Prologue - How I got here: Part 5

It takes only a few seconds for all of us to realise what is in front of us. None of us realised what it is exactly. All that we do know is that it definitely is a monster that could kill every single one of us. And we wouldn't even know what had killed us. All I do know is that this thing is way too powerful to be in this type of portal. But as soon I realised how much trouble we actually are, our only light source went out. I try to shout out at Alex to ask him to put back on that light but nothing seems to happen. I start to hear the distinct sound of something biting or sucking on something. I am sure that everyone who is in front of me could hear it even better. But Alex did not make another fire again. And as my eyes started to adjust to the dark I realised that he was unable to do so. As that monster was holding Alex's arm and either biting or sucking it. This thing had made sure that Alex couldn't light up the way again.

If all of us didn't realise how dangerous this thing already was it started to speak. It started to speak our language, something monsters shouldn't be able to do. Yet it did so which means we are even more doomed than we originally thought we were. "You should consider this a warning. We can slaughter anyone we want at any point we want to." The monster declares its voice sounding quite harsh in tone but the way it's saying it sounds stern too. As I look around I see what he meant with warning. Four people dead in mere seconds, this thing could've killed all of us without having to worry about it. And as sudden as this thing had appeared, as sudden it's gone again.

As I look around I notice the blood splatter all around us. That thing was very quick with killing them yet wanted to make it very bloody. As it finally sinks in what that thing said. He used "we" not "I". That must mean that this monster isn't alone. How could it even speak our language in the first place? Monsters shouldn't be able to communicate with us. I haven't seen something like that ever in all the years I have been doing this. My ability to speak seemed to have returned now and I am not the only one who seems to have happened it too. Since I immediately hear screaming. And then the most surprising thing happens. Our job is done with a simple message that pops up.

Congratulations: the head of the eastern village Araium has been eliminated

Return to the portal within 3 hours

Time remaining: 3:00

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"Hey, Azure you have to wake up dude. We barely have enough time left to get out of here." I hear Lake say as I am being shaken up. My brain still felt a bit scattered because I was thrown against that altar. But I am surprised to see a message in front of me.

Congratulations: the head of the eastern village Araium has been eliminated

Return to the portal within 3 hours

Time remaining: 1:30

Wait, they managed to finish the portal so quickly. We are quite a bit away from the portal so we will probably have to run now. We have to get back to the portal in time otherwise we are quite doomed. How did they finish the boss of this quickly? I wished they finished off this portal later. Since then we might've been able to walk towards the portal instead of having to run towards it. I probably shouldn't tell them about what I saw up here since we all have to get out of here.

"Give me a minute. I am still a bit dizzy." I reply to Lake's shaking while he starts to pull me up already. I honestly don't want to stand already but I know that I have to. Even though I want to sit for just a few more moments I do have to say that I have to appreciate Lake in moments like these. He is not willing to leave anyone behind inside the portal. "We will probably have to run since I have no idea how far we are from the portal. Is that doorway still down?"

"Nope, the doorway is actually back up where it originally was. Must've happened while all of us were asleep. Kiara is quickly checking if any of those wolves are still lurking around." Lake informs me sounding pretty annoyed as he drags me down the stairs. Halfway down I motion him to leave me be. Since my mind is clearing up and I am able to stand up better now.

"Keep the timer." I say as the message I see partly disappears only the time counter remaining. That way I have nearly my entire vision back with only a corner being taking place for the timer. I don't want to run against a tree because of it. However, another screen still remained it being some sort of stat screen. I have never seen one of these before, it is probably a trick of the eye. As I see Lake run downstairs to what I assume to inform Kiara that we are ready to go, I say. "Close" As that weird stat screen disappears and only a timer remains.

Time remaining: 1:24

It doesn't seem that Lake has seen this thing. He would've mentioned it if he did, right? But in case they haven't I will keep it to myself a bit. Since they shouldn't freak out when we still have to get out of here safely. All I can hope is that thing isn't hunting us anymore. I probably should be the only one worrying about that. It did think of me as a bug of sorts so it might not bother us anymore. But why did it spare both Lake and Kiara, could it be because they were asleep. I guess I could count myself lucky for being weak this one time.

Time remaining: 1:23

"Azure, come down we have to get going. I would rather have none of us end up on those lost in portals lists." Kiara shouts out at me as she stares at me for a bit, seemingly looking confused. "Did you always have that scar? I don't remember you having that yesterday." Kiara asks as she points to my cheek as I remember that thing cutting it open, but how has it healed already. It should only be around the start of the healing process.

"Can we discuss Azure's weird scar later? We might want to spend our time on getting out of here." Lake shouts to the both of us as he walks back out again. I have to agree, I rather want to run to get back home safely. I rather not be doomed by staying inside here for too long.

"At least the message didn't switch up the boss on us. It was the zombie and not a dire wolf or something that might've been worse." I say jokingly as I walk downstairs as I see Kiara run. I start running too of course since I don't like the thought of being left behind in here. I am still the slowest person here. I am lucky that I tend to walk in about a straight line when collecting. It makes the portal be quite far but at least not a lot of twists and turns I need to make. But I have no time to waste.

Time remaining: 1:00

The timer now in the bottom of my vision field is never out of sight. But I am not sure whether or not it gives me a reassuring feeling or fills me up with more dread. As I see the number on the clock get lower and lower. In times like these, the time couldn't go any faster. But of course in class when you are waiting for it to end it feels like an eternity. I don't like the fact that around thirty minutes have passed since I had woken up again. Which means just less time to get back to the portal safely. And causes my mind to panic even more since I am unable to see that dammed portal yet. At least I don't feel that I am getting stared at again. And I think that feeling was from that monster. So at least one giant problem I don't have to deal with right now.

Okay if I am speaking from a technical standpoint the monster wasn't a giant. A monster has to be at least 50 feet tall to be considered a giant. There aren't a lot of monsters to reach that qualification And that monster I saw would be around 12 feet tall, so not a gigantic type of monster. But from what I remember researching about monsters. It would be classified as a large monster, not a giant one.

But at least from how far as I know it isn't here. So I don't have to worry too much as far as I know. At least I don't think that it is still around here. And I am also glad that we don't have run away from dire wolves too. It feels from a collecting perspective and from a personal perspective that this delve was a disaster. I don't want to think about it since otherwise I might just start to panic for real.

"Azure, are you able to keep up? You better keep up since I am personally not that interested in finding out what happens when the portal closes." Lake shouts out as he looks back. But as he looks back I see some surprise in his eyes. I am slightly confused by the surprise in his eyes till it clicks. I am actually to keep up with them. Normally I am quite a lot behind them, they should've been out of my sight already. Yesterday I started running first out of everyone and yet I went inside the ruins last. Maybe the thought of getting stuck here I scarier than wolves somehow.

"Yesterday you two mentioned that all of this seemed strange. And you two got a whole lot of stuff from that temple. But how are you two going to explain that?" I ask both of them since I am pretty sure they did find some stuff in there. Some stuff that might be valuable but pretty hard to explain if they don't explain the temple ruin we found. Well, I do hope they got some stuff from there that might get some money from since you do want some extra money for coming inside here. And since neither of them really got anything from monsters which is where the real money is apparently. Well, I got some flowers which are worth more than a regular flower lately so I am good in that regard. But considering a lot of money goes into hospital bills, I need it. But they would need to explain artifacts like this in a D+ ranked portal.

Time remaining: 00:42

"There were some things inside the ruin. Nothing actually that would alarm people I think. It was actually a pretty safe place to rest." Kiara shouts out as I finally manage to spot the top of the portal. It is good for them to know that they don't have anything too suspicious. But right now I am more focused on how we actually see our goal. But if I had to be honest, this portal is quite large and thus the portal might be quite a bit away. The problem I am having right now though is the fact that I am getting out of breath. It seems this sudden burst of adrenaline has run its course.

"Azure is right Kiara. What we found in there might not seem all too special but it is. We should report this but at the same time, we would get a lot of questions. Maybe even suspension if we are unlucky enough." Lake shouts out in response. We keep on running towards the portal but it seems like I am starting to fall behind by now. Also, Lake is right, we would get a ton of questions. We are the only three people who have seen this and the others probably had a normal delve. How could we explain that we somehow found something strange? I have pretty sure that the others will have a lot of mana crystals that come from zombies. Which apparently smell quite bad since they were in a rotten corpse all the time. And yet here they have some of a dire wolf. At least I hope they did pick up those since I didn't think about that. Also, we saw dire wolves inside a portal with zombies. A portal that we should only see zombies in. And then I am not even talking about the monster only I saw. This would mean that I would be seen as the crazy person and that would mean that I would definitely get a suspension. Even though I did absolutely nothing wrong.

"Well, I would say first we should get through the portal." I shout out as I notice it gets harder and harder to actually keep up. They don't know about what I saw up there which means I can just keep my mouth suck. They probably won't ask the F- ranked delver a lot of questions, since he is even known to just collect things. We might get seen as reliable eyewitnesses but that doesn't mean that they actually take us seriously. Whether they like it or not, they see us as filler. People just to make sure that the headcount number fits. That's sadly enough always the case for people like me. We are definitely needed but that doesn't mean we actually get respect. Even though we are the ones most likely to die.

"Wait, can't we just tell them? Like you mention a suspension but that sounds like talk to scare me. Because telling them seems like the right thing to do." Kiara asks us as I am really falling behind them now. Which is just great since I was feeling behind quite a lot already. Now I am falling behind with a chance to be stuck here. But I have to keep on running. But Kiara is right, telling the truth is better. But she doesn't seem to have people around who have to rely on her. But we don't know whether or not the others encountered something strange in here too. I just hope that that monster just chose the wrong person to talk to and didn't encounter anyone else.

Time remaining: 00:20

"I honestly don't know if telling is the best thing for us to do. It seems it would cause more trouble than it would be worth for us. Avoiding attention for us is actually better than you think. Attention is good when you fight well. But for something like this would not be great." Lake responds as we keep on running. I have no clue how long it will take to actually get to the portal but I need a break soon. But I don't want to know what would happen if I were to stay inside here.

"How about we wait and see what has happened with the others. If nothing weird happened to them. We could say nothing so we don't seem suspicious. But if something did happen with them, we could maybe just let them explain?" I suggest to them as I try my best to stay on course, which is harder and harder to do right now. If there were going to be things that we had to explain I rather have them do it. I will have to take a break now otherwise I might collapse and trap myself in here for sure. "Keep running. I just need to catch my breath." I shout as every breath I take hurts my lungs.

Time remaining: 00:12

"We better see you come out of that portal." Kiara shouts out as she and Lake keep running toward it. She seems to be saying something else too but I am unable to understand that. That running for about an hour is not what I am used to. I need to get rid of this burning sensation in my lungs quickly. As I look at the timer, I notice the fact that I can't take too long to rest. But if I just start running now, I would faint.

Time remaining: 00:10

I can't wait anymore. I have to start again now or I will be trapped. I try to start running again since I have to make it through. I see that both Lake and Kiara are nearing the portal. Which is good for them since I am sure they will make it. I however become less and less sure about my chances. Why is my stamina this bad? Why did I get a sudden boost, was it to see me fail at the last moment.

Time remaining: 00:02

It doesn't take me long to realise that Lake and Kiara had disappeared. They had made it through the portal. I have to get there on time even though every muscle in my body hurts. I really hate being stuck as such a weakling. Why couldn't I have some better stamina when my powers got activated.

Time remaining: 00:01

I close my eyes and just keep on running. I don't want to know whether or know I make it. I don't want to see the time. I just need to get through there. As I finally start to smell the horrible smell of the portal again, I stumble through it. However, what I saw behind it was more than a shock.

End Prologue - How I got here: Part 5

Completed.

You got a character card

Name: Alex Henderson

Ability: Fire ability

Class: Sorcerer

Date of birth: 02/22/1992

Age: 31 years old

Nationality: American

Hair style: Undercut style but black colour

Eye colour: dark brown eyes

Likes: Warm weather, Superhero movies, Coffee

Dislikes: Cold weather, Hot chocolate milk, Alcohol