I woke from my sleep feeling lighter, stronger, and refreshed with a burning feeling pulsing through my body, not a painful burning, but the kind of burning you feel when you've just uncovered a new passion or purpose, and I could feel it emanating from a name etched upon my being. I have a name now, Cardinal.
My new lord chose it for me while I was asleep and now I can actually think instead of just pushing single word feelings through my head. I can form opinions, consider the world around me. Regarding my ancestral memories that all royals share from their respective lineages, this isn't something that naturally happens until the awakening. when our minds expand and bodies evolve due to the need for higher thought to manage our colonies. I also have a pair of aspects now, something you normally have to be born with and I was not. The first one is Terra, which makes sense, almost all of my kin who have an aspect receive Terra. My kind is most at home in the tunnels and burrows hewn from stone and dirt, and the second is Vita. Interestingly, I haven't been able to find any ancestral memories regarding this one. I may be the first in my line to receive it. Unfortunately, because of that I don't know what it means or does.
The lord’s gaze is elsewhere but through my first aspect I can feel him shaping and molding the stone to his will and it is something of beauty to behold the earth that is so stubborn and unyielding being bent and subjugated. I too could do this now but not quite as skillfully. A deep and calm voice sounds out in my head, echoing and reverbing in a beautiful pattern of knotted vines and stone lattice work that breaks waves cascading through my being. The glow within the beautiful orange gem sitting upon its pedestal almost seems to glimmer and shudder with each word perfectly in sync to his voice.
“How was your rest?” The question was simple, a small giddiness undertone to it.
“My sleep was… enlightening, my lord.” I finally say, not out loud of course I don't have the anatomy for that but my kind can project our thoughts and feelings and things of that nature as well as communicate through pheromones and vibrations, or maybe it's the connection we share from when he bonded me to himself.
"Call me lance." the voice says.
"Lance?" I repeated back to him "Is that your name?"
"No, I don't remember my name from before,” he replies. "but that was my rank, Lance Corporal. It just feels right." I take a moment to consider this and then ask,
"From before?" My query seems to linger in the air for a moment before he says anything, much like how a wise elder would regard the words of a pupa before answering.
"I was a human once, in military service to my country. although the place I’m from was much more mundane than here. It's like I'm in a completely different world."
This statement sends a shock through me, and as he speaks his voice fades out and my senses are replaced as I can smell something burnt and acrid in the air and hear voices in a strange tongue I don't recognize but can understand, the sensory is different in a way I can't wrap my head around but it feels correct other than the sheer lack of any mana or physical sensation. I can tell I'm in a memory that isn’t my own or of any others in my ancestry but it feels the same. I'm in a body far from the ground at least three antenna taller than I should be and People of the soft shell clans in strange garb with artificial shells on their heads and bodies, clutching metal contraptions that spew fire and split the air louder than jaws closing from full extent. Massive metallic beasts lumbering to either side of me, looking up at the closest one it is the shape of a softshell clansmen and inside through a crystal wall an actual clansmen standing suspended by strange metal vines seemingly able to control it like a massive shell mimicking its movements, is this a softshell major? Turning to the horizon the colors are wrong. The sky is a deep but pale blue melding into a pink and orange sunset with the mountains below recently ablaze with fire, now just bright embers and smoke lazily drifting with the wind. I am standing in an open top tunnel dug into the icy ground and there is an almost imperceptible whistle that's growing louder when Someone outside of my peripherals yells something “INCOMING!” I am no longer in control of my body in the memory as I'm thrown off my feet the air before me had ignited with energy and the group of softshell clansmen standing there vanish into a red mist and severed limbs.
A shockwave passes over me and There is no sound as I attempt to clamber to my feet but another clansman pushes his hand into my chest keeping me on the floor, on his helmet is a pair of red bands intersecting and his mouth is moving but no sound comes out. my vision fades out as it presses an off-white cloth against the right side of my face and more dirt is flung into the air as another of the unknown ignitions happens outside the trench. My vision fades back in and I'm being dragged under an overhang made of felled trees and a hand enters my vision, my hand, and it presses against my the space below my right eye, as the fleshy clawless manipulators come back into my vision they are covered in a vibrant red that was not there before and the vision fades out again.
Suddenly I'm back on my feet, time has passed and the blue cloudless sky is bright. Looking down, I'm also wearing the artificial shells and plates and the strange cloth that mimics a snowy forest, in my hands firmly grasped with five hide clad graspers is one of those metal things that spit fire and thunder, only smaller. Manipulating some kind of latch and removing a small container that slides easily out from its haft, in the container lay stacked a row of objects with bodies the color of false gold and copper tips that look like the heads of training arrows, I inspect the arrowheads and My hands that aren't mine then return the container to its receptacle and pull the top half of the contraption back and release it, making one of the golden arrowheads pop up and be pushed forwarded by a mechanical plow seating it into a borehole with the sliding metallic block closing atop, hiding the mechanism within under a harsh metal click.
And then nothing, the memory cuts and I'm back in the cavern as if nothing had happened. After regaining my composure, lord Lance asks me if I'm alright, and says I was shivering and wouldn't respond. I regaled the memory and he said nothing, even with no body I could almost feel him gently bobbing his head up and down in affirmation of my words.
“That was Sweden, a beautiful land ravaged by war. Their neighbor, Finland, invaded and we were sent to go help defend the country as our nations were allies.” Lance continued his explanation and even after he finished, our talk went on for some time I asked about the soft shelled clansmen of war he used to be a part of. He was something called a marine, participating in a world war three. Their warrior cast seemed formidable with their weapons that spit fire and majors that could uproot a tree with little effort. I was bombarded with memories not my own similar to the first one however in most I was not the prey, like mimicking the eight legged demons and weaving great metal webs and burying seemingly magic eggs that caused the ground to erupt when the metal war beasts and majors passed over.
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I shared with him what I knew of the humans here. Human, such a strange word he uses for the softshells. many questions and answers were passed back and forth between us most of his were about this world or about me, and I was happy to oblige what I could with my bank of ancestral knowledge and behind his words I could hear an eagerness, like he had been waiting for a long time for someone to talk with. Eventually we parted, saying he had to return to work, the few hours of talk were pleasant but I also needed to prepare. With his blessing I began peppering the outside of the nest with pheromones signaling I was ready, and given the scent on the wind I was likely one of the first in the local range if not the first to signal, which means I had the leeway to be picky with who I chose to be my mate, unfortunately that meant I also would be stuck culling the slow of mind and body more than I would like to. Now all I could do was wait while the wind and sun spread my signal over the area and hope it didn't rain, it should take a day or two for the cloud to spread out enough to be felt be any suitors so instead of sitting idly I wove a silk hamper of sorts and trudged into the sparse clearing outside the woods around the bowl where the den lay at the base of a steep rocky mountain. While Tasting the air I could feel Lances' attention fall on me and then leave again, just checking on me before I leave to gather supplies I suppose.
Lance POV:
Cardinal just left the field of my senses after spraying a sickly sweet smelling fluid in small patches around the bowl. We had a nice chat, it was so good to finally have someone to speak with, even if that someone is a giant ant that would have ripped me to shreds in my past life and she is surprisingly coherent, I was expecting to have to talk to her like I would with a child but honestly she seems more well spoken than I am at times. She was visually startled when I relayed that I used to be human, apparently reincarnation into a dungeon core or anything else here is very uncommon as far as her knowledge is concerned and virtually unheard of. Also the fact she can see my memories depending on the topic was unsettling but I'm becoming more and more desensitized to the strangeness of this world as the days go by. She mentioned that I should keep the part about being from another plane of existence to myself when conversing with other intelligent creatures that are not bonded to me for my own safety. I didn't particularly like that it painted a potential target on my back but it was an understandable sentiment. I asked about other dungeons during our conversation but didn't really get anything in return as far as info other than stories passed down, queens who submit themselves under a glowing heart of power always have a flourishing kingdom, able to rival nearby ancient nations in a fraction of the time.
I just hope we have a positive relationship because from what I can tell, I have no way of gathering resources outside of what my domain covers by chance and that will make things difficult if I want to grow quickly. Even though she is gone from my range of senses I can still feel her, her thoughts and some of her senses like taste, which is odd because she doesn't only taste with her mouth, her antenna can as well and boy oh boy does the area around me seem interesting the surrounding region seems heavily wooded and I can feel the humidity in the air hinting to me that there may hopefully be a river or lake nearby, which would ordinarily excite me because I used to love to go fishing however I don't have arms, or legs, or a mouth to eat these imaginary fish I could be catching, such a shame. returning my gaze inward to my core I began to focus, much the same way I did with examining Cardinal. The mana ,as Cardinal had called it, began to swirl and bend, and orange mist came to view immediately showing me that I was an unnamed rare dungeon core, I kept pressing until the word discern popped up in the forefront of my mind, I spoke the word and my vision blurred like last time and the Grey-blue haze returned.
Level 3 Unnamed Rare Dungeon Core — Aspects: Terra 2, Ignis 1, Vita 2, Mors 1, — Mana Volume: 23 of 50, Mana Density: 89 of 100 — Attribute Aether: 3 Gained Attributes: none, Contracts: 0 of 3, Bonded Creatures: 1, Named Creatures 1
A rare dungeon core as of yet unnamed. Names can only be given by those with a voice of power. Rare status given for average between attunement shape: octagonal cylinder, attunement color: Orange Amber, and miscellaneous attunement trait: purified Liquid mana inner-core.
A dungeon core is a divine construct created by the eldest of the four deities to absorb the ambient mana in the area around them, purify it, then circulate it back into the environment promoting growth in the fauna and flora in a radius around the core that grows as it gains strength and attributes. The purified ambient mana in this radius is diffused into the local area and replaced with unpurified mana that forms channels heading into the dungeon so the process can repeat.
most creatures instinctively are drawn to dungeons because of the purified mana and some will try and consume the core turning themselves into a paragon, a purified version of their species, paragons and others will actively search out dungeons to consume or enslave, so dungeons can bind creatures to their core to act as guardians and caretakers, alongside the dungeons avatar. This is always by nature a symbiotic relationship and will lead to expanded growth and cognitive function for the guardian creature so they can better protect their home. A dungeon bonded creatures’ mate ,if it already has one or eventually gains one after bonding, will automatically be bonded to the core providing the creatures are monogamous long term partners. a dungeon bonded creatures offspring will be automatically be bonded to the dungeon, this trait will persist through all following generations along with the benefits of being bonded such as increased cognitive function and growth until the dungeon releases the creature from bondage or the dungeon is consumed, destroyed, defenestrated, or otherwise ended.
Dungeons can only bond with non-sentient creatures, if the creature possesses a life cycle that starts as non sentient or ends as a non sentient being the creature can be bonded during its non sentient phase and will remain bonded after evolution, such as Goblins, Swibkin, Gremlins, Trolls, Tusked Ferrets, Dire Rats, and others. A dungeon may have as many bonded creatures as it sees fit to bond with. A dungeon may name any number of bonded creatures up to but not over its level. Dungeons may make contracts with sentient beings, however, the contracted being will not receive the same benefits as a bonded creature and a bonded creature will not have the same extent of free will as a contracted being when ordered by a dungeon. A dungeon may contract any number of beings up to but not over its level. Dungeons may not name contracted beings.
Dungeons are classified by their attunement colors, shapes and any miscellaneous traits, level 3 Unnamed rare dungeon Core has:
Attunement color Orange Amber: uncommon, overall mana pool is reduced, overall mana density is increased.
Attunement shape Octagonal cylinder: uncommon, this core is able to learn up to 8 individual aspects up to level 8 naturally. aspects level increase by bonding with creatures that have a shared aspect or consuming a natural pure aspect crystal. If aspect is gained by a creature that is already bonded after receiving a name, aspect will be added to the dungeon if it shares the aspects, new aspects can be learned rarely by bonding with a creature that possesses an aspect that the dungeon does not, or by consuming a natural pure aspect crystal. Dungeons cannot learn aspects from creatures gaining aspects for receiving a name.
Miscellaneous attunement trait :purified liquid mana Inner-core: mystical, core is sentient. The pure liquid mana inside this core can be extracted without harm to the core and drank to cure any wound, illness, and toxic influx, within reason. pure liquid mana will purify a the body’s mana effectively leading to extended lifespan, mental clarity, and the chance to gain a random aspect with its current level from the dungeon and receive no physical backlash from conflicting aspects. The liquid will slowly replenish over time as the core purifies mana, or the core can dump its mana pool into its core replenishing a very small portion of the liquid.
"Well that was certainly a lot to take in." I think to myself. "If you boil it down to its main components I'm a glorified air filter fountain of youth that can use magic and make legal binding contracts or would it be a soul binding contract, hmm. Also, what the hell is a Swibkin,"