.

“Dungeon Invasions are so much better with friends!”

I quickly put my helmet on and start DMA. Today is going to be so much fun!

As soon as the teleportation lights disperse, I turn to Matta and ask what’s been on my mind.

“The Mad Rat’s Lab…? Hey, Matta! Is this the dungeon you were talking about? The one everyone was talking about this weekend?”

“Of course it is,” he answers, “I’ll never make a mistake with this. Who did you take me for? I’m the king of pranks, but I’ll never lie to my friends. Hihihi!” He hides his face as he laughs.

He likes to play as a goblin, and he also calls himself the king of pranks, but he’s a nice guy. I asked him why he always played with a goblin instead of using a stronger champion, but he answered that he liked the extra challenge; that a goblin fits his playstyle the most.

So he created a short, chubby goblin that likes hiding and ambushing his enemies. Though he isn’t using the basic goblin either, so his Champion isn’t that weak.

Matta usually works as our scout and is the one who always chooses the dungeons.

Don’t ask me why he’s called like this. Everybody called him Matta when I met him for the first time, and he never told me why.

“Don’t be a bother to us again, ok?” I joke, grabbing his flabby belly. “Last time, you didn’t fit the hole and we had a hard time pushing you in…”

“Hey!” He complains. “Leave my belly alone! Go buy one for yourself if you want one!” He slaps my hand away. “Got a problem with me being fat? And we wasted more time waiting for you to recover your MP!”

It’s true that, with my dragonborn, I always overuse my dragon’s breath and end up running out of MP.

But it’s so fun to spew out fire!

“Ahahaha…” I scratch my cheek. “You’re right… But look at this. Wooob, wooob! It’s like a tsunami!”

We joke and play around for a while until our friend decides to intervene. She pulls us apart and makes an angry face.

“When will you two grow up? Stop acting like little kids!”

“Eeeh? But you’re the one who looks like a kid, Berta.” I poke her cheek. “Even Matta’s goblin looks like an adult compared to yours!”

Her fairy Champion doesn’t look like an adult at all.

*Chomp!* She bites my finger.

“Auch! It hurts!” So this is how she’s going to act, huh? “I’m sorry, mommy,” I apologize, mocking her. “I didn’t take you for an adult because you look like a chopping board… Hahaha!” I start running away.

“Chopping board!? Come here, Carles. I’m going to kill you!”

She starts flying after me.

“Hahaha, you aren’t fast enough! You’ll never catch me!”

[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“Everybody has some dark history they want to forget about. What happened that day was part of mine.”