Snow’s mind was finally coming back to herself. She got up, taking a better look. Her eyes still watered a bit. Wiping it away, she blinked a few times.
“In your human terms, I am both God of Light and Darkness; how you choose to see me is up to you, for I am the two sides of the same coin.” The male God walked over towards her. A black cane appeared in his hand. With a loud tap, the world flipped into darkness as it spun in brilliant star lights. Planets appeared around him, circling him like the sun.
“A balance.” The God spoke with endearment, “And Chaos.”
The universe expanded and then contracted, and the world devoured itself into the black hole, becoming back to void itself. Absolute silence followed after as Snow could hear the thumping of her heart, beating louder and louder. It frightened and awed her at the display of might.
“Every being has a place, but to explain every purpose of each existence is not needed for your mind. Instead, you die and crossover to the spirit realm. Your life is a simple dot of the many pools of events that span across the very existence of the flow, but you all have a purpose.” he raised his finger.
“And my purpose is?” Snow was getting a headache from his roundabout answers.
"That is for you to discover." The world spiralled downwards, towards the living realm as she was thrown back to her Planet as she floated above her world. “For now.”
“What do you want me to do?” Snow asked she wasn’t sure where the Goddess or God of Dark and Light was going with all this. The cryptic messages were like an annoying fly that danced in front of her face, irritating her.
She understood how fickle a Goddess was, but mostly how they would hand out quests like candy to affect the future in some way. For better or, the worse—all at the whim of their choosing.
"A test of will," The God spoke. “Perseverance and choice. You will be rewarded for your decision and setbacks. Failure is not the end, Snow. Remember that.”
"But what if I don't want to do it?" Snow didn't like being pulled around by the nose; she'd rather have the answer now and then.
“You will.”
“How are you sure?”
“Because you have a want in your heart that you yearn for and a need that is difficult to erase. It's normal for your kind. So," with another clap of the cane, she was thrown spiralling down to God knows where.
“The past is behind us, Snow. Leave everything behind, start afresh. What better time but now? Plus, the present I give to you is now. It is up to you to figure out what you must do to pave the way for the future.” The voice chuckled as she descended into darkness
“Wait, I have more questions!” Snow shouted, trying to strain her ears to listen to what the God of Dark and Light would give her any clues to the test and the millions of questions she had in her mind. She disappeared into the abyss as it swallowed her whole.
For a moment, Snow floated in the darkness as she swam towards the light. She felt her mind jolted awake, bringing her back to the present.
“Snow. Snow. Snow?” A concerned voice called out her name.
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Snow was shaken awake a bit too aggressively. Her head was thrown back, and she felt a sharp pain. Her hand shot up, trying to massage out the kink. With a light moan, she opened her eyes. The bright light felt like daggers exploding into her mind until she was finally able to accept the brightness and let her adjust to her surroundings. Eventually, she looked around, trying to figure out where she was.
A familiar face appeared next to her as she looked up. It was Dairen as he was once again by her side. He glanced down at her, worrying about her.
Snow didn’t realize that Dairen had a slight cut on his lips that she didn’t notice until now. She wondered when the old scar was present, but she was glad to see a familiar face.
"Are you okay?" Dairen was concerned. He had his hand on her shoulder so that she wouldn't fall backwards. "You spaced out for a moment, a migraine?”
“No. Don’t worry about it.” Snow tried to blow it off as nothing serious. She tried to recount her memory, realizing that she had met the God of Light and Darkness upon her death, bringing her a moment of confusion. She had wondered what this test was that God had set for her.
Either way, the memory wasn’t something she should let herself bother her as it served her no purpose but confusion and doubt of her every action. She could already feel the nagging thoughts that kept her back from doubting herself. That wasn’t what she wanted.
Rodney spoke, “As I was saying, would you join us on the missions to close down the dungeons?”
“Wait, you’re taking Snow? She’s not fully healed yet.” Dairen said, he stood up in front of her.
“She will be,” Rodney said with assurance that pushed aside Dairen’s concern. He was looking past Dairen and straight at Snow, waiting for her answer.
“Either way, that’s not your decision.” Dairen snapped back, his anger rising.
“I know. That is why I am asking Snow. With her help, we can clear these three dungeons that are breaking out. We need to do this quickly.”
“What about the other two dungeons,” Snow said as she got her balance right. She motioned towards Dairen again that she was alright. His overprotectiveness gave her a warm welcome, but at the same time, she felt a bit slighted as if she was some kind of damsel in distress. She didn’t like that. The contradictions in her thoughts were like a brewing storm that she had to throw away in the back of her mind.
She wasn’t weak anymore. Her past self was becoming dimmer and dimmer, changing slowly.
“I am fine.” With a more commanding tone that made Dairen flinch. His face bubbled up with a few emotions that disappeared in a second. Instead, a more cold expression welcomed her.
Dairen let go, allowing her to stand up by herself.
“We are thinking about hitting all three at the same time.”
“Is that possible?” Dairen asked.
“Yes.” Snow replied, without a doubt. “They are all appearing now, and the rules for each dungeon is different. It should be a lot easier to destroy because of its brand new dungeon. If what you say is true, it is barely a day old, which means we should have the firepower to hunt and clear it with ease.”
“It could be a high-level dungeon.” Dairen countered, “What then?”
“We can double up then.” Snow switched up her plan. There was no sure proof solution, and they couldn’t just half-ass the dungeon dive. They needed to clear it quickly before it expanded.
Rodney agreed, shaking his head slowly. “I was thinking the same thing. The only thing I would worry about is the uncertainty in each dungeon, but if we double up with other guilds, we should be able to do it. Audrey brought words that all the Players in this city will be coming here in the next few hours, becoming more than ten thousand. Splitting it into thirds should be ideal. One third will go into one dungeon, another third goes into a second, while the last third stays out in the field for back up.”
So far, Snow liked Rodney’s idea. Splitting the force into thirds could help with the clearing. There were too many ifs, buts, or ands with dungeons that it was hard to tell what was the right course of action.
Right now, they didn’t have a high-level magic calculator that would tell them how high the density of the dungeon was. But, Snow could feel an inkling of the three dungeons present in the city. Their heavy density of magic was like a beacon.
So far, if she were to guess. Two Dungeons weren’t as sickly powerful as the dungeon that they had just come out of, but the third dungeon that was situated close to the ocean had the highest magical density she had felt, probably even stronger than the one that she had come out from.
“We should be able to crash these dungeons quickly and efficiently and have Snow with us. This ensures the dungeon fight would become much quicker; we can send reinforcement to the other dungeon if needed. Which I highly doubt.”
The community of Players was enormous, and it was growing daily. With the boss fights in dungeon levels wasn't something to scoff at, which gave them opportunities to become stronger. The fluctuation of magic and physical power could be seen in many Players, but it was still low.
Snow expected the rate of each dungeon dive would quickly proliferate the strength of the Players as the day went by. The longer it took, the higher the chance the Players grew. On the downside, the destruction and power that a dungeon could bring to the city was nothing to scoff at. It brought trouble to her people then reap benefits, especially when three more appeared in the city.
The Dungeon Overflow didn’t make it any better. If they did have a better-controlled area, maybe they could have profited like the first dungeon.
“Yes. I’ll help you.” Snow replied. Her home was here in Atlantis. She didn’t want to lose it any further to the chaos the dungeon created. “But I will need to get in contact with the Dragon Express Headquarters. I should be able to bring in more Hunters with us.” She was sure she could persuade more locals around her to go into this dungeon dive.
There were bound to be Hunters that were affected by this chaos.
Money was the biggest reason she knew she could persuade them. In return, the profit that the Player and Hunter community brought was astronomical that it could offset the deficit. From her monthly earning report, she has been keeping track, and she has seen how the appearance of the dungeon had amplified the company’s earning by twenty-fold.
“How long do you need?”
“A day.” Snow said with reassurance. Her eyes burned with commitment and confidence. This was her home, and she wasn’t going to allow the monsters to run amok and destroy it.