The silence in the chamber was a physical thing, thick and heavy, broken only by the low, pervasive hum of the portal.
It wasn't a sound you heard with your ears, but one you felt in your teeth and bones, a vibration that made the air itself feel charged and unstable.
The structure was immense, an archway of black stone carved with runes that writhed and pulsed with a sickly purple light, their patterns shifting like living things.
We stood before it, a ragged line of exhaustion and tension.
Evelyn was the first to break the silence, her voice small in the vast space.
"Is this it? The end of the dungeon? Where we meet the final boss?" Her knuckles were bone-white where she gripped her staff.
Marcus scoffed, but the usual bravado was absent.
He crossed his arms, a defensive gesture.
"It's never that simple."
Tobias took a step forward, his claymore held in a white-knuckled grip.
"No," he agreed, his voice a low rumble. "It isn't that simple to get to the end of a dungeon. I've never seen a portal like this inside one. The end is usually a gate, not… this."
His words were steady, but the rigid set of his shoulders betrayed a deep unease.
He was the team rock, and seeing him unnerved sent a fresh chill down their spine.
No one else spoke. The portal's surface rippled, a vertical pool of liquid light, and its hum intensified, a rising pitch that set my nerves on edge.
Tobias nodded toward the shimmering veil.
"Let's not waste time." It was less a command and more a grim acceptance.
He took a deep breath and stepped through. The light swallowed him without a sound.
One by one, the others followed. Evelyn offered me a last, worried glance before vanishing.
Marcus cracked his neck, muttered, "Here goes nothing," and disappeared.
I was alone before the archway. The pull was undeniable now, a magnetic force tugging at my very core.
Stepping through was like being turned inside out.
The world dissolved into a nauseating whirl of color and soundless noise.
There was a sensation of falling, of being unraveled, and then—
Nothing.
The silence was absolute. Deafening.
I opened my eyes. I was standing on a surface that felt solid but looked like a pool of liquid obsidian, reflecting a void of shimmering silver and starless black that stretched into infinity.
There were no walls, no ceiling, no horizon. Just an endless, empty expanse.
"Where are they?" My voice echoed back at me, flat and dead, as if the void had stolen its soul.
Did the portal separate us?
The answer was obvious. I was utterly, completely alone.
"I joined a team, and in the end, I'm now alone." The thought was bitter. I drew my dagger. "Guess that means I'll have to survive alone, too."
The air shifted. It grew heavier, pressing down on me.
I tensed, my dagger held ready, my senses screaming.
Then the shadows at the edge of perception began to stir.
Shapes coalesced from the darkness, rising from the shimmering ground like nightmares given form.
They were humanoid, but twisted, their limbs elongating at wrong angles, their bodies encased in black, jagged exoskeletons.
Their eyes snapped open, glowing with a venomous green light, all fixed on me.
The first one lunged. Its speed was unnatural, a blur of sharp edges and malevolent intent.
I threw myself sideways, feeling the wind of its claws tear past my face.
I came up swinging, my dagger biting deep into its side. Black, oily ichor spurted from the wound.
The creature let out a guttural hiss and crumpled, dissolving into a dark smear on the ground.
"Figures," I muttered, shifting my weight. "Of course, it's never just one."
They came at me then, not one by one, but in a swarm.
A symphony of clicking claws and glowing eyes.
My world narrowed to the dance of survival.
I ducked under a sweeping arm, pivoted on my heel, and drove my dagger into the joint of another's leg. It shrieked and fell.
Adrenaline was a fire in my veins. I was a whirlwind of motion, each dodge, each strike, a calculated response born of instinct.
But for every one I felled, two more seemed to rise from the void.
Their numbers were endless.
Sweat stung my eyes. This was a war of attrition.
Frustration boiled over. I stopped trying to conserve power.
I planted my feet, raised my free hand, and let go.
A storm erupted from my palm. Lightning, raw and untamed, arced through the swarm.
It didn't just kill them. Where the blue-white energy touched, the creatures simply ceased to exist, erased from reality.
The attack cleared a wide circle around me.
In the sudden silence, a clean, digital chime echoed in the void, horribly out of place.
Ding!
[Stage One Complete. Prepare for the Next Challenge.]
"Huh—" The word was punched out of me.
The remaining creatures, those on the fringes, didn't retreat.
They melted, their forms sagging and dissolving back into the liquid blackness of the floor.
The oppressive weight lifted, leaving behind an eerie calm.
Before me, a massive doorway materialized from the nothingness.
It was made of the same dark stone as the portal, covered in the same glowing, pulsating runes.
It pulsed with a faint light, a silent, ominous summons.
I took a shaky breath, my body thrumming with spent adrenaline, my mind reeling.
"Challenge?" I whispered to the void. The word hung in the dead air.
This wasn't a dungeon anymore. This was a test.
And I had a terrifying feeling it had been designed specifically for me.