Imperious 006 - Severed Karma

Unscathed.

The eerie mural of a world beneath the palm of some invisible force’s hand stood completely unmarked by the tremendous blows the skeletal champion had delivered. Anna swallowed, reaching up to brush her hair back as she drew closer to it. She looked into those eyes that loomed in the space above the world and felt… warm. Her blood rose in temperature in her veins. She felt dizzy, drawn in, attracted like a magnet. She reached out and only as her fingers brushed the surface did she catch herself. A jolt went through her arm and she gasped, pulling her hand away as her pulse thundered in her ears. She felt something energetic pass through her chest and out her back, rustling the nearby bushes.

What the-

You have discovered a dungeon!

Dungeon: [ERROR - NOT DEFINED]
Difficulty: Harrowing
Current Accessible Layers:

– Layer 1 - Levels 0 - 10
– [ERROR]

This dungeon [ERROR] zzrrrzzzkkttt [ERROR] unauthorized dungeon detected, reconciling [ERROR] reconciliation cancelled [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] accessing this dungeon is not recommended for any users of the System. Please contact [ERROR] please contact [ERROR] escalation failure. 

Access Condition: UNKNOWN

You may enter this dungeon. Will you enter [ERROR - NOT DEFINED]? Yes / No

The window was red, it crackled and glitched as she tried to make heads or tails of what she was looking at. She took a step away from what was obviously some sort of door. There were so many errors it made her head spin. What did it mean by undefined? Unauthorized dungeon? So it isn’t supposed to be here? Wait- Dungeon, like dungeon where you fight monsters and find treasure and shit? A small streak of greed wormed its way into Anna’s chest before she crushed it, No way. I could go in there and get glitched out of existence or something. I have no idea what’s in there.

She cursed, “First this integration bullshit, then the-” she squinted at the window again, “It calls itself the System,” she scoffed, “The system fucks up and dumps me alone and not even back in my home town,” her voice rose with her irritation, “Now I’m getting buggy dungeons!” she threw her head up to the sky, “Can you do anything right?” she bellowed.

HISS!

Her expression went deadpan and she slowly tilted her head to the right to look at the frilled lizard poking its head out from behind one of the bushes opposite where she’d hidden earlier. She rolled her eyes and sighed as it snapped its teeth and dashed towards her. She rounded on it and snapped out a kick without thinking, catching it in the side of the head. It tumbled and she raised her crowbar up, “I’m,” smack, “not,” smack, “in,” smack, “the fucking mood!” she barked before stepping away from the corpse, panting.

She reached up and wiped the blood from her chin, smearing it again as she stared down at the corpse, “That was… easier than last time,” she wheezed. At least this’ll give me the essence I need to level up, she thought and sauntered over to the dead monster, kicking it once and looting it, she didn’t like how it didn’t make her nearly as nauseous as the first few times. Another coin and ten essence later and…

Nothing.

Her brows furrowed, “Okay…” she looked down at herself. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting but maybe some sort of sense of growth, or a jaunty tune to celebrate leveling up. Something. She didn’t feel any different at all, though. She scratched her head and pulled up her character sheet, singling out the top section.

Name: Anastasia Flitt
Race: Human - Terran
Class: None (255/250)
Profession: None
Tier: Mortal
Heritage: Born in the Gray (Unknown)

She crossed her arms, “What the fuck? I didn’t level up? Why?”

ERROR: YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO TUTORIAL PROMPTS [ACCESS DENIED]

Her hands dropped to the sides, “W-what? HEY!” she barked, “No you’re gonna fucking tell me how to level up you piece of sh-”

ERROR: YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO TUTORIAL PROMPTS [ACCESS DENIED]

“You motherfucker! I said, tell me!” she demanded, “What am I supposed to do? Run around at level zero and just suck until I-”

[ACCESS DENIED]

She barked out a wild laugh, “Oho! You aren’t even going to bother with the whole fucking message? How do I level up?”

[ACCESS DENIED]

Cheeky fuckin- She swore and kicked the dirt at her feet, turning around and throwing her hands up into the air in frustration. She wanted to scream, to punch something, all she could do was pace like a caged animal as she tried to wrap her head around what she was supposed to do now. The first main quest was to get essence, level up, and unlock her base class. She assumed that meant getting more than fancy magic eyes. While cool, it did not entirely improve her survivability. 

Tsk.

She pinched the bridge of her nose before shooting a glare at the dungeon entrance. Then paused and frowned, “Wait… why did that big skeleton attack it?”

“An excellent question, little human,” a rumbling croaking hiss of a voice said behind her.

THUMP

Anna’s heart went right to her throat. Sweat beaded on her temple. Her eyes wide and shaky as she slowly, slowly turned around to face the source of the voice. Standing nearly eight feet tall and clad in that black armor of his, the skeleton loomed over her from just a stone’s throw away. His smoldering firelight eyes were focused entirely on her, they felt wrong on so many levels. She averted her gaze and took a step back, her boot tapping against the dungeon entrance behind her. She looked back only long enough to click her tongue as the message appeared again, asking if she wanted to enter the dungeon.

The skeleton tilted its head to the right, observing her, “Strange that I did not see you when I arrived before, little human. Your presence simply appeared…” he trailed off and looked down at her boot, “You are not being rejected.”

The skeleton is talking. Oh my god why is that what I’m registering as the strangest thing I’ve encountered, she thought as her mouth went dry.

“I command you to speak, little human,” the skeleton barked, his eyes flaring up dangerously.

Like a flipped switch, her fear evaporated as her blood turned hot again. She frowned at him and pressed her back fully against the wall, clenching her jaw even as her knees shook. Who did he think he was? He shows up like he owns the damn place. Her eyes flicked up and met his as a defiance she didn’t know she had in her started to rise to the surface. That was a mistake. The moment she fully met his gaze, the moment she looked into his eyes, her entire body went stiff as a board. Her muscles locked, her bones ground to a halt, she even felt her breathing slow as the skeleton took a step forward.

“You’re a strange little creature,” he said and reached for his belt. He pulled something off of it that looked like a large metal ring. No, she thought, Not a ring. That’s a goddamn collar. She tried to pry her eyes away from his but not even her eye muscles would obey her. It was like being trapped inside of her own body. Only her mind was able to comprehend what was happening as he stopped within arms reach and reached out to grab ahold of her chin. “Be joyful, I will help you create some meaning from this pointless life of yours.”

Not a chance in hell, you bastard! She screamed within her own mind, raging, pushing, fighting, putting everything she had into moving. Doing something. She needed an out. She needed to escape. Her eyes focused on the words of the dungeon prompt, a hollow space forming in her gut that only seemed to make her angrier. A choice she’d made had been taken from her. Her jaw cracked. She felt the bone pop. Her eyes watered as the slurred words came out.

“Eat shit bone-head,” she snarled

You may enter this dungeon. Will you enter [ERROR - NOT DEFINED]? Yes / No

Yes.

The passage was faster than she could have imagined. One moment she was standing in the sunlight looking into the eyes of death, the next she hit an old brick floor with a grunt of pain. She rolled onto her side, gasping as her body screamed at her. Every joint hurt, every muscle strained. The worst was her jaw, though. She rolled onto her chest and pressed her forehead against the ground as she restrained the muffled scream that wanted to rattle its way out of her chest. A fresh wave of tears streamed down her eyes as she tried to power through it, made worse as she slammed her forehead down onto the unforgiving brick beneath her with each struggling kick.

Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! Damn it. Focus! Gotta focus. Gotta bind it. Bandages. Hold it shut or… wait!

She rolled onto her back, her backpack slipping off her shoulder. She looked at it with puffy red eyes and pursed her lips. Potion. Would that work? She rolled over to it and dug her hand inside until she found a red vial. This has to help, right? She thought and pulled the cork with shaky fingers before bringing it to her lips. It hurt to even adjust her jaw enough to drink it, she let out a small whimper of pain as the thick, chalky-tasting liquid burned in her mouth like liquor. She forced herself to swallow it and waited.

The first thing she felt was heat in her gut, then a rising sense of that warmth spreading through every inch of her body. Her muscles stopped aching after a few seconds and then the warmth spread up to her jaw. 

POP!

“Augh! FUCK!” she gasped, grabbing at her face as her jaw set on its own. Tears streamed down her face while she caught her breath. She slammed her fist into the bricks beneath her as the pain finally began to subside. When it was gone she rolled back onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Fuck that guy, she thought numbly as the infuriation warred with a wave of weariness. She closed her eyes and tried to settle her pounding heart. 

Looks like I’m still alive, she thought, opened her eyes, and checked her resources.

Resources:
HP: 30/30 | SP: 22/30 | MT: 2/51

My MT went up. The potions description mentioned something about Mana Taint. Guess that’s it, she thought before focusing on her surroundings.

The ceiling above her was a smooth stone brick dome, the supporting stone beams the only thing that provided variety to the architecture. She sat up. The room was small and square, only about eight or nine feet across. Three walls were flat gray brick while the third sported an archway that immediately opened onto a staircase leading upwards. She wiped her lip and got to her feet glaring at the stairs before frowning and glancing around again. Where’s the-

You cannot leave this dungeon until the first layer is complete.

Tsk.

That fucker forced me into this mess, she thought, So what, I either finish this thing or die? Great. She grabbed her backpack and looked around for a moment before snatching up her crowbar. She checked the straps on her armor as well. It was the only thing keeping her alive at this point. She marched towards the stairs, I swear when I get out of here I’m gonna make that asshole pay. 

She made her way up the steps, finally finding the source of light that gave the space any form of visibility. A pair of torches on either side of the narrow stairwell, framing a large wooden door with a simple iron handle. She grabbed onto it and pushed, the hinges grinding a little. She had to hit it once with her shoulder before it finally gave way with a screech of rusted metal-on metal.

She staggered forward into the space beyond, a wave of humidity and heat crashing into her face that immediately triggered a fresh wave of sweat down her neck and back. The atmosphere of the room was eerie and oppressive and that wasn’t even touching the decor. The room was long with a rigid square shape to it. Ahead of her was a narrow brick path that stretched from one end to the other. On either side were long pools of water that boiled and steamed angrily. Above the pools, old banners and tapestries hung, worn by time and exposure. 

The ceiling above her was adorned with hanging chains that ended in spikes and wicked hooks. An uneasy chill went up her spine as she looked at the discoloration at the end of some of those implements. “What the fuck…” she breathed, tugging a little at the collar of her armor as she panned her gaze towards the end of the room. A single pedestal waited at the far end of the brick path with something sitting on it that she couldn’t quite make out. Behind it was a door and she could see two other doors on the side walls to the left and right of the pedestal.

Anna adjusted the strap of her backpack and started walking, careful to stay in the middle of the path and watch her step. The bricks looked shiny and slick with the moisture in the air and she was pretty sure falling into a boiling pool wasn’t a pleasant way to die.

It didn’t take long to reach the other side and the waiting podium. The object on it looked like a three-sided pyramid with a stretched top. There were slots on each of the sides that looked like long flat rectangles. She glanced towards each of the doors, “Got it, find the rectangle things in these rooms and bring them back here, simple enough.”

Dungeon Quest Alert!

Inheritance of [ERROR - RESTRICTED] - Part 1 (Harrowing)

Claim what is yours by your own strength. 

Never forget: No one power is perfect. No one tool is enough to rise above others. Dominate or fail and die. Only death lays ahead of those who do not possess the will and pride to stand alone. You are on your own, child. Do not seek me out, I am not your ally. 

My debt is paid. Our paths will not converge again. Our Karma is severed.

Do well.

Find the three tokens and return them to the pedestal: (0/3)

Rewards: Unknown

The red window flickered in front of her eyes. She rested her hand on the pedestal and reached into her pocket, pulling out the letter from her father. She scanned the few handwritten words and folded the letter up again. She stood up straight and dismissed the window, her jaw set. Her fists clenched. “I don’t know who you are, or how you did it. But if you think for one moment you’re just gonna mess up my life, pretend you’ve paid off your child support, and walk away without looking me in the eyes. You got another thing coming asshole,” she growled and marched towards the door on the right.

“I’m gonna find you, I swear it,” she spat and grabbed the handle.