I felt my mind start to stir as your mind draws itself from sleep. It was warm, comfy, but a cold gnawing at my periphery and limbs. I tried to grab the blankets and wrap myself in them as I roll over. Only to find no such blanket, or twisting motion, it was like my mind being lied too. I open my eyes as my mind caught up with itself. If I had been sleeping then where are my blankets?
As I opened my eyes, I was greeted with the rugged stone walls surrounding me. As I looked over the walls around me it became more obvious I was in a cave and in the dark. The only light piercing where I dwell was the entrance to it, showing a scene from the middle of winter. Snow covered what ground I could see, a few flakes of it still drifting down. At least I knew where the cold came from... But not the warmth. As I looked down at myself, I paused. I wasn't here? Or at least my body wasn't.
I don't know how long I stayed staring at the red gem atop a finely crafted wooden post. But eventually I tried to inhale, only to find mentally doing the action didn't feel right. As I scoured my mind for what had happened, I realized something just as odd.
I remember falling asleep, when and where I can't tell. But I remember drifting off before waking here. Anything else I can't recall beyond an incoherent mess of shades and meanings my mind refuses to comprehend. As I feel my anger swell, so does the warmth around me. At first I just stayed there asking myself, “Why me? Who am I?”. By the time I started to look around again, a small patch of stone was revealed at the entrance to the cave, where formally there was snow. A small puddle had formed while the patch grew a centimetre every minute, roughly. After watching this my mind cooled, as a new question took the others. It was simple, “Where does the warmth come from?”. My mind tried to figure it out and comprehend its origin. I Watched as the puddle slowly froze and snow once more start to touch down in the patch. As I thought about it, “I” was the only thing here, beyond the wooden post, and if I assumed that I am the gem. Then could I be making the heat in this cave? I started to think about it and only thought about how it seemed to happen as I was angry. With nothing else to do but question my existence, I chose to test it.
At first I just tried to pretend to be mad, watching the mouth of the cave. After awhile with no effect I felt slightly defeated. With a twinge of annoyance and frustration I started to curse the cave and snow out, feeling my own anger once more rise with the words. I could feel my first questions already clawing back at the back of my mind, further fuelling the torrent of words in my mind and the heat around me. It was after a few moments my vision picked up the repercussions of my cursing, snow melting. I stopped my curse vomiting and watched, a bucket of cold water being splashed onto my raising anger. After a few moments the melting stopped and the drops of water start to freeze once more. I drew on the anger again, feeling with it the rise of warmth once again. After a few moments the frozen drops started to change back into water and once more snow melted outwards, much slower then the first time. For the first time since I woke up, I felt proud, I found my first answer!
It was then my silent cave wasn't so quiet, as a voice thrummed from the rock around them. “For gaining control of your heat generation and foray into controlling your emotions, You have gained the skill Heat Manipulation.” The voice was deep and old, like the voice of a mountain. As It spoke, a red square appeared before me, with the top the words 'Heat Manipulation' where written and below a description.
Heat Manipulation: A skill that allows a dungeon to exert its will onto the very warmth it exudes. With it also comes an understanding of how much heat they produce. While merely moving and concentrating heat with this skill is passive, any concentration that exceeds the boiling point of water or spread beyond a meter from its entrance will start to consume mana.
I read it through, thoroughly, making sure I was seeing this right. As I thought over its meaning, I at least knew that I was making heat. Seemingly just a little less then that of a campfire, what ever that was. As I realized it had just recalled a memory, I reached out for it. But it had already been pulled back into the murk at the depths of my mind. I cursed myself for being so fixated! I could have gained a memory!
As I reread the message I mentally pushed it to the side, where it seemed to turn to imaginary cinders. From it, I gained another piece of knowledge... I was a dungeon? In the same moment another red box appears.
Dungeon
Both an entity and place where Mana and Warmth is bled back into the world. At its heart is its core. Their cores are shaped as gems that holds its soul and power. With time both its halls and gem grow as its Mana and Warmth are concentrated. The Dungeon can create creatures and traps to protect itself from the races of the world
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
You may see your status by thinking of what you are.
The last part seemed more pointed then any of the sentences I've read so far. Something was behind them. As I focused on myself, I paid attention to what I knew, I existed, I was a dungeon and my body was a gem. Before long I felt, the box appear, a nagging pull at me. As I opened my eyes a red box once more was set in front of me.
Status
Name: ??? Race: Dungeon Soul Level: 1 Age: 1 Day Floors: 1 Denizens: 0 Mana: 100 Heat: 300 Mana Per Hour: 5 Heat Per Hour: 10 Titles: Lost Soul Skills: Sentience, Dungeon Manipulation, Create Creature, Heat Manipulation
As I thought through what I've learned, what was my name? I-I just couldn't remember. It was like an instinct that I knew it was in the mire at the back of my mind. I cursed it for denying me my own name!
After a few minutes of brooding, I decided to try out my skills. Were they powers or maybe just knowledge with practical uses? She thought about it, briefly remembering their sole title and shivering. Back to the skills, I'll think about that later. From their collection of skills, the one that seems most useful was Dungeon Manipulation. As my mind pulled on the idea of it, the corresponding information both filled my mind and was displayed before me.
Dungeon Manipulation This skill is the foundation of a dungeon, allowing it to expand into the earth around it. It also allows the dungeon to craft rooms and halls from the area it claims.
From this information I reached out to the left wall, pressing my heat and power into it. I could feel it warm and linked to me like a phantom limb. I then expanded it out he rest of the stone. As it worked through the wall, I started to smooth it, like clay in my 'hand' I shaped it as I wanted.
An hour or two later, and the cave was now a uniform 2 meters tall and 1.5 wide. Slowly they worked it deeper into the rock, going from a mere five meters deep to twenty. I then carved out a 10 by 15 meter room, with it being uniform like the hall leading to it. Thinking it over, I reshaped it to look closer to a cave, expanding the roof to make a slight dome shape. Once it was to my liking, I made two paths branching off and a 10 by 10 room at their ends. As I thought through its layout. I remembered my gem and its post. It was still near the entrance. I moved back, seemingly a consciousness floating through my own halls back to it. With a bit of will behind my intention, I shifted it to the left most room. It was odd see it – myself vanish like that, but it worked.
I've worked hard, its time for a small break.