Through the eyes of an ashamed swordsman

I can't believe they forgot I use the blade... Surely I used it a few times, right? Against Teacher? No, we were stopped before I could. Those big fog creatures? I just punched them... What about... No, I punched those too... Have I really been using it as a glorified dumbbell this whole time? I suppose it wasn't the best quality, I did just carve it from the tooth of a strong-looking creature, but still! This new sword... I'll use it for everything! I'll even name it! That's a thing people do, right?

Light squeezes through a tarp on the wall of the small capsule Fluffy rests in, his body lifting from the plush bed it's resting on to greet the large arachnid brushing aside the tarp. "You awake yet?" "I'm getting there." "Got news about your sword when you're ready." "I'll be out in a moment." The tarp flutters closed, tiny wisps of light still seeping through where it is no longer tucked into the frame. With a wide stretch, Fluffy pulls himself up, throws on his old shirt, and clasps his satchel before pushing free from the capsule into the bright outside.

He steps onto an ornate road, woven tight and painted into an accurate imitation of paved stone, faux-iron guard rails shielding passers-by from the sheer drop to the city below. The building behind him stands suspended and surrounded by an artistically formed helix of roads, held together by numerous thin fibres creating an almost mist-like quality to the atmosphere. Spiders skitter along the road, some slowing down to glance at the unusual guest, others hopping off the rails to traverse the binding threads. A small group above pull at the threads forming the large construct, dotted with capsules, their legs weaving tight knots to fill and repair damage to the wall.

"Do you make everything out of thread?" He asks Chach'n, eyes fixated on the faint lights occasionally emanating from the workers as they wind their threads. "Not much reason to use anything else. If wound tightly enough, silk can be stronger than any stone or metal, though it doesn't conduct Mana very well. We do use more than just silk though. Our infrastructure really took off a few oceans before my time when metal threading was invented. We use it today for our foundations and some of our bindings." "You can thread metal? I suppose it would be abundant down here after all." "I don't know the exact method, something about heating and spinning it. As for its abundance, you're right. Especially at the layer edge the stone is rich in metals. I don't know all of the Aoan names for them, but adamant and iron are fairly common here."

Fluffy nods to her answer, his curiosity sated. "So, you mentioned my sword?" "Ah, yes. Good news for you, Ch'cha isn't here right now but we sent message and he's fine with us using some of the carapace from his last moult. It's not far from the city, so it should arrive within the pond. Once it does I'll take you to a good smith I know, they're my great-great-grandniece's husband, so I can get a hefty discount for you." "I see... How long is a pond exactly?" A moment of confusion, followed by one of realisation as she pieces together her mistake. "Right! I forget you surface folk use those convoluted sky things to measure time." "The suns?" "Yea, those! Anyway..."

The chu'sha turns, pointing a leg to a bright red spire jutting from the ceiling not too far from them. "That red spike is a timekeeping stalactite. Every time water falls from the tip is one drip, I think it's about three of your seconds but I could be wrong. The water drips into a basin below it, and when that fills we drain it and call that a pond. Water from the pond then flows into a much bigger basin in lower haven, which is called a lake upon being filled. Basins have standardised sizes, but the standards suck and fail to account for environmental factors, so each city has a different time scale. Finally, an ocean is just an epoch, something we increment whenever a significant change to our world occurs, like the industrial boom from inventing metal threading." And she calls the rising and setting of the suns convoluted...

"The pond is half full, so it shouldn't take long. Anything you want to do in the meantime?" "Food?" "Food can be arranged."

Through the eyes of a competitive spider

This is a challenge, it must be... Lyla stands atop the group's lodgings, eyes locked in a standoff against an entire city. Thread is my whole thing, in this body at least. To see these guys so brazenly challenge my skill like this... It can't be ignored. It is time for me to show them who the real master of silk is.

Through the eyes of a satiated elf

With a sound crunch, Fluffy gulps down the final bite of his fried snake, washing his throat clear with the remaining drips of the provided water and resting back with a content sigh. "You sure can eat. The last human I met could barely stomach looking at her food. Makes me wonder how she even made it down this far with such an attitude." "Do people from the surface arrive often? Also, I'm an elf, not a human." "Very rarely, and most either die in the layers below or are recognised by the gods and discard their affiliations so we seldom see them again. People born within nilasuun are fairly common here though. Enough about that though, how do you plan to pay for your meal?" "I'm sure you've been aware from the start I have none of your currency and little of value to offer." "I can pay for you if you tell me your life story." "Sure. Not a particularly long story anyway." "Huh... Usually takes more bartering."

Fluffy leans back, staring up at the ceiling as he stirs his memories. Where would I begin? It's my life story, so I suppose... "I'll start from the beginning. I was born some eighty-odd years ago in a quaint village. I don't remember much about it, but life was good there. We were attacked by some group I forgot the name of, or was it one person? I forget. Anyway, while escaping something happened while we were evacuating and suddenly I appeared in some forest somewhere in the northern continent with a few of the other villagers. I don't remember who I was with, but all of them died and I nearly did too, until I was found by my master." A face of deep nostalgia covers him, his gaze lost to the past while the chu'sha twinges in the slightest hint of irritation.

"Master raised me, taught me to speak and read Aoan, showed me how to fight, then sent me off on some convoluted mission I forgot the details of. Something about a prophecy I think. I had it written down, but accidentally sent that notebook to the surface with my only return token. Since then I've been pretty much just travelling and exploring the northern continent until a war happened. I don't remember the details, but I was involved with the fighting and part of the force that drove the invaders back. After that I was invited to participate in a labyrinth dive, and now I'm here." A deadpan stare graces him as he lowers his head, even the moss on Chach'n's back seeming to wave more lethargically.

"You skipped the entire journey to get down here. Surely something happened there?" "Well, let's see... I came in with a group of four or five, but they left before we even made it to see Nok." "The divine beast? What was he like?" "I don't know. He was asleep." "..." "After that... there were a few flooded layers I think, but nothing interesting until I got deeper. Eventually I started finding all sorts of fascinating creatures like crimson basilisks and leather-toed k'ningwats, but I'll spare you the deep-dive on those. Even further down I encountered a few civilisations like the gold-touched apes, a skittish race of merfolk, and a strange rat colony I couldn't discern the intelligence of. Then I made it to haven."

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"But... What about the rest of your group? You didn't meet them just before getting here, right?" "Oh, no. I kept going down from here but hit a wall in my progress at that big eye thing so I travelled back up to train and encountered them while meditating. Since then I've learned that I actually use Aether instead of Mana and have been training to improve my skill in that. Then we made our way down here again and the rest is history." "Poorly told history... I'm impressed you made it down so far and lived, but It's barely been a few drips! Surely you can give more details than that! What about your master? What did they look like?" "Well... um..." "You forgot the face of the person who raised you?" "It's not that, just... How do you describe the appearance of someone who looks completely different every time you see them?"

"Different how?" "Different hair colour, body type, height, skin colour, facial structure, age, smell, species, you name it. I don't know whether it was illusions or shape-shifting, but they never looked the same twice." "Then how do you know it was the same person? Could be a dozen people playing a prank on you, and from what I've gathered of your personality you'd probably fall for it." "It's simple. Nobody can use Mana like they can. I've seen mental casting before, but they take it to a completely different level. You'll see them perform complex spells like teleportation like it's a mundane hand gesture, trick a flock of adult dragons into flying into a cliff as a light prank, and even change the weather with but a thought. Pretty unmistakable if you ask me." "Pretty unbelievable too." "You'd have to meet them."

"Okay, so can you not give me more details on the story? What about that war you completely glossed over, or more about your early days?" "Can't remember." "Can you try?" "Nope." "Come on... What about the creatures you've encountered? What was that kenningwad thing you mentioned?" "Ah! Now that I can elaborate on!"

Through the eyes of a very competitive spider

"What do you want? I'm trying to make art here." Lyla scowls at the pair of spiders, who stand chittering and waving their pedipalps in increasing frustration at her beside the half made statue of herself. Geh, foreigners. Who decided there needed to be five billion or whatever languages anyway? Can't everyone just speak Englin or Aoan like a normal person? Ignoring the two noisy interlopers she continues to weave her statue, the dull blue moss on the pair's backs bobbling as their waving intensifies. "There's a designated place for experimental art, you know?"

The statue lifts into the air, pried loose from the domed roof it had been woven to and suspended. Who's this joker supposed to be? "Hey! No touching the merchandise!" Lyla scowls down at the pink coated spider, forelegs tipped with the same red energy holding up the statue. "You don't have a permit to build here. I'll have to ask that you stop or move it to one of the art plazas." "And who are you to tell me what to do? You think you can stop me? I could cover this whole city in thread if I wanted to! Er... more thread." "I am one of the chu'sha assigned to keep an eye on you. And yes, I do think I can stop you."

Through the eyes of a satisfied elf

"Remind me to never ask a human about animals again." "I'm an elf." "Sure. Anyway, we're here." Fluffy rounds a corner within the tightly packed conglomeration of domes to face a large structure wound from jet black thread, standing out from the rest with its vase shaped shell. Wisps of smoke spill from the mouth of the building, filtering above into a suspended orb much like the light cores scattered around the labyrinth. "Certainly looks the part of a blacksmith's forge." "Really? Most outsiders are put off by the shape." "Makes perfect sense to me." "Huh. Guess you don't need the explanation then."

Chach'n skitters ahead and unfurls the entry flap, ushering the elf inside before letting it fall closed behind them. All light from outside filters away, leaving behind the dim glow of a central pyre licking the cluttered floor and shelf covered walls with pulses of orange and yellow. The thick stench of smoke and soot seeps into every surface, drying the air and infusing Fluffy's skin with a thin layer of grit. "Chuchu! Get you're ass down here!" The chu'sha yells, a startled clatter of metal followed by a few resounding thuds responding to her declaration.

A disgruntled puff of air and mumbled chitter emanates from the petulant spider wriggling itself up from its back. Brown carapace chars black at the thickened tips of each leg, seemingly imitating the near void-like cloak of moss atop its thorax, pulsating thin lines of red along each stem. "Speak Aoan, idiot. I didn't teach you guys for nothing." More indistinct chitters follow as the spider ambles towards a pile of junk, pulling out a white stone and thwacking it against the floor several times until it glows, finally resting it between opened fangs.

"You want me to make something. You always do. Can't let me make something normal either. Always crazy difficult requests, for weird strangers and-" "Yea, yea, I'm a terrible great-great-grandaunt-in-law. Did you get the materials I sent here?" Another chitter, probably too rude to be translated to Aoan as the blacksmith skitters around the pyre to a large spike of dense, black carapace unceremoniously dumped in a random corner and gives it a few solid kicks. "You want me to make with Ch'cha's... what is the word?" "Carapace." "Carapace? Are you trying to kill me?" "Heyyyy, you'll be fine, you got this. I know you do. You always do. So anyway, how long are you expecting this to take?" "What am I even making?"

Both turn to Fluffy, sixteen eyes suddenly bearing down on him. "Uh... A sword." "What is a sword?" This is going to be hard to explain...

Through the eyes of a serene ape

Gol Dhee sits along the edge of a winding path, the vibrant tapestry view of a three-dimensional city gracing his periphery as he interleaves a thin wire of silk through one of his damaged pouches, sealing the tear. Behind him, a familiar chitter pulls at his attention, the sight of his smallest companion suspended helplessly in the air by a red halo of energy, swearing the universe into submission as they approach.

"I think you lost this." The pink-coated spider remarks, stopping by his side. "You seem like a reasonable one, so I'd like to ask that you keep your companion in check before she vandalises more property." "Fuck you! Hey, monkey! This guy's a freak! Get him!" Gol Dhee gestures to the ground, the spider stepping back to lower the bright one where he motioned. "Hah! Now that's more like i-" As soon as she touches the ground, Gol Dhee picks her up and heartlessly stuffs her in his pouch. "Hey! Dammit! Do you know who you're dealing with?! You think I can't break out of a measly bag like this?! Just you watch!"

The pair share a nod, holding back their laughter as he clasps the pouch shut, sealing her inside.

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Little is known about the third great battle of the gods, less even than the first two. What we do know comes from geological analysis showcasing many massive landscape-shaping events equivalent to, if not in excess of, those of natural disasters like volcanic eruptions. Notably, the many Mana rich mountains sprawled across the Maolaleus continent are believed to have been formed in the span of a single battle between individuals utilising magics of extreme heat and cold.

In recent years the monolith of battle, housed in Aoi'lalus, has been dated to this era, even being made of the same black stone found scattered along the continent. The depicted statue of an angel battling a demon could indicate a significant presence of demons participating in the war.

Never ask a divine beast about this war. All who lived through it revile the memory, and some have been known to lash out at its mention.