Getting your neck ripped out is an experience that lets you consider your own mortality as a human. Many young people, including me, are under the mistaken impression that they are invincible. Sure, we know that we will eventually grow old and die one day, but I am still youngish, whole, and healthy and my body hasn't changed much in over a decade. If I don’t think about it, I feel like it will just remain that way forever.

Most people who have had their neck ripped open have had only a minute or two to consider their thoughts before the inevitable blood loss ends their sad lives. I was fortunate enough to escape that tragic end by having a magic to make me whole again, perhaps giving me a unique perspective on the experience. Let me tell you, it wasn’t nice.

As I trod forward, I can’t help but reach up and rub my neck, reliving the attack. Its frightening and I can’t help but tremble. I don’t want to go through that kind of pain again. Even worse than the pain, I can vividly recall the feeling of the blood spilling and the intense hostility Pesos had for me. I shudder as I think about it.

At the end of this, I might end up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I am certainly a candidate for it.

My thoughts spin around my own mortality, my lack of dying from the mortal wounds. Did I have a godly healing ability? Was the limit to it really only my mp amount? What does that mean for me in the long run? I read that the cell’s in our body are constantly dividing and dying, our aged bodies becoming more and more fragile as our cells become less and less good at that. Would my heal prevent the degradation of my DNA? Everybody dreams of eternal life, but the truth is that the idea is beyond me.

That said, I wasn’t about to quit on my heal, I am at a place far from eternal life at the moment. I almost died three times today already, much less having an immortal life.

And on that thought line I am brought back to the nature of death in this place. If I did end up dying would there be a game ending for me, a respawn or even a return home? Or would I just die and that would be the end of it? I admit, the temptation of an end to this place and a return to earth through a quick death is attractive. Especially due to the flies that are now buzzing around me.

Putrid Fly: level 1

Up until this point, one of the very few, and by very few, I mean very few, good things about this place is the lack of flies. Or bugs of any kind. The trash can in my garage is a huge magnet for them, how much more should this place be? But for every awful thing this instance was, it didn’t have any insects. I hadn't really noticed until now and, as they say, you only miss things once they are gone.

…

After I had rested up and got my mp up to max I had restarted my journey to the small temple. My quiet and relaxing journey was rudely interrupted by a sudden buzzing all around, like somebody had just turned on a box fan. If I had describe it, it’s like somebody suddenly un-muted the sounds of the forest. All the insects were introduced all at once in a stunning display of continuous development.

That’s right, looking around now I notice changes from yesterday. Little things, more and different types of dead bushes, different colors, and more details on the landscape. Its expanded content, like a developer is currently adding features. Considering most features have been actively trying to kill me, I take this as a bad sign. This place is growing.

Now, everywhere I look, every step I take, every breath I breathe, I am introduced to the wonders of a thriving insectoid ecosystem. It is surely a glorious thing to see nature in action.

This new part of the ecosystem is trying to eat me alive, literally.

Sure, the stupid fly is the size of a dime and is only at level one, but there are dozens of them just around me and their bites hurt and I have experience with biting flies.

Back on earth my parents live on a lake with a raft we often swim on. Sometimes though, the black flies or deer flies will come at us while were are out there enjoying the lake. It would cause the lot of us to scatter and scream as if the flies would pick us up and carry us away to their nest to be devoured by their young. Hiding under the water, we feared the bite of the black fly greater than anything on the lake.

These putrid flies here are much worse, every bite from them leaves an immediate infected sore that, if uncleansed, would probably kill me in hours. And the actual bite feels like a bee sting. At this point, I am hating them worse than the wynots. At least I can avoid the wynots if I want to.

When I first noticed the flies appearing I did the instinctual run and flailing of arms, batting as many away as I can. Needless to say, it wasn’t very effective.

I’ve managed to kill two or three with some flare swatting, but I know that trying to face them directly them is a lost battle.

Things like this are all the more reason to quit this game as soon as possible.

I end up taking my extra shirts I packed (I knew I would need them) and wrapping them around me as best as I can, reducing my exposure as much as possible, especially my head and neck. It’s hot, uncomfortable and looks ridiculous, but it less miserable than getting bit. That’s what I am stuck with now, going for the lesser of two miseries.

Which brings me back to where I am now, squatting down in the foliage just outside the clearing surrounding the temple, swatting the flies and wishing for a swift end to my torment. I am pissed and I am ready to end this thing. The additional wandering zombie I splattered on the way here in no way vented my pent up frustrations and in fact made my mood worse as the surprise attack ended with zombie guts all over me. God damn it.

The temple is an unimpressive structure, its like a kid took two gray stone slabs and leaned them against each other like a set of cards. There are no decorations or anything special about it. No carvings, no nada. I appear to be at the back of the building too but I imagine the front is just as plain, maybe just an unassuming door. It really doesn’t look like a final boss area, if you know what I mean. For as much trouble this place is giving me, they could at least make the main attraction more impressive.

The building is in a decent sized clearing that I am on the edge of, there are no trees inside, or bushes, and anything. Whoever was in charge of landscaping this place did a terrible job, it’s just brown flat ground for a good hundred foot radius around this thing. It’s a very boring and small structure.

I try to cast identify on it, but the small temple is too far away. I give a wary glance around the clearing, acknowledging Admiral Ackbar’s wisdom, but I don’t see anything.

…

What now? Just walk up and bust down the door like a police raid? I’m pretty tempted.

…

I glance around the clearing and then look up at the sky again, wondering what the hell I am supposed to do. I’ve never done anything like this before. The only experience I have is from Scooby Doo or video games.

That’s right, if Scooby Doo taught me anything it’s that I need to follow clues all the way to the end. This clue led me here, I’m going to explore the blasted temple like my life depends on it! And, I actually do have tons of experience raiding temples. Mostly as Master Chief gunning down hordes of grunts and elites, but its all I got. My gaming experience is telling me to go in guns blazing.

…

My paintball experience is telling me to do an awkward shuffle in a crouched style up to the edge of the temple for cover. I think I’ll stick to that one for now.

…

After a few minutes of psyching myself by reminding myself how angry I am I step out of my little hiding spot at the edge of the clearing and move as quietly and as quickly as possible to the backside of the building, getting into its small shadow to hide again. I feel silly because there isn’t anybody around, but I suppose it's better to not take chances.

Still, nothing else moves and no alarms are blaring so I think I am safe. I put a hand up to the cool stone and find out that it is exactly what I thought it was, a rough granite texture. I look up toward the top at the point ten feet above me, but there is nothing of note there. I cast identify.

Instance Setting: ???

Now its yellow, eh? That must mean it is important. Even if it won’t tell me what this blasted thing is I can read between the lines. Sure, It won’t give me a name, but it has told me that this thing is special. I must be on to something here.

With a slight grin, I imagine that I’ll be home soon. I think I could make it to church on time, too, at this rate.

Still wary, I step around the temple slowly. If there is a door it should be over there on the other side.

I cross the last corner, peeking my head over and see a set of steps, four stone slabs made out of the same dark gray granite as the rest of the temple. Those four steps lead to a small door made of a dark wood. The wood isn’t full of fungi either, which isn’t fair. I can’t go three hours without having to cleanse my whole room; it must be an instance setting. I then see a figure standing on the top of the steps.

Its another skeleton. As my eyes meet we kind of stare at each other for a moment, ten feet away from each other.

I’m no undead expert but this skeleton is not like the other ones. He’s got a small helmet cap on his head that looks like it is made of leather. He also has a nice leather chest and back piece on as well, nothing on his legs or arms though. His most prominent difference is a large shield that reaches up to his collarbone as well as a nice pointy spear that looks like it could stab me with ease. After a surprised moment I cast an identify on the new foe.

Skeleton Guardian: level 10

A new type of skeleton, at level ten no less. If I didn't know better, I would think he was the boss.

After spotting me and a surprised moment on both our ends, he immediately levels his spear at me and does his best to skewer the half of my head that was poking around the corner. Panicked, I back off too quickly and fall on my rear. I see the spear grate across the stone at the spot where my head had been just a moment ago. Goodness me, despite my miraculous healing abilities, I don’t think I could survive my brain getting destroyed. Heal is not an automatic thing as far as I can tell.

My heart pounding wildly, I crawl backwards away from said corner until I can get a grip on myself and hurriedly stand up again. I throw a quick look around to make sure nobody is sneaking up on me and I am relieved to see that I am not surrounded. Before I can run for it though, I see the guardian pass the corner as well, charging at me.

Still wavering on whether an escape is not the best option, I stare wide eyed at the hostile creature and keep away from his spear. Fortunately, like the other skeletons, it looks like I am still faster and I can keep out of his range easily despite his mean swing. This guy seems to really hate me though, I can see it in his eye sockets. I shiver slightly as I look into those fathomless depths.

…

You know what? Good, I hate him too.

…

This leads me to my next question, can I take him?

Rather than dodging this guy I am more just staying out of his reach. Despite being able to run circles around this guy, his jabs at me have been rather quick. I’m not sure I could dodge his strikes.

So my first answer is no, this guy has got a spear and a shield and looks like he means business. He’s also eyeing me like a bouncer eyeing an underage kid near his door. Am I going to cause trouble? He is clearly a step up from the other skeletons I had faced earlier and is also the highest level enemy I have seen at double my level, if that is at all a determination on strength.

On the other hand I am really tired of this place and I feel like the answers to my problems are through this guy and on to the other side of that temple door. This guardian appears to be alone right now and Pesos won't be coming back anytime soon. This is probably my best opportunity to take this guy out. I bet that whoever is inside the building won’t be expecting this early of an attack anyway.

Also, I want that shield. It is not a Captain America shield but it’s a nice shield that would help me a lot in my effort to stop getting stabbed, bitten, melted, and, otherwise, mauled by everything here.

I keep back a little and circled around the persistent guardian. I think I’ve got a plan that will hopefully involve me not getting stabbed by that weapon.

Ultimately, I decide to try my luck here. I play a little closer to the guardian, flirting within the edge of its range like an annoying fly (like the ones still buzzing around me). I time out the skeleton’s thrusts and, after a large one, I rush in before he can pull it back and I grab it, sliding the pointy edge away from me. I flare up my right hand in preparation of punching this skeleton’s face in.

My masterful plan fails, however, when I realize that this skeletons is much stronger than I had thought. And faster.

…

This bastard, I think he was holding out on me.

As soon as I moved in, he bashed me with his stupid shield, stopping my movement completely and throwing me off balance. I fall back onto the ground, my back slamming against the hard water jug in my backpack and knocking the air out of my lungs. Before I can figure out what is going on, I feel a sharp weight on my chest, causing me to give out an involuntary, “Gah!”. I look up and see that the skeleton is pressing his shield onto me, its edge is pushing down on me like an anvil, pinning me in place and cutting my shirt and chest with its sharp edges. I gasp for air and see the black empty eye sockets of the guardian staring down at me as he leans heavily on his shield. In his right hand, I see the spear being raised, intending to kill me.

Oh my God, this really hurts. Also, I think I bit off more than I can chew.

This guy apparently knows what he is doing.

I really don’t want to get stabbed again, even if I can heal it. In desperation, I grab hold of his shield and gasp out, “Flare!”, covering the entirety of it in the holy aura.

There is a bright flash of light and I feel the weight on my chest ease. The skeleton tumbles backwards as if he got hit by an explosion and I see his left arm missing and his shoulder smoldering. The shield on me falls over and I push it off in relief. I get up as fast as possible, wincing at the bruising on my chest. The skeleton is getting up just as quickly though, albeit less one arm. If he had any expressions, I think there would be a violent rage on his face. His left shoulder is black and smoking.

Excellent, my plan was a great success. This went just as I had expected.

…

Now to follow it up with an even better plan.

...

I spot the shield lying next to me and I quickly pick it up, brushing away the bone fragments that were there from the leftover arm of the guardian. As I grasp it, I immediately nearly drop it.

Holy smokes, this thing is heavy. How is this bony thing able to hold it with one arm? I have to hold it with two hands to keep it steady. Doesn’t this mean that the skeleton is super strong?

I’m starting to think that rather than levels, classes are much more important. A level two Pesos was much more deadly than even the knife skeletons and this guardian is much stronger than its level had suggested to me. Or maybe it is just specialization, different types being strong in each of their unique settings? Looking back, each creature here did give me a fatal wound at some point.

My thoughts are interrupted by the skeleton quickly coming at me again, doing an admirable job of ignoring his wounds and performing his duty. He is much faster now that he is no longer carrying around his heavy shield. His jabs are quick and powerful and it’s all I can do to yelp and hold the stupid shield in front of me to block. He’s only got one arm, but I feel like I am getting hit with a battering ram over and over again.

Oh man, I think picking this shield up was a mistake. By taking it from him not only did I reduce my speed but I increased his. My speed was the only thing I had on these people, too. But now if I let go of this shield I’ll be skewered right away.

…

Blast, this was a bad plan.

I am thinking at this point a strategic withdraw is my best option, this guardian will soon wear me out. Unfortunately, that would mean letting go of the shield, currently the only thing keeping me alive. I start to panic a little as I feel my arms growing tired and my hands slippery with sweat. I’ve got to make a move here, quickly.

Another solid hit from the guardian later and my right hand slips. The shield falls from my grasp and I tumble backwards again, my body flailing like an infant. I once again land on my back.

...

Oh God.

...

The next thing that happens is I get the sharp end of the spear buried into my gut. I scream out again, God this is excruciating. Somebody else, please, take this job away from me, I’m not the type to have to deal with this. I can barely replace my bathroom’s ceiling fan by myself.

The skeleton pulls pack and stabs me again and again in quick succession. The ferocity of the attacks are stunning, I can't keep track of what’s going on. I can hear my voice screaming, as if in third person.

After a dozen moments, I hear a loud cracking sound from right in front of me and the spear stops, buried in my chest. I can’t breathe, both my ribs and lungs have been turned into mush. I am pretty sure my heart has been destroyed too, so surely no blood is pumping. The guardian did a real number on me, my torso is barely recognizable. I can taste pools of blood in my mouth. I bring my eyes up to take a look at the guardian.

The guardian has stopped moving and is now holding his left shoulder while staring at me with pure hate in his sockets.

I hear a little more crackling and I see the guardian sway slightly, as if drunken.

…

Suddenly I understand and I give the guardian a bloody grin. My flare skill had been slowly deteriorating his shoulder this whole time and it looks like it finally got to some vital parts. I can see the skeleton’s collarbone is broken and cracked, the guardian is now physically holding himself together.

Behind the skeleton, I see the door to the temple open slightly. A small figure steps out halfway as if wondering what the neighborhood racket was. Dirty black robes hang over its scrawny frame and a weirdly proportioned hairless skull sticks out of it cloths like a submarine periscope. I see him turn and look over at us with indifferent purple eyes.

My instincts are telling me that this is my enemy. Everything about him screams dark mage. I feel my rage burn inside of me. Apart from the burning sensation of exposed nerves, of course.

I start to pull the spear out of my gut as cleanly as possible, keeping my evil eye pointed at my foe. Oh man, does it hurt, but I can’t yell due to my diaphragm not working. I mouth the word “heal” and feel the effect slowly start to take shape. The process is icy cold and painful. There apparently isn’t any anesthetic to my healing process, but my rage is blocking most of my sensations now. It looks like it will take several moments before I will be able to move again.

Seeing my wounds healing, the skeleton steps back slightly as if afraid. The dark villain at the temple door is eyeing me like an interesting specimen. Neither interrupt me as I stare daggers at the mage.

I squirm at the uncomfortable movement of repairing flesh inside me, but soon I can breathe again and I take a big gulp of air like a saving breath when drowning.

Warning! You have been infected by airborne instance bacteria!

Negative effects will stack

…

I’m ignoring that for now.

…

As the rest of me finishes up healing I slowly stand up like an immortal god, flexing my fists.The guardian skeleton definitely looks unnerved. Who’s the undead now, bitches?

I finish healing and glare at the defenseless skeleton.

You’re goin’ down bro.

I move forward to Hulk Smash the guardian but he flees quickly back to his master. I chase after, pulling out Thor’s Hammer, ready to destroy whoever wants it

I see the mage raising up his hand and start muttering something.

That’s not a good sign.

Before I can catch up, I feel the ground tremble slightly and I pause, wondering what the hell the mage did. The mage and I glare at each other for a moment before the answer comes to me.

Like a scene straight out of a horror movie, dozens of zombies start emerging from the flat dirt ground.

…

Holy stink wad.

Sensing that my time is running out, I try to pick up my pace to reach the steps of the temple before the zombies can interfere. For all the vast powers this mage seems to have, I think I got him in close combat, a swift strike with Thor’s Holy Hammer surely will do the trick.

I zig zag and hop around the emerging zombie obstacle course, but before I can make it safely to the stone dias I get tripped up by a groping arm of a half buried zombie. I kick the interfering rotting flesh away as fast as possible and I get up again, but soon I am surrounded.

I slow up and check out my mp. Its down to 22, not enough to go all out. Healing my injury consumed a lot. I look back up to the mage who is standing still and staring at me with a smug expression. His guardian is standing next to him, pretending he is still a badass. I think we both know his days are numbered. I glance around again at the now approaching hoard. Looks like I am going to have to do this the hard way.

I put away Thor’s Hammer quickly and take out a skeleton knife. I don’t have enough mp for a slugfest, I’m going to need to conserve my mana in order to get this done. I should have experimented with this idea earlier, but I think if I can stab precisely enough, small amounts of flare will be enough to disable or destroy these weak zombies. Coating Thor’s hammer in flare is clearly overkill with these guys.

Stepping up to the nearest zombie, I idly recall that it was just yesterday I was shivering in fear inside my bedroom. The adaptability of humans is truly amazing.

I flare the bare minimum I can on my dagger, grab the shoulder of the nearest zombie trying to get a bite out of me, and stab him from atop his head. I am immediately grateful it doesn’t explode and am pleased as punch to see him fall limp into my arms immediately after, like a swooning damsel. He almost took my embedded knife down with him. I pull out my dagger and drop him carelessly, eyeing my next target who is coming at me quickly.

The next several minutes sees me meleeing the zombies as I try my best to move towards the dias. Still there are dozens of zombies and my progress is slow and, despite my efforts, I am running out of mp. I try stabbing them without any use of flare to save mana but the results are disappointing. The hot knife through butter feeling disappears and the wound doesn’t disable the zombies immediately like a flare does. Even a straight stab through a brain is not effective without the flare. Damn zombies.

My mana is now down to 9, my micro flare’s have only been using one or two each strike, but at my current rate of progress, I’m not certain I can make it. Despite my efforts, there are still far too many zombies between me and my goal. I am getting desperate.

In the midst of my battle, I see the Mage raise his hands again, this time pointed directly at me. Alarmed, I try to move away, but the zombies are pressing around me, blocking my mobility. I have already been bitten many times.

I hear him speak in a foreign language for a second before a black pencil sized spear appears before his hand. A moment later, it shoots out at me.

The only thing I can do is shield my face with my right arm.

The black projectile hits my arm and I immediately lose all feeling in it. It falls limply to my side, dropping my skeleton knife and hanging uselessly there. A zombie gets it and starts biting it like a teething baby, but I feel nothing.

Oh man, this is not good. I stare in horror at my limp arm and try to push back the zombies encroaching in on me.

Escape is my only option now. If the mage has any more of those spells, even that task might become impossible.

Using up a large chunk of my mana with a flare skill, I turn away from the temple and try to blast the zombies in the way of my exit with a swing of my left arm. Its marginally successful and I force my way out, pushing and shoving the zombies around as I am basically out of mana.

Fortunately the mage doesn’t use another spell on me, perhaps he is out of mana too. I manage to break out of the encirclement, knocking down a couple zombies, despite my unusable right arm. I am exhausted now, wounded, stumbling, and gasping for breath, but I need to flee to safety as fast as possible.

I received a level up notification during my last desperate push, but it does nothing to elevate my mood. Despite the damage I dealt to my enemy, I clearly lost miserably in that round. Rushing through the foliage and trying to stay out of sight I realize that things are only going to get more difficult from here on out.