Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode

Clyde was thrown into the ground and hit it hard. He could feel pain spread through his entire body the moment he crashed. For several seconds he just lay there, unable to move as dust and debris continued falling around him.

He was worried that the impact had caused more damage than he could handle.

But after a few moments, the pain subsided. Clyde slowly pushed himself up.

His body hurt, but nothing felt seriously damaged. His bones were intact and he could still move his limbs normally.

"That wasn’t as bad as I thought," he muttered.

Clyde pushed himself off the ground and jumped back onto his feet. A cloud of dust still hung around him, partially obscuring his surroundings.

He looked toward the place where the monster was before.

The creature now collapsed on one of the floating platforms. Its massive body lay motionless among the ruins. Its head had been burned, and Samuel’s spear embedded deep inside its forehead.

Clyde stared at the corpse for several seconds.

"Is it over?" he asked, slowly exhaled in relief.

Several meters away, Samuel, Leyan, Maira, and Don stood together. Arven slightly behind them as usual, his staff still in his hands.

They all turned when they noticed Clyde standing.

"You alright, Jack?" Don asked.

Clyde nodded once. "I’m fine."

"Yeah. Something like that wouldn’t be enough to kill you," Don said with a grin.

Clyde ignored the comment and looked toward the fallen serpent.

"Is everything over?"

"I don’t know," Samuel replied. "Nobody seems eager to go check, so let’s wait for a while."

Nobody argued. They were still where they were for several moments, watching the enormous body. But the serpent did not move.

Eventually, Samuel relaxed his stance. "It looks like it’s dead."

The others finally allowed themselves to breathe more easily.

Samuel raised one hand. A moment later, the spear embedded in the serpent’s head suddenly disappeared from the corpse and flew back toward him. He caught it effortlessly before inspecting the weapon.

Then his gaze then shifted toward the distant castle.

"That castle must be hiding something important," Samuel said. "That thing was protecting the place. We should start there."

Clyde looked toward the ruined castle. He had the same thought. There was no reason for a monster like that to guard an ordinary ruin.

The group immediately began moving toward the castle.

They crossed the floating ruins one after another, jumping across platforms and lands. The distance between the ruins made the journey dangerous, but they had already become accustomed to moving through this strange environment.

Eventually the massive castle appeared directly before them again. The main gate stood beneath several enormous stone towers. Parts of the walls had collapsed, but the entrance was still surprisingly intact.

Samuel looked toward Leyan. "Leyan, what can you see?"

The elf’s eyes began glowing green. He focused his gaze on the castle.

After several seconds, Leyan shook his head. "I don’t see any more monsters guarding it. I can’t tell what’s inside, though."

Samuel nodded. "That’s good enough. Let’s get inside."

They approached the enormous gate. Samuel placed both hands against it and pushed.

Nothing happened.

Don stepped forward. "Move."

He grabbed the edge of the gate and forced his strength into it.

The metal groaned. The big gate began moving slowly.

Everyone expected it to crumble under their strength after surviving whatever had destroyed the rest of the castle. But the gate resisted surprisingly well. Its hinges screamed as the massive doors were forced open.

With one final push, the entrance opened wide enough for them to pass.

The group stepped inside. The sight immediately revealed what had happened to the castle.

Broken pieces of stone floated in the enormous entrance hall. Furniture had been thrown across the floor, some of it embedded into walls or suspended in the air by strange distortions.

Corpses were scattered everywhere. They wore medieval clothing. Some appeared to have been soldiers judging from the remains of armor and weapons, some wore robes and uniforms that suggested they had once been servants or castle workers, or nobles.

Blood had dried on the stone floor. Nobody reacted strongly because after everything they had seen, corpses were no longer surprising them.

Clyde stepped over one of the bodies and continued forward.

Then one of the corpses moved. Its fingers twitched.

Clyde immediately stopped.

Several other bodies began moving at the same time. Bones cracked. Dead soldiers slowly pushed themselves off the floor. Their empty eyes glowed with faint light as they raised their weapons.

"Undead," Leyan said.

The creatures charged. But this time, the fight lasted only a few seconds when they all combined their strength.

"Let’s keep going," Samuel said after all that finished.

They continued deeper into the castle. Eventually they reached another enormous door. Samuel pushed it open.

The doors creaked loudly as they revealed the castle’s main hall.

This chamber was enormous. A long carpet stretched across the center of the floor, now covered in dust and blood.

Tall pillars lined both sides of the hall, their upper sections cracked or partially destroyed. Large windows shattered, allowing the black sky and flashes of lightning outside to loom through the gaps.

Broken chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Some were still floating despite their damaged chains. There was something unsettling about the silence.

The party moved deeper into the castle.

"We need to search this castle," Samuel said. "We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet."

Clyde glanced toward the others. "Should we split up?"

Nobody immediately answered. The suggestion clearly did not sound appealing. Clyde couldn’t blame them.

After fighting the serpent outside and seeing the condition of the castle, splitting their forces would only make them easier targets.

Samuel eventually shook his head. "No. We should stay together."

"All right," Clyde said.

They continued as a single group.

They passed through several sections of the castle. The deeper they went, the worse the scene became.

They found only scattered bloodstains. Then there were larger pools. Then pieces of flesh. Then they began finding intestines and mangled body parts scattered on the floor.

Whatever had happened here had not been a simple battle. Something had slaughtered the people inside the castle. Clyde could not shake the feeling that whatever had done it might still be somewhere inside.

The group continued carefully.

Eventually, they reached a massive pair of doors.

Samuel pushed them open. Beyond them was the throne room.

The chamber was enormous, with a high ceiling. At the far end stood a raised platform where an elaborate throne stood.

But the throne was not what immediately caught their attention. A long wooden table had been overturned in the center of the room. Chairs were scattered everywhere. Several bodies lay around the table, their clothing torn apart and their bodies horribly mangled. Blood covered the floor.

The entire party fell silent. Clyde’s gaze slowly moved across the throne room. There he noticed something emitting dark mist.

That something, starts to rise up.

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