The Depths

Planetary physics gets weird when mana and magic gets involved. While I’m sure I could take a class on the topic, it’s nothing so critical at the moment to bother wasting the time. As much as I dream of developing a magical spaceship, it’s still a faraway fantasy. Not impossible, excitingly enough, just difficult. Like punting a chipmunk through a basketball hoop; it takes time, practice, and a large supply of disposable, lesser life forms.

Laika didn’t survive? Lassie’s turn to try out space flight.

Though at the moment, I’m more concerned with going the other direction.

“So, it just keeps going down? No molten core?” I ask, “No fire, lava, or anything?” I ask as we head deeper through the ruins.

“Yes, you can reach the centre of many planets if you dig deep enough. This one too, probably.” Vii says, hopping along by my side, “The insides of planets are only hot if there’s lots of mana attuned to fire, or heat, or something, just like on the surface. Too much mana like that would turn it into a fire planet, or something like it, though.”

I shake my physics education all of the way out of my head. Newton and the rest didn’t finish their homework, and now I’m stuck figuring it out.

“So, these ruins could literally build down into the very centre of the world?” I ask in confusion, “What’s it like down there?”

“Floaty, I think?” Vii hums thoughtfully, “Gravity should feel lighter down there, oh, and there might be a mana vortex down there too.”

“Weirder and weirder.” I mutter, thinking about plans for my great space fleet. Should I float the idea by my crafters? No, not yet. The realms are not yet ready for my death fleet.

“It’s not that weird.” Vii chirps, “You’re the one who grew up somewhere weird. Not having magic, or mana? I mean, that’s just strange.”

“I guess so,” I admit, “Wait a minute. So… this realm nonsense, is it the observable universe. Like, could I see my home up in the sky of a night?”

“No, no, no.” She stops me, “Each realm exists in different space. You can’t see into other realms without using particular magics. Advanced space magic is one.”

“So, when I do have a magical space fleet, I can return to my home universe and look for alien life? That’s definitely getting added to my life plans.” I say, ploughing right through the final frontier in vivid detail inside my head.

“Sure, but why?” Vii asks, “There’s no mana, you’d need to constantly bring mana in through space magic just to stay alive. It would be really difficult.”

“Ugh, you’re treading on my dreams.” I say, blinking away my frustration.

“Yes. I am.” She answers easily, her expression a little sour as she starts sniffing at the air before whimpering. “I swear I can still smell it.”

“It’s gone.” I say, using the cleansing stone again just to make her happy.

“And yet, I can still smell it.” She moans rubbing at her nose.

“It was quite awful.” Nel says, glancing between us. “What was it?”

I take a moment to recall the creature before trying to describe it to her.

“It was an awful, fleshy monstrosity with-”

“It stunk really, really bad.” Vii says, interrupting me. “It was made of bits and pieces of all sorts of people and things, and inside, it was just a black slime-thing. Which smelled even worse! Then Kyra dragged bits of it around with us so she could suck the mana out of it.”

Korgan gags at the thought, likely imagining me literally sucking the mana out, which is admittedly a rather awful image.

Vii continues on, repeating a few points. Particularly trying to describe its smell.

“I know, we smelt it too.” Eshya says, interrupting her.

“No, you don’t get it.” Vii interrupted, “That wasn’t nearly as bad as the real thing!”

“Don’t worry, we’re going back to gather some parts from it on our way back.” I say, “They can experience it then.”

“Kyra,” Vii says, staring straight into my eyes, “Please don’t make me go back with you.”

“We can split up then.” I suggest, “But I want to gather some of it to see if we can’t use it as a beast repellent. It could save our lives.”

Vii groans but complains no more.

The deeper we travel, the thicker the dust becomes. It’s been constantly unsettled by the movements of countless beasts that travel these same paths, but the mix of dirt, grime, hair, and all other small things has turned the ground at our feet into something softer than stone. The thought of it is rather sickening actually.

We travel through a mess of halls and down stairwells just to go up others, because, to our ill fortune, there’s no direct path to our goal. There are elevator shafts that would quicken our pace, but none of us are willing to trust our lives to those old magics, even if we were to get them functioning again. Not without an enchanter, like Ria, giving them a pass over first.

“Could do with a drink.” Korgan mutters as he leads us down the passage that Nel has pointed out for him.

“I have water.” Adler says, “Did you run through yours?”

“I mean drink, drink.” He says, “Alcohol, and none of that swill that you’ll find down here. Some proper drinks made by those who understand the how to give spirit to the spirits.”

“Ah, well that’s unfortunate. If we ever come across something of the sort, I’ll be sure to send it along.” Nel replies.

“If you find any, I’ll serve it right and show you what a proper drink is.” He says with a thick laugh. I suppose the stereotypes come from somewhere.

As we tread deeper still, my legs start to ache, the air around us becomes cooler and stirs with the slightest of breezes, which grows stronger the deeper we go.

“I figure I should say a few things.” The dwarf says, “I don’t know what’ll be waiting there below us, but I do know there’ll be tough beasts. More dangerous than what we’ll find up here.”

“Why’s that?” I ask, shifting the metal plates around until the harnesses holding them in place feel right again. The armour has so far felt unusually easy to wear, and has already saved me from the blasts of my own attacks.

“This is nothing more than a place for the weaker beasts to hide,” He says, “Or that’s how I figure it. What I saw when I looked into the depths was a world apart from ours, plants growing all over, beasts roaming as if in the wilds, and a bright orb glowing like a sun planted into the roof.”

“Why…?” I ask, wondering how any of this makes any sense, “Who made this place?”

“Battle crazed elves.” Vii says, “Makes sense that they’d have arenas filled with beasts to fight. It’d work as a farm, and for training. The best part is that it’s right there whenever you need it.”

“They’d go that far?” I ask.

“They made a whole planet into endless academies.” Eshya says with a smile, “It doesn’t seem crazy to me that they’d fill it with monsters while they were at it.”

“So, we get to make use of these ancient training grounds?” Leai says excitedly. Apparently unconcerned with the revelation about the ancient elves.

“I guess so.” I reply with a long sigh, “I still don’t understand why the welfare officers would allow it to stay like this.”

“It’s not hurting anyone,” Adler says. “At least, it’s not hurting anyone who doesn’t come down here. So long as it stays like this, I can see why they would leave it alone.”

“Crazy.” I grumble.

Imagine building your house atop an active volcano and just hoping that it doesn’t blow up under you…

People actually do that, don’t they?

Everyone’s crazy.

Deeper down through the chaotic hell of crisscrossing halls, we start passing by what look to be abandoned nests and corridors filled with waste. Some look consumed by moss and other fungi, which we choose to avoid even if it means circling back a little. Even though they don’t seem to have too much mana to them, they could still potentially poison us.

Even in the cool air, I’m to the point of wiping away sweat when finally, Korgan’s steps begin to slow.

Before him, lies the remains of a titanic metal door. With even the slightest investment into my mana sight, I can see how brightly that door glows. Yet, it’s been shredded like it was nothing more than paper mâché.

The door, made of magical steel as thick as Korgan, was once round and would have been rolled into place from the side using a lever and some enchantments. I wouldn’t be able to shove it even a millimetre as I am now. I don’t know that I’ve met anyone who could.

Yet, it’s been folded and clawed to the point where we can walk through the gap without even lowering our heads.

“That’s not intimidating at all.” I say, “I hope whatever did that isn’t still around.”

“Yes, let’s.” The dwarf says as we slowly pass through.

“This was where the map ended.” Nel whispers, watching every shadow carefully.

“Why didn’t it escape?” Vii asks, her eyes open wide as she glares back at the claw marks. “The stone doors above wouldn’t stop whatever that was.”

“Why didn’t it break all the way to the surface?” I ask, “That’s a good question…” My skin starts to crawl the more the I think about it. Something had to have stopped it, or else it somehow escaped and survived above in a time when there weren’t any students here.

The ground gradually slopes the further we walk, the path growing more pitted beneath our feet and the walls themselves are worn down to rough stone in many parts. Step by step the marks of civilisation decay, and in their place the passage becomes something more akin to a natural cavern.

“What exactly is this?” Nel asks, her eyes watching the walls closely.

“I figure that bird girl has the right idea. Some sort of beast hunting park.” The dwarf says, leading us. “Ah, looks like something ahead.”

The hall before us glows with a shimmering blue light, and the air feels thick with magic. The light moves and shifts in layered patterns, that move atop one another, shadows blur, but never entirely block the light from us.

A distant roar echoes through the hollow halls, getting louder the closer we get to that light. It’s not the roar of a beast, as no beast can cry for so long. No, it’s the unending crash of a waterfall.

Reaching the last corner that keeps us from the light, we turn to gaze cautiously into the cavern that expands beyond.

The depths.

The hidden world inside this hollow world.

The near blinding blue light fills the cavern, glowing brightly from the waters both above and below. The surfaces of the twin lakes stir with movement as deep black shadows move about within. Even from many kilometres away, it’s clear that the creatures that live within the lake below are larger than any of the whales on earth.

That massive lake below us is dwarfed only in its vast breadth by the expansive lake that has settled above us. It looks like it should be a trick of the mind, or a twisted perception, but no matter how long I gaze upwards, the lake that covers the ceiling remains just as real as the lake below.

The one difference that is readily apparent, is in the size of the shadows that swim in the waters above and below. The shadows that swim above, are smaller and faster, while those below are overwhelming in their scale.

Roaring waters fall from the lake above into the lake below, but not in any way that makes sense. The water spins about as if down a drain as it swirls into the form of thin but vicious tornadoes of water, that cut into the lake below. The waters struck by it do not seem as affected as they should be, the waves dying mere metres from the feet of the twisting waters.

To the side, under the lake above and beside the lake below, lies a thick, wide, and tall forest, though I use the word tentatively. It’s as if someone took a mirror and lined it up against a row of mangroves such that their tops are made of the same roots as their bottoms.

Bound together by gangly trunks, the roots of the forest explore both the waters above and below. While the waters above cover a good deal of the roots, below is a different story. Each root branches out, smaller and smaller, weaving into its neighbours until they form a sort of ground above the surface of the water.

Wandering beasts walk atop those thick, layered roots without fear of falling through. No, all of their fear is focused on the glowing waters that seem unnaturally stagnant by the side of the forest.

Thick purple vines with crimson red leaves grow from the trunks of the mangroves, thickening the forest and making dark the depths beyond view. Though they do still stir with the movements of the beasts that live within.

I see a familiar furred creature swinging amidst the trees, using it’s hooks to move from one to the next. Its pursuers are easy to spot chasing it down. Three purple locusts leap from trunk to trunk with crushing force, or otherwise buzz around with their wings when it better suits them. It doesn’t take long for them to close the distance to their prey.

Mere moments after I’ve noticed the beasts, they fall upon one another and breakout into a desperate struggle that is near instantly brought to an end. The hairy beast is quickly turned into food for the hungry locusts that fight between themselves for a bite, one even cannibalising it’s sibling as it grows too impatient.

Beyond the forest that expands to out to our left and over the lake below us lies a city that, at this distance, would seem pristine and untouched. The white stone that forms its walls is unstained and unbroken, the gates stand closed and uninviting. Towers rise high over the walls, unfaltering.

The crystals that should shine above, do not. A faint glimmer reflects back the light from the waters, but that’s all. The only sign that the city has fallen, but to me it feels absolute.

This city is as a lasting throne, and the shattered crystals above form the broken crown atop it.

“This is…” Eshya says, her eyes open wide and sparkling with renewed life as she stares at the pitted wall beside us, rather than the expansive world below. I don’t know how she was able to turn away from the sight, but something else has certainly stolen her attention instead.

She plucks from the wall a small stone, so small that I normally wouldn’t be able to see it, a mere speck of sand really. A speck of sand that glows bright with more mana than it rightfully should.

“What is it?” I ask, squinting my eyes to get a closer look.

“Mana crystal.” She says, her smile wide as she finally takes in the world below, “It’s a pure mana crystal that’s grown from the wall. Do you know what that means?”

“What?” I ask.

“This is a dungeon. A living dungeon.” Nel says, her eyes turned suddenly away from the world below.

The ground rattles a moment as the dwarf drops his shield, all of us turning to look at the tiny mana crystal in Eshya’s hand.

Then we return our focus to the chaotic world below.

“Aren’t dungeons, like, supremely powerful or something?” I ask, shivering as I look closer to the walls around us, “They have no physical form but instead press their consciousness into the world around them to collect the mana from the air, and draw in beasts? They see everything within them… or something like that?”

“Precisely.” Eshya says, still smiling.

“Why is there one under our school?” I ask.

“It would be good training.” Vii says, her voice a little airy as she laughs in quiet despair.

“Does it make for a good escape, though?” Nel asks, the calmest among us. “This seems beyond dangerous. Perhaps we can fight some beasts down here, but surviving for any lasting time would be… challenging.”

“A dungeon…” Adler says, her eyes glazed over as she thinks. “So that’s why…”

“What is it?” I ask.

“Dungeons are one of the greatest threats to the people of the Unified States, defeating a dungeon this powerful is essentially impossible.” Adler says, “It’s the one enemy that they will never cross…”

“It’s that bad?” I ask, looking into the massive living expanse. A bird flying low over the waters is snapped from the air by the limb of something beneath. There’s no splashing, and the water settles again in moments.

“It’s possible to capture or slaughter the beasts inside, but that doesn’t kill the dungeon. One this large would easily be able to replace its minions, even closed off like this it could teleport new beasts in from other dungeons.

“The dungeon itself has no physical form. In order to kill it, you must surround it and destroy its magical body, it’s mana form. For something this large, that’s not… You’d need to destroy the whole planet.”

“Wait, so how big is this dungeon?”

“The world across, I’d say.” The dwarf says with a hearty laugh, “Now ain’t that something interesting.”

“Well, shit.” Glaring down into the waters below, I try to unfuck this situation a little in my head. “We can’t really use this to escape, can we?”

“We can.” Adler replies, “We should.”

“What?”

“For what you plan to do. If we’re identified and chased, no matter what we do, how far we go, they’ll follow you… but, even if you were to destroy the entire surface of this world and slaughter everyone on it, so long you hide down here, you’d be safe from the welfare officers.”

“That’s neat and all, but what about that?” I ask, pointing to the giant shadow that swims through the glowing ocean below us.

“Don’t go swimming?” Eshya suggests, “If we stick to the land, we should be alright.”

“You think there aren’t other things like that on the land?” I ask, looking into the mangrove forest, thick with purple leaves and vines.

“Like that?” Vii asks, pointing at the truck-sized figure of a mutant praying mantis that’s currently chasing down a bear half its size. The bear runs desperately towards the lake as if to escape, but it’s not fast enough.

“Like that.” I say, as the bear is cut in half, spraying blood all around. The bear had gotten close to the water, close enough that some of its blood now spills into the glowing lake. As the praying-mantis pulls its prey back towards the forest a shadow under the lake approaches the spilt blood.

In a flash, the surface of the water splits open, and the bear corpse disappears down the gullet of an oversized catfish. The mantis hesitates only a moment before fleeing for its life, while the catfish slowly pulls itself back into the glowing waters.

“It might be a little dangerous.” Leai says, “Could be fun.”

“I guess?” I hesitate at her words, but the sight of that city still glows in my eyes. Something about it calls to me.

I’ve found space in the ruins that I’ve made mine. I have a fancy room in a dorm on a floating island, that I’ve borrowed from the Unified States. I have room to rest, places that I could call safe, but it’s not enough.

I want that city.

I glance down the sloped stone path that leads into the mangrove forest to our left. The thick weave of roots that have been layered with dirt over countless years seem safe enough for us to traverse at least.

It is possible…

The bottom of the stone path to the forest touches the edges of the glowing lake. If that giant catfish notices us, it would be no trouble at all to dive upon us and consume us the same as that dead bear.

“Well, it’s good to know it’s here.” I say, taking a step back, “But then what about our retreat? Do you think it’ll be enough to just hide in the ruins?”

“It may.” Adler replies uncertainly. “It all depends on who ends up pursuing us. If we have anyone serious come after us, then this will be our only escape.”

“It’s not so bad actually.” Eshya says, stepping up. “A dungeon like this would be a great place to learn and grow. If the worst comes to be true, and we get stuck down here, we can just fight and grow until we’re strong enough to blast our way out to the surface and steal one of those ships.”

“Unless something stops us.” I say, “Some powerful beasts should’ve already tried that, but we never met them roaming around the academy. Something must be stopping them.”

“We can figure that out too, and overcome it.” Eshya says with a deepening smile, “We’re not some weak beasts just trying to survive, no? Your goal is to build something more. Something as small as this shouldn’t trouble us.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t need the pep talk.” I say, stepping aside, “I want to see if we can’t push the prisonbreak up to tonight. We’re as ready as we’re going to get without taking months to train ourselves. I won’t wait around for our enemies to make their move.

“Is everyone ready?” I ask, meeting their eyes, finding no doubt or hesitation among them.

“Then let’s go gather some beast repellent.”

“Kyra.” Vii says, fluttering to my side “Do you hate us that much?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 790 units

~Mana distribution:

Skin: 0/28%

Muscle: 33/33%

Mind: 0/65%

Cardiovascular: 0/11%

Misc.: 0/10%

Efficiency: 33/79%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch