[July 25th, 2025]
The only light in Shizuma's room came from the faint blue glow of his computer monitor. The ryhthmic clack of his mechanical keyboard was punctuated by the sharp crackle of his headset. "Yo Silas, could you stop selling me and actually try?" He grumbled, his voice low, even tone that contrasted with the frantic energy of the game.
A chuckle echoed through the digital void. Silas, ever the heart of the group, was clearly not taking this match seriously. "Im not trying against these bots, Shizuma. Besides," he said, his voice laced with playful accusation, "how about you ask Kuren to lock in? He's at the bottom of the leaderboard."
A frustrated groan followed, high pitched and full of life. It was unmistakably Kuren. "Bro Silas, my internet is terrible!" He whined. "Besides, kain isnt doing much better than me, and he has no excuses!"
The digital silence that followed was broken by a rare interruption from Kain, who, true to his nature, was a man of few words. "I carried last game," he said, his voice as calm and steady as still water." How about you guys actually do something for once."
The playful banter of their online friendship was the rhythm of their lives, a comforting constant. It was the last thing they would hear before everything changed.
The banter came to a sudden halt. In each of their seperate rooms, a soft ethereal light bloomed from the floor.
"Wait, guys, somethings glowing on my floor!" Kuren's voice was no longer playful, but filled with a general childlike panic.
"Mine's too!" Silas said, the jovial tone gone from his voice.
"Whats going on!"
The light intensified, washing over them. It was a searing, blinding light that consumed everything. There was no time to react, No time to even scream. Only blackness. A heavy, suffocating silence. When their senses returned, the fluorescent lights of their rooms were replaced by cold, damp darkness of a stone dungeon.
Silas was the first to stir. His head throbbed, a dull, insistent headache pulsed behind his eyes. He sat up the cold, rough stone floor a shocking sensation to his skin. A deep chill had settled in his bones, a feeling he hadn't experienced in the warmth of his room.
"Woah… What just happend?" He muttered, his voice echoing eerily in the suffocating darkness. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decay.
A light groan came from a few feet away, followed by another. He squinted, his eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom. The faint light from a crack in the ceiling revealed two figures stirring on the ground.
"Its like i was.. transported somewhere." A high-pitched voice—Kuren's, he realized—said woth a note of bewildered wonder.
They all slowly got on their feet. Their body's feeling strange and foreign, their limbs moving with an unfimiliar weight. As They faced eachother, they saw the reflection of their own confusion on the faces of strangers.
A low, calm voice broke the silence. "Who are you guys?" Kain asked, his voice as steady as he could make it, despite the panic rising in his chest.
"You're asking me? I dont know who you guys are either!" Silas shot back, his gut-instinct telling him that whoever these people were, They were just as lost as he was.
"Did you guys get transported here to?" A fourth voice, deep and serious, asked.
"Yeah," they all said in unison, the shared word a small, comforting anchor in the ocean of their shared terror.
"Alright," Silas said, taking charge instinctively, his emotional leadership already kicking in. "Lets begin with names then."
"I'll go first," Silas declared, his voice a little shaky but full of his usual confidence. "My name is Silas Verdant. I originate from a planet called Earth."
An unearthly silence fell over the small group, followed by a shock of recognition.
"Silas?!?" The three others exclaimed in unison.
Silas's mind raced, his confusion warring with a flicker of hope. He looked around at the unfamiliar faces, a strange mix of emotions on their features. "You guys… know me?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.
One by one, they spoke, their voices stille carrying the echo of their online avatars.
"Im Kuren Zenith," the high-pitched voice said, the playful tone gone.
"Im Kain Eldoria."the calm, steady voice followed.
"And im Shizuma Nicht," the low, serious voice finished.
The names, a perfect match to their names back home, hit them like a physical blow. A wave of profound, disbelieving relief washed over him."All my friends are really here with me." He whispered, a stunned smile spreading across his face.
Just as the relief took hold, a searing pain, like a lightning strike to the brain, erupted in his head. It was as if a dam had broken, and a flood of memories—names, places, feelings that werent his—came rushing in. It was a dizzying, terrifying experience. He saw a flash of his reflection in a pool of water, a face he didnt recognize. He saw a hand glowing with power. He saw a strange symbol on his skin. He heard a whisper of a name: Verdant.
"Whats… happening?" He gasped, the pain making him double over. The world turned to a dizzying, spinning blackness. He couldn't feel his body. He was just a consciousness floating into the void, a helpless observer in his own mind.
Then a small, green orb of light appeared in the darkness, pulsating with a gentle, calming energy. It moved toward him, a beacon in the storm. Instinctively, he reached out and tried to grab it.
As his hand closed around the orb, his senses came back. He felt the cold, hard ground beneath him, the ache in his head, and the taste of blood in his mouth. He looked up to see his friends, all lying on the floor, groaning in pain as they experienced the same traumatic influx of memories.
A low groan from Shizuma broke the tense silence. He pushed himself up, his movements fluid and unnervingly graceful. His hands went to his chest, and a look of confusion, quickly masked by his usual serious demeanor, crossed his face. "I'm… alive?" He muttered, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Weird, i dont feel my heartbeat, and my body is unnaturally cold."
Kuren, ever the expressive one, bounced to his feet with a look of pure bewilderment. "I can't feel mine either," He exclaimed, wringing his hands. "And my body feels all… Weird!"
"I can feel mine just fine," Silas replied, pushing himself to his feet. He ran a hand over his chest, feeling the steady thump-thump-thump of his heart, the familiar warmth of blood in his vains. He looked at the other with a mix of relief and concern. "What about you Kain?"
Kain stood up slowly. His movements deliberate. "Yeah, i can feel mine to," he confirmed, his voice as calm as ever. He wasnt suprised, but his thoughtful eyes scanned the faces of his friends, looking for any signs of lingering panic. His mind, already working like a strategist, quickly moved to the more pressing matter. "More importantly… where are we?"
"It seems to be some kind of cave or dungeon." Shizuma said. His eyes already adjusting to the dark. He seemed more at home in the shadows than any if them.
Suddenly Kuren's face lit up with a mischievous grin. He extended his hand, and with a squelching, almost magical sound, his fingers hardened and sharpened, morphing into a gleaming blade. "Hey! I learned i can freely reshape my body!"
"Woah," Kain breathed, a flicker of genuine suprise in his normally stoic expression.
Shizuma, however, ignored the display entirely. His serious expression deepend as a cold, heavy presence entered his awareness. It wasnt sound or sight, But a feeling—a pulsing point of existence in the darkness, a soul that felt wrong. He tilted his head, his senses attuned to the deeper shadows of the dungeon. "I can sense something coming towards is," he said, his voice a low warning. "And its soul is… black."
The playful wonder of the moment vanished, replaced by a cold reality of the situation. Every ounce of their gaming instinct took over. They all instinctively dropped into a fighting stance, the shadows of the dungeon suddenly feeling much more threatening.
From the deepest shadows, a figure coalesced into being. It was a sinewy, vaguely humanoid shape, Its body a swirling mass of black smoke and angry, red light pulsed from within. A shadow sith. Shizuma's instincts were right. The soul was a thick, curdled black, a sign of its mindless, feral nature.
"What is that?" Kain whispered, his eyes wide as he took in the monsters unnatural form.
"I dont know" Kuren replied, his voice uncharacteristically tense. He didnt look at all confident in his newfound abilities anymore.
The creature didnt speak. It simply raised a hand, and an invisible force slammed into their minds—a psychic attack meant to disorient them. For a moment, their thoughts were a swirling mess of noise and fear.
But Silas, a leader who acted on his heart and gut, instinctively put up his hand. A strange, shimmering barrier of pure mana appeared in front of him, and the psychic attack hit it, the force bouncing off and reflecting back toward the sith. The creature reeled back, a guttural sound escaping it as it was momentarily disoriented by its own attack.
"Kuren, finish it off!" Silas yelled, already in command, his mind cleared of the psychic fog.
Kuren, without a moment's hesitation, charged forward, his hand morphing into a sharp, glistening blade. He sliced through the sith's body, but the blade passed right through the smoky form with no resistance, as if cutting through air.
"What just happend?" Kuren yelled, his voice laced with confusion as the sith recovered and lunged toward him.
"Move, kuren!" Kains calm command cut through the chaos. He had already gathered a massive amount of water in his hands, compressing it into a high-density, swirling stream. The attack hit the sith squarely, the force of the water shattering it's smoky form. With a final, faint screech, the creature dispersed, leaving behind only a faint wisp of black smoke that quickly faded and a small blue stone with a marking on it.
Shizuma, ever the observer, stepped forward and simply said, "well that was suprising. But i expected this after seeing Kuren morph his arm."
Shizuma, his serious expression never wavering, noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A faint, swirling wisp of black smoke was dissipating where the sith had died, but something lingered—a faint, ghostly orb of energy. A soul. The very soul he had just sensed moments ago, now detatched and vulnerable.
Drawn to it by an instinct he didnt understand, he walked toward it and reached out his hand. The moment his fingers made contact, the soul vanished, absorbed into his body. A strange sensation, both invigorating and chilling, washed over him. He felt himself grow stronger, his body lighter, and his senses sharper.
"I think we should take a moment to discuss our abilities with eachother," Shizuma said, his voice flat and practical, as if he hadnt just absorbed the essence of a dead monster. He was already thinking strategically.
"I'll go first," Silas announced, his natural leadership taking over. "I have the ability to reflect magic. It seems to be an instinctive defensive reflex, but i can use it intentionally."
Kain nodded thoughtfully, his eyes still fixed on the dispersing smoke. "I have the ability to control water magic. Its a natural instinct, but it feels like there's a lot more to it than just that."
Kuren, who had been poking at the ground with his bladed hand, retracted it with a playful flourish. "I can freely reform my body. It looks like im a slime from my body's properties." He giggled. "I cant feel my heartbeat either, but i dont care! This is cool!"
Shizuma listened carefully, absorbing their new powers. When it was his turn, he said, "I seem to have the ability to acquire souls and summon them. And i also get stronger when i do obtain souls." He didnt mention the part about his heart or chilling body temperature. He was a thinker, and he wanted to process this troubling information on his own.
"Now that we know eachother's abilities," Shizuma concluded, "coordinating attacks should prove easier."
"I still can't get over the fact that im a slime," Kuren said, his tone a mix of childish wonder and genuine awe.
What am i then, to have no heartbeat? Shizuma thought to himself. The question was a cold, quiet dread in the back of his mind. He would deal with it later. The immediate priority was survival.
"I think we should prioritize getting out of this dungeon," Silas said, looking around at the dark walls. He was the leader, and his focus was on a clear, achievable goal.
"Yeah," Kain agreed, his strategic mind clicking into place. "Lets make that top priority for now."
Three days passed in the unrelenting darkness of the cave. The initial shock of their situation had given way to a grim determination. They had spent their time running, fighting, and, most importantly, experimenting. They were all gamers at heart, used to leveling up and grinding, but they had to admit they were terrible at actual survival. Silas and Kain, in their human bodies, were beginning to feel the heavy pangs of hunger and thirst. Shizuma and Kuren, to their own silent relief, did not.
"Guys, look out." Shizuma said, his voice a low, urgent whisper. His senses had picked up a trio of black souls approaching from the shadows.
From the gloom, an iron wolf emerged, its body made of what looked like jagged, metallic plates. It was a terrifying sight, all teeth and claws. Two more followed close behind. They were fast, silent, and clearly a more significant threat than the shadow sith.
"I can handle one myself!" Kuren announced, his voice a mix of bravado and recklessness. "You guys get the other two." Without waiting for a response, he charged, luring one of the wolves away. The creature pounced, its teeth sinking into his arm. Kuren let out a theatrical scream, making it think he was heavily injured, and let the monster chase him into a small alcove. The wound on his arm sealed and regenerated instantly, leaving the wolf chasing after a trick.
The two remaining Iron Wolves turned their full attention toward the other three.
"Shizuma, can you summon the shadow sith from earlier?" Silas ordered, his eyes darting between the two fast-approaching wolves.
Shizuma nodded and, with a silent concentration, summond the wisp of black smoke that was now his shadow sith. It solidified just long enough to land a mental attack on both wolves, disorienting them and making them stumble.
"Kain, finish them off!" Shizuma commanded.
Kain, whos focus had been on conjuring up a water spell, had been practicing. He raised his hand and, with a precision born of repeated attempts, fired two razor-sharp icicles directly at the wolve's heads. The spell, a new one he had mastered, was clean and deadly. The wolves fell, dropping 2 glowing green mana stones as they dissolved into nothing.
"Wow, Kain, your aim has gotten significantly better since you started." Silas said, genuinely impressed. "And green mana stones… That must mean these were medium difficulty monsters."
"Thanks," Kain replied, a rare smile on his face. "I practice whenever i can." The hunger pangs returned, a stark reminder of his mortality. He sighed. "Im so hungry."
"Me too," Silas lamented, rubbing his stomach. "But we have no way of making a fire to cook anything." The stark reality of their situation was setting in.
"Heyyyy, are you guys okayyyy?!" a bright, cheerful voice echoed down the corridor, shattering the dungeons grim silence.
Shizuma, whose senses had already picked up a new, surprisingly vibrant soul approaching, tilted his head. The soul was a clear, brilliant blue—the color of a calm ocean. It was pure. "It seems to be an adventurer," he whispered to the others. "Maybe they could lead us to an exit."
A young woman, no older than they were, stepped out of the shadows. She had a wide, innocent smile and was dressed in leather armor, a simple sword at her hip, and a backpack over her shoulders. She looked at their dirt-smudged faces and a lack of gear with concern. "Are you guys alright? What are you doing in this dungeon with no bags or equipment?"
Kuren, always a quick thinker, came up with a lie. "We seem to have gotten lost on our way down here and are struggling to get back up. Could you guide us out of here?"
"Sure just follow me and-" she began, turning to lead the way.
"WAIT!" Silas's voice cut through her sentence, his stomach giving a painful rumble. He hadnt just been role-playing the hunger; it was a real, gnawing emptiness.
The girl turned back, looking at him with a bewildered expression. "Huh?"
"Do you have any food for us to eat?" Silas asked, his face a mix of shame and desperation. "Were starving."
The girl's eyes widened with pity. "Oh, of course!" She said, rummaging in her backpack. She pulled out a few pieces of dried meat and bread, giving a portion to Silas Kain, who tore into it with the ravenous hunger of two people who hadn't eaten in days.
"By the way my names Rin," She said with a bright smile. "What are your names?"
"My names Shizuma," Shizuma said, his serious demeanor still intact, but a ficker of relief in his eyes.
"The names Kuren," the slime said, munching on a ration of his own that he'd somehow manifested from his slime compartment, his voice playful again.
"My names Silas." Silas said, still chewing.
"Mines Kain." Kain said, taking a measured bite.
"Well alright, follow me then!" Rin said, her smile returning as they finish their food.
Shizuma, however, stopped her with a raised hand. "Wait," he said, his voice as cold and calculating as a chess master. "Sorry for asking after you've given us food, but how can we trust you?"
Rin looked taken aback, but only for a moment. "Oh, im sorry!" She said, her earnestness returning. She pulled out a small, metallic card from a pouch on her hip and handed it to Shizuma. "Its my guild card. It proves im a registered adventurer. Here, you can check it!
Shizuma took the card, inspecting it carefully. He had no idea what a "guild card" was. But he didnt need to. He could feel Rin's soul—the unwavering blue of it. It radiated sincerity. She was a good person, and that was all the proof he needed. "Alright," he said, handing it back to her. "This is enough."
"Great! We ready to head out then?" She asked, her smile now a genuine expression of relief.
"Yeah," Silas said, looking at the others. "Lets go."
They followed Rin's path, a long, winding tunnel that led upwards. The journey took them just over a day, but it was the easiest day they had so far. As they neared the exit, the air grew warmer, and a brilliant, blinding light pierced the gloom. They shielded their eyes. It was the first time they had seen sunlight since their world had been taken away.