It was all that was in my vision: Blue boxes, that denoted messages that I couldn't comprehend at first sight.

Goblin Lvl. ?? (2)

Goblin Lvl. ?? (7)

Goblin Lvl. ?? (8)

Goblin Lvl. ?? (4)

Goblin Lvl. ?? (2)

Um…what the hell are those things?

Are they… screens? Why are they floating over their heads?

Do aliens feel the need to distinguish themselves with this? They all look the same, smell the same, and this is the only way they can tell each other apart?

No, that would be dumb, there are two identical screens. Plus, if a civilization of aliens couldn’t tell each other apart without displays like that, then they deserve to be wiped out. Preferably before they start kidnapping people from different worlds.

Questions appeared in my mind as I was looking up at the tiny dwarf aliens. They had surrounded me and were gazing down at me with their little beady, black eyes, apparent disdain on their faces. Their noses were out of proportion to their faces, big enough to make me wonder how they could walk properly. All of them had a broad, toothy smile on their face, showing small, yellowed teeth that would have looked like fangs if they were not so rotted. They started chattering in their gibberish again, shooting looks at each other, without a care in the world. During the ‘conversation,’ one of the aliens licked their lips with an unnaturally long, purple tongue. My only saving grace was that they had ragged hides of sorts to cover their genitals.

Man, these aliens are disgusting. Couldn’t I get picked up by a super gorgeous human-looking alien from Mars? Maybe we would be able to start a legendary romance…

Hell, what am I kidding myself for? Tiny green aliens with a penchant for smelling like shit is just my luck. Shouldn’t hope for anything better.

They were just ignoring me as if they were waiting for something. Or trying to intimidate me. Neither of which made much sense to me, but I was forced to just wait alongside them. I was tied up after all.

But contrary to what I believed, no one showed up after a few minutes. Even the aliens seemed to get bored, as they had started a little scuffle off to the side. I couldn’t see what was happening, but the noises were enough to fill me in on what was happening. I decided to contemplate on what those screens might have been.

Those screens…they look like they belong to video games.

Ones that give information about different monsters… and come to think of it, a ‘goblin’ is a stereotypical beginner mob in games as well, isn’t it?

If that was the case, does Lvl. stand for level? But what the heck do the question marks represent? Does that mean I don’t know their level? What’s with the numbers next to them?

There is just too much I don’t know…

I closed my eyes again, trying to see how this all fit together. Games! Aliens! How doest thou fit together?

Maybe aliens found video games on Earth, and decided to integrate it with their society, resulting in what I see here?

"..."

Nah, if they could do something like that then why the hell would they be carrying me everywhere. They had a super high-tech looking UFO; it doesn’t make sense to move me anywhere on a stick.

I won’t even begin to question their smell, maybe that’s a cultural alien thing.

Alien cultures… I wonder what color their blood is…

I started to get off track, a bad habit formed by talking to myself to stave off boredom during school. Consequently, I can proudly proclaim that I’ll never get bored by myself, and by extension, meaning that I haven’t been bored since the start of middle school!

To stop myself from getting too off track, I decided to try observing my surroundings. So, I opened my eyes again; I was greeted with the night sky if you could even call it a sky.

It was an eerie midnight blue like a deity had wrapped a blanket of the color all around the world. It was just a block of color, nothing else inside of it. It made me confused. Where did the soft light come from?

But before I could get my answer, the five ‘goblins’ suddenly stopped making noise and scrambled to stand back in front of me. They stood shoulder to shoulder, in order of height, with their backs facing towards me, showing off their dirty backsides. While it was hard to tell, they had differences of a couple of centimeters in height depending.

Maybe the number next to the question marks corresponded to height? The more significant the number, the taller they were?

It seemed improbable, and a very useless thing to do. It was only a couple centimeters, what was the point of doing such a thing?

Before long, a loud thumping could be heard from a distance. It was possible for me to feel vibrations coming at me through the ground as if the object approach was one of massive proportions. It frightened me, but also left me in anticipation. Would it be a super high-tech vehicle? Another UFO? Maybe a mecha was coming here to save me!

Alas, my hopes were dashed. What came into sight from over the goblins’ heads was another alien fellow, standing about one and a half meters tall. Its body was a lot more humanoid than the aliens around me, with the skin of a darker shade of green that approached black. It didn’t look muscular, more off to the thin side if anything. But what grabbed my attention was the fact that it didn’t have pants. It was strutting towards us, green penis in all its tiny glory. It was disgusting, but I could barely contain my laughter.

It was because the goblins in front of me immediately lowered their heads at the sight of the minuscule penis as if trying to compare it to their own. I could feel their jealousy and subservience, and it was just too funny.

Do aliens base their position in society off penis size?!

I was frantically trying to stop that feeling of laughter from welling up inside my chest, scared that this new guy was going to try anything weird if he saw me laughing. However, a moment later it subsided when I saw another blue screen on top of his head.

Hobgoblin Lvl. ?? (1?)

Hobgoblin…another monster from a game.

Are these…aliens?

The thought that these things weren’t aliens scared me. Why else would I be here? Who brought me here? Why was I captured? Where are the others? Have they also been caught?

Questions that I couldn’t possibly know the answer to started to appear inside of me, bypassing the false calm I tried to give myself. A hysteria quickly sprouted in my heart and took hold of me.

As the Hobgoblin approaches, his will overpowers you from afar.

You are now under the status: Fear

What the hell is happening?!

Why the fuck is this happening to me?

Where are the others?

Why me?

WHY ME?

I’m going to die…

I’m going to die surrounded by shit smelling ‘goblins.’ If that’s what they even are.

Do I have a little screen above me too, one that says ‘Human’?

Or do I have one just like them, labeled as a ‘goblin.’

All this crazy shit… it’s impossible.

There’s no way that this all happened.

This must be…

A dream. That is what this is. Don’t think too hard, just have fun. It’s a pleasant, game-like dream. Live the way you want; it’s supposed to be carefree.

The Dungeon's Voice speaks its sweet lies in a moment of Fear.

You are now under the status: Bewitched

A voice that was like mine, but nothing like I would ever say resounded in my mind. It was a persuasive voice, one that could only belong to a devil: Full of temptation and empty promises. I usually wouldn’t have listened to something so suspicious but…

A dream…

Yeah, that’s the only thing that could make sense. What the hell was I thinking?

There’s no way my pendant couldn’t be just cult merch. Holtan didn’t die in front of me. I didn’t catch on fire. My father didn’t die in front of my eyes.

I haven’t had a good night’s rest in a while, so this could only be expected. What have I been doing to dream stuff like this…

Have I been playing too many video games? I guess I’ll have to cut down on the amount I play when I wake up.

Now that I think about it, I should have known something was wrong the moment Aria said my name. There’s no way she would have known what it is; she’s a sweet and lovely girl. She wouldn’t call someone by the wrong name on purpose, that would be impossible. Why did I think she was a bad person? It doesn’t matter now, I guess.

I should wake up soon and get prepared for the presentation… It would be bad if we were late, like in my drea—

RAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

A loud roar resounded in my ear, green covering my vision. All of a sudden, I felt a pain In my midriff, and a sensation of flying appeared. When I landed a fair distance away, I rolled a couple of times on the sparse, sandy earth before coming to a rest facing upwards. A thick taste of iron was the only thing on my mind, as I coughed up blood and teeth fragments, shivering like crazy. My throat was hoarse as if I had been talking for hours. Or maybe it was from my screaming.

A Hobgoblin's might is not to be underestimated.

You are now are under the status: Bleeding

It hurts.

Ouch… what a realistic dream.

This is a lucid dream right? I should be able to imagine myself out of these bindings, ha-ha.

Oh, look! That hobgoblin is coming over again…

He seems a little miffed… when did he get pants? I wonder what happened to him…

Where are the other little goblins? I liked them…

Well, this is a dream, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

The hobgoblin swiftly arrived in front of me. I could see burning anger in his eyes, as it gazed upon my broken body. He was baring his fangs, which looked nice and proper like a vampire's would.

Wow, he looks like he’s about to face a threat. It’s surprising how nice his teeth are, if only they weren’t so yellow…

I’ll give him some encouragement. Hopefully, he’s about to kill off some aliens…

I gave him a half smile from my place on the ground, showing off a mouthful of blood and broken teeth. A terrifying sight for sure. “Go gef fe Ariens!”

Ah, why can’t I speak correctly for once? Now it's even with guys too…

I can’t do anything right even in a dream…

Look at his face! It’s all twisted now! Sorry, bro, I wasn’t trying to disrespect you.

The hobgoblin kept staring at me, holding his gaze fixed on my smile.

Wow, do you like this sort of smile? It’s too bad; I’m getting tired… I’d keep smiling if I could.

It hurts.

What a crazy dream… I sorta don’t want to wake up now

…

*sigh*

I can’t leave with that guy still looking at me…

I tried talking to the ever-angrier hobgoblin. “Hey, ran you rea me arone? I wand do reave.”

Damn, I forgot I couldn’t speak properly in this dream. What a crappy dream. Maybe I do want to wake up…

Ah, so much blood is everywhere… Why is it so dark? Am I waking up now?

Oh, he’s leaving! Now I can fina—

*CRUNCH*

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The Hobgoblin stomped on my legs, a terrible crunch came from my legs, yet he still kept stomping. I was in tears, sniveling like a baby, screams coming out of my mouth. Except, it ended not long after—the screams, not the stomping. I guess my throat couldn’t take all the screaming. What a shitty dream. Why is it so painful?

A Hobgoblin's cruelty knows no bounds.

You have been Crippled.

Bleeding is now Severe Bleeding.

It hurts.

Ha~, this reminds me of something from before… Was it with Stella? Some men appeared when we ran away…

When did that happen? I can’t remember… I sure something else happened too… They took us then what happened?

The hobgoblin stopped stomping, a pleasant reprieve for me, though that didn’t stop the terrible pain. He walked closer to my face this time and looked at it carefully as if checking something out. As he got close, my gaze focused on his eyes. Different from the goblins’ beady little eyes, the hobgoblin had pupils and an iris like a human. And I could see the emotions coming through them. Confusion, anger, fear, killing intent, and relief.

He stood back up as if nothing had occurred. And then he lifted his foot over my head.

What’s this big guy so scared about? I’m sure it isn’t anything too bad…

But really, when am I going to wake from this crappy dre—

His foot came down.

Despite the inhuman pain and mental status effects: Fear, Bewitched, your Will shines through.

You have unlocked a new stat: Willpower

You have obtained the specialty: Pain Resistance

The Source looks kindly on those who can persevere.

Due to obtaining an intermediate specialty at Lvl. 1, you have been granted: +10 all stats

It hurts.