DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

Nate awoke with a jerk, almost tumbling out of bed with a pained scream. There was something wrong. He was in a soft bed instead of bleeding out at the bottom of the stairs.

He sat up, clutching his knee as someone burst into his room. The agonizing pain in his left knee was the most immediate of his concerns, but his entire body felt unnaturally weak and frail. An odd sentiment, considering he should have been at death’s door.

“Nate, are you alright? Why did you scream?” It was a woman who looked exactly like his mother had when she was alive and much younger.

“Mom?” He asked, momentarily forgetting his knee and everything else in his surprise.

He didn’t understand what was going on. He remembered hearing that they had died in a car accident on their way to come see him at the hospital. He was only twenty-five when it happened, and the doctors hadn’t let him out in time for their funeral. More than that, he remembered falling down those steps to what should have been his death.

“What… where…?” He stuttered, trying to piece together a coherent sentence while unable to take his eyes off his mother.

The next thing he knew, he was bawling like a baby and getting smothered in a warm, gentle hug.

“It’s alright baby, mommy’s here. Just let it out. I know you’re frustrated, but there are other paths open to you besides being a cultivator. Your father and I have good jobs, and we aren’t going to abandon you just because you couldn’t awaken this time. If those idiots hadn’t gotten in the way and disrupted the ceremony…”

Nate pulled back in confusion. “What are you talking about, mom? What’s a cultivator?” He winced and gingerly moved his left leg. “And what happened to my knee?”

She pulled back; the blood draining from her face. “Nate, sweety, please, this isn’t the time to joke around, especially not about something like this.” His mother looked into his eyes and cursed. “Niall, get in here! Something’s wrong with Nate!”

“Hey, something’s wrong with my knee, not me.” He protested, still unwilling to look away from his mother.

Something had obviously happened, that was for sure. He didn’t think he had gone back in time. None of this was familiar. Yet the pure wonder of seeing his mother for the first time in nine years was holding all the panic he was feeling at bay.

A man he assumed was his father rushed into the room at his wife’s call. The face was vaguely familiar, but his father had never been that muscular in his life. Actually, now that he took a closer look, his mother had never been this athletic and slim either.

“What could be wrong with him? He woke up?” Niall boomed happily, a grin spreading across his face.

The sight brought fresh tears to Nate’s eyes as he remembered that same ever-present smile slowly being worn from his father’s face. Worry for his son and the extra work he took on to pay for the mounting medical bills had taken it from him.

Niall shared a confused look with his wife, who slowly shook her head. “I think when they disrupted his awakening, it did something to his mind. He doesn’t seem to remember what cultivation is, or what happened afterward.”

“Well, what does he remember?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s obvious that he at least remembers us.”

“Mom, dad, you realize that I can still hear you, right?” Nate lay back on his pillows, beads of sweat lining his brow. “Please, just tell me what happened? Why do I feel so weak, and what happened to my knee?” The blasted thing hurt to even look at, let alone move.

His other concerns could be put off until then. He’d already developed a few theories but had tossed most of them out on account of them being ridiculous.

His father scratched at the back of his head and sighed. “Your school failed to protect you is what happened. You were attempting to awaken your core and become a cultivator, under their supervision as the state demands. However, there were no guards provided for whatever reason this time and the teacher who should have been monitoring you had gone missing.”

“Don’t worry though, we made sure to keep all the original files, giving you permission to attempt the awakening.” His mother said, cutting in. “The school won’t be able to pull any fast ones on us.”

“Anyway, some… I don’t even know what to call them.” His fists clenched tight with the sound of knuckles popping. “Rich scions, idiots, troublemakers from another school broke in and disrupted your ceremony. All the energy you had gathered went berserk and tore through your meridians and body.

“It will take a long time to heal, and without medication, you may never be as strong as you were before. To make matters worse, when you were out of it, they broke your knee, shattering it. We had the healer put it back together some, but the initial treatment only put the shards back into place, nothing more.”

Nate blinked, not understanding the parts about cultivation still. The rest he had mostly caught though. “What do mean some kids broke into my school, nearly killed me, and then mangled my leg? Why would someone do that? Are they in jail?”

His parents chuckled hopelessly. “They did it because they knew they could get away with it, son. The most we can do is sue both them and the school, and then use any funds we get to heal you.”

“Why though? Did I do something to draw their attention?”

His mother wiped the sweat from his face and shook her head. “No, and it would have been us more likely than you. But still no. From what we’ve been able to learn, you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They wanted to do something stupid, and they had the money to do it. So, they did.”

“How does that make any sense? People can’t just try to kill someone and get away with it!” He protested.

“Sure they can. Their families are the ones who have been keeping us safe from the invading monsters the longest. Their word is as good as law around here.” His dad spoke up, his shaking fist gradually relaxing into a hopeless limp fish of a hand. “Your mother and I do our part, but we can’t compete with that history or their strength.”

Nate closed his eyes, no longer listening. His mind was stuck on one word in particular; monsters. It had been said so casually, not like someone might describe another person who had done something horrific. Instead, he was talking about actual, real-life monsters, ones that people saw and fought against.

It was official. He wasn’t on Earth anymore, or at least not the one he had known for thirty-four years. There was also the mention of him still being in school, which called into question his age as well.

He had so many questions, and no one to ask them to. He certainly couldn’t ask his parents! They would have him committed or demand to know where their real son had gone. He had a sinking suspicion in regard to that last possible question, and all he could say is that awakenings gone wrong were very bad for your health.

“I think I need some water, and then I’m going to go back to sleep.” He mumbled a few moments later.

“We’re glad you are alright son. You had us scared for a couple of days there,” Niall said before leaving to get him some water.

“Days? How long was I out for?”

Nina swept his bangs from his eyes one last time and sat back. “Hmm? Oh, not long, just a week. We had the healer stop by every day to make sure you were still healthy.” She sighed. “I’m sorry this had to happen to you Nate, it’s all our fault. If your father and I were stronger or we had gotten into one of the more renowned clans, no one would have dared do this.”

He weakly brushed a finger along her cheek, feeling how young and full of life it felt. So different from the last time he had seen her.

“I’d rather have the two of you alive and well than strong and in danger. Besides, you said we can sue them and get me some meds. Let’s just do that. We’ll get me as healthy as possible, and I’ll try again. This time with proper supervision and guards. That’s possible, right?”

She shrugged and slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s up to your body and how well you heal. They interrupted you right before you completed the ceremony, when you had gathered all the energy you needed to awaken. It was the absolute worst time they could have done something.”

She put her hand on top of his and looked toward the door as her husband joined them with a glass of water. “What you just said, about rather having us safe and alive, than strong and in danger? Well, the same goes for us and you. We would rather have you alive and healthy-ish than risk another awakening where we might lose you. Let’s just take everything one day at a time for now and get you healthy enough to transfer to a new school.”

***

Nate lay in bed after they had left, thinking everything over, trying to make sense of what had happened.

As near as he could figure, his soul had been taken from his body when he died and placed into this empty vessel. At least he sincerely hoped it was empty because he did not want to deal with there being another soul in this body.

As to who had done that or why he was coming up blank outside of it being some cosmic joke.

It wasn’t exactly the best answer, yet it did explain at least partly what was gradually beginning to appear on his left wrist. It hadn’t fully materialized, but the same computer he had worn for the last year of his life was slowly taking shape.

Not only had his soul been sent here, but his useless body monitoring computer had been as well.

He didn’t have the brainpower to figure out what was going on with its appearance. Besides, from the look of things, it could wait until morning. It should have fully formed from the ether by then.

He shifted positions and winced as it tugged at his ruined knee.

Throwing an arm over his eyes, Nate glanced up at the heavens. Even without his arm being in the way, the ceiling of his room and who knows what else would have gotten in the way of his view. This time, however, it was more about the symbology behind the action.

“Whoever you are, I don’t know why you brought me here instead of just letting me die back there… But if it was simply to see my parents again, I thank you. I’ve missed them so much!” Tears from years of being alone and pushing himself to keep going for no foreseeable reason trickled down his cheeks.

He doubted that was the sole reason if there even indeed had been a reason. Not that it mattered. If this was going to be his life now, then he was going to make sure it was a good one.

There would be no being stuck inside the house a second time around because of some wasting illness the doctors couldn’t cure. Hopefully, cultivator healing magic, or whatever it was they practiced, would take care of that this time around. That was something he would need to look into for sure. There was no way he was putting up with that illness a second time.

If he could do something to help the world at large, well, he supposed that would be nice as well. However, they came secondary to his family, and they always would. He wasn’t going to lose them a second time.

Unfortunately, that meant he needed to start studying and learn everything he could about this world. He needed to know why those rich brats could attack him with impunity, and how much of a threat they were to his family.

It was time for him to go back to school.