Ch. 3 Death's Door

Time felt like it was slowly moving forward for Del. Paralysis wasn't an enjoyable way to pass the time and With his head to the side and his body frozen to the cold hard ground he felt his mortality as blood slowly oozed from the wound on his back. " In most games Paralysis only lasts a few seconds but it's been a few hours now. I stopped the immediate threat only to succumb to a long torturous death. I may die of boredom before I bleed out, though." The bright light that dimly lit the bottom of the pit subtly transitioned from bright yellow, to deep orange, to a stary white as the hours passed by.

He'd have slept if he could only manage to close his eyes but even that was proving impossible. The occasional moans of the undead surrounding him reminded him that he was in fact still in control of them or he would have been eaten alive, or so he assumed. He wondered if they could carry him out of the pit, but alas he could not speak either. That last command he gave to Kill the ghoul was uttered before the effect of the paralysis could take him completely, but now that hours have passed his best hope was to wait it out. A faint cry and some footsteps could be heard from the top of the pit. Someone was getting closer.

Was someone coming down to feed the ghoul? No, the bodies he's seen strewn about indicated they were likely tossed in. No one in their right mind would approach a ghoul unprotected. That would be insane. Maybe they know that it's dead? Hardly. It's been hours and nobody has come to investigate. I am stuck here until I bleed out or until I can move again.

The blood that slowly drained from his body kept him somewhat warm but the icy cold stone floor negated most of that cozy feeling. "Who knew I would be comforted by my own blood."

From above, Del could hear a hatch slide open, allowing more of the light to pour in.

"No please I promise I won't do it again!" A voice from above. Frantic for some means of escape spoke quickly as a shadow was cast down in the pit. Someone was begging for their lives. "Someone else was about to become another body down here. At least I won't die alone." He laughed internally. That joke was a bit morbid, even for Del.

The man's horrified Screaming echoed off of the walls as he plummeted down the pit. The sound was agonizing to hear as each echo seemingly amplified the next. Del wanted to cover his ears but he still could not move. When was the paralysis effect supposed to end? Would it ever end?

The unknown Man's body slammed into the ground before Del with a crunch. His position left the man facing him, staring into his horrified eyes, unable to move due to what was most likely a broken spine. The Man's face contorted in fear and agony gasping like a fish out of water as he spat up blood. His blood? There was already so much blood it was impossible to know. Despite the pain he was in as he stared Del dead on, unable to move, he came to the realization that he wasn't the only living person in this pit. Of course, he had no way of knowing that Del himself was unable to move. His eyes begged forgiveness of his conviction, and salvation from Del. He struggled to speak but only more blood came out. Del vomited the remaining food from his stomach into his mouth, unable to spit it out. He could not bear the sight of the man in front of him and though he fought, his body persisted to refuse to look away. He couldn't look away as his own mortality faced him down at the depths of this pit and fear and panic rose within his body. Tears began to streak down his face and mix with the blood and vomit pressed against his face.

"No, no please god no. I don't want to die here, not like this. I did nothing to deserve this, why the hell am I being punished like this? I was minding my own business for just a few hours and now I am at death's door. What a joke, a necromancer fearing death himself. But I am not a necromancer, I am just a normal kid from the west, not some powerful spellcaster! Maybe this is just a dream and I'll wake up, yea just a dream. Oh god please, please help me!"

The Man's face ceased to hold expression and instead stared directly into his eyes, it's gaze hard like stone. . Del couldn't tell if the man was alive or dead anymore. His tears felt like barbed wire streaking down his face, burning him. Minutes passed by as slowly as horribly agonizing hours until the man slowly and finally choked on his own blood, placing a period on the final movements from his body. Del had never felt this way before. He saw people die all the time in video games and even somehow managed to get used to his zombie hoard, but to see a man die in front of him for real was another thing entirely.

"He's… he's actually dead. Not just a corpse like the rest but a living, breathing, real person who had been here just moments ago! Someone who held the same fear I have now. Someone who was probably loved. His mother… my mother. My dad, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents… I'm never going to be a grandparent. I'm never going to fall in love. I'm never going to get to apologize to them for all the hardships. This person is dead and now I'm going to be next. What was my life worth anyway? Might as well die here now and get it over with. Not like I really accomplished anything while I had the time." Del's fear was returning but more than that something else weld up deep inside of himself. Something that all living creatures feel when they are at death's door. "God, I hope I was at least a good person."

Del felt the dread wash over his body as he continued to lay still within the silence. He laid prone for more, longer, eternal hours, sobbing in the wetness of the floor as he awaited his own final moments.

Suddenly, he snapped.

"Screw this! I can't die yet! I may not have accomplished much in my previous life but that does not mean I can't do something here. I need something, anything to prove my existence was not meaningless. I will not die today!"

Del focused. He concentrated all of his energy and willpower into his right arm. He felt the power begin to move within him. It felt a lot like the technique the ghoul gave him instruction on. First, feeling began to return to his fingertips, then his palm as he continued to pour the power into his arm. Good, he was making progress. He could feel the paralytic poison that was coursing through his veins just moments ago slowly pour out of his back as control of his fingers slowly began to return. Del remembered another thing necromancers were good at and that was draining the life of another creature. He just hadn't expected it to work on a creature who was already dead. Slowly but surely his arm moved closer and closer to one of his undead minions.

"I can do this. I've drained the life of the poison. I just need to think about healing now. But I also need the intent of draining. Like a vampire would their victim I need to drain the life force of one of my minions. It's the only way I am going to get out of this alive."

His connection was made with what apparently was the leg of a smaller undead boy. Suddenly as he began to drain what life fore it had, a euphoric feeling washed over him. The pleasure of it made him feel disgusted, but this was the only way for him to survive. The corpse he was clasped to stood firm and began to wither up as the wound on his own back started to close and heal. It was not long before he felt as if he was more energetic than he had been in years. the zombie however was now a pile of dust on the ground.

"I am not going to let this world destroy me. From this point on I will decide my own fate..." Looking up at the top of the pit Del smiled. "It's time to get out of here."