Running

I shut my eyes tightly the instant the goblin leapt for me, waiting for death. That's when everything went dark. Waking up later, I realized that I had blacked out, and I had no idea how much time had passed, nor how I was still alive when I had come face to face with death. What I did know is that I was still in that cavern, lying on the cold, hard ground. I sat up, wondering if my friends had saved me, but I realized that that didn't make any sense. We wouldn't still be in the cavern if they had saved me, I would probably be resting in a bed or something. The question was, if my friends didn't save me, then where were they?

I slowly rose to my feet, still a bit shaken from coming face to face with death. The cavern was pitch black as well, so I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face. Saki was lightning the way before with her fire affinity. "Guys..? Where are you?!" I began walking around the dark cavern. "Saki?! Kendo?! Riana?! Neiji?! If you're playing some kind of prank on me, it's not funny!" I grumbled, tripping over something in the dark and growling in disgust as I splashed in some kind of liquid.

"God..." I pulled a float torch, one of the only magic-attuned items I had and the only one I could afford, out of my bag and pressed the button on it, the tiny glass ball floating around me and a small orb of light formed inside the glass ball that lit up the area a couple feet around me. I looked down to see what I had fallen in. It was a dark red liquid; blood. I nearly blacked out again when I realized I was covered in blood.

"What the hell kind of joke is this guys?!" I covered my nose, nearly vomiting at the smell of rotting corpses. I assumed it was the smell of the goblin corpses and I had fallen into a pool of their blood. However, I quickly realized that wasn't the case because goblin blood is a dark blue color. I instantly paled and shouted at the float torch. "Max brightness!" The float torch flew high up until it touched the ceiling of the cave, the light in the center of it intensifying, lighting up the entire area.

I looked down to see what I had tripped over was Kendo's quickly rotting body, his right arm having been sliced clean off and his head smashed in. The only reason I could tell it was him is because of his armor. I covered my mouth, my breakfast threatening to pour out. When I looked to see the condition of the rest of my party, I couldn't stop it. I fell to my knees and vomited at the sight of my fallen friends. Saki's hands were sliced off and there was a massive hole in her gut, her body rotting as fast as Kendo's, and her legs were twisted backwards. Neiji had a giant hole in his chest where his heart was and his neck was broken. Lastly, the top half of Riana's body was sliced cleanly in half, the tears that spilled from her eyes still clear as day.

My own eyes started to fill with tears as my mind became filled with rage. I rose up, reaching for my sword, but it wasn't there. I assumed it had been the assassin that had brutally murdered all my friends, not thinking clearly. "Where are you?!" I yelled, hoping it would reveal itself as it realized I wasn't dead. I looked around the cavern only to see that the assassin goblin was also dead, multiple holes littering its body and its body smashed into the wall.

I trembled in fear as I realized that something else had killed the assassin and all of my friends. Suddenly, I felt a monstrous dark presence behind me. I quickly turned, terrified since I had no weapon to defend myself. When I saw what was behind me, I froze in fear, my breath hitching, and I think even my heart stopped beating for a few moments.

Standing mere feet away from me was the black silhouette of a man. It had armor that seemed to be a part of its body, spikes covering its arms and legs where its armored skin didn't, and massive claws that could crush a man's skull, not to mention the muscles to do so. It had no face, its hair long and black, stopping just at its waist. Just as I was about to move to it to get a closer look, two, circular, white lights formed where its eyes were and it turned its head toward me.

I felt as if I had blacked out again before I turned away and ran as fast as I could, screaming bloody murder just as I had when the assassin goblin lunged at me. I ran through the cave as fast as I could, leaving everything behind as all reasoning and logic flew out the window. The only thing I cared about losing at that point was my life.

I continued to run, no matter how much my legs ached or how out of breath I became. I would rather pass out from exhaustion when I escaped than lose my life any day. I nearly began to cry as I saw the light of the exit after nearly half an hour of running. When I made it out, there were several police officers and a mid level adventurer waiting outside. "Hm? Holy shit!" The male adventurer with teal-green hair, gold eyes, and a slightly athletic build gasped as he saw me, some of the officers pulling out their magic weaponry; a mix of guns, staffs, bows, etc, all long range.

I quickly put my hands up. "P-Please! There's a monster in there!" I cried. "It killed all my friends! Please help me..!"

The adventurer held his hand up, and the officers lowered their weapons. He pulled a tiny bot out of thin air and I realized he had a magical inventory item and/or skill. He zapped the bot with a tiny bolt of lightning and it turned on, reacting to his magic and it quickly began scanning me. I stared at it, confused as it went back to the adventurer, who then looked at me with a suspicious gaze. "Hey kid, how many people were with you? Is this your first quest?"

I nodded. "There were four other people with me... This was our first ever quest...but that monster..." I clenched my fists at the memory of the black silhouette. "If only I wasn't such a damn coward...I should've at least tried to avenge them..." I whispered to myself.

The adventurer seemed to look past me, his gaze becoming dark before he looked at me again and walked over. He placed his hand on my shoulder, smiling a bit. "It's alright, everything's going to be okay now. You don't have to worry about a thing..." I slowly smiled and sighed in relief. However, I was suddenly blown off my feet. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I flew through the air. The adventurer looked at me with a disgusted look on his face. It was the last thing I saw before I slammed into a tree and everything went dark again. "Because you're going to be put away for the rest of your damn life, you sick bastard..." The adventurer muttered before turning away.