《Sky Dungeon》Chapter 1: A Unique Dungeon is born
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The sky tore as a mighty beast, a Monarch of the skies, graced the mortal world with its presence. This beast was an otherwise seemingly inconspicuous bird of prey, a raven, flying majestically through the air as its beautiful, iridescent black feathers shone a deep purple under the radiance of the morning sun. The leisurely raven eventually landed on one particular cloud in the sky as it inspected it with a critical eye. Satisfied the raven cawed out loudly twice before deftly walking forward towards the center of the cloud, which was slowly swirling as it absorbed shining bits of magical lights into itself. The raven opened its beak widely and spat a blazing pearl that burned with lustrous black fire into the gentle whirlpool's maw. A moment later the whirlpool spun several times faster and magic was violently stripped from its immediate surroundings as the environment's magic, that had been gently streaming into the whirlpool before, was funneled into the whirlpool in a massive river of shimmering lights. The cloud gradually expanded in size as the engorged whirlpool spread along its surface.
The raven cawed prettily once more before shifting into a human form. The raven then appeared to be a stunning beauty with long, flowing, iridescent black hair. The woman was proportioned perfectly and had a charming figure that irresistibly drew the eyes. The woman's own black eyes twinkled with mischief and gave one a feeling that she would be simultaneously the best and the worst thing that could ever happen to a person. Her aura gave off a lonely and noble feeling that made one think her a well-traveled adventurer. The raven turned woman elegantly sat on the edge of the cloud in a lotus posture, facing inwards as she calmly observed the whirlpool. Time slowly passed. Days, weeks, months, years, flowed on by but still the whirlpool spun, the cloud grew, and the woman calmly watched on. Over time the initially rapid expansion of the whirlpool and the cloud had slowed down to the smallest of crawling growths and the violently siphoned magic became increasingly more gentle and gradually reduced in magnitude as the process wore on.
A decade passed thusly, until the day when the whirlpool finally stilled and dissipated. The cloud was by then several hundred meters long and towered in the sky like a small mountain. The woman's gaze was intense as she stared at the spot where the center of the whirlpool used to be. Not long after the whirlpool vanished, a pearl-like object rose up from the center of the cloud. This pearl was an pale white color and evidently had a brilliant inner power as various colors swirled in a gaseous haze in the center of the 10 cm wide pearl.
The woman held her breath in the tense minutes that then followed. From the rainbow of colors of the pearl's gaseous haze, beams of light shot forth past the pearl's beautiful, pale-white exterior. A grand temple was swiftly formed from the beams of light, that had a great majestic entrance lauding arches and pillars alike. The temple easily covered most of the surface area of the cloud's smooth topmost face. A staircase made from green jade stones, very conspicuous against the white shades of the cloud, stretched from the entrance of the grand temple and wound around the mountainous cloud formation, all the way to the base. As the woman gazed upon the structure she saw a truly remarkable scene of a glistening grand temple made of a pure white quartz that took up several hundreds of meters of surface area on top of the mountainous cloud and a long winding green jade staircase that started at the temples wide entrance and wound down the cloud like a mountain path leading from the heavens to the mortal world below. Jarring laughter escaped from the woman's cherry red lips that was in stark contrast to the gorgeous woman's enchanting figure, it sounded just like the deep croaking-caws of a raven's mocking laughter.
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The woman gracefully stood up and moved along the stairs from the edge of the cloud to the temple's entrance in seemingly one smooth movement, crossing several hundred meters in one step. The woman, dwarfed by the temple before her, gently caressed the cold pillars near the entrance as she looked into the temple's sole chamber. Despite the temple's prodigious size, it only had one story that contained within it a gargantuan audience hall, a hall that was many times larger than what the outside features of the temple would suggest. At the far end of the audience hall was a marvelous throne that looked fit to seat the gods themselves as it sat in an elevated position overlooking the chamber. Painted on the vaulted ceiling was a mural, depicting a starry night sky, that shone pure light down within the temple particularly from the radiant moon, such that one would think that they were truly beneath the vault of the heavens. Lining each of the sides of the room were magnificent specimens of finely crafted art, giant statues depicting the various races of the world.
A roaring giant, wielding a mace, that breathed frost from its nostrils like a ferocious dragon. A sturdy dwarf, wielding a hammer many times bigger than itself, as it forged an unknown weapon with a look of deep concentration on his bearded face. An alluring elven women wielding a bow as she coolly stared off into the distance. An enchanting, winged fae woman with a generously endowed figure that stared at the onlooker with a small enticing smile that almost made one overlook the sharp sword that she held confidently in her hands. A mysterious human mage, cloaked in a set of long flowing robes and a hood that hid his face from sight, a gnarled staff in his young hands. A mighty wolf beastman warrior that held up two gloved fists in an experienced martial arts posture, his furry canine ears erect and his lupine tail twitching behind him. A handsome demon, wielding a supple spear, as his feline eyes looked calmly at the onlooker. A roaming magical creature with spiky fur as hard as steel and an intelligent look in its simple eyes. Three ginormous struggling monsters fighting for supremacy: a titan of the land, a leviathan of the sea, and a monarch of the skies.
After drinking in the sights before her, the woman moved once more bypassing the throne and the stairs leading up to its seat and going behind it to touch the empty wall. Surprisingly, the wall rumbled and parted in two as a hidden chamber, much smaller than the first was revealed. In the center of the 100 square meter chamber floated the 10 cm wide, pale-white pearl, its inner power greatly diminished as its gaseous haze had its swirling movement nearly still and its kaleidoscope of colors dulled and dim. The gaseous haze also had a smaller volume than before, reduced by about two thirds.
"Aren't you a beautiful dungeon, eh? Little one, you are exactly what I hoped you would be!" said the woman as she walked up to the pale-white pearl in one step.
"You?" asked the pale-white pearl through telepathy.
"Little one, you can speak already! Wonderful, you are truly Unique! You may call me Morrigan. Think of me as family, little sister," said the woman with a smile.
"Morrigan! Me?" asked the pale-white pearl excitedly. The originally androgynous telepathic voice became feminine in nature and came-off as a little girl.
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"That's right, you don't have a name yet...Henceforth, you shall be known as Hebe!" Morrigan exclaimed. The name appeared on the pale-white pearl's surface, carved into it with glowing runes. "Now, try to see what treasure you can summon."
"Treasure?" asked Hebe with confusion.
"Yes, a treasure. Go on, little sister. You are what is known as a rank 1 Unique dungeon. You should be able to summon forth one treasure and three monsters to protect that treasure, " Morrigan gently urged.
Hebe could indeed feel that Morrigan spoke the truth as she felt her body carefully with her senses, 'flexing' her magical circuitry. The statues lining the sides of the entrance hall were golems that could adjust their strength to match the prowess of the intruder! Of course, these golems were still far too weak and could probably only face off against the weakest of intruders, for now.
As for treasures, when Hebe felt her magic for an affinity for any particular items she discovered that she had memories that did not belong to her. Memories of an ocean where she reigned supreme over a vast legion of monsters as their queen. Memories of battles bitterly fought and of clawing her way up to greater heights gradually over time, her legion growing in size and strength with her until the day she thought she had reached the apex. Her last memories were fuzzy though she remembered wanting something badly enough to risk everything she had worked for to attain it. In the end, the person in her memories succeeded but had to pay a terrible price, one that led to the scattering of her legion and her own demise. This item, an item that she had devoured with her gargantuan body, was none other than a fountain that had waters shining with the lights of an entire swirling galaxy within it. Hebe was confused at these strange memories and captivated by the things that she saw within. The fountain in particular entranced Hebe the most and she felt compelled to create it.
Suddenly, under the eager eyes of Morrigan, the dim lights of Hebe's inner power blazed as the gaseous haze escaped through the pale-white, pearl exterior and sunk into the marble floor of the hidden chamber. The entire dungeon shook as an object grew out from one of the doors that parted to reveal the hidden chamber, an object big enough to be easily seen even from in front of the huge throne blocking its position from view, a fountain. The fountain was in the shape of a huge raven that appeared identical to Morrigan's true form, but its waters were far from the swirling galaxy Hebe had seen within her memories and had but somewhat luminescent waters slowly falling from its crown.
"Beautiful!" Morrigan sighed, filling Hebe with happiness and a deep sense of accomplishment.
The fountain gave off a mysterious air that filled one with a sense of excitement and awe. It was carved from an unknown silver material that was harder than diamonds and as beautiful as the full moon in the night sky. Overhead, the mural had gone through one cycle and had become a scene of morning's glory, with a beautiful, blue, cloudy sky- the exact opposite of the scene outside the grand temple where night had fallen. It was impossible to tell the precise age of the fountain, despite it being newly created, as it also possessed a charming rustic aura as though it came from many decades ago.
"Will you create the other two monsters now?" asked Morrigan curiously when she was finally able to turn her eyes away from the fountain and its waters.
"No. Too early. Need more," answered Hebe, whose language skills seemed to have somewhat improved after having dived into her foreign memories, once.
"Ah, of course little sister. I almost forgot, what with how fabulous you are, that you will need time to accumulate magic with which to create more marvels. It can't be easy sustaining all of this from the get-go, eh?" Morrigan said, with a tinge of regret as she gaze upon the pale-white pearl whose inner power was spent- its rainbow of lights imperceptibly dim and its gaseous haze still.
"Mmm," Hebe sadly agreed.
"Here. All you needed to do was ask, little sis. I will always do my best to help and protect you," Morrigan chided, as she released her magical aura into the surroundings.
Hebe instantly felt completely rejuvenated as the magical aura that blazed like a raging storm that could shake the very skies to pieces was swiftly absorbed by the dungeon. The pale-white pearl's inner power once again contained an excess of energy, its rainbow of lights illuminating the hidden chamber in its warm glow and its gaseous haze that emitted said light swirling so fast it looked like a blur. Even the pale-white pearl's size increased by a few centimeters, gaining a diameter of 16 cm. All this was caused by Morrigan merely releasing her magical aura, or her ambient magics, for Hebe to actively absorb. Once the aura was being constantly absorbed by Hebe, the stunning woman once again appeared ordinary, albeit as pretty as a goddess descended to the mortal world.
Hebe's aura on the other hand underwent an earth-shattering change as the steadily emitted ambient magic from Morrigan, that was constantly being absorbed by herself, seemed to awaken some slumbering force within the dungeon's core. The pale-white pearl then began to radiate a formless pressure that gave off the feeling of an ancient primordial monster. The dungeon's body also radiated the same pressure from its every stone facet, though its intensity was dwarfed by the sheer magnitude that sprung from the dungeon's core.
"All better?" Morrigan asked as she stroked the pale-white pearl that was the dungeon's core.
"Mmm!" Hebe happily responded as she felt warmth in her heart.
"Tomorrow, I will start to teach you some important things ok? Explore your power by yourself for now," Morrigan commanded and Hebe obeyed, returning the majority of her senses to her core as she explored the various facets of her power and pondered on the significance of her foreign memories.
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