Chris Nordstrom, Inside The Dungeon.

The blue window in front of me disappears. In its place, standing a few feet away from me is a zombie.

I jump back in preparation, wondering if it might attack me. It just stands there, looking at me curiously.

After a moment of it not attacking me, I relax. Slowly, I approach the creature and study it.

The zombie just looks at me, it’s skin is pale beyond human, the texture looking almost pasty. It’s eyes are a strange yellow and its cheek bones are visible, the skin no longer covering them. Thankfully, the creature seems to be empty of blood, so the sight isn’t too gory. The zombie wears some loose cloth covering up its privates. Funnily, the zombie actually seems… feminine. Probably just my teenage boy imagination though.

I must be into some weird shit, if that’s in my imagination.

I remember how word had finally made it out of Salt Lake City while I was leaving school, saying that it was undead monsters which destroyed the city.

“Did your cousins destroy Salt Lake City?” I ask the creature.

It just tilts its head, uncomprehending.

I step back, surprised at the movement. I’d thought that it was unable to move.

I run my hand through my hair, taking a full step back, done inspecting the creature. Once I do, another blue screen appears in front of me.

Choose The Environment for your Starting Race:

Underground

Forest

Jungle

Ruins

Plains

Deserts

Another choice given to me without any real explanation. I glance over at the zombie, who is motionless except for its studying of me.

Damn. There’s intelligence behind those eyes. Not something I like to see.

I shake my head, turning back to the choice in front of me.

Again, I go through my options starting from the bottom. Deserts make me think of mummies more than zombies, so they’re out. Plains are too plain.

Ruins fit my idea of zombies, plus they have plenty of hiding spots if this thing tries to chase me down. I glance at my zombie real quick, then quickly turn back to the screen. Nothing seems to fit it the way that Ruins does, so I think I’ll go with that.

“[I choose Ruins for the environment.]”

As soon as I made my choice, the white nothingness surrounding me shifts, skyscrapers rise from the ground only to fall, and be covered in vines. Roads build themselves only to be split apart by trees rising in the middle of them. Cars appear, only to rust and be taken over by the land. A sun just rising in the sky lights the world up with the rays of dawn

My mouth hangs open as I stare at the landscape surrounding me. “So cool.” I whisper under my breath.

I look over to the zombie and nearly scream as I see at least thirty more zombies appear around it.

I gulp involuntarily. Those things are frickin’ scary.

Thankfully, a blue window distracts me from the terrifying sight.

As your Starting Race adapts to the terrain and overcomes the trials before it, you will earn gold that you can use to improve the Dungeon Race, or dungeon.

Congratulations on being the second person on your planet to start a dungeon, as a reward, you earn an extra eighty dungeon gold and an Expanded Dungeon package.

When you are ready to start your dungeon, say “Start dungeon”

Good luck, and may the best Dungeon Master win.

Alright, so there is a lot to take in from that message. First, I’m the second on my planet to start a dungeon. That implies that there are other planets out there.

Ok, cool down. Don’t panic. I always thought there had to be life out there somewhere anyway.

Then there is the whole “good luck, and may the best Dungeon Master win” bit. What am I winning? I don’t remember signing up for any competition. In fact, could I please not compete? I really don’t need to win anything.

I run my hand through my hair again, and look for a good place to hide. Best not to start the dungeon standing in front of thirty zombies.

Finding a nice building to hide in, but still have a good view of the zombies. I make my way over to the front door of the building and enter, curiously looking at all of the vines making their way up the walls. I walk to the door with a little symbol for stairs on it, it takes a good pull before the door opens, completely coming off of its hinges. The stairs are in fairly good shape, considering how dilapidated the rest of the building is. They were made of metal, which means they didn’t rot away.

Finally I catch sight of the room that I wanted to use for my viewing of the zombies. With a surprising spring in my step, I walk through the threshold, only to be suddenly stopped by several silk-like strands. I stare at the strands across my arms and chest with growing horror.

Oh. Oh no. Please god no. I look up to the center of the web I’m stuck in, and see a basketball-sized spider.

This time I scream. Few people can possibly understand what it is like to stare stare up into eight beady eyes as big as human eyes. Something inside you screams, this is a predator! Run! Unfortunately my movements only get me further stuck into the web.

I look up again to see the spider still unmoving. Is it dead? No, I haven’t started the dungeon yet, which probably means that the spider can’t move.

I could really use that helpful dungeon fairy now. Please?

Unnamed Zombie

I watch as the creator studies me, his chilling blue eyes running over every part of my body. I watch him, curious.

I know what he is, he is the creator. But he is… different than I imagined him, not that I ever imagined him before. I did not exist to imagine until moments ago….

What a strange feeling. But, how do I know that it is strange? Everything should be strange.

“Did your cousins destroy Salt Lake City?” The creator asks me.

I tilt my head in confusion, I know what each word means, but the sentence does not make sense to me. Cousins, what cousins? And what city is in a salt lake? Even if I could respond, which I could not because of the rules. I would not know how to.

When I tilt my head, the Creator steps back in… fear? I had not meant to frighten him. Forgive me.

The creator fully steps back, controlling his face so that the fear fully disappeared, but I could still smell a trace of it on him.

The creator ignores me as he turns to stare into empty space. I take the chance to study him.

Although I do not have anything to compare him to, I know that he is handsome. Strange that I should know such a thing, but I do. His body is toned with regular exercise, and he has a habit of running his hand through the short curly red hair on his head. His chilling blue eyes study the screen in front of him, thoughts beyond my comprehension no doubt running through his mind.

“[I choose Ruins for the environment.]”

With those simple words of his, the world shifts around us, and I feel the presence of twenty of my brothers and sisters.

I watch the creator’s face with amazement, as it shows obvious wonder at the world around him.

He turns to us and is obviously startled by the increase in our numbers. Once again, the creator is distracted by something unseen in front of him. He looks around us before heading off towards a small building.

Once he is gone, I wait patiently, knowing that soon the world around us will give me permission to move and stretch my limbs.

A scream shakes me to the core, as I realize that the creator must be in trouble.

I must help him.

Warning: Movement before dungeon start is not allowed, please give a reason for your movement.

“My creeeatooor is iiin daaaaangeeer.” A garbled voice comes from my mouth,

Acknowledged, you have been granted permission to move. Please do not abuse permission or there will be punishment.

I move forward with surprise as the bonds on me release. With an infuriatingly slow amble I walk towards the sound of the scream. I’m not fast enough! What if something were to happen to the creator because I did not arrive in time?

Congratulations! Due to your unique soul and mentality, you have been granted the variant Undead Shaman.

Do you accept this change?

Yes/No

“Yeeees.” I say, grateful for anything that might help me. Suddenly, my control over my body increases and my slow amble turns into a jog.

****

Chris

I stare in frustration at the window I’d been on my way to, before I got caught by this stupid spider web. I’d lost the purchase on the ground I’d need to really get me out of this situation. Stupid skip in my step.

Congrats! One of your Zombies has evolved into the undead variant Undead Shaman! +20 gold

How in the world did that happen?

A few minutes later, I hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from behind me. Oh. Oh no. Nothing is supposed to be moving until I give the say-so. I am going to die because something broke the rules. Oh god, my brains are going to be eaten.

*Whack*

I close my eyes as the sound of flesh being hit reaches my ears. A soft thud beside me makes me open my eyes in time to see a stick bashing into the spider that had been hit to the floor.

The spider’s legs curl up in death after another hit from the stick, and a black mist is pulled from the dead spider into the creature behind me.

So, uh… What now?

I’m answered by two arms that wrap around my stomach and start pulling me away from the web.

The sound of my clothes ripping slightly reaches my ear as I’m pulled out of the web. With a final rip, my savior and I fall to the ground.

I turn around to look at a surprisingly worried zombie. She- I’m pretty confident that it’s female, examines my body carefully.

“Huuurt?” The zombie asks.

“Uh, no. No, I’m fine.” I respond, still caught by surprise.

“Goooood.” The zombie says, something like relief coming over its features.

“Thank you- uh.” I stall, not sure what to call her.

She just tilts her head questioningly.

“You don’t have a name yet, do you?” I ask, unsure.

She shakes her head.

“Is it ok if I call you… Luna?” I say the first name that comes to mind.

She nods.

Unable to name Dungeon Inhabitants until Dungeon Starts. Reinitializing safety protocols.

The zombie freezes in a way similar to the way she’d been frozen before I had gotten in trouble.

“Oh. I guess you’re frozen again Luna. Thank you.” I say, feeling a little uncomfortable speaking to a frozen zombie.

What I assume to be a soft smile spreads across her face. Unfortunately, it looked rather horrific with her zombie features.

I take a deep breath, looking around to make sure that there aren’t any other dangers I need to be wary of. Then, “[Start Dungeon]”