Broken Skull

My bones creaked with every step I took, each one just as difficult as the last. While I didn't have to worry about stamina, the dozens of cracks in essentially every one of my bones made it agonizing to walk faster than a slow shuffle. My mana was all gone, and my health was so low a rough slap would kill me.

After the anger had cleared, I just felt drained. I didn't know where I was going, but I just kept moving.

Movement is life. Stay alive. That's all I have to do.

I could feel small bone fragments falling from my arms and legs. Taking a glance at my hands, I noticed that I was missing two fingers on my right, and my whole left hand was gone. I couldn't see out of my right eye, and my left leg felt like it could crumble at any moment. In short, I was a wreck of a skeleton. Each of my bones ached, with every injury grinding against another.

Slowly, I walked, until I eventually came upon a set of stairs leading down. I thought about Iliana, who would probably be back at the main encampment, healing any survivors who remained, though I doubted any other than me had survived the spell.

I thought about Lilith, who would likely be organizing the next scouting team, or sparring with any new recruits that hadn't participated in the battle. She would probably chew me out for being so heavily injured.

I thought about Kellor, who would have to return to his duties here on the third floor. Rivena, who would likely be researching some unknown topic of magic that none but her own Sentinels could understand.

This could be considered a victory in many ways. Many dungeoneers had died, and the select few that escaped were not unscathed. Their fort on the fourth floor was gone, forcing any newcomers to either hide, or move on. We'd only lost a minor fraction of our total forces, due to using the low level skeletons. All in all, it could be said to have been a total victory. However, it was a pyrrhic victory to me.

Maybe my thinking had changed in the past two months, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did. In fact, looking back, I noticed that I thought better of those around me than I used to. I had less of an inclination to abandon my people, violence wasn't as cathartic as it used to be, nor was I as prone to it. I hadn't spoken about the skeleton's supposed 'birthright' in at least a month, and I certainly hadn't used it to sway others to join the cause, which was at this point, feeling somewhat vague.

Victory... My personal victory... A home where none of us fear for our lives? That's not my victory anymore. That's their victory. That's what they likely want, and need. I'll have to think about it. My victory.

My bones lightly clicked against the stone stairs, the darkness of the dungeon seeming to press in on me as I walked further down. While I did feel slightly out of it, I knew that I'd been walking down those stairs for longer than I should have been. However, when I turned to begin the climb back upward, the stairs suddenly shifted, turning into a stone ramp, sending me sliding down, although not painfully so, despite the stone scraping against my pelvis and heels. Soon the stone changed to tile, then to ice, and then to marble. Rapidly, I picked up so much speed that I knew if I stopped suddenly, I'd be scattered along whatever room I ended up in.

The marble ramp didn't end for a solid two minutes, but it soon did have a sheet of water flowing down from a recess in the wall that I noticed as I descended, which somehow made me pick up even more speed. I was worried that I might start to tumble, and break on the way down to wherever I was going, and thus, did my best to simply remain stable.

I wasn't able to react when I suddenly came to the end of the ramp, descending into a large pool of water. Surprisingly, I didn't shatter on impact, but I did sink right to the bottom.

"Get out of the water, you little shit." I heard a voice in my head, that sounded very strangely, like my own. The way it spoke, it sounded very much like I had when I first woke up. I thought about not doing as it said, when I noticed that the ground below me was slowly turning into what looked like large logs with spikes all over, that were beginning to rotate. I didn't bother to stick around to find out what they would do, trudging through the bottom of the body of water, fighting against the somewhat powerful pressure I was under.

Not needing to breathe was a boon, as it took me a good three minutes to walk, crawl, and drag myself out of the water, before I was situated in a large marble room, in front of a blue colored crystalline figure. Their face was featureless, as was the rest of their body, although every instinct I had was screaming for me to obey them, despite my own resistance.

"So I'm what you would call the Dungeon Master, and you've proven to be a real pain in the ass with that stunt you just pulled. Do you have any idea how much experience it costs to actually do a dungeon frenzy? Any idea at all? No? Well it's more than you've made me since I took the time to spawn you, that's for damn sure. Even as an emergency protocol I set up, it's still expensive enough that you'd never be able to repay it in your entire existence." The crystal being calling itself the Dungeon Master sat back, and the ground moved up to catch it, forming a marble chair.

"Okay, you know what, I'll give you the grand history of me, and some of your own shitty history, while I decide if killing you would be fun or not. That sounds like a good plan. Does that sound like a good plan? No, don't answer that, or I'll turn you into powder. Your opinions don't matter down here. Only mine do." The Dungeon Master snapped his crystal fingers, and the ground below me shifted, forced me into a kneeling position, and then solidified. The way he was speaking was rapid-fire, without pauses or transitions, making it hard to follow along.

"See, I got killed. Happened when my best mate found me fucking his girl. Fuckwit had it coming if you ask me. Best part about dying though, is that sometimes you don't stay dead. Got chosen for my brilliant mind, by who, I don't know, or care. I got to be the master of my very own dungeon. Got killed only to become a God. The God, really. After all, I've never seen any of those other pompous assholes come down from heaven to smite me. Don't believe me? That's fine, just watch this." Without another word, a skeleton was summoned at his side, who looked at both of us, and almost raised a hand to speak, but before it could do so, it was turned to dust without any warning.

I felt rage burning within me, but tried not to show it. I had to admit, this brat was powerful. Powerful enough to kill me, Lilith, Rivena, and all the others that remained. I didn't speak a word.

"So, with that out of the way, there's no need to wonder where your God is. 'Cause he's right here, and I ran out of mercy a very long time ago." I swore he grinned at that point, his featureless face almost literally cracking a smile.

"Back to the story. I got here, and every other dungeon that was selected in a manner like me, was just starting out. Getting their first few floors set up, with the worlds shittiest monsters at their disposal. I guess some part of me wanted people to know what they were doing if they were going to be trying to clear my dungeon. Too bad that most of them ended up dead before reaching the fourth level. Goblins armed with stone weapons are vicious little bastards, but that's the fun part about them. Anyways, I ended up getting bigger and bigger, owning more floors than everyone else, until eventually, I was able to spread my dungeon all over, having multiple entrances. At the moment, I have a total of, drum roll please." With his words, actual drums appeared to his right, and began to play themselves. I was honestly a bit stunned by how much this guy liked to hear himself talk, and it was really getting on my nerves that he had my voice.

The drums stopped, and he leaned forward. "Eight entrances total! I'm all over, and each entrance can lead you to anywhere in the world, so long as you get down to the eighty seventh floor. Told you I'm a God, but you didn't believe me, did you? Well, that's points in favor of killing you, then. Anyways, I worked hard, but my goal doing this has always been one thing, and one thing only. Entertainment. Mine specifically. It can get really dull down here, especially after four hundred years or so. Watching people kill and get killed is quite nice, though. Some are defiant to the end, some die in an instant, and some just break down crying. It's hilarious! Hmm, you don't think so, do you? Yeah, more points in favor of killing you, asshole." The way he was arbitrarily deciding whether I should live or die was rubbing me the wrong way, but I figured if I said anything against him, he'd throw a fit and just crush me with the solidified stone that still held me in place.

"I've made unique monsters by the dozens over the past, and even had several dungeon breaks that I orchestrated. Wonderfully entertaining experiences, I'll tell you, but not the most deliciously excrutiating for both monsters and people. No, those are the so called 'catastrophe' dungeon breaks. Only done them a few times. Roughly three, and each of them were fantastic to witness. That's some points in favor of sparing you. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do. Okay, here's the deal. You cause the next Catastrophe within two months, or I just kill you. Sounds good, right? I know, my brilliance is staggering. Go on now, do as your God commands." Without another word, I found myself no longer in the presence of the blue bastard, but now amidst the ruins of the fourth floor fort, ash and rubble surrounding me.

What an ass.

I slowly crawled out of the debris, making sure I wouldn't fall and break a limb. Afterward, I trudged off toward the encampment, my bones grinding together. If the brat calling himself the Dungeon Master was to be believed, I had two months to get out of the dungeon. It would be a shame to not learn what awaited me on the floors below, but I didn't mind. For now, I had work to do.