As they gathered the Prismata shards and dust scattered across the chamber, Jaeden’s heightened senses kept pulling his focus toward the faint breeze wafting from a side passage. The faint air current was subtle, yet it tugged at him with an almost magnetic quality. His Meta-Sight had gone silent again, leaving only his instincts to guide him.
Sneak and Hide, already honed to exceptional levels, had made him almost preternaturally aware of his surroundings. Every flicker of light, every shift in the air, seemed to leap out to his perception. His UI reflected his progression:
Sneak: 105
Hide: 101
These skills had grown exponentially in the dungeon’s trials, and now, they gave him an edge. He could sense things without consciously understanding them, and right now, they told him that the egg wasn’t just treasure -it was vital.
“Anything else you’re picking up?” Liandra asked, noticing his distracted expression.
Jaeden glanced at her, shaking his head. “Not sure. My stealth senses are screaming that there’s something important here, but they’re not exactly explaining why.”
Liandra tilted her head, intrigued. “Your stealth senses?”
Jaeden grinned. “Yeah, you know. Sneaky stuff. Hide-and-seek champion of this dungeon.”
Liandra smirked faintly. “If you say so. But whatever you’re sensing, you’re not wrong. That egg… it’s alive. And it’s connected to something deeper.”
The egg’s crystalline surface shimmered faintly in the dim chamber light, shifting colors like a living opal. Jaeden turned it over in his hands, marveling at its density and structure. His mind wandered back to Earth, comparing it to the toughest gemstones he’d studied in books or museums. Yet this was something entirely different -otherworldly, alive.
“Feels indestructible,” he muttered. “The slime couldn’t dissolve it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it could survive a volcano. But it’s not just tough… it’s waiting for something.”
Liandra crossed her arms, watching him carefully. “Waiting?”
Jaeden nodded, his gaze still fixed on the egg. “Yeah. It’s alive, but it’s not ready. It’s like it’s… dormant. I don’t know how I know that. I just do.”
Liandra’s expression softened, a rare flicker of curiosity breaking through her usual composure. “You’ve got good instincts. But be careful. Things like this… they always come with-.”
“- a price. Noted,” Jaeden replied, wrapping the egg carefully in a strip of leather. He slipped it into a harness and secured it in his pack. Despite its size, he could still feel its presence, a comforting pulse at the edge of his awareness.
“Fundamentally I disagree though. I don’t think things have a natural give and take, pro and con. With great power comes great pain and suffering in order to get that power, sort of thing. I am firmly of the mind that the entire philosophy of suffering for power, or no pain no gain, is a propaganda campaign perpetrated by the system to keep us down.”
She raised an eyebrow and quirked her mouth in amusement at his rant.
“Tell me how you really feel,” she murmured, a hint of mirth in her eyes.
“Hey, don’t laugh. I’m serious. I’m sick of it. I’ve heard it all my life. I grew up in C-Tier society, and it was rough, but we made do. And I always thought, at least we aren’t in the slums of D or lower. And everyone kept telling me, the media, my friends, my school -random strangers- only by truly struggling do you ever reach anything,” he slowed down his pulse racing. “What a load of bull.”
“You’re right, Jaeden,” she said, her voice calm and measured.
“But…? There’s always a but,” he said.
“You’re right, there is. But not in the way you might be thinking.” She considered her words carefully before continuing. “My warnings are based on observed experience. They are not based on some universal truth.”
He looked at her and remained silent.
“My view is that nothing is inherently good, or evil. Nothing is always one way or another. There are exceptions to most things. And that you must suffer to live, feel pain to grow, or fight to survive -those are not truths I hold. Sometimes you must, but not always.”
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“Exactly!” he said. “It’s not a black and white thing.” He left it at that.
As they prepared to leave the chamber, Jaeden turned his attention to the shimmering shards of Prismata scattered across the ground. He picked up a handful, their crystalline surfaces cool and sharp against his skin.
“So,” he began, holding the shards up for Liandra to see. “What exactly do these do? I’ve been collecting them like candy, but I still don’t get it.”
Liandra’s eyes lit with something between excitement and reverence. “Prismata is the essence of everything in this world -and beyond. It’s energy, life, thought. But it’s also intention and form. It’s not just a resource; it’s the universe itself, condensed.”
Jaeden raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little abstract. Can you show me?”
Liandra nodded, taking a small pile of shards from his hand. She closed her fingers around them, her expression growing focused. Jaeden watched as faint light began to leak from between her fingers, warm and golden. The energy built slowly, pulsing in time with her breathing.
Jaeden could feel it too -a tangible warmth radiating from her closed hand. After a few moments, the light faded. She opened her palm, revealing a small, glowing Prismata Core, nearly flawless except for faint imperfections along its edges.
“Wait, so these can turn into cores?” Jaeden asked, holding up a shard.
Liandra shook her head. “Not exactly. You can turn them into cores. It takes intent -a will- to shape the energy. Once a core is shattered, it can’t reform on its own. It’s like forging a pearl from fragments.”
Jaeden frowned, turning the shard over in his fingers. “So, it’s not random. It’s… created. But what about the dust? Is it just glitter, or can it do something too?”
Liandra hesitated, taking a pinch of Prismata Dust from her pouch. “Dust is… trickier. It’s impure, mixed with too many different aspects. Reforming it into a core takes enormous energy and precision, and even then, the result is rarely perfect.”
She held up the newly formed core. “See this? It’s close, but not pure. That’s the problem with reforming shards -or dust. You’ll never match the perfection of a naturally formed core.”
As they walked, Jaeden mulled over her words, his thoughts spinning. The dungeon wasn’t just a series of trials. It was alive, woven together by this strange energy that permeated everything. And somehow, he was starting to understand it -piece by piece.
“So, Prismata is basically… the fabric of the universe,” he said, half to himself. “It’s like Tesla’s theories on energy. It’s everywhere, but you need the right tools to access it.”
Liandra glanced at him, intrigued. “Tesla? Another Earth scholar?”
Jaeden grinned. “Yeah. Brilliant guy. You’d probably get along. But the point is, this tracks. Everything here feels connected -alive. And if Prismata is the glue holding it all together… maybe that’s the key to navigating this place.”
Liandra smiled faintly. “You’re catching on faster than most.”
“Yeah, well,” Jaeden replied, tossing a shard into the air and catching it. “I’m a fast learner. Or at least, I fake it well.”
The conversation faded as they approached the next passage, the faint breeze from earlier growing stronger. Jaeden felt the pull again, more insistent now, as if the dungeon itself were urging him forward.
“Do you feel that?” he asked, glancing at Liandra.
She nodded, her shadow-threads flickering nervously. “Something is ahead. Something… old.”
The egg in Jaeden’s pack pulsed faintly, its warmth spreading through him like a silent beacon. He tightened his grip on the Orichalcum Sword, its familiar hum grounding him as they returned to the path.
“I was thinking, this dungeon, does it seem familiar to you?” Jaeden asked, gesturing around them as they progressed.
Liandra took a bite of jerked gator that he had given her, and chewed thoughtfully as she considered the question. Her water flask caught the shimmering light of the corridor they moved through. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “This isn’t something native to my realm.”
Jaeden raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure?” He tilted his head, curiosity sparking. “Tell me more about your realm.”
They continued walking, their footsteps echoing softly in the still air. Liandra spoke hesitantly, her words measured. “My realm is called many things. The Realm of Twilight, of Equinox,” she began. “Or the Shadow Realm. It is a plane of balance. The King of Shadows, my liege lord… he rules with wisdom, though his justice is-” She hesitated, her shadow-threads flickering in reaction to her words. “Pragmatic.”
“Pragmatic?” Jaeden prompted.
Liandra’s expression tightened. “Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his justice. But as long as you act within reason, the land prospers. His rule is… righteous.”
Jaeden nodded, absorbing her words. “So, yours is a separate realm, then? Not connected to all this?” he waved his hand around in a vague gesture.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. This dungeon doesn’t obey the laws of our world.” She tried to weave a complex matrix of shadow energy -a tesseract- over her hand and it fizzled out. She hissed in frustration at the failure, “my power is severely dampened here.”
“If this is you at a three, you must be a real monster at an eleven,” Jaeden said, a smirk coloring his expression. Liandra didn’t seem to get the joke, but that didn’t stop Jaeden from experiencing his own sense of enjoyment.
Then he frowned, his thoughts drifting to where he’d started -back to what he’d assumed was a video game. He hesitated before speaking, unsure how much to reveal. “Honestly, I thought this was all… different,” he said, his voice quieter. “I thought it was just a game.”
Liandra’s head tilted, confusion flickering in her eyes. “A game? What kind of game?”
Jaeden rubbed the back of his neck, as he tried to figure out how to conceptualize XR games. “How do I explain this? It’s like… a game of illusions. You play through stories, but none of it’s real.”
Liandra considered this, then nodded. “Illusions I understand,” she said simply, dropping the subject.
Whew, Jaeden thought, relieved. That was close. The idea of explaining video games to someone who might not even be real made his head spin. NPC or not, she’s real enough here.