I touched the exit sign.
—----------------------------
There were too many people and they weren't going to move. The crowd kept moving through the street, pushing themselves past me. No way around, no chance to squeeze through. Just an endless swarm of human bodies trapped between tall buildings. I felt a growing panic building within. I needed to get out, somewhere quieter.
"Excuse me! Just trying to—" I tried to say, but it caught in my throat. They didn't notice, or were pretending not to, swallowed by the flow of the crowd. It wasn't that strange – everyone had been on edge after 'Initialization,' that's just how it was these days...but this? This wasn't normal. Why were they all in one place?
An opening! Maybe I could slip down that small side street? Hope faded just as quickly. Dead end. A brick wall with the faint scent of urine. Lovely. Panic began to bubble. My vision narrowed, breath rasping in my throat.
Just then, a scream from within the crowd. Not just any scream, a panicked yell I recognized.
"Jason!" Alice? Why was she calling my name? The crowd lurched like a disturbed ant colony. That didn't sound good. Someone shoved me hard, I lost my balance and stumbled into the alley.
Alice. It was definitely Alice, being swallowed by the human swarm. She looked terrified, and then she wasn't there anymore. Gone like a dropped stone. Was I really seeing this? My head ached with a pressure beyond a typical migraine. It hurt to focus.
I blinked, hard. And the world flickered.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
—----------------------------
There I was, back in that blasted grey room. Why they thought making their 'tutorial' rooms so hideous was beyond me, but the point was moot. Exit sign…same as always. I walked over and braced myself for another round.
—----------------------------
The first floor, huh? A repeat, then. Was this some glitch? Had they messed it up? No time to ponder that now.
"Floor one. Reward: 30 credits. Starting in one minute."
No goblin this time. A flickering of white light near me formed a creature—it looked like a skeleton. Rattling bones, no skin. Holding a sword? Well, at least this is better than an angry mob for sure.
"Started."
I had a good few seconds before the skeleton moved. Unlike with the goblin, a surprise attack would likely not be successful. The skeleton held its sword pointed at me. There wasn't any reason to stand around. Taking a deep breath, I rushed straight at it and aimed a kick at its legs.
Snap. Bone fragments, and then there was just me standing amongst the remains. Okay, that was easier than anticipated. And far less messy. Another set of credit cards emerged on the ground. Exit sign appeared. You know the drill at this point.
—----------------------------
Yet again, my journey ended and was repeated. This time, a creature emerged that could only be described as a mutated dog. Two heads, massive. That meant double the jaws, which sounded bad for me. Though with all these repetitions, I was actually feeling quite confident. My attacks seemed stronger, I moved faster. Another swift victory was followed by reward, exit, room of doom, all that fun stuff.
And when the next floor's creature started appearing— a weird winged lizard thing? — all I could think was, damn, my kicks really got a buff at some point.
This endless cycle was wrong. Something had gone awry with the Initialization. But with each repeat, an odd clarity filled me. It wasn't that things started making more sense, but there was an intuition... a whisper at the edge of my awareness, leading me towards some unknown goal. And somehow, with each victory, each new room of doom, this quiet whispering got louder.
What was the secret hidden in these meaningless fights? The system was fractured, but my purpose was...what exactly?
Let the wheel spin again.