Oh my god, I’m dead. Whatever am I gonna do!?

Where’s the alarm bell when you need it? Quick, start ringing and annoy the sleeping me. I need to go to college.

Wait. I don’t bother to put an alarm during holidays.

Fuck!

As I was panicking, one of the sentry unit walked up and grabbed my hair and lifted my face.

His face peeking under the helmet was pruned and withered. same for any and all skin exposed. Also, skin tone was pale and they were all skin, bone and armours.

God, he looks ugly.

The sentry let go of my hair and banged the stone door with his fist a few times.

Enter

An archaic echoing voice rattled in my head.

A talking door. Now I’ve seen everything.

The double doors parted like the maw of a huge beast, and I was dragged into it.

Halfway through the door, my panic and fear disappeared into thin air, causing snap my head up in wonder.

And I saw something that surpassed my previous shock.

In the room, which had a high ceiling, was a throne at the far end. Before the throne stood one of them, except it appeared as if it was sheathed in its armour. Also, unlike the sentries, it wore a helmet. Not just a normal helmet, but one with huge upright horns on the sides.

I dont know why, but he appeared many times bigger and imposing than he really should.

It was lifting up another undead by its throat while it tried to free itself. I couldn’t see the face of the choked victim as it wore a dented shield on its back.

Slowly, the flailing legs of the undead victim slowed as something flowed from the victims mouth to its assailant. At the same time, the weaker undead’s skin grew dry and rough and started to flake.

My fear shot from zero to max once more, and I screamed in terror. Again.

The undead king (let’s call him that for convenience) abruptly stopped, and turned its head at me with a grating noise. It’s clear that I interrupted it meal.

It snarled, as if condemning me to the chopping block. My fear should have escalated once more, but it died out like last time. Weird.

But he really can’t blame me. I mean, even if they are already dead, the sight of one dead guy sucking out the HP of another dead is really a unique scene Lovecraft would have loved to see.

Get it? HP. Lovecraft. Get it?

What?

Did you see that? It was almost like a floating screen a split second ago.

I think my emotionally exhausted mind needs rest.

Just as I was about to think of getting a shut eye, the undead king snarled gibberish once more, and I was dragged before him.

He threw the undead from his hand behind him as if it weighed nothing, and turned to me.

Am I going to die?

Give me a break, I’m already dead.

I’ve never seen you before.

I heard the archaic voice in my head once more.

But the only thing that could be remotely related to the source would be the undead king before me. Oh, and the other bloke who was just getting his HP sapped out of. It’s trying to get back on its feet.

The King doesn’t seem to notice though.

He waved his bony hands at me, and I was once again dragged before him. This time, Thing 1 and Thing 2 forced me to a prostrate.

Hmm. Where did you come from?

The King mused. Thing 1 piped up in their universal undead language of blarsh and glojv which I have no clue about.

The King’s helmed head nodded a few times and then looked at me.

So, the long wait ends. Are you here to avenge your priestess?

My what? You fuckers, what did you tell him!?

I raised my head to look at the King.

I think there’s a misunderstanding, sir. I have no clue who this priestess is. Neither do I care. So if you could let me go…

Or at least I tried to say that. But all I managed was clacks and wheezes.

Look at those vengeful eyes! Just as I expected!

No! You got it wrong!

I tried to shake the two blokes off me so that I can properly explain.

This one has spirit! Very well, I accept your duel!

This isn’t funny. A first-world citizen like me wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone with skill.

Rather, I do have skills, but I don’t think they’ll be much of a use here.

I felt the other two’s grasp leave me, so I stood up.

It’s too late to say anything, right. If I wasn’t mute I wouldn’t have fallen in such blunder.

The double doors opened, and this time, 16 undeads marched in. 4 with great weapons. The rest with shields.

The shield bearers surrounded us in a 3×3 formation while the great axe and great sword wielders stood at the corners with their weapon drawn.

Just by seeing the formation, one can easily say what this is.

An undead ring.

Then where’s the referee? And the medics?

I’ll make this a bit fair for you, draugr.

The King spoke. Wait, did he just call me a draugr?

So let this match be 2 against one. I’ll let the other one keep her shield.

I wasn’t listening, but observing the undeads around me.

They don’t smell rotten. Their skin is pale, but not damaged. Skin is sticking to the bones. Wearing armor that are on the verge of falling off.

Draugrs. The undead of the Norse mythology.

As a mythology fan, I know all about them that was available on the Internet.

I know their weakness. I know their strength.

But that doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to pull it off.

Do you agree?

I looked behind him. The draugr was back on its feet and was walking up to me. I looked at its hand. No weapons. Only the dented shield on its back.

Unlike the others, it’s skin is dark brown instead of pale gray. The armor is also different, with larger, more distinct shoulder pads and a rag-like lower half. One of the shoulder pads look like a head belonging to a rodent’s giant species usually found in the Amazon. Saw one in an episode of Man vs Wild in the National Geographic Channel.

It’s armor appears to be fashioned out of leather and furs stitched together, with a metal waist piece and shoulder pauldron. It’s also wearing a necklace made of skeletal hands.

Compared to my comrade, I don’t have a single string on me.

Forcing a deep breath into my chest, I raised my fists.

I don’t think I am too confident about this fight. A yellow belt in karate and Tae Kwon Do, that’s it. That’s all my fighting skills backing me up. Now I’m starting to wish I never dropped the martial art classes.

And I can figure this mess out when I’m not getting dragged around and pushed into a duel.

Beside me, the brown draugr simply took off the shield from its back and put it on its arm. It did not look at me, but at its opponent. It’s clear that it has more experience than me. It could hardly care about me.

I could only agree. I, too, can only fight for myself.

Good. An unarmed battle it is! Or sort of…

At this moment, a floating screen appeared before me out of nowhere.

I tapped it, and something on the top left corner of my vision flashed.

An amber bar.

HP: -18/-21

Why is it on the negative? Because I am dead?

And why is it low? Probably the rolling and the kick.

I understand.

Yep, this is totally normal. There’s no way I could have lost my mind. I mean, I am a draugr. Happens every Saturday. Sooo normal.

My thoughts were interrupted as the floor beneath my feet vibrated.

Behind the King, the platform before the throne started to slide back, revealing a gaping hole.

Rules are simple. The one who falls through that hole, loses.

Saying such, he took off his metal gauntlets, letting them fall.

The moment they met the floor with a CLANG, we leapt at our opponent.

I charged first. I need to probe just how strong he is.

Seeing the King draw his right fist back, I crossed my arms before me and jumped.

BOOM!

I was sent back skidding, my arms numb. But it wasn’t without gain.

Just before the punch landed on my arms, I had firmly put my feet on the gauntlets.

The brown draugr was shielding and dodging the fist of the King at intervals. Sometimes, it would get in a punch or two on the King’s helm, but the he’d just shrug it off.

Just watching the 3 second exchange taught me something, and I came up with a plan full of holes.

These 3 seconds weren’t lost in watching these two fight, but also to put the gauntlets on.

I glanced at my top left corner.

HP: -10/-21

It’ll have to do.

The King kicked the brown draugr away. I took that as my cue and rushed at him once more.

Once again he drew back his right fist, and threw it at me.

This time, I let it land on my left arm, while putting all my weight on my right foot. Thanks to the overwhelming force, I spun, and my right fist ploughed into his face.

Having tasted his own strength, the King staggered.

Taking this chance, I didn’t pursue my assault. Rather I ran towards the brown draugr. Making sure it saw my advance, I jumped at it, my legs bent and my feet pointing straight at it.

The draugr reacted by getting into a crouch stance and its shield at me. As soon as my feet landed on the shield, it forced the shield outwards. At the same time, I used it as a leverage to shoot myself in the air while turning.

In the air, I raised my two arms above my head as I descended towards the King. I’m going to break my arms on his face.

Sadly, my assault couldn’t advance.

The King didn’t do something you would have expected from any dumb undead. It didn’t dumbly keep watching as I descended. Rather, reacting like any battle hardened monster, he grabbed my neck, causing my attack to be nullified. And by the way, his grip was like vice.

Then he looked past me and raised his other hand at the direction I could hear the brown draugr approaching. The air around me suddenly vibrated as I started to hear the noise of a discharging fire extinguisher. I don’t know what’s going on but my back is being hit by some extremely chilly air.

Turning his head to me, the King slightly opened his maw, and in there something dark emanated like mist. Seeing that, something inside me started boiling. Something important. Something I’d want to hold on to.

It climbed up my throat like puke, except it was as if it had its own mind. As it reached my mouth, my toes on my dangling legs felt noticeably chilly. Not like the chill on my back. But the chill that comes from the inside.

Then, it came out. A pale yellow mist floated from my mouth towards the King’s. The black mist from his also advanced, but only a little. The moment my mist touched his, the black mist spread through the yellow mist and pulled it back to where it came from. His unblinking glowing eyes shone for a split second.

At the same time, my HP bar flashed, showing it had depleted by -3.

All this happened in a few seconds.

How condensed, just like the one behind you, if not more.

Saying such, he gave a hearty laugh, as if relishing our demise.

As if relishing mine.

Once again he opened his maw again, and this time my mind uselessly noticed that the fellow is sporting a full beard and mustache.

I can’t let him use me as a healing potion. So I grabbed hold of his arm that’s holding my neck and kneed his chin. Unfortunately, his mouth didn’t even budge, much less close. I kneed again, this time holding on to the horns on his helm. All I managed was a tooth falling off. I don’t think it was his on the first place.

The black mist once again spread through my mist, and was getting pulled away. This time in a larger amount. Large enough to tell me that that’s all my HP. And if it gets taken away, I will die! And I will stay dead.

Why is this happening?

Why me?

Why am I here?

Is this a dream, or not a dream for that matter?

I’m not going down like this!

Think! Something! Anything!

And it came to my mind like the sunrise after the darkest hours of the night.

WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWRRR!

I let out a baleful scream.

A scream with all my hope riding on it. All my gambling chips on it.

The King blinked. The fire extinguisher noise stopped. Something behind me cracked.

And I kneed his slack jaw shut with all my strength.

His head shot back, and he let me go, causing me to fall on the floor.

Something fell beside me, but I didn’t look. I couldn’t.

I couldn’t do anything besides just lay there.

HP: 0/-21

My vision starts to darken.

I can hear them still going at it, but the noise is also dimming. As if leaving me.

Stranded.

The floor under me is hot. So hot that I can feel the skin of my back burning.

The air is so cold that its freezing.

I feel so cold.

I’m so cold.

The darkness surrounding my vision grows as I keep staring at the ceiling. No, to be exact, the yellow mist floating there, with a small part of it blackened like a corner of a page kissed by ink.

My life.

And I can’t do anything about it. But at least before I die, I’ll try breathing like a living person.

With great effort, I drew a breath. Then another. And another. And …another. And …ano…th…

Abruptly, my vision cleared.

…eh? Ah? What?

HP: -1/-21

What? How?