Ax entered the domain, preparing for the most.
Ax sighed deeply.
He was expecting to fight a horde of goblins or an army of skeletons. He slammed the door shut behind him with his leg and waited.
The room in this exact moment was smaller than the room the snake was fought in; it was not as large because you could see the other doors from a distance, still visible. The room itself was a deep maroon and covered in red grass and flora; however, in the middle of the room was a red tree.
At the other side of the room were doors just like the last time, except it was a blue door, a black door, and a much, MUCH larger black door, maybe eight feet tall.
As he walked closer and closer to the red tree... he could see that it wasn't just red; it had bones scattered around the roots of the tree, and the leaves were a deep crimson red. As he walked around the tree, inspecting every inch of it visually, he noticed a large, rather concave opening in the other side of the tree as he walked closer and closer...
Splash
He stepped in a puddle of blood, splashing it everywhere, all around his foot. He looked down at it, and then he looked up and stared into that opening, inching closer and closer, and he noticed a skeleton imbedded into the tree itself. As he slowly grabbed his dagger and unsheathed it, the skull moved and looked at him.
Its jaws opened, and it tried to lunge at Ax. Ax backstepped out of the way, quickly unsheathing his new sword he had just bought.
The tree morphed open, letting the skeleton free and forming a massive opening enough for one person to easily walk in and out of it.
The skeleton rushed for Ax's body, running straight to him but
With a strike of his blade, he was able to dislodge the skeleton's head off of its neck, killing it.
"You guys are too weak to be doing that, you know," he says confidently.
"This sword is stupidly easy to wield; what did he mean by unbalanced?" he asked himself, preparing for the worst to happen.
As he was inspecting his new sword, a skeletal hand reached out of the tree; it splashed blood everywhere in front of Ax. As it climbed out of the tree, Ax noticed that it looked different; it was covered in blood, and the bone itself was red, and it was faster, much faster.
It leapt towards Ax, trying to claw at his face; it barely grazed his cheek, but it splashed a handful of blood into his eye, blinding him.
"Ah! Gross! What the hel"—Ax got interrupted by the skeleton, which took this opportunity to claw at his neck, ripping out his throat and killing him instantly.
Ax wakes up standing, gasping for air.
"What the hell was that?! That thing actually killed me!", he exclaimed, gasping for breath due to shock.
He woke up right in front of the skeleton, which grabbed the leg of his previous dead body and was dragging it towards the tree.
Ax stared at the skeleton curiously because... it wasn't even looking at him; it was focused on dragging his body towards the tree. When the body was close enough to the tree, branches and vines the color of blood reached out and pulled his dead body into the hole the skeleton came out of.
Ax could not see what was inside that hole, but all he could see was a massive splash of blood and viscera that poured out of that hole.
The skeleton then snapped its head around and ran towards Ax, trying to claw at his face once again. But this time, he expected it; he used his sword and smashed the back of his sword into the side of the skeleton as hard as he could, dislodging the skeleton's head from its body, and its headless body just fell down backwards as it's head flew across the room.
"That... took a much harder hit than what the—" As Ax complained about how much harder that skeleton was to fight, he saw another red hand claw its way out of the tree.
"No... you're kidding me..." he muttered to himself in shock.
A red skeleton, the same exact height and frame as himself, crawled its way out of the hole.
In the same moment, the previously mentioned headless body of the skeleton stood up and walked towards its dismembered head on the ground.
It grabbed the skull off of the ground and reattached it onto its neck as the new skeleton walked up behind it.
"Oh, you have got to be kidd-", Ax was interrupted by both the skeletons rushing at him as fast as they could.
Ax bobbed and weaved, avoiding the bony grasps and avoiding getting its viscera splattered over his face.
As one of the skeletons clawed at his arm, he dropped his dagger, and in that split second, Ax grabbed his gun.
the skeleton tried to bite at Ax's head, but in that split moment, he moved his head back and held his up to its chin as it was up close and personal and—
*SHATTER*
Ax pulled the trigger, causing the bullet to shatter its skull.
The small glass fragments got lodged into his face, but he was able to avoid getting it into his eyes, but the bullet being so close to his head caused his ears to start ringing. He was disoriented, and at that moment—
The other skeleton clawed at his neck, and once again he was killed by a red skeleton.
He woke up again, in that same spot, and he saw the red skeleton start dragging his body close to the tree.
"Not this time," Ax said as he aimed his revolver at the head of the skeleton and pulled the trigger.
*SHATTER*
He shot the red skull of the skeleton, causing it to explode into pieces and fall over, dropping the body onto the ground.
Ax picked up his dagger and put it on his sheath, only holding the revolver and sword in his hand.
He then walked towards the tree; as he got closer and closer to the tree, red vines and branches jolted out of the hole and tried to grasp at Ax.
He was quick; he leapt to the side and chopped off the branches with his sword, spraying blood everywhere, and he aimed his revolver towards the opening and—
*SHATTER*
SHATTER
SHATTER
SHATTER
He emptied his ammo into the cave-like entrance, firing a hole through the entire tree and the other side to burst open with blood-red viscera, splashing it everywhere onto the ground below.
Dweller Slain
Ax walked around the tree once more, and he found five silver coins on the ground; he picked them up and shoved them into his pocket.
He then started walking towards the three doors.
He stopped in front of the three doors and considered his options; he was curious about what lay behind the big door, but he should probably go to Nexus and walk around a bit more.
"If I go back... maybe I'll find a gun shop or a gunsmith, maybe even an armory. I might desperately need some more options because I am dying a bit too much for my comfort, which is definitely more than zero," he monologued to himself.
He then walked towards the blue door and reached out his hand.
He grabbed the knob and twisted it.
"What the hell?" he asked himself.
"It's not turning," he muttered to himself.
No matter how many times he twisted and turned the blue doorknob, it didn't open, not once.
Axton was locked out of Nexus.