"What? WHAT!?". Jon could not calm himself. This was not his world? But wasn't he in the same old mall's bathroom? What did essence mean? What was Essence? What did Etrom mean when he said that this world was invaded? And where the hell was his last name?
"I can't believe this... I just wanted to get a little ice cream...". Jon closed the toilet's lid and sat on top of it. He noticed his pants were still down, but he couldn't be bothered to put them up when he just lost everything he had. Though, with his eyes down he finally noticed something was indeed different. The floor had a different hue, it was much more worn out, and there was water coming out of the toilet on the left.
Jon opened the stall door and carefully walked around. The bathroom didn't look ruined, but it was certainly not perfect. A mirror was cracked and some stalls didn't have doors. On the sink, there was a bloody dagger.
Suddenly, Jon heard a door opening and a man in full leather armor entered.
"Oops, sorry, forgot me dagger... Wow, you should wear some pants, friend"
The man went out the door again, all the while Jon had his jaw dropped. This was definitely not his reality.
Jon put on his pants and went out the door. The mall, once well lit and full of people was now looking a lot more dangerous. There were blood stains on the floor and all the shops were closed, with reinforced steel doors.
But most of all, there were creatures all around. The man he saw before was down the hall fighting a horde of zombies with a two-handed sword. As Jon was mesmerized by the spectacle of a zombie being bisected one of those creatures noticed him and started running in his direction.
"Wait, wait!! I'm not part of this!!"
Jon started running and attracting the attention of more and more zombies. When he got to the end of the hall opposite the warrior there were 10 of them behind him. There was a single store still not closed, but the doors were going down fast.
Jon dived inside the store startling the woman.
"Hey what are you doing?? I'm gonna call the dungeon patrol!", The woman said, with contempt flowing from her face.
"Dungeon? What the hell are you talking about, I came here because I don't want to die! Can't you see those zombies coming our way?", shouted Jon.
"What? Why did you come here if you are so afraid of zombies? Fucking newbies, I swear...".
The woman waved her hand and the light from the fluorescent lights inside the shop went out and gathered in her hand. She then threw the light at the incoming monsters and it exploded, sending rotted body parts all around the mall's hall.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Haven't you been in a dungeon before?"
The woman said, looking at the mesmerized newbie.
"Oh my god, you HAVEN'T been in a dungeon before! How the hell did you get through the security?"
"...I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just going to the bathroom and suddenly I received a message from God and this goddamn crystal sprouted out from my chest. What the hell is going on."
"OOOOH, now I get it. You're an unlucky fella. Most outworlders just spawn in a city. You had to appear in the middle of a dungeon haha! Don't worry, people coming from other worlds is not such an uncommon thing, we get about 20 of them per year in this region. This is the low-level Plaza Mall Dungeon. 40 years ago, when we were invaded, some places became monster lairs. It's what we call a dungeon. People come to these places to gather essence and materials. Especially people who have nothing else, like you, haha."
"Not sparing any sympathy, huh. How would I even fight anything?"
"How should I know? Ask someone when you get out. Just try to stay alive until you get there. The exit is down that escalator. Now get out of here unless you're going to buy stuff.", the woman said while she made the light flicker again.
The threat was clear. Soon after Jon got out, the store's door finally closed. Jon spared a moment to look at the nameplate on top of the door. Elise's artifacts and weapons. Damn, is everyone so nonchalant about the danger to others as that woman in this world?
Jon tried walking slowly, as to not attract the attention of any of the corpses. The monsters had different features, with different clothes, shapes, and colors. Some were humanoid, but some were monstrous, with shapes so alien he had not seen on any human on earth.
When he finally got to the escalator he noticed that it was actually still working, but there was a small zombie in front of it. It had the height of a human child, but its eyes were bright yellow, and its arms ended in boney tentacles.
Jon tried to go back and look for another way, but he realized he was surrounded. The zombies hadn't noticed him, probably due to poor eyesight, but they had wandered right beside him.
"I'm going to have to run through... Fuck..."
Jon hesitated for a minute but started running. Halfway through his enemy noticed him and ran in his direction too.
Jon tried to jump over the creature but ended up hitting his knee on its face. He felt the creature's big nose breaking on impact and both of them tumbled to the ground.
The zombie got up as nothing had happened. Jon ran in the direction of the escalator and jumped him. While he fell through the stairs and tumbled to the lower floor the zombie followed him, grabbing his shirt midway.
After a minute of getting smashed on the way down the stairs, the fall ended. When Jon finally breathed again he noticed he had landed on top of the zombie. The zombie had both of his legs broken but used his head to bite right into the man's neck.
For the second time in the evening (and in his life), Jon felt he was going to die. The first time was a desperate but fast run, he could not think, but now he could see his life going through his eyes. His blood was flowing from his neck rapidly.
As the heat left his body he could only think he didn't want to die. He had nothing, no one. No friends, family or goal. Such a life should not be worth anything, to anyone, but he could not help but feel a rising will to live. He would live, even if for no reason at all. He would not let anyone kill him. He WOULD FIND SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR.
"I'm not going to die. I'M NOT GOING TO DIE!" Jon screamed while punching the soft, rotted flesh of the zombie, trying to get away".
"Go for the head, friend!" The man with the two-handed sword screamed on top of the stairs.
"DIE, DIE!", Jon wailed at the head of the creature. He grabbed it through the eyes and pushed with unprecedented until the soft head broke and leaked like it was being juiced.
Even though the creature slowly stopped moving and released its bite, Jon had lost too much blood. His vision slowly faded into the black. The last thing he saw was the now recognizable letters dancing out of the crystal in his chest.
[You defeated a [Weak Lobgin Zombie]!]
[You've received 10 essence!]
[You've received enough essence for your first skill! Please, make a soul oath to acquire it.]