Limits

When I got next to the Entrance No. 1, that experienced the biggest aftermath. I saw that the tunnel which lead inside was still there. 'Fortunately, the Yellow Dust exploded in such a way, that it didn't collapse the entrance. It's time to investigate' I thought. I entered through the tunnel and immediately took out my torch, to light up the insides.

The first thing I noticed inside, were some dead Corpse Dogs. 'They probably tried to run further inside, but the blast killed them anyway' I thought. I travelled further in and encountered some injured, but alive Corpse Dogs. I quickly disposed of them and moved on, towards the depths of the Den.

After a while of travelling and killing whatever was left of the Corpse Dogs, I finally entered a huge cave underground. It was large enough to house at least 1000 Corpse Dogs. It wasn't empty though, there were around 100 Corpse Dogs inside. Some were lightly injured but a lot of them were still at their full strength. When the Corpse Dogs noticed me, they charged at me, as if I was their greatest enemy. I was in a way, I was. It was because of me, that most of the Corpse Dogs died.

I took out my daggers, and killed the dogs left and right. Fighting 100 normal Corpse Dogs in such a large area, was not hard. I killed, and killed, and killed some more, until the last Corpse Dog perished. 'It seems that loads of Corpse Dogs still survived, but it shouldn't be over a 1000. It's still a large number, but without a leader, they will die out fast. Of course, provided the leader is dead' I thought and moved towards another tunnel, that was located in the opposite direction, of the entrance.

I started encountering more and more Corpse Dogs, but due to the disorder and heavy losses, I usually encountered groups of 20-30 Corpse Dogs at most. There were some Variants mixed in from time to time, but nothing major happened. I followed the tunnels, until I reach the largest cave so far. What was inside that cave, left me stunned.

'Is that a Corpse Dog?' I thought to myself. It wasn't the size but the healthiness. It was pretty much healthy, with no rotting on it whatsoever. The "Corpse Dog" looked not only healthy but had a shiny black fur and red eyes that seemed to stare directly at ones soul. Its size was about twice that of a normal Corpse Dog. 'This is bad, this must be their leader!' I thought to myself, and ran in the opposite direction. I had no way of fighting against such opponent. I already knew that. A completely healthy Corpse Dog, would be something, I couldn't take on by myself.

I could hear running from behind me, while I escaped. 'So it is going to chase me… Fine! Have a taste of the Yellow Dust then!' I thought and opened the bag containing the Yellow Dust. I started spreading it as I ran. The Yellow Dust formed a line behind me as I ran forwards with the bag opened. After a short while, I closed the bag and threw the torch behind me.

"SWOOOOSHH!!" the Yellow Dust started burning and exploding towards the depth of the tunnel. I then heard "Booom!" and some shaking. I didn't stop and ran at full speed, even though I just dropped my source of light. After a while of sprinting in the dark tunnel, I head "Do you think that, running away from me will be that simple?"

I didn't turn back, but still answered "So you are the Leader of Corpse Dogs. I'm not even surprised you can talk". The voice in the darkness sounded angry "Corpse Dogs? I always hated that name. You filthy human, you destroyed my home. You even had the balls to come in here and kill even more of my kind. I will eat you alive!". I could hear something closing in on me… Fast. I started dumping the whole content of the bag onto the ground while I ran. I had about 50 kilograms left in that bag and I didn't care about the consequences. When the bag was empty, I threw it to the side and lit the torch up. While running, I threw it behind me and didn't look back anymore.

"BOOOM!" "BOOOM!" "BOOOM!""BOOOM!"

Loud explosions sounded behind me and the blast of hot air arrived. Not only was I pushed forwards at incredible speeds, my skin started to blister due to the hot air of the blast. "ARRGHHH…." The pain was so intense, it felt as if someone was skinning me alive. I flew through the air and crashed into the wall at great velocity.

"UNGGHH!". A grunt escaped my mouth, as I crashed into one of the walls. I was barely left conscious. The pain was intensified due to me smashing the wall. I had no more strength to make any sounds. I couldn't move a finger either. I laid there on the ground, my vision blurry, the pain unbearable, when I head "Y...You B...Bastard… D..Damn you… Human". What came to my blurry view, was the Leader of the Corpse Dogs. It was missing some bits of its flesh and the fur was mostly gone, from what I could see. it also had some blistered and burns from head to tail. It collapsed onto the ground, not far away from me, and didn't move anymore.

'Ughh.. Although that thing is dead, I'm… not in a better situation' I thought, as I laid there. Time seemed to freeze, I could see less and less, and my consciousness was drifting away. After what seemed like eternity, I heard some faint sounds. '...Probably… other dogs… arrived' I thought. But it wasn't that. I heard someone speak "Here…. Get… Here…". Then I felt being lifted up and my consciousness faded.

When my eyes opened, I had the dream, where Dark Traveller talked to me. What was strange, was that the Dark Traveller, seemed to talk to me in human language. I knew it was human language, I could understand everything, but I also couldn't seem to remember anything. I tried to listen and remember but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it.

I only knew that the Dark Traveller seemed to talk about his own past. About some sort of curse and about trust. That was all I could remember, from that dream. I closed my eyes, I was extremely tired, and the darkness enveloped me. No thoughts or dreams appeared in front of me. It felt as if I just laid there, motionless, drifting in the darkness.

I suddenly felt something and opened my eyes. What I woke up to, was not my dream but the reality. In front of me, the grey sky of the Northern Wastelands. I still felt pain but it wasn't as severe as it was before. I asked myself out loud "Am I alive?".