Hell

Athena thought for a moment before happily yelling, "Yes! You can forget about all that child-making stuff. I would love to join completely!"

Vain almost couldn't believe he had been wholly forsaken for the first offer the entity had given to Athena, "Wait calm down Athena! Hey octopus freak! If you so badly wanted Athena, then why did you bring me here? If you are so knowledgeable, why can't you only invite Athena and not bring me along?!"

The entity still spoke with the same calmness as before, "We will give you a different offer you can't refuse! As you have helped our new member quite a lot, you shall be given a choice! Power or information. We shall put you to the test on 5 various levels. After each time you have passed one level, you will be given a choice. Each successive victory will allow you to gain more information or power."

With a wave of its' tentacle Vain disappeared before you could keep up with more questions. Now with only Athena and the entity in the room, the entity spoke with more emotion in its' voice, "Welcome child. You may call me Kraken."

Athena was a bit surprised to be alone without Vain for the first time since he found her, but when she thought about all the knowledge that she could gain from this organization, she almost stopped thinking about it. "Kraken? Why have you taken my father from me? As much as I would love to get right into getting knowledge from you all; the man did care for me more than anyone else. I would like to see him safe."

The entity moved back to a completely emotionless voice, "As long as you believe he is strong he should be able to survive the tests. You and I have no say on whether he wants to take the test or not."

"Can you at least tell me more about the tests?"

"The test consists of a week-long period on level 3 as the first test. Next, is a week on level 21. The next consists of a week on level 8. Next is a week on level 9. Last is a week on level 14. Come now, let us move on to join the Lost Hall Society."

Athena nodded and this time she let go of all her worries and followed the strange entity.

**

Vain had just been transported to a new place that rang a bell immediately.

"God Damn It! Level 3! You couldn't give me the choice to deny your offer! Fu***** as******!"

Curse after curse, Vain made sure that he wouldn't die of something he didn't notice first. Now he was alone in a place that was considered to be the most dangerous of the early levels. Still thinking about how the entity might not treat Athena right, Vain couldn't help but want to get back as soon as possible.

While he kept raining down curses, Vain started to move forward to see if he could keep cursing at whatever the entity he had just met was. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep cursing as he had wanted to.

A large group of entities was heading his way. Running, Vain kept moving in any direction he could find. As long as it was sort of safe, Vain moved in that direction. Trying almost every door, Vain was able to escape into another door, but that was only temporary. A smaller group came in this new direction.

This time, there is no escape, and Vain had not gotten any type of sleep, besides he was extremely tired. After killing a group, there is usually space to rest for at least half an hour before another group comes along. That is what Vain is betting on, so by killing the Crawler in the back, Vain starts his slaughter of entities.

Half an hour later Vain finally kills the last entity. This is the first time he hasn't come out unscathed from a battle. The clump he fought had cut him using some rusty metal that was at the side. After the battle Vain was breathing very heavily. Cleaning and caring for his wound, Vain took a drink and sat down to rest after checking for any nearby entities.

After half an hour a screech woke Vain up from his shallow sleep. Standing up, Vain acted as if he hadn't been a person who had just taken a short nap. Without any dreariness, Vain stood up and got ready to fight all over again.

This time it was a large group that was slightly too big to start fighting against them. Although the size was a problem, the Smilers inside was what really made a difference. Vain could only run in the opposite direction while shooting an arrow at anything that got a little too close.

Ten minutes later after trying many doors Vain was able to escape with only a single shallow scratch from a hound on his forearm. Through the door was another group of entities nearby like usual. This group was only medium-sized, so Vain fought against the group using the same old strategies as before. Kill the Crawlers, then the Hounds that always lead the pack to block the path slightly, then focus on Wretches to avoid incidents with them, but if the group is too close then Wretches are second instead of third, lastly close combat all the Clumps after anything that survives the rain of arrows.

After another hour of fighting, Vain took all the breaks he could trying to survive in this hell hole. With several cuts throughout his body, Vain could only use most of his bandages, and some extremely expensive alcohol to clean himself up. Being cut by rusty metal that the Clumps waive around isn't the best way to fight.

With barely enough water to last him a week, and enough food for five days, Vain could only save some more sparingly. Unsure of how long he would be trapped here, or if he would become a Wretch before he could escape, Vain only could hope he could meet someone and not fight such big groups alone while sustaining small injuries after every fight.

After getting through so many fights with Clumps, Vain had improved enough to fight a Clump far more easily without any help as he did in the beginning.

After falling half asleep once again, a full two hours passed before he could hear more screeching coming from another direction again. Without wanting to fight so soon, Vain could only run in the opposite direction and hope the entities would not keep running in his direction.

An hour of running later there was no more screeching heard behind him, but right in front of him was another group that wasn't making much sound. Luckily this group was small, so once again using the tried and true strategy, Vain was able to fight with only a few small cuts at the end.

After three days of constant running and fighting, Vain finally met someone who wasn't a Faceling. Right in front of him was a big sign that read, 'M.E.G. - Base Gamma'

Walking up to the armed guard, Vain took out his ID and was able to enter fairly easily with a large fee of 10B just for entry, but it was worth it for being able to find a safe place to stay.

First Vain got more food and water before just falling asleep at the first hotel he could find, after all, level 3 is far too dangerous to get a good sleep.

After nearly 16 hours of straight sleep, Vain headed to where the exit should be and soon arrived at an open door that supposedly lead to level 1. Paying 10B again, Vain walked in to escape once again.