(Current Equipment Reminder)

Lost Legacy: Massive sword - Lightweight in the hands of its wielder, but acts on the world with its standard, heavy weight.

Fleetfoot Boots: Significant boost to wielder's movement speed and allows limited wall-running.

A large set of wooden double doors barred passage at the end of the hall. Flanking the entrance on either side, skulls adorned metal spikes that arose from a nest of withered bones. Some of the skulls had been stabbed clear through the bone and others simply dangled there at the ends of the spikes. Their empty eye sockets stared listlessly at any who might be foolish enough to challenge whatever laid in wait behind those massive doors.

It certainly scared the hell out of River, who had been standing there shuffling anxiously on her feet for the better part of five minutes. That was nothing new, though. River had been in a state of near constant terror ever since she had found herself in this creepy skeleton pit.

Enough waiting, enough shivering in fear. River would go in, kick the crap out of whatever was in there, then find a way out of this place. Ever since she’d committed to fighting through this catacomb, she’d had remarkable success, leaving piles of bones wherever she went. Those previous battles hadn’t been easy, but they hadn’t been insurmountable either. This was just another fight, the same as before. River drew on what little courage she could muster and stepped forward.

The wooden door ground against the floor, massive and heavy, as River shoved her shoulder against it.

Surprisingly, the chamber on the other side was well lit. Evenly spaced torches ran along the entire perimeter of the large room. Everywhere else on this floor had been pitch black and River had needed to rely on her own torch for light.

On the other side of the room stood a single giant skeleton. He was nearly twice River’s height, clad in a full suit of gleaming full plate armor save for a helmet. His gauntleted hands rested on the butt of a huge two-handed warhammer, the flat head of which rested on the ground at his feet.

The mountainous skeleton inclined his head to stare down at River as she stepped into the room, but made no other movements.

River gulped heavily. She had to fight that? Lost Legacy was a terribly powerful sword, sure, but she wasn’t well practiced in wielding it. Her fighting style with the weapon thus far, when facing skeletons in the halls, had been to artlessly flail the sword about in the general direction of the enemy. So far, it had worked, but something about this skeletal knight told her that fighting like that would only get her killed. Besides, would Lost Legacy even be able to put a scratch on that plate armor?

The knight waited, patiently watching for River to make the first move.

River nervously licked her lips.

A single hit from that warhammer would certainly kill her. Even if it didn’t, it would shatter her bones. She would need to beat him without getting hit - maybe easier said than done, but with a weapon that big and heavy, and with all that armor, he would likely be very slow and ponderous in his movements. Maybe she would find an opening between swings of that huge hammer. Lastly, the skeletal knight wasn’t wearing a helmet, so his skull was left vulnerable to attack.

She would need to aim for a quick, decisive victory. A drawn out fight was the last thing she wanted; if it turned to a battle of attrition, the skeleton would have the clear upper hand. As far as River knew, he would never tire out and could just focus on forcing her to dodge until she was too exhausted to move anymore.

She would charge in, fast as she could, and go straight for his skull. Failing that, she would dodge the heavy hammer swings and look for an opening to strike.

River nodded and readied her sword. In response, the knight drew up his hammer, hefting it in both hands. They both began walking towards each other, weapons ready.

A shiver ran across River’s skin, but she tamped down on her fear and burst into a sprint. Pure aggression. Not the kind that blind rage would give her; she needed a cool-headed, calculated kind of aggression. Cold fury. With the Fleetfoot Boots, River was wind on her feet. The room blurred past her and in an instant she was within range of the skeletal knight, Lost Legacy spearing towards his skull. She was on him so quickly that he hadn’t even had a chance to lift his warhammer.

The fight was over in only a moment.

The skeleton inclined his head to the right and the sword sailed past his skull. Then, with a metal-plated fist, he punched River in the chest.

There was a sickening crunching sound as her ribs snapped and shattered. River, in shock, was briefly aware of a weightless flight through the air before she crashed to the ground, rolling across the stone floor until she came to rest on her back.

Her sword was… somewhere else, no longer in her hand. Fitting that she would lose a sword named Lost Legacy.

It didn’t matter, River wouldn’t be able to move anymore. Her entire chest was agony. Every gasping breath was punctuated with piercing stabs into her lungs. She coughed up blood and stared up at the ceiling. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she waited for death.

“Get up.” It was a raspy, scratchy voice of a man that filled the silence. “You’ve only four broken ribs. You can still fight. Get up.”

River slowly lifted her head to look at the skeleton knight that loomed over her in its full plate armor. Even just that small movement sent waves of pain shooting through her body and tears still streamed from her eyes and down her cheeks.

The skeleton hefted his hammer over his shoulder and brought it down in a heavy swing. River garbled out a pained scream, but the hammer didn’t strike her. The stone floor next to her exploded into shrapnel, pelting her with fragments and scoring small cuts across her skin, but doing no real damage.

Lifting the hammer out of the rubble, the knight pointed the weapon into River’s face. The bones of his skull cracked as he narrowed his eye sockets and glared at the blonde girl cowering below him, a contemptuous scowl on the face of death. “You would show tears to your enemy?! You would disrespect yourself in this way, disrespect me?!” He growled a hollow, rattling growl. “Face your death with dignity. Stand and fight.”

The skeleton turned around and walked away. He just left her there as she wheezed bloody breaths of air. He wasn’t going to kill her, just leave her there, lying broken on the ground.

River watched as the skeletal knight walked to his original place at the far side of the chamber. He turned, rested the head of his hammer against the stone floor, and stared at her from across the room.

Four ribs, that’s what he’d said. It felt like her entire chest had caved in, but it was really only the left side of her rib cage. Everything hurt. Even breathing hurt, let alone actually trying to move.

She wanted so badly to be helpless. It would be so much easier to just give up and die. Who would want to live through this kind of suffering, knowing that she might wake up at the bottom of the well and have to do it all over again?

And then she knew. This was hell. She must have died and gone to hell. Apparently God had taken note of her browser history, River thought to herself. She laughed. It hurt.

No, that wasn’t it. River had never really subscribed to the whole religion thing and besides, this place didn’t really fit the fire and brimstone motif. Somehow, she could tell that there was more to this world, and lying there with a shattered chest wall, River realized she actually wanted to know more. She’d done battle against ravenous undead with an enchanted sword, ran along the walls on magic boots and charged in to fight an armored knight.

It was scary, and it was painful, but she had never felt so alive in her life. Her heart slammed behind her shattered ribs and she felt it, that inexplicable, purely human urge for exploration and discovery, for wanderlust. She wanted to see more, discover what other secrets and treasures hid in the shadowed halls of this Hollow Delve. She wanted to explore the world that waited for her under the blue skies she saw from the bottom of the well. A fantasy world, full of magic and monsters, waiting to be discovered.

She thought of gnashing teeth and it gave her shivers, but even that memory felt far away in the light of this revelation.

The call for adventure.

She just had to stand up.

River slowly rolled onto her right shoulder and weakly propped herself up. She wheezed and spluttered as she rose to her feet, unsteady. The skeletal knight watched her. The bones that had twisted and crunched to scowl down at her before were now unreadable; an empty, emotionless skull.

She found Lost Legacy some ways away lying flat against the stone where she had dropped it. With difficulty, and gasping against the pain echoing through every inch of her body, she lifted the sword in her hand. River rubbed the tears out of her eyes and looked up to meet the skeleton’s gaze.

“Thank you.” It was just a whisper, but in response, the skeleton knight gave a small nod that River took for acknowledgement.

Maybe it was strange to thank the person - or rather, the undead monster - who had just shattered her ribs, but she felt she needed to say it. Besides, she wasn’t thanking him for shattering her ribs - her gratitude was for not killing her immediately, for showing restraint and for caring about her dignity. The pain, the adrenaline, and the reprieve from battle had given her clarity of mind and perspective. If not for him, River wouldn’t have found her resolve, her will to live. Maybe she would have given up and died just to come back and cry like a useless child at the bottom of the well.

River was done with crying and the shallow self-pitying consolation that it offered. She wanted to move forward, and someone was standing in her way.

She hefted the sword in both hands and the skeletal knight raised his warhammer in his. River stumbled at first as she shuddered towards him, her entire body blasting with pain, but she quickly found her feet. She ran, and then she sprinted. The world blurred around her and she raised her sword to strike, a battle shout echoing through the chamber.

And she died.

She knew that she would.

And she also knew that she would come back and die again. Again, and again.

As many times as it took.