It had been roughly a day since those two sapients had invaded, and Aby had spent much of this time focusing on its new crystals. They were filling up very well with the excess waste elemental mana, and growing finely from it.
It had settled on spreading “seedling” crystals only a few millimeters in total around and in between corals. On the earlier floors, these seeds wouldn’t even “sprout”, and simply enlarge to roughly a few centimeters at best, hard to even spot, while the later floors would have seemingly artisan crafted sculptures of crystals of all sizes, blending in and yet standing out from the coral in a very pleasing way. Aby was quite satisfied that it could repurpose the unnecessary mana it produced while still looking aesthetically pleasing; the core had been slowly growing to appreciate the sights and splendors within its own halls lately.
As a result of this newfound interest, the rest of the time had been devoted to renovating the first three floors, giving them touch-ups to make them better looking to its admittedly primitive sensibilities. It had turned all three into small labyrinths, only a single twisting and turning corridor from start to finish, though each had the walls and floors decorated by various types of corals, depending on the floor itself. The creatures on these floors seemed to appreciate the treatment, too with the fish exploding in number and snakes bleeding upwards from the fourth floor’s remnant population. The Rifle shrimp had also gotten changed living arrangements due to their hallways being removed, now there was a centralized colony with pathways leading to various holes in the walls on all three floors meant that invaders could no longer simply walk past their locations, and would be kept on their toes throughout.
Simple changes, yet the core was pleased with them nonetheless. The floors seemed to flow into one another more naturally now, especially with the fourth floor no longer having its ruler. A small handful of changes were made to the floor after the wyrm left, but it was mostly unchanged. Its mental review was cut short, though, when a group of four furred bipeds had intruded. It was interesting to see how the changes to the first four floors would affect the progress that the invaders, so it swiftly finished the changes it was making to one of the coral colonies on the eighth floor and had started to turn its mind towards the first floor before it thought of something, and split its mind accordingly.
~~~~~~
Sela had been feeling rather down lately. After the large group of sapients invaded, Aby had grown to need her help much less. Combine this with the fact that Carmine was a rather poor conversational partner, and she still didn't have anyone to chat with, and she hadn’t been going out nearly as much, falling into a state of ennui. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do about this, though.
As a Nereid, her purpose was to find a home, and then work on enriching it and the surrounding Reef. However, Aby’s Reef truly was unlike anything she’d ever seen before and it would be futile to even tend to her own stretch of home; nothing she could do would ever be able to improve the small bed of coral on the eighth floor which she called home.
She had tried leaving her home to wander around before, and while she was always dazzled and awed by the sheer majesty that Aby created, she had nobody to share it with. Absentmindedly, she traced the jagged scar on her tail, the one that had never truly faded. The scales over it had mostly returned to normal, yet there was clearly a scar underneath, evidenced by the slight discoloration and deformations of her scales.
Though it was entirely painless, she still grimaced as she felt the wound. That was the first and only time she’d ever been truly hurt, and absolutely the first she'd been desperately afraid for her life, unable to do anything about it. Her mind started to stall at this point, replaying the scene in her mind, remembering in all too vivid detail the alien movements that the creature made, its single minded pursuit, and the two jaws simply waiting to reap her life.
So caught up in thought was she, that when her stream of consciousness was forcibly interrupted by the intent of another she squealed and jumped back, pressing her body to the wall before she registered the message.
“Sela, okay?”
And she would be forgiven for the surprise. Aby just asked her a question, and it had nothing to do with learning from her. She shook off the unease she’d worked herself into, along with the surprise the question brought, and a smile formed on her lips.
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“Thank you Aby, I was just bored.”
“Help core room, make home?”
Sela pondered what this meant for a moment, before deciding to head to the core and hopefully figure it out along the way. She sat up, stretching her body and loosening the tension she’d accumulated from remaining sedentary for so long. This would also be a good opportunity to explore the new floors, since she hadn’t gone to do so when she’d been informed of the additions.
The thirteenth floor was rather off-putting to her; dark and foreboding was not her preferred habitation. She did see that the wyrm had decided to live here, and was quite glad to see a familiar face, even if it was the face of a gargantuan serpent. She went over and played with the girl for a little while before she continued on, making sure to entirely ignore the squids that watched her in much the same way as she did with the brittle star.
The fourteenth floor seemed to be another frozen reef, a biome that she absolutely adored from the first time she beheld it on floor ten. The soft colors and delicate shapes were absolutely beautiful to her, and it pleased her to no end to see them once more. Furthermore, she noticed something new amongst the corals that she’d thought nothing of when she left her home on the eighth floor, something that only added to the entrancing sight.
Sprouting besides the corals were mana crystals, each nearly twice her height of thirty five centimeters. These crystals were very clearly packed full of the mana that the surrounding corals produced, with some growing organically and flowing like water, whilst others formed sharp, geometric lines like snowflakes of the sea. Combined with the frost that was perpetually produced and flowing upwards, they appeared like otherworldly structures created amongst the life of the reef, homes to some unseen entity.
On the other side of the floors' divider was a similarly unnatural reef type, one with colors hot and vibrant that made for a vivid contrast to the muted beauty of the frozen reef. Fire corals were playgrounds for wisps as jellyfish danced and pulsed in some strange dance that only they knew the steps to. As she moved into this half of the floor, the formless creatures seemed to part before her and form a path leading straight to the core room, unobstructed by so much as a stray tendril.
As she entered Abys core room, she was struck by how bare it seemed when compared to the myriad colors and creatures that made up the rest of the dungeon, and then she realized what the core had called her for.
~~~~~
Aby finished observing the remaining three bipeds flee from the yellow waters of the first floor, not understanding why one of them went so far out of their way to attack the passive snapper. Whatever their reason, the core was still left to clean up the sharp cloud and bloody mist the group left behind, before returning its full attention to its core room, and its partner.
As the core started to appreciate aesthetics more, it grew increasingly displeased at the barren nature of its own room. It had been wondering what it could do to change that when it had noticed through their link that Sela had been less lively lately, and knew that she hadn’t been doing much of anything.
It couldn’t understand a lot of the feelings it read upon feeling deeper, but the core did know that Sela was feeling alone in her home. The core wasn't sure what it could do about the problem, but it had started to realize that Sela made very pretty homes, and the gem wanted a very pretty room, and maybe Sela wouldn’t feel alone if she lived with the gem. It was a simple thought, but the core still wanted to try it and learn if it works.
And so, with Sela in the room with it, Aby asked once more if she could “Make home here?” Through their link, Aby felt Sela’s mood lighten some, and it too sent a bit of happy intention in response, glad to see the Fae perking up. After learning that Sela really enjoyed the frozen corals in particular, Aby enthusiastically filled its empty floors with them, making sure to seed the grounds with crystals too. The pedestal that the gem rested upon rose above the layer of corals and crystals, a marble white pillar upon which the blue sphere remained ever vigilant. The dull grey walls and floor were soon replaced by a mosaic of hard corals, each shining softly yet steadily within.
Sela wasn’t idle, though, and as the myriad shapes and colors appeared throughout the room, she set about arranging them, turning the random, natural arrangement into one of order and harmony. With snowy whites to frostbitten blues, it started to take the shape of remnants of a forgotten empire, and Abys pedestal stood out as the central spire of this small castle. It seemed as though the gem was a watchful guardian deity and Sela, its faithful partner living alongside it.
As this image got closer and closer to completion, Aby was finding the entire creation very much to its liking, and could feel that Sela was much the same. As its mana crystals rapidly grew larger, they too were included in this structure, acting as watchtowers abandoned even by time.
Sela finished the creation, and from what Aby could tell, was very pleased with her work. The core certainly approved, it marked a welcome change from the barren and desolate core room it had been in until now.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have time to admire the intricately detailed work in more depth before it felt another group of invaders, finding them to be, yet again, sapients. Aby split its consciousness, sending a majority to the entrance yet again and retaining a small portion to simply admire Sela’s handiwork, and ensure she could settle in alright.