Before Apocalypse Read online

  Before Apocalypse

  Dungeons of Perdition

  Book 1

  Abhisek Basu

  Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, locations are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2019 Abhisek Basu

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author. This includes all forms of duplication, film adaptations, audio narrations.

  Table of Contents

  Disclaimer

  Copyright

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Continued in Book 2

  A short story about Marcus Adams

  Final Words from the author

  Letter every other week

  Links

  Bonus: Free Horror Story from SCARE SCARE 1

  Want to read more LitRPG and GameLit?

  Dedication

  This book is primarily dedicated to all my readers. Without your love and support, this book wouldn't exist.

  To my editors, ARC readers, beta readers and friends who read through this book as their first LitRPG book, without whom this book wouldn’t be as perfect as it is now.

  To all my friends namely Monodeep Dutta, Srijeet Ghosh, Aritrodev Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Pal, who’ve always stuck with me through thick and thin.

  To Rob Billiau, who helped with finding the right places to spread the word.

  Finally, a huge thanks to Aleron Kong, Tao Wong, Ramon Meja, Cosimo Yap, Travis Bagwell, James hunter and other greats who’ve helped create the genre and build it to what it is today.

  Introduction

  Thanks for picking up this book.

  A short advice before you read this:

  Suspend all disbelief. Everything is true, even if you think it is not. That is the best way to experience any book, including this.

  Good luck. See you on the other side.

  Chapter 1

  7 days 6 hours until the apocalypse.

  Heinlem Asylum, Tholos. 6:13 PM.

  A bright green source of light, shining. That light bulb was the first thing Natalie saw when she opened her eyes. The bright light felt like it was piercing a hole through her head.

  She squinted, clutching her forehead in her hand. The pain felt unreal. She tried looking away, but the headache refused to cease.

  Holding her head with one hand, she stood up placing her other hand on the floor. Beneath her, she could feel the cold concrete floor with its uneven ridges pushing against her feet.

  She looked around and saw that she was being held behind bars. Thick rods of steel separated her from her cell and the dark hallway in front of her.

  She tried to remember where she was, but she could recollect nothing.

  That is when she saw a dark, transparent screen with glowing greenish-blue borders appear in front of her vision.

  The following words appeared:

  __________

  Welcome to Dungeons of Perdition.

  How do you feel?

  __________

  “Where am I?” Natalie said the words aloud, as it echoed in the silence. For a brief moment, she heard a mumbling sound coming from the hallway, followed by the distant sound of footsteps. Wherever she was, she was not alone.

  The screen in her vision went blank and new words reappeared:

  __________

  You need not say the words aloud. Saying the words aloud will alert the guards and you will never be able to escape this asylum.

  Let’s try this again.

  Use your thoughts to communicate with me. Think and reply.

  __________

  Natalie wasn’t sure what was happening. In her entire life, or what she could remember despite a headache that felt like a thousand hangovers combined, she didn’t remember doing anything that would land her in the situation she was in. She tried to remember who she was, but all her memories felt like a canvas covered in smoke, refusing to reveal themselves.

  Is this a dream? Was she going insane?

  The words disappeared and reappeared on the screen as soon as she asked this question using her conscious thoughts:

  __________

  No. This is not a dream.

  __________

  Where am I? What is this place? What am I doing here? Why am I behind bars?

  Natalie waited as the screen went blank again.

  __________

  Slow down, child. Those are too many questions.

  Your head should have stopped hurting by now. Are you feeling better?

  __________

  The words on the screen were right. Her headache had disappeared.

  “Yes,” she thought.

  The screen in her vision went blank again and new words appeared.

  ______________________

  I am Aurora. Welcome to my world, Natalie White.

  I am your God. This is your world now. You must save it.

  But first, you need to escape this asylum.

  The luminaries before you, who have escaped, are out there in Tholos, living their life, completing quests and trying to save the world.

  _______________

  Natalie felt a cold gust of wind flow past her body. She looked forward and saw an open window at the end of the hallway. It seemed to have similar thick rods that formed shadows on the concrete floor from the moonlight.

  Natalie walked forward and touched the iron rods in front of her. Cold, hard steel greeted her soft palm. She tried shaking it, asking, “What is this place? Why am I here?”

  _______________

  We are all here because we have a duty. You are a luminary. You must save the world.

  ________________

  “But I want to go back. I want to go home,” Natalie said, with tears in her eyes while shaking the rods in front of her.

  The rods barely moved.

  _______________

  This is your home now. You have 5 minutes left. Would you like to escape this asylum and begin your path as a luminary?

  Or like the ones before you who refused, would you like severe all contact with me and stay as a prisoner forever?

  _______________

  “I want to escape,” Natalie said, having no other choice. The distant footsteps started echoing louder in the hallway.

  __________

  Very well.

  I know you have it in you.

  This is Evan.

  I have opened his cage and told him to find you.

  He will show you how to get out. Follow him closely.

  _________

  The screen disappeared from her vision. Natalie looked ahead and saw no one. Then she heard a voice say, “Hey! I’m here to help you.”

  Natalie walked towards the iron bars.

  She looked sideways saw a little boy in a blue sweater, talking to someone in the cage beside her. The boy had yellow hair and despite wearing a red oversized sweater, he wore yellow shorts below him.

  “You’re Natalie, right?” he said, looking at
the cell in front of him. A man growled back which startled him.

  Natalie expected her savior to be older, and not a toddler who didn’t seem older than eight. But if this was the Evan that was going to help her escape, she had to take her chances.

  Natalie clapped her hands and called out to him, “Hey kid! Come here!”

  She said the words just loud enough for the boy to hear, but not loud enough to echo throughout the hallway. She saw her look at him, and smile innocently.

  “Ah, there you are!”

  “What are you doing here? What is this place?”

  “This is Heinlem Asylum. I will help you escape. We need to hurry up.”

  “But how? How do you know my name?”

  “I can speak with the Gods. Aurora told me to help you.”

  Natalie paused and kept looking at the kid in front of him.

  “What if I say no?”

  “Then I’ll go back and you’ll be stuck here for a long time,” the boy said as if he knew everything all along. He continued:

  “Trust me. You do not want that. There were others before you who chose to stay. They’re still here, rotting in cages to this day.”

  Natalie didn’t know what to do. Would she be safer inside a cage or trust a toddler and break out of the asylum?

  She rolled her eyes upwards in order to bring the screen down. It worked, which surprised her. She discovered that if she focused her vision near the bottom, she could scroll through screens and open different tabs navigating through each option using just her thoughts.

  “What are you waiting for? We don’t have much time!” Evan screamed, grabbing the bars with his tiny hands.

  “Wait one minute,” Natalie said, scrolling through each screen. One of the screens said “Player Statistics”

  She clicked on it.

  A screen appeared with her name on the top.

  _________

  Natalie White.

  Player Statistics:

  Level- 0

  XP- 0 [100XP needed for Level 1]

  Health: 70%

  Energy: 0/100

  Stamina: 0

  Strength: 0

  Intelligence: 0

  Agility: 0

  __________

  “This seems like a video game!” Natalie muttered to herself.

  At the corner of the screen, she saw an icon which said, “Send Prayer.”

  She clicked on it, and instructions appeared.

  _______

  Fold your hands, close your eyes, and think about your prayer.

  If Aurora is not busy, She will help you.

  _______

  “I’m not supposed to be here. Is this a game? Am I wearing an immersion rig right now? Exit game! Shutdown!” Natalie thought while closing her eyes and folding her hands.

  She thought about whether she was religious in her previous life.

  “What are you doing? Now is not the time to pray! We have to go!” Evan said, rattling the iron bars.

  Natalie waited for a reply.

  The screen overflowed with text.

  ________________________

  You’re not dead. If you’re lucky, you will avoid death in this world.

  Death always brings with it a journey to your hell-

  ________________________

  “I need to go, bye!” Evan said and started walking away.

  “No, Wait!” Natalie said and closed her screen. “Just tell me what to do.”

  “No. It’s too risky now.”

  “Please. I can’t be here. Please don’t go,” Natalie pleaded, hoping the little boy will show mercy.

  Chapter 2

  7 Days 8 hours until the apocalypse

  Tholos Public University, 4:05 pm

  “So what have we learned today?” Travis said to a classroom of self-defense students who eagerly raised their hands.

  Pointing to a girl who raised her hand lower than the others near the back, Travis said, “Emma Rogers. Explain to the class what we learned.”

  Emma stood up from her seat and looked at everyone nervously.

  “Our goal is to form a salt circle as fast as possible. During an attack by shadow demons, we won’t have much time to think. The process must be automatic and for that, we need to practice every day,” she said.

  “Very good, Emma!” Travis said, picking up the documents from the desk in front of him and putting them in his bag.

  “I have to leave early today. I have to go somewhere,” Travis said swinging his bag over his shoulder.

  “Where are you going Travis?” asked a boy from the back of the room.

  “I have to meet a friend,” Travis said trying to avoid eye contact.

  “A female friend?” a little girl asked, and they all started giggling. Travis felt embarrassed. It wasn’t a secret anymore after one of the parents had seen Travis and Emily together at the Redorok bar. Soon, they all wanted to know about her and when they found out that Travis hadn’t professed his love for Emily;

  Almost all of them wanted to know how everything was going.

  Travis did not mind this. Initially, he did not like the idea of his own students learning about his personal life, but in Tholos, everyone pretty much knew everything about everyone else. He figured he’d rather be a part of the gossip about him and be closer to his teenage students rather than have them talk about him behind his back.

  “Yes, Jennifer. A female friend. And you all know who that female friend is.”

  “Are you taking her out somewhere?”

  “No, we’ll be at the bar.”

  The class booed for a split second-

  “But,” Travis shouted to silence the boos- “She will be off duty, and we’ll be sitting together at a table.”

  “Why aren’t you taking her somewhere else?” Julia, from the third row, questioned.

  “There’s this singer coming to sing at the bar that she really wants to see,” Travis said and saw everyone in the class talking to each other.

  “There’s this singer? Seriously Travis? That’s how you describe one of the greatest solo singers of Tholos?” Trevor said with a disappointing sigh.

  “Seriously? Ian Floyd is the greatest solo singer of Tholos?”

  “Yes!” chanted all the girls in the front row rolling their eyes.

  “Have you heard his lyrics? If Redorok allowed minors to go in, I’m sure we’d all be there now,” Julia said, to which everyone nodded in agreement.

  “And miss my class which will definitely end up saving your lives someday?” Travis said and laughed.

  “Come on Travis. We all know the dome’s gonna crack and we’re all gonna die soon. If the shadow demons have managed to seep in from the cracks, I’m sure whatever’s out there will soon seep in too.” Michelle said from the back.

  “You can’t be that pessimistic, Michelle,” Travis said, with a broken voice knowing that what she was saying wasn’t very unlikely. Wiping off nervous sweat from his forehead, Travis said, “When or if it happens, I’m sure we will all find a way to keep ourselves safe. We have always done that, haven’t we?”

  The class nodded in agreement, as Travis pushed his chair forward, getting ready to leave.

  “I’ll see you all tomorrow. Remember to always carry salt in your pockets. Wish me luck!”

  “Good luck, Travis!” everyone shouted in unison, as Travis opened the door only to see Principal Sanderson standing in front of the doorway.

  “Where do you think you’re going, Mr. Travis Wilson?”

  “Well, alright then. We’ll have to do it without you. You can leave,” Principal Sanderson said with a hint of disappointment in his voice but Travis ignored it.

  One of the men kept the box on Travis’ desk, and as Travis left the room he heard Julia ask, “What’s in the box, sir?”

  Travis was still within hearing distance when he heard Principal Sanderson say the words that made him stop walking.

  “Well, it’s a shadow demon!” Principal Sanderson said, t
o which the classroom echoed with a unanimous “Oooooooo” from all the students.

  Travis ran back inside the room. Catching his breath, he repeated Julia’s question but slowly this time, “What is in the box, sir?”

  “A shadow demon. Mr. Jonathan here caught it outside Jetson Park in a salt circle. It is inside a salt circle inside this small glass box.”

  “You bought a shadow demon inside my classroom? Do you realize how dangerous that is?”

  Principal Sanderson pulled away the white piece of cloth. The classroom went silent. At first, it looked like there was nothing inside the glass box. It seemed to be empty. But, as everyone craned their necks over, the shadow demon was perfectly visible. It looked like a shadow on the wooden base, circling around on its own, trying to find a way through the circle of salt that surrounded it. Each time it touched the salt circle, it reeled back. Travis could see its red glowing eyes searching the glass box for any point of escape.

  Staring the glass box with wide-open eyes, Travis looked back at Principal Sanderson who patted him on his shoulder, saying,

  “Relax, Mr. Wilson. It will be perfectly safe. We will all be inside a salt circle. Whenever one of your students is ready, we will break the salt circle and see how quickly your student manages forms a salt circle to protect themselves.”

  “With all due respect, you can’t be serious about this, sir. Someone could get very hurt,” Travis said, as Principal Sanderson laughed.

  “Come on, Mr. Wilson. Where is your spirit? I have faith in you and our students do too. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

  The class responded by shouting, “Yes!”

  Travis looked at the watch. He was already late.

  “Now, since you’re here, Mr. Wilson, why don’t you help me pick a student?”

  Almost everyone raised their hands, but Travis didn’t know who to pick. He could pick anyone, but if for any reason that person failed to form a salt circle in time, whatever happened to them would be Travis’ fault. He thought very carefully and in the end, chose Jennifer from the front row.

  “Very well. All the best to you, Jennifer!”