A reflection of a layer into another, akin to a finger dipped under water

-Note from unknown 

Memories and ideas. A tale of stories from a place called earth, of creatures and humans, both irrelevant to the greater depth of space. I saw that place, experienced that place, but never as a human nor a tree. I was simply an eye, a being that simply watch and exist. But now, it appears my time has passed, expired. As every creatures and life to exist, I must go. I must sleep for eternity in a place of no dreams and thoughts, a place where nothing exist and will never be a place to exist.

Well, so much for expectations as what appears in front of me is nothing short of things that exist, though I must admit this must be another place entirely. Not earth or that universe, but somewhere else and with this energy flowing with the water, mixed through and unseen. It simply flow merrily without purpose, some even entering my new body.

Oh yes, my new body indeed. A floating semi-translucent ball of mist constantly shifting and writhing with thin tendrils. Each tendrils sway amidst the water, intercepting some energy from it and feeding it back to my body, growing its mass as the mist squirmed around the energy, consuming them.

And yes, water. I’m currently under a body of water. It is pretty still for it to be a river and there are long grasses growing in abundance. Their leaves sway around and easily reach probably 2 humans worth of height in average. Their highest, I’m uncertain as there are only so much I can see when my vision is covered by them.

Reading the memories of my body of what I should be doing now, I directed my attention below me. Pulling out from my pool of absorbed energy, I pushed it towards the ground, parting the soil aside, opening a hole big enough for one adult to fit in. Accompanying it is an eruption of mud, the water rushing in to fill up the space. It dragged with it soil and plants as well as some small creatures, resulting in a rather cloudy water. That much stuffs will be useful later.

I can make it bigger, but I don’t see the point at the moment. Bigger hole means bigger opening and bigger access to me. In fact, tight squeezes exist in natural caves and they are much tighter than this. I’ll change it when I see myself more defensible and not so vulnerable as of right now.

Topping up my nearly depleted energy pool, I continued digging, not going for a straight line but occasionally digging in tight curves. Eventually I reached far enough and begun carving a room. The walls are folded like folded clothes. Each fold hide small spaces within them, their entrances far too narrow for anything bigger than an arm. Extending the room further in, I enlarged individual folds into their own rooms with bigger entrances, big enough for an inconvenient passage through. 

In the end I made about six sub-rooms in the main room before digging another tunnel downwards and doing the same. I went on until I have three rooms in total with six sub-rooms each.

Beyond that is a tunnel as uncomfortable as I can make it, leading to my core, jagged and with sharp protrusions as well as many sharp turns involving some good manoeuvring just to pass. Sufficed to say they’ll be tired just from the terrain alone.

The cloudy water is starting to settle in, with debris of leaves and plants floating around together with confused creatures.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Territory Established.

-Dungeon entrance confirmed .

-Rooms and tunnels strengthened with dungeon walls.

-Core room confirmed.

-System fully activated.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

I see, this is my home now. Heavy feelings sink within my smoky mass, reminding me of the days I once observed countless lives grow from children to adulthood, how they formed families and had children of their own. There are also trees, how the passing ages tempered them through disasters and plagues. 

Those memories flew so fast, now I’m no longer in that place, but somewhere I don’t know. Another world to observe, perhaps this time I can do more than watch.

Turning my attention to the screen and pushing away my feelings of reminiscence, I read.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Name:...

Floors: 1

Theme: Mist from somewhere.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Mist from somewhere.

It rained of inky blackness, and with it came the mist. With the mist, they...changed.

-During the night, alter and fuse each floor terrains into a realm of mist.

-All floor themes will be altered.

-All fauna will be altered.

-All flora will be altered.

-Every creatures regardless of element will deal cold damage.

-Low chances of permanent Mutations.

-After the night, everything will turn back to normal.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

The realm of mist... been so long since I last heard that name. A realm of shifting mist and where everything changed beyond their natural self. Those who entered never returned the same. I know I know more, but, those memories felt distant, blurry, and vague, like blank spaces in my memory. Never-mind, there are no benefits in trying to remember what I can’t.

Maybe that’s why I’m misty as well. Whatever happened in those blurry memories turned me into this, not that I’m interested in knowing right now. Maybe it will come with time, I just have to wait.

Looking out of my entrance, the water is turning dark, unfortunately I can’t see beyond the water surface. It should arrive soon, the mist, I must see what it means for me. I can only hope it won’t be too much of a negative thing. The memories of this body speak of dungeons getting destroyed by the virtue of being too weird. People are scared of what they can’t understand, things they don’t know. 

While waiting, I sorted out the plants, using my tendrils to drag them into places to grow, injecting them with just the right amount of energy to promote root growth. Mostly I placed them within the folds so they can freely grow and won’t be affected too much by any would-be visitor. I did the same with the creatures, separating them in different folds to prevent infighting.

Pretty conveniently, I can produce more of them from pure energy if I want, along with getting their screens.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Common water grass.

-Nature element.

-Common grass growing in lakes, rivers, and in rare occasions; sea shores.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

That’s the same grass as above, nothing special going on with them. Nature element is pretty self explanatory, nature, plants, trees, flowers, the usual kind.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Unclassified creature.

-Water element.

-A yet to be classified creature that feed off from energy of plants. It lack essential organs for a more natural diet. 

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Interesting, it looks like a long white worm with sail-like fins on top and below, growing from head to tip. Its head open up to a maw with thin fangs, but it lack a throat. Its transparent body also show no eyes nor stomach, pretty much just flesh. A very odd design for a creature, I’ll see much use of its ability.

Water element, another simple one. Creatures that live in water and can use water to a certain extent.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Mud scale.

-Water element.

-A common creature in every rivers and lakes. It hide itself among mud and soil, using sticky mucus to bind mud and other materials to its body.

_/_/_/_/_/_/

Contrary to its name, what I see is less of a mud and more of fresh leaves. A long transparent worm curled in pieces of fresh leaves. On the outside it appear like a ball of leaves more than its name suggests. Looking around, there are more of them, using whatever materials they can find. Some did fulfil their name, but most didn’t. Anyway, I can use them in something, mostly traps.

Feeding them more energy to grow and spread, I stared outside, totally dark and the water rippling, rippling in forms of droplets.

It is here.