Through the eyes of a stalwart ape
The world bends behind a veil of turbulent winds, crystal clear lakes resting in vibrantly coloured beds of stone pepper the horizon in all directions, only segmented by narrow strips of stone. More liquid drips in from above and forms ever-pulsating ripples by the lake edges, deep holes formed in the ceiling like inverted stalactites. Pale fur flutters in sync with the small cyclone of wind separating Gol Dhee's body from the outside world.
Sitting atop the emissary's back, he continues to grip and pull the wind around the group, the fiery one providing the occasional silent support from behind while they traverse a thin ridge towards an empty lake bed. "There's a sheer drop to the next layer up ahead. Once we're down there you can drop the barrier." Gol Dhee nods to the emissary's words, his palms unwavering in their grasp of the air as their destination comes into view. The journey was shorter than I had anticipated. I should have energy to train before we rest. As they reach the precipice of the drop, the emissary peers down, a quizzical tilt on her head. "How strange... It usually just stays away from me."
Through the eyes of a perplexed dragon
Aleph watches as a sky blue tendril snakes its way up through the vertical tunnel, breaching the surface of the layer before wobbling around the group as if observing them. "What is that?" Fluffy asks, stepping to the edge of the barrier to observe it back. "I mentioned the weird slime thing, right? It's that." The tendril pokes at the wall of wind, reaching towards Fluffy only to be pushed back and spun by the tempest. Another stronger attempt to breach the barrier is met with the same result, bdfore it instead wraps around the tempest in an attempt to lift it. Of course, you can't exactly lift air, so it is once again spun and discombobulated.
"What is it doing?" Didi shifts to Aleph's neck as she speaks, eyes fixated on the strange creature. "I think it likes me. Fuehehe, it must know how famous I am!" More tendrils appear from below, merging together in one large structure before deforming to wrap around the barrier and eat into the earth, lifting them and the ground they stand on. "Oh. I guess it really likes me." Gravity shoves the group to the side, then almost ceases entirely, Lyly barely clinging to her perch as they lose purchase on the ground. "Seems like we're getting a free ride down, how convenient." "You're remarkably relaxed for someone being dragged into the abyss by a creepy tentacle creature." "I'm sure it's just being friendly. It was always skittish when it was just me."
Gravity returns fast, the group slamming into the ground as Goldy's barrier disperses from the shock. The slime unwraps, revealing a horizon of blue hills and bumps, as if a freeze-frame was taken of the ocean. Several snake-like appendages sprout from the lethargically undulating slime, surrounding Fluffy to poke and prod him without restraint. "What a fascinating creature this i- Hey!" Control of his leg is arrested by one of the tendrils, hoisting the elf into the air to be prodded more. "Oh! I know this trope!" Lyly chitters more enthusiastically than she really ought to. "Oh yea, me too! This is where the human gets eaten by the creature of the abyss, foolishly summoned by ignorant mortals, right?"
"No... What?" Lyla skitters to Aleph's snout to make direct eye contact. "What are you talking about? This is clearly where the cute elf gets assaulted in a comically unsavory manner." "Are you sure? I mean... Fluffy is kinda adorable, sure, but it looks more like it's trying to eat him than anything else. Just look at the way it tries to pry the skin on his chest apart!" Fluffy throws the pair an exasperated look. "Yes, I'll have you know it's very annoying too. Care to give me a hand?" Unfortunately for him, his words go unheard, Goldy too busy wrapping his head around the conversation to notice while Didi stands at attention, occasionally diverting her eyes to a new location as her body starts to faintly glow. "Seriously? What trope even is that? Nobody summoned this thing from anywhere, and he's not even a human, he's an elf!" "Oh yea, forgot about that. Still, surely some suspension of disbelief is allowed, right?"
Through the eyes of a fairly uncomfortable elf
Ah yes, suspension. I know all about that. Fluffy stares at the group through squinted eyes, almost tempted to just flick something at them. Or rather, actually tempted as he pulls out a random piece of lint from his pocket to flick into the eye of the dragon... who continues to ignore him in favour of their debate. "Fuck it." Deciding that being coated in slime, prodded, slapped, and waved around in the air is just about enough, Fluffy tenses his muscles into a rapid spinning kick, landing solidly on the ground and making sure to splash the offending pair with slime in the process. Of course they continue arguing, in fact only getting more heated. That is, Lil Blue grows more loud and opinionated while Teacher continues calmy disassembling her arguments with poorly thought out responses.
Guess it's going to be afraid of me now that I've attacked it... Such a shame. I wanted to study it properly. Poke. Or not... Stepping away before the slime gets any more ideas, Fluffy promptly gives the two bickering idiots a solid flick in the eyes, finally breaking their attention from each other to scowl at the elf. "Ow! Hey, what's the big- Oh, right... forgot you were here, elf." "Why always the eye... " "Should've just helped." "You could have just used ae'loyo to push it away." "Ah..." Violet Aether wraps around the speechless elf, pushing off the slime coating him in a burst, perhaps as an apology, or perhaps as an indifferent courtesy.
"Let's go. There's a bunch of Aether over that way." "There is?" Fluffy turns to face the same direction as Teacher, brows furrowing in confusion at the barren cavern, seemingly devoid of any semblence of Aether. "Are you sure you can't see it? The slime is covered in Aether, and there's a massive pool of it just ahead. It's been staying just outside of the range I can pull Aether from though, so I've been struggling to get any." "Are you sure you can see it? I sense nothing on this entire layer." "How strange... Am I using a different method to you? Either way, it's worth a look." She steps forward, the slime oozing away to keep a uniform ring of space centered around the dragon.
Through the eyes of a stunned demon
I didn't know Lyla was into those kind of stories... "Ah! Wait for me!"
Through the eyes of a well learned spider
Hmm... Now that I look more closely, this slime is actually kinda insane. "Hey, monkey." "Hoh?" "You see it too right? This thing is using up all of the ambient Mana here." The monkey turns his head in confusion before raising his arms. Golden fur stands on end and gently bristles as his eyes knit themselves closed in concentration, shifting to surprise as he relaxes. "Indeed. I can pull no essence to recover my stock." The dragon turns her gaze back to join the conversation. "Maybe it eats Mana? Powerful beings tend to do that in a lot of worlds." "Sure, but this much? It's not exactly growing bigger, so it has to be using it for something."
"We probably just happened to arrive during its feeding period or something. If there's a problem we can react to it when it becomes apparent." No, there's something about it... The way it's pulling the Mana in and compressing it, or... coating itself? Her gaze shifts to the edge of the ring of emptiness, studying the manner in which the creature forms a perfect radius around the group, oozing away in synchrony with their steps. With a curious tilt of her... entire body, her gaze shifts again to the elf, then the dragon, and finally settling on the remaining two.
"Monkey, demon. Touch the slime for me." "Okay!" The demon happily skips her way to the wall of live goop and plonks an outstretched arm on the undulating sludge. Her motions are ignored by the slime, which continues to move undeterred, even wrapping around her legs as if she's just another rock in the path before she steps back. "It feels exactly like you'd expect a slime to feel, confirmed!" "Great, now monkey, you too." The monkey looks between Lyla and the slime, an inscrutable expression begging for a second opinion. "I have a theory to test. Just do it." With a hesitant step, and a targetted scowl, he reaches his hand to the sludge and prods it, swiftly recoiling his hand and shaking off the goop. "Will that suffice?" "Hm? Oh, yea that's fine. I think... it's absorbing arthee..." "What?"
"No, no. Just think about it." The group pause their gait, all eyes turning to detective in the making. "Dragon, because you compulsively gorge on all theethuu within line of sight the slime has been avoiding you specifically so you don't steal what it has gathered. It showed a great interest in the elf until he got too close to the dragon, even pulling the rest of us down just to get to him. And of course, it completely ignores everyone else because we have no mahchu! You may all praise my deductive skills now."
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"That doesn't explain why I can't sense any Aether here, aside from ours of course." The elf muses, still combing goop out from his beard. "It's probably suppressing it, keeping it hidden from thieves like the dragon or such. In fact, I'd bet that's what most of the Mana here is being directed towards." "I can see the Aether though. And it's mostly concentrated in one place." The dragon retorts, tasting the goop... "Well you're a freak, so maybe the same rules don't apply to you." "Hey..." "Besides, it being concentrated only adds to my theory. Tell me, is the eyoyo moving?" The dragon squints, a low hum of violet light eminating from her form. "It is... And away from us at that." Ha! I knew it!
Through the eyes of a glutton for Aether
"I'm going to try charging for it. You guys hop on." "Wait, isn't that a bad idea? We don't know how this thing will react!" "Maybe, but even a sliver of that much Aether would be worthwhile." Fluffy slips onto her back, Goldy clambering up behind him as Didi sneaks in from below to claim the spot by Aleph's neck. Her Aether narrows into a sharp film around her body, her legs poised to lunge. The slime reacts to the motion, seeming to become more jagged and solid in return before... Crack! Aleph leaps, a thunderous wave of air in her wake as she flaps her wings to soar towards the nexus of energy. A ripple surges through the ocean of slime, pulling away the condensed core of Aether, but not before Aleph gets close enough to shave a tiny chunk of the unattuned energy for herself.
A palpable shift occurs. Where before the coagulated mass could be considered passive and skittish, if a bit curious, it now bears open hostility. An all consuming Aura wraps around the group, the ocean-like terrain warping into a harsh vortext of protruding spikes, all directed towards Aleph. Gathering Aether into her scales with haste, she takes the brunt of the attack to her stomach, the group being launched off her back as she is plunged into the ceiling.
The air saturates in violet as she kicks off the ceiling, tearing through the air and directly slicing the poorly defended prongs apart with Aether until they're filled with enough Mana to resist. Her body is stretched and folded by her own energy beyond the limitations of any being her size as she winds and threads past the barrage of spikes at mach speed to catch her companions. Holding them to her belly she launches into a downward spin, Aether refining into a sledgehammer of pure force at her tail which she slams through the dense layer of slime and into the earth beneath.
An explosion of friction heated dust and debris showers the radius around a deep crater, shearing holes through the mass. "I swear! This happens every time with you and your oithoi obsession!" "Ream me out later! Fluffy, are you recovered enough to fight?" "I have been for a while." "Punch a hole in it. And aim that way." With a nod, Fluffy complies. His muscles tense in sequence and he fires his fist with tremendous power, launching a wave of air through the smokescreen, through the slime, and directly into the nexus of Aether, the energy scattering into the air briefly before being tugged back into place.
The slime recoils, amassing a wall of dense fluid in front of the group before... silence. As if having entered the eye of a storm the slime simply holds still, no spikes or tendrils to be seen, only the slow shifting of its mass to reinforce the wall. Is it afraid, or is it offering a truce? That's the issue with these unique organisms, you can never tell how smart they actually are. She takes a tentative step forward, the slime quickly pulling back an equal distance. Upon stepping back, the slime appears to relax, oozing back into a stable radius. "Lower your guards. I think we're safe."
The group share glances, hesitantly complying. Except for Lyly, who clambers atop her perch to waggle her pedipalps aggressively at the unthinkably large coagulation of sludge. Behind them, the ocean of slime parts, forming a path towards a collection of stone spires. "I assume it's asking us to leave." "You also assumed it was friendly." "It was friendly. Until we attacked it." "Until you attacked it you mean." "..." Let's just go...
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Record 1
Hypothesis 1: A soul heart is not a requirement of a functioning soul anchor.
Hypothesis 2: A soul anchor can be formed without the energy from a soul heart via repeated exposure to a space between dimensions.
Method: Extract the soul of a juvenile serpent from the deep ocean layer to be exposed to a space between dimensions until a soul anchor is formed.
The deep ocean serpent was chosen due to the creature's natural inclination towards spacial magic in hopes that their ability to create and manipulate subspace pockets will grant them greater affinity and endurance to the high energy space between dimensions. This specimen will most likely be the first of many in this experiment, which must be carried out one at a time due to us being the only beings capable of interacting with souls.
Record 4
The soul has been successfully extracted and the body placed under time-dilated stasis. No technicalities have yet occurred.
Record 5
Exposure to unbound energy has shown no effects, ill or promising. Effects on the energy itself were largely indiscernible due to a continued lack of instrumentation capable of adequately observing it, though it is expected to either convert into Mana or have no effect.
Record 6
First immersion within the unbound pool was largely successful, no significant effects on the soul observed. It should be noted that there was a slight external pull on the soul, possibly due to an increased proximity to the soul sea. If this hypothesis proves correct, future experimentation may be able to provide us a means to open a channel directly within the soul sea, removing our reliance on natural infusing of souls when creating divine beasts.
Record 13
A slight resistance to motion was felt upon immersion, resulting in the procedure taking longer than anticipated. It is unknown what the source was, or whether this was a singular event.
Record 30
The soul now completely resists our attempts at immersion, locking itself within this dimension. Attempts to force immersion may result in adverse effects, so experimentation is to be brought to a close.
Record 32
The soul has been successfully emplaced back within its original body. Thus far, no injury or maleffects have been observed, and the serpent has shown a surprising vitality compared to past attempts at emplacement. Whether this is a result of our improved technique or traits unique to this subject is unknown. It is additionally indeterminate as to the success of the experiment, and further observations will be required to determine the presence or lack of an anchor.
Record 88
Upon being manually imparted with a significant amount of Mana, the subject was able to briefly dip between dimensions, almost escaping its enclosure. It can now be stated with confidence that the serpent has developed an anchor.
Record 93
The subject has managed to breach dimensions without assistance, despite lacking a soul heart necessary in generating sufficient quantities of energy for the process. It is unknown as to the mechanism behind this, and since the presence of a soul heart in a form we are unfamiliar with cannot be ruled out the first hypothesis must be left as undetermined.
Record 95
Subject has been released to its natural habitat due to sufficient findings from the experiment and an increasing difficulty in continued captivity. This experiment is to be brought to a close.
Record 96 - Post Mortem
First hypothesis is indeterminate due to the probable presence of a soul heart, having been generated at an unknown point in time during the experiment. Second hypothesis however has been heavily supported by the development of a functioning soul anchor in an otherwise mundane creature.
It was unexpected for our first attempt at this experiment to be so successful. Further attempts will be required to ensure this was not a one time event, and the subject of this experiment is to be further observed within its natural habitat for a short time. Future attempts will also make use of the observed pull between dimensions to possibly locate a usable entrance to the soul sea. If this can be done without the notice of our observers, we will be able to create divine beasts at a much greater frequency and reliability.
- Extract from the Progenitor's notes