Dungeon in the City 01 (Patreon)

/Author's Note:  I've tried many times to do the NaNoWriMo challenge, writing an entire novel of 50k words in a month.  Since i also do enjoy Dungeon Core novels, I thought it would be nice to write one that has been bouncing around in my head for a few months now.  the working title is called "Dungeon in the City" but that might change. 

Chapter 01

“You’ll regret this, you bitch. Do you know who I am?” the man cried, staggering back into a wall and clutching his face.

With her hands trembling, Inez Garcia glared at the man. “I know that you’re an asshole!” she yelled.

The man’s face burned red, not as red as the hand shaped mark on the left side of his face, as the shock turned into anger. He advanced on her, but fire burned through Inez’s veins and she took a step toward him. Her fists balled and her face mirroring his own anger.

The man had nearly a foot of height on the petite woman, but her advancing steps caused him to pause and then make a hasty retreat.

“Bitch!” he snarled as he turned and fled.

Inez stood in the hallway, breathing heavily and feeling her hands cramping. Her heart pounded in her chest and the anger that had burned so bright was beginning to fade. Tendrils of shock and outrage were making their presence known. Inez felt weak and dizzy. She leaned against the wall of the corridor and felt her anger burn away, to be replaced by shock, shame, and fear.

Hot tears rolled down her face as she pushed herself off of the textured wall and staggered toward the elevators. Inez cast a last glance down the long hall of the hotel wing she had stood in. She could hear the music coming from the party she had just exited, but no one was in the hall. No one had come to help her. No one had done anything to help.

***

“You stupid, girl!” Inez muttered angrily to herself as she marched down the streets. Behind her the glaring lights and honking cars mocked her. She was an idiot. She shouldn’t have gone there. She barely knew those people.

But…

Inez wiped her eyes again, her mascara running and smearing. She looked a mess, she knew, but she didn’t care at the moment. It had been a wonderful time not more than an hour ago. She had met some people she had definitely admired.

The convention was going to be her big break, she had thought. She had spent more money than she owned to book her flight, hotel, and tickets to New York City for one of the biggest conventions. The first day was awesome. She had met a lot of people she had admired. Creators. Artists. Makers.

Her days had been busy with interviews and overly expensive meals where she had found like minded people.

It was something she had always wanted in her life. Her desire to be around people she thought had common interests as she did. In science, in art, in sociology. All the different kinds of minds that would gather at these conventions, to give talks, to bounce ideas off of one another, and then return to their own homes reinvigorated to create.

But…

But people were people, weren’t they? She had spoken to one of the female makers and she had told her about the struggles she had. Everyone announced inclusion and acceptance in public, but people were people.

“To test a man’s character, give him power.” Inez muttered. Abraham Lincoln had said that and unfortunately it didn’t mean absolute power. Any kind of power. Any kind of fame. Any kind of self proclaimed or otherwise hierarchical power.

Inez balled her fists again, Gabriel Hammon, the supposed wunderkind of YouTube. Over ten million followers, but self-proclaimed to be an honest down to earth guy who helped the little guy. Sure he helped the little Guys, but the the little girls… ugh… the women, he helped himself to.

Inez paused and breathed slowly. There would be repercussions. She knew that. Drama in the community wasn’t a new thing and she knew what an ugly beast it was. She had been a creator for three years now and she had luckily stayed out of it, even though she knew plenty of people who were caught up in its insidious grasp.

Now, though… Now she knew she would have to face the brunt of it. The tribal nature of fanatic followers and the massive platform that Hammon had at his disposal could mean the death of her own career. The thought filled her with fear and anger in equal amounts. She had done nothing wrong. She had just been at the party, having a few drinks with some people she had admired.

But…

Inez wanted to scream and punch something. She wasn’t a victim. She was smart and dedicated to what she love doing. She wasn’t…

She felt tears again and a hollow feeling. What was she going to do now? What was the near future going to hold?

Digging in her purse she fumbled for her phone. The screen lit up and for the first time Inez looked at her surroundings. She wasn’t on the brightly lit streets with cars and crowds, she wasn’t among the hotels and restaurants, instead she was in some alley. The sounds of vehicles muffled and the stench of some gas and garbage filling the air.

She had been walking blindly, caught up in her anger and fear. The anger vanished, but the fear came back. What was she doing in this alley. She had to leave. Now.

Inez began back tracking, her heart beating with unreasonable fear. It was just an alley, but combined with the darkness, the filth, and the smells, she felt as if she were in danger if she stayed for any length of time. She had to flee.

Walking quickly, she saw where she had taken a turn into the alley. Ahead of her were the crowds and the cars. She just needed to-

The air before her began to warp. An ovoid about two feet wide by four feet twisted reality in a nauseating manner. Inez gaped at the event. Automatically her hand activated her phone and she began recording the event. Seeing reality through the filter of her phone screen brought her out of her daze. She needed to run.

A hand reached out of the twisting rip in reality. A black twisted gnarled hand, then a black twisted gnarled arm followed. Again, Inez gaped at the event. Her phone and hand were shaking and her breathing began to grow louder, but her throat was constricted. Where was the flight or fight response? Wasn’t there supposed to be a flight or fight response? Inez continued staring as the creature pulled itself from the tear in reality.

Demonic. That was the only description she could call the thing. A smell of hellfire and brimstone filled her nose and burned its way down into her lungs. The creature emerged, it’s bones seemingly to snap into place as it reached its full height.

The demon stood nearly six feet, its head was large, its eyes crimson, and its shoulders narrow. The creature’s skin was crisped and blackened, as if it had been burned, and the horrid sulphuric tech wafted off of it. Inez wanted to gag at the smell, but she was still frozen in shock.

The demonic creature’s crimson eyes latched upon her and it’s too wide mouth split open on its twisted face. Bloody ivory teeth flashed at her, far too many to be natural. The creature staggered toward her.

Inez screamed and finally her paralysis broke. But the monster was already upon her, its shaky steps bringing within striking distance. Without thought, she threw a punch at the creature.

Skin peeled away from under her knuckles as her fist struck the creature’s snout. The skin ripped away, revealing pink bloody flesh beneath it. Inez stared as the creature staggered back a step, trying to clutch at the blood and flesh dripping from its snout. The crimson eyes locked once more upon her and with a terrible roar it charged at her.

Its gnarled hand struck her hard and fast. The attack threw her off her feet and against an alley wall. Her breath exploded out and the world spun. Pain bloomed along her left shoulder and a cry escaped from her lips. She tasted blood.

The creature roared, cutting through her haze of pain. The beast was looking at its hand, the flesh along its left hand and forearm had been torn away, exposing bloody flesh. Thick drops of black red blood dripped from the concrete, but something else caught Inez’s eye. In its right hand the monster clutched a white gleaming gem. It seemed so out of place in the hand of that burned monster that it drew Inez’s eye.

The monster turned to her again and although fear threatened to paralyze her, a strength she hadn’t realize welled up from within her. She wasn’t going to die. She wasn’t going to die in some disgusting alley to some horrifically burned monster. Inez cast about for some kind of weapon and her hand wrapped around a length of rusty iron pipe.

She wasn’t a victim.

She scrambled to her feet, holding the length of pipe like a baseball bat. Her father loved baseball and had forced her to love it with him. She never did, but she could never tell him that.

“Help!” she screamed. There were people within hearing distance, the street wasn’t that far. “Help!”

No one came to her rescue. The old adage of cry “fire” when in danger shot through her mind, but it was too late. The monster jerked toward her and snarled, its bloodied hand raised with long deadly claws.

The iron pipe swung and she heard a loud crunch as it connected with the creature’s hand. The monster howled and instinctively pulled the damaged limb to itself. Inez let momentum carry her and smashed its right shoulder on the downward arc. The bone let out a brittle crunch, as if it were made nothing at all.

The monster howled and staggered back. Seeing it reeling in pain, Inez pushed her advantage. She smashed the iron pipe down upon the creature’s head as it bowed it in pain, there was another sickening crunch of bone and the monster tried to escape.

Inez saw the ripple in reality was closing and the creature tried to flee back into it. Its head, shoulders, and left arm went in first and then the rip in reality snapped close with an audible pop.

The creature was cut in half. Inez stared in shock and horror as the monster’s top portion vanished into the portal and the remaining parts fell wetly to the concrete. Blood and ichor erupted onto the ground.

There was a flash of bright light that caused Inez to flinch. She looked to where the monster’s right hand was. The shoulders had left this plane of existence, but the right arm, from the bicep downward remained. It was the gem that the demon monster held that was flashing a bright white color.

Whatever the gem was, it was half the size of her fist, seemingly a solid piece of white crystal with an inner light. It rolled out of the scorched and bloody hand, coming to a stop against a chunk of concrete.

Something drove her forward and Inez knelt down before the gem. She had never seen such a thing before and every fiber of her being told her to grab it, that it was power, that she could do incredible things with it. The words whispered in her mind and she obeyed. Her fingers wrapped around the gem. It was warm to the touch, but its color was being drowned out by a crimson liquid.

Crimson? Inez saw that her hand was covered in blood. No not her hand, but her entire forearm.  She looked down as saw that the front of her blouse was covered in red that was expanding along the cloth. She immediately touched it and pain suddenly exploded through her body.

Inez dropped to the ground, gasping in pain. She was hurt. She was bleeding out. The gem was clutched so tightly in her hand that it dug into her skin and drew blood. She gasped as she felt something like fire suddenly burn through her body. She looked down at her hand and saw the gem flash a red color before it exploded in her hand.

Then there was darkness.

***

A creature crawled its way out of a sewer drain. It moved its small furry body through the shadows, following its nose. It smelled food. Death. And something acrid that told it of danger.

But there was another thing drawing it. It called to the creature. A small white shard of a gem that lay upon the bloodied palm of a human monster. The gem sang to it and the rat moved forward to it.

The rat snatched the gem and swallowed it whole.

“Oh, my god!” voices screamed.

The rat knew it was time to flee. It rushed back to the safety of the sewers as people rushed down the alley to find a dead woman and half a burned corpse. And a smartphone recording the event.