It was a dark, and stormy night, but not really. It was late and the grayest of clouds were moving in. I was still in the middle of my daily hike, and I was almost at the top of the mountain. This was my first time hiking here, and so far, I have enjoyed this trek almost too much. “I’m definitely coming back here again.” I thought. But then I tripped over a large rock, and fell into what seemed like a gaping crater. Yet it wasn’t a crater. I was falling for a few seconds, and then I hit the ground. I fell onto what seemed like grass, but you can never be too sure. As far as I know, I must have suffered serious amnesia after I hit my head on the ground, because I didn’t remember anything. But the area I was in was surrounded in a semicircle of stone pillars, those which looked similar to those at the parthenon. But the rock they were made out of seemed unlike anything earthly.

After falling down, I tried everything to get back up. The one hope I had was a flower, for I hoped to use the roots as a rope to get me out. But when I tried to pick it up, it bit me. I jumped back and said to it, “Who are you?” The flower said that him, too had fallen down, and intended to get back out. I, being the fool I was, went along with the act. He said that if I wanted to get back up, I needed to get more powerful. He said that I needed EXP, and he shot some in the air. They looked like little colorless pellets, similar to his flower petals. I grabbed one, but it burned my hand terribly. I felt a lot weaker. The flower then produced a devilish grin, and yelled, “Give me your soul, human!” Then, the deadly pellets surrounded me. There was no way out.

I wanted to scream for help, but I decided against it, for it may only attract more enemies. But then a certain heat filled the arena, as well as a whooshing sound. Then a bright light, something that looked like a fireball, came out of a hallway to the right of me. The fireball struck the flower, and sent the demon across the room. He disappeared into the ground. A person much taller than me, in many colors of worn robes walked up to me. It said, “Human, come with me,” and grabbed my arm and dragged me through a hallway, and then to a dummy. Then it took off it’s hood and revealed what looked like a goat’s face. I was in absolute disbelief, and then it said, “Greetings. I am the Savior, the one who guards the gateway to the rest of the underground, and the one who protects humans who have fallen down, like you. What is your name, little one?”

    I instinctively said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

“That’s okay,” said the Savior. “We are in the underground, a magical place sealed off my humans. A time ago, there was a great war between the monsters and the humans. The humans won, and trapped us, here, underground and sealed us off with a magical barrier. The king, and all the other monsters, want all humans dead. They need your SOUL, a magical piece of your being you can’t live without. The big fuzzy pushover, the king, already has 6 souls. Should he get another one, he will destroy the barrier, and with it, all of the humans.”

“Wow,” I said. “So what’s the deal with the dummy?”

The Savior said “That is for you right now. I want you to practice talking to it as if it was a real monster, for you to stall for me to come diffuse the fight. Try it.”

At the time, I felt particularly angry, and first I yelled insults at it. Then, I picked up a stick and struck it as hard as I could. I heard a ghostly scream come out of it, and then the dummy melted into dust. “No, no, no!” The Savior exclaimed. “You are supposed to be friends, not murderous enemies. “But you said they wanted to kill me,” I said meekly. “So I figured I’d kill them back.” The Savior swiftly grabbed my hand and tugged me into yet another room. The Savior said, “Listen. I’m going back to my house to prepare a gift for your arrival. Please stay here.” And with that, they left.

Me, being the impatient brat I was, decided to follow suit. I quickly left the room. There were many hallways and puzzles that I had to think through. And then, I heard a ribbit. I peered around the corner, and there it was, and innocent frog. Yet, he was as big as a dog. I kneeled down to say hi, but then he jumped onto me. I rolled over, and made a swift strike to his face with my stick, and saw as he melted into dust. That was strange. I thought. But I didn’t make much of it. But then, I felt a sudden surge of power fill through me. I felt stronger. That must have been some of the EXP the flower was talking about. I jogged on, making careful note where I went for I wanted to make sure I didn’t get lost. Eventually, I made it to a house. I barged in and said, “Hey, is anyone home?” And a voice replied, “Little one, how did you get here?” It was the Savior. It let me inside, and showed me a room. It looked fully complete for a child like me, and there was even a small cot. The Savior also made a pie for  my arrival. But I was tired, and the pie was hot, so I decided to sleep for a while.

I got up in what seemed about and hour later, and what do you know, but a piece of the pie was on the floor. I picked it up and ate it. Yet again, I felt that feeling of power. I went to the Savior, and asked when I could leave. It said, “This is your home now. Humans who fall down here can’t come back up.” Without any warning, the Savior got up and walked down a long hallway. There was a doorway at the end, which I knew because I followed it. Then the Savior stood in the way and said, “All children who come down here leave and don’t come back. If you leave, the king will have you dead, and steal your soul. Please, go back to your room.” Me, being the arrogant and angry child I was getting denied, I tried to push the Savior out of the way. But it stood there, not moving and not happy. It said, “Fine, if you so wish to leave, show me your power in a duel.” I was happy to do so. I grabbed my stick and, yet again, struck the enemy dead in the head. This seemed to be a powerful blow to it, so I followed it up. I delivered my final blow, and the Savior began to melt to dust. It’s final words were shaky. “Now… I know… who I… was protecting… Not you… but… them.” And with that, the Savior melted into dust. Yet, I didn’t feel remorse. I don’t know why.

But then the Flower popped up again. He said, “So you finally have a taste for blood lust, huh? I knew you had it in you. You really are Soulless, aren’t you?” Then he went back underground. I walked through the gateway into a land of snow and not much else. I saw a bridge made of unsturdy wood, and heard music, chatting, and happiness a bit off. I was just onto the bridge when I heard some footsteps behind me. My heart was racing. I had my right hand on my weapon, ready to kill whoever was behind me. I turned around to see a shadowy figure. Then, he stepped into the light with his hand out. “Human,” he said. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?” I turned around and shook his hand. Then a long, whoopee cushion fart sound erupted from the handshake. He joked, “Heh, heh, heh. The old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. Works every time,” I didn’t stir. He kept on talking. “Come on, that was a joke. It’s your turn to laugh, or even to emote at all. I’m Sam. Sam the skeleton.” “Well Sam, such a great time meeting you!” I replied with a sarcastic tone. “If you need me, I’ll be committing genocide-, er, making friends, in the town. Toodles!” And with that, I just ran off. I really didn’t like him, and I had no intentions of letting him live. Huh, I guess the flower is right. I really am Soulless. I started off toward the town, but a walking mini-glacier with eyes approached me. He said, “Hey, who are you!? You’re trespassing on our beautiful snowtown!” I said nothing, for my blows convey messages better than words. Soon after, there was one more body worth of dust on the floor.

The town was very desolate. Yet there was Sam again. But there was a new figure in the picture. A larger skeleton. He was dressed in red, black, and white robes. The wind billowing gave him a superhero look. The larger skeleton said, “Human, it is by orders of the royal guard that I take you to the king. Do you have any last words?” I had no response. Sam walked off, with an expression that resembled fear, determination, and angst. I drawed my weapon, and a sudden whooshing filled the arena. Then a rumbling. A circle of bones enclosed me and Sam’s seeming brother. He said, “Human, your arrogance annoys me. Surrender now, or die.” I said, “Good luck.” And with that, the battle begun. Sam’s brothe seemed to use telekinesis use bones as projectiles to kill me with. I knew that if I got hit, that would be game over. I was able to maneuvered through this deadly attack so I could get close enough to use my weapon. I struck him on the side of his skull, which then fell off and landed in his hand. His last words were, and with a raspy breath, “I’m sure you can do a little better.” Then he turned to dust.

I walked forward across yet another rickety wooden bridge. This one led to a marshy area. I heard footsteps treading in what sounded like a combination of mud and grass. I looked dead ahead and saw what looked like a dummy walking. He took one glance at me, and emitted a stare that would have churned anybody else's stomach. He said as he was glaring, “My cousin was inside that dummy you killed. He had just fully possessed that vessel, and you killed the dummy, and him with it! I showed no remorse, and drawed my weapon. But this time, something weird happened. A heart-shaped red object floated out of the center of my chest. I seemed to be in the perspective of this heart, and controlling it too. I made the heart look behind to see what happened to me. But my body was gone. The dummy said, “Surprised, huh? After you meet a powerful enough enemy, your soul becomes your weapon in these fights.” Then a load of what looked like dummy missiles came out of the ground. They shot at me, all one at a time, but I moved out of the way just in time so that they hit the dummy. Cotton was flying out everywhere, and he kneeled to the ground, muttering under his breath. My soul returned to my being, and I walked over to the dummy, and said in a sarcastic tone, “Goodbye.” And with that I took one swift blow to his head, and with a ghostly scream, he turned to dust. Yet again, I felt another sudden surge of power.

Yet now, I began to check everywhere for enemies. It was like I enjoyed destroying my foes. I turned many more of my enemies to dust before my next challenge. As I was walking toward what the path led to (a cave entrance), I spied a knight in not-so-shining armor. This time, it was a feminine voice that said, “We need seven. Seven souls of your kind. We have six.” Then there was a buzzing sound. A blue light was emitting from her right hand. This evolved into a laser spear, which seemed like it might hurt if I got stabbed with it. The knight jumped down from her terrace above the cave entrance. The ground shook when she hit the ground. Then, the knight put the spear, in a charging form, and started running at me. I braced myself, unmoving.

Then I felt nothingness. I didn’t know what just happened. Then I saw my soul. I was determined to stay alive and kill this knight. But then I was back, a few seconds before I died. This time, I dodged right out of the way. My soul left my body again. But this time, it was green. And it had a shield. There was that buzzing sound again. But this time, it was arrows appearing around my soul. I tried to move, but it only let me turn. And then I got what was happening. The arrows whooshed directly at my soul, and I had to block them. The arrows themselves looked a lot like regular ones. The metal tip, the wooden body, and the feathers at the end. But the finale of this attack was an orange arrow that was facing the wrong direction. It flew at me like normal, and I tried to block it like I normally would, but then it went around me, and hit me right in the back. But I didn’t die. I think my determination to live was keeping me alive.

Now it was my turn to attack. My soul went back into my body. I sauntered up the knight, but I didn’t attack. Parts of my weapon were dissolving, and other parts were forming. It had turned into a sword. I struck the knight with what seemed like would destroy her, but something happened. She looked determined to live, too. As parts of her melted into dust, she muttered, “I’m sorry, everyone. I have failed you. I guess this is it. No. I don’t have to lose now; I can’t lose now. Everyone is counting on me. I need to do this. Not for them. Not for me, or for you. I’m doing this for the good of humanity, because you won’t stop with killing me. You’ll go on to kill everyone, even the king, won’t you? And after that, there goes all of humankind, too isn’t there? No, I’m not dying now. Human, I will strike you down!”

There was a sudden burst of light, and a revamped, much more powerful version of the knight appeared. So did a bar, with a green line almost filling it. She said, “See that bar? That is my health. It’s not going to empty, but hypothetically, if it did, then I’d be dead.” I replied, “Okay, so when I kill you, I’ll know because that bar is going to be empty.” She threw her spear at me, but I dodged out of the way just in time. Then, the exact same spear appeared in her hand again. “Now it’s my turn,” I said in a tone that said I was bored of this fight already. I drew my sword, and delivered  a swift strike, that knocked her onto her knees. Her health bar was nearly empty at this point. “Everyone, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I have done all I can to kill this human, but I just can’t. I’ve failed you.” And with that, she melted into dust, just like all my other victims.

I entered that cave, and heard a whooshing sound. I was in that seemed like a royal hallway all of a sudden. And then I saw Sam the skeleton. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “I have seen what you’ve done,” I replied in a sarcastic tone, “And did you like it?”

“About as much as someone watching genocide unfold right in front of their eyes does.”

“So a lot, huh?” He said, “Let’s just cut to the chase.” And my soul comes right out of my body. Yet this time it’s blue. And affected by gravity. No shield, no levitation, no nothing. Sam said, “How do you like being blue?” And I, like normal, snarkily replied, “I don’t know. But can we just fight now?” Sam said nothing, but raised his arm, and a field of bones erupted from the ground. I managed to jump, just in the nick of time, and land on the ground, thoroughly impressed by my prowess. Sam said, “Listen. You have to power to live forever, and the power to reset everything. You can reset now, or die infinitely.”

“I think I’ll take option C, to kill you and the king.” I charged forward at Sam, ready to hit a target that won’t move, but then he dodged out of the way, yawning as he did so, and then the transformed me to soul form, and shot lasers at my soul, all within seconds. I only got grazed by one of the lasers, but it did a lot of damage. Plus part of my soul had withered away. Sam said, “Your soul depleting? That’s what happens when you get punished for your sins.” I thought to myself, alright. Well, Sam seems impossible to kill so long as he moves, so maybe I can get him to stop moving, and kill him then. And that’s what I did. I rinse and repeated taunting and dodging his attacks, until it was his turn to attack, but he just laid down. He said, “Hey. I’m getting tired. Plus, it’s my turn. So as long as I’m here laying down, napping, you can’t kill me, and I can’t kill you.

Sam went to sleep, but I thought to myself, if I’m such a bad person, then do rules really even apply to me? I walked up to Sam, and sent a strong block to where he was laying. But then he instantaneously got up, raised his arm, but it was too late, for I was behind him, sending my blade straight through him. His body of bones collapsed, and melted into dust. The wind brought in by the windows blew the dust outdoors, into the sunlight, and I felt satisfied.

I ventured forward to the kings quarters, and found him pacing anxiously around his throne. He seemed not to see me, so I walked up to him, tugged his robe, and said, “Mr. ‘Almighty’ King, may I go home now?” And stabbed him all the way through to where he kneeled, looking defeated, and said, “Human, spare me my life so I can take care of my people.” I replied, “All of ‘your people’ are dust.” The king looked surprised and saddened, but then, a  circle of flower petals encapsulated the king. The petals slowly closed in, and after they all combined and turned to dust, there was the king’s dust, too.

Then the flower popped up out of the ground. He said, “See? I can help you with your plan. You don’t really need to kill everyone here, do you?” I said, “Are you really sure about that?” You could see the fear in his eyes, but I didn’t care. I withdrew my sword, and cut off each of his petals, one by one, then finally the stem. I had felt like I had fulfilled my destiny. I felt a weird urge that I need to stop all murder, because after a while, there is not going to be anybody left. I made my way further throughout the weird castle, until I found what could be the barrier. It was a white pulsing nothingness, but I felt drawn to it. I took one step closer to it, and got sucked in, and popped back out right where I entered in. Absolutely no time had passed. That day, that fateful day, I left the underground empty, and with quite the story to tell.