Unsafe Working Conditions : A He Who Fights With Monsters 6+ Companion Story

Chapter 1 - Take My Dignity

Overwhelming. No other term would suffice to describe the experience. Pain was a poor match as the light itself seemed to scour his very existence. Sound drowning him, the pressure spearing his ears as the strobing yellow and white stabbed through his eyelids. Every surface of his body was raw, the atmosphere itself feeling coarse like sand on an open wound.

Claxons blaring Liam attempted to gather his faculties. As the overloaded sensations began to abate from all consuming pain to a limb recovering circulation, Liam began to inspect his surroundings in detail.

He was standing at attention in the middle of a room, around his feet were what looked like scorch marks radiating out to a ring of characters burned into the floor. He was completely naked. Each step was like walking on pins and needles but the more he moved the faster the sensation dissipated.

The room centered around a raised platform that seemed to be purposely built for the ritual circle. As he inspected the circle he noticed there were differences in what he was accustomed to. Where ritual circles typically consisted of drawings made with chalk or other writing implements, this one seemed to have been made with various different mediums. Portions of the circle consisted of elements that looked like circuit boards and were fitted into the larger diagram like puzzle pieces.

The rest of the room was plain and didn't seem to serve any purpose other than housing the platform with the circle.

Liam made his way to the door, it was a simple construction where a panel to the side seemed to operate it. Placing his hand on the panel it changed to red and began to blink. The door did not open, and a new shrill blaring was added to the cacophony of the room.

Further inspection of the room revealed a selection of panels opposite of the door, each one about the size of his chest. Once depressed they opened up to show a selection of clothes in various sizes. All of them were voluminous with strings to tighten them for a better fit, once he had found some that fit him well enough. The Large purple L on the front was not his style but being a beggar he didn't really have a choice.

After donning the loose fitting pants, which he had to roll the hem a few times for a comfortable fit, he heard the sound of scraping followed by the clank of something small reaching the end of a fall.

Using the sound as a guide he began opening the compartments, finding more clothes of different types and sizes. One of the compartments had footwear of different sizes and types, some of which clearly were not meant for humans.

Reaching the bottom row of compartments he found one that did not depress, like it was stuck. The bottom row of compartments contained various apparatuses, some he was able to guess their function while others were a mystery. All of them had different depressions on them for what appeared to be coins.

With his exploration concluded Liam returned to the panel next to the door. The sirens and claxons had silenced at this point so he was not distracted as he inspected the panel. He noticed there was a depression similar to the coin depressions as the equipment in the compartments.

Returning to the stuck panel which happened to be in the center of the bottom row he tried again to open it. The door was stuck solid and wouldn't budge. Liam positioned himself with feet braced on the small lip of the raised platform, his shoulder just barely able to reach the compartment. With a strain he felt the compartment shift but not before his feet slipped on the curved lip promptly dropping him to the ground.

With a burst of expletives that would not translate to any language, Liam rubbed the side of his head while getting to his feet. Looking around for anything to help keep his feet from slipping didn't amount to anything. Sitting down on the ground he braced his heels on the lip and placed his hands above his head he pressed on to the door. Grunting with effort Liam could feel the door begin to shift.