The Mother of Monsters

The alert was just there when she woke up. It floated in her face like some glowing gift from above. She hadn’t seen it right away, coughing with the forced intake of breath that came with respawning. It wasn’t as bad anymore. Of course, she’d grown used to it after going through the experience over and over. She wasn’t sure why it wasn’t as traumatizing as she felt it should have been. The pain was beyond real. She wondered if maybe… her mind was putting off the damage, in favor of survival. Then again, she was willingly throwing herself at a broken golem that had killed her, many times. Maybe she was crazy before she got into this situation.

When she finally took the time from her burdened thoughts to read the notification, her face gleamed with dawning hope.

“I can grind,” She said, a smile crossing her face.

She had to imagine that this was not the intended use for the [Adaptable] trait. She guessed that it was designed to benefit someone over a very long period of time. Natural adaptation didn’t happen overnight; she’d paid at least that much attention in her high school science classes. Being exposed to enough magic to kill you over and over? That probably had a bit of an impact. More importantly, it proved to her that this place, whatever it was, was operating on the rules of some kind of role-playing game. If she could grind, she could probably take advantage of other tricks she’d picked up over the years.

She slung her leg over the sarcophagus, taking the forward approach this time. She knew it would kill her, but she needed to get an idea of the improved resistance she had. Besides; she would come back anyway. A small part of her hated how adjusted she was becoming, but she wasn’t about to slow down at this point.

She hopped onto the floor. Pale white light erupted around her, and for a few seconds- a few, precious seconds- she only felt the chill pass over her.

And then it was over. The pain burst through like water out of a dam. The searing chill ripped through flesh and bone in an instant. One moment she was there, the next, nothing was left.

She wasn’t sure how long she spent throwing herself into death’s clutches. Hours? Days? According to the prompt, each death only took five seconds before she returned to life. Could she trust that information, though? There was no way to test it without a third party to sit in and watch her come back from the dead. Did she even want to share that information? Would there be anyone to share that information with? For all she knew, she could be the only person in this strange, messed-up world.

It was around the time she felt like her work was in vain that another prompt rewarded her for sticking to her guns.

It had taken longer this time; she expected it would take even longer to bump up against another stage. Ianna pulled up her character sheet to see what the new level of resistance provided for her.

Half! Half of all death magic damage! That was huge! She’d gained seconds with just her [Threshold] resistance, but this was something else entirely. If she could endure more, maybe it would be easier to level the resistance up after all. She smiled ear to ear. A little bit of hope filled her chest. Hope that was tempered with resolve. Her expression stiffened as she realized she still had a long way to go, and a lot of deaths to endure before it was all over.

At this point, she didn’t care. She’d keep going if it meant finally getting out of here and giving that damn machine the payback it deserved. So far she had not made it within even fifteen feet of the thing before it nailed her with its light of death. This time she wanted to try to touch it. Maybe even get a hit in. She needed it, for her sanity and pride. Just one hit.

She got to her feet and hurled herself off the foot of the sarcophagus, hitting the marble floor at a dead sprint and darted behind the first column. Between her and the Guardian, there were four columns she needed to get past. Each of them had a gap where she could be seen by the machine. She tensed her legs, focusing on the space behind the second column, and broke into a run.

This is where she usually failed. This is where the light consumed her.

The light washed over her as she kept moving her legs, the death magic pressing against her defenses. It felt like a cold wind was running over a thick winter coat. She could feel the padding between herself and the chill. It was a bit startling, the difference between the two levels of resistance. She let the thoughts slide, though, as she came to a stop behind the second column. Her breathing came out in low gasps; her back pressed against the hard surface.

She looked down at her left arm. It had taken most of the flash of light. There were terrible black burns down her arm that ached like frostbite. It wasn’t painful at all, which horrified her. This is what happened to her body when hit with that blast? No wonder she died so fast. It was like it was killing every cell in her body in an instant.

She shuddered and tried not to look at her arm as she made for the third column. Given the angle between herself and the guardian, this was a much smaller space for it to fire off a shot at her. Even as it fired again she was already halfway across to her destination. The white light scorched her arm again, but she paid it no mind. She knew how this was likely to end. There was no pain to drive her back. Frustration fueled her.

The fourth pillar was the easiest one to run to. Most of the guardian was blocked off by that last pillar- she darted across and found cover without being hit.

She was so close she could taste it. Just a few feet away was the thing that had killed her over and over and over. She’d already accepted that she would have to grind out even more resistance before she somehow took the thing on, but at the very least she wanted to send a message. She was getting there; bit by bit.

She darted around the corner; the grin on her face immediately faded as the machine’s neck swiveled to face her. The mechanism grinded with the effort.

Its eyes glowed white.

“Aw, damn,” She muttered.

She woke from her latest death with something between resolve and downright fervor. Making it as far as she had, it’d proven something. Just like with grinding in any other game, it would take patience to get to the status she needed. It sucked, but there was no other way. With that thought in mind, she threw herself into the icy hands of death; over and over and over.

World-weary eyes scanned over that final notification. The transparent words seemed to take up the entire room as she took it all in. She examined her character sheet again and found what she was looking ffor-and what she had been hoping for. Immunity. She made an undignified sound, somewhere between a choke and a laugh. It sounded like a burp. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, swaying back and forth as the giggles broke out.

“I did it. I did it. I can get out of here,” She muttered, burying her face in her arms. The exhaustion she didn’t know she had washed over her. Her body didn’t ache, of course. She was always revived at the peak of health. This was a deeper ache. It curled down into her very being. It felt like her soul was sore. Her shoulders sagged and she lay back down. “I’ll leave, after some rest.”