An endless corridor of shifting lights stretched before me, the colors flowing in ways I couldn't fully describe. Some shimmered like sunlight on water; others pulsed with hues I couldn't name, as if they belonged to another reality entirely. It would have been mesmerising... If only I hadn't been dragged here all of a sudden.
I don't remember much of what happened, a hand dragged me into the lights... And then everything went dark.
When I woke up, I stood still, surrounded by the lights whizzing past.
As for how long I had been here, god only knows and, seeing that nothing was happening, I started walking forward. Not because of some grand reason, it was more... A feeling.
Along the way, I kept thinking about why I'm here in the first place.
"Am I dreaming? No, that's unlikely, my dreams were never this vivid in the first place. Coma? Not likely..." I spoke out loud without thinking.
I stopped walking.
'Then did I die?'
... And resumed my footsteps.
'No way, I'm way too young for that. Even if all the instant noodles and all nighters were bad for me...But still...'
As I kept walking, the dreary thoughts kept coming around, always circling hinting at the fact that I had, in fact - probably died.
"I didn't die, no way!"
For better or worse, there was no reply from the corridor.
Time passed, and even those thoughts faded from my head. Instead, I suddenly became curious about the colors flowing by.
I turned my head sideways, to try getting a better view at the colors, yet I also saw past them.
Strange shapes of various sizes, some of which made sense like those of animals and humans or what appeared to be humans. Yet others were foreign, strange and alien.
And some of them caused me sharp, cutting pain in my head if I look at them for too long.
As I was staring at the shapes, one of them suddenly bunched up, slowly forming something akin to a half-open, gray eye.
I turned my head away before it could fully form.
'No way in hell would I turn to look around now. Eyes on the roa-'
"You've already looked." a voice spoke.
"I didn't do anythi-" Unconsciously, I spoke out.
Crack!
I felt a sharp pain in my side and was sent flying.
I smashed against the lights, feeling like I broke through a thin glass panel.
And I saw the world beyond the lights- an endless amount of shifting shapes and impossible geometry, drawing my gaze towards them.
As I kept looking, the pain in my head suddenly became unbearable.
I grabbed at the lights surrounding me unconsciously, and I pulled as hard as I could, trying to return to the tunnel.
With a cracking sound, I fell back in, collapsing to the ground.
Glancing where the attacker should be, I saw nothing.
Not letting down my guard, I snuck a glance at the wound on my side.
A blue light leaked out of the wound, and while no blood was flowing out of the massive hand-deep cut on my side, I still felt unease.
"You've looked, haven't you?" a different voice sent chills down my spine.
Now knowing better, I managed to keep my mouth shut obediently. I also closed my eyes to prevent the off chance of looking at the walls.
"Let us in. Look at us." the voice spoke, but I still didn't answer.
A second voice soon joined in. "Mag. Nifi. Cent. Let. US. In."
More and more voices kept speaking, one after another.
A droning noise had appeared along the way, a headache following right after.
My legs broke out into a sprint, hoping to outrun the cacophony of voices, chasing after the distant thing that kept calling, growing ever stronger.
'I want to live, damn it all!'
The voices grew louder, and an impending sense of doom overwhelmed me, like a drowning man being sinking deeper.
Only the faint feeling gave me hope for a way out.
'How long do I have to endure this?!'
"LET US INNNN"
'HOW LONG-'
"LET US INNNNNNN"
'IT HURTS, IT FUCKING HURTS.'
'WHEN WILL IT STOP, DAMN IT??'
'WHEN-'
Riiiiiip!
My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of torn fabric.
And then there was silence.
The droning in my ears was still there, yet other than that, there was nothing.
Even that faded shortly after.
Still slightly dizzy, I opened my eyes.
I was inside of a cave, overlooking a vast chasm, with faint light coming from cracks above. One more step, and a hundred meters drop would've been the end of me.
"The tutorial?" I spoke without thinking.
'This... It really is Rise of the Domain's tutorial...'
Before I could reminiscence anymore, I heard a hissing sound behind me.
I turned around, and 5 shadowy creature came out of the darkness.
As soon as the first one came into the light, I felt disgusted.
'It really had to be the ugly things I see first, huh.' I thought as I looked at the Cave Spiders.
Being nearly a meter in width, these things were the stuff of nightmares for newer players. Not only did they have a fatal poison, they hunted in packs, and...
'I fucking hate jumping spiders! Nightmare fuel!'
Trying to grab at my hip, I found...
Nothing.
'Oi oi oi oi, are you kidding me? No weapon!? HELLO, GAMEDE- GOD?! ANYONE?!'
HISS!
They got closer, all five of them being mere meters in front of me.
'I cant do anything against these things unarmed, I gotta get out of here somehow, but-'
Hiss!
'Nevermind, they're about to attack! Please, don't the people that reincarnate get a cheat or something?! Could I get one right now!?'
I looked around discretely for anything useful, trying not to provoke them.
Surrounded by only stones and shadows, I began to despair.
'Even newbies are given a weapon, you should give me one as well at least!'
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the spiders lowered it's body.
'Damn-' I dodged to the left.
It jumped towards me.
I fell to the ground, a sharp pain in my right shoulder.
I looked at it, seeing a chunk of flesh torn out by the spiders thick carpace, bleeding profusely.
As for the spider...
It overshot and went over the cliff.
'Come on, level up! The dumb thing isn't living a 100 meter fall!'
Hoping to get a level up any second now, I saw the rest of the spiders start charging towards me.
"Please, ANYTHING!?!"
Another one jumped.
'Ah...'
The gleam of the spiders fang was a hairs breath away from my face. I could make out every detail on its body, whether the hair covering it or the the hunger in its eyes.
Yet it didn't move.
I couldn't move, either.
Interrupting my thoughts, a bony hand grabbed the spider, moving it a away from my face.
There, in a tattered black cloak, and a simple scythe, the grim reaper stood, not even looking at me.
"Let's get this over with." a woman's voice.
'Wait, the reaper is a girl?'
The skeletal face turned to me. "Yes. Problem?"
'None at all!'
"Great." she said, followed by her pulling out a confetti cannon out.
???
With a pop, I saw confetti scatter everywhere.
"Congratulations!" She said in a deadpan voice, ignoring my confusion. "You were going to die originally after your stream-heart attack and all that. But benevolent me has taken pity on you, giving you a chance at another life."
'Heart attack?!'
"Yeah."
'And why do I get a second chance, just cause pity?!'
"Well, that and you did treat people kindly. You're a decent chap. That's about it?"
Suddenly she seemed to remember something, and continued "Oh right, you're gona die if I just leave you here, lol."
My body moved on its own, grabbing one of the rocks off the ground in this slowed down world.
'Eh?'
My arm moved on its own.
I hurled the rock like a cannonball, aiming at the spider that was still mid air, yet it stopped inches before it.
"That's that then. Bye." her voice whispered in my ear.
The reaper vanished, and time went back to normal.
The rock blasted through the spider, sending bits of it flying everywhere.
[Level up! Tutorial has been cleared.]
'At last!'
[Main quest: Survive the cave and get to the surface.]
'Thank you, reaper!'