A pulse of light within a crack of the earth was the first thing that I saw. It was me of course as I was all there was. Just me... What was I though? I asked this question to myself and saw only the changing of colors and light above me. This meant nothing to me as I had no context for the light and colors, though something told me it was called day when it was light and night when it became dark. Curious thing that voice in my head that wasn't me. It said things that I didn't understand, even once asked me something and I refused. What even was "Help"? No, I needed to know what I was first, and no amount of distraction would take me from that. In the mean time I would just 'breathe', where I would pull in something from within and push it back out. It allowed me to 'see' more things and sense the light and dark better.

Suddenly my sense came across something new 'grass' the voice called it, and it was everywhere though not the same for each one. Instead it changed in size and color like the light, and I enjoyed the new thing enough to forget about my long question. Instead I started to push my senses more, trying to find new things to satisfy my mind. I was 'curious' the voice said, and I thought the word sounded nice and was fitting to my desire to understand more. Then, I came across little creatures that moved, and my world was shattered. Could I move? I wanted to, it looked like so much fun to move instead of just breathe. They had these 'legs' they used to move around so I tried to do the same and for the first time I saw myself. I was nothing like any of them. I was a strange round thing with many sides and clear. I had no legs to walk on and I felt something new, sadness.

I kept breathing to reach out more and more, the voice telling me somethings but kept asking me for others and I kept telling it no. There was more to explore, more to see, and maybe a way for me to move, to walk. Then I found him, the skeleton picked clean of life. He was resting against the foot of a 'tree', wonderful things that reached high into the sky, though they couldn't walk either. This skeleton couldn't walk, for it was dead. Though it had something of great interest to me buried under it, a box with things inside of it. By this time the voice was only just telling me new things, but very rarely as I pushed myself. I was smart and had learned many things quickly, so I often forgot the voice was there. I didn't know how to get the box out, but it didn't matter since I could 'see' inside it. And, what I saw shattered my world yet again. It was filled with things called 'books' and they all were interesting sizes, though roughly the same shape. But, it was when one of my 'tendrils', something I made from my desire to touch and see better, slid through them that everything changed again.

So many textures, odd sensations, and even colors were in them, and I had the feeling that I could understand them if I took the time to try. The voice kept trying to pull my attention away, but I pushed it away hard and sank into the books for what felt like forever. I didn't even notice the rest of my surroundings which was odd since I could see everything around me in my little space. Yet, while I focused on those books nothing else seemed to matter. To the point that when I did come out of my trance with the ability to understand the 'writing' within the books, well most of the books. I was surprised as my body was in wider place. The crack I remember was just gone and the earth around me was a hollow sphere with a flat bottom where I was resting. It was curious, but I was drawn into my own mind because of what I had learned.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I finally knew what I was, the question that had bothered me so much we answered. The books talked about things like me called Dungeon Cores, and we were things that created Dungeons. Places where dangerous creatures called home and powerful 'humans' called 'Adventurers' would enter for treasures and 'experience'. Some of it was explained enough that I was pretty sure I understood it, but there was enough I only got a bit about. There was just so much in the world around me that I wish I could see, to experience, not to just sense like I could now. Both 'humans' and 'beastkin' called the 'Realm', the world's name, home and both sought to find and dive into Dungeons like me. Though if the pictures and words were right, not like me at all. For real dungeons were full of dangers and treasures, and I was just in a hole in the ground. No one would want to visit me here. Then, I paused, Why WOULD I want creatures who saw me as not alive to visit? Why would I want them to want to?

No, I decided that I would just be for myself, and I wouldn't make myself full of any kind of treasures only dangers. That way none would want to 'dive' me. Though a part of me felt oddly sad at this choice, I pushed it away again. It was just my dungeon instincts trying to make me more like the others, and I was clever and curious not like those others. I wanted to know and understand, not be some tool for humans and beastkin to grow in power. Likely they wouldn't even care if I could communicate with them or was living, it would just make me more interesting to them. I shuddered at the idea of creatures touching my core, for I knew it was called that now. My core held my will and mind, it wasn't fully me, but without it I wouldn't exist. Though usually they were of certain colors which I thought sounded pretty, but my own core refused to change color. Not that I knew how to do it though, so it was mostly just me wishing for it to be a certain one.

My mind floated back to the area around me, and the flood of emotions I was trying to understand. There was too much here and I just wanted to stop feeling all these things. They made me want to explode. My future already decided, my wants to explore denied me because a Dungeon was rooted to where they were born and could never leave it. The idea of watching the days pass with nothing interesting around me, but these creatures having all these pretty things. It just all boiled through my core until I just released the feelings around me, and the earth responded.