“You have a black eye, a hairline fracture in your jaw, three cracked ribs, and a broken arm. Tell me what happened?”
The doctor glared at him, but Gin knew how it went the first time he asked for help. It was the same reason he was in the emergency room. Gin met the eye of the doctor.
“I fell down the stairs.”
The doctor looked at the Orphanage caretaker. Then looked into Gin's eyes and sighed.
“Listen, if you ever want to talk or feel unsafe, come to me, Okay?”
Gin nodded and walked out of the office. The steady clack of the caretaker's heels followed behind him in a steady Tempo.
“Ginelle, Ginelle.”
The heels sped up, and her frail arms grabbed his shoulders.
“Gin.”
Her pale blue eyes met his Hazel Browns.
“ If you tell me which one of the kids did this to you, we’ll have to send him away, and you'll be safe.”
It was a lie. Gin had enough of other people’s help. He looked down at his busted arm and felt the headache from being punched in the face several times.
“I told you, I fell down the stairs.”
The Lady paused, and her eye twitched. Her innocent smile turned into a glare.
“Get in the truck.”
Gin turned down the street.
“I'll walk to the Orphanage.”
The Orphanage was five blocks away, and the school was two blocks away from the Orphanage.
The caretaker didn't care enough to protest. Her car followed with the E-lights on. Every day after school, Gin would walk by a particular gym to watch martial arts.
He’d imagine himself standing up to Bernard. Bernard was only thirteen, but he was six feet tall. There was a story that Bernard fought a teacher. It was unbelievable, but Gin was starting to believe it wasn't merely a story.
An old man sat outside a large grey building with a sign that said S.L.D Gym. Ray was always eating candy and drinking a warm cup of tea because he was an addict and the candy and tea reminded him that those days were behind him. His eyes landed on Gin’s arm. He frowned at Gin’s black eye, yet Ray was still relaxed.
Gin knew what adults always said, and he waited for the old man to repeat the words so that he could lie to his face. False concern always pissed him off. The old man stared at Gin and spat out the candy.
“You must have fallen from some tall stairs.”
Gin’s mouth opened, and for the first time, he had nothing to say.
“ I. I. I. “
The old man continued.
“When I was a kid, I used to slip down those same types of stairs all the time.”
“Yeah, well, the ones I fell from were concrete.”
The Ray chuckled.
“I tell you what. How about I teach you how to step on those particular types of stairs properly?”
Gin smiled for the first time that day.
“You going to teach me how to fight like them?”
Gin pointed at the student's practicings.
“No. You are not the type to fight for entertainment or make yourself feel good, right?”
The Ray paused.
“ Are you?”
His only goal was to protect himself. Gin remembered standing in front of Bernard while all the other Orphans laughed and wore his clothing and his shoes. No one there would help him.
Gin met Ray's eyes and shook his head.
“No.”
A subtle wind swept dust into Gin’s face. He coughed, and his eyes popped open. Gin sprung to his feet, heartbeat spiking from fear. Where were the Rats? He reached into his pocket for his iPhone and then noticed a rectangular object lying on the floor not too far away from his left foot.
He picked up his iPhone and paused. He still couldn't see, but something strange was happening with his senses. Was it the dust? No, there wasn't any dust, but he knew the wall was five feet away. He knew there was a large rock to the right that he would trip over if he kept walking. He clicked the unlock screen button on the side of his iPhone to check the battery life, but only the company logo symbol shone on the screen. Gin groaned.
“No, No! Damn.”
Gin stretched his arms out to check if the wall was where he sensed it. The pain from all the bites blossomed all over his body. He stumbled, his head throbbed, and he walked deeper inside the cavern. He moved his foot over the rock. Then he sat down and sighed. He closed his eyes, leaned against the wall, and moaned in pain.
For a while, he sat there thinking about what he would do when he found a way out. He didn't like ice cream, but that's what people ate after a terrible day, something sweet enough to make them feel like a kid again. He scoffed. He was only eighteen and hadn't even started his life yet. He just had to keep moving forward.
He heard the sound of liquid dripping in the cavern. The dryness in his throat became noticeable, which was a polite way of saying he was dying from thirst. Gin focused on his new awareness and stepped into the cavern's opening. He sensed the bones in the center where he last saw them.
He listened intently and followed the sound of the dripping liquid. The noise came from behind the pile of bones. There were bags and armor remnants of clothing. He couldn't see the color, but he could almost feel the shape of it all sitting there.
Moving the bones aside, he touched the wall and felt the running water run down his hand. Gin cupped his fingers and began to drink. He sipped at the water slowly. Once he was satisfied. He turned his attention to the bones and the bags and began to search.
The bones were broken and brittle, which meant that these people died a long time ago. Beneath all the bones, he found a pick axe. He brushed his finger against the rusty tool.
“If nothing else, it can be a good weapon.”
Gin opened one of the bags, and a vial and a book fell. The was the shape of a light bulb with a flat bottom. He popped the cork, and without trying, the odor of grass left too long in the sun filled his nose. Gin coughed. He placed the vial far away from him.
Gin opened another bag filled with a rope, a mug, and a sack that looked like a waterskin from medieval stories. He popped the cork and immediately squashed the instinct to sniff whatever was inside the water. He emptied the waterskin before him, but the scent of liquor wafted into the air.
“Who fills a waterskin with liquor?”
Gin placed everything he found on the floor in front of him. He didn't know what the vial was for, but it might be helpful. He filled the waterskin with water and fell asleep. The sound of ripping flesh and the smell of guts filled the air. Gin’s awareness outlined something small. He focused on the creature and realized it was the roach from before. The Roach paused.
“ Damn Roaches.“
He spent an hour watching the roach and decided he wouldn't bother the thing if it didn't bother him. It's not like he was planning on staying.
Gin thought about the classes and levels he got when asleep, one of which was a spell, an actual spell, but it could be real, right? Then he remembered the goblin. Gin peered at the goblin, which was four feet tall, wearing only rags and a giant hole in its stomach.
“Sorry, little guy.”
The Goblin had pointy ears like in the book. If he had a light, he could see its skin. Gin poked it just to be sure it wasn’t some illusion. Ignoring the holes in that logic. Gin gently folded its arm over its chest and covered the body with his dirty clothing while he switched to something cleaner.
Gin reached out in the darkness and called upon his spell.
“Light flash!”
He tried to feel the energy coalesce. He waited, but nothing happened. Gin sighed after drinking and resting for several hours. He began climbing with less effort, but the cuts and bruises slowed him.
Hours passed, Gin climbed, and his stomach growled.
“Maybe I should have tried eating the Rat, too.“
His stomach growled as he took a sip of water.
The lengthy climb came to an end at the side of a road. The bones in Gin’s hand ached like an overworked muscle, but the pain slowly ebbed away. Gin paused. There were three paths. However, The path to the right led down, and the path to the left led up and around a corner.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The third path led down a hall. This path felt smooth through his awareness, and Gin swept his hand against the smooth wall.
The path felt like marble. It felt manufactured. Gin smiled and began to walk forward. Then he frowned and turned around. He was going up, and he figured that if he kept going up, he would eventually get out.
There were no lamplights or torches. There were no guards. He figured that it might be a backdoor. Yet, something felt off about the place, like a trap inviting him in. He turned back and took the other path that led upwards.
He took the pick axe out of his bag and slowly ascended the path, which turned into steps carved out of the environment. He turned a corner, and a Swift movement sent him rolling down the steps.
Gin scrambled to his feet and grabbed the axe. His awareness washed over something humanoid, bigger than anything he had ever seen. He felt movement and ran down the steps. A loud crash shook the wall behind him.
A roar echoed underground, and Gin felt the earth shake.
He followed the stone hallway, which led to a gate that he crashed into. He looked back, but the giant slipped down the hall. Gin moved through what seemed to be ruins at top speed, sprinting through a fog of dust.
He held the pick axe with a firm grip. Then he heard the squealing.
“Fucking rats.”
The loud rumble sent the rats into a frenzy. Red Eyes focused on him and seemed to size him up. A Rat lept at his face, and Gin swung the axe like a bat. Catching the Rat in its stomach, the axe ripped through flesh and Jammed in its guts.
The stone giant crashed through the ruins like a tornado, and the harried Rats scattered. Gin braced himself and pulled the axe out of the body with a wet squelch. Another Rat jumped at him, and on instinct, he punched, and the Rat never got back up. Then he started running again
the hall flickered, and Gin jumped back on instinct, and the hall exploded with movement as a giant guillotine sliced through where he stood.
Gin stood there shocked as cold sweat filled his brow and the fear the moving might set off a chain of events that may end his life. Gin slowly crouched and took a breath. At least he knew where not to step next time.
A steady clicking entered the cavern, and Gin felt more than he saw because, in the endless dark, his eyes were useless.
He was suddenly aware of the giant Roach on the wall, watching him. It's not that he was afraid of the Roach. It was its size and the questions that came with its size.
Why was it so big? His most unpopular question was if it was an adult or a teenager. Gin returned to the old rules of the half-step while keeping an eye on the stone giant. The monster stepped forward, only five steps away from the Guillotine trap. It took another step, eating up ground with no effort.
The giant guillotine collapsed on the giant's shoulder and cracked its Stone hide, however. The Giant’s fingers wrapped around the giant blade and pulled. The floor shook, and Gin began to shimmy a little faster.
The Roach never attacked, only watched while it was never too far away.
Imperceptible holes opened on the wall. Gin froze, took five steps back, and waited.
The wall exploded with Spikes as far as his awareness could gather information. The stone giant pulled on the guillotine with all its strength, and Gin heard the sound of metal straining. He looked at the spike holes and swallowed. This situation presented a new problem.
If he stepped in the wrong place in the middle of the spike trap, he had no way to escape fast enough.
Going back wasn't an option.
Calmly, he watched how the Rats got past the trap before him and followed. The noise thundered through the halls, and he watched them one at a time while stepping exactly where the Rats ran.
Each Rat was large and heavy. Gin was slightly upset that his awareness couldn't pierce through the wall enough to alert him where each trigger was. However, Gin began to notice when the traps activated.
The stone giant barreled through the spike yet was not unscathed. Gin felt the off-tempo of its footsteps, once confident, now tired and losing strength.
His awareness sensed the vibration in the air, and Gin dropped everything and sprinted. The area the trap encompassed charged dust particles came to life, and flames engulfed the entire Hall behind him, creating a wall of fire.
The flame behind him lit the way forward and ate up the ground behind him as a large section of the wall in front of Gin began to close.
Gin jumped faster, gliding sideways under the concrete wall that stopped the flame.
He stood there gauging what might happen next, his awareness testing every corner of the hall until he noticed a door with a hole in the bottom.
Then he waited for what felt like forever for the next shoe to drop. When nothing happened. Gin collapsed and sat there, Trembling in pain and fear as he sipped his water and his stomach growled.
The empty silence was deafening. Gin longed for the sound of people talking, someone to talk to, but he was alone.
“Damn it, damn it, damn.“
It sounded right, he thought to himself. There were monsters, traps, and loot?
He lifted the vial of subtly glowing liquid. If he was right, the vial he held was either a poison that would put him to sleep, the likes of which he wouldn't wake from, or it was a healing potion. That would allow him to keep going for a few more hours until he found the next resting space. He ignored the fact that it could be a hundred other things.
A healing Potion was something that any true fantasy lover would kill for. Gin popped the cork, took a breath, and sipped the most vile thing he'd ever tasted.
He waited for something to happen, and after a half hour, Gin took a bigger sip, and he felt no different. His iPhone was dead. He couldn't check the time. He couldn't tell if it was night or daytime. He tried to sleep, but the thought of the stone giant punching through the wall was too immediate.
He stood and cringed for the pain from his cuts and bruises, but it was gone. He checked the leg that he was limping on, and through his jeans, the cuts were gone.
He began to laugh. He laughed because he was in a dream that he didn't want. He laughed because it was a healing potion, and he wouldn’t wake up with missing teeth. Gin clinched his fist and held back the instinct to scream in frustration.
“Yay.”
He had plans for his life, not this. He took a breath and smiled. He was enjoying himself, but he didn't want to enjoy himself. Confused as to how he felt about the danger and excitement in a fantasy world. His childhood ended the day he found himself surrounded by people who wanted everything he had. He would never admit it, but.
“I've dreamed of adventure, too.”
And the levels. Gin’s new climbing skills and abilities helped him see in the darkness the awareness. He just couldn't get the light flash to work, but eventually, he will. He still had ten toes and ten fingers.
What wasn't a surprise was that he knew how to fight. The last time he saw the old man practicing his kata in an empty gym because he was closing shop for good.
Gin packed his things and turned the handle on the door. In the silence, there was a soft click.
Gin peaked through the door, forgetting he wasn't seeing through his eyes. His awareness billows into the open room like an invisible small river, and he felt nothing.
The room felt like an armory. There were two Rats, armor, swords, and various weapons. Gin stepped in, and the Rats red eyes glowed in the dark. Gin could see them with his eyes.
“You ugly bastards.”
The Rats charged simultaneously, and Gin jumped out of the way, rolled to his knees, and swung his axe in a sweeping arch. Missing the Rat on his left but piercing the second one in the side, the uninjured Rat jumped, but Gin let go of the Axe and punched.
“Hammer punch!”
The Rat flew across the room. The injured Rat squealed loud and desperate. Gin pulled the axe from its body, and the Rat went silent. The other Rat weakly scrambled to his feet, but Gin was already moving. The axe came down in its neck, and Gin just left it there.
He walked toward the armor, and he suddenly realized what was wrong with the armor. They were all half his size.
“Dwarves?”
A pillar stood in the center of the room. Gin quickly stepped around it and picked up a sword, like a short sword in his hands.
He picked up a sheath and sheathed the sword, tying it around his waist. He was not going to complain about free weapons. He tied a small shield to his arm and traded the pick ax for a metal mace.
His iron grip skill made it feel comfortable in his hand, and he might end up fighting something with tough skin, like a larger version of that Roach. He did not want to carry too many things, so he settled for a small vambrace arm shield the size of a hat wrapped around his arm. He liked that it didn't constrict his movement, a mace and a short sword for a backup weapon.
He searched for smaller things to carry and found Flint, and Steel dropped a knife in his bag and walked up to the exit.
He cracked the door open to check if his awareness could see through the tiny crack in the door, and then he felt warm air and the vibration of heavy movement. He locked the door and stepped back.
Through the door, he heard heavy footsteps marching by, and after everything went silent, he reopened the door and stepped into the hallway.
Gin followed the footsteps down the hall, slowly passing by locked doors and turns leading in different directions.
The person didn't seem to be going anywhere specific despite the lack of fire. At first, Gin didn't notice because he was seeing in the dark, but then he realized how stiff the armor moved and how it kept going. Then he stopped and turned.
There was a moment when the armor stopped.
“Hey. I was walking around, and I realized that I might be in the wrong area. Can you, by chance, show me a way out?”
The guard didn't respond. It slowly pulled out its sword. Unlike the Dwarven armor, this guard was six feet tall with a sword half his size.
The guard charged, and Gin didn't stick around to fight. He began to run, and the armor didn't. He turned a corner and ran down the corridor.
He opened a door, and then he was aware of another suit of armor marching in his direction. Gin slammed the door shut and turned. The guard took a bow, then touched the hilt of the sword to his head and stood in stance, ready to battle.
“Can’t you just show me the way out?”
The guard's head tilted and stepped forward one foot at a time. The door behind him begins to rattle.
“Damn it.”
Gin lifted his mace and began to walk forward with grim determination. Gin took a breath and waited for the eventual swing of the sword. The guard's sword came down without hesitation, and Gin swung his mace into the guard's arm.
The mace met armor in a heavy clang. Gin waited for the guard to cry in pain, but the guard stood and reset its stance. The door behind him buckled, and Gin looked into the eyes of the guard and realized the guard had no face and the armor was empty.
The door behind him broke open, and Gin charged the enchanted armor in front of him. The armor swung, and Gin lifted the shield.
The weapon came down with a force he wasn't ready for, which caused him to brace, and instead of coming down with an overhanded swing, he swung the mace up, knocking off the head of the enchanted armor, but the enchanted armor reset, and then there were two.
Gin ran through the door behind his opponent, running down the corridor until he came against a massive door. He twisted the door handle and realized The door wouldn't open. He was at a dead-end. He turned slowly. The enchanted armors marched forward and then stopped. One of the enchanted armors rested the sword in front of it as if waiting.
The other enchanted armor sets its stance and March forward.
“One at a time, huh? ”
Gin dropped his bag, held the mace like a bat, and waited for the enchanted armor to move closer. The armor marched forward like Knights in all the old fantasy movies he watched on bootleg as a kid.
The sword and mace clanged, but Gin put less weight in his swing and stepped back to offset the armor, which almost stumbled and caught itself, but it wasn't ready for the heavy mace slamming into its knees.
The armor fell to its knee, but Gin slammed the mace into its head, and then he began to beat on the armor until it stopped moving.
The second armor waited as Gin caught his breath. He never took his awareness off the enchanted armor.
“Ok, you want some too, or?”
Gin slowly caught his breath.
The enchanted armor set, but this time it moved differently. The armor dragged its sword along the ground. Then the sword stabbed forward at such a speed.
Gin had to lift his shield and jump back. The force sent him stumbling into the wall. The enchanted armor wielded the sword with one arm like a fencer. With one hand behind its back, it swept the sword with a flourish.
The enchanted armor moved too fast for Gin to fight it with a mace. Gin pulled his short sword and braced the shield. His heart felt like he was running track. Yet mentally, he felt calm. If he fought the enchanted armor fair, he would get poked full of holes. It was like switching from easy to expert.
The enchanted armor lunged, and Gin tossed the heavy mace at its head. The armor parried the weapon, and at that exact moment, Gin charged with his shield. The armor stepped back, but it was too late. Gin [Iron grip] latched onto a strip of leather, punched the armor in its face, and tackled it, unsheathed his short sword, holding its sword arm with an [Iron grip]. He stabbed the enchanted armor repeatedly. This enchanted armor was made of what felt like leather, allowing it to move quickly.
When Gin stopped, the armor was nothing but pieces. Gin sat down, and then he felt pain in his left shoulder. He looked down and felt liquid. There was also a pain across his chest like. He touched it and felt more liquid.
“Next time, I'll drink less of the potion.”
He stood and beat the lock with his mace. Until the door handle clattered to the floor. He stared at the door handle, and the door slowly swung open.
Gin grinned and stepped into a grand hall filled with light. White Stone marble pillars held a glass ceiling with a glowing stone the size of a two-story building. Hieroglyphs told a story about a kingdom of Dwarves making deals with humans and giant green men. Gin began to frown. His awareness sensed movement to his right, where he looked up and up into the face of a dragonkin. And a shorter man stepped from behind the giant lizardman.
“Oye, laddy, we paid to get into this dungeon. Nobody said there was someone else down here.”
Gin’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. He thought he said something, but they all stared at him. He repeated.
“Food.”
Then, to Gin’s surprise, the Dragonkin spoke.
“He needs a healing potion.”
His voice rumbled.
The Dwarf was short but wide as a door, and he wore a blue robe and brown pants and carried a large sword on his back.
Gin slowly ate, gathering himself, and they all watched him as more people arrived.
“Darron, look what we found.”
Darron stepped out of the shadow carrying a staff, and Gin subconsciously noted that he could only be a mage wearing a robe in such a place. With his awareness, he sensed someone in the shadows behind him.
“What's your name, lad? I'm Mangrik from Trollfall.”
The surly Dwarf filled another bowl of soup, carrots, and potatoes. He pointed at the man he called Darron.
“That's Darron, and the Drake is Secdrix. We're the Bronze Boar Gold-rank team.”
“I’m Gin. I've been down here a few days. Trying to find my way out. “
“Where is the rest of your team?”
Darron sat down beside Mangrik and began to fill a bowl.
“Don’t lie. Secdrix has a detect lie skill.”
Gin paused.
Gin wanted to be out of there, and he was happy to see people. He felt tension around the group. It didn't surprise him that if he were underground in a dungeon, the last person he would expect would be a random guy appearing out of nowhere. If this were a movie, he’d be the guy with bad news, which answered the question of why they wouldn't want him there. Maybe they found something valuable they wanted to keep for themselves.
“That's good. Let me know if I'm lying. The only thing I care about is getting out of here. I have no interest in your gold or your valuables. What do I owe you for the food?”
The Dwarf and mage looked at Secdrix.
“He’s telling the truth.”
A slithery, dry voice rose from the darkness.
“Have you found anything while stuck down here? That shield looks expensive.”
For the first time, Gin noticed that the shield shimmered in the light.
“That's Mythril Shield, alright.”
Mangrik smiled.
Gin frowned. Do you want my shield?
“Oh, no. It's just nice, that's all.”
Mangrik raised his hand.
“What happened to your team? If we're all in danger, you should let us know now?”
Gin sighed, and all of the tension drained out of him.
“I'm alone, and I’m not running from anything. Except there was some giant rock thing chasing me a while back. I’m not sure if it's dead. I’m just lost, and I'm tired of this place.”
“He’s not lying.”
“Now, Tell me where you are from. I see that you're quite the fighter. Those enchanted armor start at a silver-ranked threat.”
“How do you become an adventurer?”
Mangrik paused and looked at Darron and back at Gin.
“You're not an adventurer?”
Mangrik began to laugh.
“Well, if you want to become an adventurer, you have to sign up at Guild, but you start at Bronze rank, and let me tell you now, not many make it to gold or named rank.”
Gin looked around and thought about his future. Should he try to find a way back home? Or follow a dream he never knew he had. He didn't want to admit it, but he’s never felt more alive than at that moment. His mixed feelings were slowly changing.
“I'm guessing enchanted armor is worth a lot, right?“
“We're not in the business of stealing from other people. If you kill it, it's yours. Stone Giants are common around here. This place is a Gold Rank dungeon.“
The mage stood.
“I think it's time we left the dungeon, too. We've done all we can.”
The four adventurers stared at each other.
“It's getting late. Let's go back before the gates close.“
Before long, everyone was all packed. Gin followed behind in relief and excitement of seeing the new world.
{Congratulations}
[Depth Explorer level 10]
[Skill- Dangersense]
[Skill- key of hidden compartment ]
[Grappler level 5]
[Skill-basic weapon proficiency obtained.]
[Skill- Quick step Obtained]