In the shadowed cell, Ty, with his skeletal form marked with blackened patches, stood on the dark granulated ground.
Thankfully, the bars were spaced wide enough for him to slide through, though no flesh-and-blood human could have managed it. By dislocating his shoulder bones, Ty wriggled out into the dungeon's main hall.
As Ty traversed the corridors, his thoughts raced, "From a quaint village to this heavy dungeon -- why and how did this happen?"
His eyes darted around, searching for any detail that might hint at his location. His footsteps echoed off the stone as he moved deeper down the corridor.
Cells lined the pathway in both directions. Each held its own horror story.
Some were filled with skeletal remains. Others were worse, packed with shredded flesh and lingering body parts left behind by King Yami's punishments.
Ty slowed at one cell where old claw marks covered the inside of the door. He did not know who had made them, or how long they had lasted, but the marks were deep enough to make him tighten his grip on the tanto.
A tremble passed through Ty's skeletal frame as he mumbled, "If I still had a stomach, it'd be on the floor by now."
He tightened his grip on the tanto. Its cold metal steadied him despite the ugly hall. Ahead, a sturdy metal door loomed, with a small window of bars revealing glimpses of the outside. There sat an abandoned wooden chair -- just as the goblin had described.
The chair bothered him more than the door. It looked too ordinary, the kind of thing someone dragged over when guard duty got boring. In a place like this, ordinary things felt crueler than chains.
Still, doubt crept in. Did the goblin plan to join forces with him, or had he conveniently vanished to dodge blame for Ty's escape? After all, Ty had offered to ally with him.
Ty pushed against the door.
SCRRREEEE
BOOONGGGG
Its rusty hinges screeched as it swung open far more easily than its heavy frame suggested. The door banged against stone, and the sound rolled down the hallway.
For a few seconds, silence returned. Then a distant crash sounded, followed by footsteps growing louder.
Ty pressed himself into a dim corner, just outside the wavering light of a nearby candle.
The damp air grew tense as the sound of heavy footsteps echoed closer.
A creature stepped out of the shadows, about the size of the previous guard. This one had a scar under its right eye and dark marks across rough skin.
Pausing for a moment, it took a look at its surroundings, before moving forward towards the door with purpose.
Ty could hear it grumble in a commanding voice, as it griped about someone's incompetence.
Ty pressed himself tightly into the corner of the shadowed room, every bone in his body begging for the creature not to notice him.
Shadows danced across the floor, making the environment even more cold.
Hearing the approaching footsteps that indicated that the creature was about to walk past him, Ty held his breath, out of old habit, trying to become one with the darkness of this prison.
The creature's eyes, which were a soft shade of orange, scanned the room lazily. However, when they landed on Ty's corner, they began to shift, darkening its shade to a dark red.
Its stare cut through Ty's skeletal form and made him feel exposed.
As the creature drew closer, candlelight revealed the remains of its recent meal. Humanoid flesh hung from its mouth, and scraps were stuck between its teeth.
A realization hit Ty like a brick. This creature was not simply a guard. It was a predator feeding on the people it watched.
The sight sent a cold shiver through Ty's skeletal form.
With a look of disdain in its eyes, the creature spat out a half-eaten arm, which hit the stone floor with a sickening sloppy wet sound.
The sound snapped something clean inside Ty. Fear still lived in him, sharp and cold, but anger climbed over it. Whoever that arm had belonged to had been a person before becoming scraps in a monster's mouth.
Even though he didn't have them, Ty felt his insides churn, or at least, he imagined they would have if he still had them.
The creature seemed to have seen Ty, and thinking that he was someone who had been dead for a long given that there were only bones, chuckled.
"Grrr, none of these bones are good enough to be my toothpick. KEKE."
As the creature laughed, making a mocking joke about "toothpicks," Ty's growing fear was rapidly replaced with burning anger.
Without warning, Ty felt himself being hoisted up into the air, only to be dropped unceremoniously just moments later. The creature, seemingly losing interest, turned its back on him.
That dismissive gesture snapped something in Ty. He pushed himself back up as the flames on his back blazed harder, filling the room with a cold glow.
For a second he heard Jade yelling at him in memory, telling him he was too reckless. He almost laughed. She would have been right, but the thought of stepping aside and letting this creature keep breathing made the flames burn hotter.
A spectral cape materialized around him, fluttering in an unseen wind.
Not even wasting a chance, Ty's bony fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of his tanto blade, preparing for the imminent confrontation.
Ty's surroundings melded into a distorted blur, each of his movements feeling exaggerated and off-balance as if he was seeing all of that through a distorted lens.
With determination, he summoned the strength to leap, hurling himself onto the guard's broad back.
The world spun around him, sick and uneven.
Their combined weight slammed them against the metal door. The impact jarred Ty's bones, but he drove the tanto deep into the creature's neck.
A hoarse scream tore out of the creature's throat. The collision slammed the metal door shut, cutting the sound down to a muffled cry.
Thick blood gushed from the wound and splattered over Ty's bony frame. Horror should have swallowed him. Instead, power rushed through him as he drew the blade out.
It felt like he was drawing life from the goblin.
Then his sternum flared. Light beat there in time with the power flooding through him.
As the intensity of the glow began to shift, turning from a fiery red to a calm green, the goblin mustered strength, refusing to admit defeat.
In a desperate attempt, it swung a powerful fist at Ty. The force of the fist sent Ty's skeletal form hurtling, crashing into a nearby stone wall.
The goblin clutched its wound, spat blood, and glared at Ty with pure malice.
TICK TUKK CLICK
Gathering his wits, Ty managed to pull himself upright, his bones making clicking sounds as they got back into their places. Looking directly at the goblin, he retorted, "I wonder if those humans you feasted upon screamed the same way as you?"
The goblin's eyes narrowed, its voice dripping with disdain, "Why would you care about some leftovers? To me, you're nothing more than a pile of bones."
The creature spat out the words, emphasizing its contempt. Its meaty, green hands moved in a frenetic dance, each of its gestures filled with purpose and hideous intent. It overlapped its hands pressing the left one onto the right.
After he did that, both of his hands began to glow, casting a dark green hue that filled the entire space between the two.
Without warning, the creature lunged towards Ty, its movement almost a blur.
Ty, however, felt a jolt of intuition, similar to the primal alertness he had experienced before. He swiftly disassembled, letting the goblin's attack pass harmlessly through his scattered bones.
Then, with the same newfound agility, Ty swiftly reassembled himself, and without hesitation, retaliated by thrusting the tanto blade into the goblin's side, not once, but several times.
Each of his strikes was followed by a taunt, "Perhaps it's high time you felt some pain for your heinous deeds."
Amidst the chaos, clarity dawned on Ty. He knew that he needed to act fast. The creature was dangerous, and every moment wasted was a moment closer to potential defeat.
As the goblin swung again, its footing betrayed it, causing wobble while the pool of blood formed from the blood leaking from its wounds made the ground slick, causing it to lose balance and crash to the floor.
Seizing the moment, Ty stood right above the creature, his form casting an imposing silhouette against the low light.
With a final motion, Ty plunged the tanto deep into the goblin's neck. In response, the creature's power to fight back began to ebb away, while its life force was being drawn out before culminating in a small pulsing orb that detached and hurtled towards Ty.
The force of the orb's impact threw Ty off balance, sending him sprawling on the ground.
As he lay there, Ty felt a distinct chill as the flames on his back seemed to have dimmed. Slowly lifting his hands, he saw the sight of the goblin's blood smeared all over them.
The life he had taken settled over him as he stared at the body still leaking trails of blood.
It was not the first death near him, but it was the first one that felt fully attached to his own hands. The power rush faded, leaving behind the wet floor, the smell, and the blade in his grip.
However, he was quickly alerted as footsteps echoed nearby, followed by a familiar voice. "Hey, skeleton buddy! I thought the boss stepped out. So, if you need..."
The voice trailed off as the goblin guard looked around the corner and noticed the lifeless form of their boss lying on the ground.
He then turned to Ty, surprise and unease plain on his green face.
Trying to keep his voice as steady as he could, he asked, "Were you planning on doing that to me too?"