Micro began to push the creature away, step by step, as it continued its violent attempts to resist him. Using the club as a handle, Micro walked carefully forward, enduring the screeching sounds the goblin made.

“Do you think there are more?” Micro asked after a few dozen paces.

“Probably not.” Blue answered.

“Monsters are attracted to that sort of fog, but this one was probably already scouting the area.”

“I know it's best to put rabid animals out of their misery, but this is just...” Micro said with an awkward frown.

“Up to you.” Blue said.

“But this fog is really... hmm...”

“What's wrong?” Micro asked, noting her concerned tone as he grew bored with the goblin in front of him, which had suddenly become almost impossible to see.

“We're probably near the opening.” She explained.

“Fog like this usually oozes out of cracks that form when the forest shifts. You should probably stop now or-”

Micro noticed the weight of the goblin increase, pulling down on the club, and him along with it. Micro moved his right foot forward to brace himself, but found no ground beneath it to catch him.

“Oops.” He muttered as he and the goblin fell into a large crack in the ground. Compared to the many times he'd fallen down a mountain, he felt like the fog was slowing his fall greatly, though he had no way of knowing when he might finally reach the bottom of the misty crevice. He braced himself as the fog became so thick that breathing it felt more like sinking through a liquid pool of energy, and breathing became increasingly difficult.

The goblin's screeching stopped around the same time their falling slowed nearly to the point where they weren't moving at all, and the feeling of a rocky ground finally manifested beneath them.

Micro was completely blinded by fog, so dense at the bottom of the crevice that it glowed bright enough to hurt his functioning eye. He still held the club in one hand, and assumed by its weight that the unconscious goblin must also still be holding on to it. He dragged it along for lack of a better idea of what to do with it, holding his other hand out to keep himself from walking into anything.

His hand soon met a cold, rocky wall, and began to follow it to the left, vaguely hoping he might find another cave to lead him to safety.

“I have no idea how you're planning to get us out of this mess.” Blue laughed, her shouting muffled by the fog.

“Will the fog go away soon?” Micro called back as he shuffled onward.

“Up there? Sure!” Blue replied.

“Down here, nope!”

“Oh dear...” Micro sighed.

“I've never actually been down one of these energy wells.” Blue shouted.

“It's refreshing!”

“How do you cultivate energy like this though?” Micro called out.

“I can't concentrate with all the noise of it!”

“You probably couldn't cultivate a core down here, sure.” Blue called back.

“But I'm not just a cultivator, am I?”

“You're a pixie!” Micro answered.

“Yep!” She laughed.

“The more energy around, the better. We just soak up whatever energy floats on by...!”

“Cultivating without thinking about it...” Micro though aloud.

“That would be convenient...”

“What was that?” Blue asked.

“It's nothing!” Micro shouted, but his hand suddenly found something out of place.

“Huh?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He stopped and ran his hand along the stone for a moment. It's smooth surface and distinct angles felt warm, and he found another just like it above it. To the side of the stones was an opening which felt even warmer, and he leaned forward to see if he could make out any details at all with his good eye through the fog.

“Oh-” But he let out a knowing grunt as he was suddenly pulled into the opening by an invisible force, along with the club and the unconscious goblin. Blue held on to Micro's ear with both hands as she was carried along with him, shouting something Micro didn't understand. After a moment of panic had passed, he finally saw something other than fog.

“This is definitely...!” Micro shouted into the swirling clouds of amber coloured energy.

“An amber dungeon!” Blue shouted, her flustered voice finally clear in Micro's sore ear.

~

The experience of being transported through the amber level dungeon's portal was different from the jade dungeons Micro had experienced. The potent energy wasn't more than his body could bear, but the pressure of it stung his skin like ice rain. He worried that Blue might find it uncomfortable with only a jade core, but with his energy back in his control, he was able to confirm through her own energy that she seemed perfectly healthy.

The goblin, on the other hand, had woken up and appeared to be in terrible pain, screeching and writhing as it fell through the portal beside Micro, finally having let go of the club with Micro now held. Though the sound made him even more uncomfortable, he was soon relieved to feel his feet upon the ground. He blinked as his eye adjusted to the dimly lit room, and was pleasantly surprised to see it very nearly resembled the room where he met the guardian of the Fire Turtle Art Dungeon.

Blue dropped down to the ground, landing on her feet with a light tap. She bent over to catch her breath for a moment before looking up at Micro.

“If I didn't have the skin I've got, my core would've exploded by now.” She stated with an amused glare.

“The energy in here is definitely not as easy to breathe as the stuff in a jade dungeon.”

“Do you think you'll be okay?” Micro asked, closely analyzing the energy in her body. He finally released his grip on the club, and it fell to the floor next to the goblin.

“I'm in better shape than that thing.” Blue replied, pointing at the goblin with a frown.

Its screeching had ceased, replaced by intermittent coughing fits, and it lay curled up on the ground. Micro could clearly see the energy in the room which made his own skin sting was eating through the goblin's energy like rust, though it didn't seem like the goblin was near death.

“Well, that's not our problem.” Blue shrugged.

“Indeed...” A feminine voice suddenly echoed.

“And you have a number of problems...”

“Oh, hello there.” Micro replied to the voice of unknown origin, looking around as his eye continued to adjust.

“Are you the guardian of this dungeon?”

“I am...” The voice replied with a casual tone.

“Is this a dungeon we can leave whenever we like?” Micro asked.

“Or is it the other kind...?”

“I haven't decided yet...” The voice replied.

“However...”

Suddenly, a long shadow dropped down from the ceiling, too quickly for Micro to track, and the eyes of a snake met his own. The snake's head was only a few paces from Micro, and its body extended up to the dark ceiling, obscured by shadows. Just like the guardian turtle he had encountered, the snake was far bigger than any animal on Earth to his knowledge, its head nearly the size of a small car, and its scaly skin glowed with a yellow hue, not unlike the dragon called Ray.

“Fate's hand carefully guides you...” The large snake continued with an alluring voice, though its mouth never moved but to smile slightly.

“Touched by chaos, a soul far from home…”

“It's nice to meet you.” Micro smiled back.

“I'm Micro, this is Blue, and Trill is the one in my-”

“Yes... I know...” The snake continued.

“Interesting...”

“I really do need to be going now, so if you wouldn't mind...” Micro explained, but the snake's expression made him unsure whether it would consider any request he made.

“You know not where you are, correct?” The snake asked, moving back slightly.

“We fell in a hole, then I led us in here by mistake.” Micro answered.

“This is the Amber Fire Serpent Dungeon.” The snake stated.

“Oh!” Micro shouted, causing the snake's eyes to widen in amusement.

“Are you the yellow basilisk called Lo?!”

“I am not...” The snake replied.

“I am the basilisk, Ura, sole guardian of this dungeon since its creation. Lo is a younger basilisk whose presence I have not sensed in many ages...”

“Lo is from an Amber Water Serpent Dungeon, you tool.” Blue snapped.

“And he got kicked out of his dungeon, so why would he be in this one?”

“Ah, that's right...” Micro said with an awkward smile.

“Thanks, Blue. Sorry, Ura.”

“What interesting news you bring me...” Ura whispered.

“I have wondered if guardians born long after the creation of these dungeons could be corrupted, but then...”

Ura the snake suddenly began to glow more brightly, then dropped from the ceiling and coiled itself up on the ground, writhing around until she seemed to have tied herself in a complicated knot. Micro looked on in concern at the strange sight, but the calm glow Ura gave off eased his worries. After a moment, the glowing skin of the basilisk evaporated into the air. What remained was a woman of ordinary height whose hair, eyes, and skin all glowed with the same amber light, wearing a simple robe resembling the skin of the basilisk which had disappeared

“Everything changes, some time or another...” The woman whispered.