Far away, in a luxurious house that had once seen better days.
A man was pacing to and fro in front of a large, wooden bed, and his features were filled with frustration and worry.
The one on the bed looked like he had seen better days- his forehead was matted with sweat, and his expression was akin to one who was having a nightmare.
The other man kept glancing at the bed while his pacing went on incessantly, and it was only when he saw a light shining in one corner that he ceased what he was doing and run over there, like someone lost finding a direction to head in.
The light was from a strange apparatus with a shining human skull surrounded by gems of various colors, and as the man lay his hand on it, the light disappeared, before reappearing in his eyes.
In the dark room which he had not deigned to light up, those eyes shone eerily- like willowy wisps in the night, they flickered but wouldn't go out, and finally, when the man finally let go of the apparatus, he looked as if he had been thoroughly taxed by whatever had happened.
He looked once more to the man in the bed, before shaking his head and walking to a different corner.
From it, he removed a vial which held silver-colored dust. It looked like it had been used recently, as the level was not what it had been, and as he shook the vial over the man on the bed, the dust flew haphazardly at first, but then gathered on his head, as if there was something there that was calling to it.
The dust then seemed to come alive, and each mote transformed into a tiny insect that burrowed into the man's skin. If Daneel were here, he would have remarked that it was a scene straight out of a horror flick from Earth, and even the man would have agreed, as his face was filled with disgust.
Droplets of blood oozed out of these tiny wounds, and all the insects seemed to gather at the man's forehead.
"GYAAAHHH!!"
With a loud scream, he finally sprang awake, and as he touched his forehead, he winced, as if it hurt just as much as it looked like it would.
"We don't have much time. The Bishop asked me to tell you that we should begin to cripple them. The time for the invasion is coming, so the sooner we get them on their knees, the smoother everything will go. No one is really happy with our performance so far, but the Bishop did hint that we might have opportunities to redeem ourselves…"
The first smile in months finally came on this man's face, and seeing it, the other spat out some blood and said, "Don't get so excited. If we fail in that opportunity, too, then it is only death that awaits us. Give me that box, over there."
A slight shudder appeared in the other man as he heard this, but he stopped it by telling himself that he would definitely succeed when the time came
Looking in the direction indicated, he saw that it was the pile of things that had been brought over by this second agent of the Church.
This pile had been eyed by the man many times during his pacing, and he had always wished that he had been allowed to remain like before, where all he would have to do was sit and keep an eye on the continent while passing time.
With the arrival of this second agent, everything had changed, and although he had hoped that it would be for the better, it was exactly the opposite.
They had faced defeat after defeat, and in their latest stint, one of them had even had a major part of their consciousness captured by their foes.
That was how they had gotten to their present state-he would pace, and the other would endure the torture and pressure placed on him.
If he let that part go, there was a chance that he would die, so all he could do was hold on and hope.
Putting his thoughts aside, he walked to the pile and picked up the box shown before bringing it to the man on the bed.
His forehead was still writhing on the inside, giving him an absolutely revolting look that would make anyone want to upend their stomachs. Sadly, that was the only way to give temporary power to one's consciousness, so both of them had to adjust.
From the box, the man on the bed took out an object that was quite common.
It was an hourglass, and in it, the sand that was made up of different colors was trickling down slowly.
The weirdest thing was that elementary particles swirled around the sand, indicating that it was being influenced by some spell, and the only other thing to notice was that the top side looked like it was almost about to be empty.
Looking at it, a horrible grin came on the face of the man on the bed, and his words made the other one wonder whether all the torture had made him go crazy.
"All of you are in for it now! Haha! You dare to put me in other bodies and torture me again and again until each body dies an excruciating death? I'll make sure each of you suffer tenfold! Angaria, your end is near! Even if it is the last thing I do, I will see you perish! And as for you Heroes…your hands are going to be too full to deal with me, soon!"
….
Meanwhile, Daneel, Elanev, Faxul, and Perfect had all gathered in front of an obelisk.
Daneel and the others had already intimated to the rest that they were going on a dangerous mission. They assured them that they would give up if it was too hard, but still, they were told again and again that other missions could be found.
Even though Daneel agreed with them slightly…he had to admit that his curiosity was supremely piqued by just what this Nightmare Dungeon was.
"Are you three sure? See, I advertised it publicly, but no one else showed up! That's how risky these things are. I plan to turn back on the first difficulty, anyway! So…why not reconsider?"
It looked like Daneel's impassioned statement hadn't been enough to turn around a man who was clearly used to taking safe decisions, but the King of Lanthanor didn't really mind.
Slapping his shoulder, he said, "Oh, we're sure. You can leave after we're inside, if you want, but we're in it for the long ride, unless things get too spicy. Let's go- no reason to dally any longer."
Perfect got a resigned expression on his face as he heard this, but he sighed and nodded before stepping forward.
Raising his hand, he picked a few options, and in the next instant, all four of them disappeared.
For once, Daneel opened his eyes to a fairly normal scene.
They were in a stone room with bare walls and a high ceiling, and there was one wooden door which looked like it had been rotting for a long time.
All of them picked themselves up, and right away, Daneel could tell that they had been teleported.
The system was not a simple tool to be hoodwinked every time- it had been tracking and carefully analyzing everything Daneel was going through, and hence, it had been able to develop a module which could spot whether he was in a simulation, or whether he had been teleported, like in the case of when they had gone to hunt the Great Shark.
This was the latter, and as he dusted off his clothes, a voice was heard from above.
"Welcome to the Nightmare Dungeon. Choose your paths, and always make sure to read instructions carefully. If you still die, you have no one else to blame but yourself. Good luck."
It was refreshing to not have a display trinket showing a long list of rules this time, but Daneel couldn't decide whether he would have preferred more details.
Perfect sprang to his feet and ran to the door before peering outside carefully, and after that, he looked back and mouthed, "The coast is clear!"
"Why wouldn't it be? Isn't this a dungeon?", asked Daneel out loud, and in the next moment, he got the answer to his question.
The sound of hundreds of people suddenly running reached their ears, and with their eyes widening, all four present in the room quickly ran to the door.
What greeted them was a large corridor, and at one end was an army of the strangest of dogs Daneel had ever seen.
Each dog was only made of bone, and except for the eyes, they looked as if they had all been reanimated from some pet cemetery.
The eyes had green balls of flame inside them, and as the dogs ran in their direction, these flames bobbed and weaved and seemed to grow in intensity.
They had entered a large corridor in which ten men could walk abreast, and they had no time to observe anything else before they found themselves dashing off in one direction due to the urging of Perfect.
"Why are we running?", asked Daneel, genuinely puzzled, as he couldn't detect any hints of a threat from the foes that were chasing them.
"They are the Nightmare Dogs! They will overwhelm anyone who doesn't run away, and they'll only stop when those taking part in the mission have reached where they're supposed to reach! The destination changes every time!"
Nightmare Dogs?
Glancing back, Daneel could only shrug, as they looked more like cute puppies.
Still, he was here to win, so he decided to play by the rules for a bit to see what would happen.
Seeing him make that decision, the other two wordlessly chose to do the same, and the four members of the Order spent ten minutes continuously running down the corridor which did not look like it had an end.
Teleportation was blocked, so they could only continue putting one foot in front of the other while wondering just where the heck they were going.
Finally, the sounds of the many steps from the dogs stopped, and the four looked around to see that they had reached a spot with more creatures in front of them.
There was a door beside them, and it was into this one that they ducked.
"Well, we are at our first test. I hope…dammit!"
His sentence was cut off by the fact that he had seen the room they had entered, and looking at him, Daneel asked, "What is this thing?"
They were in a similar stone room, but in the middle of it was a floating nimbus shining with light. It seemed formless, yet it looked like it held all the mysteries of the universe folded into its shiny depths.
"Well, this is where I leave. I thought I might finish some easy tests, but the first one itself is deadly. That is the Test of Self. You are placed in a difficult situation in your past, and you can only pass if you handle it differently and have it reach a different conclusion. Everything is carried out within one's own consciousness, so no one needs to check, as one cannot lie to oneself. If you fail, though…there's no way out. 20% of the 30% death toll in this 5-star mission died here."
Test of Self?
Daneel was truly curious as he heard this. Asking the system, he found out that the guy was right- there was a spell like this which put one into a simulation that was based around themselves. No one from the outside could peek in, so only the result could be known to the outside world.
Just as Daneel was about to ponder on whether he should give something so dangerous a try, he felt something on his back.
It was a bony paw, and surprisingly, the moment it pushed, Daneel found himself shot like a cannonball into the nimbus in the room.
The last thing he saw before he vanished again was the smirk in the eyes of the bony dog which had somehow appeared in the room, and he instantly swore that he would have his revenge.
Before he could think anything else, though…his vision cleared, and Daneel found himself in a place that made him drop his jaw with shock and almost drool onto the floor.
He was in a room filled with posters, and the one in front of him depicted a famous scientist who had died too soon.
The melody of birds making the sweet sounds of morning could be heard from the open window, and at the same time, a knock was heard on the door.
"Daneel, breakfast is ready! Come quickly!"
A kind, elderly voice said these words, and Daneel felt tears welling up in his eyes the moment he heard it.
It was the one woman he owed his life to, and that meant that he…was home.