Waking up from my death at the hands of the corrupted.
The first thing that happened to me is one thing that I did not like in the least.
I spawned right in the middle of some rather...
Interesting surroundings to say the least.
'What the hell?'
Propping myself up from the hard stone ground I felt something touch my hand.
Glancing at what was there I stared at the thin bone that was connected to a much, much larger figure.
"What the absolute hell"
I was currently held in some dungeon of some sorts, the grey stone walls doing nothing in helping my predicament.
Ancient rusted chains hung from the roof, holding up several cages that held the remnants of their former prisoners.
Iron bars stuck in the side of the stone walls let in the sunlight, illuminating the room a great deal in it's natural orange light.
However, my sight wasn't attracted to any of these things for long.
It wasn't even attracted to the bloody axe embedded in a wooden pillar in the middle of the room.
No.
It was actually attracted to the owner of the bone that I had accidentally touched upon awakening.
The bone I had touched that was the length of my arm and connected to several other bones in the general shape of a hand.
Covered in dusty torn rags the bone hand was contained in a broken vambrace as a giant skeleton slumped against the wall.
Rusted and broken armor covered the giant in it's strong hold, the remnants of clothes hugging the giant's body in a dirty embrace.
Covered in a layer of dust, my eyes were brought to the thing that seemed to have felled the giant in his death.
Slumped against the wall, jaw slack and being held by what remained of flesh, a helmet pulling the head back and causing the giant skull to stare at the cause of his death.
His shadowed and hollow eyes stared at the giant spear that touched the ceiling of the building.
The sharp metallic end of the blade sunk into the guts of the giant, the leather plackart being easily sliced open by the sharp end of the blade.
'Well... that's creepy'
Thinking those words I turned my head to understand the rest of the room I was in.
'But where am I?'
Eyes wide, I looked around the room and at it's stony walls.
Well that was until something alerted me of course.
[Dead cells 25%]
'What the!?'
Staring at the sudden increase in sync rate, information that wasn't present in my mind before suddenly appeared.
Unconsciously activating the black flames on my head, they seemed to consume much more of my face than usual, the only parts that weren't on fire being my face.
Groaning at the sudden influx of information I kneeled against the cold stone ground before looking around the room in a new sense of understanding.
'So I'm at the starting point that a dead cells character is supposed to appear in?'
Looking up and groaning, I looked at the stone ceiling that held several heavy iron cages and thought about my predicament.
'Seems like I'm fated to find the malaise either way huh?'
Bitterly smiling as I recalled the thing that had initially destroyed the ship I was on and killed me near instantly.
I shook my head and looked around.
But if I was present in the dead cells spawn point than...
Finding what I was looking for, I found a small hole that was covered by moss and hidden behind the giant skeleton.
Jumping up a semi brokem wooden ledge, I jumped up again and now I was above the giant skeleton.
Taking a glance at the giant skeletal monstrosity that was dead, I turned and looked for the hole that was supposed to be besides the ledge.
Finding it I rolled.
Rolling into the hole I entered another room, and in that room.
Was... nothing?
Blinking once a thought flashed through my mind.
'I'm was not expecting that'
The room was just like the one I was just in except for the fact that there were no iron bars that led to the outside world and allowed the sunlight to stream in.
Strangely enough, despite the general ancientness, copious amounts of dust and extreme worn down walls.
There were no signs of cobwebs from spiders any where.
Or insects for that matter.
Pondering on the matter for a moment I nodded, it was quite simple actually.
Malaise infected people and turned them into monsters the same way the Corrupted did, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the Crimson was the same.
But nevertheless, the reason there were zero insects was that they most probably had turned into monsters.
Looing around, the only thing that was different in the small room was that it had a skeleton with arrows sticking out of it...
It also was carrying a quick bow with a blueprint of it besides the corpse.
'Well that was convenient'
Taking the quick bow into my hands I admired the green weapon.
Having two strings much like the compound bows I had the privilege of holding in my past life.
The green bow had a green grip as the upper and lower limbs were shaped in the forms of wings that allowed the arrows to fly through the air.
Looking at the bow I briefly admired if for it's appearance before deciding to put the green weapon to the test by it's practical use.
I had already seen it's effectiveness through the rain of arrows that the Elven man who was also a student of my master had used against me from our...
Less than desirable first meeting.
Grabbing the blueprint and feeling the blueprint get assimilated into the system, it didn't take a genius to now that the sync rate of the Dead cells had gone up by a few notches.
Rolling our of the hole and standing on the wooden platform that had withstood the tests of time and still held despite the less than great effect of time.
Placing the arrow on the arrow shelf, I looked through the wooden sight and pointed my finger in the general direction I wanted to go.
Pulling back the string with considerable strength, I tensed my arms as I felt the steel string dig into my fingers, the arrow with feather fletching staying stock still in my grip.
Letting out a silent breath I aimed the bow and looked for something to shoot at.
Taking the skeletal skull that was in one of the cages as the target I smirked and took in a deep breath.
Letting that breath out I let the arrow whistle through the air.
Flying through the air, I didn't let the arrow even meet it's target before instinctively aiming somewhere below the skeleton held in the metal chain.
Manifesting an arrow from my inventory and into my hand, with quick motions I pulled back the strings and with smooth movements fired the arrow.
Repeating the action four more times, each time slightly adjusting my aim the arrow that was initially fired finally reached it's target.
The skull of the skeleton held in the metal cage held up by thick iron chains jerked back and dislodged off the shoulders of the skeleton.
The skull fell out of the cage an arrow stuck in the middle of it's skull.
Twisting in the air, the arrow following the first sunk into the jaw and caused it to flip again in the air.
The third sunk into the back of the skull causing the jaw to dislodge itself from the skull head.
The fourth split the skull in half, a thick crack running across the boney cranium.
The fifth and sixth didn't even leave their wooden bodies on the skull.
Instead choosing to obliterate the cracked skull to small shards.
Bringing my bow down I looked at my hands and saw how a distinct mark was left on my fingers.
'Yeah, I think I can work with this'
Grinning absurdly I looked at the large hall that was where the giant seemed to have come from.
Keeping the foolish grin on my face, I walked forwards with confident steps.
'I wonder where my journey will bring me'
---
The God of Fun and Games lay on top of a bed of fluffy white clouds with a constant grin on their face that seemed always present.
"Heh, it looks like he's finally at the Prisoner's Quarters"
Holding a screen in their hands while kicking their feet in the air, they lay face down on the cloud bed while nearby another God of Fun and Games looked over.
"What's got you so happy?"
"Well..." Without explanation the childish God showed it to what seemed to be his clone.
Raising an eyebrow the God of Fun and Games looked at his counterpart.
"So Slade finally got to the Prisoner's Quarters? Did he die to the Eater of Worlds by chance?"
"No, he actually died by the Hand of the Corrupted"
"Really?" Raising an eyebrow, the Child who was also a god glanced at the similar screen in his own hands.
"Well would you look at that"
Smiling brightly, the God Child spoke.
"It seems that Ruby has finally chosen which archetype to focus in"
Showing a figure wearing a bony mask who was covered in a long black tendril like cloak.
They stood standing in front of a strange table that contained various creatures that were known for their poison.
Taking a large piece of metal out of their pocket that was much smaller than the ingot suggested, they also took out a strange mushroom.
Putting it into the strange table, the metal and mushroom shuddered for a moment before a bright light shone.
As the bright light died down, in their hands was a metallic bullet.
+++
What do you think?
A new character? Or a new enemy?
Tree