Dungeon Item Shop - Chapter 5

“Where am I?”

Everything is black. A menu appears.

“Oh… I died?” she says, confused and disappointed, before her voice grows quiet for a time, as she realizes her situation. “Oh. So… is this it? Am I… Am I dead-dead?”

She sighs. Oh well. She gave it a good shot, right? It looks like the universe, or the cosmos, or whatever it is that stretches between all of these existences of hers; it looks like that thing just doesn’t like her in particular. Oh well. Maybe now, maybe now that she had finally learned her lesson. Maybe now it will let the darkness come to swallow up this last little bit of herself, so that she can go back to sleep. Maybe now she could finally re-

*BAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW*

The girl jumps up in shock. Her eyes shoot wide awake, as she stares out at the world before herself, coughing and spluttering out the cold water, as she pulls herself out from inside of the fountain and falls to the grass below, panting and heaving. Her body feels weak, her legs feel wobbly, as if she were a newborn faun.

“Where- where am I?” she asks, already knowing the answer, as she raises her gaze to meet the rooster’s, that is staring from the other end of the clearing, looking straight at her.

*Bak…* *Bak…* *Bak…*

It takes slow, careful and methodical steps towards her, its body tense, its head turned sideways to always keep an eye on the girl.

“Ah… no! Stay there! Good rooster! Good uh… boy! Good boy!”

*BAKAAAAAAAAAAW*!

The roster explodes into a flurry of feathers and kicked-up dirt as it charges towards her. Scrambling, she jumps to her feet and runs down the path. How?! Why?!

“LEAVE ME ALOOONE!” shouts the girl, as she runs around the familiar bend, crossing over the three-way crossroads. The rooster stops again as before, just at the edge and glares her way with venom in its eyes, before turning around to return down towards the clearing alone. She leans against a tree, panting, water dripping from her sweaty face and soaked clothes. She died. So… did she respawn? Between heavy breathes of the evening air, she looks at her shaking hand and squeezes it. The fist closes, but it feels weak and tingles uncomfortably. She looks down the road, towards the city that the sun has already passed over, to set itself down for the night. So… she did respawn, back here at the fountain. But it looks like time didn’t reset, so… she left in the morning and now the sun was almost gone. That means she lost… what… twelve hours, maybe? That made sense to her.

Was that the only price? For literally dying? Twelve hours? No. There had to be something more. Something more precious that she has lost. “Why? Why did I die?” She mutters, as she walks back towards the city. A vision of the menu returns to her mind’s eye. Three ‘HP’, three health points. The creature had had twenty, if she read that right. What does this mean? That was the first floor of the dungeon, so… was this maybe a harder dungeon? No. No it couldn’t be. That mushroom creature looked absolutely pathetic. There was no way that was supposed to be a difficult encounter. Her legs shake beneath her from weakness.

So was something wrong with her?

The thought doesn’t surprise her in the least, but it does sting a little with an old, familiar pain. Some things never change, apparently, no matter what dimension you’re in. Wait! The menu. The menu… she thinks about it. If there was a menu in the fight, then surely she can activate it outside of a fight too, right? That was how these things worked, right? She thinks about it. As if answering her question, a small chime catches her eye and she looks at the direction, at the glass panel that has appeared. This looked like the right thing, maybe there was a hint here.

Fresh? Is that her new name? She fidgets. That's a weird name. What about the rest of this? These were stats for sure, but… with no context, it’s hard for her to say if these are any good. Perhaps more out of a spiritual ‘muscle-memory’ than anything else, she thinks that they probably aren’t. But… why is her health so low? And why was this one stat so janky looking? Why…

She narrows her eyes. Her health. Her maximum health is down by a full point. She only has two now, instead of the three from before. Her eyes scan the menu, there has to be a mistake somewhere. Something that she was missing. The mushroom creature had beaten her in one hit when she had three health points. What was she going to do with even less than that?! This was the price. Death had cost her a full point of her maximum health, maybe even her other stats. She didn’t know. She hadn’t seen them before. She felt weak on her feet, but that could just be from literally being reborn twice in one day.

She sighs, swiping the menu away and shuddering. The sun is starting to fade behind the horizon, and the evening breeze begins to shift into a soft gale that runs over her bare shoulders and wet robe, chilling her. Clutching herself, she walks through the giant gate and back into the city.

The city is much less lively now, the streets that were packed full before, are now sparsely trodden at best. Instead, she see’s a new sight. Heartfelt, shining, orange and yellow hues that leak out of the many glass windows of the city’s houses. Laughter and dulled voices carry out together with the shine, surrounding her with warm sensations that she isn’t allowed to be a part of.

“It’ll be night soon…,” she thinks to herself and wonders what she is going to do. The wind picks up, seeping through the gate and flowing over her now with a more frigid bite. Taking the the hint and holding herself, she walks down over the empty plaza and then the darkening street alone. Why didn’t she think about this better? She was so determined to rush in, so blinded by her desires to be, to feel, that she had sabotaged herself yet again. As always. Nothing ever changes.

Laughter and warm voices ring out all around her, as she walks along the main road, not sure of what else to do, but to keep walking. She doesn’t have any money and now that it is getting late, she feels her stomach growling in protest at having been ignored all day.

“Guess I still need to eat…,” she mumbles beneath her breath.

The darkness is setting on faster and faster and with it comes a deep cold that is surprisingly strong, given the very hot mid-day sun. Her body begins shaking wildly and her teeth chatter, as she reaches the second plaza. Now what? She looks around, there is still nowhere to go. Nowhere to find shelter. Nowhere that she would be welcome with no money. Some new life this was turning out to be.

“I miss my bed.”

Her eyes fixate on the dungeon and she walks towards it again. Where else is there to go? She’ll freeze out here. Hesitating for a moment, she steps towards the blue-mist a second time and lets it envelop her; unaware of the small figure that was watching her in the distance. Passing through, she sits at the top of the stairs again and sits down against the wall, beneath a torch. It wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t frigid like it was outside either and there was no wind here at least. Her eyes go down the staircase. Would the mushroom attack her? She hopes not. Maybe if she stays up here, maybe it won’t trigger then.

“Whatever,” she thinks and leans her head back against the wall. Even if it did get her, what did she have left to lose?