Dungeon

Revised scene on last chapter:

Ephraim's glasses gleamed as his jaw gaped, his eyes widening in sheer bewilderment.

Dead skulls and severed animal ears.

A place with bizarre-looking wares, plants, and edifices.

The scenery you can see in a distinct roleplaying game.

In the middle of somewhere dangerous.

Somewhere?

But where in the world . . .

. . . was he?

**

"Shit!"

Ephraim ran in a moment's notice as he rolls to the ground. Fire blazed atop a lake sizzling the plants and whatever was submerged to it. The diameter of the fire and its height had towered in a terrifying scorch. Ephraim panted as his elbows and forearm supported his body while he glanced around before he stood back in.

He was lucky enough to notice the oil atop the lake water before it flared in a matter of seconds.

One moment he was slow and he would've been burnt to crisp.

Ephraim knew how this worked because he would sometimes accompany Lucian in their house to study. Back when he was in middle school (and now), Lucian was a fan of videogames (and always had been). Specifically, roleplaying games. Instead of studying, the two of them would play, losing track of time. One all-time favorite of Ephraim was The Witcher. Lucian's was Skyrim, amongst many others. Games weren't foreign to Ephraim. He grew up with them (but he liked venturing outside rather than being stuck inside a lone room with the technological innovations surrounding him, regardless he still played from time to time). Ephraim learned lots from video games. Some useless, and some useful things. It even helped him to where he was right now.

And upon to closer observation, roleplaying games—ones with the fantasy genre—would always have one thing in common, as much as he had come to analyze.

Battles.

And battles aren't limited to PvP and warmongering. There are battles done with strategy, with skill, and with brainpower. Some required deductive skills and logical reasoning (not necessarily like the level of Sherlock Holmes), but the gist is present.

Dungeons for instance require basic coordination, quick thinking, and an escape strategy.

Ephraim didn't know he would have to deal with these kinds of battles in real life. Not figuratively.

Literally deal with them.

Minutes ago he woke up in a normal lake with towering trees almost shawling the sun (if it was the sun indeed). The scenery was bizarrely similar to the simulation jungle in ANDROMEDA's laboratory with only the exception that this place had no waterfall nor did the simulation room have gigantic trees.

After he followed the trail which led him to a place with bizarre-looking wares, plants, and edifices which was bombarded with skulls and (if it weren't disgusting enough), severed animal ears, Ephraim arrived in yet another lake filled with soot and oil. It had flared up just moments after he stepped through it and it was a good thing he knew these kinds of traps from the videogames he and Lucian played.

"Flammable water. Lights up better than lamps." He mumbles.

How peculiar it is to have videogames save your life.

Ephraim panted, tasting a bit of oil and lake water in his tongue. His ribs hurt, but it didn't matter now.

The edifices looked like they were made with slabs of paved, polished stones. The lower portion of the structures was covered with moss and twirling with vines. It looked like the place hasn't been tended to in years.

He started to saunter away from the lake, and he feels like as he did so, he was getting further and further away from safety and nearer to danger. The paths were getting darker as he goes until he arrives into a cave filled with orbs of neon-blue light.

He sniffed the aroma drifting through the air.

"Licorice?" Ephraim mutters, withdrawing his journal from his belt. He started to scribble through the page. These orbs were large enough as his torso. They smelled like fruits as well. Ephraim's stomach growled upon wafting the sweet scent emanating from the spherical neon-blue objects hanging through the cave. He must be hungry from all the moving and running.

Out of curiosity, Ephraim poked his finger through the orb.

"Slimy." He mumbles, peering down to his finger which was laced with a sticky, neon-blue glow of slime. Ephraim had the irrational urge to taste it.

Before Ephraim could lick the slime off his index finger, he heard a snap. A scrunch. Like that of a step in the ground.

Ephraim slowly turned around.

He parted his lips in surprise as he sees a neon-blue giant insect standing before him, its claws sharp and eyes similar to that of a fly glowering down on him.

Ephraim stopped breathing.

And then he hears another scrunch—a crack. He slowly turned around to see the orb he had touched now had its slime melt as its inner layer cracked, revealing an insect-like creature glowing with a neon-blue light.

"Shoot," Ephraim utters, and then the insect unleashed a deafening cry. Ephraim started to run forward, obviously freaking out. What are those things?! To think he was trying to lick off the slime from their . . . egg! Disgusting!

Ephraim seized a knife from his holster belt as an insect landed right in front of him, stopping him to his tracks. It lunged itself forward with its mouth parted, revealing fangs similar to thick, pointy needles. Its fangs landed on the ground. Ephraim then slashed through the creature.

"What the—?!" Ephraim utters as his knife slides through the insect's body easily. He felt the texture, its flesh like rotten fruit.

Soon he started slashing the insect to different parts of its body in order to immobilize it. But then his eyes widened as he noticed the bug turned into a slime and reformed once more, unscathed.

It again unleashed a deafening growl, a loud sound resembling that of a cricket. Ephraim remained vigilant as he sees more of the insects coming. He gnashed his teeth as one after another began attacking him. He kept on parrying and returning the attacks with a slash. The knife was working very well at a time like this. Although it was quite unsettling because of how swiftly he could cut these bugs. It was like cutting through bad produce because they also unleashed a ghastly smell, contrasting their licorice scent before they hatched.

Ephraim swirled the knife down, getting rid of the slime to his blade. He glances down to the insects melted to slime down below. Again, they merged down and started to form. But this time it was different.

The slime now coagulated and had united altogether. Ephraim lifted his gaze slowly as the slime molded and shaped into one insect way bigger than the others who were now approaching.

Ephraim grinned uneasily, glancing at the insect towering his physique. He unleashed an excruciated sigh as if he was just disparaged. By whom, he wasn't so sure.

The insect then sprawled wings to its back.

"You've got to be kidding me."