Lying in the rubble, Zycor grunted as he struggled to sit up. He was covered in a handful of scrapes and bruises, but managed to avoid any crippling injuries through reinforcing his body with mana. Zycor scanned the room in an attempt to get his bearings. There was some rubble that shifted and ended up covering his legs, though not enough to be problematic. As he peered straight ahead, there appeared to be a corridor that led somewhere. Zycor began to stumble to his feet, moving rubble aside as well as dealing with the unstable rubble beneath his feet. After nearly slipping multiple times, Zycor moved enough rubble to find the floor and stand firm. As he looked back up, he could hear the faint bickering echo down the pit. Mylon finally shouted down, “You okay Zycor?!”
Zycor grunted, “Y-yeah, I’m alive.”
Mylon sighed, relieved, “Oh thank the goddess. Listen, we are coming down for you, ok? We should be able to follow this wall and find you on the third floor! Hang tight!”
Not wasting any time, Mylon and Baz quickly left the hole in the wall and made their way to the third floor.
Since it seemed like it would be a while before they got to him, Zycor decided to explore down the hallway. The end of the hallway let out into a medium sized room lit up in a blue hue. Scanning the room, Zycor noticed blue lily-like flowers all across the floor. It seemed odd that a flower would be able to flourish in a place devoid of light, aside from what these lilies produced. There were orbs of blue light that emanated from the flowers that seemed to pulsate. It felt as though each orb was made of mana so concentrated, it had become visible. Zycor then remembered that Aisha had mentioned a plant she had called a mana lily, which description fit this flower perfectly. In the middle of the room was a large, red crystal, which produced a thumping noise. ‘Well, that solves the mystery of where the thumping was coming from,’ Zycor thought to himself.
As he made his way closer, he inspected the room more and noticed crystals on the ceiling. The crystals appeared to reflect the blue light from the lilies as they themselves sparkled. The room was one of the most beautiful scenes he had ever seen. He looked back at the crystal and noticed an egg to the right of it, encased in a clear crystal. The egg was large, coming up to his knees. Curious about the egg, Zycor knelt down as he reached out to touch the crystal that encased it. As he made contact, There was a jolt of mana that forced his hand back. Although egg touching appeared to be off limits for the time being, he noticed that the large crystal reacted when he tried. Zycor stood up and tapped on the crystal with his pointer finger’s knuckle. Aside from what he assumed was a harmless pulse that spread from his tap around the crystal, nothing else happened. ‘This must be the dungeon's heart,’ Zycor thought to himself, ‘It seems somewhat different from what Baz and Mylon had described it as.’
Zycor placed his whole hand on the crystal in an attempt to feel the thumping, rather than just hear it. As he did so, everything around him began to blur as his surroundings appeared to change before his eyes. Taking a few steps back, he looked down to see he was standing on water. Thrown off by this, Zycor began to frantically look around. He appeared to be outside now, surrounded by a vast, calm ocean. Mostly clear, blue skies with small clouds scattered sparingly here and there. It looked as though it was early evening, though the sun was absent from the sky.
“Well, this is certainly a first,” a voice behind Zycor commented.
As Zycor turned to see who or what was talking, they continued, “All of the adventurers that have found these crystals previously just destroy them on sight.”
The voice was coming from an extraordinarily bright light. The light began to fade, and a young girl was revealed. She appeared to be around Zycors age with long brown hair, and deep blue eyes. She wore a simple white dress and was barefoot. She looked at Zycor and smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Zycor, my son.”
Taken aback by the statement, Zycor took a step back as he asked, “W-who are you? How do you know who I am? Where am I? And why are you calling me your son?”
The girl responded softly, “You are still inside the labyrinth, this is just an illusion created by the mana I left in the crystal. It was to let me communicate with humanity in a way that would not kill whomever I spoke to. To answer your question of who I am, well, you can call me Alice. I am who many refer to as ‘the goddess.’ Though not my true name, it is what you, my children, have decided to refer to me as.”
Zycor, in disbelief, asked, “So, you are the goddess?”
“Well,” she began, “I am not truly Alice, I am just a small fragment of her being. I still possess the same will and mind, I am just a small fragment, and thus much less powerful. Keeping that in mind, all those who live on this planet are my children. It would be odd for a mother to not know the names of her children, don’t you think?”
Alice’s expression changed to one of seriousness, “That aside, I need you to listen to me, Zycor. There is something sinister beginning to swell up. And it is being stirred up by someone known to you as Mister X.”
Zycor rolled his eyes and sighed, “Right, that guy.”
The fragment continued, “He is not to be taken lightly. Though he is not yet ready, he will be carrying out his plan sooner rather than later. I am unable to help directly due to the laws I put in place. He is a being that has been around for quite some time at this point. Seeing as how you are one of the few that have shown a certain level of restraint and curiosity, I wish to entrust you with something. It should aid you in what is to come. But first, may I ask you to do something for me?”
Zycor nodded. Her smile returned as she continued, “Thank you. First, allow me to do something about those injuries. I may not have much power, but I can at least do that!”
She held out her hand and a blue hue began to emanate from it, enveloping Zycor. After a brief moment, Zycor felt his wounds mend. “I apologize, those scars on your left arm are old and deep. Due to how you obtained them, I am afraid healing them at this point could influence you, thus undermining your free will. This would break one of the laws I have set for myself, and am unable to break.”
Zycor shook his head, “There is nothing you need to apologize for. As you said, these serve as a reminder, and drive me towards my goal.”
Alice looked softly at Zycor, with a distant sadness in her eyes, and said “You truly are a kind boy, aren't you? I do hope that you will not curse that part of yourself when the time comes.”
With a confused look on his face, Zycor asked, “What do you mea-.”
Cutting Zycor off, Alice continues with her request, “Well, as for my request, I would ask that you please kneel down.”
Zycor decided to comply. Regardless of whether or not she was actually the goddess, she healed him and he owed her this. Placing her hand upon his head, a feeling of calmness swept over Zycor. For the first time in a very long time, he felt truly at peace. Alice began, “Zycor, my child, the request I have for you may prove to be beyond difficult for you. You were not meant to be a hero. You were meant to spend your life peacefully, for your parents had already led that life to make that life possible. But despite this, you were able to make your way here, and rediscovered the potential of humanity. And it is for these reasons, I deem it fit to ask you this. I ask that you stop Mister X’s plan. Zycor, as one of a few to have been freed from the path set for you, I believe you are the one who can reach an ending that will save the planet”
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After a moment, Alice removed her hand and continued, “I know this is a rather selfish request, but in the past three centuries, you are the first individual I have been able to speak with like this. Mister X has thwarted all those I have sent after him in the past. You are most likely the last person I will be able to ask for this. He will surely enact his plan before the next person curious enough to do as you have comes along.”
As Zycor came to realize this girl before him may actually be the goddess, his anger began to grow. Standing up as he stared into Alice’s eyes, he asked, “If you are the goddess, creator of us all, determiner of the paths of our lives, explain to me why if I was supposed to live a quiet life… Why did you take everything from me.”
Zycor stared intensely at Alice, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Alice, with a pained expression, apologetically told Zycor, “I am truly sorry about what happened. I may be able to see a person’s future, but there are an infinite number of those based on the decisions they and those who live in the world with them make. I am able to see each branching timeline, but I am unable to determine which path will be taken, that is both the beauty and curse of free will. If I was able to do something for you, I would have. But due to the laws, I am unable to act in a way that interferes with anyone’s free will.”
As Zycor’s head angled down as he painfully processed the information, Alice put her hand on his shoulder. Changing her expression to a more optimistic one, Alice continued, “But I promise I did do something in case the worst case scenario did come to pass. I had some information happen to slip into the possession of a certain moth demi-human, giving her a choice to come to your village by the end of the attack.”
Zycor’s eyes widened with realization as he raised his head. Alice continued, “I also gave directions to an Oni girl who left her home.”
Putting her other hand on Zycor’s other shoulder, Alice finished, “I truly am sorry for the choices those men made to cause your life to de-rail. But I promise you, despite how you may be feeling or have felt in the past, You have not been alone. Please understand as well, those who care for you do so because of the kind and gentle soul you are. I pray that you do not let fleeting emotions such as anger or fear take that from you.”
As Alice finished her sentence, the illusion world around them began to collapse and fade. Panicked, Zycor asked, “What’s going on?”
“It would appear the dungeon core is out of mana reserves for the time being. I suppose this is where our meeting must conclude for now. Please take the egg by the crystal with you, it should prove useful.” Alice responded.
“Wait a minute,” Zycor said frantically, “I have more questions about Mister X and his plan.”
As Alice faded along with the illusion, she replied, “If you want more answers, you must find another Dungeon core. But prepare yourself, It’s possible the other fragments may have some quirks.”
Confused further by her last comment, Zycor asked, “What do you mean by that? Hello?”
With no answer and the dungeon core room now surrounding him, Zycor assumed he would get no further response here. The once bright red dungeon core was now an empty gray. To his left, a doorway had appeared leading to the third floor. Zycor looked at the now freed egg, picked it up, and made his way towards the doorway. As he got closer, he could hear Baz and Mylon’s bickering. “...Listen, just because a monster vaporizes, doesn’t mean you have disintegration powers,” Mylon complained, exhausted from the apparently long lived argument.
Baz retorted, “Yeah, well, you can’t prove shit. My axe hit that bastard and it ceased to exist. I don’t know about you, but that looked pretty disintigraty to me.”
As Zycor exited the core room, he waved to Mylon and Baz, egg in his other hand. Mylon, thrilled to see Zycor alive, said, “There you are! How did you get out of there?”
Zycor pointed at the doorway and said, “Door.”
Baz chortled at Zycors comment. Mylon rested his face in his hand and sighed, “Please don’t Zycor. Dealing with one smart ass is bad enough.”
“You calling me a smart ass?!” Baz exclaimed, affronted by Mylon’s comment.
Mylon, growing agitated, asserted, “Well, you are the one who fucking dropped him.”
“HEY,” Baz shouted, “I already said it was my bad, let’s just chill.”
Mylon just looked at Baz in disbelief, “N-no, you didn’t say anything of the sort. You argued with me, then cursed me out. And that aside, you dropped a literal child.”
Baz rolled his eyes as he replied, “Minor details, don’t sweat the small things.”
Baz’s inability to take any form of responsibility finally caused Mylon to lose his mind as he babbled incoherently. Baz turned to Zycor and commented, “Alright kid, happy to see you are ok and all, but I think we should get out of here. Just look at Mylon, I think the dungeon is getting to him.”
Baz and Zycor began to head to the staircase, Baz slinging Mylon over his shoulder as he passed him. Noticing Zycor was not limping, Baz asked, “Hey, looks like you are all better. What happened?”
After thinking about how he should answer for a moment, Zycor decided to remain silent. Despite all the the trio had been through in this short time frame, they are currently just people Adria made accompany him. Despite Alice’s efforts to comfort him, the memory of what happened to everyone made Zycor feel as though he had to close his heart off. At that moment, Baz and Mylon were just walking information terminals to him. Though, at the same time, Baz and Mylon probably felt like this was something forced on them as well.
Baz, realizing Zycor wasn’t going to provide an answer, instead asked, “Well, what about that egg? It’s pretty big. You know what's in it?”
Keeping his response short, Zycor coldly responded, “No.”
Noticing Zycor’s attitude is most likely due to some bad memories, something Baz could relate to, he decided to move on. “So…” Baz started, “I have disintegration powers.”
“NO YOU DON’T!” Mylon shouted from Baz’s shoulder.
The process of leaving the dungeon was not nearly as difficult as entering considering the dungeon's heart was deactivated. The monsters spawned from it could not exist any longer without the supply of mana from it, and thus turned to dust. The trio finally left the dungeon and were greeted by the setting sun.
As they arrived at the basic camp they left set up, they started the fire again. Mylon prepped the food while Baz put said food over the fire to begin cooking. Mylon and Baz pulled up a couple of logs to sit on while they invited Zycor to join them. They talked about everything that happened while they bickered and laughed as Baz and Mylon drank. Zycor tried some and had instant regret as Baz and Mylon laughed. After talking for a bit, Mylon asked the same question Baz had earlier, “Hey Zycor, I couldn’t help but notice that the monsters disappeared around the same time you left that room. Did you have something to do with that?”
Not wanting to say too much on the matter, Zycor briefly explained, “The dungeon's core was in that room. I just turned it off.”
Mylon, with a puzzled look on his face, asked, “You… ‘turned it off’?”
Baz slammed his mug down, and in a drunken rage yelled at Zycor, “You bastard! So what, Mylon is good enough to talk about what happened, but I’m not? What the actual hell?”
Zycor shrugged, and Baz stood up, “Alright, fine then! See if I give a shit! I’ll be in my tent!”
Baz stumbled into his tent, leaving Zycor and Mylon alone. After a few minutes of silence between them, Mylon finally broke it and uncomfortably said, “Well, I think we can call it a night and get ready for the journey home tomorrow. Goodnight Zycor.”
Zycor gave a slight nod, “Goodnight.”
Mylon walked over to his tent, gave one more glance towards Zycor, then headed in.
Zycor remained outside as he stared into the fire. He thought about what had happened in the ruins. Fighting the Pantheleons, getting injured, falling, talking to the fragment of Alice, being healed. Zycor looked at the egg sitting on the ground to his right. He picked it up and began to examine it again, this time without it being encased in crystal. Finding nothing of note immediately, he gave up on figuring out what it was for the time being. He rested the egg on his lap as he sat by the fire alone for a while longer. After a few minutes more, the fire began to die out, so Zycor headed towards his tent. Entering, he set the egg down next to the sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.