My mind was spinning around with agony. A throbbing, stinging ache prevented me from thinking straight. It was as if pain itself manifested itself in my head.

It felt as if I was bludgeoned on the head repeatedly. Everything is utterly dark right now. Why? Because I'm unconscious right now. For whatever reason I was incapacitated. For whatever reason I cannot recall. I think it was something about... unicorns.

Groaning miserably, I awoke to the sound of metal clanging together in the distance. I was surrounded by dreary-looking, ancient brick walls. Just ahead of me were iron bars preventing me from going out.

I appeared to be lying down in some sort of jail cell? A primitive-looking one to be exact. I rose, albeit in pain, from my prone position. I didn't want to stand up, but it was infinitely better for my headache to be standing on the cold stone floor rather than resting on it.

Examining my surroundings further, I was appalled by the lack of maintenance this place has. Blanketing the stone ceiling were numerous cobwebs, and all of them riddled with a layer of dust. "Whatever I did must have agitated someone quite considerably; seeing that I'm in an abandoned cell."

The walls were covered in some sort of moss-like substance. The stench was awful-- stale, repulsively pungent, and spoke of neglect. If I knew any better, it was the smell of mildew aged of countless years. The bricks are either extremely old or crafted extremely cheaply. I couldn't tell, really.

Cracks formed in the walls and several fragments were missing from it, as evidenced by the nicked blocks of stone. If I had enough strength, I could possibly just bash one of the more vulnerable areas of the bricks and simply escape out of here.

Where is 'here' anyways? I have no recollection of what happened earlier. "Ugh..." I closed my eyes in deep thought. I delved deeper in my mind, trying to recall even the most fragmented of my memories, but I was met failure as an indescribable blankness fills my head. "Gah! Why can't I remember?!"

For some vague reason, I have the unnerving feeling that whatever conflict that led to my confinement was involved with a certain horror game.

I attempted to scratch my head in doubt. Then I noticed, I appear to be donning some sort of cowl. "What the..." I looked at myself, noticing that I am fully robed with dark-pigmented clothing, and I appear to be radiating off red light... from my right eye? "What's happened to me!?" My breathing accelerated as I began to act rather twitchy.

"Calm down," I begin to take deep breaths. "Recklessly diving into panic will not help me here." I begin inspecting the rusted bars.

I am appalled by the extent of corrosion these things have suffered. Reddish stains of rust coiled through the entire length of the bars. Chips of withered iron were on the floor, most probably from the irredeemable jail bars.

"That's it, I am definitely in some sort of ancient dungeon." I paused to ponder about a possibility. "I wonder if I could possibly kick these bars down."

"No, that wouldn't work." I shrugged in disappointment. "At worst, that would result in me breaking my own foot." Suddenly, I noticed something in my clothes.

I begin to reach out to some sort of item tucked into an inner, hidden compartment of my robes. Upon retrieval of the item, I identified it as a rather familiar-looking book. "This book. I've seen it before."

Suddenly, I was bestowed clear clarity of my escapades when I was previously conscious. The realization struck me as if it was a tidal wave of hardened cement.

The necromorphs.

The castle surrounded by the thick forest.

The wolves made out of trees attacking me.

I remember it all now.

My eyes widened, and I was speechless for a good few seconds or so. "Crap! Oh hell..."

"So I really did unleash hell on wherever this place is." I begin to pace around; something I do when I am incredibly nervous or panicky. "Judging by the inhabitants of this place, wolves made out of wood with glowy eyes, horse-like beings that are apparently capable of thinking, it's safe to say that I'm no longer on..."

I didn't need to finish my sentence in order to feel as if I was about to faint from the sheer shock. Fortunately, I stood my ground. "No! I am not going back to a coma. I need to remain calm." Taking a deep breath, I took a step backwards. "But first, I think it's better for me to escape out of here."

Shifting my eyes rapidly through the cell, I spoke to myself, "There must be a vulnerability in this place. No place like this with this amount of neglect can ever hold someone for too long." It was difficult for me to see thanks to the dimly lit conditions of this place, but hopefully, my sight will adjust soon enough. "Argh. Nothing but colonies of dust mites and rubble!"

There were a few severely cracked walls, but those would probably lead me to the other cells, and besides, despite being cracked to an irreparable degree, I couldn't even hope to demolishing those without any tools.

Then it seems that my only option of escaping here is trough the iron bars. Picking up an appropriately sized rubble in my hand from the floor, I hurled it towards the lock of the iron bars. Of course, the rubble simply shattered upon contact, and the bars remain unaffected. "Well, that lowers the probability of my escape drastically..."

I am infuriated. These bars look as if they've been submerged in cold water for hours on end, yet the lock seem to be at exemplary durability. Whoever designed this lock is either a master artisan, or just simply used incredibly resilient materials.

I revised my tactics of escape, or at least tried to. I can't see any opportunity for me to use. A chilling breeze grazed my skin, leading me to question my environment.

"That's unnatural. There's no windows present in this place, and I'm presuming that I'm underground, yet the temperature remains at a rather low degree." Brushing off the unproductive thought, I began to look for another way out. However, my search stopped cold as a peculiar, barely perceptible noise emanated from beyond my cell. I was taken aback and swivelled my head in its direction, straining to listen.

It was faint, but it was there-- and it was drawing closer. There was the sound of galloping, accompanied by the sound of... slithering? I don't know, it was difficult to make out. When I listened more intently, however, I could hear distant screams and wails, full of pain and agony. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were the sounds one would make if they were being tortured. "What's going on out there... Oh no."

The sound of galloping gradually became louder and louder until emerging out of the darkness was another one of those horses, although... this one was wearing some sort of armor, crafted primarily out of gold. Well, that's ineffective. Gold is renowned for being soft, and would make expensive, but rather unreliable armor.

It was surprisingly cute, though, if you disregard the look of horror on his face. Anyways, I assume that it's a male, due to its physique being much different in comparison the other equine beings I've encountered earlier today.

The poor horse-thing struggled to shake off the lurker that latched on to his back. Unfortunately, however, the lurker had already positioned its tentacles perfectly for the fatal blow. Rearing back its tentacle, the lurker jammed it into the pony's cranium. A crunching sound accompanied by blood made me cringe. But despite the fact its prey was already dead-- albeit, jerking in its death throes-- the lurker did not relent in stabbing the lifeless body of the pony further, as if out of spite.

Satisfied with its kill, the lurker spun around as it leaped from the body of the now deceased mini-horse and onto the blood-splattered wall. Out of dumb-luck, it accidentally found me in the process. It just simply glared at me with... disbelief? It just stood there, as if it couldn't believe that it found me.

I as well stood there, motionless. Finally, as if breaking out of a trance, the lurker snapped back to reality and emitted a deafening shriek. The shriek echoed throughout the corridors, and of course, made me cover my ears while wincing. Thankfully, the duration of the shriek was short enough for it to be unbearable.

"Hey!" I yelled out in irritation. "A little bit of a warning next time?!" I scolded, to which the necromorph yelped guiltily in reply. The sight of a necromorph feeling guilt made my eyes slightly widen in shock. "Huh. So necromorphs are capable of feeling guilt, it seems. Who knew?"

I shook my head dismissively. "Anyways, I take it that you just signaled your comrades that you've found me?" I was given a nod of the head from the lurker. "Alright, I take it that all I need to do now is wait-"

I find my words cut short as I suddenly feel tremors shaking the floor. Somewhere in the distance, something large was approaching. Suddenly, the wall next to me was demolished forcefully from the other side. Dust and rubble went airborne, and I couldn't see even inches away from me thanks to the large dust cloud produced from the explosion.

Of course, I stumbled backwards and I am now sitting on my haunches. Coughing, I reopened my eyes. The dust has settled after several seconds, and I could see the large, formidable creature responsible for the destruction of the wall. It was a brute. Brutes are extremely resilient, very large necromorphs with two large fists that can easily pulverize flesh.

Standing up, I coughed once more. "The hell?" As my vision became clearer, I saw a pair of pukers barge into the room via the hole that the brute has created. With no hesitation, they began liquefying the iron bars. Volatile acid sprayed onto the bars. Progressively, the bars began to morph into nothingness.

Dumbfounded, I stood up. "Oh," I began to speak, but ended up hesitating. "That was extremely quick. You have my appreciation," I said in a demeanor feigning calmness.

Walking over to the annihilated bars that were now puddles of green liquid, I jumped over it, being careful to avoid accidentally jumping into the acid pool. "No time to waste," I turned to look at my necromorphs, "We have to get out of here before we do any additional unnecessary damages," I commanded them.

My steps resounded in the vast emptiness of this dungeon as I ascended through the staircases, a handful of necromorphs that I've encountered along the way following me. As I gradually neared the exit out of this dungeon, I kept hearing screams. An uncountable number of screams that will probably haunt me in my sleep for the remaining duration of my life.

"Dammit," I slowed down my ascent, taking a breather, "I do not have an affinity for being physical." Shaking off the fatigue, I continued on. The increase in lighting indicated that I must be close to exiting out of this dark place. Fragments of stone were falling from the ceiling, and I can hear sounds of blade colliding with flesh, and sounds of projectiles breaking bones.

Finally, I could see what appears to be a large spacious room in the distance. Just in that room was a very large gate reinforced with steel. Unfortunately, however, that door was being closed down by those horse-like beings.

"Close the gate!" a horse-thing bathed in blood and bits of gore commanded. "Don't let them breach this area!" As the gates were being closed, several more horse-creatures flooded into the main entrance, and along with them, necromorphs. They, surprisingly enough, managed to fend off the necromorphs with what appears to be fiery death being emitted from their horns.

A couple of slashers, and a puker managed to get in, only for them to be disembodied by levitating blades and fire alike. This is definitely a revelation. It seems that these horse-like beigns are capable of telekinesis and manipulating quantum physics into conjuring fire for them, and all of them appear to be donning armor. So I take it that these guys are trained for this type of scenario.

I snapped out of my entranced state. I spoke to myself, "Now's not the time to go into deep-thinking!" I said as I sprinted a bit faster.

Finally, the gate seemed to be seconds away from closing completely. However, just as they were about to close it, a spiked projectile that came from an unseen lurker scored the head of one of the mini-horses, who was closing the gate, directly in the forehead. The barbed spike burrowed itself deep into the pony's brain. In seconds, the horse-guard fell to the ground limp. He didn't even have time to react.

"Look!" a lone guard-pony pointed his hoof at me. "There's another one of them here!" Just seconds after he said that, I have about ten, or more, ponies clad in armor staring at me with widened eyes. Out of reflex, they draw their weapons on me. Their horns flared with an ominous light, their bows, swords, and spears directed at me.

"Woah, woah!" I shouted out as I raise my hands defensively in the air. "This is all a big misunderstanding-"

I didn't have any time to continue that sentence as my necromorphs caught up with me, and seeing that I was being threatened, responded appropriately. A lurker that was clinging onto the ceiling went unnoticed by me and my adversaries. With one fell shot, the lurker embedded its sharpened barbs into a unicorn's throat.

A large spray of blood gushed out of the windpipe of the poor victim. He fell to the ground, but not before pulling the trigger of his weapon by accident, and since that his weapon was aimed at me, I was quite certain that I was going to get shot.

Fortunately, the bolt simply passed by me just a few inches off from my unprotected, susceptible body. However, I wasted no time taking cover from a nearby pillar as a barrage of fire, arrows, and a miscellany of other ranged weapons attempted to cut me down. As they were busy suppressing me, they failed to notice that the lurker was still in position to take another shot.

And take another shot it did. I heard another one scream in pain as the lurker shot him down. Whoever the lurker just targeted was still alive, considering that he's still screaming.

Now that the lurker has revealed itself, the group of stragglers decided that it was best for them to shift their focus on it rather than on me. A hailstorm of weapons assaulted the lurker. Due to the inaccuracy of their shots, the lurker managed to flee. Well, almost. A spear managed to impale it right in the abdomen, pinning it to the ceiling, rendering it immobilized.

Before the survivors could finish it off, however, the telltale signs of an approaching brute appeared--the rumbling of the earth, and the piercing battle-cry that could only be emitted from a creature born through bloodlust.

The colossal heap of flesh that was the actual brute itself emerged from the shadows. The ponies could only scream in terror before it rammed their formation, scattering them. One that was unfortunate enough managed to get swept away by the brute's formidable arms. The pony went soaring through the air before he slammed into a wall.

That same pony's weapon, which happened to be a bow, ended up landing next to me. I looked away from it as I spoke to myself, "No... I am a non-combatant. I can't take away a life-"

Suddenly, I heard the brute growl in pain. "Wait... They can't possibly be capable of killing one of those things." I peeked from my cover, and to my shock, they actually appear to be besting the relentless beast.

Winged horses, which I assume were identified as pegasi were strafing the brute with remarkable precision from their bows in the safety of elevation. They always managed to pierce the brute in the exposed areas whenever the opportunity revealed itself. Though, they were simply fulfilling the role of support. The real damage is inflicted by those that wielded whatever power they have in their horns. They spewed out fire from their horns.

The flames roasted through the exoskeleton of hardened flesh of the brute. The brute tried to pummel the adverse ponies, but they managed to project some sort of shield, once again, using their horns. The brute, despite being encased almost entirely of armor, is rather vulnerable to fire. "Dammit," I cursed out sharply as I took the bow in my hand.

Being so foolish to leave cover, I dove for one of the arrows scattered through the ground. I fumbled as I drew back the arrow with the bow. Thankfully, the opposition was completely occupied on roasting the still flailing brute. I had much difficulty in doing so, but I managed to properly ready my weapon.

Aiming at one of the ponies out of the range of the shields and out of the reach of the brute's arms, I steadied my breath. Much to my dismay, however, the lurker, which was still alive, managed to pin down my target by the right leg. The guard winced as he staggered to the ground, he was incredibly wounded, but he was still capable of fighting.

I released the arrow from my grasp and sent it flying. The projectile bolted through their ranks and made a beeline towards the floor, ricocheting into the ground with a metallic resonance. "Dammit!" I cursed sharply as I readied another shot.

With a reverberating sound, the arrow made its way into the rib cage of the poor bastard. Blossoming like a flower, his blood gushed out as the tip pierced through his skin. He wailed in agony as he just realized what just happened.

I cringed at the sight, I never really anticipated in me actually fighting. The pony went down face first into the ground, taking one last raspy breath as he succumbed to his wound.

"Damn," I spoke to myself in awestruck. I was impressed by myself that the shot actually landed. Had he been a few feet further, I'd have missed.

Unfortunately, as a result in me taking out one of them, I was detected once more. This was apparent as the ponies suddenly shifted their attention towards me.

One of the flying ponies that were keen enough to notice me first yelled out, "Hey! That monster knows how to use the bow-" Suddenly, that pony could no longer breath as one of the lurker's barbs burrowed deep into his chest, easily piercing through bone and into his lungs.

He crashed into one of the shields formed by his companions. However, instead of rebounding from the shield, he simply phased through the glowing dome and into the protective space within. I assume that the shield has some sort of aspect integrated into it that it allows allies, regardless of being near death, to pass through it and be bestowed the shield's aegis.

Unfortunately for the unicorn taking the role of shield-projector, the pegasus landed directly on him, disrupting the shield entirely. The brute, which had vengeance on top of his wishlist, decided that it was now the best time to assault the disorganized team of unicorns.

The brute advanced and promptly swung his fist directly into the face of the one tormenting it with flames. Needless to say, the pony's skull most likely have been fractured within seconds upon impact. Similar to his other comrade, the pony went flying. The brute then proceeded to deal with the others by devastating them with its fists the size of a leviathan.

Finally, reinforcements on my side arrived--it was the lurkers from before. I greeted them with a wave, "Where have you guys been? Don't tell me that the both of you slipped and fell, or something."

The two of them shook their heads.

"Well, for whatever reason you're both late, I can forget about." I pointed at the large gate standing between my path to freedom. "See that gate? I want to get out of here, but that thing is in my way. Think you can spew your acid all over it so I can get out?"

Both of them nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"Perfect."