The sink had me shoved back to the wall before I even knew what was happening.

  Pain lanced through me as the two front legs of the sink jabbed into both shoulders, the plastic feet applying a constant pressure, holding me in place. With the pain, a half-heart of health was quickly greyed out.

  As I tried to comprehend what was happening, I automatically thrashed, trying to get away from the pain and pressure. Adrenaline surged as I kicked out, somehow catching the bottom of the sink with the steel toe of one of my boots. The sink stepped back, the pressure on my shoulders gone, allowing me to slide along the wall and out of the nook.

  Once I was in the corridor, I backed up a few steps, holding my fork out as if the pathetic piece of metal would provide some sort of intimidation factor. My breath was ragged, and my nervous system went into survival mode. It was fight or flight, and I was choosing fight.

  Two legs prodded the carpeted floor just outside the nook. Now that I had some space and had regained some of my senses, I could see that the legs were segmented, each part connected by some sort of fleshy ligament. The movements reminded me of a spider testing its surroundings. The rest of the sink followed, skittering out into the hallway and turning towards me, rising on its two back legs like a bear about to strike.

  On the center bottom of the sink, where normally the drain was, a fleshy, serrated, circular mouth snapped and drooled. A long tongue flicked out, as if tasting the air like a snake. It was hard to tell where the flesh ended and the plastic began. It was a living nightmare.

  The sight of the creature made me step back, and the creature followed, shambling towards me on its hind legs. The logical part of me screamed that physics should not allow such a creature to remain upright, but in the wake of all the weirdness, physics were the least of my worries.

  The two front legs probed towards me, taking swipes and looking for an opening. As I pushed away one incoming leg, the second one grazed my head, causing another half heart of damage.

  I struck back, jabbing my fork at one of the legs. It bounced off the plastic with no appreciable damage.

  “This thing’s going to kill me even before I have a chance to hurt it,” I thought. “It’s got reach, and if I close in, I’ll be in biting distance of that mouth.”

  No, I had caused damage already. It had staggered when I wildly kicked it, so I must have landed a blow on something vital.

  Another successful feint by the creature saw one of the legs jab painfully into my hip, causing me to spin and tumble to the floor. Another half-heart of damage, and now I was down to just three hits left.

  I tried to scramble away, but the creature was immediately on top of me. Back on all fours now, it hooked its front two legs behind my shoulders and began to pull me toward its blade-filled mouth. I lashed blindly with my fork, jabbing upwards, and felt my hand sink much farther than it should have.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  I felt unbearable pain as the creature clamped down around my forearm. In my desperation, I had shoved the fork right into its mouth and the creature had bitten down on reflex. My last full heart disappeared, leaving me with just one hit left.

  “This is it,” I thought. I readied myself for the violent transition back to my bedroom.

  It didn’t happen. After it had bitten down, the sink creature had stopped moving.

  I sat paralyzed. Part of it was the pain in my arm, and part of it was disbelief.

  My arm sat stuck in the circular maw. I tried moving it, drawing it back out, but I could feel the serrations digging in. I felt that if I tried to remove my arm, it would cost me my last half-heart of health and it would kill me, and I wasn’t ready to die yet.

  Before I had a chance to consider my next step, the creature suddenly turned grey and began to fall apart. Still on top of me, its falling, ashing remains began to cover me.

  I felt the pressure on my arm lessen, so I tried moving it again. This time it came away easily, causing the remains of the creature to completely crumble. Something solid and round dropped on top of my chest as the last bits of it dissolved.

  I reached up and grabbed the object, wiping off the ash and inspecting it.

  A coin, silver under the ash and stamped with symbols I had no understanding of. The blue info brackets popped up.

  1 SILVER

  TAKE INTO INVENTORY?

  YES/NO

  I focused on YES and the coin disappeared. A new bit of text appeared at the bottom of my screen, right under the two inventory boxes.

  SILVER: 1

  “All that for one lousy coin,” I huffed, pulling myself back to my feet. I winced when I tried to steady myself on the wall, my torn-up arm throbbing with a dull ache.

  I looked down at the mangled limb. Ragged gashes covered the length that had been shoved into the sink’s mouth. It should have been bleeding, but the blood looked like it had already coagulated. It hurt, but every moment that passed the pain lessened. Although I still felt injured, I was regaining my ability to move my arm normally.

  “They want me to keep fighting, right to the end,” I thought. Most RPGs let your character fight right until their hit points hit zero, and it seemed like this was no exception.

  I brushed off the ash, looking down at the pile of dust that had once been the creature. If that was typical of I would encounter on the first level of the dungeon, I was truly boned.

  I put my left, uninjured hand against the wall to steady myself and began to walk towards the T-junction. With my half-heart of health and the violent nature of the dungeon creatures I had encountered so far, I knew I would die again, so I needed to get as much information as I could.

  Walking forward slowly, my eyes continuously scanned left and right on the lookout for any potential danger. The first closed door was coming up and I started to mentally prepare for what was inside.

  It hit me that I really had no idea on what to expect. My only experience with the dungeon so far had been the laundry nook. If the doors led me to something similar, then I would have no chance.

  I looked down at the fork, shaking my head. My only chance was to get a better weapon, and to get a better weapon I would need to level up.

  Taking another step forward, my hand suddenly was not touching anything solid anymore. I tumbled to the left, following where I had put my weight, and saw the wall rushing towards me. To my surprise, instead of bashing my head on it, I passed through the wall and found myself facedown on a floor. A floor that was somewhere else.

  The floor was carpeted like it had been in the hallway, but the lighting was dimmer somehow. Even the air felt different.

  "Thank god I didn't lose my last half-heart," I thought.

  I looked up and saw a massive pair of hooves. My gaze continued upwards and landed on a tall, horned figure that looked down with blood-red, glowing eyes.

  “Welcome to the shop.”