ALL NOVEL Advent – Chapter 54: The Core
Once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, Aperio motioned for her daughter and Caethya to stop. "I will take us the rest of the way."
Ferio seemed to have an idea of what Aperio planned to do as she simply nodded in reply. Caethya on the other hand shifted her gaze between the Goddess and the vast expanse of green before them. She obviously wasn't quite sure how Aperio intended to bring them fifty-odd floors down.
The lack of confidence from a person she herself had blessed, even if she had never meant to, hurt. Caethya most certainly knew who — and more importantly what — she was. That she could get them where she wanted to go should have been obvious. But then, I am not even sure if it will actually work.
There was no reason it shouldn't. The small portal trick she had performed to get to the village had been an easy thing, after all. She only needed to be able to sense the place she wanted to move to, something that should be easily achievable with her ever-expanding aura. And if it isn't, I can always draw a bit more mana from my well.
It wasn't something she necessarily wanted to do. She still felt herself longing for the feeling of power that came with being immersed in her own mana, and with that came the squeezing fear of losing control. If, in the end, it should be necessary to reach for her well in order to accomplish her task, then she was willing to try. Hopefully it won't be needed, though.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, an action that felt increasingly unnecessary to her, and focused on her aura. The trickle of information slowly turned into a flood that detailed everything that surrounded her.
The rhythmic beat of Caethya's heart, the slight pulsing of her daughter's magic, and the countless beasts that roamed the sea of green in front of her. All was visible through her aura; only a thought away. And yet, it was not enough, she wanted more.
There was no need to push her mana further out, just for her to access what her aura already provided. Her senses swept over the floors below her, more monsters roaming ever more desolate looking fields and plains until jagged pieces of stone replaced the grass and trees.
Further down, streams of molten rock replaced the water that filled the occasional river in the layers above. Their banks were not filled with sand or dirt but covered in shards of glass, some of which slowly melted, joining the river of liquid stone.
The monsters, too, had changed. No longer did Aperio see Goblins or dog-like beasts. Now the layers were inhabited by overgrown lizards and bats that she would have never dared to approach before her sacrifice. So weak.
It was not the only thought that crossed her mind as she inspected a few of the monsters more closely, however. The itch to fight was still there, but by now Aperio had almost given up hope that she would be able to find someone who could give her an interesting challenge. Perhaps that is for the best. If someone could beat her, then they could accomplish the unthinkable and force their will upon her.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Aperio let her senses expand even deeper into the dungeon. The floors flew past, turning more and more into a hellish landscape of molten rock and jagged stone until she could finally see a large, cathedral-like building.
Its walls were decorated with sharp edged protrusions of stones, carved into what Aperio could only assume were meant to be people in their last moments of life. Some seemed to be impaled upon swords or other sharp weaponry. Others were being torn apart in the wild feeding frenzy of monsters she had seen in the floors above. Still others seemed to be melting, or crumbling, in reaction to some sort of poisonous attack.
Inside the building she knew to be the core, a thin barrier of its magic trying to keep her aura outside. It was, of course, a futile attempt, as Aperio did not even need to push against the obstacle for her aura to seep inside. She only gave the core a brief mental look before she willed the space in front of the core to connect to her current location.
A moment later her eyes shot open at the sound of infinite stacks of porcelain shattering and ricocheting off of unseen walls. Before her, reality fell apart in jagged splinters, the view in front of her falling away in pieces to gradually reveal the dungeon core.
The portal she had created did not look like the one she had made before. This one had no edges, no obvious sign of outside magic. The section of space in front of them had simply been replaced by the bit Aperio wanted to move to, almost like her mana had been used to seamlessly fill the holes in her dress.
I can go anywhere I want, can't I? With that thought, Aperio stepped through her newly created portal. Ferio followed shortly after, seemingly not surprised at what her mother had done. Caethya, on the other hand, didn't move. She simply stared at the section of space that led elsewhere.
After a moment's pause she took a step to the side, looking at the magical passageway from a different angle. Aperio tilted her head at the actions of the young Elf, not quite knowing what she was trying to accomplish. A very light touch of her magic conveyed her confusion, and the winged Goddess winced slightly as she saw an expression of pain briefly flash over Caethya's face. Nonetheless, after another brief moment of hesitation, the Elven woman stepped through the portal.
"What is that?" Caethya asked, watching with wide eyes as reality repaired itself and the passage disappeared.
Aperio lightly cocked her head at the question. She did not really have a name for what it was; she simply wanted a way to easily move herself and the rest of her group to their destination. Perhaps I should have tried to simply teleport us all. Unbidden, a grisly memory of one of the Empire's failed teleportation experiments came to mind, and she quickly shelved her idea. I do not want either of them to end up inside a wall.
She was fairly certain that she herself could survive such a thing, the reassuring feeling at the back of her mind not really finding the idea of appearing inside of a wall to be a threat. Perhaps Ferio would be able to survive as well, as a Goddess should be a lot more durable than a mortal. But Caethya, even with her blessing, would probably not fare too well and Aperio did not want to find out if she could actually regrow most of a person.
"It was just a means to an end, an easy way for us to skip the rest of the dungeon," Aperio said.
There was a slight mental nudge from her daughter, letting Aperio know that she had seen through her rather obvious lie. Ferio knew that her mother had simply wanted to see if she could bend reality to her will, something her daughter apparently had had few doubts about. Well, now I know.
With that, Aperio focused on the core. At least, on what she assumed to be the core. She had half expected it to fight her as soon as she appeared, something that had obviously not happened. Instead, the large purple and red crystal floated above a pedestal in the middle of the room, slowly rotating around its own axis. Aperio could feel her mana leak out of the crystalline structure, could see how it tried to connect to her only to be reined back in by something she could not identify.
What she had no problem identifying, however, was the familiar twinkling light and the mist that hovered on the inside edges of the crystal, desperately trying to break free. As she now knew, the feeling was her mana that resided inside the crystal. One thing she still could not reliably identify was the mist that was trapped inside.
It still reminded her of the souls that resided inside her Void, but the dungeon core did not give off the same feel as the tiny orbs. But then, neither does a living being.
She stepped closer, summoning her swordstaff from her Void almost on reflex. With the comfortable weight of the weapon in her hand, she took another step towards the crystal, ready for it to attack her as the first one she had encountered had done. The weapon pulsed with her mana: eager for battle, impatient to be used again.
One more step caused the mist to break free from its crystalline prison. It flowed to the ground, and remained there for a moment. Strangely, this dungeon core didn't seem to want to attack, or even move in Aperio's direction. Instead, the mist slowly rose from the ground, gradually coalescing into a mirror image of the winged Goddess.
Staring at the mist-born imitation of herself caused a spark of anger to race through Aperio's mind. How dare someone take her likeness? Assume her form without consent? She wanted to remove the fake-her from existence the moment it had finished forming, but restrained herself. At least for now.
The fact that the core could see her, or at least knew how she looked, implied that it knew what was around it. Perhaps it was nothing more than a reaction it displayed for everyone that approached, but there was a chance that there was more to the crystal than met the eye.
A deeper inspection with her aura caused the mist-Aperio to flicker, briefly returning to its cloud-like state. Sadly, it did not reveal more information for the winged Goddess. She could feel her mana residing inside the crystal; knew that all she needed to do was destroy the core to get it back. But, try as she might, Aperio could not figure out what exactly the mist was.
Her attention was drawn away from the crystal and the figure of mist as she felt a shift in her aura just behind the door at the other side of the room. A moment later, a man in a well-tailored black suit opened the door and stepped through, followed shortly thereafter by a woman in a maid uniform.
Aperio could not help but tilt her head at the approaching figures. Unlike the mist or the core itself they held no trace of her mana, but they had still used the core to arrive. She had sensed the crystal’s use of her mana, after all. The nature of the two people was also of interest to her. The man looked like a Human until you factored in the black horns sprouting from his temples and the slight red tint of his skin. His black hair and red eyes were also something Aperio herself had not seen before, as both seemed to shift ever so slightly in colour with every breath he took.
The woman, Aperio wanted to identify as a Beastkin, but that felt wrong. She had never heard of something like a Dragon-born Beastkin, or even a Dragon that had deigned to take on a different form. Not that that means anything. Still, seeing an Elf-like being with horns, scales reaching halfway up their limbs, and — most intriguingly — wings was something rather unexpected. Is she half-dragon and half-elf? ...How would they even make that work?
A gesture of Aperio's hand dispersed the mist-copy that had still been standing in front of her. If it had stayed much longer, the anger she had felt would have probably made itself known; something she did not want.
Her action seemed to cause a small amount of confusion as the approaching pair briefly hesitated before they resumed their journey. Aperio cocked her head to the other side at their reaction. Are they connected to the core? She could no longer see the traces of mana that connected everything, but a closer inspection of the core and the approaching people revealed a little bit of mana darting back and forth between the three. So the dungeon does use mana to talk to its monsters? Why have I not seen it before, then?
The only explanation she could think of at the moment was that she had not known what exactly to look for, something she only knew after she had used more than a fraction of her might. And peered into that white space, whatever that was.
With a slight shake of her head, Aperio focused back on the pair that had by now made their way to just behind the core. The winged Goddess sent a small mental nudge to her daughter, asking if she knew what these beings were, but only got a negative in reply. If she doesn't know, then who does?
Assuming that Ferio knew everything that happened in the world was probably foolish but, thus far, she had been able to answer most of Aperio's questions. That she did not know of an entire species, or other hybrid crossings, seemed unlikely.
With slightly narrowed eyes, Aperio observed the two. The maid stood two steps behind the man, clearly wearing the uniform for more than simple amusement, while the man himself was staring intently at the winged Goddess. After a few more moments of silence, Aperio felt her mana shift inside the core.
She shifted the swordstaff in her hand in reply, the weapon leaving a trail of silver and blue in the air. While the man took an almost imperceptible step at her action and swallowed slightly, the maid flared her wings and produced a spear through what Aperio assumed to be a storage skill of some kind. The spear was not particularly threatening, being made from the same green metal that Aperio knew to be ineffective. Probably even more so now.
"What do you seek, traveller?" the man asked, his voice filled with apprehension.
Aperio took an unnecessary breath, drawing just enough mana from her well to prepare for every potentiality of the fight she knew was soon to come.
"I have come to reclaim what is mine."
