Ryan woke up as the ground around him trembled. Rocks and debris lifted off the ground and hovered in the air for a moment before falling back to the ground. A noise, like the sound of a massive vault closing shut, echoed across the walls of the chamber.

He tried to lift himself into a sitting position, but a violent, burning pain shot through his chest. He shivered as the pain raced through the rest of his body, causing him to scream in a mixture of despair and agony.

Ryan lay on the unforgiving and cold stone floor as the memories of what happened came rushing back to him. He moaned. A long, desperate, moan full of anguish and loss. Even the pain that erupted from his stomach where Lucifer had stabbed him could not reach him in his misery.

The memories continued to play in his head. Like a recording on repeat. A single thought filled his mind as he slipped back into unconsciousness. I will kill him. I will kill him. I will kill him.

* * *

Ryan woke up several minutes later. He was numb and cold. I will kill him.

He knew that he had to remove the sword and heal the wound if he wanted to live. But Ryan just laid there. Dying seemed … easier.

I will kill him.

The mantra repeated itself without any conscious effort from Ryan. He took in quick, shallow breaths as he forced himself to crawl over to Vivian’s body. Fresh blood seeped from the front and back of his wound as he strained his body forward. The pain was immense, blindingly violent, and never-ending, but Ryan used it as fuel. It was nothing compared to the sorrow that plagued his heart and tore at his mind as he reached Vivian and Lee’s bodies.

He avoided looking at the couple, and instead reached for Vivian’s backpack that lay a few feet away. As the team healer and medic, Vivian would have a supply of their most powerful health potions and medical supplies. He rummaged through the bag until his hands closed around a small vial. He pulled out two ruby-red elixirs and set them on the ground, then pulled out a set of fresh linen bandages.

He took a moment to look at his body. The sword had pierced his stomach through cleanly. Luckily, the combination of God’s Defense and Lucifer not removing the sword had minimized the damage and loss of blood. Ryan scoffed. Yea. Lucky.

He soaked the bandages with one of Vivian’s healing potions and set them aside. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he gripped the pommel of the sword and pulled. The sword slid out with a wet slurp and blood flowed out of the wound in dizzying amounts. Ryan drank the remaining elixir in a single gulp. The relief was immediate. The pain lessened, and Ryan could feel his body reknitting itself. After a few moments, when he could move without overwhelming pain, he wrapped the soaked bandages around his stomach and wound. I will kill him.

Hours passed by as Ryan stared at the ground while his wounds healed. The relief that accompanied his body as his skin, muscles, and organs stitched themselves together never reached him. Inside he was still dying.

More hours passed before Ryan finally managed to tear his eyes from the floor. He had to bury them. All of them. They didn’t deserve to rot here. Or end up in those cursed tombs that Ryan and his friends had seen. He got up and stretched, finding no pain as he moved his arms and legs.

Ryan looked around the room for the first time since he had woken up. The statues and God of Death were nowhere to be seen. The room was empty. Like they had never existed. The only proof that it had not been a dream was the gigantic throne that sat at the back of the room.

Them first. Ryan walked over to Vivian and laid his hand gently on her forehead. Tears fell from his eyes as he lifted her and carried her outside of the chamber and towards the nearest camp. Halfway through he stumbled. His body might have healed but he was exhausted. It was only through sheer willpower that he managed to hold onto Viv’s body as he fell to one knee. After a few moments, he stood up and carried her the rest of the way.

Lee was next. The man was a mammoth. Ryan smiled sadly as he tried his best to lift his best friend. But Ryan knew it was impossible. He walked back to the camp and built a makeshift stretcher out of camping tent poles and rope. He laid Lee on the stretcher and dragged him back to the camp. He laid him next to Vivian, making sure that their hands touched as Vivan had done even as she died. Then he walked back.

Ryan stood at the massive doorway that led into the chamber for several minutes. His heart had ached as he had collected Lee and Vivian. But as he stared at Ariel’s corpse, he fell to his knees. Tears fell from his eyes as he howled in anguish. Ryan didn’t know how long he screamed, but he only stopped when his throat was raw and he physically couldn’t anymore. He coughed blood as he walked towards her body.

Even in death, Ariel was beautiful. Her face still wore the smile that she had given him before she died. Hours passed as Ryan sat there holding Ariel. Memories assaulted him. Their first date. Their first kiss. The first time she had said she loved him. The first time they made love. Their first double date with Vivian and Lee. Their first dungeon. I will kill him.

Ryan scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to the camp. His steps never faltered as he walked. He laid her next to Vivian and Lee. I can’t carry them all the way back to the entrance. The portal is closed by now anyway. He put his hand against the grey stone floor. Even if he had a shovel, there was no way that he would be able to break through the stone. He would have to build a pyre.

Ryan nodded in decision. A pyre was a better idea. This way he could make sure that their bodies would never end up in one of those tombs. He walked among the camps grabbing all the firewood he could find. In one camp he managed to find a lighter.

He cleared a space around the camp, then built a small pyre from the firewood he had collected. He managed to place the bodies of those he loved on top of the pyre, and then lit a makeshift torch.

“Ariel, Lee, Vivian. I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you. I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t stop him.” He stopped for a moment, sobbing in grief. “I promise you. I will find Lucifer. I will kill him for what he did to you. Not even the Gods will stop me.” He threw the torch.

The flames ate at the wood until a massive inferno took hold. Ryan stared at the raging fire. Ruby-red. Then he turned around and wiped the tears from his eyes. He had more work to do. Everyone Lucifer had killed deserved to be put to rest.

* * *

It took hours for Ryan to move all the bodies into the chamber and light the pyres that would turn them to ash. When it was done Ryan could barely move. He managed to eat some of the dried jerky from his backpack and then fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Ryan woke up several hours later. The pyre fires had burned out and only the soft red glow from the pillar torches remained. He needed to find a way out of this dungeon. There was nothing left for him here.

He spent several minutes collecting useful supplies in the various camps. Food, water, potions. One of the dead men had been wearing a ring of holding that Ryan had taken. He was able to fit everything useful inside and didn’t have to shoulder the weight of it all. He also collected all the monster cores that he could find. He had read somewhere that they could be used to make a dungeoneer stronger. But he had no idea how to use them. Regardless, he figured that they would come in useful one way or another.

Ryan took one final look at the pyre that held the ashes of his best friends. Then he slung the rifle over his shoulder and began to walk in the direction they had come. He didn’t have any idea where he was going. Or any plan at all. His only hope was to walk in the direction of the tunnel that they had come out of and go back to the entrance of the dungeon. Maybe … somehow … the portal would still be there.

Pillar. Pillar. Pillar. Ryan walked for hours. The endless maze of pillars seemed to go on forever. Never a wall in sight. Most people might have given up and turned back. But Ryan didn’t care. In the back of his mind, he knew that he should. He should be worried, scared, even desperate. But Ryan couldn’t feel anything. In a single night, he had lost everything and everyone he had ever loved. Ariel, Lee, Vivian, Eve, his mother. There was no emotion powerful enough to stir his broken heart. So he kept walking.

Days went by. Ryan did nothing but eat, sleep, and walk.

Three days after Ryan had left the doors to the God of Death’s chamber he spotted a wall in the distance. He followed the wall for several hours until he came across a tunnel. He wasn’t sure it was the same tunnel that he and his friends had come from, but he didn’t care much. He took hold of the rifle from his back as he made his way through the tunnel.

Hours later Ryan made his way into the tomb with the broken coffins. He fired several rounds into the pitch-black ceiling, but no spiders came out of the darkness to attack him. He considered taking some of the weapons and armor from the tombs. What did it matter if he was cursed? Hadn’t he already been cursed enough? He spat at the ground. No. These people all suffered the same fate that my friends did. It wouldn’t be right to rob them.

After walking a quarter of an hour, Ryan heard a skittering behind him. He turned around just in time to see a single spider launch itself at him from one of the walls. Ryan sidestepped the spider, watching it sail past him and crash into the ground. He raised his rifle but didn’t shoot. Instead, he waited for the spider to launch itself at him again. This time he rammed the butt of his rifle into the spider’s face as it crashed into him. One of the legs managed to pierce his shoulder, but Ryan craved the pain. It made him feel alive. He needed to feel alive.

The spider screeched as it drew back. It had managed to injure the human, so why wasn’t it reacting? There was a moment of hesitation as the spider’s instincts urged it to run away. The man in front of it wasn’t prey. He was a predator.

Ryan waited for the spider to strike again. But the giant arachnid turned and began to flee. Ryan lifted his rifle as the spider sped across the ceiling in a desperate attempt to escape. He pulled the trigger once. Three bullets burst from the muzzle and the spider dropped to the floor. No.

The spider wriggled in pain as Ryan approached it. He took a moment to look into one of its red eyes before sticking the barrel of the rifle through it. He laughed as he pulled the trigger again and again until the entire magazine was empty.

* * *

Ryan exited the tunnel several hours later. He looked around at the chamber that he and his friends had first emerged. He walked towards the middle of the chamber, but there was no exit portal. Ryan had known that there wouldn’t be. Dungeon portals closed ten minutes after the boss was slain. What do I do now?

He looked around the chamber. Something was different. He ran his eyes across the tunnels that surrounded the chamber. Instead of black obsidian walls, there were hundreds of different colored portals. Blue, green, orange, purple, red, and even black portals littered the walls. Are those … dungeon portals? His eyes widened as they swept the room. There must be a thousand portals here.

His eyes locked onto one of the midnight-black portals. If the colors of these portals matched the colors of the portals in the ‘real’ world, then that was an S-rank portal. S-rank portals were extremely rare. Only five of them had ever appeared before, and it took a dozen S-ranked dungeoneers to clear them. And in this room alone there must be over a hundred.

An idea grew in Ryan’s mind as he stared into the black whirlpool of the portal. One of these might lead me to a portal open on earth. I could escape.

But which one? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It didn’t matter. He would clear each and every single one until he found the right one. He would have his revenge.

Ryan made his way to one of the blue E-ranked portals to his left. He discarded the empty magazine and replaced it with a fresh one. Four more.

I will kill him.

And then he stepped through.