Prologue
The Transformation
That day began as any other early morning after a drunken party with my friends....
I woke up to a splitting headache, wondering where I was and how the hell I got there.
The sound of wood crackling reached me first, then the damp chill of the early January air, the sounds of horses snorting, and people snoring. It all clued my alcohol-addled brain in on where I was, my parents' ranch just north of Mobile, AL. Blearily, I looked around to see the still-sleeping forms of my friends around the remains of the bonfire we had built the night before. Empty bottles and cans were scattered around, a testament to the copious amounts we had drunk the night before. My girlfriend, Lynn, was asleep beside me and when I sat up to try and clear my head, she mumbled something and rolled over.
Behind me, a horse nickered.
There was something important about that, but in my hungover state, I had trouble realizing what it was. I groaned and clutched my aching head. That’s when it hit me. Horses. The horses are still out. We never put them away last night before getting completely shit-faced.
I stood up quickly, or rather, I tried to stand up quickly, but my balance was off and I fell flat on my face. Luckily, the soft grass prevented me from getting seriously injured. Vaguely, my brain noted the wind on my bare legs, but that detail was washed away with the panic over leaving the horses out overnight. I stood again, this time with more success though I was still wobbly on my feet. My sense of balance just felt off. I took one wobbly step, and then another, before finally reaching the corral fence where nine horses were all gathered. My horse, a stallion named Magnificent Marv, head butted me as I leaned on the fence next to him.
“Yeah, good morning to you too, Marv,” I said, my voice scratchy. He nickered in response. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. 4:06 am. I groaned again. Marv took this as an invitation to bite my hair and pulled it with his teeth.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry, I’ll get you and the others put away so y’all can eat,” I said as I reached up to pet him and pull my right ponytail from his mouth. I froze, noticing that my right hand was clad in a long white glove. I looked at it dumbly as Marv continued to pull my hair.
My brain finally caught up and the night before came into focus.
We normally held a costume party on Halloween where me, my girlfriend, and all of our closest friends get together and drink until we pass out. Long story short, my girlfriend’s grandmother in Kansas died last October and the funeral was to be held on Halloween, so the party didn’t happen. Instead, she requested that we have the party on her birthday, January 2nd. Myself and all of our friends agreed to delay the Halloween party till then.
Last night was the night of the party. My parents had gone into the city to catch some musical that was playing at the Saenger Theater, then planned on staying the night with a friend before coming home the next day. My girlfriend and her friends all showed up early dressed as the Sailor Scouts. Lynn, my girlfriend, was Mars. Her best friend Mary was Venus, and the other two of her friends, Jen and Kylie, were Jupiter and Mercury, respectively. Noticing the lack of Sailor Moon, amongst them, I made the mistake of asking where she was. I knew better, I knew what was coming when Lynn gave me that innocent smile of hers. Sure enough, an hour later, I was dressed as Sailor Moon and getting the last of my makeup done by Lynn as Mary finished styling my long hair. Lynn was lucky that I’m secure in my masculinity, especially since I know she enjoys dressing me up in feminine garb from time to time because I’m not the most masculine built man out there. In fact, I get mistaken for a girl quite often in my day-to-day life. Becoming confident in my manhood as a teen was necessary when you look like me, so what if I get mistaken for a girl, I know what I am. Besides, I have a hot girlfriend and there was no way I would ever let a little thing like crossdressing occasionally for her bother me.
Shortly after my transformation into a red-headed version of Sailor Moon, my guy friends showed up. The first, my best friend Matt, who was also Mary’s boyfriend, dressed up as Wolverine. Then there was Tommy, my oldest friend from childhood, dressed as a cowboy, which was typical of him. Finally, there was Aaron, Mary’s brother and Jen’s boyfriend. Aaron must have been in on the whole Sailor Moon theme the girls had going on because he was dressed as Tuxedo Mask.
Marv pulled my right ponytail again, bringing me back to the present. Right, I needed to put the horses away.
Stumbling, I led them one by one back to the stables, putting them in their stalls. Eventually, only Marv was left and as I was leading him out of the corral towards the stables, that is when it happened, the end. The end of human civilization. The end of all we have ever known. In an instant, with no fanfare, only the sudden shock of things that once were, that are now gone. There wasn’t a loud boom or anything, just the stable I had been looking at was there one second, then gone the next. Churned earth where it had stood the only thing that was testament to its passing. I looked around to see my friends and girlfriend all sitting up with pained and confused looks on their faces. Where their cars had sat, again, there was nothing but churned earth. Same with my parent’s house and the silos. Everything flattened into the earth with nothing but dirt and stone left behind.
Then it came, a stabbing pain in my head, worse than the hangover I was currently dealing with, and a voice which echoed in my mind. It was synthetic, clearly not a human voice.
Surviving Humans, take note.
A box of text floated in front of me, with the same words that were spoken.
“The fuck?” I heard Matt say, as I absently swatted at the box that was partially obscuring my vision.
Words scrolled by on the window. It was a bunch of legal jargon, something about Syndicate rules and elemental rights.
Our planet had been seized due to a lack of proper appeal for our mineral and elemental rights. Every interior of every structure had been crushed and all the raw materials, both organic and inorganic, were being harvested, all because someone didn’t file the proper paperwork. Like I said, legal jargon, it just boiled down to a statement of everything that was yours is now mine, get fucked.
The words continued to scroll explaining that any survivors would be given the opportunity to reclaim what had been lost by successfully completing an 18 floor World Dungeon, and that something called the Borant Corporation was responsible. An AI had been created to oversee the creation of the World Dungeon and ensure that all the rules and regulations were adhered to.
Entering the dungeon was optional, but if we chose not to enter, we would have to figure out how to survive with everything destroyed. Should we choose to enter the dungeon, entrances leading down to the first floor would be scattered around the world, marked and easy to spot. Each floor would have fewer and fewer entrances to the floor below and after a given time limit, each floor would collapse, making so you had to progress or die. On the first 3 floors there would be tutorial guilds to help any who enter learn the dungeon and its systems.
We were to be given one hour to locate and enter the world dungeon, if we chose to. Basically, starve here or walk into a near certain deathtrap in hopes that we will survive.
My brain struggled to follow along with the text because I was still processing what had just happened. Surely, I was still asleep in a drunken stupor, right? Seriously, this was all way too fucked up to be believable.
I pinched myself to make sure I am awake.
“Ouch.” Yep, I was actually awake. This was my reality now and I had best get used to it.
“Seriously, what the fuck was that?” I heard Matt ask a bit loudly, which caused everyone to groan as his voice cut through our skulls.
“Clay,” I heard Lynn whine as she looked around. “What’s going on? Where is everything?”
The other girls repeated the same question to their boyfriends with the exception of Kylie, who had come alone and was still new to the group.
For some reason, all eyes locked on me as if I was supposed to have the answers.
“Um,” I said hesitantly. “I don’t – “
Marv took that opportunity to pull my ponytail again.
“What?” I asked, turning to him only to receive a dismissive snort in reply. I knew he was probably hungry and wanted me to feed him, but he isn’t a stupid horse. I knew that he could see there wasn’t any food around unless you count the weed riddled grass that grew on the surrounding land, but both he and I knew he was too good for that. I petted him on the nose to shush him like I used to when he was a colt and turned back to my friends, all of which were still staring at me expectantly.
“What do y’all expect me to say?” I asked them. “I’m in the dark just like you.”
“Dude, it sounds like an alien invasion,” Matt said, speaking up. “Why the fuck would any aliens come to this shithole of a planet? We are on the verge of killing ourselves, we don’t need the help.”
“Well, if it’s an alien invasion, I’m prepared!” Tommy stated boldly, before pulling one of the pistols out of the holsters at his hips. He pointed it at a nearby tree and fired, the sharp crack and smell of gunfire filled the air.
“The fuck, dude!” I shouted, my ears ringing. “Why the hell would you have a loaded gun at a drunken party?”
“You never know what will happen, and I was taught by my daddy to always be prepared,” Tommy replied with a smug grin.
“Bruh, you fire that thing one more time while my head is pounding like it is, I’ll bash your head in myself.” Aaron said, speaking up. Several of my friends agreed, their displeasure making itself known. Even Marv bit the air in Tommy’s direction, as if to agree with Aaron’s sentiment.
“Alright everyone, just calm the fuck down!” I said, as I motioned with my hands for them to chill out. “That voice said that we are basically destined to die here because earth has effectively been sent back to the stone age, and realistically, this dungeon it mentioned is likely our only chance at survival. I don’t know about you, but I will take what chance I have there instead of risking starving to death here.”
Most of the guys, with the exception of Aaron nodded in agreement, the girls just looked scared.
“That voice said that we only have one hour to find an entrance before they shut and we are stuck here with nothing. We have spent almost ten minutes standing around here, so I’m going to go look for an entrance,” I said.
I didn’t add anything else, just turned and started walking toward Saraland, the town just north of Mobile and nearest population center to the ranch. I figured I could get there in about half an hour.
Right...
I’m about to face the end of the world in a leotard, skirt, and high heels.
I need to find a change of clothes, hopefully I can find something on the way there.
Everyone else started to argue among themselves as I walked off, as if that was going to solve anything. I just shook my head.
“You coming, Lynn?” I asked loudly after a few steps.
“Right behind you, Clay.” I hear in response.
When I had walked about five feet, I heard a gentle nickering behind me and I turned around. Besides Lynn, who was making her way towards me, Marv was standing there expectantly as if waiting for an invitation.
“Come on then,” I said, gesturing with my head, down the driveway.
Marv trotted over with a haughty gleam in his eyes, snorting at Lynn in disdain as he trotted past.
I turned and began the long walk anew to find an entrance to the dungeon.