There's nothing but water, dark viscous unbreathable water.
Besides the faint feeling of pain surrounding his drifting body, there was something underneath, swimming in the same direction as the water flow, or perhaps the flow was solely made by these unseen creatures rashly moving for their lives. Whatever the case, one thing was certain, those slimy creatures kept leaning on his feet, passing near his hands, some even sliding on his chest as he sunk further and further into this chaotic tempest.
He was an abnormality. He realized that better once those fish-shaped creatures completely surrounded him. They were forced to change courses, slip around his body, rush faster to keep the flow, bump into each other. But none of them dared to move him, all of them were trying their best to ignore he even existed.
The more he sunk in, the more pressure it was, the more viscous it was, becoming more and more unbearable by the second, not by any means of density, but by pure psychological pressure, the longer he spent here, the more he wanted to move his body, to make those creatures go away, to go back to the surface and breathe again.
???: "It's a dead end--"
Far away, beyond millions of those creatures, it was possible to hear a drowned voice. Faint clicks then emerged in his ears, and water began entering his nostrils and fill his lungs. The clicks gradually became stronger and stronger like knocks, and then to muffled steps.
???: "Hurry, to the left!"
- \ - / -
A crash breaks my drowning in the dream world, my eyes open to see bricks falling and an Ogre looking at me with its six red eyes and three angry heads, his imagery goes beyond my field of vision as the one carrying me continues to dash in a turn. The first thing I do is cough out the water from my lungs, but my mouth doesn't have the strength to open nor there is any water to come out, my parched throat rips in pain, making me remember that my entire body is sore. I close my eyes tight to hold the agony in.
?Boy: "One more at the right!"
…what's happening?
I reopen my eyes weakly.
?Boy: "Here! Come here!"
The white brick walls move quickly to the opposite direction I'm facing, while I see the entire world upside down.
Where-
Once the shaking health bar appears on the top-left corner of my eyes, erratically going up and down, I remember.
[125#/3710]
I'm inside the game.
?Man: "We need to kill them, there's no other way," – he says in a deep angry voice.
?Boy: "K-Kill them? How are we supposed to do that? There's four of them now!"
To my right, the first one to grab my attention is the tall guy, his grey shirt tight on his muscled body, wearing red-ish brown gloves and pants made of leather, his dark-brown hair spiked like tall grass, wearing golden earrings, and with a fully metallic black battle-axe at his back. Running behind him, a skinnier boy is wearing some blue mage's robes and wielding a big dark-brown staff made of wood with a big blue pearl near its tip.
The man turns his head, showing his sharp red eyes and thick lips to talk to the boy behind him as he keeps running forward.
?Man: "It's the damn NPC, drop him, he's luring them!"
I look up to the corridor path, sensing not only the earthquakes but managing to see at least three of them running behind us. All the Ogres have different tree logs as weapons of roughly the same size, and strangely as before, their weapons keep passing through the wall without trouble as they charge forward.
?Girl: "Then that makes the point of this dungeon, right? It's an escort mission."
Her voice soothes my ears, and only now do I fully realize that I'm being carried over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and that my head was towards the ground. She's short, enough so that my hands drag on the floor if both my torso and arms are left relaxed. I only manage to see part of her back from my position, but her golden long braided hair tied with white ribbons and pink coat are easy enough to note.
?Man: "Escort my ass, I didn't accept this mission to be smashed by a dozen of those monsters."
?Boy: "Elay!-"
The floor shakes and the wall next to me explodes with a strike. The girl jumps to the side, barely managing to evade the attack of an Ogre that just appeared right in front of us from a corner, her feet need a couple of hurried steps to regain her balance before she can run again.
?Girl: "Steven! I thought you were looking ahead!"
?Boy: "I'm sorry, t-there wasn't any in front of us, I swear! I thought I'd conserve some Energy."
?Girl: "Just--… just keep your Vision on."
?Man: "The only thing running will do to us is use all our energy and stack even more of those monsters. Drop the NPC and we'll cut our losses. That NPC is useless."
?Girl: "Let's just wait until he wakes up, he might have some clue as to what to do next."
"I- I'm not an NPC," – I mumble.
?Girl: "See?! Now he's going to tell us what to do."
"Huh?... I'm lost just like you guys… I don't know what this is all about."
I feel nauseated by the amount of bumping.
?Man: "Wow, he's useless. No need to thank me, now, -for my mother's sake- just drop him already."
"Wait!- Don't drop me, the Ogres are going to kill me!"
The man looks back with a doubtful frown, they stay a few seconds running in complete silence until the boy speaks up.
?Boy: "This labyrinth had something to do with the Gonkdim's old king," – he thinks aloud. – "It was something about trials where people were sent to kill each other until only one survives. I was considering this was unsolvable but… I'm not sure…"
?Girl: "What do you mean?"
?Boy: "Y-You see, this labyrinth won't end until the trial ends. No matter where we go, there won't be an exit."
One of the Ogres tumbles and falls behind us.
?Girl: "So, we spent twenty minutes running for nothing then?"
The boy shrugs as he runs.
?Boy: "Maybe, but there must be something we need to do for the exit to appear."
I bend my back upwards, with my arms supporting on Elay's back. Behind us, two Ogres charge furiously as they get closer.
"That's true, the labyrinth keeps changing itself, it's completely random, I saw it before going inside the game…" – Then I mumble to myself: – "I see, it doesn't make sense if its purpose is to be a labyrinth, this is an arena."
Elay looks back on her free shoulder.
?Girl: "There's two of them now. Shouldn't there be five?"
The boy and the muscled man look back.
?Boy: "'Random', huh? They could be tiring up. Or if what the NPC is saying is true, maybe the labyrinth is separating us from them," – he says with his eyes glowing yellow, – "b-but again, I wasn't paying attention to that until now."
?Girl: "So, we keep running," – she says tiredly.
?Boy: "Don't get too far away from each other! If we distance ourselves too much we might end up separated. J-Just in case."
I turn my vision on, being able to see the Ogres' names and bars above their heads, and then it clicked, the idea to see who the people helping me were, so I twist my body.
The tall man called "Mark" has the nametag [Markolain Warrior, House of Bluecats (Level 94)]; while the "Steven" boy is [Tak Sorvak, House of Bluecats (Level 107)], and for the one carrying me, I'm surprised to see a popup at her back, her name "Elay the 7th, House of Bluecats (Level 98)" is over its window, but below it, I can see skill icons and her equipped items.
I can see her skills? What--
I look at her arm holding near my waist.
Wait, if she's carrying me I can see her skills? That wasn't in the game before. Did she allow me to? No, I would have to send a request first or use a skill to spy on it.
The earthquakes getting closer redirect my focus, behind us the Ogres were basically at their weapons range. I wide my eyes and instinctively poke the air thinking about the word "Character", and in front of me a popup appears with all my information, just like Elay's but even more detailed.
"DArkstrider [Level 75]" is in its title, and below it, there are my equipped items, then my main attributes, and finally my skills, two rolls of six icons each.
Right! I'm not in Combat, the Ogre that attacked me isn't here anymore, I can change my skills.
After quick thinking, I tap one of those icons with my index finger and another popup appears on the side, a big wheel-like skill tree is separated into three parts, each having a color and a different mark on the background. I spin the wheel and stop when the transparent blueish third is on top and I poke one of the outmost skills. With only that, my skills switch places.
"Get closer to me! I'll use speed boots on everyone!"
Mark: "I don't like this," – he says indecisive.
Hope this works…
Elay: "Get closer guys, he'll use something."
The three of them obey, and when I see that the distance was right, I imagine my speed boots skill and it instantly molds itself in my feet with blue magic, but not only that, with the three of them in mind a circle echoes in the air surrounding me, traveling and enchanting their boots as well, wings popping on their feet. The Skill Resonance I put in just now worked exactly as I thought it would.
The wind pushes everyone's back, making me almost fall from Elay's shoulder by the speed and the Ogres to distance themselves from us.
By the time the skill wore off, the earthquakes stopped and there were no more Ogres in sight.
Sorvak: "I-… I- think they are gone," – the boy says panting, looking at all sides with his golden eyes.
Elay: "You sure?"
Sorvak: "Yeah, there's nothing near us anymore."
Mark: "I used more than half of my energy just to run." – The bulky man sits on the floor with a thud. – "If my character at least doesn't level up after this dungeon I'll be pissed off."
Sorvak: "The only mobs we killed were at the entrance, so I doubt that's going to be the case."
Mark: "Tsk."
Elay: "Don't be a downer, maybe it gives a good item in the end."
I poke Elay's back.
"So, hey. You can drop me now."
Elay: "… Oh, right."
She lifts my hips, throws me forward, and I fly until my back hits the ground with brute force.
[16##/3710]
[1445/3710]
"Ouch! You don't need to be so damn rude!"
Elay: "Ah- sorry, I clicked the wrong button."
I stand up, patting the dust off my cloak.
"Haha… funny."
She suddenly walks closer, stopping a couple of steps in front of me, and stares up with her brave green eyes. I look at her with a frown, finally being able to see what she was wearing: it's a pink adventurer's open dress coat with slightly whiter leather pads protecting her shoulders, elbows, and knees; a few belts surround her inner white shirt with a few small squared pouches on the side; and she's apparently unarmed.
As suddenly as she came, she turns and walks back to her group.
"Okay…"
Sorvak: "Then what do we do now?"
Elay: "I thought he would say something about getting out of here, but if he doesn't know, then…"
At the corner of my vision, I see that my health bar is roughly at a third.
Inventory.
I poke the air and the window appears, its visuals being identical to SFO's: a greyish transparent panel with some details at the corners.
I open the Consumables tab and double-tap one item, but my finger passes through the untouchable screen. I wasn't sure if that would do the trick but the square slot shines white. Whatever, instead of using it, an entire loaf of bread comes sliding out to my hands.
"What the--" – The bread almost falls from my fingers.
Sorvak: "Uh- We probably need to walk a little more, now that we have him the true path might unlock."
Mark: "Tsk… 'might', if he wasn't an NPC I would have killed him already, what a waste of time."
I take a furious bite off the rubbery bread.
"I did save your butt not a minute ago, you know."
[15##/3710]
[16##/3710]
[1731/3710]
Interestingly enough, the bread tastes quite good, like it just came out of the oven, but it's still too dry.
Mark: "Who fucking cares? These NPCs…."
Elay: "Mark, control your anger, it's not his fault."
I gulp the bread with difficulty and I leave it half done back to my Inventory, pushing it against the transparent popup to its inexistence, then the bread's icon reappears in the item list, being partially consumed. I poke for a red potion, it slides into my hands, but unlike before, I take it without any surprises.
I take off its stopper and the smell of sugary blood invades my lungs. I close my nostrils with my fingers and reluctantly drink it.
Sorvak: "Well, it's an improvement, we didn't see anything else in the entire dungeon, doing this must be useful, somehow."
Mark: "Whatever. Let's just keep moving, if nothing happens in five minutes I'm quitting the game. Fuck this dungeon."
"Hm--! What?" – I almost choke with the health potion. – "You guys can quit the game? I tried before and it didn't work."
The Ogre's grip flashes back to my mind, and my screams to disconnect. I'm pretty sure that if I could disconnect, something would have happened there, even if it was an error of some sort. That's when I remember the Orb's list of rules, and I change tabs on the Inventory.
"It is in the rules, isn't it?"
Mark: "What the fuck is he talking about?"
The other two remain silent.
"It's the tenth rule, [The player can't leave such character until this ability is used again], see? You can't leave." – I frown reading the rule a second time. – "Whatever 'until this ability is used again' means. Oh, and besides, only the Character and Inventory menus can be accessed, the main one, -what was the name of it again?- the one for you to quit it or change the settings, you can't open it."
I look at them, noticing they are all staring at me with seriousness.
"What? You guys didn't know? You seriously came in and thought: 'Cool, let's play the game that just a minute ago was on my PC, but now I can use my body that feels real pain to do dungeons'?"
They don't respond.
"Like seriously. Or maybe you guys… do you know how to disconnect?"
But they only keep staring at me.
Mark: "It's just me, or the NPC is responding us?" – he says in a rough voice.
"… This again? I said it already, I'm not an NPC. What's up with you guys? I'm real," – I point at my chest. – "I was a player and I picked this item--, what was it?" – I scroll up. – "Orb of Samsara, then I got transferred inside the game. Didn't that happen to you guys?"
The corridor falls silent for a moment.
Elay: "This is creepy, guys."
Sorvak: "T-That's… That's amazing." – He straightens his glasses.
Mark stomps the floor to stand, his heavy steps shaking the ground just like the Ogres that were chasing us a while ago.
Mark: "What the fuck," – he says in a deep stern voice. – "SFO is making NPCs hear our microphones? That shouldn't be a thing."
"Wait-- what do you mean by that?" – I step back.
Elay: "We aren't talking in-game, though. How the--" – She stops herself.
Two of them become static and Mark strides forth, only halting when he's right in front of me and I feel the cold wall at my back, my legs lose their strength and I fall on my butt to the floor.
Mark: "He says he is a player. Ogres are following him. And this crazy shit labyrinth…" – He looks down at me with anger. – "Steven, could this guy be the final boss?"
"What?- Where that came from?"
Sorvak: "Uhm…"
Mark: "It makes sense right? You said something about this being a trial that people would need to kill each other, maybe this is what it means."
"It doesn't! Listen to yourself!--"
Elay: "But-- what if he's telling the truth?"
Mark: "A player transferred inside the game?" – he says ironically.
Elay: "It's-"
Mark: "-Are you serious? You are reacting to too much anime lately, that's why you're not thinking straight."
Steven grips his staff tighter, looking down at his feet quietly.
Mark: "Is he really an NPC? I don't know what the devs are doing by making the game detect our microphones without our permission, maybe it's the new update or something. But I tell you, I won't be losing my character because you guys trusted a damn monster shifter."
"I-I'm not a monster shifter! That doesn't even exist in the game, what are you saying? You guys aren't in the game like me? You are, aren't you? You guys are pranking me, right?"
Elay stares at me with fearful eyes, clasping her trembling hands against her chest.
"This… This is a prank, right? You guys are like me… transferred inside the game. You are players, not NPCs like that guy that gave me the orb, you guys--… you guys actually talk as if you were playing a game…."
I look up, to Mark grabbing the single-headed battle-axe from his back, grasping it tightly with both his giant hands as red flames burst out at the weapon's back, mirroring the blade as a second elemental head.
Mark: "There's only one way of knowing it…" – He lifts the axe towards the ceiling. – "An NPC doesn't receive damage from players. If he's not a monster, he won't have a scratch on him. You two ready yourselves."
Mark waits two more seconds, hesitating to see if anyone would have any better ideas, but there's only silence.
That's when his muscles grow in anger and, with its blade aimed downwards, the axe cuts the air with violence.
His strike hits the stone with brute force, sinking his blade into the broken floor.
"Wait," – I say behind him, blue particles sparkling around me and where I was but an instant ago. – "We can talk about this."
The entire place begins to tremble. Mark heavily lifts his axe off the ground, turning to face me and opening his mouth to yell:
Mark: "Elay! Steven! Wake the fuck up. This is the final boss, I can feel it. If we take him down, the dungeon is over."
I look around, seeing the source of all the trembling.
The corridors are widening up, they also realize that, all of us glance around at the walls being pushed back to become something like a wide squared room, the corridor paths close into walls, and, when the rumbling ends, the golden baseboards turn red.
The four of us stand silently in this big squared arena, them nearest to the walls in a triangle around me, and me right at the center of it all. But most importantly, there isn't a single exit to run away to.