Dante Dalisio awoke suddenly to a clamor of noise all around him. A thick metallic scent clung to his nose as he opened his eyes to the commotion around him. At least 50 hooded figures in dark robes clutching short daggers stood all around him, fighting off two figures, one tall, wielding a large sword donning thick armor and a shield. The other figure, shorter then the other, light and lithe wielded two daggers slashed furiously catching two of the robed figures before they could even move. One of the figures standing right in front Dante moved to charge the larger man and was immediately met with the greatsword cleaving him in two vertically, blood splattering onto the side of the dais Dante was sitting on and his face. Panic filled Dante's chest, as more of the robed figures moved to intercept the intruders. In the corner of Dante's vision he noticed a figure sitting on their knees in a rusty cell. The figure made eye contact with Dante, and he could see pleading in their eyes. Dante leapt from the dais and bolted towards the cell, forgetting that cells commonly need keys to unlock them. Frantically he looked around him to try to find the keys with his eyes, noticing the two people from before slowly, but surely making mincemeat of the robed figures who stood in the space between Dante and them.

"Over there!" The person in the cell pointed towards the short end of the altar that Dante had been lying on. On the floor sat a dirty brass set of rings with numerous keys on it. Dante scrambled to grab the keys, the 2 figures eyeing him through the wall of bodies between them. Dante made it back to the cell and due to sheer luck, the first key he tried unlocked the cell, and the person inside sprung to their feet to leave the cell. Dante looked back towards the mass of bodies, and there were notably fewer then when he last looked. He looked around the room, and locked eyes on a thick iron door across the room from the intruders. Dante grabbed the person by their hand and ran to the door, trying the keys on the key ring. This time however, he was not so lucky. As he frantically tried different keys, making his way through the key ring, the intruders dispatched the last of the robed figures. The larger man approached slowly, viscera and blood clinging loosely to the once pristine armor. Dante moved more frantically, and this time he put the correct key in the keyhole.

"Hey, wait!" The man implored, blood dripping off his frame.

Dante opened the door and pushed his companion through, frantically rushed through and closed the door locking it from the outside. Through the slits in the prison door, he saw the lithe figure approach the large man and they began conversing softly. Dante looked at his companion and they looked at the door, then at their keys. They agreed silently, that door would not hold the man off for long. They sprinted down the corridor, not stopping until they put formidable distance between themselves and the door they went through. The first part of the corridor they sprinted through had been dim, they could barely see the floor and walls they were running in. Now after they had slowed their pace, the dim light made way for blue light, as blue torches lined the walls they walked down. Tucked away between torches were occasionally alcoves with a tomb inside, that when uncovered lay skeletal corpses smiling at them from their eternal slumber. Twice the tombs contained a rusted sword, and when he offered his companion one, they shook their head.

"I might be a college student, but I'm not desperate enough for grave robbing, yet." Dante's companion let down the hood they were wearing, blond hair tied into a short, messy ponytail spewed forth. Dante noted the soft features of his companion betrayed no gender. "I'm guessing you've made it farther along in college, to need to resort to graverobbing to pay for your tuition." came the snide reply to his gaze. Dante looked back at the rusted sword sliding it into a leather sheath also found on the corpse.

Dante donned the sheath, adjusting it so the handle of the sword came above his right shoulder. Something about the word college scraped against the back of his skull. "It's a possibility. Truth be told I don't remember who I am other then my name."

"Alright, what is your name?"

"Oh, right I never did introduce myself, mostly due to all those people get-"

"Don't, we promised not to talk about that, it didn't happen, I refuse~~" They raised fingers to their ears, not wanting to be reminded of the ordeal.

Dante's companion had already retched earlier when he tried to bring it up. He relented, and introduced himself.

They exchanged pleasantries, and what little information they knew. Dante's companion was named Alex, he was nineteen-year old student majoring in computer science. Alex's last memory was falling into a bog on campus, passing out as he fell in. When he awoke, the people in robes seized and blindfolded him, when the blindfold was released he found himself in the cell Dante rescued him from.

"How long do you think you've been here?" he asked softly.

"Well, they fed me about 3 times, and I slept 3 times since I got here, so about 3 days I guess?"

"So how did I end up on the altar they were surrounding?"

"I'm not sure, I was sleeping when all of a sudden I heard a loud metal thud and when I awoke, that guy charged in and then that happened. Maybe they summoned you, like in those 'summoned from another world' stories."

Dante gave an inquisitive look. The concept felt foreign to him.

"You know, like Isekai?"

Dante's eyebrows furrowed. He felt certain that he hadn't encountered this word before. He shook his head.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I mean, whichever way you slice it, being laid on an altar with a bunch of cultist looking guys brandishing knives means they probably didn't have good intentions with my mortal coil."

They continued walking as they discussed their circumstance.

"There's a chance that those guys killing the cultists might not have, you know, murdered us." Dante started.

"The big guy cleaved a dude in half! You really want to get close enough to talk to that?" Alex stated incredulously. "The guy looked like he wears the doors he breaks down as a suit of armor! I bet all iron doors grow up in fear of this guy slam-"

Alex was interrupted by the sound of an iron door being slammed off its hinges. The burned image of the man with viscera caked onto his armor popped into mind. The duo looked at each other, and quickened their pace down the blue lit hall. They came about a fork in the corridor, one that continued as the previous corridor did, the other one leading to a large wooden door framed with dark metal. Dante likened the door to those that stood on the other side of castle moats.

"We should go through the door, we might find something to barricade the door with on the other side." He said quickly as he grabbed the handle of the door to start pushing.

"WAIT! What if there's something worse on the other side of that door?"

"Ah, well, what if we just take a peak?" Dante unsheathed his sword, opening the door with his left hand to glance inside.

On the other side of the door, a podium sat in the middle of a rounded room with a domed ceiling. On the far side, directly opposite from Dante was a similar door to the one they were peaking in.

"There might be a way through here, I can see a door on the other side."

Dante pushed the door open enough for him and Alex to step through. Together they shut the door, and luckily on the other side, there was a wooden bar to barricade the doors from being opened normally. Dante seriously doubted that the doors would be able to handle the might of that man. As he thought that, his eyes landed on the podium in the middle of the room. There was a backpack lying on the podium, black as obsidian. Confused, Dante picked the backpack up and as he did, the podium sank into the ground. Around the room came the sound of hissing as the random bones scattered on the floor pulled themselves together , Alex yelping as a skeletal hand brushed his ankle. The bones fused into three skeletons at the door that Dante saw when they entered. The skeletons were in various states of disrepair, one was missing an arm as it lodged itself into a different skeletons ribcage, one was missing it's lower jaw. All wore no armor, just tattered cloths, and the best defended skeleton had a shield. The skeleton with the arm in its ribcage charged at Dante, arm swinging downward at his face. Dante sidestepped, slinging the backpack onto his back. It was obviously valuable, to have been booby trapped. The skeleton eyed him as his sword clanged against the floor, eyes glowing red as it readied his next attack. Dante finished putting the backpack on, double handing his sword as the skeleton stepped towards him. The skeleton swiped at Dante's head, causing him to duck reflexively. As the sword flew over his head, he sprang from his crouching position, stabbing his sword through the skeletons' jaw and out its head. The skeletons' eyes went dull as two jewels fell from the sockets. Dante looked up as the skeleton missing it's arm swung downward, he barely managed to block in time as the sword cleaved downward, striking with enough force to make Dante's arm go numb. He winced from the pain, swiping the skeletons sword the side to lead into a spin as he decapitated the second skeleton. The final skeleton was well armed, two arms fully intact with a shield strapped to one. Dante went on the offensive, stabbing at the skeletons face, who blocked his attack easily by swiping with his shield. The skeleton pushed forward with his shield, sending Dante away and onto the ground, sword flying out of his hand. In an instant, the skeleton was on top of Dante, both skeletal hands on the swords hilt. Dante barely had time to dodge the thrust by moving his head, and the sword went deeply into the ground. Skeletal hands shot immediately for his neck, strangling the air out of him. Dante clenched his hands and attempted to punch the skeleton, knocking it's jaw loose. Just the the skeletons head made a POP sound as Alex swung his computer bag onto the skeletons neck, hitting the head lose and away. The skeleton body went limp and Dante coughed a bit, relieved to be breathing air again. Alex offered a hand, and he took it, brushing himself off as he stood. He retrieved his sword, which held up remarkably well for a piece of rust, and as he sheathed his sword, they heard a loud thud as the door they entered shuttered as if hit by a battering ram. Alex gave a worried look at Dante as he started to think up options.

"Well, we can either make our last stand here, our we can-"

"We should take our chances with the next room, I mean surely couldn't be worse then that guy."

They hurried to the door that led to the next room, pushing it open recklessly, not checking what lay beyond. As they entered the pitch black room, the door behind them slammed shut on its own, and torches bordering the walls of the room lit one by one leaving dancing shadows on the walls they hung from. What occupied the room filled Dante and Alex with dread. In the center of the circular room stood a circular enemy. Three fleshy rings sat stacked on each other, rotating independently of one another. Grasping arms reached from inside the creature, reached for the outside, for Dante and Alex as they gaped at this fleshy tower. The flesh bubbled and contorted as two arms shot out from the center ring, coming out either side of the monstrosity. These arms were much longer then the rest, flesh bubbling occasionally, spilling more arms onto the floor. The arms would then made a beeline for the monster, not wanting to be separated from its parent. The arm on the left without warning made a fist and shot towards the two, who leaped away from each other, and Dante barely had enough time to start running as the other arm shot towards where he was. He unsheathed his sword and focused his attention on the monster, looking for weak points. Alex yelped as he ran, barely dodging the left arm, which had started on him after missing Dante. He noticed the middle ring of flesh had slits that rotated with the flesh, in and out of view as it moved along the creature. Dante shot towards the creature, dodging the right arm which had decided to focus solely on him. He ran alongside the creature, catching up to a slit as it rotated, and he plunged his sword into the slit all the way up to the hilt. The flesh swelled as if filled with air with enough force to send Dante flying. With a sound like some great creature retching, it spewed Dante's sword out and it landed next to him. He looked up just in time to see an open palm slamming onto him. He rolled out of the way, picking up his sword as he moved, palm cracking and splintering the floor where he had been. The creature retracted its arms, and more slits appeared over its body. Dante counted twelve slits total, including the one he already attacked, and four per section. His muscled ached with strain. He doubted he could save himself and Alex.

If I don't do it, who will? He thought as he rose to his feet.