As Adam followed Abigail into the Dungeon he was surprised by how dry the air was, they were over a mile and a half underwater after all. Also, the pressure in the Air bubble was one atmosphere. As he looked around a message prompt filled my vision,
Welcome to the Dungeon of the Atlantean Artificer.
Interestingly, Atlantis may have existed after all. Adam looked around the entrance and noticed a hand-sized opalescent pearl on a pedestal.
“Please touch the pearl and activate this Node for yourself. You are familiar with Nodes and how they work?” Abagail asked.
Adam walked over and touched the pearl. As he accepted the prompt asking if he wanted to add himself to this node he said, “Yes, Nodes allow adventurers to teleport through dungeons quickly bypassing areas they’ve already explored. Also, by accepting this Node into my personal network of nodes I’ve given myself the ability to return to this node later.”
Abigail smiled as she said, “Exactly. Because you do not have all of the nodes to the location I must take you to, there is a little bit of a hike involved. If I might ask, how fast are you?”
“Quite fast, though I think I’d damage the dungeons I passed through if I were to move at full speed. Why don’t I just teleport to you as you move from node to node?” Adam asked
“You can do that, target someone you barely know and then teleport to them?” she asked.
“Let me check,” Adam said as he closed my eyes, willed his intent, and then teleported to Abigail. When he appeared beside her she looked at him with interest. “Yep, I can do that. Please use the node to go to the next node, I’ll teleport to you, add that node to my network, and so on.”
Abigail looked thoughtful for a moment then smiled as she said, “This will reduce our travel time by days, if not weeks. Also, as we are now in a dungeon the Labyrinth and I are in contact again. I am to inform you that safe passage is only granted to gain these node locations once and when you are finished speaking with my master you may use the nodes to come back to this node once. Any deviations or future uses are not covered by her guarantee of safe passage,” Abigail said.
“I understand, safe passage to the Labyrinth for our talk. One use of the node network to leave. If I chose to go elsewhere that’s on me. I accept the conditions. Let’s get this party started,” Adam said enthusiastically.
Abigail walked up to the node, touched it, and vanished. Adam teleported to her, touched the new node, accepted it to his network then Abigail vanished again.
They repeated this process 5 more times before they appeared in a room with two black portals, each at opposite ends of the bricked room they were in. There was a Node pedestal in the middle of the chamber.
“What is this?” Adam asked.
“This node,” she said as he added it to his network of nodes, “you just added yourself to is a connection node. This type of node connects either Dungeon to Dungeon or Dungeon to Labyrinth. If you were to walk through that curtain of black energy you would find yourself in the very beginning of the Labyrinth.”
“So, the Labyrinth connects directly to this Dungeon on Earth then?” he asked.
“Yes, though this dungeon remained closed to your world for so long due to mana deprivation. With the return of magic creatures may once again move through the dungeon into your world. Right now, there are Labyrinth creatures on the other side commanded to not allow any monsters or creatures to come into this Dungeon, save you and myself.”
“Can Monsters use the Node system?” he asked.
“Yes and no. The better answer is that a sentient dungeon can move monsters around using the node system.
“Is this Dungeon Sentient?”
“Yes, he goes by the name of Al.”
“Can Al hear me here?”
“Yes,” Abigail said as her eyes asked why?
“Hey Al, nice to meet you. Concerning you and me, I am of the live and let live opinion. What do you say?”
A mouth appeared on the wall and spoke in a gravelly voice, “And why should I care about what you want?”
“As a dungeon do you have access to Analyze or Identity abilities or spells, to view Adventurers and Monsters as they come in?”
“Yes, I usually do that through the nodes when travelers touch them but my attempts to Analyze you failed,” Al said.
“That should have been your first hint but hey, you’re being nice, so I’ll be nice back,” he said as he touched the node again and lowered his defenses to allow the dungeon to analyze him. He felt the magic radiate out from the node, it had been subtle, and he hadn’t been watching for it so hadn’t noticed before because he’d automatically resisted it. Then the whole cavern started trembling.
After a few moments, the mouth on the wall spoke again, “I have your word on the live and let live criteria of this relationship?” Al asked.
“Yes, I have no issues with you or what you’ve done. There is no way you have affected my life to this point so we’re good,” Adam said.
“Then I agree to this idea of live and let live. On that note, I should let you know that you shouldn’t keep the Labyrinth waiting. That never goes well for those that do,” Al said hurriedly.
“What did you do?” Abigail asked.
“I let Al see my attributes and levels
“That’s it, no threats, nothing that might warrant a retaliation later?” she asked.
“Nope, we’re good, aren’t they Al?” Adam asked.
“Yep, good, Thanks for stopping by, Abigail you don’t want to keep her waiting, you know how she gets,” Al said hurriedly.
Abigail sighed, resigned to the fact that neither Al nor Adam were going to say more and then touched the node and vanished.
Before he touched the node he asked Al, “Can you absorb things into your dungeon from here if I were to leave something on the floor for you?”
“Yes?” the mouth on the wall said questionly as he drew the word out.
“Is there anything you need or want that you haven’t seen in a while?” Adam asked
“Honestly I wouldn’t know what to ask for?” Al said.
“Okay, well here is a list of the periodic table, all the elements known to man,” he said as Adam let his chaos flow out and create elements from the periodic table. Adam provided the information he needed in English as well as samples of the 118 known elements. Here are a few of the magical ones as well he said as he conjured a block of mithril and adamantium.”
Adam watched as the items he created were absorbed into the floor of the dungeon. “When I come back through, we’ll see about setting up a permanent communication network somehow. It’s gotta be kind of lonely down here. Also, people on the surface would find it incredibly difficult to get here. Maybe they can set up a node on the surface for you somewhere.”
“There used to be one on an island nearby, someone stole the node jewel a long time ago,” Al said.
“Tell you what, we’ll talk later, the Abigail and Labyrinth are probably wondering what happened to me. You should know that most humans on the surface are only levels 1 through 10. Maybe set up your encounters with that in mind at your entrance from the surface level. You do that and I’ll help you get that node on the surface working again. The people up top are going to need to dungeon dive to get ready for monsters manifesting out of thin air. They need to be stronger. If the weak or the overly greedy sneak their way in and you grow stronger, That’s no great loss if they’re not smart enough to stay away from places they shouldn’t go.”
“Why are you going to help me?” Al asked.
“I was a Dungeon Master Once, don’t know how that would work with a Sentient Dungeon but if being a Dungeon Master is on the table again it’s not something I’d be opposed to.”
“You would have to clear my dungeon one time,” Al said.
“We’ll talk later, Abigail and her master are waiting,” Adam said as he teleported to Abigail who gave him the Why-did-you-make-me-wait-look. Adam just smiled and said, “I was making friends, let’s go.”
Over the next hour, they traveled through 34 nodes, making a total of 39 nodes used. After entering the Labyrinth Abigail explained that the 35 nodes were separated by large areas, and each was in a sanctuary of sorts. Some were in an Oasis; others were in mountain valleys, and a few were in temples to various Gods. Adam picked up a sense of power from the temples that hinted at unlimited power. He was not expecting that. Some of the Nodes he added to his network were also connection Nodes to other Dungeons. Adam didn’t tarry and just accepted those Nodes into his node network and continued on. The last time he teleported to Abigail he found her standing next to a golden pearl which was obviously the Node ten feet in front of a golden portal. Adam looked at Abigail questioningly as he cocked his head slightly.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“That portal leads into the heart of the Labyrinth. On the other side are horrors and creatures out of myth and legend that no mortal has seen and survived. There is a Node at the location you are going to but teleportation, other than node travel is prohibited.”
“So, I have to step through the portal and make my way to the Node at the center?”
“Yes. My master has lit the way for you. Simply look to the brightest star and make your way toward it. This part of your journey may take a while. There are oases along the way that will see to your needs when you stop to rest.”
“And nothing will attack me on the other side of this portal?”
“So long as you do not take aggressive action, they will not either.”
“What will you be doing?”
“After you leave here, I will be reabsorbed into the Labyrinth.”
“You do your job then get killed off?”
“No, my mind will be stored and when needed again I will be called forth again,” she said.
“Okay, Abigail. Thank you for your service. I’m off to meet your boss,” he said as he turned and walked through the golden portal to find himself standing on a field of grass with only the portal near it. It was twilight out and there were stars in the sky. As he looked up he noticed a very bright star directly overhead. Adam guess he was going up. Adam willed himself into movement and started moving toward the star. As he flew up from the field he looked down and saw that the land went off in both directions as far as he could see, which was quite far. He couldn’t get a sense of scale for this place. Was this another version of a Universe that seemed to go on forever but was really just a sphere so large as to appear flat?
Adam felt himself leave the atmosphere about 25 miles above the surface of the plains. Velocity and time gave him the ability to judge the distance he’d traveled. From this height, he could also see that the land still went off in all directions and it still appeared flat. He noticed that the lighting was provided artificially. When he rose above 100 miles he moved from the twilight into the familiar darkness of empty space. He could still see light coming up from the ground below without the haziness that was usually associated with light traveling through the atmosphere. Adam slowed and went back and sure enough, he found a uniform barrier where the light below ended, and above it was open space. No gradual lessening of atmosphere, just atmosphere then space. It was also at that moment that he noticed that some of the ground was moving off in the distance. From this height to be able to see the creatures moving they must be truly gargantuan in size.
Adam turned back to the Star acting as a Beacon and increased his speed. As he flew towards the star he realized that this Labyrinth was testing him. With the scale of things, he’d seen there was no doubt that she would have had the ability to create a portal or teleport him to herself had she wished. This hinted that he may not have met this Labyrinth before so it was best not to rock the boat.
Adam increased his speed until he was cruising along at more than 10,000 times the speed of light. Remembering an idea he’d read about he made sure he had full sensory capability from his soul space then transported himself into his Base of Operation in his soul space as he continued increasing the speed as the focal point of his soul space traveled through the Labyrinth. Now that his “body” was pure energy, there should be no upper limit to the speed he could achieve.
Eventually, he was moving so fast that when he realized he was getting close to the star, he had already passed it. Adam slowed down turned around and manifested his body back into real space again as he made his way back to the star at a much more manageable speed. As he flew into the star system he noted that there was only one planet in the goldilocks zone and moved towards it. As he drew closer he noticed a human woman in a flowing orb rising from the surface toward him.
Adam felt a gentle pressure and then words started to spill into his mind via telepathy: Greetings Adamantadine and welcome to my home, the woman in front of him sent to him telepathically.
Adam hadn’t used telepathy all that often but he knew how so he formatted his thoughts and sent back, Greetings, by what name or form of address would you like me to refer to you while I’m here?
“You may refer to him as Bri. Referring to me as a thing always bothered me and taking on a nickname based solely on the spelling of my form and function such as Laby, just didn’t sound unique. So if you would refer to me as Bri, that would be delightful,” she thought to him.
“Very well Bri please call him Adam then,” he sent back.
Bri nodded towards the surface as she sent, If you would follow him to the surface we will be able to sit down and talk. I’m going to take you to the Node first, then we can discuss business,” she said as she descended through the atmosphere to a Node placed in a small field before a gazebo laid out before an extremely high-tech-looking facility up on the hill behind it. Adam saw what could only be spaceships on landing pads off behind the facility where they’d landed. As they landed she waved towards the Node, which he touched, and received a message unlike any other he’d received so far.
You have added this Node to your personal Node Network. This Node is currently inactive and may only be reactivated by Bri.
Adam looked at Bri questioningly while he pointed to the node.
Bri smiled as she lead him to the gazebo, took a seat while she indicated that he should do the same then said with a very sweet sultry voice, “I’ll activate it when we are done talking. There are certain rules that I must abide by due to my nature. Nodes may not be deactivated unless the Dungeon it is tied to is destroyed or the node is destroyed. Every node you touched before now must remain active unless destroyed. This node, however, is different. I am allowed one Node at the heart of my Realm that I have complete control over. This is to prevent others from trying to make their way to me without first earning the right to do so”
“Then why am he here?” he asked.
“One because you are responsible for the changes to the realms and two because the phantom realms that recombined with this one showed me memories of an encounter you had with one of my phantoms,” she said.
“Phantoms, are you speaking of copies of yourself that were created in the various Cosmos within this Realm? By the way, where exactly am I as compared to my Realm?”
“The terms you are using sound correct but I am unsure of their context. Could you let me know the meanings of the words you just used?” she asked.
“Very well. It is my understanding that the Realm that I am from contained a cosmos that fractured into many more cosmos. Within each of those cosmos various Universes, Dimensions, and the like were also created that could be copies of the original cosmos, but they could also be completely different. My actions and the actions of one of my duplicates destroyed all the other copies of the Cosmos and currently, there is only one version of me from that Cosmos left.”
“And the Realms you spoke of, where do they reside in this system?” Bri asked.
“The Realms reside on a layer. A Realm in this context is a term I’m using to define a bubble-like structure or a sea or fluid of something that surrounds a Cosmos and everything that attaches to it. My cosmos is within one Realm. You, it would seem are within the same realm or another realm on this layer.”
Bri looked thoughtful for a moment then waved her hands. Refreshments arrived in the form of tropical drinks and small snack cakes. They both took a drink before she spoke. “This next part may take a little bit, feel free to grab refreshments and refill your drink as necessary.”
“I’m all ears,” he said as took a snack cake and bit into it then took a sip of the mango-flavored drink she’d provided.
“First, if we use your system of explanation, you are no longer in your Realm. I am a Realm unto myself. When I say I am a Realm I mean I am the Realm. All, Cosmos, Universes, Dimensions, and pocket dimensions within this Realm are part of me. My mind, consciousness, and soul permeate this entire place. I have noticed that you have your own Soul Space. This Realm to me, is much like your Soul Space is to you, though it is not in my soul. Could I house the entire Labyrinth within my Soul, possibly, but I do not need to. Like Nothing, A soul is both infinitely small and infinitely large. But we’re not here to talk about souls.”
Bri took a sip of her drink, then looked thoughtful before she continued, “I referred to the Labyrinth you encountered previously as a phantom because it was a copy of himself. The fracturing of a Cosmos is not a common event, but it does happen. When it does, copies of the powerful entities that connect or access that Cosmos come into existence within those shadows of the Cosmos. In my case, many weaker versions of the Labyrinth popped into existence as Universes within the Cosmos they were in. Here’s the important part. Those shadows were copies of me and I do not originate from the Cosmos within your Realm. I am a Realm adjacent to the Realm your Cosmos is in. So, when everything was recombing, the parts of me that came back were not recombining with me, so much as updating me by transferring memories and energy into me.”
Adam made a move as if to speak. Bri held up a hand pausing him.
She took another sip of her drink and then continued, “Which is why we are talking now. When that recombining of Cosmos happened the rings that stole experience from my shadows that had been created by various entities and somehow come into your shadow’s possession were confiscated by you, the experience you drew from each of those shadows was negligible. When that experience transfer was reabsorbed by me all the experience being stolen from the various shadow Labyrinth transferred to me as well. While I am powerful and effectively infinite, the amount of experience I’m losing every second when those rings are worn is considerable. I can tell that you do not have the rings on right now and I do thank you for that. The reason I asked for you to come here is so that we can come to some form of arrangement that will allow me to get those rings back and, or, destroy them.”
“You would like all of the rings back?” Adam asked.
“Yes all of them,” she said instantly.
“Very well,” he said as he pulled both the huge ring with 1,000 rings on it and the ring that was linked to them out of my soul storage and handed them to her.
Bri took the large ring in her right hand and the small ring in her left and looked at both, “Just like that?”
“Yes, just like that. I too found a ring like the 1,000 in the giant ring you’re holding. It helped me become who I am but circumstance and exposure to chaos changed that for me forever. You should not feel what that link became for it does not pull experience from the Labyrinth anymore. These rings,” Adam said as he pointed to the rings she held, “are a different matter. Originally I recovered them because the versions of myself that found them were some truly evil monsters that did not deserve the kind of benefits having a ring like that would give. Then I thought of a way to combine the rings so that I could benefit from them all at once, instead of finding 1,000 different people to benefit from them. Because these rings are stealing from you, and they were made without your consent, or the consent of your shadows. I freely give them to you.”
“You would like nothing for this act of ‘Kindness’ In return?” Bri asked.
“For myself, nothing. I would ask that you continue to prevent creatures of the Labyrinth from entering any dungeons that are directly tied to Earth until such time as mortals, not including myself, Desirae, or Abi venture into the Labyrinth. The three of us are all very high level and not an indicator of the strength of the mortals on Earth. Magic has just recently returned to Earth and the mortals there are not ready for monsters of any level, let alone Labyrinth-level entities or monsters.”
“I can feel them within your soul space. I have noted their soul signatures and will be able to recognize them, you and your mother and father, though neither of them is of high enough level…,” she said pausing as she called for a spell and all but two of the 1,000 XP per second rings vaporized. The last two rings were left floating in the air between Adam and Bri. She looked back at him and smiled. These two rings are for your mother and father. They are a gift to you from me for the honor and kindness you have shown me this today. Please have your parents wear them until such time as they gain no further benefit. When they are done bring the rings back into the labyrinth and drop them anywhere. I will know and reabsorb them into myself at that time.”
Adam reached out and took both rings and willed them to his soul space. One onto the right hand of his father and the other onto the right hand of his mother. “Thank you very much,” he said as a look of alarm came over Bri’s face.
“While I would like to talk to you, even more, Al, the Dungeon you first entered on your way here, has contacted me to inform you that he has been informed of a significant disturbance in an area known as Egypt in your world. The dungeon in that area shared this knowledge with Al. I wish we had more time but you are needed back on your planet,” Bri said.
“Thank you for your time Bri, and the hospitality you have shown, when things have settled down, may I visit again?
“You may, now off with you, you have a world to get in order and I have many adventurers to torment or reward, whichever is befitting of their actions.”
Adam stood, quickly moved to the Node which was once again active, and teleported to the entryway to Al. As he walked quickly to the entrance to the ocean he called out, “Thanks for the head’s up Al, I’ll be back when I can to help you set up that Node.” Once Adam was in the air bubble outside the entrance to the Dungeon he looked up into the darkness because this deep there was no light and willed himself up and out of the ocean. When he broke the surface he altered his course and headed east towards Egypt.