The door opened and a cold wind flew into his body, greeting him. The young man stood looking inside the pitch black manor.
He took a full step in and before he could think the door behind him shut on its own.
Hearing the heavy thud, he turned around, and yanked on the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge.
Shit.
No matter how much he tried nothing happened and that was when he knew he had wandered into the wrong place.
Derek, knowing there was no use in trying continuously, left the door and turned. I’m already in here. Might as well see it through.
The interior was pitch black, leaving him practically blind. But the moment he took his first step, the entire space flared with light.
Hanged torches lined both walls, their flames roaring to life untouched by no one. The trail of fire stretched deep into the distance revealing a vast cavernous hall.
He gulped.
Okay. Don’t panic. We can do this. We can do this... Derek tried to calm himself after what he had just witnessed. He took another step and called.
"Hello?" The word echoed throughout the hall as his voice traveled deep in repetition. "Is anyone here?" The same repetition occurred again. He took another step, walking into the hall.
The grand hall stretched out like a shadowy tunnel, its former glory long gone. Heavy, dark wooden pillars lined the path under high, arched ceilings, dust covering every inch, and cobwebs hung where the torches flickered, barely lighting up the dark.
Looking closely at the walls, massive frames that used to hold glorious paintings now sat empty, leaving behind only dark empty spaces.
From the looks of thing, people used to live here. But now it’s entirely abandoned. The frames on the wall are a testament to this fact. Just what is this place? And why is it grounded as a no-go area? Why did grandmother want me here?... Derek had a cloud of thoughts in his head.
As if his thoughts were being heard, a massive door opposite him, opened on its own inviting him in. Derek saw this and without hesitation went into it.
The room was a study, dimly lit by a single flickering torch. Its faint glow covered barely a third of the space, leaving the deep shadows untouched.
Instinctively, Derek turned around feeling eyes locked onto him. But the darkness revealed nothing.
No way. I thought I saw something just now. Or was it my imagination? Am I hallucinating? Come to think of it. I haven’t eaten or drank anything since even before transporting here. Yeah that must be the case, I’m very tired... The young man tried his best to convince himself that he was seeing things that were not actually real.
He had journeyed into a place of the unknown. An area that was particularly instructed to avoid. And yet, he went in anyway.
What am I actually doing? Who sent me here? I want to go back home but I don’t think it should cost my life... Derek was already regretting why he had stepped into the building.
He had likewise forgotten what made him enter in the first place and now, wanted anything more than to leave.
Just then, the hair on his hand stood as he felt that something was indeed watching him from somewhere.
He turned around without hesitation but found, just like earlier, nothing. Then, in that moment a cold wind blew from nowhere and the torch that was barely holding on, turned off.
The study had turned pitch black, however the door leading out of it was still open and the light from the hall was still on.
Derek saw this and for a moment felt relieved. He stepped forward in an attempt to go back to the hall, but as his feet landed, the ground above him opened up and swallowed him.
THUD!
..
Derek found himself on the ground. He tried to get up but couldn’t as intense pain coursed through his body. It was as if he had been hit with a massive rod.
Since he was unable to get up at the moment, Derek surveyed his surroundings and found that he was in a place that had several pathways leading into the dark.
A basement?... He thought. No. More like an underground tunnel. There are several of them, which one leads outside?
The young man scanned thoroughly but couldn’t make out anything of it. As the light that lit the area was barely bright.
He was in the ground unable to move and within those pathways were nothing but a void of darkness.
It was hopeless.
I need to find a way out of here. Who knows what is lurking in the shadows... He tried to get up again, his hands supporting him by pushing on the ground, but it was no use.
Just then, he heard a sound. It wasn’t a mistake. It was real. The sound was faint and after every passing second it got closer.
Something is coming!... Derek was instantly alert. His sharp sense of survival had made him aware of what was coming.
But where is it coming from? There are so many pathways... His eyes moved like lightning as he watched every single pathway, but from the one which he had least expected, a golem emerged.
The golem was a massive hulking entity formed entirely from jagged interlocking grey boulders.
Two glowing yellow eyes pierce through the crevices of its rocky face radiating and imposing physical power. It stood as though it was a guardian of something ancient.
"Fuck."
The golem bent its head, small bricks pulling away as its gaze landed on the helpless human lying on the ground a few steps away.
Both human and rock locked eyes and one looked more terrified at the other.
"It’s just a boulder right? There’s nothing much it can do!" Derek’s lips twitched as he said this, trying to convince himself.
Offended by his words, the golem lunged forward with astonishing speed. Derek gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself up with all his might, but his body refused to yield.
Before he could react, the golem was behind him, seizing one of his legs and lifting him into the air. It held him suspended, fixing him with a terrifying gaze.
"Hi—" before the words could fully slip past his lips, he was hurled through the air and slammed into the wall.
Derek coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes trembling in shock as his body shattered the stone behind him. Pinned in place, he scrambled to spot the golem, but it had vanished.
Where did it?— Before the question could fully form, it reappeared right before his eyes in a flash.
The golem grabbed Derek by the head and ripped him away from the wall. Raising him above its head, it slammed him onto the floor.
Agony shot through his entire body as he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
Is this is? Is this how I am going to die? Cough, I was told that there was a ghost. But this is no ghost. A ghost isn’t capable of this. Fuck, I should have asked how many people had gone here and survived. Heh... What am I thinking? There’s no way someone could survive this... Derek was lost in thoughts when his eyes caught the golem standing above him.
Without wasting a second, the golem grabbed Derek by the waist, treating him like nothing more than a fragile toy, as it hurled him back into the wall. Before Derek could even register the impact, the golem appeared right in front of him and drove its fist deep into his abdomen.
Derek’s entire body violently convulsed as he collapsed onto the stone floor. But the golem wasn’t finished.
It seized his right leg, spinning and hurling him, sending his battered body tumbling across the stone floor.
Derek was broken and battered, his face a bloody mess and the left of his body completely numb. Straining to lift his head, he spotted the amulet, ripped from his neck, lying on the cold floor just a few steps away.
"There’s no way I am dying." Derek began crawling to where the amulet was. "Not in this condition, no way. I have to get back home. I have to see granny. I still have to find out what happened to Mom and Dad." As he crawled, he left a long rail of blood on the ground. His body, already covered in it.
"To give up is to die. And I refuse to give up. No matter the situation! No matter the circumstances! Even if the gods rejected me! So what? I will stomp upon them and get what I want!..." Derek’s voice was a barely audible whisper.
Ignoring the golem walking towards him, he dragged himself forward, inching closer with every agonized breath. He stretched out his right hand to grasp the amulet but his body finally gave out, his vision fading as the golem towered over him.
With the last of his strength, he managed to choke out, "I refuse this fate!"
His voice cracked as his eyes shut and his body fell completely limp. Yet his fingers refused to surrender, moving forward one final inch until they touched the amulet.
[Ding!]
[You have completed the hidden quest: Sheer Willpower!]
[Your desire has been rewarded!]
[You have awakened the Bloodline System!]
[You have been chosen to tread the path of divinity!]
[Ding!]
[Your body is on the brink of certain death.]
[Your heart will stop at any moment!]
[Would you like to live?]
[Yes / No]
Huh? What is this? Death?...Yes!
[Congratulations! Your soul has successfully bonded with the system!]
[You have become a Player!]