Phantom Labyrinth

The dungeon was silent, only the sound of the Sorceress footfall echoing around the empty room. She shivered as a floating spec of light floated too close to her face, the cold light searing her skin until she used her level twenty-five staff to maneuver it away from her face, the light drifting past her to swirl down in to the dark abyss below the long bridge she was walking on.

She dared to look over the edge of the bridge down in the unknown, bracing herself with her staff so she wouldn’t fall. The darkness lurking below was a swirl of black ink that her level seven Clairvoyance couldn’t pierce.

She turned away from the frightening sight and continued on the bridge. Supposedly in this dungeon, hidden in the last room was a mysterious creature that would drop an epic object if defeated in the hour of midnight. She pulled up her main menu and read the time, it was only 11:50 pm. If she didn’t judge the time perfectly she would end up killing the creature too fast and miss the epic reward.

She closed the menu, just in time to run into a large pillar to the right of the door. She grunted and stepped back, looking at the pillar accusingly, than looking around to make sure no one had seen her. The coast looked clear.

The Sorceress chuckled to herself, it was just like her to stumble into an inanimate object while browsing the menu; she always forgot to stop before opening it. Lucky she didn’t fall right off the edge of the bridge. That thought send shudders down her spine.

If she had fallen down in swirling blackness all the loot she had acquired during the dungeon dive would have been taken along with her hard earned level up on her Omni-Wood Staff.

She tapped the bottom of her staff on the threshold for good luck and stepped through to the last chamber. It was a circular room with large humanoid statues holding glowing blue torches in their cupped hands. Across from her was another doorway, with ancient text scrawled across the top.

She took out a small translator, a palm size rectangular piece of glass with various etchings and different color glass circles. Moving the red glass circle to the letters on the top half of the glass rectangle, the green circle would find the corresponding letter on the bottom to translate it. It took five minutes to translate the words; longer than she would have wanted it to.

It was a cryptic message as always, she sighed as she took out a notebook and wrote down what it translated too, along with a rough sketch of what the original letters looked like.

“Avoid the twisted gaze; disembark into the dark; beware the one that weeps, kill the one that growls, run from the _____.” The last of the message was too hard to read, it looked like it had been scratched off

She would look it up later, according to her source at the tavern, a lot of people have beat the mysterious beast and traveled the tunnels below. One of them must have of seen the doorway and figured out the clue.

The Sorceress stepped further into the room, it was time to trigger the beast and take her reward. The air swirled uncomfortably around her, causing a shiver to course down her body. She clutched her staff close to her, not wanting to show any fear, even though she felt the normal fear every time she faced an unknown adversary.

The torches flared high on the wall, the blue color busting into a crackling red as something from the deep shadows slide out. She took a step back as the beast slinked out of the darkness. It was an animal type of creature with an eerie human face mutated on the body of a long panther.

The beast looked to be made from the same darkness under the bridge to get here. It was a dark creature, and the only way to truly damage it was light abilities.

She quickly pulled up the Quick Menu and switched the damage of her staff to Light, the top of her staff glowed white as it became Light damage. The beast seemed to snicker at her as it stalked closer, opening its human mouth to show rows of sharp teeth that went all the way down the throat.

She swallowed nervously, holding the staff in front of her as her magic channeled and she sent a basic attack at the beast. The white ball of light soared to the beast’s location, but the thing dodged at the last minute, skidding to the side and throwing a counterattack.

The black inky ball bounced off her guard, her armor sizzled as a drop of the inky blackness hit the armor; her life bar took a minor hit, revealing that the creature had true damage and chip damage. If he went on an attack spree she would have to finish him quickly before he chipped her life down.

She widened her stance and held her hand out in front of her, the rune tattoos on her arms glowing with power as she said an incantation and a large blast of white light pulsed from the palm of her hand and hit the beast.

It screamed, the torches flaring up higher while the beast quickly fired back; she managed to dodge or block half of them, but some of them manage to hit, taking a quarter of her life. She was panting as she started to rotate her staff above her head and slammed it in the ground, creating a shockwave of electric magic across the floor.

The beast didn’t guard in time, light ran through the blackness of its body, acting like electricity as it chipped away at the thing’s life bar. The beast shook it off, but bleed damage dropped him to half-life.

She grinned in preemptive victory as she whittled away at the things life bar picking up his programmed routine. The beast would dodge and counterattack quickly, but a timed flip away would leave her safe and give her enough time to fire a blast back at him.

Before long his life bar was on red and flashing dangerously, but the Sorceress only had a little Mana left, she could use it all on a final attack, a Mana eating AOE that would destroy it, or reserve her Mana and chip it down with basic attacks and let her Mana regenerate.

The beast suddenly moved out of character and she tensed, holding her staff up in a guard position as the beast started to run at her full speed.

The thing was fast, he was like a black streak heading towards her. She had a split moment to decide how to react; she could guard and take the chip damage or flip over him and fire a shot while in the air.

Just as the beast was in attacking distance she flipped over him, twisting in midair to fire a basic attack at his back, only to realize that he was no longer there.

She landed roughly, looking widely around for the beast. She started to back up, scanning the area for any sign of him. The shadows behind the torches flickered and she barely managed to guard as the beast sprang out from the shadows, the giant paw lashing out at her with razor sharp claws.

She grunted with the hit as it bounced off her guard, lowering her life bar by five percent. She stumbled back and used the staff to keep her balance. She shot at the shadows but her magic harmlessly frizzed out. He wasn’t there anymore, he was using the shadows to attack her.

She turned and noticed that the whole edge of the room was covered in shadows, the beast could be anywhere. He could be at her back, which wasn’t guarded. She spun around and threw up her guard immediately, but there was no attack.

She lowered her staff and backed up, wishing she had something she could turn her back to. She needed to clear the shadows, then the beast would have nowhere to hide and she could finish it off with her highest damaging attack.

An AOE Luminous Orb might cast enough light to banish the darkness, only problem was that it would take fifty percent of the Mana, and she wouldn’t have any left for an attack. She needed to get her Mana back up to a hundred percent before she did anything.

She flicked up her Quick Potions, but to her dismay she forgot to link a Mana potion. She closed the menu with a frustrated sigh, suddenly feeling a wind on her right side and turned just in time to see a large paw coming at her face. She screamed and tried to throw up her guard, but she was too slow.

She took the full hit, and it spun her around and knocked her across the room, she skidded to a halt against the opposite wall.

Her life bar dipping below yellow, and she stood using the staff as support. Her favorite Crystal chest armor was cracked down the middle, and the matching boots were missing a chunk of armor from the shins; a leather gauntlet was missing completely.

She heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snicker and she grinded her teeth in annoyance. She had taken too long to look at the Quick Potions, now she was not so sure she was going to win the battle.

“Laugh all you want beast, I will not leave here without my reward.” The defiant Sorceress yelled out, her voice echoing around the room, the shadows dancing as if mocking her war cry.

“Fine, I’ll risk it.” She mumbled to herself drawing on the last of her Mana to form a light in the palm of her outstretched hand. Her hair lifted with the power of it and when it was fully powered she tossed it high as she could into the air watching as it spread light throughout the room.

She heard a hiss and turned to her right to see the beast cowering in the light, it was doing miniscule damage to it, the light searing the flesh off it.

She grinned at the beast, her victory once again in sight as she leveled her staff at it and fired rapidly, the staff acting like a gun as hard True Light was shot at the beast.

It screamed as the magic pierced its flesh, leaving gaping smoking holes in the darkness. She didn’t want to finish the beast like this though, it had been a good battle. She switched tactics and started to run at the beast, much like it had done to her.

It seemed confused, as if it had never had an opponent rush it down. The Sorceress jumped in the air, her staff held tight in her hands as it flared brightly, a blade overshadowing the tip as she came down on the beast, cleaning cleaving the beast in half.

With a final scream and a pause, it burst into black mist that faded away leaving nothing behind but the scorch mark of the ultra-attack. The triumphant Sorceress stepped back, watching as the rest of her Mana drained and her life bar slowly start to re-fill.

She grinned as her reward screen popped up and it started to ping with all the items she had earned.

She received 500 GMs for defeating a dungeon boss along with 1,000 EXP for defeating him with an opposite element. She received a level four token to redeem for a new weapon-garbage; two health potions that would heal for thirty percent-garbage; and she received a Dark necklace with an unknown power level-not too bad. However, none of it seemed that special, hopefully the necklace had hidden attributes.

She took it all and went to look at the necklace, it was nothing special, a round onyx pearl held with a claw on a leather cord. She equipped it anyway and it appeared around her neck, the same swirling darkness as the dungeon.

She turned to leave, wanting to go back to town and sell the token for some GMs before the shops closed for the night. She jolted when she noticed that she wasn’t alone in the room. A small male was standing in the doorway, unarmed.

“Sorry, you just missed it. It should respawn soon if you want to stick around or come back tomorrow.” She told him as she drew closer, he didn’t comment as he watched her walk to him.

She started to recognized him the closer she got to him; he was the level ten she had helped beat a group of level thirteen Dungeon Goons. He had been surrounded and low life when she stumbled upon him, she had mostly weakened them enough so he could finish them off the get the rewards, as a thank you he traded her an onyx ring and she had given him a level nine health potion she happened to have on her.

“Hey, you leveled up, that’s great.” She said when she noticed he was a level eleven. He had equipped different armor, he had been wearing low-level leather, now he was wearing mid-level metal armor that glistened with ice attributes.

“Nice armor, did you get that from defeating the Goons?” She really didn’t care, but his silence was starting to freak her out. She knew that some players enjoyed killing other players that had just finished a boss fight, they would loot the corpse and get everything in their inventory.

Was that what he was doing? Waiting for her to pass by him so he could stab her in the back and take her inventory. The thought made her sick to her stomach and she checked her status, there was a seventy percent chance of defeating him because she was six levels higher than him.

“I was looking for you.” He said finally, suddenly animated again as he walked toward her, holding his hand up in a universal sign of peace. The Sorceress mimicked the gesture, but she kept her staff out, just in case it was a ruse to get her to lower her weapon so he could attack.

“Well you found me, what did you want?” She asked as he stopped in front of her, he was really short, She had to look down at him, it was strange to see a child avatar on the game; most people went for the overly sexual adults and anthropomorphic avatars.

He cocked his head up at her, his face so serious, with a raw looking wound at his chin, he had tribal tattoos over his face, clearly Elfin artwork, but he wasn’t an Elf, he was Human. “I want my Onyx ring back please.” He said pulling up his inventory and sending her a trade request.

She rejected the invitation, noting that his lips tightened in annoyance as he received the rejection. “I didn’t mean to give it to you, I meant to just trade you GM. I can pay the value of it if you want.” He bartered, sending her another request, the ping loud in her ear.

She rejected it again, “Why do you want it so bad?” she asked, sensing a way to make more GM, she had her eyes set on a vibrant blue staff with lightening attributes, it was a very expensive staff.

“Name your price then, I’m not short on GM.” He wasn’t naïve, he knew that he messed up asking for it back, it was clearly important to him. The Sorceress really didn’t want the ring, it was a lower level than her and it wasn’t even that pretty. She pulled up the inventory and inspected it, a holographic version of it appearing in the palm of her opened hand.

He crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot impatiently as she carefully read the description. It was a Dark Attribute ring with no defense, no magic gain, and no effects. It was just a plain ring with a dull silver band with an onyx rock surrounded by small silver skulls.

The Sorceress sighed, its face value was only 200 GMs, with no effects or clear purpose it was a wasted bargain to ask for more money. She sent him an invite to trade and it was quickly accepted. She placed the ring in the trading square and hit TRADE.

His side of the box light up with the sum of 2,000,000 GMs. “Wait that is too much…” But he had already hit trade, the money added up in her inventory raising the grand total of her GMs to 3,000,000.

He pulled the ring out of his inventory and slipped it on his index finger, then turned to walk away. The Sorceress grabbed his shoulder and send him another trade invite that was quickly denied.

“That is too much money for that ring, it doesn’t even have any special attributes or defense; it’s useless.” She argued spinning him around to face her. His expression didn’t change, in fact he looked bored, the little brat.

He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and turned back to walk down the bridge, “I told you, I have plenty of GM, think of it as a thank you for helping me earlier.” He said as he strolled down the bridge, not caring when the lights brushed his body, causing burns to appear on his skin, his life bar didn’t even take a hit.

She reached out cautiously and touched one of the lights, jerking her hand back with a cry as it stung her skin and her life bar lowered two percent.

He wasn’t taking damage from them, how was that possible? He was a lower level than her, so his defense wasn’t higher.

“What class are you?” She asked suddenly, running up to walk beside him, her staff held above the ground so she didn’t trip over it….again.

He didn’t spare her a glance as he continued to walk swiftly away from the chamber, “I’m a Human male warrior. You would know that if you looked at my character summary.” The Sorceress’ teeth clicked in annoyance; he was becoming a cheeky little bastard.

“How come the Sprites aren’t hurting you?” She asked swishing her staff in front of her as the annoying things floated too close to her. They seemed to be drawn to the damn boy.

He looked up at her with a pitied look and she was tempted to hit him over the head with her staff, bet that would hurt him.

“Do you know anything? Sprites are drawn to Onyx and repulsed by Ivory. If you wear both they don’t do damage to you because the Onyx acts as an attraction and the Ivory is like a bug zapper, they take damage while you don’t.”

He looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and pointedly looked at the necklace she had just gotten. She looked down at him to try and find what his Ivory item was, but she didn’t see it. As if feeling her scrutiny he lifted the back of his shirt and she saw the ivory infused tattoo running down his back.

She couldn’t make out the design, nor did she want to. They walked in silence after that, the Sorceress using her staff as a bug off and him walking calmly down the bridge, his hands shoved into the pockets of his cloak.

She wanted to ask him what he was doing in the dungeon, but she figured it was an obvious answer. He had clearly been waiting to do the Mystery Beast, only she beat him to it. She felt bad about that, it was a hard dungeon to get through, it was littered with Goons and Ghosts, not to mention the level thirty skeletons that were hidden away in the corridors.

They entered the main entrance to the dungeon and the Sorceress paused as she looked at the exit. It was a simmering blue ball, a teleporter which would send them outside where they could either take a Variole, a one person motorbike, back to the closest town or teleport somewhere else.

He paused before he touched the teleport and looked back at her, as if trying to decide something. “What is your name?” He asked suddenly, ignoring the screen name above her avatar.

She was taken back; she never shared her real name with gamers, not because she was afraid they would track her down, but because in the gaming world she wasn’t she and liked it that way.

“I would prefer if you just called me by my gamer name.” The Sorceress said coldly, his eyes widening at her cold tone, but then it warmed into a smile that made him look boyishly cute. “All right, but I don’t know how to pronounce it, so I’ll just call you Elfie.”

She opened her mouth to object to the name, but he had touched the ball and had vanished. Her inbox pinged suddenly and she tapped the icon and saw the friend invite from him. His screen name was Dark Nobuyuki, he was a level eleven human warrior, just like he said he was.

The Sorceress accepted the request, even though she never expected to see him again. She touched the blue ball and was whisked away to the valley where the entrance to the dungeon was located. It was growing dark, twilight was falling across the valley, casting the landscape in a soft blue.

Title: Phantom Labyrinth

Genre: Fantasy

Word Count: 3,623

Author: Leona Farmer

Synopsis: When players of the online game Phantom Labyrinth start to forget they are in a video game it is a race against time to find what has happened to the players before they permanently become NPC (Non Playable Characters) and vanish.

Target Audience: young adults and gamers.

The Hook/ Good Fit: Similar to .//Hack, Log Horizon, and SAO. People like to read about players being trapped in games, or games coming to life. But what if the player becomes a part of the game and doesn't even realize they were once a player themselves?

Bio: I have been writing for years my main genre would be fantasy romance. However I also write horror and erotica. I mostly write in third person, but first person is doable, second person is considered a stress reliever.

 Education: Associate in Science Business, academic high school diploma, experience with contests and teen writings. Nothing fancy.

Personality: I hear chipper, along with a downer, and too hyper. Personally i think my personality needs to pick a side. I work well with others, well organized, slight procrastinator, polite with all smiles.

Writing Style: Third person that switches between active and passive voice along with present and past tense. Usually long stories.