Time slipped away in the dungeon.
Minutes bled into hours, hours into days.
I do not know how long I wandered, the surface was gone, orario was gone as I marched endlessly.
I remember the first time I ate,
Hunger tore at my body as my blood-stained gauntlets reached deep into the corpse of an ogre, wrenching its magic stone out violently.
Pressing it to my mouth, my jaw clenched down harshly as the stone cracked from my teeth, shadowy tendrils forcing fragments down my throat.
Yet the hunger persisted.
Since then I have devoured hundreds. Thousands. Small ones that crumble like dust, greater ones that made my body writhe with their power.
Every life I consume, I can feel myself becoming something, something more.
I can feel the very air giving way to me, the dungeon recoils in fear. When I command, the very monsters kneel before me.
Tonight, I test myself, tonight, this long march will see its conclusion.
As I walked, the caverns opened up to a vast chamber.
The dungeon's walls trembled as wings unfurled from the darkness ahead.
A dragon rose from the abyss, rocklike scales cracking as its two heads snarled, each glowing with red lightning.
It roared. Dust surged as thunder spewed forth, painting the cavern in red.
I could feel my face distorting from the force as I gripped the warhammer tightly.
"Come on Beast! You will bow before me like all the others." I yelled out calmly, feet embedded in the rock as I took a step forward.
The dragon lunged, wings beating down as wind slashed sharply against my cheeks.
Spear-like claws scythed toward me as I stepped back, lightning bouncing toward my chest.
Shrugging it to the side, I swung my warhammer as its giant wrist, as it settled in with a crack.
One head bellowed out in pain, shattering my ear drums as the other spewed lighting, as I swung again, deflecting it.
A claw stabbed into my side, impaling me as I swung down from overhead, bashing its other hand.
The first head now recovered, bit down from above, ripping into my torso.
Ribs cracked as my body crumpled, as I reached out for its eye with my free hand, ripping roughly at flesh as it recoiled backward in pain.
Dropping to the ground, I could feel the familiar sensation of my body knitting itself back together.
"Try again." I muttered, raising my warhammer again, eyes glowing.
"Come, Beast." I snarled. "Show me your wrath."
Both heads snapped in response, firing off fire and lightning as I braced.
Flames seared my flesh as lightning racked through my body, my muscles shaking in response.
Yet I marched on, body charred I swung at one of the heads as it came in for a bite.
"Divine Smite" I coughed as my tongue remained singed off.
Emerald flames dashed along one of the maws as its head hung limply, its neck cracking with a snap, the other head glaring at me through its one eye.
Now I could feel it, fear, the creature enveloped it within its rage but it was there.
Flapping its wings, it propelled itself backward, moving jaggedly through the air as it dragged the other head.
"So you can feel it too beast." I responded, shadows billowing out from my hammer, extending outward to wrap around the joints on its wings.
They curled inward, blasting me forward toward its chest as I thrust my warhammer forward.
Stone-like scales poured over with blood as my upper body was submerged in its flesh.
Clawing through with my gauntleted hands, I finally found the stone, bashing my warhammer foward as cracks began to form on its surface.
The body disintegrated around me as shadows sliced apart the core, pulling pieces beneath my own skin.
Ash and bone rained down until silence claimed the chamber.
I stood alone, warhammer in hand, smoke trailing from the dragon's grave.
Now, I ascend.
Time passed, I climbed floor to floor.
Balor, Udaeus, Amphisbanea and the Goliath all fell as I continue my march.
Until finally - humanity.
As I reached floor 7, I encountered a trio of adventurers.
Their torchlight flicked weak against the Dungeon's dark. They laughed, spoke of loot and glory, their voices grating against my ears.
One noticed me. A boy in light armor, blade trembling as he raised it.
Yet before words could even form from his mouth, I gripped his skull with my gauntleted hand, his blade swinging weakly against my armour.
Crack.
The other two looked over in shock, their own weapons lowered by their side.
"O silence of graves, O void that devours,Chains of bone, rise and bind.What the gods abandoned, the shadows reclaim—Pierce, rend, and drag them down!"
I chanted, magic flowing through my body as shadowy tendrils skewered the two men, lifting them high off the ground before flicking them aside.
I climbed further, 6th floor, 5th floor.
Until at last, the light of the surface beckoned me.
I stepped forward, boots clambering against cobbled stairs.
The higher I climbed, the heavier the weight upon me, until it became unbearable.
Pain seared through my flesh as my gloves reached out toward the surface.
Shadows crept from the walls, locking my joints as they pulled me back into the depths.
I was bound, just another creature of the dungeon.
I was its prisoner.
Not even death had freed me—resurrection had only chained me deeper.
Breath ragged, I sank to one knee, the stone trembling beneath my fury.
So be it.
If the surface was denied me, then the Dungeon itself would bow.