The Days I've Spent In A Dungeon

A Cave

My back felt uncomfortable. It felt like I was lying on the road. I could even smell the car exhaust around me. This is a weirdly vivid dream. I probably fell on the floor while I was sleeping. But was my floor always this rough? Am I actually sleeping on the road? Not possible.

"Ugh"

I had awakened because my back just couldn't take it anymore. And to my surprise, I wasn't sleeping on the floor of my room. (Or the road for that matter) I appeared to be inside of a cave.

"Where am I?" I asked.

Although l knew that I was in a cave, I didn't know my exact location.

"What was I doi... Who.. Who am i?" I wondered, after straightening myself and sitting upright on the ground.

My memory was far too hazy to recall anything. I then realised that I couldn't remember the name of the language that I was speaking and thinking in either.

What's the point of thinking of questions if I'm never getting answers. I decided to assess my current situation.

The cave I was in seemed to have patches of glowing moss on its walls. The moss kind of felt like fur. It gave off a nice smell. It was essentially my only source of light inside of this cave.

There wasn't really anything else notable about the cave apart from perhaps its size.

There was a bag near me. It seemed to be relatively sturdy. There were also some tools such as a pickaxe, an axe, a dagger, some pieces of paper, a chalk, and some other miscellaneous stuff in the bag. Are these mine?

There was also a book. The engraved pattern on its cover made it easy to grip, as though I could easily grab hold of it whenever I needed to without it slipping from my fingers. As I held the book, I felt an indescribable feeling. A strong urge to open this book. Is this book important to me?

"The Journal of Oneself..." I murmured its title.

The title felt somewhat cryptic to me. I wondered if I was interested in such things or if this book, not to mention the other things in the bag, and the bag itself, were really mine.

As I opened the book, I felt compelled to open a certain page. I somewhat unwillingly opened the said page.

The pages seemed like they were old, like something that historians would want to find. But they felt new, the pages didn't have any tears, nor did they look like they were worn out. The pages were also soft yet sturdy. Is this really mine?

On that page were some words with numbers next to them. "Stats: Strength 2, Defence 1, Stamina 4, Agility 1, Stealth 1, Intelligence 5, Adaptability 5" I read what was on the page. The word Stats was at the top of the page, while the rest of the words were positioned like a list.

I didn't know it at the time, but these numbers represented my actual abilities.

I then flipped to a page with the phrase 'tasks' on the top. There were things like gather stone, gather iron, explore the area, and others of the sort written on this page.

My memory may be hazy, but there might be people I care about who miss me.

With that thought in mind, I proceeded to do these tasks. Hoping that they would help me get out of this cave. (Or maybe I'm a miner with a case of amnesia and should be doing my job right now.)

*****

I went through the cave, mining up whatever it was that I needed. I somehow ended up finding most of the materials that the journal has 'gather' tasks for. Is the job of a miner really this easy? Or is the journal helping somehow?

I stored the stuff I found inside my bag. I was also mapping out the area with the paper and chalk I found in the bag. Though, I knew I couldn't hold that much stuff inside it, and I also needed to find some more paper, or make some, eventually.

I planned to stop gathering resources after finishing my current task, to find a source of wood. While I may not have memories, I seemed to have some sort of common sense which made me believe that there likely wouldn't be any trees inside of a cave.

But to my surprise, I found what seemed to be a small forest within this cave. (Is there a phrase for a small forest? That's another thing I can't remember)

The roof of the cave was letting out a not too bright, but not necessarily dim light with a greenish tint. I assume there's more glowing moss up there than on the walls.

There was a somewhat relaxing feel to the air. I couldn't tell whether this place doesn't mind my existence, or if it just doesn't care.

The bark and branches of the trees had a greyish tone to them, and felt like stone. Whilst their leaves looked like pretty diamonds with their bluish colour, ranging from light to dark shades. (They also felt like crystals when I tried touching them on a shorter tree)

The trees also bore fruits, about the size of my palm, round in shape, and purple with pink wavy lines. I wanted to try the fruits so I looked carefully around in case of any unforeseen dangers lurking behind the trees, and it seemed to be safe.

I plucked one of the fruits, washed it with some water nearby which I feel is clean since the book says so (Was I always this trusting? Of a literal book no less), and took a bite.

It was somewhat sweet and a tad bitter, but it felt good knowing I now had some food to eat in case getting out of this cave takes a while. (I'd rather die of overeating, thanks)

I also got to see my reflection in the water. It seems that I have black hair and black eyes, and I'm relatively muscular. It seems that I'm male but I can't really guess what my age is which might be due to my lack of memory.

*****

Author's Note

This is my first time writing an actual story that's not a school assignment and only 2 pages long.

So if there's anything you want to say about what I've written please feel free to. I'll probably read messages from time to time but I might forget to reply to them because I'm not used to commenting.

Anyway, thanks for finding and reading my story!

Also in case you do like this story, updates could be fast or slow depending on how much progress I've made in a weekend since I have school.

-InsomniAcolyte