Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

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22 HOUR TO COMPLETION.

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The notification appeared in pitch black darkness, and Lee was only able to see it because the system was residing in him. For the past 25 minutes, Lee was slowly tiptoeing into the dungeon, while thoroughly observing the dungeon. The darkness did not obstruct his view, because of his visual modification. He was taking each step with so care, that literally no sound was made.

His ears could only hear complete silence. The eeriness it carried made his bristles stand up. The lack of motion or sentience in the vicinity was observed by him, and his heart relaxed to a great extent. But the wriggling antenna worms popping out here and there out of the soil was not a good sight to behold, and made him to quickly advance further forward.

Almost twenty or twenty five minutes after the notification was dismissed, Lee could hear a faint sound of water dripping down from a height. The signature dripping sound of water droplets was highlighted in the silence. Initially, the droplets were heard to be dripping on something solid, then the sound slowly changed to a much resonating voice of dripping into a waterbody.

The reception of an auditory sensation made his legs move forward faster. The fact that it was the sound of water, woke up a sense of thirst in him. His soundless movements slowly began to change to a slightly turbulent set of motion. The ragged ground of crumbled stones under his feet made a slight voice as he walked.

The dripping voice became more clear as he walked forward. Advancing down the narrow dark path, Lee saw a glimmer of light at the end of the way. The shine crept into the darkness from a side, signalling that there is a curve at the end of the aisle.

The presence of rubbles became more evident as he stepped further. Large pieces of stones, presumably fallen from the roof of the cave, filled the path. Lee thus had to walk over the stones, for the flat surface was no more. The natural spiky formations hanging here and there from the ceiling of the caves caught his sight. Lee deduced thus deduced the source of these chunks of rocks.

The light was nearing more and more, and his heart began to beat with curiosity. Lee regained his composed and stealthy set of motions as he advanced to the light. As he guessed, the turn to the right at the end of the cave path, was an entrance to a whole new room. But calling it a room would be an understatement. It was more like a large naturally formed indoor auditorium!

Lee leaned onto a big stone and peeked at the spacious area. It was unmistakable over a large area, with complex terrain and structures. From where he was, Lee could see a set of stairs that had about 19 partially ruined steps, made out of rocks. The height to the ceiling from the ground was uniformly 75 metres all around the area. There were a few stalactites here and there clustered on the ceiling, and upon close inspection, Lee found one of such clusters which had only two stalactites in it, dripping pale green drops.

'Where is this place?'

Lee poked his head out further from where he laid. He was partially in the darkness, as the stone shed its shadow on the stone, behind which he was hiding. Eager about the light source, Lee peeked and was amazed.

An expanse of land about 2 or 3 acres laid flat with short grasses on it, and at the centre of it was a pond. The light source was the water of the pond, which he saw emitting radiance around, and lighting up the space. The two stalactites dripping the green liquid were positioned in a way, that one was over the stony banks of the pond and one was right into the pond. Thus the dripping sounds were produced.

Despite the presence of light, water and grass, Lee did not see any living being there. Though he was unsure as to whether there was a light source inside the water, whether it was water or what kind of grass it is, he assumed them to be. His eyes wandered around and then caught a rather awe-inspiring scene.

Four large entrances were on the wall right beyond the flat grass patch of land. Two of them were at the ground level, as an entry way for beasts. But the staggering height of more than 22 metres and width of more than 17 metres made his jaw drop. The only conclusion Lee could arrive at after seeing this is that there must be a creature big enough to fit the large entrance. Or it could be a natural formation, and Lee decided to hold onto the latter assumption.

The two other openings were at an elevated position, and were right above the two at the ground level. The thickness of rock that separated the elevated two and pair at ground level, were barely 20 metres. At a glance, Lee found that the difference in measurements of the two pairs were different. While the bottom pair were more suitable for a T-Rex to walk in, the elevated pair was 16 metres tall and 29 metres wide. The uniqueness in size gave a hint that the elevated set has a different set of occupants.

There were many claw marks and scratches on the walls. The abrasions started from about 4 or 5 metres from the ground and extended till 8 metres from the ceiling. The red coloured soil and rocks Lee found, pointed at savagery of the culture. The smell similar to a rotten corpse that was picked up by his nose was so intense, that it almost made him vomit.

Glancing around the vacant and silent room, Lee deemed it hazardous to step out at the moment. When he was thinking of staying low, the hourly notification came up and his stomach grumbled loudly.

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21 HOURS TO COMPLETION.

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Previously, he only had thirst, which he suppressed using his saliva. But the hunger was not something easily yielding. As he took a moment to contemplate to step out or to not, a small squeak could be heard.

*squeak squeak*

A small rodent of half a metre length came out of one of the lower entrances. It came into the light and Lee saw its features. Smooth short black fur enveloped its small body and a tail as long as its body completed its figure. It had a piece of something in its mouth, and it sat on its hind limbs upright and gnawed the food. As Lee took a closer look, he found that it was a piece of flesh.

'It is flesh. If there is flesh, there must be carnivorous animals, besides this rodent. From the scratch marks on the wall, the possibility of giant and ferocious beings exist. If there are such dangerous beasts, then I will have a hard time surviving.'

Lee was well aware of his situation. The lack of nutrition and water had made him tired. Thus his vitality was low, and so was his strength. The health was barely enough to fight an Orc Ox, and his speed was greatly shortened by the unknown terrain.

*squeak*

The rodent's long and dull squeak disrupted his thoughts. When he poked his head up to see what was happening, the little fellow had come closer to where Lee was, and had caught the scent of the dry and flaked blood. The enhanced sensitivity to blood in all forms made it alert.

'What is it doing?'

The rodent dropped the piece of flesh and slowly neared the stones at the entrance of the aisle. The dark path was not scary for the rodent which survives in darkness. Lee promptly retreated to a much darker side of the stone, as he saw the rodent coming much closer. The scent of his sweat mixed with the dry blood had produced an odor which Lee guessed to be the reason why the rodent is approaching.

As the rodent stepped into the darkness, it casually ran towards where Lee was. The animal must have been thorough with the place, so as to exhibit such courage and casualness, Lee thought. The rodent came running precisely to where Lee hid, with no sense of caution. The faintly intensified smell made it accelerate further, and the pebbles moved out of its way seeing the rodent's excitement.

*whish*

Before it could register the presence of Lee, he had flashed his hand so quickly that the rodent did not get time to react. His palm went straight to the oncoming rodent's neck and caught it with immense strength. The animal tried to cry out, but no voice came. For about half a minute, the being violently protested against the grip, before becoming still. Lee was still like a statue, as he witnessed this scene with a blank face.

'Sorry, but you need to die for my survival.'

The steady right hand of Lee was retracted and the dead rodent was in his palm. Lee looked around and found a stable and flat rock to sit down, before proceeding with the rodent.

Lee carefully observed the rodent's dead body after sitting down. The animal had very strong hind-limbs and associated muscles, and sharp claws in its forelimbs. It could have posed a threat to Lee, but the being's final moment was so quick, that the animal got scared from the attack and tried to reach the reinforcements. If only it knew that Lee was alone and not in a good state, it would have put up a fight, expecting a feast.

Before he could further evaluate, Lee saw a deep red stone embedded into the underside of the rodent. As he was watching, the stone lost its luster and became grey, and cracked. But what followed it was the most unexpected. The rodent's body slowly faded off the colour and disintegrated to dust!