The corridor beyond the boy’s starting room was as I expected: long, empty, dark, and with a single small goblin standing in our path, staring at us with red-glowing eyes. I didn’t hesitate. I barreled forward, and, electing to keep my torch in my hand rather than dropping it to retrieve my hammer, I kicked the goblin. The feeling of my sandaled toes crushing the goblin’s ribs made me ill, but with the single blow, the goblin flew back, slamming into the door it had been standing before with a fatal crack of skull on wood.

  Using my foot again, I looted three copper coins and a basic dagger from the body before shouldering my way through the next door. It opened easily, and I stood in a rather large, empty room. Three goblins eyed me with glowing eyes, their claws gleaming from the light of my torch.

  “Go left,” I said to Nyssa.

  I went right, again opting to use my feet as my weapon. The goblins were smaller than the ones before, their movements almost sluggish in comparison. I thundered forward, using the momentum of my whole body to drive my foot into the goblin’s chest. The little monster flew back, its body crumpling against the far wall. Nyssa had already dispatched the goblin and was in the process of slitting the final’s throat.

  Then it was over, the pink blood of the three goblins pooling in little puddles on the stone ground. I was reminded of the desiccated warriors I had first fought. They, too, had been very weak. Dev had placed an easy path for the players, one where they were sure to succeed. One that, at least for me, had terminated in an unbeatable foe.

  I adjusted my hold on the boy.

  There was nothing to do now but press on. I ignored the dead, continuing to the other side of the chamber and kicking the door open. Another long, dark corridor met us. However, this one terminated at an arched doorway unlike anything I’d seen in the keep so far.

  Two goblins stood in our way. Nyssa zipped forward, immediately going for the neck. The first goblin fell with pale blood pouring down its chest. She attacked the second, having less success, but still bringing it down in a matter of seconds. She was getting better.

  We approached the door. It looked ancient. Reliefs were carved into the dry and cracked wood, the depictions worn to the point of being indecipherable. Heavy metal braces, unrusted in the dry air, made the door seem impenetrable, sturdy. I placed my hand against its cool surface.

  As I expected, the path ended with a boss room. I could try fighting the boss, but if it were anything like the other two I’d come across, I’d fail, and both the boy and I would get slaughtered. There were two other options. We go back to the boy’s starting room, climb up through the hole, and try to find an exit from that floor. But what would I do if we ran into another horde like the one from the trap room? I couldn’t fight that many while holding the boy, and if I set him down, he’d be killed. And even if we didn’t run into another large party of vampire goblins, we would very probably wander for hours and days, eventually succumbing to starvation. Which was my other option. We just wait here, in the cool darkness until we both die of dehydration. If that happened, we’d respawn back in the village.

  I did want to die, but that might be the best choice. I could even try going back to the trap room and simply jump into the pit, avoiding a prolonged death. I imagined standing on the edge of the pit, staring into the darkness, then taking a step off with the boy on my shoulder. I shook my head. There was no way I could do that.

  I leaned back and closed my eyes, adjusting the boy who still clung to my neck.

  I was faced with another boss room. I was stronger than I had been, but there was no way I was ready to face anything like the demon or the necromancer.

  But maybe I didn’t have to.

  Both rooms had had exits, ways to get through the boss room without actually fighting.

  “Alright,” I said, gripping the boy tighter and turning to look at Nyssa. She met my gaze. “We are going in. We are going to fight. Our goal is first reconnaissance, then escape. If we’re lucky, there will be a door on the far side. That’s our goal. Understand?”

  I felt a twinge of frustration from Nyssa, but she inclined her small head. I returned the gesture.

  “We’re going to go in quietly, look for the exit, and then we’re either going to charge it, or retreat and come up with a plan.”

  Nyssa nodded again, clearly wanting me to get on with it.

  “Hold on to me,” I whispered to the boy. “We’re almost out.”

  His arms tightened around my neck, and he pushed his face harder into my neck.

  I lightly pushed on the door, and it started to swing inward, gliding on surprisingly smooth hinges. I took a few steps back. My heart pounded in my chest as I glared at the entry. I tried to summon the feeling of rage that smothered all other emotions, but it lay dormant. All I felt was a great amount of fear and a surprising amount of determination. I desperately wanted to save this little boy from any additional suffering.

  Nyssa and I stared into the deep darkness, straining to see anything. I turned my torch to the room, all was bare, empty floor. I slowly took a step forward, aware of the scratching of my sandals on the stone. Nyssa crept beside me, crouched low and ready to react. My eyes darted about, desperately trying to detect the slightest movement.

  The boss arena was a massive, empty chamber. I could just make out the wall on the far side, the light of my torch barely strong enough to reach. A door. I could just make it out against the gray wall. It was dozens of feet away, but there was nothing between it and us.

  My breath quickened. My heart hammered. I readied myself to sprint with every bit of strength I could muster.

  A scratch against stone.

  Nyssa tensed beside me, a lance of emotion shooting through our bond. I had done it again, committed the most basic of mistakes; I had forgotten to look up.

  I raised my eyes. A pair of red orbs peered down at me from directly above. Like evil stars appearing from behind fading clouds, dozens and dozens of red eyes appeared above us.

  I turned back the way we’d come.

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  “RU—”

  What must have been five goblins dropped onto me, immediately tearing the boy from my back. He screamed as he fell, but I lost him in the darkness. I swung my fists at the falling vampire goblins, having no time to pull out my hammer. The goblins were flung away, but these ones were bigger, stronger than any I’d faced before. Their attacks more vicious. Scores of wounds were opened across my body, tearing through my pathetic armor, and rending through skin and fat.

  The boy's screams were cut off. At least he was out of this nightmare.

  Fear of death turned me to the arena’s entrance. I charged forward, knocking still falling goblins aside and wading through the clambering horde at my feet.

  Nyssa leaped to my shoulder.

  I broke through the mass of hip-height bodies, then dove through the open doorway. Goblins charged after me, halting just at the portal between corridor and nightmare. I scrambled to my feet, trying to ready myself to fight, but the goblins were still, red eyes locked on to me.

  A presence, dark and oppressive pressed upon me, drawing my gaze further into the depths of the arena. A pair of eyes, standing higher than the rest, darker yet more pronounced, took my gaze and held it. Malice poured from this creature, smothering me across the distance between us. This was the boss. The master of this mass of too-still bodies. It held me for a moment longer before disappearing with a sickening sense of amusement.

  The light from my torch, still within the boss room, was extinguished, the descending blackness absolute except for the glowing red eyes still staring. Without sound, they all began to shrink, suddenly vanishing all at once.

  I fell to the floor, letting out a shuddering breath.

  The boy . I failed him.

  I lay in the utter darkness for a long time, Nyssa quietly standing beside me, the emotions coming across our bond muted yet surprisingly patient. Eventually, the patience began to wane, spurring me to motion.

  I stood, extracted another torch, and turned the light on the boss's room. The entry door was once again shut.

  “There’s no way we’re making it through that,” I said, my voice hoarse.

  I turned back the way we’d come. I’d chance getting lost in the maze and dying of starvation.

  The trek was short and miserable. We passed the bodies of the five goblins we’d so easily crushed, their existence a mockery of my attempt to save the boy.

  “He’s safe,” I muttered to myself. He’d suffered worse than death before I came, and now he would be in the village, Jeff taking care of him.

  “He’s—”

  A whimper reached us from the room ahead.

  Dread filled me.

  “No.”

  The quiet sound of a boy’s terror roared in the silence.

  “” I hissed through clenched teeth.

  I rushed forward. The cone of my torch light landing on the boy’s huddled form directly in the center of the room.

  I stopped. Staring.

  He should have been sent back to the village. He should be warm, fed, .

  A sound from above drew my attention. Glowing eyes peered at us from the hold I’d created. Waiting.

  I stood still, uncertainty gripping, a clamp slowly being tightened. I couldn’t go up the way I’d come in. I couldn’t fight the boss and its throng of vampire goblins. I couldn’t sit here and starve to death. I had no options.

  I began to shake.

  I could do nothing.

  My heart raced.

  I was nothing.

  My vision tunneled.

  The boy slammed into me, yanking me back into the moment. I blinked then looked down. He clung to my leg, his little body shaking. I put my hand on his back, pulling him close.

  Something hardened, casting aside the doubt, replacing it with determination. I looked back up to the hole I’d pounded through the floor.

  A mad idea bloomed.

  I scooped up the boy. He wrapped his arms around my neck and buried his face in my shoulder.

  “Whatever happens,” I said, my voice rough, “hold on.”

  I turned back toward the path leading to the boss arena and charged forward.

  We reached the door in seconds. I didn’t hesitate despite the fear roiling through me. I shifted the boy, carrying him like he was football, lowered my shoulder, and smashed through the double-door.

  A sea of hundreds of red eyes immediately focused on us. One pair hung in the darkness above the rest. It caught my own. I saw no features, but I swore it smiled.

  All hell broke loose.

  The mass of goblins scrambled toward us, making no sound except for claws clacking against stone.

  I veered to my right, angling away from the main body of the horde and toward the wall.

  “Just run!” I roared as Nyssa slowed to face the incoming goblins. Luckily, she listened.

  Before we reached the mob, I flung my torch as hard as I could, hoping my memory was correct and my luck would hold.

  I crashed into the swarm. Goblins crunched beneath my steps. Claws tore at my legs. Teeth bit down and broke off as I charged through like a man wading through a torrent of water. My adrenaline pushed my strength beyond anything it had reached before. Nyssa followed in my wake, staying close.

  I held the boy as high above the grasping claws as I could, but I still felt small tugs and yelps from the boy as we ran. It was this that fueled me, that kept me from succumbing to the pressing weight of hundreds of bodies. Blood splattered and bones cracked and I kept moving.

  The light from the torch I’d thrown guided me forward, each step a choice to keep pushing. My legs were flayed. My muscles were aflame. I didn’t slow.

  And then I saw it. Bathed in the light of my torch was a door, and our salvation.

  We could survive.

  I bent all my focus to the purpose of survival, becoming consumed by nothing but the next step.

  We burst through the mass of goblins.

  My speed immediately picked up, our little group hurtling toward the door. I lowered my shoulder, slamming into the heavy wood at full speed. I felt something crack in both my shoulder and the door as an incredible thud resounded through the room. I bounced back. The door had held.

  Goblins swarmed toward our rear as I put my weight against the wood, desperately hoping for it to give. The scraping of claws grew louder.

  I bellowed in frustration and started pounding with my free fist. I could feel the ancient wood giving way, but it wasn’t enough. The vampire goblins ran into me like a bucket of water dropped against stone. I bowed my back, holding the boy to my chest, trying to keep him away from the grasping claws and gnashing fangs. Nyssa leaped onto me, hissing and chirping at the goblins as they attempted to climb up after her. Her claws kept them off of me.

  Like a piston, my fist jack-hammered into the door. Skin split and peeled, and knuckles cracked. Each strike was agony. My clothes and armor, what remained of them, were torn from my body as teeth and claws ripped through leather, then cloth, then flesh. Pain beyond what I thought possible burned along my back and legs. I could do nothing but continue my onslaught. It was our only chance.

  My end was near. My body grew weaker, my stamina giving out. We’d die here. The boy, sent back to the lonely darkness.

  Then it came. Like white-hot magma breaking through to open air, the rage I’d so desperately wanted finally emerged, granting its numbing strength and focus. I roared into the darkness and pulled back for one final blow.

  A vampire goblin lunged into the gap, hands outstretched for the boy huddled against my chest. Like the hammer of a vengeful god, my fist fell, catching the goblin in the head. Like a cherry tomato, it exploded between my fist and the door.

  My fist continued, punching through the door and opening a hole to the outside. Light poured in, rays piercing the darkness. I blinked against the sudden light, but what was blinding to me must have been agony for the vampire goblins. They screeched, finally releasing a sound, horrible and pained. They clambered back from the light. I took advantage of the respite, slamming against the weakened door with my shoulder. My beating had created not just a hole, but a crack too. It widened as I worked against the wood, and within seconds, the three of us stumbled into the late afternoon sun.

  Weakness overcame me, and I nearly fell and dropped the boy. With faltering steps, I caught myself and gritted my teeth. Steps gaining some semblance of steadiness, I began the trek back to the village. My mind was fuzzy and on the brink of failure. Pain erupted through me with every step, and my back and legs felt like they’d been flayed to the bone, but before all of the pain was a feeling I’d almost never experienced: pride.

  Pride made each step possible, driving me to complete my self-imposed task and get the boy to safety. It was pride that kept my back straight and my gait steady.