The problem with waking up in total darkness with your body being the only source of light, like a white naked humanoid lantern is that it is nigh on impossible to quite understand what was around me.

With me being the only beacon of light, the rest of my surroundings looked even darker and bleaker. It didn't matter where I looked, or where I tried walking to, the shadows seemed to heighten because of the strange light emitting from my flesh.

Still, it is better than having your skull caved in by a nail, I winched, hands reaching for my head where I felt a tuff of full hair. And I have a body too. Unlike before where I was mere thought and feeling confined within a hut. I had hands to feel and legs to move about. It was a blessing if I say as much.

But the absence of literally anything around me, in every direction I looked did make me feel uncomfortable. Like I was alone in a dark empty hall with walls nowhere near in sight.

I picked a random direction and walked towards it, hoping to stumble into something, but I didn't. It seemed like no matter where I went, the endless darkness followed me.

Great, I huffed after a while, annoyed from walking for so long without any end in sight. I am stuck here. Now what?

I took a look around me. Turning around in a complete circle, hoping to catch anything in the darkness that I had missed. But there wasn't any. So I looked down. Since I didn't have anything to look at around me, I might as well admire the body I somehow got back and damn...was I jacked.

Not an inch of fat on my waist, chest, belly and thighs. I looked like an athlete who took care of his body with everything he had. Not allowing anything to beseech its honour and looks.

Wait, maybe I was an athlete before I found myself in the small hut and this is how I truly looked? The thought was nice and filled my chest with pride and I admired my naked form, flexing the muscles on my hands, poking the abs in my gut and shifting my leg from side to side, admiring how they moved.

But a small part of my brain whispered to me that none of this was real and I was only fooling myself into seeing my body how I wished it to be, before everything went to hell. That all of the darkness, the strange light emitting from my skin was all a dream, a ploy to keep me from freaking out.

But why? The question arose softly almost as a mere afterthought, but as I watched my body more and more and looked around me, the question turned into a burning curiosity, that I wanted the answer of.

Is this all truly a dream? Am I dead? Did that woman kill me by destroying my Dungeon Core? Was my Dungeon Core really destroyed? There were so many questions I wanted the answers to, but there was no one to answer me.

Other than a small white light at a distance...

WHAT!? I whirled my head around to look at where the light was coming from. To my left and quite a distance away from where I stood. It wasn't there before. I was sure of it. Then where did it come from? I had to find out. So releasing a sigh of annoyance, I began walking towards it.

Thankfully, it wasn't a mirage, remaining far away no matter how many steps I took towards it. The small speck of light increased in brightness and size as I began edging closer.

Something akin to a triumph blossomed in my chest and soon I was sprinting towards the light, fear of what it could be, long forgotten. Curiosity and a chance to leave the darkness were too much for me to stop.

Until I had to, when I came close enough to see just what this light actually was. A door, much like the one I had seen in the small hut. But contrary to that, the one in front of me was painted white, with bright light emitting from its surface.

How on earth is it standing? I couldn't see any wall on which it was bolted too and kept upright. There weren't any hinges either. The brightly lit white door was simply standing tall in the middle of darkness.

This doesn't make sense. I edged closer Trying to see if there was an invisible wall I missed because of the darkness. There wasn't any. The door simply stood in the middle of nowhere, asking me to open it.

But what could be on the other side? I took the last few steps to stand right in front of the door, hands itching to grasp the doorknob and open it.

But before I did, I looked around me. To make sure that there were no other sparks of light in the near vicinity that I hadn't witnessed before. There weren't.

So taking a deep breath, I reached for the white doorknob and grasped it tight. Then I turned it around hoping to open it, but couldn't. The fuck? I blinked, confused at what was happening. I tried turning the knob again, hoping it was a mistake on my part on how to open the door.

It wasn't. The door was locked. I looked at it balefully for a couple of minutes then hung my head in shame and disappointment.

"It won't open like that," a voice suddenly spoke to my right, making me scream in terror and whip my head around to look at who was talking to me.

It was a boy, around six to seven years old, wearing a yellow shirt with a Mickey mouse drawn on top and short blue pants. His hair was black like midnight and his eyes brown like mine.

Wait...I blinked. Mine?

I looked at the boy carefully, forgetting for a second that he suddenly appeared out of nowhere to come and stand beside me. After having the same thing happen to me before concerning the white door, my mind had become somewhat used to strange things appearing out of nowhere in this pitch black darkness.

So instead of asking the kid where he had come from, I continued looking at his face, trying to discern why he appeared so familiar.

"Are you me when I was six years old?" I couldn't help but ask. But then the thought of me being naked suddenly got to me and I quickly used my hands to cover my exposed croch...but I didn't need to. Huh?

I was wearing a pair of shorts like the kid and an identical yellow t-shirt with a Mickey mouse drawn on top. What on earth is happening? Where did the clothes come from? Not that I was complaining because even if the kid was most likely my younger version, it doesn't mean I preferred to be naked infrort of him.

Still, with new clothes on and a frown forming on my face, I waited for the child to reply to my question. But he never did, only kept on staring at the white door, an old, faraway expression on his face.

Then what the kid said to me first registered in my mind, I quickly turned to him and asked. "Why do you think I won't be able to open it?"

"Because you're not ready," he replied, looking at me, a cheeky smirk forming on his lips.

"What do you mean I'm not ready?" It wouldn't be wrong to admit I was annoyed.

"Because you haven't even become a Dungeon yet."

"Dungeon?" I could help but snort. "If you don't remember, then let me do it for you. I'm dead. My Dungeon Core was destroyed by that...woman," pent-up vitriol slipped into my words. Her actions were still painfully conscious. "So there's no way I could be a Dungeon."

"Ha!" But the kid chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You're not dead. Just liberated."

"Liberated? Of what? The skull?"

The boy nodded, eyes still staring at the brightly lit door. "That skull was the thing protecting your newly formed Core. But it needed to be removed for you to fully take control. So she did it."

"Are you sure about that? The last thing I remember before ending up here was agony like no other, because that girl was trying to break my skull in two with a nail and hammer. I repeat. A nail and a hammer. So tell me just how exactly did she set me free from whatever is holding me back from becoming a Dungeon?"

"That you'll need to ask her, yourself. I'm not privy to her words or plans but I do know one thing for certain. She has your wellbeing at heart." Then with an outstretched hand, the kid grasped mine. Tiny fingers circling around my own.

"And how do I know that?" What I wanted to ask more was how could I even trust his words. But I didn't. Something stopped me from questioning the validity of his claims as if I knew deep down that he was telling me the truth.

"You will in time. Have patience, let her explain her side of the story before you start throwing furniture at her, and then you'll have the answers. At least the ones she is ready to give you." The laugh that escaped the kid's lips was filled with fondness and exasperation.

"I see." In truth, I didn't but the same part of me stopped me from questioning the kid anymore. The words dying in my throat. Instead, I, like the boy, continued to stare at the white door, hand in hand.

"So, how will I go back?"

"By hearing a word."

"A word?" I looked down at the child, confused. He stared back at me with an expression that was borderline monk-ish. Calm like a flowing stream. Is this really me from the past? I was never known for being a zen master.

"Yes, a word."

"And what word is that?" I was ready to humour the kid because I had nothing else to do.

"Ah, then come down here. I'll tell you." Then with a small forefinger, he beckoned me to come closer.

Which I did. Brought my head down and pulled my right ear closer to his lips.

The kid looked pleased with having the opportunity to explain that to me. But the word that he spoke was filled with so much power, so much meaning that I blinked, my brain coming to a sudden halt and refusing to move even an inch.

And before long, I saw the same blinding white light that brought me here, bombarded from all sides and soon I knew no more.

The word from the kid echoed inside my mind, spoken in a language I didn't known. I was back in oblivion's arms, blissfully ignoring what happened in the dark to the taste of sweet freedom. Finally, I chuckled.