"I can't feel my arms." Marta cries out, shivering in the cold.
"You aren't the only one who has lost touch with their body part, so stop complaining!" Luna bit back weakly. She was tired like everyone else. All they knew was that they were walking without even knowing for how long they had been walking.
Lucian and his team were weak, starving, and felt like they were also dying of taste; licking the weird continuous snow in the dungeon didn't take away their taste, but it only made it worse, as though the dungeon had a rule of its own that made it impossible for it to favor any living occupants.
With each struggling step Lucian took with his team, he kept thinking to himself, 'We shouldn't be here.' He had tried fighting against the cold with his flame magic, but it was a lost battle; his fire magic didn't work in the dungeon no matter how much he tried to activate it. Fighting a living beast would have been much better than fighting a dungeon with no end and life force. Lucian and his team haven't come across any beast in the dungeon, almost as though there were none. Or maybe there were few, and the dungeon decided to get rid of them. Lucian felt like both he and his teammates were next; the further they moved in their weak, hungry state, the more he felt that they were close to death's door.
Lucian's thoughts have become so bad that they made him delirious; he thought that if they could just fall down and die, then everything would end. The game, their pain, maybe their restless souls would find peace. And then suddenly one day, Lucian's dark thought manifested as Marta fell down unconscious on the snow. He hadn't taken note of it until Soren called out to him.
"Marta!" Luna called out with a dry voice that could barely speak. "Wake up. If this is a prank, I swear I'm going to make you pay!" She lied; Luna barely had enough strength to keep herself awake and even less for fighting. If any monster were hidden in the shadows, waiting for them to physically and mentally fall apart before attacking, this was the perfect moment.
"She's not going to wake up." Lucian said. Stopping himself from admitting that he didn't know if she was ever going to wake up again. "Soren, Luna, try dragging her along while we keep moving." He ordered. He didn't know where they were moving to; the heavy snow that dragged his feet along with the others kept reminding him that he had done his best as a captain and that he should stop moving because he was going nowhere. The cold breeze sang in Lucian's ears like an evil siren that he should sleep; all his troubles would be over once he allows himself to fall down and sleep for eternity.
Luna breathed heavily as she dragged Marta's unconscious body along with Soren. Each cold air that passed through her lungs felt like a painful stab from within. She was convinced that her legs and arms weren't the only frozen part of her; some of her internal organs should have been nothing but ice by now. Luna smiled at the thought that she was finally stronger than Marta for something, even if it was just for a few minutes.
Marta's body fell on the ground along with Soren as Luna lost her grasp. Luna was on her knees, breathing through her mouth; she could no longer see the cold breath coming out of her mouth. "I'm sorry." She mumbles and then drops to the ground, unconscious.
Lucian's expression remains unreadable as he stares at Marta and Luna's bodies on the ground. Afraid to tell himself that they were dead, he quietly picked up Luna's body while Soren copied his actions by picking up Marta. "Tell me if you need help with carrying her." Lucian said, even though carrying Luna's unconscious form presented enough load for him, his bones were already feeling sore and weighing him down because of the cold.
"I'm okay, captain." Soren lied, pretending as though he was capable of carrying Marta on his own. Soon enough, close to an hour, Soren fell down along with Marta's body, not because he had stumbled against anything, but because his body couldn't hold up anymore. "Captain." He called out weakly in his struggle to stay awake.
Lucian dropped Luna's body and fell to his knees as he looked over his fallen teammates with a wretched feeling in his heart.
'Is this really the end?' he thought. It was the worst possible way to die. He didn't even get the chance to fight properly for his survival; it felt unfair. His strength is stripped out of him. The dungeon made their magic useless; not even Luna could heal herself. The more she tried to use her magic, the more her body froze up.
Lucian thought of what to do; although his situation seemed impossible, he didn't want to give up. He remembered Flint's words; he didn't know the type of dungeon he was in, and he was sure that there was no monster, but the dungeon king should be here; a piece of his soul was trapped in every dungeon.
Lucian stood to his feet; he maintained a straight path because he didn't want to lose the location of his teammates. "Where are you, demon?!" He screamed. His cracked voice was replied to with nothing but a strong lashing wind that threatened to swipe Lucian off his feet. "Show yourself, dungeon king! I know that you are in here; you are always aware of what is happening at every dungeon!" With each helpless scream, Lucian's voice becomes weaker and weaker. "I thought you wanted to meet me again." Lucian mumbled weakly, realizing that he was on the ground; he didn't even know when and how he fell. Memory of his body failing was a blur to him, and soon, like the others, his eyes closed up.
The eerie silence surrounding Lucian and his frozen teammates is suddenly filled by a loud chuckle, and soon a slender finger is gently placed on Lucian's cheek, tracing his skin. "Don't worry, dear," the feminine voice said, "you are safe here."
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