Like any other natural disaster the animals sensed it just before it happened. Birds scattered from the forest canopy while the grounded critters ran for the hills. The ground shook violently before the earth was ripped open until a giant hole formed and grew until it swallowed the surrounding trees of the into its abyss. When the hole stopped expanding, a red light began to emanate from its depths where the dirt bubbled until it erupted out of the ground like a geyser. Rocks and debris was launched into the air as the land that was consumed rose back up from the depths. When the quaking ceased and the dust settled the silhouette of a structure now stood where there was once nothing.
[A dungeon has appeared!]
[Beginning summoning process for dungeon lord...]
[...Candidate found!]
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[User:???]
I was just a formless ball of light and consciousness floating through the endless dark of limbo, or at least that's what I called it based on my conclusions of what I thought about the afterlife. I wasn't much of a spiritual person in my previous life from what I remember, but when I was faced with the terrifying thought of drifting through a space filled with a darkness so suffocating I felt like I was simultaneously drowning and being buried alive for an indefinite amount of time. It suddenly made me wish I brushed up on some theology instead of biology so I at least knew what to do in this situation because I have been walking, or should I say floating in a straight line for an eternity. Sure I could turn back, but I've already invested this much time into going this direction so I might as well commit. Besides, I had a feeling that I didn't have much time left and turning back would be a bad idea.
And sure enough, as time passed I began to realize what that feeling was. I had been gradually forgetting details about my previous life. First it was places, then it was names, faces, until all I was left with were memories I had created with people I could only see as strangers, though I could tell they must have been important to me. Were they family? Friends?
I had no idea...
I desperately held onto those remaining memories since I had begun to notice that the more I forgot, the more my light had started to fade. So I assumed that once I had nothing left, I would fade as well. What a cruel fate, I thought.
I had no other choice, no other options, so even if it was inevitable, I decided to resist just so that I could exist for just a little longer.
And just when I felt like I was about to give in, something happened. A light appeared in the distance. The sort people probably think they see when they're about to, many people say not to go towards the light, but when faced with possible disintegration of your consciousness then going towards the light starts to seem like a good idea.
Safe to say, the closer I got, the more unbearably bright my surroundings got. Until everything around me was nothing but a pure white. Juxtapose to what I saw earlier, which was a dark tunnel with a light at the end of it, it now appeared as If I was in an endless white void with a large dark hole in the wall. It was like an optical illusion, I knew that hole was actually much farther than it appeared and going back towards it led to another large expanse of empty space much less pleasant than this one. It was like emerging from polluted water and taking a long breath of fresh air from the top of the tallest mountain, the feeling was ecstatic.
However, while I was too occupied looking behind me I failed to see the sudden obstacle in front of me which I felt first and saw later. I am stopped dead in my tracks after I run into what I thought was wall, but it was actually a door...
Just a door.
It was a white door with a gold knob. The knob, was safe to say, something that stood out like a sore thumb it made me wonder how I even missed it in the first place when I was farther away. It was so mundane and so very anticlimactic something as jarring as this after walking so long in a literal void. After staring at it for another long moment, I finally got over the absurdity of it and took a huge mental breath before trying to grab the knob with...my hand?
I didn't have a hand, I couldn't open it. After suffering from a mild panic the knob suddenly began to turn on its on and open inward so slowly it was actually suspenseful. It soon revealing another dark void. I didn't even have time to gather my wits before I felt a suction which drew me into the archway. It was too strong to resist, then before I knew it I was pulled into it.
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The first thing I heard was the sound of drum. I was rhythmic beat that had a steady and precise timing that made it feel more like an alarm clock rather than an instrument introducing the start of a song. I opened my eyes and breathed in air that was dank with the scent of freshly tilled soil and ozone. I was lying on flat stone that felt smooth and grainy against my body which made me think I was naked. I sprung up at the thought and immediately looked down at myself to see a body of pure dark. I was humanoid, two legs, two arms, hands with five fingers and opposable thumbs, but my skin, if you could even call it that, was like looking into the empty void of space. Yet, this wasn't what surprised me the most. Behind me, I was still hearing a constant drumming sound that was present since before I opened my eyes. So when I turned around to find the source, the sight of what I saw next made me shudder.