Chapter One:

Spelunking

The ornate door stands before me once more. I double check my supplies. Rope, torch, knife, bow, sleep roll, some preserved food and water. There's no telling what is waiting down that corridor, but I'm as prepared as I'll ever be. One deep breath later and I take my first steps on a new adventure. The door shuts behind me, and with it I am left with only the dim purple light emanating from small crystals.

I examine the first few along the path. They are virtually identical and are spaced at what feels like a standard interval. Slowly reaching for the crystal, I feel an odd sensation. Like a low humming sensation at my fingertips, but not a physical feeling at the same time. The only way to describe it is that it feels like magic.

Magic crystals emitting light. I don't know if that is their only purpose, but that certainly is one of their purposes I imagine. It's tempting to pull them from the walls, all of them in this hallway alone would likely sell for a fortune. Any magic items are always sent South because of the war, mostly tools and weapons. They probably send anyone who can make enchantments down there too.

Better to leave them, for now at least. If something happens, I could end up relying exclusively on a torch and this corridor is musty enough without smoke added. I can just grab them on my way out if there isn't anything else to fill my pockets. Still, you have to wonder how decadent a society is to make what amounts to magic candles.

Such thoughts passed through my mind as I descended further along the gentle slope. Minutes of walking turned into hours however, the low light and uniform surroundings made it impossible to know how far I'd traveled. Then it appears in the distance, an end to the lights and what appears to be a heavy gate growing as a I approach. There is a door and window to the left side, possibly a guardhouse. It seems a bit lazy to guard this area rather than put a guard at the door all that way back. Not a big fan of walking it appears, or maybe they just didn't need to. Maybe they didn't have to contend with ne'r-do-wells that steal magic candles.

Wait, stealing is too strong a term. I'm no ruffian. I'm just looting some long-lost place. No one is around after all. Wait, there isn't anyone around, right?

Pressing my head against the door, I hear nothing inside. I see no one through the window either. The door opens easily enough, and I am greeted by silence and a heavy layer of dust. Looks like it's been abandoned for some time. The building is somewhat small, a room with the skeleton of what might have been a bed frame, the main gate room, and what looks like a small armory. The armory is mostly empty, but I find three swords and a couple bows.

All give off a humming sensation similar to the lights, though it feels subtly different. The bows and sword scabbards are black with silver markings forming gently curving designs. The blade pulls from the scabbard with ease, and while I'm no blacksmith I can tell it is a work of art. The edge looks exceptionally sharp still. As for the bows, well something is wrong. I can't even string the bow with how stiff it is. There must be some kind of trick to it. I find a quiver of five arrows, but as I pull an arrow from the quiver it seems to increase in weight tenfold. How do you even fire one of these things?

A quiver that makes your arrows lighter seems like a good catch, and the swords would likely sell for a large sum. Especially if there is some other aspect of its enchantment that I can't figure out. You can't really sell these on the open market though, the government would confiscate them immediately. I'd need to find someone I could sell through on the sly. I'm practically salivating over what kind of treasures I can find here. Maybe I won't have to loot (steal) the candles after all. For now, I'll take a sword to have on me. It will be much more use than my knife if something happens.

Now, let's see what kind of place this gate is guarding.

…

Whatever I expected, it wasn't this. A massive cavern sprawls opens before me, a sprawling city revealed. The buildings are all in a varying state of disrepair, with different mosses and molds growing over everything and giant glowing mushrooms bursting out to illuminate the whole spectacle. At the center is some sort of palace that appears pristine and untouched by whatever ravaged everything else. It stands out as an ebony edifice with graceful lines of silver swirling in a beautiful way.

I see a creature walk out from between a few buildings off in the distance. A strange pig looking creature that has no eyes sniffs its way along, occasionally munching on whatever moss or mushroom appeals to it. It's difficult to get a good judge at this distance, but it looks roughly 115 cm tall. As I'm observing this pig creature a shadow grows over it as an enormous bat silently grabs its prey and flies off, squealing creature in tow.

Legs going weak, I fall to the ground. Story told that before Emperor claimed the throne that savage beasts walked the lands... but these are not His lands. It's not safe, this is a land where monsters roam. It is not safe. Tears are flowing from my eyes, I'm so frighted. It is not safe.

But.

I can't stop myself. I won't go back. I can't go back. A flame was lit inside, and it will consume me.

Copacetic_Emu

"What's up with this guy? You can't just walk into an isekai, you have to be summoned or die. Them's the rules, I don't make them. Wait, what do you mean this isn't an isekai? Are you ever going to have his name mentioned outside of the series description?" I hear you cry, dear reader. Fret not, we still have time to kill the generic MC and get on to a better story with fantasy litRPG elements. I got your back.