Slowly, Arthur's eyes fluttered open, greeted not by his bedroom ceiling or the familiar weight of his duvet wrapped around him, but by a vast endless sky. No clouds. Just an unbroken strength stretch of blue, vibrant and disconcertingly perfect, like the world's largest canvas stretched taut overhead.
He sat up, groaning as he felt the tiredness within his body wash away as he reached out to feel around him. The ground beneath him was soft—grass, he realised quickly—but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the empty sky just yet. It was unnatural in its lawlessness, its lack of movement or sound, strangely artificial.
Rubbing his temples, Arthur tried to shake the haze from his mind.
Fragments of memory slipped through his fingers like grains of sand. He remembered going to bed, the soft hum of his fan in the background, the steady thrum of city life outside his window and then—
Nothing.
Now he was here, lying in a clearing surrounded by towering trees that cast long shadows over the emerald grass.
The forest was dense, the trees unnaturally uniform in their height and girth, their back a rigid brown. Their leaves were a rich, almost luminescent green that seemed to shimmer faintly when the breeze passed through. Yet, for all their beauty, there was a disturbing absence of sound.
No chirping birds.
No buzzing instincts.
No distant rustle of wildlife.
Only the faint whisper of leaves stirred by a breeze that barely touched his skin.
"Where...am I? He wondered, his broking the silence.
Rising to his feet, Arthur stood up, brushing the dirt from his clothes and turned in a slow circle. The clearing was small, barely wide enough for him to take possibly thirty to fourty steps across. At its centre lay a pool of water, crystal clear and perfectly round. Its surface shimmered faintly, catching the strange golden light filtering through the leaves.
It was beautiful.
Yet it was that very same beauty that made his stomach twist in unease.
It was too perfect.
Just like everything about this place.
Beyond the pool, Arthur's gaze fell upon a strange structure rising out of the earth at the edge of the clearing, just beyond the treeline. A stone archway, ancient and weathered standing tall amidst the trees. The arch was massive, its stone darkened with age and overgrown with moss. Strange symbols were carved into its surface, their edges glowing faintly with a purple hue that pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat.
Within the arch itself, a shimmering portal of a bright, yet also darker purple hue of the symbols rippled like water caught in the moonlight.
Hesitantly, Arthur took a step toward it, his breath hitching as he noticed something else; other archways.
In total, there were ten of them encircling the clearing, but the only one was intact. The rest were crumbling ruins, their stones scattered among the undergrowth. Arthur approached the closest ruined arch, brushing aside vines to reveal its broken foundation. Whatever power the symbols had once held was long gone—no glow, no pulse, just cold and lifeless stone.
His attention drifted back to the only archway intact.
The shimmering light was mesmerising, its energy almost palpable.
He felt drawn to it.
Like a moth to a flame.
But a cold twist in his stomach kept him rooted where he stood.
"What the hell is this place?"
His voice echoed faintly and he turned toward the pool, scanning the forest edge for any sign of life. For a moment he considered the possibility that others might be out there, beyond the edge of the forest. Yet as he looked beyond the treeline, trying to see deeper he found nothing.
No.
It wasn't that he found nothing.
It was that he couldn't see further.
The trees, uniform and rigid in their placement, seemed to grow thicker and thicker until eventually, it seemed to form an inescapable wall. There was an almost dark fog within the forest formed by the shadows of the trees that seemed to suck all light away.
It was unnatural.
Just like everything about this place.
But then came the questions.
Was he alone here?
Or were there others? Just a lost and confused as he was?
He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"
His voice echoed out but faded away quickly leaving him met with nothing but silence. The unease in his chest grew heavier and he crouched beside the pool, staring into its depths. The water was so clear he could see every detail of the smooth stone linings its bottom, yet there was no reflection.
Not of his face.
Not of the trees.
None of this was real.
It couldn't be.
Splashing water onto his face, Arthur hoped to wake himself from what had to be a dream. But the chill that spread through his skin only seemed to serve to confirm the opposite.
Standing once more, he turned back toward the portal, his gaze lingering on the symbols etched into the stone. They glowed brighter now, as though responding to his presence, beckoning him closer.
Curiosity drove his feet forward, carrying him toward the portal as his heart pounded with each step he took. There was a hum in the air now, faint but growing louder the closer he got to the portal. It vibrated against his skin, burrowing into his bones and sending a shiver down his spine.
Arthur hesitated at the edge of the archway, his hand hovering inches from the glowing portal. "Don't touch it." He warned himself. "Just stay back." As he began to lower his hand, the hum intensified, drowning out his thoughts and then, against every instinct screaming at him to turn back, his fingertips brushed against the shimmering portal.
The world around him shattered.
Light and darkness swirled together in a chaotic blur, pulling him downward into a suffocating void. Arthur cried out in shock, his stomach twisting violently as though he were falling through the earth. A ringing sound filled his ears, drowning out every thought, every sense of self.
He flailed instinctively, reaching out for something—anything!—to anchor himself.
There was nothing.
Then, with a jarring abruptness; it ended.
Arthur landed hard on the ground, the air knocked from his lungs leaving him coughing and wheezing. He rolled onto his hands and knees a few moments later, the scent of damp earth and decay filling his nostrils, the smell making his eyes sting.
When he looked up, his heart sank.
The forest around him was darker, denser and far more menacing. Shadows clung to trees like cobwebs and the canopy above blocked out all but the faintest traces of light. The air was heavy, oppressive and carrying the acrid stench of rot.
Before he could fully take in his surroundings, a sudden burst of glaring blue light appeared in front of him. He reflexively closed his eyes, raising his arms to try and block out the offending light.
Yet after a few moments, his eyes flickered open to look upon a translucent display that hovered before him. It was a bright blue screen with writing displayed upon it written in black.
WELCOME TO FLOOR 1.
OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE AND REACH THE EXIT.
WARNING! SHOULD YOU DESIRE TO ESCAPE EITHER REACH THE PORTAL AT THE EXIT OR RETURN THROUGH THE PORTAL YOU ARRIVED THROUGH.
Arthur's eyes widened in shock, the screen expanding as new lines of text appeared upon it.
PLEASE SELECT A WEAPON.
BOW AND ARROW.
SPEAR.
SWORD AND SHIELD.
WARNING! SELECTED WEAPON WILL NOT BE STORED IN INVENTORY UNTIL COMPLETION OF THE FIRST FLOOR.
"What is this?" Arthur wondered, his hand reaching out instinctively toward the display. His finger hovered over the options, his pulse quickening before, without fully understanding why or for what reason, selected an option. "Sword and shield." He whispered.
The display vanished, replaced by the shimmering silhouette of two objects, a sword and a shield. Arthur reached out and the silhouettes took shape, materialising in his hands, their weight heavy but not uncomfortable.
Almost as if on signal., a low rustling sound echoed from the undergrowth. Arthur froze, his grip tightening on the hilt of the sword as the noise grew louder, accompanied by the faint scratching and unmistakable patter of footsteps.
Emerging from the shadows, their eyes glinting with malice and hunger; came rats.
No.
Not rats.
These creatures were grotesque, monstrous parodies of the pests he knew. They stood nearly as tall as his knees, their fut matted with filth, their jagged teeth bared in a predatory snarl as they foamed at the mouth. Muscles rippled beneath their slick coats as they stalked toward him, their gazes locked on their prey.
Him.
One lunged.
Arthur swung wildly in response, the unfamiliar weight of the sword throwing him off his balance. The blade grazed the rat's size, but it barely flinched as its claws raked across his leg. Pain shot through him, sharp and immediate making his eyes widen in fear and panic as he cried out.
Stumbling back, Arthur raised the shield just in time to block another attack as a rat leapt at him. The impact jarred his arms, nearly knocking him off his feet as his grip on the shield nearly came loose. However, the rat clung to it, writhing back and forth threatening to tear the shield from him completely and he barely managed to throw it away.
"Stay back!" His voice broke as he shouted, swinging again and managing to connect with the skull of one rat. The creature let out a high-pitched screech that made Arthur wince before it collapsed.
Yet despite seeing one of its own felled, the others were undeterred.
They swarmed him, their teeth and claws tearing into his flesh, blood dripping onto the forest floor mixing with the scent of decay as Arthur struggled with all his might to keep them at bay. Every movement of his body felt slower and heavier, as though the very air itself resisted him.
He stumbled, collapsing to one knee and for a single moment, despair completely consumed him as the rats smashed into him. He raised his shield, the rats slamming into it and knocking him onto his back as they began to tear at his legs, face and every other exposed part of his body that the shield did not cover.
They ignored his screams and pleas for help as he tried to move his shield to knock them away, but it was futile.
They just kept coming.
Then, in the distance, he saw it—the faint shimmer of the portal.
A final desperate surge of energy burst within him as Arthur surged to his feet, scrambling as he ran. He ignored the rat's screeches, ignored the excruciating pain coursing through his body as his vision blurred with tears and exhaustion.
He purely focused on moving forward.
The moment his hands brushed the portal's edge, the world dissolved again.
Arthur collapsed onto the grass of where he had first awoken gasping for air. His body trembled, every muscle screaming in protest and Arthur looked around in a mad scramble for the rats.
They were nowhere to be seen.
He then looked down at his body.
His clothes were tattered, the areas in which the rats had torn through it to get to him clear, but his breath caught.
The wounds were gone.
His skin was smooth, unblemished as though the desperate struggle for survival had never happened in the first place. But the memory of pain lingered, sharp and unrelenting.
Once more, the blue display appeared before him.
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU SLAYED 1 GIANT RAT!
YOU HAVE BEEN AWARED 25 EXP!
KEEP IT UP!
Despite those words, Arthur slumped, staring up at the sky as his breath became shaky and tears prickled at his eyes.
This place wasn't safe.
It was a prison.
it was Hell.
And Arthur was trapped here.