It didn’t take long for Valterra to get through his options for his mice. They were the same as his guardian’s with Mouse Soldier, Mouse Scout, and Mouse Guard Veteran as the options. To that end, he had seven mice that had survived and he would be able to split them up in order to get what he needed but something about that rubbed him the wrong way.
These mice had fought and died together and he didn’t think it was fair to split them up. He could have made them veterans but he still didn’t want to trade future potential for strength unless it was particularly desired. Maybe once his Dungeon was more developed he would do so. With that decided, he chose for them to become Mouse Scouts and that was that.
Then came the Danians.
Your “Danian Ant” is ready to Ascend!
Please choose from among the following stages:
Error! The Ascending creature is a Unique existence and has no available stages. The Dungeon Core, Valterra Unok’Davaas, is the creator of said Framework and may mold it to his liking. Please utilize Accumulated Aether and Divine Potential to design the next stage.
Error! No Divine Spark found. Path of Direction has been chosen by default and the High Council has seen your desire. The High Spirit Qual’Dorn offers the following Framework:
Empowered Danian Ant (Unique, Rank E - Bronze)
Stepping forward on the Path of Ascension, this colony has been given the ability to enhance their physical forms with Aether. With each member now sporting a tiny Aether Core, the Queen can choose to Empower a select few with the colony’s Aether reserves.
Well, there was only one option but considering the fact that Qual’Dorn had obviously prepared this for him personally there was little reason for him to feel cheated. In fact, if the System’s notification meant anything it was that he would be able to design further stages himself as soon as he had…whatever a Divine Spark was. While slightly disappointed that he couldn’t design the next stage personally, Valterra couldn’t help but be excited for his colony of ants.
As the golden light of Ascension overtook them, however, he was left looking at his rather empty third floor and unguarded entrance. While he didn’t think that the ants would be coming back anytime soon, that didn’t mean he wanted to leave the front door unguarded, as it were. He paused as that thought went through his mind. He had been having those weird flashes for some time, knowledge that wasn’t his, and images of places he had never been to before. It wasn’t like he could travel after all and they were too vivid to be dreams.
He pondered it for only a moment. Like a young child with a short attention span, Valterra had too many creatures he had yet to try and an unguarded entrance to take care of. He sifted through his assorted Frameworks before coming to the three new ones he had gathered just recently. He really had to thank the ants for their dilligence in bringing down so much prey and then leaving it behind for him to claim it.
He checked his Aether reserves and found them full. Excellent. He would need a larger Aether Funnel at some point to fuel expansion and growth but he would deal with that later. Focusing on the two higher-rank creatures first, Valterra gave life to a Sylcyne Mountain Eft and a Sylcyne Slug. The creatures could not have been any more different.
The Sylcyne Mountain Eft had a long lithe frame with smooth skin. It had four limbs, a long tail, and a depressed head on a stocky neck. It was also colored a bright orange as if to warn anything around it that they would be burned if they touched it. Valterra knew that was just nature’s way of telling surrounding creatures that the young newt was toxic.
The Sylcyne Slug was…something else entirely. For one, it wasn’t as active as the Eft which had already begun moving around. The slug just…sat there for a long moment before beginning a slow, oozing, kind of movement. It was a strange creature, smaller than the Eft by a good margin but still a good three inches long. It had an Aether Core situated in the middle of its long smooth body with tendrils of Aether spider-webbing their way to its skin where it transformed into an acidic compound that hissed and bubbled.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Truly a fascinating pair of creatures but it was the juvenile newt that Valterra was drawn to. From the way the Framework was designed, it seemed as though the Eft would Ascend to its Adult form in due time. That in and of itself was fascinating. It was as if its life cycle was patterned for the inclusion of Aether and its effects on growth.
Regardless, he now had two defenders that were rather different from each other. He figured they would be enough for now, at least until some of his other creatures woke up from their naps. He would wait to utilize the other Framework he had received. It was [Mundane] after all, and he had some ideas about how to use it.
He let joy steal over him and he settled in to watch over his domain. He had a few days to kill so he began to expand again, though this time he did it slowly, including both the outside and inside of the house he found himself in. As he did he slipped into a hazy half-awareness. It wasn’t quite like the resting state that Ascending had been but it was similar. He was still present but things were muted for some time until movement on his first floor brought him out of his fugue state.
The young mice that had undergone the Ascension process were waking up to their new stage of existence as Mouse Guards. He watched as they shook themselves awake, grooming their whiskers with both paws before turning to observe each other. Their celebration of their Ascension was clear in their movements and the way they began grooming each other's fur.
Then they went still as they took in the presence of seven new mice who were also undergoing Ascension alongside their senior. Their senior, the first floor guardian, stood out from the rest being further along in his Ascension process. The new Mouse Guards ceased their observations of the rest to crowd around their senior, making sure he was alright and noting the changes that had already occurred.
Valterra stepped in and brushed at their minds. They stilled and looked toward his Core. He sent his request whispering along the tendril that bound them and they squeaked their acquiescence. As they rushed to guard his front entrance, he released the Eft from its duties and it immediately scurried off to begin hunting. While it had enough Aether to survive, its hunting instincts demanded to be utilized.
The slug remained, content to bathe in the Aetheric current that continually flowed through the Dungeon Core’s entrance. Its instincts were more geared toward defense anyway. Valterra left it there before taking stock of his new growth. He had reached the end of the shadowed area and had now reached the place of vibrant color. Light. He now knew why everything was so vibrant, it was light.
Valterra let his senses bask in the sensation even as his Core thrummed at that knowledge. His mind stuttered then, as flashes of meaning and imagery imparted themselves upon him. The warmth of heat and light upon skin, a young girl’s laughter, flashing runes and sigils blazing in the air. He came out of it gasping, Aether flooding through his entrance in a great breath in before flooding out again.
His mind reeled at the information overload. What was that? It was so much more violent than the slow seeping of words and phrases. He shoved the information away, compressing and compiling it until he had recovered sufficiently to process what he had seen. It took some time, time he used distracting himself with soothing his creatures that had picked up on his distress and checking in on his fourth floor.
Eventually, he tentatively reached for the information and let it wash over him in waves. A lot of it was disjointed, flashes of images. Some of it was coherent but he didn’t have the know-how to decipher their meaning. Regardless, it wasn’t as though the information was useless. He learned a lot about the outside world, words used to describe certain things from a giant’s perspective. He learned of runes and sigils, a magical language used by people to help give Aether substance and form.
Still, he couldn’t help but be a little angry at whoever had forced such information into his head. Perhaps it was his creator Calamvor, leftover shards of memory. The tall lords and ladies had told him that his creator had tried to shove a part of himself inside Valterra’s Core. The young Core couldn’t help but shudder internally. Would there be more of these instances? How much of himself was his creator and how much was unique?
Valterra slipped deeper into his Core, troubled in spirit. He needed time to process this. He left his Dungeon to run itself and retreated into his own mind. There was at least one positive memory he found comfort in. A form of rest found him as he drifted off to the feeling of warmth and the joyful sound of a girl's laughter.