Water dripped from the ceiling and into small puddles with soft impacts. The harsh stench of musk and stone penetrated my nose as I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. I stepped over some debris, grabbed one torch that sat in a rusted sconce, and immediately regretted my choice. The torch was soaked and covered my hand in some strange slime. I threw it to the side and tried to suppress a gag as I looked for something to wipe away this gunk. Sadly, there wasn’t anything but the stone wall or my clothing at my disposal. Immediately I ran my hand across the wall since I didn’t want to cover my pants in whatever that filth was. Yes, I know the wall was dirty, but it’s better than rubbing slime over my only pair of pants, even though they were already dirty.

A groan escaped from my lips as pain resonated through my body. I pushed myself off of the damp stone ground and glanced around. My memories were foggy, and I couldn’t seem to remember much after I got to the park. My eyes wandered around the hallway, and all I saw were small orbs of faint blue light dancing on the top of the torches. What was this place? I shuddered slightly as a chill pierced my pants and shirt. The soaked material clung to my flesh and sapped the warmth from my skin. I dusted off what I could and flicked some of the wet sand from my palms.

I followed the hallway down with anxiety coiling around my chest. ‘This was so fucking stupid. Why, why did I have to walk towards that portal?’ I clenched my jaw in anger as I continued walking further down the hallway. As I descended, the state of the place continued to deteriorate. Debris lay strewn across the floor, and the wall was caving in some spots, revealing crumbling dirt and rotting vines. Every step making/makes me more and more uneasy.. Whatever forced me into this place was powerful, and I didn’t want to sit there in a corner waiting like a lost pup. No, I would face whatever this was, with my head held high.

The slick surface of the torch caused me to tremble slightly as my eyes danced across the ruined walls. While the light was welcome, it was far too faint to see anything in the distance. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I pressed the button on the side, intent on turning it on and using the flashlight. Unfortunately for me, the screen stays black. There was no way it was dead; it still had half a battery left when I was on that bench. I hit the back a few times with my hand and tried again.

Much to my dismay, nothing changed. I put the phone back into my pocket with no small amount of disappointment. I was officially out of a phone and still had no clue where I was.

I pushed further into the hall and came to a decrepit but heavy looking wooden door. I reached out and grabbed a rusted metal ring that sat where a doorknob would be, and gave it a hard pull. The hinges squealed in protest, and the door shuddered as it opened slightly before coming to a screeching stop. I repositioned myself and gave it another hard pull, this time putting my entire body weight behind it. For a few seconds, the door refused to yield before a loud crack echoed through the hall. The door flung open, revealing a large corridor that was clad in writhing darkness.

Seeing the thick darkness made me really wish I had my phone right now. A flashlight light would have been lovely right about now. I glanced behind me cautiously and then back into the corridor. An itching feeling told me that entering here would be dangerous, but the only way for me to take was forward since the portal behind me vanished. I swallowed the saliva that was building up in my mouth and pressed on, regardless of the fear that was growing in my heart. The air here was heavy and stale, with just a touch of humidity. But there was a strange taste to it that was hard to describe. It was much like a sweet iron taste that just didn’t seem to ring true.

As I pushed on the darkness started to consume my vision more and more while slowly choking the light out of my torch. Some stones under my feet shifted and filled the air with quiet clattering. I reached out to press one of my hands against the stone wall, to help guide my path. Each step was slow and ponderous as I carefully tried to find my way. Considering the state of the place, I wouldn’t be shocked if there was something for me to trip on. I kept walking for an undetermined amount of time before the wall finally started to curve.

I wasn’t too scared of anything coming after me, because it seemed quiet so far and with this otherwise deafening silence, I doubt anything could sneak up on me. Honestly, the worst part yet was just the absolute stillness that engulfed me. Outside the clattering of stone there was nothing but the sound of my breath and the thudding of my heart to keep me company. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to approach a portal in the middle of the night, but what's done is done. At least now I learned my lesson, hopefully.

As silently as I could muster I crept forward until I felt the wall come to an end. I reached out and ran my fingers across the area. I could feel the dry grain of wood and then the cold bite of rusted metal. I slid my hand down and felt another metal ring under my fingertips, and I gave it a soft pull.

The door shrieked on its hinges as it swung out. Behind it was a room that was dimly lit. In the center was an orb that rotated on a circular stone platform. Its surface was inky gray with spots of black that lagged behind the orbs’ movements. I glanced around the room and saw nothing else of note, so I took some time to just observe the strange object.

As I watched I found the motions hypnotic to behold, and before I knew it, I was utterly mesmerized. The swirling shapes pulled apart my thoughts as easily as wet paper, and swept my consciousness away in a tidal wave of abstract shapes, and random thoughts. As I lost myself to the thousands of colors, I reached out to touch a stray fragment of a sickly green light. It parted around my fingers like water and heat rushed to my fingertip along with sparks of fire that sank into my very bones.

The conversion has been initiated. The divine spark is starting the assimilation process.

Words crawled across my vision, and a wave of panic washed over me as the orb sped up. A strange tingle scintillated up my arm, before quickly falling numb. My heart hammered in my chest as I attempted to yank my arm away. But the strange liquid surface had glued it in place. Out of desperation, I placed my feet on the altar and tried to use my entire body to pull away. Pain never once visited me while I struggled to free my arm. Just a loving warmth that slowly spread through my body. Peace and serenity welled in my chest as the orb moved up and devoured my shoulder. My mind grew murky as darkness set in, and my body went limp with cold acceptance.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Analyzing specimen… Analyzing specimen…

Race Designation: Human

Sex: Female

Age: 22

User designation: Calixa Wright

The first phase of conversion has been completed. The current primary race will be maintained. Divine spark has been recognized, and applied. The designation of Domain Core has been applied due to the absorption of an advanced dungeon core.

The affinity of undeath has been applied to your domain due to the presence of a previously formed Divine Spark. You have unlocked a sub affinity.

Words flashed across my vision, chasing away the darkness that threatened to consume me. What did they mean? What was all of this? I struggled against the encroaching darkness as my sense of self started to return and more words appeared with it.

Please choose from the following affinities…

Fire Ice Ash Sand Water Air Earth Death

Electricity Darkness Arcane Gravity Space

Click here for more

What was this for? I quickly scanned across the text and saw that I was something called Domain Core, but what was that? I struggled against the mental chains that wrapped around me, and I felt my panic seep out of me, only to be replaced by a cold nothingness of thought. Not just any thought, but thought devoid of emotion, or bias. It was nothing more than a simple choice, without anything weighing it down.

My mental eyes gazed at the flickering words as I thought about my experiences so far. Currently, I was in some strange hallway, and I wasn’t sure if it was a simple fluke of fate or not. Then there was this strange orb that these words referred to as a divine spark. Was this a game? Was I getting pranked? I chewed on the thought, before letting it drift away. I couldn’t feel anything outside of a cold rationale. This was a prison of my own doing, so I might as well face it.

Whatever this was, it wanted me to select a sub affinity, so I guess that’s something vital. So let's hope I make a smarter choice here. Then afterwards I can panic after all this is over, at least. My eyes danced across the list, and I took all the information in. There was an option for more, but I didn’t want to overwhelm myself. So I would choose from this list alone.

The words blinked as they patiently waited for me to make a selection. But since I had the time, I might as well take the time to make a clear choice. While I didn’t have advanced knowledge on the topic, it seemed familiar. Wasn’t that a book genre about making a base and having mobs are your disposal? If that's the case, then everything made more sense, but then that brought another question up the front. What was a domain core? Perhaps that was the natural extension of a dungeon core?

With that knowledge in mind, I turned my attention back towards the affinity list. Earlier it had said that I was given the undead affinity. While I didn’t exactly know what that meant, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. That would be zombies, ghosts and what not. Which, all things considered would be pretty dope. So now I had to find something to match it or at least supplement it.

Fire felt cliche, and so did ice, though they were far too tempting just for the sheer opportunity. Electricity was also excellent, because I could be something like Zeus or Thor, which would be pretty awesome. Gravity and space seem like they would be overpowering, but I wasn’t quite sure what either would entail. Arcane would be related to magic, but what benefits it would give me, I wasn’t sure. I wish that I had a help system or something while doing this.

All of these choices were far too good to just pick one. There was even sand! I could be like that one sand ninja from that anime I watched while growing up. Death was also very tempting! Did that mean I could be like the grim reaper? The choices I saw made me salivate, but I could only choose one. So I forced myself to gaze at them and carefully thought over everything. If this wasn’t a dream brought on by exhaustion, then my next choice would be vital. So what would be the best choice? I gazed at the options with a clear mind, and chewed on each thought for what felt like an eternity.

At long last, I settled on arcane, I mean, while I wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed, I had a strong feeling that it was a purely magical based affinity. Which, I think, would remove really all of those other choices. I mean, magic made the impossible possible, didn't it? The worst I could be is wrong in this situation, and even if I was, I feel like I could do some pretty cool stuff with it anyway. Not only that, out of all the choices, I feel like this would be the most versatile. Without a single shred of doubt I selected it, and the words flickered once more.

You have selected the arcane affinity.. Your choice has been finalized..Due to your main affinity being undeath, would you like to add a subrace to modify your primary? Due to your sub affinity being arcane, a bonus has been applied to you.

At once the mental shackle that had held my mind shut fell away, and I felt my thoughts start to spread once more. But with this new found freedom a single idea was born. One that scared me more than anything else up to this point. What if this wasn’t a dream?