Even fools know men can be overcome by an evident urge to change in the darkness of life

But such a change might just as easily break a man, as it might aid him, for it is all a matter of how strong the metal is that makes his character, and how little distaste fortune has for him. It is especially true when such a change draws him to the midst of battle.

“These damn rats give no essence. I can’t do this anymore. I’m not going to be white rank for the rest of my life,” Camis said and banged his fist against the old table littered with scars. “We’re monstrus, but soon they’ll be calling us rat killers. We’re supposed to be slaying ogres and eating lions, not this. We need to step our game up Baar.”

Aside from Baar’s sigh, Camis heard the babble of the fifteen some monstrus sitting around the room, waiting for the time of day when their selected targets came out. Words such as jaw and bastard and fiend were thrown around in all the conversations. One table not too far toasted over slaying a lich whilst another discussed the intricacies of goblin killing.

The loudest voice came from the counter, from a boy the same age as Camis, trying to accept an orange ranked mission despite only being yellow ranked. With a kind smile on her face, the clerk told him that rules were rules, and left out that he could still do the mission, just not get paid for it. Behind him stood a party of orange ranks, and they held a mission asking for yellow ranks.

“I’ve already told you, slow and steady wins the race,” Baar said. “We’ll get there soon enough. And yeah, maybe its not a lot of essence, but you feel the difference. Soon we can start killing the bigger rodents and then things’ll go faster. No need to put our lives on the line.”

At the last word, Baar glanced up from the thick book leaning against the edge of the table. If Camis could read more than a couple of common words, he’d recognize the title engraved bodly on the cover as Positioning for Simpletons.

Camis fiercely pushed the air out of his nostrils and leaned back, placing his hands on the back of his head. Baar’s face was hard to stay mad at. His lips were completely flat, and behind his ragged glasses, a fancy invention from the south that had spread like fire, his eyes were focused and calm.

“Of course there’s a need to put our lives on the line! Look at the other people our age. It won’t be long before they’re much stronger! Jameson’s group has already reached yellow and they’re just nineteen. We’ll have gray hair by that time, gray hair!”

“And they paid for it dearly with the death of one of their members.“

A black cat jumped up on the table without making it shake. Old Miss Bella had been here ever since Camis joined, and most everybody loved her. She sat there for what felt like a minute, simply staring at the chandeliers on the roof, littered with small candles giving off a warm, yellow light, and made it very difficult for Camis and Baar to argue.

After her interest with the chandeliers faded, she looked over at Camis, and stared for a few seconds more, she saw a young face with large brown eyes that sparkled with youth and ambition. But she saw something else in those eyes, something more rare and powerful. The cat purred and jumped over Camis, eager to annoy the other monstrus.

“But that was so long ago. Who cares?”

“Camis!” Baar barked and widened his eyes.

“But you can’t still be so emotional over that. Let’s face it, he died because he didn’t have the skills. He was sloppy and slow, and you know that’s the truth. That’s why he died, and we’re not like that. You can cast three spells, and my daggers feel faster than lightning. I’m telling you, we’ve got what it takes.”

“How dare you insult my brother you… moron! And even at the age of fifteen he was a rogue far better than you. But if you’re so insistent on dying, then go ahead. Maybe you’ll have more whit as a pile of bones.”

“Baar, relax. I didn’t mean it like that, come on.”

As a child Camis would regularly be seen with a black eye or a cracked lip whilst Baar’s borrowed glasses always sat neatly on his nose. He never raised his voice but on a few occasions, but there was one topic which never failed to bring it out of him. Baar stood up, red in the face, pushing the chair back with a loud screech, and grabbed his staff, stomping out of the room.

Camis sighed and fell back into his creaking chair. This wasn't supposed to go like this, Camis thought. Of everything I could have said, of course I went there. Sometimes I just want to cut my tongue off and be done with it.

Grief welled up inside him. His palms smudged his eyes and forehead. Catching the eye of the waitress, he signalled her over and ordered a big glass of the cheapest alcohol. Looking down into his pouch, he saw a few coppery coins. After this there’d be nothing, but at least it would calm down the horrible feeling in his chest.

The monster mercenary guild wasn’t a very fancy establishment. Take a large cube of stone, dig out the inside, burrow a hole large enough to fit two men tall and three men wide, and put a swinging oak door, burrow three smaller holes to the side of the door fill them with dirty windows and red drapes, and don’t forget the sign above the door detailing a horned human skull, and there is the average monster mercenary guild hall.

Inside, a couple of chairs with part curious, part insane, and part traumatized men, women, one elf and other accepted reasonable creatures sat, and at the opposite corner of the door stood a round counter protected by a magical barrier, not letting anything past it, with a hole in there for papers and payment.

Precisely ahead of the door, a board filled with posters of wanted monsters, which any monster would gain after killing five monstrus, and to the side there was a variety of small papers detailing different missions that the citizens wanted done. They were seperated by rank through height, and there wasn't a single black or brown ranked mission here, as there wasn't a black or brown ranked monstrus in this establishment, supposed the clerks.

When Camis had drunk three quarters of the cup as large as his head, a large hand patted his back with too much force to be a friend. The chair beside him, and the other chairs at the table were pulled back, and Camis looked up. He saw four people, two warriors, a mage, and a healer. These were faces that Baar hated.

“I see that you’re sitting alone,” Jameson said as he leaned his spear against the table, “how so?”

“None of your fucking business is how so,” Camis said.

“None of my fucking business, huh,” Jameson said and his tone grew darker. He stood up. “Want to say that again?”

The first time Camis entered the town’s monster mercenary guild, the smell made him retch. It was a room filled with blood stained swords, sweaty people, and the strong pungent smell of alcohol as well as other stronger drugs. But now, he’d gotten used to it, and the smell was almost pleasant.

“None. Of. Your. Fucking. Business,” Camis said, standing up and pressing his forehead against Jameson which he only reached because Jameson’s back was arched.

Jameson broke into laughter, and a few seconds later the other three people joined in. “I’m just messing with you Camis, relax will you buddy.” He patted Camis’s shoulder and sat down.

Camis fell down on his chair a few seconds after. He had ordered a drink, and he was going to finish it. Then he’d leave.

“Lisa, you want to explain to dear Camis why we’re sitting here.”

“Ughh, fine,” Lisa said, and Camis swung his head over to look at her. A short girl with very little clothing that cost more than all of Camis’s clothes combined. Beside her was an expensive staff almost twice as long as her.

Her nose was short. Her mouth was little. Her eyes wide apart. Freckles on her nose. Her ears were tiny, but her head was a large one .

Lisa’s head was the size of a heavy watermelon, and all of her features were tiny. Her nose barely the size of an acorn, her mouth and thin lips nothing more than a tiny detail, her ears hung off the side of her head like flat pebbles, But her hair, which was the color of the sun on a happy day and formed into a ponytail, reached her waist.

“One of my father’s friends' carriages was raided by skeletons. We think (she said this word in the most condescending way Camis could think off) that they’re keeping the loot at the castle that popped up out of nowhere. And we’re going to raid it.”

Castles popping out of seemingly nowhere wasn’t a very uncommon occurrence. Sometimes Camis spotted a floating caste far in the distance, or a peculiar tree or a gape hole for no reason. These changes became a matter of interest for monstrus of all ranks immediately, as they usually brought something else with them, and loot. Always loot.

“Exactly,” Jameson said, “and we want you to tag along. You’ll get the standard share of course, which could be a dozen gold coins. You wouldn’t have to lift a finger for the rest of your life.”

For a white rank, gold coins were practically impossible to gain. Nobody would pay that much for a rookie, and the monsters white’s could slay never paid anything more than a couple of coppers.

“If I know merchants… then I know they never travel goods without a pack of monstrus to protect them. If even they can’t kill the skeletons, what makes you think we stand a chance?”

“You said he was clever,” Lisa snorted. “It’s true that there were monstrus, and they fought a long and hard battle, almost depleting the skeleton’s forces. They are probably crippled right now, hiding in the little fort. It’s free loot.”

“This would certainly elevate you to yellow rank,” Jameson said, glancing at the white dog tag hanging off his neck.

Camis emptied the mug, and the bad feeling from before was all but gone. He scrunched his eyes, and tried to think critically but there was a fog in his brain hindering him. It was true, this would give him a yellow rank, and the coins were nice too.

“Hmmm, what’s your plan?”

“We’ll head over there now in daylight, kill the skeletons, take the loot, and head back before the moon’s out. Easy as that.”

Something in Camis told him that this was wrong, but if he rejected this offer then he’d go back to killing rats. That was something he didn’t want. A few days ago he’d felt himself getting used to the whole act. It scared him more than anything else. He feared being known as a rat killer, or worse, the rat killer.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You know what… sure,” Camis said, “but only for this mission.”

Jameson’s face lit up in part surprise, part happiness. He quickly patted the back of Camis and ruffled his hair. Camis was too dizzy that the room had gone silent, and that there were even a few people snickering. But he did notice the eyes of Miss:Bella, and what seemed to be a smile.

“Good man,” Jameson said, “Good man.”

***

Camis grew bored. They’d been walking for three hours with nothing more interesting happening than the spell the healer cast to clear his mind up. When she had cast the spell, a flame spread through his mind, burning away the dizziness with pain that only grew worse, but it disappeared quickly.

He wished that Baar was here. Then he’d have somebody to talk to. All these people wanted to talk about was how annoying their previous party member had been, the one that had died. It left a bad taste in Camis’s mouth, and multiple times he found himself wondering if they liked each other.

The healer wasn’t too bad though. She was rather shy, and reserved but she seemed a whole lot more genuine than the rest. She’d talk about other things than how terribly annoying their previous teammate was. But he noticed something off about her. When he said something, her lips would briefly jerk upwards, before returning to their flat and dead form.

Over the leaves, a large tower made out of cut stone stuck out, the roof having walls on it dipping up and down. Camis kept an eye on it as they walked but saw no movement. As he walked under a tree, the branches and leaves covered the tower.

Camis felt as if a hole formed inside of his chest, that both sucked in air and shot out Lightning. He glanced at the party, and focused on the yellow dog tag jumping up and down with their steps. Then, he looked down at his dog tag and found himself lost in thought.

Around the purple rank things started to change. Guards no longer spoke with disrespect, and in their eyes a bit of fear and a lot of respect lied, for most of them at least. Some guards found the entire monstrus thing pathetic and thought that it was an easier version of their own jobs.

Jameson glanced back and caught the eye of Camis. He slowed down his pace a bit, until they were walking side by side. Without making eye contact, he spoke:

“What do you think about running?”

“It’s faster than walking,” Camis said.

“Running away from enemies in the middle of a fight, turning tail on your team and sprinting away. Would you ever do it?”

“No, I’d rather die than do that.”

The birds twittering and singing made most of the noise. They sat somewhere in the branches. Many different tunes and melodies played, varying drastically. There was one bird twittering with a voice deeper than Camis could muster, and one bird that’s twittering scratched his mind in a strange way.

“Good.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t make some sort of plan?” Camis said. “Going in there without one feels really stupid.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jameson said. “Just follow my lead and we'll be fine.”

Camis snickered, and the rest of the group was silent for a brief moment expecting some sort of response by Jameson, but he only smiled, until he didn’t. Before Camis knew it, a punch had struck him in the chin and made the world wobble. He fell down on his back.

Jameson sat down on his chest, and Camis saw his chest, chin and his wide eyes looking down. His face was entirely red, and his chest bobbed up and down. Another punch, and Camis heard his nose crack.

The other party members stood still and waited. Lisa sighed, and the other warrior picked his nose. They showed more interest in the clouds than to the sound of a nose breaking, grunting, and flesh beating flesh.

After about fifteen seconds, Camis’s face was a bloody mess and Jameson was heaving.

“Don’t you dare show me any fucking disrespect again,” he spat, “do you hear me!”

Camis spat his blood at him, and closed his eyes expecting another punch. The soft cackle came, which only grew louder and bolder, and soon the entire party was in on the laugh. Jameson got up and grabbed Camis’s arm, lifting him up.

“I’m just messing with you bud, hahaha, get him healed up, now,” he patted Camis’s back. “Ready up, the castle is right here.”

These people were strange, and Camis felt the urge to turn around and walk back to town, but would he be betraying them then? After All, he’d said that he’d do the quest and the castle was right here. Sure he’d gotten hit, but it was in the middle of getting healed and he’d get his revenge later, and he’d make it sweet.

The trees stopped forming a tree line, and ahead of them was a wall made out of large cut boulders, about twenty meters tall, with a large hole in it. Jameson took out his spear, and the other warrior unsheathed his sword, and they walked in there as if they owned the place.

Through the hole, a corridor descensended left and right. Where the corridor ended there was a large wooden door, leading to the upper part of the towers, and a bit further away there was another hole in the wall instead of a door.

Tiny holes littered both the outer and inner wall, letting in small blades of light. A few steps further, and the air stopped moving. The sound of breezes faded away. A feeling of wetness brushed up against his neck. And the warm air made the spit in his mouth feel larger.

The floor was of tiled stone with sharp pebbles of wall lying around everywhere, cracks running through a myriad of tiles. There was noticeably not enough dust for such an abandoned looking building, which spoke of its new nature.

A faint noise came from deeper in the castle. And whilst it disturbed Camis enough to stop and widen his eyes, the rest of the party discarded it as nothing but the wind. Camis couldn’t help but wonder if they were leaving him out on some sort of information.

The first skeleton they came by died quickly. Jameson spear piercing through the small little crystal which was its core. He grunted triumphantly as he did it.

This skeleton seemed to be of a goblins. It was short, and the bones were slightly tinted yellow. The rib cage was layered by many bones creating very thin spaces between them. Except for the core, there was nothing but bone on the skeleton, and it’s skull, particularly its eyes, were hollow with nothing there except darkness.

Camis clenched his daggers, and he could feel the rough leather dig into his palms. Real enemies, exactly what he wanted. His heart beat faster and he felt a smile form on his face. If only Baar could be here and share the essence.

They continued deeper, but for a minute Camis was transfixed by a hole in the inner wall. It was at eye height and he walked over to it and pressed his eye against it. He saw darkness, but something inside of him told him that he was missing something of importance.

Lisa told him to hurry up and he jogged to the rest of the group. They walked through the first doorway they saw. The door wasn't there, and it was simply a large hole in the wall. Jameson charged in first, but Camis noticed that his spear wasn’t held up straight.

It’s strange that the castle popped up already half broken, Camis thought. An abandoned castle right from the get go. But I guess then it wouldn’t be abandoned. Come on brain, that’s not important, focus will you.

Camis saw three wooden doors that had moss running through them. In the room, a couple of chess boards stood on tables with their pieces standing seemingly complex positions. The chess pieces were made out of marble.

Camis knew how to play chess, because Baar loved it. He wondered if he should bring one of the sets with him on the way back. The feeling of regret slowly edged back, and Camis jerked his focus back to the room.

No skeletons here.

Jameson kicked open the door leading inwards and wandered in. Camis began to think that Jameson was more brave than he’d given him credit. The party quickly followed after, but Camis didn’t fail to notice that the door drifted shut behind them.

This room was pitch black but for the lantern in the middle of the room. The healer cast some sort of spell which produced a ball of light. It was a spell all healing and support oriented monstrus knew.

When the room lit up, Camis saw two wooden fencing swords on the ground. But more importantly, there wasn’t a skeleton here. The other warrior walked over and grabbed the sword, swiftly pressing around. Swish, swish, swish.

He laughed and threw down the sword on the ground.

“Let’s go further, I think these skeletons are hiding from us,” Jameson said.

The door opened to the largest room in the entire castle. The throne room. Large pillars of stone stood in a column holding up the roof, and at the very back, hoisted up on a couple of stairs, was the throne. It was also empty, but a couple of meters ahead of it, there was a large hole.

The hole was strangely out of place. These buildings were usually quite odd, but, they came with reasonable expectations. The light from the ball lit up the edges of the hole, but the center of it was pitch black, giving off a vibe that it was endless. Camis couldn't help but grow a bit curious over what was in the hole, was it the treasure?

What happened next was so fast that Camis could barely react. The sound of air moving at a high speed came from above them. An ogre skeleton almost three meters tall landed beside Lisa, its sword cleaving her in half.

Her expression was still as her face split into two, guts, blood and brain falling out. Her body toppled to the floor. A pool of blood spread out across their feet, and the skeletons' attention shifted to the other four.

Camis shifted his legs, bringing his dagger upwards, and stood in front of the healer. He muttered to her that he’d protect her, and that she didn’t have to worry. She pushed him. And, ran towards one of the doors.

His leg fell forward, and he glanced upwards to see the meaty sword falling down towards him. He quickly stepped to the side, almost as a dance, and the sword swished past him. He’d tripped a lot in the sewers, and he’d learnt how to quickly gain his feeting again. He jumped backwards.

“You fucking traitor!”

He heard a shriek, and glanced backwards for the briefest of moments, to see that there was two skeletons with a sword and an axe, and that they were in a motion curving towards her neck. He looked back, and heard a wet splotch. The ball of light twitched, turning the room pitch black for a second, and then, noticably, it became dimmer.

The other warrior roared, and rushed away from the ogre skeleton, throwing his sword backwards to let him run away faster. Camis couldn't believe what he was seeing. Just as he reached the door on the other side, it swung open, another ogre skeleton peered out from behind the pillar, grabbing his head, and giving it a little pressure. His head blew up like a blueberry shattering against the teeth.

“Fuck. There's two of them. Jameson, we need to run, Camis said through clenched teeth. He felt energy the like of which he’d never felt before coursing through his body, and after about three seconds, a very long time in this state, his body felt something suspicious, and he glanced towards Jameson’s location only to spot an open door in the distance.

Camis walked in the direction furthest away from the two ogre skeletons, with the speed of a sprint. The ogre skeleton didn't let him get away, walking after him with the same speed. He heard swords and axes grating against the stone floor, and a faint cackle of bone hitting bone echoing around the walls. There was a leader here too. The ogre skeleton raised and swung the sword down. Camis jumped back, his shirt fell off, cut in two.

The ogre skeleton swung its sword again, and Camis jumped to the left, and thought that he had dodged it as he felt nothing. But his sight felt strange, and he realized that one of his daggers was missing. He looked to the left to see his arm on the ground, dagger still clenched, with blood shooting out.

He felt many things during that brief moment, but then it was all clear. He looked back at the ogre skeleton, and everything faded out but them. A smile came up on his face, and a side of him showed its face for the first time in years. That side of him that loved to pick fights with bigger kids.

“A pile of bones really does have more whit than me,” he chuckled, “but that doesn't matter anymore." He laughed loudly, defeaning the cackle, and he shouted: "Let's fight, bastaaaaard!"

He motioned his right foot behind him, to get a more stable position, but they never touched anything. And before he could make sense of it, his feet went lower and lower, tripping up his balance, and the rest of his body stumbled backwards. The hole he'd noticed before, it was here.

Everything was going so slowly, that he saw the ground in the side of his vision slowly rise, untill he couldn't see it anymore and instead saw the black wall of the hole. The faint trail of blood made a line as he ell, and the opening of the hole closed, and he was falling for fifteen seconds before everything went black.

***

He woke up to the pounding of his head. He was laying down on the flat floor, and saw the rough stone roof, with a hole in it about five meters away. Below him, there was stone tiles, and for a few seconds he didnt quite understand what happened or where he was.

And then, as he tried to grab his head with both of his arms, he noticed that one of them was missing, and everything came back to him. But before he any other thoughts could form, something very peculiar happened. A blue square popped up in his sight.

Welcome to the dungeon of the Game God!