Chapter 1: Underground Dungeon

"HAAAAAAA!!" Liu Kai gasped for air clenching his chest as he woke up from a deep sleep. Cold sweats are dripping from his face.

He looked around to scan his surroundings and seemed to be inside an underground cave. Confusion overwhelmed the newly woken Liu Kai.

"Where am I? What happened to me? How did I survive getting hit by a truck??" Liu Kai finally voiced out while patting down his body quickly, checking if there were any injuries or if he still had all of his limbs. There were no signs of pain or even scars that might be from old wounds.

He was still wearing the uniform he wore that day but it was all worn out and looked old.

"How long have I been sleeping here?" Questions kept piling up inside his head.

He scanned his surroundings to look for something familiar, but it was too dark to see. The only source of light was from a single torch on the wall beside him. He stood up from his old and worn out bed, that looked ancient, then grabbed the torch.

With the torch in hand, Liu Kai walked around, the light revealing more of the walls, the ceiling, and the floor which were made from bricks. The room had no windows so no light passed through.

"It looks like some sort of underground temple." He said while he reached out his hand to slowly touch the cold walls.

"What is this place and how did I get here?"

"Did someone bring me here and took care of—Ah!" A quick stabbing pain pulsed in his head. He grabbed his head with one hand as he winced, almost falling over from being out-balanced.

'You really are kind aren't you?' The voice of an old man echoed once more in his head as he was reminded of that day. His head throbbed less as time went by and regained his stance.

That was his last memory before blacking out. 'Why am I hearing that voice again?' He thought but dismissed it since it's no use thinking about it now.

He circled the room to look for something that could be useful, besides the torch he was still holding. Checking all sides of the room but he still found nothing.

"Nothing, Hmmmmm… The bed." Muttering as he walked towards it. He lifted the pillow to check if there was something under it, but still nothing. And then wondered if there was something under the bed.

He took a few steps back to get on his knees but he stopped and couldn't help but stare at the shadow that covered what may be under it. Something was moving down there and he can hear it rustling and felt uneasy.

Curious to find out what was making that sound he continued to crouch down. As the light from the torch, slowly revealed the dusty brick floors inch by inch, the sound became more distinct with it.

His heart beating out of his chest in anticipation. Swallowing the saliva that pooled inside his mouth. Crouching more and more, his face almost parallel to the ground and as it closed the gap from the floor…

"SCREEEAAAAAAAACHHHH!!" Out of nowhere a bat flew at his face.

"AAAAHH!! Liu Kai screamed as he pushed himself back and fell on his backside. He picked up the torch that he dropped from being startled. The bat flew in circles then hung its feet to a crevice on the ceiling to sleep.

"Stupid bat." He cursed as he positioned himself to check the underside of the bed once more.

Investigating what's below, he found carved ancient scriptures that he couldn't understand.

Beside it, he saw a carved figure that had a crown on its head, a large sword on its right hand and a shield on its left.

"What's this supposed to mean?" Liu Kai asked himself while he traced the carvings with his fingers.

He tried to read it but he couldn't, so he disregarded his stupid questions and decided to move on. He got up and looked for the exit. It was a solid iron gate that had designs that were similar to the carvings under the bed.

He pushed it open with all the strength he could muster. He walked a few steps forward. Stretching out the hand with the torch and slowly moved it from one side to the other.

Outside the room was a long passageway with walls that curved like a tunnel stretching out into the distance covered in darkness.

He had no choice but to move forward.

*****

"How long have I been walking? I can't seem to find an exit" He complained as he looked down at his bare feet, sore from the long walk.

Liu Kai looked back thinking if he should've just stayed inside the room. The passageway seemed endless and the only option was to go back or continue to look for an exit.

He continued to walk slowly, checking if there were any passageways that led to a different direction.

As he kept walking for what seemed to be hours, a wall loomed in front of him. He realized that it was a dead end. No other rooms or even a small hole, just a long and empty passageway.

"What the heck? A dead-end?! Are you kidding me?!" Liu Kai shouted in frustration.

After a few minutes of grumbling, he tried to compose himself and thought back.

"Did I somehow miss something? A different way, maybe? Should I go back and check it again? But I'm already exhausted. I mean, it's a miracle that I could walk that far, as soon as I woke up."

"And now that I think about it, how did I walk that far? Will I be okay?"

"How could I have possibly survived that accident anyway?"

"How did I survive in that room without anything?" More bothering questions surfaced while he delved deeper into his thoughts. His eyes wandered the walls.

He was too focused on finding the exit earlier that he had no room for thought about the answers to his questions.

"Well, I can't find the answers here eith—Wait a minute." Liu Kai suddenly realized something while looking at the ceiling.

He tried to think and imagine his field of vision while he was walking earlier if there's something he missed.

"That's it… The ceiling! I couldn't clearly see it earlier because I was too busy looking at the walls and didn't notice." Liu Kai's eyes shined brightly as he finally identified the difference between the passageway earlier and the dead-end now.

Liu Kai raised his hand that held the torch to check the ceiling and he saw a ladder 4 meters above the ground, and it led to a small hole that may be heading to the surface.

"I don't know who made this underground passageway but he must've been one athletic guy to jump that high. So how do I reach that ladder?" He said as he searched for a way to reach his only hope for escape. As he thoroughly searched the walls he felt that the bricks had gaps in them.

"How long has this passageway existed to have this many gaps? He said as he stuck the torch on the wall. Then he stretched out his right hand to grab on to the highest gap he could reach and lifted his left foot and stick it in one of the gaps as well. He propped himself as he stretched out his left hand to grab on to the next gap as if he was rock climbing.

Liu Kai was not athletic in any sense and did not do well in sports in high school. But there was no other way for him to escape this dungeon-like place. So he held on tight and moved slowly and climbed.

He closed the gap between him and the ladder but he didn't see any more gaps, he looked down to see how high he climbed and he was a good 3 meters above the ground. He was still, give or take, a meter away from the ladder.

He swayed his body up and down, while still holding on the gaps tightly, to gain momentum. He put all the strength he could on his legs as he jumped up to reach the ladder, arms stretched out.

But at the last moment, he slipped and lost his balance. He fell.

"THUUUUUUUUUD!!" A loud noise echoed through the whole passageway as his body crashed to the ground.

"AAAGH" He gasped for air, arching his back with pain as it made contact with the brick floor.

He stood up quickly as if he recovered completely from the fall or his exhaustion. Determined to reach the top, he climbed the wall again.

Liu Kai fell once more, this time falling short on his jump to reach the first bar of the ladder. But he still doesn't falter. He repeated his cycle of climbing and falling, multiple times. And each time echoing the passageway.

He got used to climbing the wall but he always fails on grabbing the end of the ladder after jumping.

"How many times did I fall already?" His body aching from falling so many times that he lost count.

"This time for sure....I'll be able to hold on to that ladder"

"One last time." Liu Kai stood up while he motivated himself.

Liu Kai climbs again, now on the highest part that he could reach. He took a couple of deep breaths and readied himself to jump.

Imagining the outside world with fresh air and clean water he leaped from the wall with all his might and stretched out both his hands as he grabbed the ladder and held on.

"FINALLY!!" Overjoyed with his achievement he climbed up the ladder that led him to a sealed manhole.

He tried pushing it open but it didn't budge. He knocked on the cover and tried shouting for help thinking that maybe someone from above can hear him and open it from the outside. But no matter how long he kept knocking no one heard him. But he was sure he heard someone walking on the surface.

Liu Kai tried to find a way to open the manhole from the inside. He leaned back and brushed both his hands across the circle cover and felt something like a handle. He turned it clockwise and heard small clicking noises while he did.

"It's a combination lock!" He exclaimed as he realized. But what was the code?

He brushed his hand again without letting go of the dial-like-handle.

Liu Kai soon felt carved figures on the cover, they were numbers. He concentrated and traced them carefully to know what they were.

"7… 5… 3… Got it!" He said when he traced the numbers.

Liu Kai carefully entered the code and when it clicked to signal it being unlocked, he pushed the cover to open. His eyes winced, irritated by the bright light from the sun. He wasn't used to it after staying in the dark for that long.

He finally climbed out from the tunnel to the surface. And as soon as he got up to smell the fresh air, the manhole cover automatically closed.

Thinking back, it looked more like a tomb or an underground cell. From the single room, the iron door, the long passageway, and the sealed cover.

He looked up to bask in the warmth of the sunlight and stretched out both his hands to feel the open space.

"What is this place?" He murmured as soon as he noticed his surroundings.