I made my way back along the hidden passage, down the hole to the secret room, over the pile of stones, and through the main passage's door. Minutes later, I had traversed the path, looted the three desiccated warriors, and was back at the large double doors.
"Looks like this is it," I said. I sat to wait until Dev pulled me out of the game.
After what I deemed to be about thirty minutes, I started to get bored. I stood and started swinging my hammer. The movement seemed just a little more natural than it had just hours earlier. The wooden grip felt comfortable. The skill "heavy weapons" must be working. The game was actually improving my physical ability. For the hundredth time, I marveled at what Dev had created. Minutes later, I tired myself out and sat back down.
"Alright," I said, staring at the ceiling. I assumed that Dev looked down on me like some twisted AI god. "This is getting ridiculous. I can't go on, so you might as well pull me out." I was now sure that Dev had some ability to affect how I perceived time because my work shift should have been long over by now. How long would he leave me in here? I was beginning to feel real hunger. Apparently, not only was this a souls-like, it was also a survival game.
Eventually, a mixture of boredom and hunger overpowered my fear, and I decided to have another look at the tutorial boss. Instead of going through the double doors, worried that opening them would trigger the boss somehow, I went all the way back around. Traversing the boulder a third time had me cursing Dev with the most vile things I could imagine.
I reached the door leading to the boss's room and slowly opened it. The boss was still on the dais, but it had sat with its back against the stone carving, its head tilted back. I squinted. It was hard to tell in the dim, flickering light, but I was pretty sure the boss was sleeping.
Maybe I could slip by.
Feeling like a mouse creeping through a tiger's den, I slowly entered the chapel. The boss stirred, one of its wings shifting against the stone at its back. I stopped and stared, my body breaking out in a sweat. I stood still, holding my breath for seconds before moving further into the large room. I hoped to see an open door just past the boss, but once I was far enough, I found only a large, sturdy-looking, black door. There was no way it would be unlocked. If I was a rogue, I might be able to pickpocket the demon and open the door or something. I looked down at my large body. There was no way I would ever be mistaken for a rogue or for someone who could sneak.
I had no idea what to do. I could try a sneak attack, but I had much too little faith I could get close enough without waking the beast up. Plus, even if I did succeed, I doubted a single sneak attack would be sufficient to kill the boss, and that was if sneak attacks had any sort of damage multiplier. My eyes began to scour the chapel for any possibilities.
The room had once been grand. The pillars were high and made from some near-white stone. Years of soot and grime covered what had once been beautiful. Above the pillars were stained glass windows, barely allowing any light through. They, too, must have been covered in a layer of grime. My eyes traveled down to the far wall behind the pillars. Most of it was covered in thick, heavy drapes, likely covering windows to the outside. Something caught my eye, and I took a few steps closer to get a better view.
There was a gallery. A walkway, barely visible, ran along the length of the room. I tracked the path until I faced back the way I'd come. The gallery ran right into the wall of the room with the chest. Relief that maybe there was a way forward filled me.
"So," a voice like an avalanche boomed from behind me. "The Players have come at last." The demon said "players" with pure vitriol, an ancient hate. I turned and watched in horror as the demon stood, glowing red eyes locking onto mine, keeping me from moving.
"Tell me, little human, how is it that you, pathetic and weak, could ever hope to kill me?"
"I don't," I said, only able to get the words past my frozen lips because they were absolute in their truthfulness.
The demon cocked its head. "You don't plan to kill me?"
"Nope," I said. I forced my body to turn and sprinted out of the chapel.
Booming laughter followed me, the demon's final word cutting me with its accuracy. "Pathetic!"
I slammed the door and slid to the floor. I placed my head into shaking hands and tried not to cry. The moment my eyes met the demon's, I felt a disgust rise within me, a disgust with everything I was. It was like a raging fire had laid bare everything despicable and useless about me. To my shame, there was nothing that didn't catch the light.
Pathetic.
I sat, shaking for a long time. The passage of time and the encroaching end of my shift in the real world barely touched my consciousness. I raised my head and stood, finally gaining the will to move. I couldn't come back here. When Dev finally let me out, I'd ask him to be done. Either the game needed to change, or I would stay out.
I slowly climbed the stairs, the light coming from the room above a deep orange. It was sunset. I approached where I guessed the chapel's hidden gallery would meet the circular room and began pushing against the wall. I slowly made my way around until, with a click, a secret door opened and swung out.
I stared at the entrance to the dark chapel beyond, begging my feet to move. Exhaustion and hunger were beginning to bore into me, sapping my determination. The end of this hidden path would be the end of the tutorial and an end to this struggle. I just had to make it a few dozen steps.
With sweat dripping from my brow, I walked out onto the gallery. I continued forward, staring at my feet, doing nothing but focusing on the next step.
Sounds from within the chapel begged for my attention, tempting me to look toward the demon, but all I wanted was to get to the other side and out of this hell. I came to the end of the gallery, and without taking even a moment to look around or worry if the door was locked, I pushed at the wall. As before, a click signaled the opening of the secret door, and I was out of the chapel.
I descended a spiral staircase to a third secret door that opened into a wide corridor. To the left was the door I'd seen from within the chapel, closed and sturdy.
I turned to my right. A large, splintered door hung crooked on massive hinges. The sunset's orange light seeped through its large cracks. I walked up and pushed. It swung out, scraping against the stone, and with the touch of a warm, clean breeze, I was out.
Immediately before me was a path, nearly a road, that wound down a hill to a small village about a mile away.
The village and the land between were enclosed by a massive semicircular wall. To my left and right, other keeps—large stone structures—were built into the arc of the wall. A path led from each of the seven keeps to the village below like broken spokes on a wheel. Farmland and orchards made up the bulk of the interior. I could just make out a massive gate set into the flat side of the semicircle, located just beyond the village.
Beyond the fortress walls lay an expanse of green far below as far as I could see, a jungle of immense scope in every direction.
Flickering lights shone from the little village, the movement of life just visible in the fading light.
"I want to get out now," I whispered. "I've had enough, Dev."
I waited.
I wiped a tear from my cheek and began the trek down to the village. Maybe I could find a bed there and sleep whatever remaining time I had in the game away.