The journey begins

"What kind of nightmare is this... "—I let out.

Yes, a 'nightmare'.

It was the only word that could possibly describe the bizarre and seemingly never-ending predicament I was in.

A nightmare which didn't seem to end-- stretching for eternity.

Right in front of me stood a dozen pastoral humanoid creatures.

Their skins, tattered and stretched like a worn tapestry, draped loosely over a frame that exceeded 5ft in height.

Goblins, I guessed.

But, these goblins appeared different from the ones I had seen in dungeon documentaries or news reports.

Each of them had a blue hovering box above their heads, displaying: [Desert Goblin. Level: 1.0].

And all of them were sneering.

Sneering and walking. Slowly.

They each held a club in their hands, a dagger attached to their waists, and one of them wielded a bastard sword.

—POP!

⌜ ⌝

Active Quest: Survive.

Description: Endure for 10 minutes

amidst this desert.

Reward: Experience points and

credits will be granted.

Failure: ???

⌞ ⌟

Curses reflexively left my mouth as I saw the system's message float in mid air.

I hastily started running.

But, my feet struggled to properly navigate the uneven terrain of the sandy plain.

—"Tuk krraa katin mui.... kekekeke !"—a high-pitched voice, which sounded much like a bizarre mixture of a child's glee and a swinish feral, echoed from behind.

It was one of the goblins, speaking in a language completely foreign to me.

But I didn't look back.

I only ran.

And ran.

And before I knew it, I stumbled over my own foot and crashed to the ground. My mouth took a painful bite of the sandy soil.

Frantically, I twisted myself to regain balance, only to find my gaze fixing at the vast expanse of the blue sky overhead. The goblin with the sword, pierced through the blue canvas, descending upon me from above.

And in the next moment, the sword plunged into my skull.

[You have died.]

[You have failed the quest to survive.]

[Restarting from the beginning...]

***

"Where... am I?", I asked, confused.

But all of a sudden, my heart began to pound violently against my chest, as the recent memories flooded into my mind, like a computer loading its files.

"Shit! I need to run!"

I quickly stood up and bolted in the direction of the sun.

I didn't know what exactly was happening, but my hunch told me it had something to do with that accursed system.

I didn't think, I didnt stop.

All I did was ran and ran desperately hoping against all odds that the system message doesn't pops up.

—POP!

⌜ ⌝

Active Quest: Survive.

Description: Endure for 10 minutes

amidst this desert.

Reward: Experience points and

credits will be granted.

Failure: ???

⌞ ⌟

"NOOOOO!!!"— I reflexively screamed, but my feet did not stop.

"NOOOO!"—My guttural voice echoed in the boiling pit of sand. My voice was rough but it carried the pleas of 'it' to not happen.

"NOO!"

I screamed and ran.

"NOO! NOO!"

And ran.

"NOO!"

And ran.

I did not know whichever higher deity I was begging to with my 'noos', but still, I pushed forward, shouting like a madman in the midst of my frantic sprint.

But, to my dismay, my desperate appeals fell on deaf ears. "Kekekeke!"— the repulsive laughter of goblins pierced painfully into my ears.

The laughter sounded like it was mocking my futile attempts to escape.

My feet halted and I looked to my left only to find a group of goblins at a distance. They were looking back at me and sneering.

As I watched them, cold sweat drenched my back.

Soon their sneers transformed into mirth.

'Were they...laughing at me?'—an obvious, but somewhat strange of a thought crossed my mind.

They started to stroll towards me while laughing.

'They were laughing at me. They were laughing at me because....I wanted to save my life?'

'Is my life really that worthless?'

.

.

.

Perhaps, it was all the deaths that I faced, or because of how gruesome those deaths were.

Or perhaps because each time I died, my life flashed before my eyes.

My life which was filled with nothing but a long list of betrayals.

I remembered the sting of my girlfriend's betrayal.

I remembered the heartache when my best friend died.

I remembered how my family betrayed me. How my mother died.

These memories, buried deep within me, suddenly surged to the surface, bursting through the barriers I had erected to protect my sanity from their torment.

And now, as these vile goblins mocked and laughed at me, their grotesque amusement fueling my desperate sprint for my worthless life...

I don't know...

Something within me just 'snapped'.

Rationality was lost.

My fist balled itself.

"You think it's funny...don't you?"

My voice was shaky, with the overwhelming currents of emotions I was feeling.

Instead of running away, I ran at the goblins.

I threw a punch at a goblin holding a club, and it landed with a resounding thud. He collapsed to the ground, and I pounced on him, unleashing my emotions with a flurry of punches to his face.

Suddenly, another one of the repugnant goblins yanked me away, forcefully thrusting a dagger into my shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but it only fueled my determination to retaliate.

With a surge of adrenaline, I lunged at my attacker, seizing his throat in a vice-like grip. He sank his teeth into my flesh, drawing blood, but my other hand unleashed a rapid barrage of strikes to his face, each blow landing with the precision of a machine gun.

But, my brief moment of triumph was abruptly cut short as another goblin, sneaking up from behind, forcibly pulled me away. A brutal blow from a club hammered onto my skull with a resounding thud.

"Agghh!" I screamed, the agony shooting through every fibre of my being.

In a horrifying twist, all the goblins descended upon me, their teeth gnashing, biting with reckless abandon.

The sound of bones crunching pierced the air, a sickening symphony as one of the monsters sank its teeth into my balls.

"Ghhh"—a guttural groan escaped me, drowned out by the overwhelming sensation of pain that engulfed me.

And before long, my body became a feast for these viridescent dwarves of homunculi nature.

I was devoured alive, my screams fading into the darkness...

[You have died.]

[You have failed the quest to survive.]

[Credit +1]

[Restarting from the beginning...]

.

.

.

"Where...am I?"

"Yeah, right... I'm in a desert."

I guess my mind is evolving to cope with the pain or something...

I can vividly remember how I died, unlike the previous times when my mind attempted to conceal the agonizing memories.

And unlike the previous times, this time an extra new message popped up when I died.

"Credit 1+... was it? But why am I being given credit now only, and not the other times I died?"

'Was it because I fought back?'

—Sshshshshshsh! —My thought were short lived as a sudden sound jerked me back to reality.

—POP!

⌜ ⌝

Active Quest: Survive.

Description: Endure for 10 minutes

amidst this desert.

Reward: Experience points and

credits will be granted.

Failure: ???

⌞ ⌟

I swiftly swiped my hand through the hot air, dismissing the system message that hovered mid-air.

I couldn't afford to reread the same system message which did nothing more other than forcasting my death every time I respawned in this nightmarish, dry desert.

'Is it the poison sand worm again?', I thought, the image of the repulsive, colossal centipede replaying in my mind.

I knew deep down that running was not an option, but my knees shaked nonetheless, torn between conflicting ideologies of whether to run or to face the danger head-on.

Suddenly, the sandy terrain before me erupted, shooting upwards like a fountain of water. The rustling and swirling of the sand and rocks, sounded much like the sound an excavator made while unloading its payload at a construction site.

Frantically, I scanned my surroundings, desperately seeking for a makeshift weapon or something...

My heart beat like a Smith's hammer. My blood boiled in my veins and my hands trembled at my sides.

My cells cells emitted sonic waves of primal instinct, urging me to flee and preserve my survival.

But I knew that I couldn't run.

My eyes finally caught sight of thin branch of stick and I picked it up.

I stood up holding the stick like a sword.

Finally, the hovering sand, which had been ten meters away from me, began to reassemble itself.

Its silhouette bore a resemblance to that of a man, except its entire body was composed entirely of sand. Suspended above the creature was a blue box, displaying the text: [Sand Golem. Level: 3.3].

Driven by a surge of adrenaline, I let out a primal battle cry and lunged at the sand golem, wielding my makeshift sword with all my strength. To my dismay, upon impact, the stick shattered as if it collided with a concrete wall.

With a sluggish motion, the sand golem swayed its hand, and my vision warped as the world spun around me.

The sky became distorted and visible beneath my feet. Helplessly, my body descended from the air, bouncing off the sandy ground like a lifeless rag doll, until finally coming to a pause.

"Aghh!", a guttural groan escaped me.

I cast my gaze downward, only to witness my once-intact black shirt now reduced to ragged remnants. The abrasive force of the swirling sand had mercilessly torn it apart, its particles acting like countless blades.

I tore off the ragged piece of cloth and my bare torso became visible.

As I desperately tried to regain my bearings, my eyes met the sight of the sand golem charging towards me.

Reacting on instinct, I threw a punch with all my might, only to find it collide with empty air.

The sand golem dissolved into a swirling mass of sand and before I could react, it seeped through the air, infiltrating my unsuspecting mouth

A harsh dryness invaded my throat, and with each passing moment, I could feel the sand making its way down my esophagus, into my stomach, and suffocating my lungs.

I collapsed onto my back—my body writhed in discomfort.

Horror washed over me as I saw my torso: my stomach bloated rapidly like a balloon.

Small, crimson dots of blood emerged everywhere on my stomach, the triophobic scene absorbed into my eyes, until finally, with an explosive burst, my stomach ruptured like a punctured balloon.

[You have died.]

[You have failed the quest to survive.]

[Credit +2]

[You've died more than five times. Monster levels are being adjusted to level 1.0...]

[Rights to distribute points acquired]

[Restarting from the beginning...]