Station 64: Azaria- The Doll Dungeon 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3 Excuse me! What?!

Chapter 3

Lance Teron

[Station 62. 7PM. Don’t be late.]

I glanced at the message and groaned. That was over an hour away! Why don’t they ever consider where people live before assigning quests!? 

“Something you’d like to share with the rest of the class?”

I groaned for a whole new reason then glanced behind me. Professor Mord stood there with his hands folded behind his back and his famous frown. I did my best to smile. “Nope. I was just silencing it! I would much rather learn world history.”

“Is that so? What was I literally just talking about?”

“Ehhh… Indians?”

“Alice. What part of the world was I covering?”

“The Soviet Union. Sir,” the girl a row down from me replied.

“I’m glad at least one person is paying attention. Thanks to Mister Lance here. Everyone is to turn in a three page report on the Soviet Union. Hmm… It must relate to what I covered in class today.”

A very loud and very collective groaned rang out from the fifty-three students. I only did a quick count but I was sure over forty of them were also glaring at me. I made an awkward smile and waved to the class. “My bad.” I made a mental note to avoid being alone for a few days. 

“On that note. Class Dismissed.”

I ran out of the lecture room in less than ten seconds. I’d rather not get cornered. I didn’t make it much further than the classroom over. A wave of energy flung me against the wall. 

“Lance. Lance. Lance. I don’t have time to waste on a stupid report. How are you going to make it up to me?”

“Kyle. I’m sorry! I don’t have any money,” I said through gritted teeth. The energy only grew denser as it crushed me against the wall. It felt like my ribs were only moments away from breaking.

“Ha! Like I expected anything more for a broke ass guy like you. Don’t worry. I’ll add it to your tab.” 

The energy holding me to the wall vanished and I collapsed to the floor, coughing. Kyle turned to walk away but not before throwing me a weird grin. I rubbed my chest and worried what this meant for my future.

~~~

“How was class?” 

“Fine, mom. I’m totally popular, you know. I have like three girlfriends.” I replied.

My mother was in the hospital. Magic sickness. A new disease that came with the Aether Shift. 

Just over a year ago, the world changed overnight. Places of transportation became entities know as dungeon. Airports, seaports, train stations, and subways all transformed. Ninety percent of the people that were at one of those places died, or at least vanished. Bodies were never found after all.

With the dungeons came magic. People gained the ability to use powers straight out of books. Like Kyle. Telekinesis was a moderately common ability. The world fell into chaos for several months. Old grudges led to blood spilling across the globe. Thankfully, a group of heroes rose up and led the world to a better place. Though, they are said to have unlimited power, not sure how you’re supposed to fight that.

Magic sickness came from living near a dungeon that had grown too large. Its energy leaks out and if humans take in too much of it, their organs start to break down. The only exception to this were those that level up. 

“I wish you’d bring a singe girlfriend,” my mom said putting her cheek in her hand.

I laughed. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Miss Teron. It’s time for your medicine,” called a nurse from the doorway.

“I’ll head home then. I’ll visit again in a few days.”

“Alright. Tell Sera that mommy sends her love.”

“I’ll bring her with me next time,” I said hoping out of the chair.

I left the hospital and grabbed a bus to the suburb. It was the only form of transportation beside private vehicles that still worked. They attempted to build a new subway station, but it ended up collapsing to rubble no matter how sturdy the construction. 

The bus stopped at the edge of my neighborhood. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call it the slums. Thankfully, my family had lived her for over two generations and the people were very warm to us. I waved to the old lady that lived in the house next to ours. 

I glanced at the one-story, three-bedroom house that looked fifty years old. Old sky-blue paint peeled in places while others were faded to white. All but one of the windows were boarded up from damage that we couldn’t afford to repair. It wasn’t much but it was home.

“Sera! I’m back!” I called when I got inside.

“Yo! How was mom?” a voice replied from the living room.

“Same as always. At least she’s not getting worse. She sends her love,” I replied taking a seat in the recliner. 

“Is that so…” Sera said not taking her eyes off the television. Sera was a shut in. Getting her to leave the house is nearly as bad as pulling nails. Normally, this would make me incredibly worried when I went into the city, but she was one of the lucky few to gain a gift right after the Shift. Frankly, it was quite scary. She could stop the heart of anyone within a hundred feet of her.

“We should visit her together next time.”

“Maybe…”

I just sighed. Hopefully, Sera would improve if mom came back. For that I needed to gather more money. Magic items were the only way to cure her after all. “I have a job tonight, so I’ll be out late. Don’t worry about breakfast for me tomorrow.”

“Roger.” 

I shrugged then got up to head to my room to get ready. I was going to have to leave at nearly five to make it on time. It would be Saturday tomorrow, so the dungeons will be packed tonight. That meant the bus system will be crowded.

~~~

“Finally,” I said with a quick glance at my phone. I made it with five minutes to spare. The buses were even more crowded than I expected. I opened the party app, something that was made when the dungeon diving business took off and followed the GPS marker to the party I’d been assigned.

“Well. Well. Well.” I stood dead in my tracks when I heard that voice. Looking up from my phone, I saw Kyle and his group waiting where the marker was indicating. “This is going to be very fun.”

“Evening Kyle. Is there another party behind yours?” I asked trying to look past them.

“Nope. And if you cancel, I will demand the entire fee.” He spun the short sword in his hand.

“I would never cancel!” I said with a forced smile.

“Very good. Its seven. Let’s go!”

I let them go ahead then started following behind them. “Fuck!” I whispered to myself.

I scanned my phone with the entrance guard then followed them into the subway station. As the darkness washed over us, I prayed that I would make it out alive. Surely even these guys wouldn’t murder someone just over a three-page essay. 

Station 62 was a lizardman dungeon. They possessed a large amount of strength but weren’t too bright. They could be fooled by rather simple tactics. That being said, Kyle and his goons appeared to want to brute force their way through. To be fair, they had no problem doing so. Kyle would use his telekinesis to choke the lizardmen while his buddies would either stab it to death or launch arrows into it.

“Make sure you get everything worth money!” Kyle shouted at me.

“Yes, sir,” I replied with a straight face. I moved forward and started cutting the body apart with my knife. My job was a Harvester. I knew all the parts of the monsters that were worth money and would collect them while the others did the actually fighting. I had no other choice but to do this since I had no offensive abilities.

“I like that. You should respond to me like that all the time.” Kyle had his weird smile again.

“…” I kept quiet. I really didn’t want to talk to him at all. 

The next few hours passed quickly. Kyle was getting stranger by the minute. His goons didn’t appear too bothered by him so I did my best to ignore him. We eventually made it to the boss floor. I could just barely make out the teleportation matrix on the other side of the room.

A massive ground lizard that was at least fifteen feet long blocked the path. Kyle and his gang quickly went to work. Personality aside, they knew their way around the battlefield. In less than two minutes the lizard was downed. I moved over to the corpse and went to work. This boss was dangerous to work with since its blood was poisonous even after death.

“Hey, Lance. Come suck my dick,” Kyle called.

“No. That will not be happening,” I replied without turning.

“I would recommend you don’t argue with me,” Kyle said his tone taking another twist. My body turned against my will and I saw Kyle was breathing deeply, his hand outstrechted as he used his power on me.

“Stop! I’ll report you!” I was very much straight. The thought of going anywhere near him was causing my stomach to want to empty its contents.

“Oh. Don’t worry. After we have our way with you, you won’t be leaving the dungeon,” Kyle said with a chuckle. I felt like this wasn’t the first time he’d done something like this. Just my fucking luck. I quickly glanced around to try and find a way out of this situation. My eyes landed on the teleport matrix. 

The only problem was Kyle already had ahold of my body. I remembered the vials of blood in my hand. It was going to be my only shot. I just hoped it worked. I was only a foot away from him and he’d already lowered his pants. Just the sight made me want to throw up. I narrowed my eyes but waited.

When I felt my head start to be pushed down, I reacted. Jerking my wrist, I sent the still uncorked vials flying at Kyle’s crotch. Most of the liquid missed but a good glob landed squarely on his nuts. With a scream, his hold on my body vanished. Without a second thought, I bolted for the matrix.

I was about five feet away when an arrow slammed into my shoulder. I grunted from the pain but the adrenaline in my system allowed me to push it off for the most part. I stumbled onto the matrix and with a gut-wrenching upward motion I was suddenly back on the first floor right next to the entrance.

I ran. When I reached the surface, I saw no one was around. The guard that was supposed to watch the entrance was missing. I clicked my tongue. They must have bribed him so they could scan my phone and wouldn’t have to explain my vanishing. Fucking sick bastards.

I couldn’t go home. They would look for me there. My sister would be safe, she was listed under a watch program by the government. If anything happened to her, they would know instantly. My mother was in the hospital. I want to believe she would be safe for a while there.

If I remember correctly, there was a subway station a bit further from here that never became a dungeon for some reason. I should be safe there for a few hours. At least it would give me time to stop the bleeding in my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and took off at a run. I made sure to cut through several alleys and streets as possible while moving as quickly as possible.

When I finally made it to the entrance, I felt like I was about to collapse. Thankfully, the blood clotted enough to stop leaving a trail several blocks ago. I would hopefully be in the clear from here. I stumbled down the subway entrance while taking deep breathes.

When I reached the bottom, I pulled myself over to the rusted old train car that sat in the middle of the old tracks. Seeing it like this reminded me of the days before the Shift. Crawling onto the dust covered and moldy seat I passed out.