[STOP].

And I listen, foot hovering in the air where I was about to step out of my hiding spot.

[We were telling you to leave now.]

‘Oh,’ and I push back into the roughhewn cave wall, ‘well that’s a lot easier than charging in there and killing her.’

[You are a healer.] The white not-a-system reminds as if it somehow knew I was thinking about murder. [Escape while you can.]

‘You are being oddly practical for once,’ I snark in my head, as I start to slowly inch along the wall, keeping my eyes on the fight in front of me.

Not that it’s much of a fight. The green haired teenager is right in front of me, but she’s rather distracted by the man at her feet who’s slowly bleeding out.

The bleeding man tries helplessly to pull away, leg mangled beyond repair. “So noisy,” the schoolgirl complains, as with annoyed disinterest she easily swings her claymore, completely separating his head from his body.

Unbothered by the shadow currently seeming to devour the man she just murdered, she busies herself with cleaning her great sword with the man’s shirt.

I glance between the murderer teenager and the tunnel, it's 20 feet max, and she’s about 10 in front of me, she would get to me first in a mad dash.

‘I hate being stealthy,’ I complain in my thoughts, quieting my breath and pointedly not looking at the girl or the body on the floor, ‘ignore it long enough and you will forget it’s a problem’.

Carefully, I continue to inch by while she busies herself with cleaning her weapon and letting her shadow monster devour the man’s corpse. The tunnel is only five feet from me, and most likely the middle-aged man was trying to reach the same exit I was. The thought makes me sick with something close to pity.

[Shield of Peace: 00:15]

Almost to the entrance. Just one more step—

“Tink!”

A small crossbow bolt rolls out from under my foot and into a nearby shield. I hold my breath, every muscle locking in place.

The girl pauses, a frown slowly pulling at her face as she looks up, red shining eyes locking on mine.

“Why hello~,” she greets, smile wide and far too sharp, “going somewhere?”

I don’t stop to humor her with an answer, just dive headfirst into the tunnel.

“Hey!” she shouts behind me, metal scraping against stone, “Get back here rat!”

I get about halfway inside before a hand clamps onto my ankle, forcing me to stop.

“Got you!” she cheers as wisps of her shadow beast claw uselessly at my leg, the shield thankfully seems to work on shadow monsters though sadly not murderous emo teenagers.

“Let go brat!” I protest, trying in vain to shake her off.

“I’m not a brat!” she protests in a voice that squeaks at the edges with puberty. “Just get out here!” and with far more strength than a girl of her size should have, she starts dragging me out of the tunnel.

[Shield of Peace Ending!] An angry blue textbox warns, flashing in my face as the screen tints red, starting a rather dramatic final ten second countdown as I scramble to find purchase on the jagged rocks below me.

“Don’t worry, old lady,” she coos, in some weird childish insult game. ‘I’m only 23, really hard to call me an old lady, at least have a good insult brat’. She tightens her grip on my ankle and I can’t help the little hiss of pain as her fingers dig into the flesh just above my sock, “I won’t hurt you too—”

[Harmful intent detected!] A new blue textbox appears, as suddenly I’m no longer being dragged, [Shield of Peace activated! Remaining time: 00:09]

The girl fumbles, clearly caught off guard as she tries lunging for me again, but her fingers harmlessly slip off the flickering silver light covering my body.

Now free, I rear back as much as the small tunnel allows, ‘Maybe this will teach you some manners little psycho,’ I wish in my thoughts. Her eyes widen, and she tries to scramble back, seeming to realize what I’m about to do, but her retreat is impossible with the weird half formed shadow creature blocking her exit.

“Like I said,” and I send her a vicious grin as I speak, “you’re just a brat.” My kick hits her square in the face. Something snaps, and I feel my foot break something it shouldn’t. She recoils with a scream fumbling out of the tunnel with her shadow loin as blood pours from her now broken nose.

[Harmful action taken!] The blue text box warns, red at the edges, [Shield of Peace deactivated!]

[Run.] The white text box warns, and it doesn’t need to tell me twice.

While deeply satisfying, I probably shouldn’t have done that.

The crazy girl is already getting herself back together, even though she’s making a way bigger deal of her broken nose than is normal, broken noses don't require that many sobs and cries. Her two mostly blended images flicker and pulse, like a weird astral heartbeat. The shadow beast at her feet claws at the stonework and fizzles between melting and reforming, its form almost glitching as it gets more and more monstrous every time it manages to reform.

Whatever is happening I’m pretty sure I don’t want to stick around and find out the end result.

I don’t look back as I hurry my way through the tight tunnel. Lose rocks cut into my forearms as I pull myself along and more than once I bang my head on the low ceiling with a faint muttered curse. I would owe Zeke’s swear jar so much money at this point, but I feel like I’ll be forgiven considering the strange circumstances.

Darkness slowly descends around me, so dark I can’t even see my own hands, but I press on. There’s no going back now.

Angry yells and frightened screams still echo in my ears, growing louder and more distorted the further I go. The echo of the cave makes them sound unnatural, twisted, and far closer than they truly are.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been confined to the tunnel before I spill out into a larger room. It feels like days, it feels like minutes, both forever and no time at all. My breathes are rushed and adrenaline still sings in my vine urging me to keep running, while my body whines in protest, tired in a way deeper than skin and bones. Today has been… a lot.

I ponder pushing onward, but it's still pitch black around me, and I don’t think fumbling around in the dark would be a wise decision. Plus, I’m sure the white system will chime in with its last-second useful advice if it really wanted me to keep moving.

So finally, I allow myself to stop. My hands sting and my knees are bruised and raw, the rough floor having long ago cut my pants and skin apart. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, drowning out the dying screams.

I close my eyes even though I can’t see and rest my body against the cold stone.

I did it, I lived.

There’s no relief though, only a weird tugging sorrow and the ever-present flickering determination I have always kept lit in my heart.

‘This is just the start of this nightmare,’ I think recalling the cryptic words of all the strange people I’ve run into, including the system itself. ‘Apparently, the game hasn’t even started yet, everything after this is going to be harder.’ I’m honestly not sure how much harder I can take, but I’ve fought to live already and I’m not going to toss in the towel just for a few weak what-ifs.

‘But man Zeke,’ I think conjuring up the stern pout of my twin and finding some sad solace in the replacement, ‘your older sister really got herself tangled into a mess now huh?’

Before my thoughts can spiral any further, a blue text box appears suddenly in the gloom, faintly illuminated the outline of a natural cave, complete with stalagmites and stalactites and one very spooked bat that squeaks before flying off further down the tunnel.

[First mission complete! Leave the starting zone!]

“What even is the point of this?” I mutter, “Couldn’t just have us start here? Really have to make things extra hard don’t you?”

The textbox does not answer, but the message does change,

[New quest!]

It chimes with a happy ping, as I stare at the prompt with disbelief and mounting horror.

[Escape the labyrinth!
Time limit: none
Reward: beginner gear
Penalty: deletion]

“Why didn’t you just say death?” I mock the screen, turning away to stare off down the tunnel and busying my thoughts with future plans. I’m rather cold and heartless, insults that have been thrown at me all my life, but even I’m not immune to everything. It tugs at the parts of my still mortal heart to see the uncaring ruthlessness of the system. No matter my deal or what I had already done, there are lines even I don’t wish to cross, losing the weight of a life lost being one of them. I couldn’t look at it the blue system window longer, especially the notification it tacked onto the end like an afterthought.

[Number of players remaining from starting group 728d: 53/100]