The Human From a Dungeon

Nick Smith

Adventurer Level: 7

Human – American

We watched the rain smash itself against whatever was protecting the clearing. It was torrential, covering the entirety of the otherwise invisible barrier, and I didn't look forward to leaving once our business was done. We'd be soaked for the rest of the day, at least.

"So if you had to liken it to another smell, what would you say it smells like?" Rebis asked.

"The rain?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Hmm..." I thought about it for a moment. "There's two smells. The one before it rains, which smells kind of like clear air and fresh water mixed together. I'd call it crispy and cold, but the cold isn't a temperature thing. More of a feeling."

"I... Right, no I think I get it. And the other smell?"

"Well, that's the smell that you get after the rain. Kind of smells different from place to place, but it's like the smell you get from opening a water skin on a hot and dry day. Like, moist, but in a good way."

"I wonder if this is a distinction between humans and mer, or if it a cultural distinction," Yulk said.

"Well, I read on internet that there were people who can't smell the rain," I shrugged. "So maybe it's depending on where you live?"

"Why would you even need to smell rain, anyway?" Nash asked grumpily. "What purpose does that serve?"

I shrugged again. Never really gave it any thought, if I'm honest. But, if our current circumstances were slightly different than I guess it would have come in handy.

"I guess being able to tell it's going to rain without seeing the sky comes in handy when you spend most of your time indoors," I replied. "So you know not to go outside unprepared."

"Wait, wait, wait. What's the internet?" Gali asked. "Did you do a lot of fishing back in your world or something?"

The thought of catching fish with computer cables made me chuckle, but I proceeded to explain the internet to the best of my abilities. Yulk and Nash nodded along because they'd heard it before, but the others were absolutely enraptured. For fun, I threw in a couple of funny metaphors, like how we tricked rocks into thinking and we shoot electricity at each other through stretched out pieces of metal and glass.

"I find your society fascinating," Larie said once I finished. "The thought of creating such things without magical assistance is mind-boggling."

"Well, we had a saying back home. Any sufficiently advanced technology might as well be equivalent to magic," I recited. "I guess whoever said that didn't imagine a place like this existing, though."

"Perhaps," Yulk interjected. "Though, magic isn't exactly unknown. It has rules and structure to it, just like the technology you describe. When one takes into account the Curaguard, one could claim that the very essence of magic is technological in nature. Just a technology that mortals are unfamiliar with."

"I'd love to know exactly what the Curaguard is," I said.

"Like we told you, nobody really knows. Unless..." Nash looked at Larie.

"No, not even I know much about it," the lich shook his skull. "There are many that assume it is a higher being that is allowed direct interaction with mortals, and provides them with boons based on how accomplished that mortal becomes. Though, my limited interactions with it have led me to believe that it isn't alive. Perhaps it is a remnant of the ancient civilization that created the steel golems that we've found in dungeons."

A pang of nervousness grew in my stomach. Higher beings. The ones that are watching me for the sake of their entertainment. Is the Curaguard really one of them? Or maybe a machine designed by them? I know that I rely on it for my spells, but are my skills also part of whatever system it's part of? Can they just pull the plug if I'm not amusing enough?

"We've discovered some literature in one of those dungeons that indicate that the golems are actually machines," Yulk added. "They aren't magical in nature, they are based on forge-craft."

"Truly? How interesting," Larie rubbed his jaw. "If it isn't magical in nature, then anyone could make one, yes?"

"Probably not. It takes an understanding of things that will likely elude us for quite some time," Yulk sighed. "The documents that were discovered described how to forge the metal plating and how to arrange the innards, but not what the innards are made of."

"I see."

"Probably wires and a battery," I added.

"Power storage?" Yulk asked. "So they do use magic?"

"No, batteries use acids to create an electrical charge... I think. The electricity flows through the wires and cause the parts to move. It's a bit above my knowledge level," I admitted. "There's different things that limit the amount of electricity that move through different parts which cause them to move differently, somehow."

Yulk and Larie fell deep into thought. Before any follow-up questions could be asked, though, a soft pop sounded from behind us. A grumpy fae holding several stone tablets regarded us coldly.

"The deciphering is complete," Veern said. "I've altered the tablets accordingly."

"Thank you," Larie said, rising to collect the tablets.

I stood as well and walked over. My heart began to beat faster and faster with each step I took. Would this be it? Will I finally figure out how to get home?

Larie handed me the first tablet, and I began to read.

--

I am Mikael Rodriguez, and I have been given this journal to document my experiments.

--

With everyone waiting patiently, I read the passage aloud. My heart felt as if it was going to burst. The person who wrote this was human, I'm certain of it. All of the odd names I've heard so far, and not a single one of them was even close to the ones I knew. Plus, it was originally in English...

"Well, what else does it say?" Rebis asked.

I cleared my throat and continued.

--

To comply with project security, I will be using a Vigenere cipher which will shift every entry. The keys will be documented elsewhere, as appropriate.

I have just been revived from stasis, and do not know the current date. I've created a rudimentary calendar that I will use to mark progress. This is the first day's entry. Or pre-entry, if you will.

--

"A Vigenere cipher?" I asked the arch-fae. "Was that difficult to-"

"Of course it was. I couldn't even do it without the keys," Veern crossed their arms. "I had to take out some rather inconvenient debt to obtain that knowledge. Now read."

"Okay. Sorry."

--

Day 1

My revival went without any serious issues. The minor issues were simply a discomfort and confusion which should not have occurred. The pod I had been sleeping in has been adjusted. There are no answers for who adjusted the pods, nor how or why. An unfortunate aspect of this modification is that the data in the pods have been wiped. As such, there seems to be no proper way to tell how long we've slept for. All we know is that the modification occurred approximately four thousand years ago.

There are very few of us, and we have little in the way of aid from the local populace. Apparently, they have been exterminating us wherever they can find us. I've been given no explanation for this behavior, and I suspect that the actions of the surviving members of the Malos Organization are to blame.

I find myself frustrated with these conditions. These people don't seem to know what has happened, or they simply won't tell me. They estimate there are fewer than a thousand humans that we can rely on at the moment. The pods were supposed to keep us in stasis until we were long forgotten, but something happened four thousand years ago and many of us were revived.

Each generation revived replacements, and now we're here. Hardly any of us left, and with a mountain of things we need to do to secure our future. First, we need to find a way to perform extradimensional travel. Next, we need to revive and gather the remaining humans. Finally, we need to escape from here. This is not our home.

The research required of me is odd. Demons and angels, or daemons and anyels if you use the local parlance, have knowledge of portals that we require. There have been several instances of extradimensional invasion, though typically on a small scale. We need to find out how they are able to pierce the fabric of reality.

--

"Well, that's ominous," Rebis laughed. "This is the cult, right? The ones that caused the daemon invasion? Guess they figured it out."

"Keep reading," Veern said coldly.

--

Day 4

Today, I received my first batch of test subjects and began my research. Dwarves and elves that have been living near an entry point for the previous daemonic invasion, a tear in the fabric of reality. We have a lot of data on baselines for these species, and given what I have to do to these subjects I doubt that I want to know how we got that data.

I have another journal for the raw findings themselves, but even a cursory vivisection reveals mutations. These tears in the fabric of reality actually impact the surrounding environment.

This provides a reasonable explanation for the monsters that one encounters on the surface fairly regularly, but we haven't been able to find any sort of measurable radiation emanating from the tears.

Day 9

The previous days were much the same as my previous entry. Cutting, carving, studying. Before all this happened I would have been sickened by what I'm doing. I suppose on some level I still am, but not in the way that I should be. Poetic, that I should have to set aside my humanity to save humanity.

The Malos Organization keeps bringing me test subjects, and I keep testing on these subject. My findings are slim, though. There are mutations, but I can find no hints as to what exactly is causing them.

At first, I suspected cancer. But biopsies reveal that the mutations don't contain cancerous cells. They are perfectly functional, just anomalous. A muscle split into two, extra organs, extra sets of teeth, even the brain is subject to these oddities.

One thing the mutations have in common is that they rarely impact the subject's quality of life.

Day 15

We have had to move. Our location was discovered by the locals and they immediately mobilized an armed force to eradicate us. Thankfully, the Malos Organization was well prepared for this eventuality and had plenty of sympathizers in the nearby city. The move was inconvenient, but otherwise uneventful.

The new location is more cramped, though.

No new discoveries have been made.

Day 22

A sorcerer nearby has created an object that can detect "magic". Specifically, the emissions created by the use of "spells". This revelation led to a discussion which revealed that my anatomy has been altered to include an "artificial magic core" and everything else necessary to cast magic. My demands for further information were met with callous shrugs. Either they don't know who did this to me, or they aren't going to tell me.

Returning to the aforementioned device, Dr. Samuels is working on reverse engineering it. My talents for engineering are slim to none, so I can't really help her.

That's a shame, as I would like an excuse to get closer to her. It would be nice to have companionship, perhaps even a lover, but that's just a pipe-dream.

My work is far too gruesome for anyone to be able to forgive me for it, let alone look past it. Worst yet, it hasn't resulted in any new revelations.

Day 42

I have been neglecting my journal, mostly because nothing interesting has been happening. Today, however, Dr. Samuels finished her project. Tomorrow we will see what we can find out. I am hoping for a break-through.

Day 43

The radiation from the tears is now confirmed to be magical. From what we have been able to find, there are two types of magic. Type 1 and Type 2 (T1 and T2). T1 magic is emitted by the environment, trees, rocks, etc. T2 magic is emitted by creatures that have a magical core. How either magic is produced is unknown.

This device can detect this magic and determine which type of magic it is. The tears are radiating T2 magic. When someone casts a spell, we get a reading that is a mixture of T1 and T2 magic (T3 magic). What is coming from the tears is pure T2, though.

The significance of this is currently unknown.

Day 47

The mutations radiate T2 magic.

The experiment was difficult to set up. Had to create a life support system for various organs without using magic, in a world that is nearly devoid of technology. Should get a Nobel prize for this accomplishment, but the confirmation of my hypothesis is good enough for now.

The mutations continue to generate T2 magical emissions even after the host has perished, but stop once the organ is damaged beyond repair. If we ever need to generate T2 magic, this knowledge could become useful.

Now, though, all it does is point me in a direction. We still need to know how to manipulate the tears. To do this, we may need to know more about T2 magic.

All we have left is a handful of elves. Going to need more to learn more.

--

Ithrima threw up. She had been looking queasy, but the final entry tipped the scales for her. Mako comforted her as she struggled to regain control of her stomach.

"Gods, that's terrible," Heino said. "Carving people up like that."

"Yeah," I said softly.

"Read," Veern said angrily, becoming more irritable by the second.

--

Day 55

Dr. Samuels is dead. The autopsy was grim. I concluded that her cause of death was acute kidney injury, caused by dehydration from food poisoning that she failed to report and get treatment for. It must have been painful.

The bacteria that killed her is unfamiliar, but should have been treatable with fluoroquinolones or ampicillin. We have plenty of antibiotics, so her death was completely avoidable.

Confirming her cause of death was just as much of a shock as her death itself. She should have known better. I would like to mourn her, but I don't actually miss her. The part of me that would miss her died long before she did.

Plus, we don't have any booze.

Day 67

I have discovered a method of causing a magical core to radiate T2 magical energy. Unfortunately, this radiation is a mere fraction of what is being emitted by the tears. The tears emit roughly two hundred times more magic.

Day 69

Introducing a radiating magical core to a tear did nothing, as suspected.

Day 84

Introducing fifty radiating magical cores to a tear did nothing.

Day 85

Argued with leadership today. They wanted to try one hundred radiating cores. Massive waste of resources, unlikely to produce any measurable results. Not to mention the cost in lives, which I didn't. Pointing out that one hundred subjects would have to die to do that would have probably convinced them to move forward with the stupid idea.

At first I thought the plan was to escape from here, but now I think there's a more sinister endgame at play.

Day 91

A daemon has been captured. It has been interrogated, but the results of that are being kept from me. My job is to examine their physiology.

Daemons heal a lot better than elves and dwarves do.

--

"Gods," Rebis said in disgust.

"This guy's fucked up," I replied. "Not all humans are like this, I promise."

"No worries, Nick," Gali said. "We don't know you all that well, but we can tell you're not like this Mikael guy."

"It is interesting to listen to someone go from academic to monster," Yulk said. "Though, a little nauseating."

A loud snap rang through the air, causing all of us to jump. Veern looked at us angrily.

"Nick," the arch-fae growled. "We do not have much time. Read. Now. Before you lose this chance."