The next time I woke up, I wasted no time and got to making something that could help me pry Door 2 out of its frame. Now that the hinges were gone, taking off the door would only involve brute strength using a crowbar-type object. I knew this because after peeking through where the door’s lock connects a rod of iron through the wall, it looks as if prying the door open with enough force would just allow the iron rod to break through the rock with minimal resistance. So luckily, it seems that I don’t have to worry about the lock and I would just be able to take off the door if my crowbar works without breaking

To improvise a crowbar for this situation, I decided to first check if any cell bars were loose and could come off, so I could use it as one. To my surprise, one of the cells had one of its bars barely in place towards the middle of the cell. I just pulled on it and it popped off.

I stood there dumbfounded. Umm, wh- what? I didn’t think this would actually work?! I burst out laughing at my good fortune, but quickly realized something I never really noticed as unusual before. In this particular cell, there was no skeleton. Before, I just thought this cell was skipped or something, but it seems that there was an escape from this dungeon once before.

Dang, I really can’t be the first for anything, can I? I thought, with a dash of dark humor, both happy that I wasn’t the only one that had to go through this situation and sad for the exact same reason.

Then, I noticed a slightly broken part of the wall about halfway up the cell, right behind the bar that popped off easily for me.

Oh, ho ho. I know exactly what happened here, I grinned, thinking about just what kind of badass they tried holding captive in this cell once. I mentally played out a picture of what happened.

This mysterious escaper jumped to the back wall, pushed off with as much force as possible -- which severely cracked the wall -- before slamming into the top of this bar, popping it right off its socket. Then, after putting the bar back into place, probably to throw off the Galamon, this escaper… probably somehow waited until the iron door was opened. I can’t think of a single way this person got through those doors from the inside, unless the door was unlocked or something. Clearly this person was strong enough to open the door in that case.

Curious, I went to go investigate Door 1. When I peeked through its side where the iron rod would connect the lock to the wall, I noticed that the rod seemed to be welded pretty much exactly where I was looking.

This all but confirms it! This escaper had some magic, energy, or power that result in cutting through a thick piece of iron. Wow, this guy is totally hero material, I thought.

Then I thought about myself. Haha, if I have a power it’s probably to be able to ingest old, rotten things without dying! After jabbing at my unpowered self, I thought of the statue. This escaper may have broken the statue out of spite before leaving or something. Totally something a hero would do in my mind, I thought. However, I knew I didn’t have it in me to destroy the other statue: actively destroying preserved history so flippantly like that would almost be worse than killing an innocent Galamon!

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Silently thanking this mysterious hero for making my life a lot easier in these trying times, I took the bottom of the bar and slammed it into the left of Door 2 where the hinges were before I took them off. This part of the bar was flat, supposedly due to the mysterious hero swinging down the bar from the top. Due to its flatness, I was able to fit it between the door and the frame. After pushing it in as far as I could to secure the bar from slipping out, I started heaving to the right.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

This action took me back to when I was getting out of my cell by pulling it apart. But back then, I was starving, therefore leaving me with little energy and little time before I died. Now, however, I have food, energy, and all the time in the world.

…

I started counting days by when I slept. Every time I woke up, I scratched a mark next to Door 1 and went to Door 2 to continue prying, before coming back near Door 1 to sleep again.

And so this continued for 16 days, and I knew it was working because the iron rod connector was slowly breaking the wall to the right while the thick iron door was slowly edging towards me from where I was prying it to the left.

Until finally…

I felt the door give way.

“YES!!!” I couldn’t help but yell excitedly, using my voice for the first time since I saw this dungeon. Ironic since I was about to leave it, but whatever. Then, I moved out of the way and the door slammed onto the ground, its iron rod falling with it, fully breaking the wall to the right of the door.

Unable to resist after so long and wanting so much to see a new sight, I looked through the doorway.

Darkness. Pure darkness. As if I didn’t have enough on my plate. I sighed. Not only did I have to navigate the pitch black darkness without any light source -- since the only light in the dungeon came from some lamps so high up I couldn’t even throw anything that high -- but I would have to make sure that I wasn’t caught escaping because that may lead to my death. I sure don’t think they would want to lock me in here again!

Since I was full of energy and wanted to leave as soon as possible, I checked to make sure I still have the weaponized sacks in each pocket before taking the bar as a weapon. I also made sure to take my lock-rock combination that helped me take off the hinges. Lastly, I also took the hinges, because why not? Then, I slowly made my way outside of the dungeon by leaving through Door 2, after a quick farewell to my forced home for the past month or so, probably.

I couldn’t forget the statue, though. “Goodbye, you son of a bitch. I will try my very best to kill some of your descendants about 5,000 years after you died,” I quipped, bonking it on the head with my bar before leaving the dungeon.

I used my bar as a sort of blind man’s stick and repeatedly tapped with it right in front where I was about to step. After walking a couple steps, I realized that I reached some stairs. So, I carefully made my way up these stairs, using my trusty stick to guide me. Slowly but surely, I stepped up the stairway, my legs burning in protest. But I went on. Some mind-numbing pain was but a small price to pay for freedom at this point.

After what felt like eons of walking up the stairway that I could only feel, I felt a blinding flash in my eyes as a very small amount of light made its way into them. My heart started pounding in excitement.

Freedom! Yes! I can feel it! I thought animatedly. I picked up the pace, as I was able to make out the stairway now, with the little bit of light that I had. Gradually, the light became brighter and brighter, before I stepped up as I have been for thousands of steps now… and fell flat on my face.

Goddamnit!!! I fumed. My legs got into such a habit of stepping upwards that they wouldn’t stop, until I fell. Unfortunately, my legs lost any adrenaline it had from my journey to the top of this near infinite stairway, and my entire body was aching all over from the intense cardio, and I immediately passed out seeing the light flowing to me through the space between the door and its frame just a few yards in front of me.