Sweat trickled from my forehead and beaded on the blades of grass. My arms quivered under my weight. I lowered my body down to where it was nearly touching the ground. The carapace’s joints jiggled and creaked slightly. I raised myself again I collapsed on my knees exhausted. A new record! I did 10 pushups. I didn’t feel any less pain, but it was unmistakable, it was small but I was making progress, that and I wanted to improve so much that I had started hallucinating. I took deep gulps from a sack of water Lula had been kind enough to give me. I wiped my forehead and got back to work. This time I worked on squats. I did them until I wasn’t sure if it was the carapace or my own knees that were creaking. Previously I had never been one for exercise, Yeah I liked playing football and games as a kid but that didn’t feel like exercise it was done purely for fun. Now that I think about it I wouldn’t mind going back to those days. I collapsed when I was done doing squats. I wasn’t able to completely dampen the fall with my hands causing the spines in the carapace to dig painfully into my butt and back. I lay on the grass gasping for breath. I took another gulp of water. This training was good but it wasn’t enough, this would only take me so far. I looked around me at the grass fields, even getting here had been a struggle.

 

When I awoke in by beaten-down hut I almost immediately got up and out. I was grateful for the fresh breeze that blew over my face.

I took slow steps forward until the hut slowly crept out of sight. There was something different about moving my body with the carapace. My strength seemed to be alright but I couldn’t seem to move very fast. The carapace seemed to place the most burden on my stamina. It wasn’t long before I was bent over gasping for breath. A group of children no older than 6 easily walked past me pointing and laughing.

I made my way past the training camp. It was usually filled with several would-be soldiers training hand-to-hand combat or magic. Today it was deserted. Instead of stopping and turning around as I had until this point, I continued on. Normal training would only get me so far. I continued down a gravel road to a grassy field that I now found myself in.

“You should have said you would be going further today,” said a voice.

 

I turned my head to the voice. It was Lula, in her hands she clutched a bag.

 

“Lula,” I said surprised “ I didn’t expect you to come, What are you doing here?”

 

She raised the bag. “I got you lunch, You’ve been working hard”

 

“You didn’t have to,”

 

“I wanted to,” she said.

 

I reluctantly took the bag and mumbled thank you.

In it was a large sandwich stuffed with cheese salad and meat. I took a bite then another then another. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was. I guess exercise makes you lose your appetite until you actually start eating.

 

Lula chuckled.

“You better slow down before you eat all the food down here,”

 

“What do you mean down here?” I asked through a mouthful of food.

 

“Hmmm, Well we are underground,”

“Wait a minute,” I said looking around me at the vibrant greenery and clear sky. “We’re underground!”

 

She tilted her head. “Yeah, didn’t you know that. This is one of the underground caverns, animals and plants wandered down here and before long an ecosystem blossomed. You could also technically say it’s part of a dungeon.”

 

This was a lot to take in. Not only were we underground we were in a dungeon.

 

Lula laughed. “I suppose nobody has told you,”

 

Shouts echoed from the forest to our left. We both turned in the direction. I could soon hear marching. From within the dark forest, figures returned. So that’s where the recruits from the training camp had gone off to. They had chest armour and gauntlets. They clearly didn’t just have some sort of training drill, they were ragged, and fatigue was clear on their faces. Grime and blood, perhaps more theirs than others stained their tunics underneath.

 

I heard clattering armour right behind me. I turned around and faced 4 recruits sneering at me.

 

“What are you doing with this Otherworlder, Lula?” demanded one of them with ginger hair. He put extra emphasize on otherworlder sneering as he said it.

 

“That’s none of your business, Garn,” Replied Lula defiantly.

 

“Despicable,” spat the ginger, “ Lucia is turning in her grave,”

 

He turned to me. “You’re better off dead! You’re washed up with no abilities, maybe you never had any in the first place and just tricked everyone in the first place. I don’t even know why my father put up with you in the first place! I’ll make sure that I’ll do the job tat you were supposed to do. You’re better off rolling over and dying!”

 

With those final words, the ginger followed by his three buddies departed. The ginger kicked up tufts of grass as he walked.

I dusted off my hands and climbed to my feet.

“I should get going, Thank you for the meal,” I said.

 

“Where are you going,” she asked.

 

“I’m only going to stay on the outskirts, I won’t go far in,” I replied. I trotted away in the ankle-high grass.

I peered into the forest after a ways distance, it got a lot darker and mysterious. I don’t know if I would ever reach that level.

 

“Sebastian,” Called Lula after a while. I turned around

 

“Don’t pay any attention to what Garn said, he’s an idiot.”

 

I nodded. ‘

 

I passed the first tree that headed into the forest. The trees were sparse and light easily filtered through the leaves and branches. It wasn’t long before I saw a monster. Its green body lay half submerged in the gentle gurgling of a stream. I picked up a rock. This should be easy, unfortunately, I hadn’t received any information about this creature when I had been mind-controlled. I leapt at it. My leg cramped as I jumped. In my concentration, I had briefly forgotten about the carapace clad to my body. My launch wasn’t quite as elegant or powerful as I had hoped. Oh well. Now that I looked at it it seemed quite a bit bigger than an ordinary frog. I’ll try to make your death painless! The stone in my hand hit it and bounced off. This was not going how I planned. My body careered forwards and into its slippery and blubbery body. This is not going how I planned.

 

It croaked in surprise and jumped out of the water while I was still grabbing onto it. The sudden movement almost made me hurl. It landed on dry land, the impact knocked me off. I couldn’t tell when it was submerged but it was way bigger than it looked it loomed over me while I was on my butt.

 

Its stout head turned around to face me. Its large simple eyes stared unblinkingly at me. Shivers went down my spine. With a loud croak, it opened its mouth and lunged at me. For a creature that big it moved unbelievably fast. I twisted my body stopping it from gripping my head but instead, it bit onto my arm.

 

“Oh!” I shouted. Luckily it didn’t have teeth instead the bite felt more like a tight clamping pressure albeit very painful. It didn’t help that it dug the spines of the carapace even deeper into me.

 

I could only imagine what I was feeling in the frog’s mouth, it was a horrible squishy and cold feeling. Like cold mud mixed with convulsing intestines. Its mouth opened again and moved up my arm. I whacked its head with my fist but it didn’t give way. Its soft eyes were out of reach. If only I could reach them. I couldn’t stand properly and was unable to dig into the ground properly and drag my arm out. I felt something shift in the frog, not through my body but through my arm trapped in its mouth. I turned my head and just managed to catch a glimpse as the frog's mouth opened impossibly wide and stretched over me. No way in hell, was it trying to eat me whole! My feet were the only thing sticking out of it. The stench was unbearable and the convulsing walls of it pulsed against me. I dug against the walls of the mouth but nothing worked. My fingers graced some sort of soft tissue. I scrambled frantically until I found it again.

 

The frog shook a little when I touched it. With all my strength I grabbed it with the intent of ripping it out of the stupid frog. I slammed into the side of the cheek wall. I think it fell over. It still hadn’t let go. My world spun once more as it got back up. I squeezed it again, but now it had less effect. Well, it seemed that there was nothing I could do I should just takes nap … I snapped my eyes open. I had almost fallen asleep. I gripped the soft tissue with both my hands and pulled with all my strength. It barely had any effect now. My fingers tingled from the effort. Suddenly the pressure around my ankles eased up, the mouth walls pressed against me, the horrible slime attached to it coating my face. I was ejected onto the ground with a splat. The frog hopped from there croaking loudly. I looked at my hand, in it was a small green piece of flesh. It seemed that I had been successful in taking it out. It seemed to have a more solid mass buried inside. I rubbed it between my fingers, I did my best to ignore the disgusting sensation. To my surprise, a small turquoise sphere popped out. I held it up to the light, It was impossibly smooth.

 

“Monster core,” I mumbled. I blinked rapidly. Was that a trace of the leftover memories?

“AHHHAAHAAHAHAA,”

My eyes darted around the forest canopy. That sound was weird even in the forest. I could have sworn it was the sound of someone laughing. Maybe it was the call of some foreign bird. It would be the least weird thing that happened since I got here.

 

I begrudgingly lifted myself onto my feet only to slide back onto my butt. God I hope nobody saw that. This day in and of itself had been an embarrassment. If I wasn’t in so much pain I would be curled up in embarrassment. I crawled to my feet. I shook my arms in small circles. Gunk sloshed out and splattered to the floor. I looked over my body. The carapace was dented in certain places. It was hard to see how damaged my actual body was, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t broken any bones. I had no energy and had nearly died in the grossest most pathetic way possible.