The Dungeon Artists

Dungeon 1 - Room 2

Barb led the two-man group. Watching her back, Werth paid close attention to their behind, keeping an eye on the closed door from the previous room as it faded into darkness. Keeping her mace steadily in front of her, Barb managed a pace that moved them out of what remaining light they had available in mere seconds, causing the two to stop dead in their tracks.

"Maybe we shouldn't go further," she said. Her nerves seemed to find their way back to her arms, making it difficult to wield the mace intimidatingly.

"Maybe you're right," said Werth, who had no sort of weapon on him. Should something come from the rear, he wouldn't be able to fend them off. Barb would have to swap positions with him.

"I just wish something would happen already. I hate this anticipation." Barb's breathing became more rapid and heavier. Her blood pressure spiked and along with it, her nerves, once again. "Come on out already!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, startling Werth who was just as uneasy as she was.

"Calm down!" Werth demanded. "Something might hear us."

"Good! The sooner something comes, the sooner I can pelt a damn crater in its chest!" Adrenaline had filled her veins, turning the chilly room into a steamy sauna.

Clank!

"What was that?" Werth cried, ducking down to the floor as sparks shot out from the walls.

Barb could hardly speak with her lungs inflating and deflating so quickly. "Come on out you bastard!" she yelped as she took several swings of her mace.

"Barb! Get a hold of yourself!" Werth tried to touch her shoulders to comfort her, but this was a remarkable mistake on his part.

Barb swatted behind her with her elbow, nailing Werth in the jaw and knocking his glasses off. She took a step back, then fell to her bottom.

Crunch!

"Wait! Barb, get up!"

Barb pushed herself back near the entrance of the previous room where the light shone, leaving behind her mace. "I can't do this, Werth! I'm sorry." She covered her mouth and frantically hyperventilated, causing her body to stiffen.

Werth, no longer afraid of anything that might be lurking in the dark, rushed over to his partner. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out its contents and laid them out in front of him on the stone floor. Panic settled into his spirit as Barb's breathing became more violent, instilling a shake into his fingers. Regardless, there was nothing useful in his pockets, and he couldn't see properly without his glasses.

He sat behind her and stroked her hair, hugging her and whispering into her ear. "Just let it run its course, Barb. Right now, you're feeling constricted, like a snake is strangling the life out of you. Don't worry, that's normal." Then, it was as if the already dark room closed in on them with a shade of black that covered the two of them. "We're safe, I promise." The world around them no longer existed; it was just them, alone in empty space.

"By now, you probably can't feel anything. Your body has gone numb and all that's left is the feeling of tiny pins stabbing every organ in your body. It hurts, but you can't feel anything from the outside. You can hear me, though. I know you can. Just a few more minutes."

Barb's violent breathing had begun to slow, just as Werth told her it would. The empty space began to expand, and the light from the previous room returned.

"This is what the darkness does," Werth said. "It fills the mind with terror. The uncertainty is too much for new adventurers to bear, but you survived. You survived your own body, Barb."