“All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world.”

- Benjamin Franklin

Reaching deep within himself Zidaun opened up the magic that connected him to all his people. This channel was seldom used, though he had used it before. It was used to report the status of a dungeon, and only for this purpose, or if an Adar was betrayed by humankind, so that vengeance might be sought. It was one of the Adar's most heavily kept secrets that any one of them could speak to all of the Adar at any time. However, the fact that it spoke to all of them indiscriminately meant the ability was used infrequently. If many people had attempted to use it simultaneously then all that they would hear was a constant babble, a constant chatter.

He opened it and spoke within his mind.

“I am Zidaun, newest ancient of the Adaran people. I need guidance from the ancients. I have bound partially to a new dungeon, but the soulbond is not complete. The dungeon speaks no language that I know or have heard. The dungeon also speaks not with only one voice, but with two. It took the sacrifice that was offered and a partial soulbond formed, but I do not what to do from here.

I seek aid, if aid can be given, for this problem from those Adar which are closest to me. I am in the eastern edge of the Lances Mountains. Near to me is the Blaze Blossom Swamp to the north, and to the south the Adar of the Dawnshine Desert. Through exploring the dungeon I believe an entrance will form soon to the south, so they may offer assistance as needed. Currently there is an entrance to the north several days south of the human capital city, Asmund."

There was a pause, a few brief moments, before anyone answered. First came a greeting, a ritual greeting that he had heard in his life only once before, the last time the Adar had discovered and connected with an Awakened dungeon. The overlapping resonance of many people speaking in unison.

"We, the ancients of the Adar, greet thee and rejoice. Thou art esteemed highly and blessed, for thou art one of us. Another dungeon has been awakened to divinity. Thy doings be sacred and we ask thy blessing to be unto us all."

After the united voices of the ancients had fallen silent, a voice that Zidaun was fully familiar with spoke.

"Zidaun, my former child, as the ancient of the Blaze Blossom Swamp, I welcome you to our ranks. Do not worry too greatly about your concerns. At least some of this has been seen before. Partial soulbonds have formed in the past and are in our records. They form when a dungeon enters a contract that it did not fully understand, because it could not speak the language. However, this can and will be remedied. A book of learning will be sent to you, and a portion of our people also, so that they may join in this new and glorious task."

Another voice spoke soon after, and this time it was not a voice that he recognized.

"I welcome you, Zidaun, to our ranks. I am the ancient of the Dawnshine Desert, whether an entrance opens up that makes it convenient for us or not, we shall also bring to you all that we can, that we too may give offerings and send people so that you may form a new colony in this sacred place."

A somewhat timid voice was heard.

“I am not an ancient, I am to the south of the Lances with my group and we are waiting. We have felt a dungeon which has been slowly coming toward us. I have felt the presence of its resonance gradually growing closer to me. I believe that this is the dungeon of which you speak. And so I too verify that my brothers should be able to gain access from the south."

Zidaun smiled. He was not sure that he truly wished to be an ancient, for there were responsibilities and duties that came with it, but it was reassuring to know that he would have the support of his people. And that this new home was not too far away from both his former home, and another home of his people. He spoke again.

"Do any of you know of a dungeon with two souls or two voices?" He asked. "As I said, I heard two voices. I am wondering if perhaps the dungeon is bound to another already, Though it is not an Adar, if so, since it does not speak our own tongue, and it does not seem to have interfered with performing the soulbond. I had thought, perhaps, that this dungeon might possess a contract formed with another creature in the past. Perhaps something that was like unto us, or it may be something else entirely. I don't know."

As the ancient closest to the new dungeon, Zidaun's former ancient spoke once more. "I know of no record where the dungeon had two souls or had been contracted to another, so that we would speak to two instead of one, and I know not what portends. Like all the Awakened this dungeon is special, but perhaps it is even more extraordinary than those we have seen before in this regard. Regardless, we shall gain understanding with it and knowledge, and from there we shall do what is necessary. If any others know of this phenomenon, ancient or otherwise, let them speak now."

There was silence. It carried on for a few moments and no one spoke, no Adar claimed to have heard or even encountered this in any form.

“Zidaun, new ancient and my former child, be welcome and be well. All the ancients shall look through our records. Should we find anything the we shall contact you once more. Otherwise we shall say this as farewell, unless there is any other need to speak."

Zidaun hesitated for a moment, thinking about the dungeon that he was in, its uniqueness, its nature, and thought about speaking. He was going to allow his hesitation to win and was not say anything, but then he felt forced to speak. After all, this was in the best interest of the dungeon. The dungeon had clearly showed what it desired.

"There is one other thing. This dungeon, it seeks knowledge. It seeks, it seems, to understand everything. And of all the dungeons I have been in, even more than my former home which we redirected the dungeon to build, this dungeon seems to understand people and their needs. It has provided housing for us and places for us to sleep and even places for us to relieve ourselves, and to clean ourselves off. It also has roads and lights. And more than that, its designs are beautiful and seem oriented for people to view. I have never seen a dungeon which understood people so well, which catered to them so much. I waited for a time before offering the sacrifice to the dungeon because up to this point the entire dungeon has been a safe zone. All the tunnel that we went through and a massive cavern afterwards are safe zones meant for people to come in.

We have seen where the true dungeon lies, though we have not been able to gain access to it yet. But my sacrifice was inspired now by an entire room dedicated wholly to it. There is a room here where the dungeon shows some of what it is capable of producing and offers some form of reward in exchange. The reward is crystal discs with numbers on them. The numbers grow as more is offered. The numbers are not our own, but they are, after some consideration, simple enough. But this place, it seems to seek everything.

We gave it fruit and it rewarded us. We gave it gems and it rewarded us and then gave the gems back, and it created gems cut in the same pattern. It seemed to only desire the knowledge of that pattern. We have given it various pieces of everything that we could think of to give it save for enchanted items, and I shall give up some of those soon.

Because it is in the interest of my dungeon I ask that those who can, send all that they can, all the knowledge, all the unique things that you can. Seeds, and fruit, and books, and letters, and ores, and materials of all kinds. I do not know exactly what this dungeon desires, because it seems to desire all things. So I ask that each of you will send what you can, no matter how small, If possible it should be something unique to your region, something the dungeon would not get somewhere else. Thank you."

There was silence after that. The voices stopped completely. Zidaun had hoped for confirmation, but he was not surprised that there was not. This form of communication was used as seldom as possible. With his request there would be none that would not do what they could, for that was their nature. Zidaun looked down his new body.

“This is gonna take some explaining," he said as we glanced at the sealed door. He took a brief moment to see if there was anything else that he needed to know before he left and noticed that his contribution of the seed had also garnered a reward. It was the highest they actually seen by far. He had gained fifty increments on the crystal coin. Recalling himself, he took some of the stones that he had for heating and put them on the altar one at a time. The first stone gave five. Instead of dissolving slowly is simply vanished entirely. He put a second stone. The same thing happened. The third, fourth, and fifth did the same. He wasn't entirely certain what was different, but he did gain 5 for each of these heating stones.

Light stones came next. They didn't have as many of those, and he would need them. He looked at the three light stones that he had, overkill for most situations, though for exploring it was best to be more than prepared, so he decided he should sacrifice one for now. The dungeon did seem to like new things best. He put the two back in his pack and put one of them down gaining another five. He considered offering his weapons and other things. While the dungeon was his first priority, he didn't know exactly how much the dungeon valued them versus him or anything else. For the moment, he simply decided that if the dungeon desired anything it could tell him once it could speak to him. For now it was better to function well within the dungeon.

He turned around from the altar and walked toward the door. Upon reaching it he unsealed it, mostly, leaving a thin strip of stone so that sound could carry outwards. "Don't freak out, but this was one of the dungeons that are special to the Adar. So I have connected with it, but it made me look a little different. Okay?” From the other side of the door Zidaun could hear his teammates exclaiming with surprise, but he didn't want to delay so he fully unsealed the door, opened it, and stepped out.