Chương 22: Vanessa Myers (1)

I jolt awake as my eyes try to send me to sleep again. Falling asleep here means nothing less than certain death. Though it's hard to think of anything else but the injury in my leg. I sit against the smooth, polished stone wall and floor. The flame on my palm dances playfully. Burn scars cover the hand beneath it, before I was able to form protection against my own flames. They only sting now. Beyond the weak glow, the dungeon is a pure, inky black.

The small, shifting flame is the only thing keeping the area around me safe. The only thing keeping me alive. I shudder as I hold one knee to my chest. My left leg is paste, nothing but shattered bone and mutilated flesh. A trap I stupidly triggered. Dried bile clings to my chin and chest. Salt-stained tears mark my cheeks. I don't feel scared anymore. The nausea is also gone. All that's left is inevitability. Outside the eight-foot radius of light from the fire, countless shapes move and shift.

I know what they are. I've killed them before, many times. Black lizards with mirror-smooth scales and a smoky black mist wafting off them at all times. The floating blue projection calls them shadow crawlers. The same projection shows me the countdown until my death. [Mana: 345(14)] Elemental mage. That's the class I chose when the ground started breaking apart. For the starting spell, the projection showed me twelve different options, and I chose fire manipulation.

Without much else, I was dropped into a room with no light. My first hurdle was to unlock my mana. It was hard, but my skill unlocked the path easily. I'd burned my hand several times before I learned how to protect myself from my own mana. Even though it hurt, I was giddy. I was excited to do something out of my wildest dreams. I made rivers of flame curl around me according to my will. Like a bird first taking flight, I felt satisfied in a way I never knew I could.

The entrancing flames could come from anywhere on my body, a third arm that came so naturally. It's like a void inside myself since I was born was finally filled with something familiar. So many minutes were lost, waving my arms into billowing capes of fire. Vicious jets of fire. Large spheres of fire that would explode. Sticky fire that would attach to anything. I laughed. Laughed like a child finding their favorite toy or a bubble wand for the first time. The dungeon was quick to teach me that this wasn't a game.

My first task wasn't to learn more magic or to master my new ability. It was to kill. Thankfully, it wasn't hard. The small lizards are scared of light and took heavy damage from my flames. The heavy, thick doors that separated the rooms were hard to open, but my flames kept me safe. Lizards grew stronger and more plentiful the further I moved, but my abilities grew alongside them. My fear ran deep, but none of the lizards were even able to touch me.

When I made it to the tenth room, the lizard there was up to my waist and was longer than a car. Still, dumping all of my mana into its face was enough. I had to wait after every room so that my mana would go back up. After over a day, my hunger grew too powerful, and I was forced to eat one of my kills. My dignity refused, but it was nothing compared to my life. I cooked the stringy meat and grimaced, but a small piece of me was satisfied.

When the projection said that I was in the first twenty percent of people to clear the tutorial, I was ecstatic. Joy quickly turned into confidence, and I turned my attention onward. Once again, I was reminded that this isn't a game. It's hell. I wandered around the new area blissfully unaware. The lizards stayed away, fearful of the light that emanated from me. Then my foot brushed a single, razor-thin wire. The room started rumbling, and I reacted far too late.

A boulder the size of a refrigerator fell from the ceiling. I pulled my body backwards, but the large rock caught my leg, reducing it to a gored mess. My mind had gone blank, shrouded in panic and terror. I had vomited at the sight of my own leg, disoriented in my own hysteria. But it didn't end there. The rumbling attracted lizards. Not one or two, but dozens. They came like a flood, flowing through the surroundings like a raging river. In my panic, I exploded with fire.

My clothes were burnt to ashes alongside my supply of mana. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After I came to my senses, I was left with nothing. I sobbed for a long time before it all started to fade. A lizard feint-lunges at me, startling me out of my memory. The flinch sends agony shooting through my leg. I hiss in pain. My bravado cracks, but there are no tears left to give. I look up at the only thing I have now.

[Mana: 345(12)] The number on the blue pane in front of me stares like an executioner. Shrinking the flame prolongs my death, but nothing more. I'm over a ten-minute walk from the safety of what the projection called the tutorial area. With my injury, the journey is impossible with the mana I have left. [Mana: 345(11)] Once it hits zero, there will be nothing to stop the tens of bodies waiting for me to relent.

"Snff, snff."

"I miss you, mama." The thought of her in this situation is too much to bear. Sobbing echoes quietly through the surroundings as I imagine the worst happening to the people I love.

"I want to go home," I mutter through sobs. The lizards don't make any sound, yet they keep moving. Shapes slither and surround every side. After a few minutes, I catch my breath. I don't want to die. [Mana: 345(10)] This is it. There's nothing left to lose. Stabilizing my huffing, I muster up a pitiful amount of determination. I know it's impossible. I know it's too far. But still, I must try. I move off the wall and fall onto my stomach. Agony lances from my leg deep enough to radiate to my waist.

"AAAHHH!" My piercing wail echoes across the polished walls. Clenching my teeth hard enough to make them crack, I move both arms in front of myself. The fire on my palm fizzles out, an identical flame appearing on my back. Using my arms and good leg, I drag my body across the ground. Every subtle movement against my leg feels like hundreds of knives ripping it apart. Still, I continue moving. My limp leg flails along behind me, the knee to the foot nothing more than a collection of shattered bone and gored flesh.

The pain drives into my stomach, causing my nausea to build again. I stop to heave, losing what little food I still have in my stomach. Once I finish, my arms move and continue pulling me forward. [Mana: 345(9)] Like a phantom, the projection stays in front of my vision as I crawl, a reminder that it's all meaningless. Regardless, I move. A trail of blood follows from my disfigured leg. Arm by arm, I inch further into the inky blackness. The constant pain fills my eyes with tears.

I huff, lifting one arm over the other as I drag myself. [Mana: 345(8)] I don't remember the way I came from, but I travel backward, desperately trying to remember. The exhaustion and blood loss are like a claw of death, constantly scraping against my mind. Just one more push of my good leg. Just one more pull of my arm. I know I won't make it. I know it's too far. But I can't make myself stop. [Mana: 345(7)] Even through the pain, the flame on my back stands resolutely.

The lizards in front of me part, wary of the flame moving towards them. The lizards behind me gather, eager to claim space that the light no longer holds. I climb a few steps of stairs. Yeah, I think I went through here before. The pain in my leg shoots through my body as it gently caresses the edge of each step. Slowly, I turn a bend, traveling further through the pitch-black labyrinth. My constant groaning grows quieter as the pain in my leg begins to dissipate. No, not dissipate. My leg is going numb.

[Mana: 345(6)] The exhaustion is like a ball and chain, growing heavier with every foot of distance I make. Strangely enough, the fading sensation in my leg makes the journey quicker. I soon make another bend. The lizards never leave. Like a force field, all of them barely stay outside the light's radius, but never farther. They know it won't be long. My fears and nerves leave me. I know I'm going to die. Just one more inch. Just one more shuffle closer. [Mana: 345(5)] The flame on my back warbles in instability.

I stop and take a moment, focusing on keeping it alive and going. Every second I use mana, it becomes harder to scrape up the rest and use it in the skill. Combined with the creeping tiredness, every movement becomes more and more of a struggle. I make another bend. I look for the door that leads to the tutorial, but I know at my pace, it's still an hour away. Regardless, I look around, searching for anything that could lead me to safety. It's too dark.

The only thing in my vision is the floor I'm sliding across and the far wall I'm using to center myself. More steps, three this time. Getting over them is far easier this time, the pain in my leg fading into the background. At the same time, blood continues to leave me in a trail. [Mana: 345(4)] A cold feeling drags my heart into my stomach. My leg finally goes completely numb. All I can feel is a deep, piercing chill. Darkness grows as my eyelids lower. The flame on my back flickers and fades.

Gathering my willpower, I flick my eyes open wide and reignite the flame on my back. A dozen lizards are already halfway to me. They all hiss and retreat to the darkness in a hypnotic, flowing movement.

"F-fuck you."

"I'm not dead yet, you bastards." [Mana: 345(3)] Grunting, I pull myself forward arm by arm, weakly. Now, I only think of what might come after death. Hopefully, I can go to heaven and watch all the people I love, like Mama and Allison. I can watch them succeed in this new world and become amazing. Then, when they die in the future, I'll be able to see them again. Tears fill my eyes as I pull myself another few inches into the darkness. I don't even know why I keep moving. I should just stop and rest for a moment.

Just a second couldn't hurt. Before my eyes can close, a jolt of pain comes from my arm. Then my side. Then my thigh. The sensation snaps me awake, and I send mana to power the flame once more. Several lizards crawling on my body hiss and scamper back into the darkness. My mind glides over the bite wounds I received. Just one more yard. [Mana: 345(2)] Finally, I stop. I close my eyes and focus on gathering mana into the only thing keeping me alive. The act has become too difficult to do while moving.

I collapse and lose myself, bathing in the sensation of moving the mana in my body. In one circle, it flows like a river, in and out of my core. Only exiting in a single place on my back. The small, candle-like flame. [Mana: 345(1)] The mana begins to dry inside my body, the last dregs making their way to the spot on my back. With the mana in motion, I open my eyes, reaching forward and pulling. Inch by inch, I struggle and pull myself just a little closer. Not anywhere in particular. Just closer.

The small fire on my back fizzles and flickers alongside my eyes. Still, I pull myself just one bit closer. The surroundings fade, the flame flickering out. [Mana: 345(0)] In the darkness, I reach out, touching as far as I can on the stone floor. One more breath exits my lungs, and I go limp. My eyes close as my mind finally surrenders to the flood of exhaustion. Chime [Title gained: Ifrit's blessing]