We freaking went back!
Why can't I see?
My hands twitch and I feel dirt underneath my fingertips. The rushing sound of water permeates all.
No...GODDAMIT NO!
I'm back on the river's edge. My collarbone is still broken. And my eyes are still empty.
A message from the System glows red, the only light in my endless night.
[System Notification: You Have Entered Regionwide Dungeon The Underworld!]
"WAIT RIGHT THERE, RAT! YOU'RE DEAD!"
#
Dread eats me alive as I realize what I've come back to. In mere moments, my already-fast heartbeat triples and the spiky heat running through my body turns to red hot panic. It feels like ants are eating me alive as every vein swells with blood. There's no time to think, I just know that I need to move again. But where?
Where do I go?
Damn Damn Damn
My eyes...I'm actually going to be blind forever?
All I can think about is my upcoming eternity as a blind man. The reset has brought me back to the very moment I crawled out of the water. The pain from a thousand agonizing collisions on the trip down to the underworld is still racking my body. By the time I manage to get my unwilling limbs to work it's too late.
"Gotcha!" The man seems to come from nowhere. Something cracks my head from behind, and darkness is absolute as the sheer force turns me off like a broken television.
*Splish*
#
"Ha...AH!" I involuntarily gasp as I respawn a few minutes before. The pain shatters my thoughts, but I know this time that I need to move...fast!
Whatever he did to me must have destroyed me completely because I don't have to suffer the indignity of being killed as a zombie.
It's small comfort. I have only moments before he comes again. I don't bother reading the System Notification, instead leaving it blinking as I force myself to get up.
Go...go...go!
Where?
The same freaking questions which I never have time to answer come to mind. Already, as I stumble forwards, I know the gleeful shout which will come from behind.
"WAIT RIGHT THERE, RAT! YOU'RE DEAD!"
Arm's aching, bones breaking, I do my best to just run away from the voice. Several steps later, the strange feeling of warm sunlight spills onto my face again. It's like someone has put the light of the sky down here in the underworld. Once again, I can't see it though. I wish I could.
A man should be able to die in the light.
I suppose a butcher might not deserve to.
Damn.
Running. Running. Running.
Pain...Pain...more Pain.
That's all I know.
The sound of rushing water approaches from in front of me and I know I'm getting close to that bizarre giant root. I'm careless though. My mind is too occupied with avoiding the Hunter behind me. When my foot snags on the gnarly bark, I tip forwards. What my hands find is not solid tree, but instead empty air.
