What?

Marianna was in darkness. She’d simply touched the sapphire, and then it all went black. Anxiety building, she tried to let go of the stone, her natural instincts associating the cause and effect. But then she realized.

She couldn’t feel her arms. Or her legs. In fact, Marianna couldn’t feel anything. She screamed, but her voice never came out.

What’s going on?! Why can’t I move?! Why can’t I see?! I want to… see!

With great effort, Mari tried one last time to force her eyes open, insisting they were closed. To her surprise, something appeared in the darkness. It was a floating, glowing, blue box surrounded by the shadows that blinded her. And it simply contained the words she’d heard after grabbing the jewel.

Please select a dungeon name.

A… name? She wondered. Like… my name? Marianna?

Confirmed. Dungeon Marianna now active. Spawn Overseer?

Do what now? An Overseer? Um… sure… okay.

Confirmed. Spawning Overseer. Estimated time to completion: 00:05:00.

Um… okay. Oh! I know! This kinda sounds like those games Timothy used to talk about playing!

Even though Mari wasn’t Timothy’s biggest fan, she did have to admit he was one of the most intelligent people she’d ever met. He’d explained those games to her, but it never made any sense to her. The strategies involved were beyond her.

He said they always annoyed him by saying… what was it? Oh yeah! “Spawn more Overseers”, or something?

Confirmed. Spawning Overseer. Estimated time to completion: 00:09:27

Marianna paused. She’d become so invested in whatever was going on here that she’d entirely forgotten that she was supposed to be worried about her situation. But by this point, her interest was completely captured. And that was just how Marianna was. Able to become so easily absorbed in something new and interesting that she’d entirely lose track of her surroundings. Though a good manager, she could be a bit airheaded at times.

But… why is it nine minutes instead of five like the other one? And how long is left on that one anyway?

Overseer spawn completion time: 00:04:22

Overseer spawn completion time: 00:05:00

She thought it over for a moment. Oh! So I can only spawn one of these things at a time. Okay! But what are they? And what. Is. This. Blue. Screen?!?

Marianna spent a couple more minutes trying to figure it out, but then became absorbed once more in her attempts to regain bodily function. She couldn’t turn her head; the blue screen was always centered. She couldn’t move her limbs, or at least, she couldn’t feel them. Poor Mari came to the conclusion that she probably was in some sort of medical coma, or maybe she had a stroke. She was finally ready to give up when another blue screen appeared.

Overseer spawning in 00:00:01

The world lit up, and Marianna had the disorienting experience of seeing her vision open up behind the blue frame she could already see. It was as though a camera shutter had been closed before her eyes the whole time, blocking out all the light. But now she could see. And what she saw was a large chamber, with walls of dirt, an uneven stone floor close to her eye level, and two giant floating crystals that illuminated it all. As she focused on them, the message box vanished.

Wh-what are those?!? Where am I?!?

Under normal circumstances, a shock like this might have caused Marianna to faint, but for some reason, this time it didn’t. She looked around slowly, examining the crystals and their dirt room in greater detail.

At least I can move my head now… she thought.

The two floating hexagonal prisms were nearly perfect copies of each other, the only difference being their colors. One was a fiery red, pulsing like a beating heart, while the other, which Mari felt some sort of draw towards, was a rich blue—the same color as the sapphire she had touched. Its own pulse was inverted from the red one. They floated gently, spinning slowly, their glow coating the room in a pretty, purple light.

The next thing Mari saw made her shriek, because across the room, behind the crystals, lay the remains of what looked like several people. The bones littered the floor, bleached white without a single trace of flesh attached. She tried to run over to them, wanting to be sure she hadn’t missed somebody critically injured. Instead, she began floating in their direction. And that’s when she looked down.

Instead of seeing her body, as she expected, Marianna stared at what seemed to be three tentacles swirling through the air, as though they were swimming. She squealed, trying her hardest to push away from the sight.

Get me out of this body!

And suddenly, Marianna’s sight became ringed by black, shrinking in the darkness. She gasped. It was like a window was shrinking on her computer. It stopped at a size she could comfortably look at, without having to squint—if that was even possible—and relocated to the upper left of her vision. Then some text wrote itself over the bottom of the viewport, slightly transparent. It said:

Overseer #1: Unnamed

Then suddenly, a second box appeared next to it, and through that one, Mari had a better view of the round, tentacled creature she had been seeing through. This viewport was labeled “Overseer #2: Unnamed”. The sights the two viewports displayed didn’t change, but the crystals continued their rhythmic pulsing, and the hovering bulbous creature continued to tread the air with its three tentacles.

Now it clicked for Marianna. So that thing was one of the Overseers she’d been seeing information about earlier. Concentrating, she tried mentally commanding the second Overseer to spin, changing what she could see within the viewport and allowing her to see where it came from. As she focused on the sight, the screen maximized, and Mari was once again seeing only through one of the Overseers’ eyes. When it turned, she noticed that there was some sort of plant growing off the wall. A ruby flower, closed as if asleep, sprouted from vines that dug into the wall like claws.

What is that? She inquired, gazing in wonder at the fleshy petals pressed tightly together. As if responding to her question, the flower became outlined in yellow, as though highlighted in the Overseer’s vision. Then another smaller blue box appeared, partially transparent, and slightly covered the viewport.

Overseer Birthing Pod [Rank 1]

This pod can create simple Overseers for the Core to see through.

Created by: Red Core (Unnamed)

Another box appeared, this one larger, and resting underneath the first.

You’ve obtained the [Review] skill!

[Review]

You may request information about analyzed objects within your territory.

Marianna was in awe. So of course, she quickly turned around and applied her new skill to the twin hexagonal prisms. Review!

Red Twin Core Shell [Rank 1] This large gem is the outer shell of a twin dungeon core. It is not sentient. Creator: Unknown. Blue Twin Core Shell [Rank 1] This large gem is your outer shell, Dungeon Marianna. Creator: Unknown.

Wait. That blue thing is… me? Marianna frowned, confused by what was happening. She tried to fiddle with her keys, a nervous habit she’d picked up after being promoted, then realized. Oh man, I’m in trouble... I didn’t close up the shop!