I wasn’t sure where I was, but really didn't care to be honest. It was pleasant, a white void with black ink-like splotches growing and shrinking. I liked this; it was peaceful in a peculiar way.
I’d been here for longer than I can remember, my entire life if I had to guess. I don’t recall a life before this. I remember my name, Blake, but the source of that knowledge eluded me. Now that I think about it, I possess a lot of information that I can't explain how I obtained. such as what the colors white or black are, or what ink is. Well I don't really know what ink is, but I do know it's black. But all this didn’t really bother me, it did at one point but I got used to it.
While I sat and observed two splotches growing side by side, I placed my bets on the one to the right expanding faster. An entertaining pastime amidst the tranquility of the void. But then, said tranquility was suddenly interrupted as a multitude of blue boxes materialized around me. Initially, I felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of encountering a new color and shape, just then, my world shifted as I felt myself drift out from the void.
As my awareness slowly returned, I discovered myself in a chamber constructed of cold stone. At its center, there was a dais, and resting upon it was a crystal - me. It struck me as peculiar that I was so certain of my identity.
Before I could delve further into this realization, my vision was once again obstructed by the persistent blue boxes. Although part of me wanted to hold them accountable for this abrupt shift in my surroundings, I knew they were merely doing what they had to.
As I examined these peculiar blue boxes more closely, I noticed that they had writing. More importantly, I realized I could understand what the words said!
Petra C. [level 11] has died in your dungeon.
22 mana points have been awarded.
You have 22/50 mana required to exit mana starvation.
Someone is attempting to drain your mana.
Attempt failed.
Chad C. [level 21] has died in your dungeon.
42 mana points have been awarded
You have 64/50 required to exit mana starvation.
You have exited mana starvation.
You can now level up.
Well, that was quite a lot to process. I suppose I'm the owner of a dungeon, no, wait, that's not quite right. I am the dungeon. The realization was overwhelming, to say the least. As I carefully surveyed my surroundings again, I noticed two lifeless bodies on the floor. One was male, and the other was female. It struck me as intriguing since I had never encountered a human before. Humans, another piece of knowledge that left me bewildered as I couldn't figure out how I pertained it.
Setting that aside for later, I examined them more closely. The woman had a gruesome gash on her chest, and a similar wound on her back, suggesting that she had been run through by a sword. A quick glance at the other body confirmed that initial observation.
Speaking of the other body, he seemed to be in a rough state. His veins had risen to the surface of his skin and changed into an unsettling shade of black, resembling charred tendrils. His face displayed a look of pure shock, as if time had frozen in the very last moments of his life. It led me to speculate that this one's Chad, while the other was Petra.
This was indeed intriguing; I couldn't help but ponder why I was so receptive to all of this. After all, my only stimuli had been those growing ink splotches. I was damn near freaking out at some blue boxes, and now I had a hundred times that amount of information flooding my senses, yet I remained strangely calm. It even struck me as odd that I was widely unbothered that there were two lifeless bodies in the vicinity.
As I grappled with the overload of information, my mind teetered on the brink of overwhelming, when a voice suddenly sliced through the storming thoughts within me.
“Hello there.” a young voice said cheerfully.
I snapped my awareness to the source of the voice. Standing in the corner of the room about 5 feet away, was a child standing at around 3 feet in height, he had pale skin, and deep purple eyes that seemed to glow. He was wearing a large crooked and floppy pointed hat, with long oversized robes that bunched around his legs, like it was too big for him.
I stared at him for a good minute before he spoke again. "Hello?"
"Hi," I replied immediately with a hint of excitement and curiosity.
The child let out a relieved sigh, saying, "Oh, good. For a second there, I thought you were still in a state of mana starvation.”
“Are you ok? How do you feel? Does your functions seem to be in order?” The child rapid fired questions.
"Yes, confused, and I'm not sure.” I said answering the inquiries in order.
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“I see,” he spoke ponderously. “I can understand your confusion, but worry not. This is a time for celebration!” He stated with excitement.
At this point, I was filled with uncertainty. This child appeared to know me, to understand what I am. I was about to barrage him with questions when he interrupted me as I began to speak. “Oh this is wonderful! I'm so happy to finally be awake again!” He exclaimed. "But this is no time to celebrate," he said, his initial excitement quickly dissipating as he contradicted himself.
“I hated watching this world change into what it is now, Aresk and the others made this a place where the strong rule, and the pursuit of knowledge has been pushed to the side.” He spoke with sadness and a hint of anger.
He continued to speak to himself, muttering and gazing at the ceiling for a couple of minutes.
"Excuse me," I finally interjected, breaking the silence. My words seemed to startle him, as if he had momentarily forgotten I was there. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I got lost in memories," he apologized.
I'm Varian, by the way," he introduced himself, extending his hand for a handshake, only to swiftly retract it as he realized I couldn't reciprocate the gesture.
"I’m Blake," I offered, initiating what was equivalent to a mental handshake.
"I know, after all, I gave you the name," he replied. "I had hoped you would have remembered me, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
This statement left me bewildered. Not only did he know me, but he had also given me my name? This perplexed me greatly because this child appeared no older than 10 or 11, while I had spent what seemed like decades in the void. How could he have named me then? Moreover, he didn't even flinch at the sight of the two lifeless bodies on the stone floor. This child was far from ordinary.
I could barely contain my emotions; questions inundated my mind. I almost shouted as I fired a barrage of inquiries at him. "What's happening? What am I? Who am I? Where am I? Who are you? How do you know me? Are you really a child?”
My sudden barrage of questions seemed to catch him off guard, but he still listened attentively. However, when he heard my last question, his demeanor shifted. He froze, gazing down at his hands and clothes.
"Well, fuck. No, I'm not a kid, I'm not even really a person. I'm a god,” he stated. He held his hand out, a light purple circle of glowing runes formed, but it shattered a second later. “Or at least I was,"
The child was panting, clearly agitated. "Damn it," he rasped, trying to catch his breath.
"DAMN IT!" he shouted this time.
"They sealed my power. I can't even cast a basic light spell." He supplied, seeming to calm down almost instantly. “This is quite unfortunate, although I expected this, I didn't think they would go as far as taking everything from me.” His gaze fixed on my crystal. “Well, I guess they didn't take everything. I still have you. Ahh speaking of you, your other questions.” He cleared his throat like he was about to give a speech.
“I'll answer them in order. As for what's happening, you were in a state of mana starvation for a couple of hundred years, and you were able to wake up due to these poor sods dying in your vicinity,” he explained, kicking the arm of one of the dead individuals who had tried to absorb me.
“And for 'what am I,' you’re a dungeon core! The heart of a dungeon! Something me and the other gods came up with to cull the population of the sentient races while also giving them a way to grow stronger and make a profit.” Varian's expressions shifted from proud to sad, finally settling on the calm demeanor he usually held.
“Now then, ‘Who am I?’ That seems like a loaded question,” he chuckled, though it sounded more like a giggle due to his child-like form.
“You’re the accumulation of a couple of hundred souls formed into one being, a hive mind of sorts. The other gods and I thought it would work better if cores had the memories of hundreds of lives. But your time in the void had seemed to suppress them. They'll come in time,” Varian explained.
“Next is… Oh right ‘Where am I?’ We are hundreds of feet under the surface, in a room I created around 200 or so years ago. After that I had a little bit of a falling out with the other members of the pantheon, and got sealed.” He sounded sad when he said that last part, but collected himself quickly and moved on.
“As for who I am. I am the god of magic, Varian. Or was, I guess,” Varian stated plainly.
“And finally, ‘How do you know me?’ Simple, I made you. I hand-picked each soul and imbued you with my Divine Mana. I even named you,” Varian provided.
My mind, or minds, I guess, were racing, trying to understand what he was telling me. It was a lot of information to process. It made sense. I was always confused about why I could recall random bits of information. For example, I knew what a rock is when I'd never seen one before. I knew Varian looks like a child when I'd never met or seen one. It was all starting to piece together.
That's when another blue box popped up.
An invader has entered your dungeon, all building and monster spawning has been deactivated.
Umm... What?
An invader? Like the two corpses that were still lying on the floor? I turned to Varian to ask him what was happening.
"An invader?" He whispered so his voice didn't carry through the room.
"This is too soon. You might be fine; the only thing that could hurt you is a priest or cleric, but I don't have any way to protect myself," Varian sounded nervous. Some part of me found it almost humorous that a god could be scared.
"Well, what is it?" Varian asked.
"I don't know. It didn't tell me," I replied.
Varian's hand smacked against his face. As he dragged it off, he spoke, "Of course, it didn't tell you what it was, you dunce. You have to go look at it first, then it should tell you."
When he said that something clicked, like a puzzle piece that finally makes the picture understandable. He was right, I could move my vision. At first my awareness was just sitting above my crystal. After discovering my newfound mobility, I couldn't resist the temptation to explore. I zipped from one corner to another, like a curious child, even daring to perch on the tip of Varian's nose. He noticed me and made an attempt to swat me off, though he couldn't really do anything to stop my ethereal presence.
However, my exploration was cut short when I suddenly remembered the invasion I had been warned about. I hurriedly made my way up the stairs and emerged at the top, where the entrance and exit of my dungeon lay and… nothing else. I was about to turn around to see if I missed it on the staircase when I saw them out of the corner of my awareness.
They appeared much smaller than I had expected. They had only managed to advance about a foot into my domain. I closed the gap to inspect them more closely, but my vision was once again obstructed by a blue box. These curious blue boxes were beginning to become an annoyance. Just They shrank and scurried to the edge of my awareness. I focused on one, and it grew larger, displaying information.
Huh, neat!
After growing and shrinking the box for a bit longer than necessary, I finally read it.
[Lesser Cave Snail] These small creatures are known for their exceptionally slow pace, a consequence of their legless and diminutive stature. Nevertheless, they compensate for their lack of speed with the remarkable resilience of their hardened shells. These shells serve as both their refuge during sleep and a reliable means of defense in moments of danger. Some dig them self in to the ground and disguise themselves as rock's.
Well then, I guess I better tell Varian.