The Hungry and the Ominous

Kantan wasn't sure exactly how long he had been asleep between the second and third Erthis' arrivals, but it must have been a significant enough amount of time that he found himself ravenous. He clutched at his stomach with his good hand as it rumbled angrily. "If I don't find some food my stomach is going to bring the whole dungeon down on me with its griping." For a moment he contemplated his freshest kill, the third Erthi he had slain around an hour or so ago. There was meat there, though it didn't look appetizing in the slightest, especially considering he had no way to cook it. Again his stomach rioted against him, demanding sustenance.

If he had entered the dungeon properly as part of his trial, he would have had food prepared along with fire starting supplies. Since he hadn't been given that choice or those resources he would need to figure out another way to feed himself. Kantan quickly rose to his feet, the elevation change making him momentarily dizzy. When his mind cleared the dizzying spell, he noticed something unsettling. A dark mist had began to form around where he had been leaning against the wall. He followed the source of the darkness to the three bodies of demons lying a few feet away.

When he had stood to leave he had disturbed it significantly, but he could see it begin to slowly float through the air towards him. Kantan backed away cautiously, a bad feeling settling in his gut. "What did you do Kantan, you've got demonic chi chasing you now." The thought of eating the Erthi suddenly seemed much less enticing despite his hunger. "Maybe if I ignore it, nothing bad will happen." With that he turned and slowly began to pace into the hallway leading out of his dome.

The walls outside of his dome were the same continuous stone of the previous room, making him wonder how it had been built. He wasn't sure exactly how dungeon's functioned, in fact he had very little information about their inner workings in the first place. His clan seemed content to have us come in and slay the demons dwelling within and return with any intriguing tools or artifacts they could find. Remembering that there were supposed to be powerful items in here gave him a moment of hope as he turned his first corner. If he could get a hold of a piece of armor or maybe even a healing salve to fix his wounds then he would have a higher chance of survival.

As he turned the corner though he came face to face with a seemingly impossibly long hallway. He strained his eyes and still couldn't see the other side, eventually becoming too dark to make anything out. Kantan had heard that each Trial was different, that the dungeon was consistently remaking itself. It was also the reason that all of the student's could take the Trial at the same time. Each person would end up in a different part of the dungeon that was unique. "Well if all I have to do to pass my trial is walk down a conspicuous hallway, it seems like I got an easier trial than most."

Kantan began walking down the seemingly endless hallway, slowly watching the walls and floor for anything suspicious. Traps were a common method of death employed by the dungeon, though it was almost unheard of for a trap to kill a person outright. Most caused injuries that would wear a fighter out over time, a few cuts here, some singing there. He made sure to watch for raised bits of stone or trip wires, but after a half hour of walking he started to wonder what the point of a tunnel this long was supposed to be. The stone never changed, there was never any points of interest or reference. Just continued hallway, without torches or light sources to track his progress.

A bout of nausea forced its way into his conscious thoughts as his hunger worsened. He leaned against the wall for a few moments, trying to calm his nerves. "Just keep walking, there will be food at some point." Kantan turned around, trying to see if he could still see where he had started, and stopped dead in his tracks. He was no more than twenty feet from the bend in the hall. Dread formed a pit in his stomach as he quickly walked toward the bend, disbelief in his mind. "You have to be kidding me."

There just fifteen feet in front of him was the dome he had spent the last day in trying to survive. He looked between the domed room and the hallway, frustration and anger boiling inside him. "Thirty minutes wasted making no progress, and I didn't even see how it happened." Kantan slammed his good hand against the stone before taking a deep breath and centering himself. Losing control now would only leave him in a worse spot than he already was. "Lets just take a moment to rest, then were off to find food."

As he got into the Astaire cultivation position he began to breath in the cultivation pattern, imagining his chi cycling throughout his body. Immediately the flames in his Chi channels screamed against him, making him yelp in pain. "Guess I can finally feel something, though its not what I would have hoped."He settled for just breathing deep breaths and giving his body some time to recuperate. Once he felt more stable, he returned to his feet and began to walk down the hallway away from the dome for the second time.

This time he walked in side step, using his periphery to keep an eye on both directions. After a few minutes of this, a swift motion caught his attention in the direction he was heading. He turned in that direction, falling into a fighting stance and searched the hallway for threats. When he didn't find any, he turned to look behind him, and let out an angered breath. When he had looked away, he had been moved back to the beginning of the hallway. "This is really starting to get old, you hear me dungeon?" He shook is fist mockingly, but the play at humor didn't fill his stomach.

It took Kantan roughly 15 minutes of walking backwards and watching the end of the hallway to ensure it didn't change on him suddenly. When he finally backed into the wall on the other side it caught him off guard, making him jump and turn at the touch. A smooth wall was behind him with a singular section of it at the bottom carved out. When he checked the hallway behind him to see if it was still there his heart began to race. The hallway was no longer there, replaced by a stone room encompassing him with no other way out.

Trying to stay calm, Kantan inspected the walls without openings for any false sections or illusions. After finding nothing but solid stone he turned back to the thigh high hole in the wall and sighed through his nose. The hole sat at floor height and was completely rectangular with a thick black fog that covered the entrance. Kantan touched the fog to test it and a numbing sensation began to crawl through his finger, confirming his thoughts. It was more demonic chi, though he didn't understand its purpose.

The hole would easily accommodate him if he crawled, but he would be unable to fight. He removed his finger, the realization of having an appendage in a hole he couldn't see into unsettling him. A headache was beginning to form from the hunger and dehydration, making it hard to think of a solution. He was just about to sit down when a new wail began to screech out of the hole just before him.