《The Pig Dungeon》


 Chapter 1

    I opened my eyes and found myself in an foreignly large room. In my sleepy haze the first thing I noticed was how the walls glowed. They were dull grey but contrasted by light blue lines glowing softly and spanning over the surface. It was beautiful actually but felt slightly unnerving with how unnatural it was. I spent a good 10 minutes just transfixed by the continuous pattern and luminescence before I snapped out of it and realized I needed to figure out where I was.


    You wake up in an unfamiliar place and zone out looking at the walls? Get some sense in you Grant!


    Though I told myself that, I wasn¡¯t too hard on myself with how pretty the view was. Still I should have really been far more cautious with the circumstances. Internally chastising myself I quickly glanced over the rest of the room, which ended up being not near as remarkable as the walls. In fact, it was pretty much empty.


    Well, it was empty save for an plain looking sheathed dagger beside me and a wooden door on the far side of the room with a giant sign hung above it. My heart began to race as I made out the words written in thick black ink.


    The world waits, take your gift, travel and grow


    What is that supposed to mean? The world waits? And there''s only one thing it could mean by gift.


    I turned back to the small dagger and picked it up gingerly, surprised at how well it felt to hold. I hadn¡¯t focused on it before, but after serious inspection it was alluring to say the least. The hilt was same iron color as the walls and pocked with empty circular indentions. Honestly it looked a bit plain, but once unsheathed the blade shone with the same blue patterns that captivated me earlier.


    The sign and "gift" made me anxious about what sort of situation I was in, but I decided that I needed to go through the door to figure out where I am if nothing else. With an effort I slid it back into its sheath and made my way to the door to grip the handle. Opening it, I was baffled as a blue screen appeared seemingly out of nowhere.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Welcome to your first dungeon</td></tr></tbody></table>


    With this screen appearing right in front of my face it¡¯s needless to say I freaked out and fell flat on my butt swiping at the air. After about five seconds of flailing like a child I realized that I wasn¡¯t being attacked. The lack of hostility didn¡¯t make me any less upset at being caught off guard though. A dungeon? What the hell even is that? And how did I just get a message out of thin air? I have far too many questions, but I tried to calm down so I could keep moving. No matter how hard I thought about it, I don¡¯t think I would be able to find any answers about these mystical occurrences.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    At least everything else was pretty straightforward. Past the door there was an unbranching corridor leading to another door. I was still tense and confused, but there was only one option available to me at the moment. I walked the thirty or so feet and let my hand hover above the handle.


    Last time I opened a door I got that weird screen. Who knows what will happen this time


    My carefree attitude towards doors was gone with the last one, probably never to come back. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I spent the rest of my life unable to touch a door without fear. I was more than slightly afraid at the prospect of what I would find past the door frame. I took several deep breaths and tried to convince myself that I would be fine.


    Adrenaline started to take over and I clenched my fist for a bit before I worked up the nerve to grab the handle. With a jerk I opened the door and before I could change my mind rushed in-


    -Only to become frozen in fear as I locked eyes with a large set of dulled black eyes. What was in front of me resembled a pig except every part of its body was smooth and bulbous, almost like a balloon animal. It was laying on the ground staring back at me curiously with ears perked, probably just as confused as I was. We both stood still for a minute at a staring stalemate, but as time wore on the tension seeped out of me.


    It had been a full minute without any movement, and the the ovaled eyed pig creature looked relatively harmless the longer I stared at it. After all, how dangerous could a such a tiny fat looking animal be? I felt a bit at ease, though I¡¯d never seen anything like this thing, whatever it was.


    I¡¯ll just walk around it I guess.


    I thought i was safe, but as I stepped out from behind the wall, the pig decided to stand with a huff. I quit moving to resume our little staring contest with my head cocked.


    Its moving pretty slowly, thats a good sign right? It doesn¡¯t seem upset.


    It shook its head roughly to wake itself it up and then narrowed its eyes at me. Without breaking eye contact it huffed again and I dropped into a crouch as I heard it take a rasping breath that dragged on for way longer than sounded normal. I then watched in horror as the air around it began to visibly shift while it''s already round stomach grew to three times its original size.


    What the fuck is it doing?!!


    I got my answer in the form of a condensed air bullet rushing out of its mouth and straight towards my chest.

 Chapter 2

    Without much thought I dove to the side screaming and hoping that I wasn¡¯t about to die. I heard a jarring whump as the projectile smashed into the walls behind me, not unlike the whump of me painfully hitting the ground. I instinctively glanced behind me to see a melon-sized dent in the iron walls right behind where I had been standing.


    It took a few panicked seconds for me, still screaming, to fumble around my belt for the dagger. My hand found the hilt and I looked up just in time to scramble away from a second air bullet.


    Though I took out the blade it was more for me to not feel so helpless than to actually do anything with it. I wholeheartedly planned on running away from this air spitting pig monster before it killed me.


    And run I did, throwing my head behind me every second to make sure I wasn¡¯t still being attacked. I sprinted the distance that I had initially dove from the door before slamming myself into a hard surface for the second time today. There was a shimmering red outline the shape of my body floating in the air in front of the door that dissipated almost as soon as I saw it.


    I¡¯m not allowed to escape?! That invisible wall wasn''t there earlier!


    Well, my mind is pretty much in full panic mode, I feel completely lost, and there is a pig monster trying to kill me without any real reason. On the bright side, the impact knocked the air out of me so I had stopped screaming. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    That probably sounds like sarcasm, but there was actual reason to be thankful I''d found. I spun around, while gripping my dagger as tightly as I could to see the evil pig panting and staring at the ground.


    Two shots must have been a bit overboard for it.


    Realizing that this was my chance to stop it, I ran as fast as my shaking legs would take me. I had an elaborate plan to ram my weapon right into its bulging neck. Unluckily as I approached it seemed to have more or less regained its composure.


    It¡¯s too late you fat fuck! Die!


    I stabbed straight forward expecting fully to make contact, but a sudden gust of wind blew my thrust off course. I had just barely managed to nick it instead of incapacitating it. So many things have happened in the past 10 minutes that I wasn¡¯t even surprised at the fact that the air quite literally moved on its own. With only a moment of hesitation I swiped my arm towards its head, inflicting a much deeper gash right at eye level. The pig stumbled back, blinded by the blood filling its eye sockets before writhing itself on the ground.


    I hadn¡¯t followed up on first successful attack because I was almost expecting not to have hit it. I was lucky that I hadn¡¯t the nerve to immediately try to finish it off because the pig windmilled its stubby round legs on the ground as the air cut around it. Yes, cut the air. It looked like an invisible sword was wreaking havoc and it frightened me to think what one of those slashes could have done to me.


    I dashed backwards as quickly as I could, watching it attack indiscriminately and with way more force than before. I watched with my mouth gaping for who knows how long. Eventually the pig¡¯s erratic movements slowed and it stopped altogether, opting instead to whimper in a pile of its own sweat.


    I waited for a few minutes after it quit moving and then walked as slowly and quietly to it as I could. I held the point of my gifted dagger above its throat and closed my eyes before ramming it down with a disgusting squelch.

 Chapter 3

    I kept my eyes shut and couldn''t seem to find the motiviation to open them. My mind was still racing and I could barely recognize my own panting. It was shrill and shaking, and no matter how long I waited it didn''t stabilize.


    After a time my hand slipped from the dagger and slid through my hair. I repeated this mindlessly and before long I was wiping at tears with shaking hands between strokes. This was definitely not good for my emotional health. Not at all. To almost die and have to kill, even if that weird pig did try to kill me first. To make matters worse I don''t even slightly understand how any of this is happening. I almost just died you know?!


    An interrupting clatter made my eyes shoot open. Instantly I was on alert again, expecting something to be attacking me. I was shocked to see instead that my dagger was on the ground, and the rest of the room was empty. I ferverntly spun around a few times just to make sure I didn''t miss a bloody pig looming behind me.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Nope. Nothing.


    Where is the body?


    I wonder how much more baffling events can occur before I finally just go insane. Pessimistic thoughts aside, while I was searching for a vengeful ghost I noticed small sign beside the far door. I grabbed my dagger protectively and hooked it back onto my belt before going to get a better look. On it I saw the words:


    Safe Zone - 3 rooms ahead


    A safe zone? Safe sounds good right about now. I could use some safety. It sounds like room absolutely full of safeness, what more could I want right now?


    Alright its decided. I need to get to that safe zone. I definitely can''t stay here forever. From there I''ll settle down and try to figure things out


    Making up my mind, I planted myself in front of the door.


    Actually, It would be a better idea to keep my dagger in hand. I might need it after all. Speaking of things I need, a hype session seems necessary.


    Alright Grant, that wasn''t so bad! You handled that extremely well. You''re unscathed, zero injuries sustained. It wasn''t so bad, so lets just keep moving forward. Forward, alright? Nothing bad will happen. Probably...


    ...


    This might take a bit more convincing to do.

 Chapter 4

    Head cocked? Check. Immobile staring contest? Check. An unidentifiable and dangerous creature who is trying to kill me? Obviously a check.


    Entering the next room has panned out fairly well if I say so myself. It¡¯s got all the boxes checked on my ¡°I wish I were anywhere but here¡± vacation list.


    Lucky me!


    To clue you in on what happened earlier, I had prepared my heart and opened the door as innocently and innocuously as possible to find, yes of course, another pig monster. This one was slightly different than the first though. It was still fat and small, but this one held a crude looking wooden club and stood on two legs. Its human way of standing almost brought it up to my chest level. Ah wait...if it has two legs that probably means I can use diplomacy to get through this situation, right? I won¡¯t have to go through that horrible experience again.


    Hello Mr.Pig, I¡¯m terribly sorry to bother you. May I ask you to be so kind as to--


    The rest of my deferent request was cut off by a raging inhuman squeal. I guess I was expecting this, but was worth a shot.


    The pig began to run at me, obviously upset at my existing. Because it was so fat and carrying a heavy looking club I had time to crouch defensively and position my dagger. The adrenaline kicked into my system as I watched it, trying to stay vigilant against surprise antics.


    His first swing was an overhead which came towards me looking very heavy. I knew it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to try to block it with my tiny dagger, so I sidestepped as quickly as I could. I saw an opportunity and lashed out with my dagger once, but before I could check how much damage I did he had started the next swing.


    This one started from the ground and came up diagonally towards my leg. It would have cleanly connected with my kneecap had I not stepped back in time. The pig swung a few more times at me failing to connect each time. I could feel my nerves starting to fray, but the pig must have needed a break too because he stopped to stare at me and pant. I noticed a deep gash in his chest dripping blood, though it didn''t seem to bother him much. His also had his head tilted to the side like he was considering me and trying to think of a plan that could overcome my speed difference.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    And so here we are.


    I was too afraid to make the first move so I waited for him to charge again. I waited, but he must have realized that fighting conventionally wouldn''t work. The monsters knees unbent and it held its club loosely, regarding me with a pig expression that I''m not quite sure how to translate.


    Finally! You changed your mind and want to talk it out? I knew you could be reasonable


    Wait, no. It doesn''t seem like he''s given up. I watched as he raised his club and cocked it over his head. What is he doing? When piggy''s upper body leaned back the realization set in. He was planning to throw it. I dove out of the way just before he released, hoping that the pig wasn''t smart enough to predict where I would land.


    I was right in hoping, I mean thinking, that the pig would aim straight for where I was standing. The club rocketed through the air at speeds that I wasn''t expecting. If I had waited a second longer the club would have probably caved in my chest, thats how fast it was going. The pig must have influenced the air somehow to make it travel faster and honestly that scared me to death. I needed to kill this thing before I figured out what other air manipulation tricks it had up its sleeve.


    I sprinted as fast as I could towards the now weaponless pig, aiming to kill it as quickly as possible, and I was slightly relieved to see its eyes widen in what looked like fear. Reaching it, I tackled it to the ground and wrestled around its meaty body. After a minute of stabbing at any place I could find and grimancing every time my hand slipped on blood, the pig had died.


    Oddly enough I wasn''t as shaken up as last time. The triumph I got from ending the fight made me feel way stronger, invincible even. I don''t think all these flawless victories are helping my grip on reality. I somewhat remember beneath all the emotions running through me that I had felt this same rush of power when I killed the pig in the first room. Humans are supposed to be extremely adaptable, maybe this way of coping is completely normal?


    Regardless of the reason I backed away from the corpse and wiped the disgusting smelling blood off onto my pant legs. I watched it, waiting to see if it would dissapear like the last one. Soon enough the body began to fade at the edges and turn into motes of light that wisped away into nothing. Before my eyes the entire thing had transformed into nothing.


    I really hope the safe zone has something that can explain all of this to me.


    Well, only two more rooms to go.