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It was right there, just in front of him, Xisuma could make out the pulsating skulk of the dungeon’s exit door. It was right there.
His head still hurt from when he’d hit it failing the parkour jump over the river, and he swore he was seeing doubles but he had to hurry.
He knew a ravager was still right on his heels. He could feel its stiflingly hot breath on the back of his neck as he scrambled and slipped on the dungeon’s icy floors. He let out a less than manly squeak when the ravager growled behind him, the noise thundering in his ears.
The creature nipped at his heels and Xisuma shot forward like the ground was made of fire, finally reaching the exit door and slipping through. It snapped shut right behind him, much to the ravager’s displeasure, and Xisuma stumbled to a stop inside the room, lungs heaving for breath.
His hands shook, and he looked down to the artifact clutched tightly in them. All that work and all he got was a Horn of the Goat. Again. A few coins sat in his inventory too, but not a single ember. Xisuma leaned against the closed door with an aggravated sigh, legs feeling shaky from his all out sprint at the end there.
The door felt cool and calming on his back and he closed his eyes for a second, trying to catch his breath.
Breathing... in and out, right?
In. Hold. Out.
Since when did running make him this winded?
He took an extra deep breath, the kind that made his chest burn and his lungs feel like they were going to explode. It didn’t help. He did it again. And again.
See, he was fine? Yeah? He could breathe. He could breathe.
He was probably holding up the line, there were other hermits waiting to run the dungeon after him. Xisuma took a step of the wall, ready to head back, and a sudden dizziness overwhelmed him.
He reached forward and barely dropped his artifact into the correct spot before collapsing to his knees, the whole room spinning around him.
His head throbbed. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat and it made him want to throw up. The air was too thin to breathe.
The dungeon was so goddamn cold, and the air was barely breathe-able. Xisuma’s careful deep breaths started getting quicker and frenzied.
In and Out.
In, out, in, out.
The air didn’t have enough oxygen, and each breath was painful. Was the filter on his mask broken? No, the helmet would’ve given him an alert if it broke or was going slow, it always did. His helmet was fine. Then why couldn’t he breathe?
The room was still swirling around and spots danced in his eyes. He would’ve closed them but stopped when the buzzing of his comm interrupted his thoughts.
He lifted his wrist to his face, blinking rapidly as he tried to make out the words that were shifting around on the bright screen.
<Private Messages: TangoTek —> xisumavoid>
<TangoTek> everything alright in there X?
<TangoTek> the dungeons disturbed
<TangoTek> are you ok
Xisuma swallowed thickly, breaths picking up a little more. He could read the words but he wasn’t registering what they said. It hurt his head and it didn’t make sense. He closed his eyes just as the comm buzzed again, this time longer, like his ring tone.
He barely managed to realize someone was indeed calling his comm and hit the answer button before it stopped ringing.
“Xisuma?”
Tango’s voice came through the other end, high pitched with worry and seemingly piercing through Xisuma’s head. He bit back a gasp at the sudden sound, and tried to say hi back, though it came out as a muffled hum.
“I told you guys, I can tell when the dungeon is disturbed and it is now. X are you okay? Are you hurt? Injured?”
“Head— h’rts... room... spinning— c’nt breathe,” Xisuma managed to stutter back into the comm between gasps for breath.
“Okay okay, ahm... There’s a shulker hidden in the corner of the exit room, its got potions in it. Do you see it X?”
Xisuma snapped his eyes back open, holding back a whine at the sudden light. He squinted his eyes at the still spinning room, and spotted the shulker in question. With far too much effort than it should’ve taken, he dragged himself over to it, the stone floor rough under his hands.
“Found it,” he mumbled, sliding the lid off the shulker. It was filled to the brim with glittering pink health potions, and Xisuma sighed in relief at the sight of them.
“Oh phew. Okay, take one, Xisuma. Just one.”
Xisuma did as Tango said, grabbing one bottle in his shaky hands and popping the cork off. He tipped his head back and downed the potion, before slumping against the wall, exerted from all the movement.
“Alright, you’ve taken it?”
“Yep.” Xisuma let the empty bottle roll off into the room.
“Good, good. Just give it a minute or so to kick in... good, the dungeon’s starting to calm down already.”
His eyes had closed again at some point, and Xisuma didn’t want to open them, but he waited a minute or two to see if the potion would help. He blinked them open carefully, and the room slowly stopped spinning.
Had his breathing evened out too? It... it had. Xisuma took in one last deep breath for good measure, inhaling through his nose, holding, and exhaling through his mouth.
“Thank you, Tango,” He breathed out, remembering he was still on call with the dungeon master.
“No worries, X. You alright to get out of the dungeon yourself? Take as much time as you need.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
Xisuma slowly got to his feet, murmuring another thank you, it could’ve been to Tango, or to the dungeon for not making him a ravager snack today.
. . .
<Keralis1> you doing okay shashwammy?
<impulseSV> yeah Tango said you had a rough time on your run
<xisumavoid> Thank you guys, Im alright now though!
<xisumavoid> but to whoever’s up next...
<xisumavoid> there’s a ravager waiting for you at the exit door :-)
<GeminiTay> gosh dang it.