Had I...returned?
As the striking pain in my head slowly receded, I opened my eyes. My surroundings were dark, but I could still see.
Wait. Dark? I distinctly remembered swimming up after the others toward a bright light. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it had definitely been there. Given the current lack of light sources, it seemed safe to say I was somewhere else entirely—especially since Capitan and the others were nowhere to be seen.
The only reason I could see at all was because of my undead eyes. It was dark enough that an ordinary person would’ve only been able to make out shapes at best.
How had I ended up here?
“What a strange twist of fate, that we should be brought together again,” came a sudden voice from behind me.
The scary thing was, I couldn’t sense anyone behind me. It was as if the voice’s owner had no presence at all. Hesitantly, I turned and saw...
“Hello, Mister Thrall,” said the woman who was studying me as if I were some sort of curiosity. “Hmm. No, that’s no longer accurate, is it? This is a rarity indeed. It seems you didn’t become a vampire after all, though you’ve remained in the general family. I suppose that makes sense, given your circumstances. It’s rather impressive that you managed to keep your thirst for blood in check.”
Her words invited no response—she’d spoken them as though simply narrating her thoughts out loud. I would have taken her for just another dungeon wanderer—albeit an eccentric one—if not for the fact that I’d met her before.
Rather than an ordinary acquaintance, though, she was someone I owed a great deal to. After all, she had been the original owner of my robe, as well as the Map of Akasha, before she’d given both to me.
“You’re from...” I trailed off. “Why are you in the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters?”
The woman had white hair, pale blue eyes, and, despite the gentle bearing with which she carried herself, an aura of terrifying pressure. But the last time I’d seen her, she had been in an unexplored area of the Water Moon Dungeon, and she had come close to killing me—for real. Instead, for reasons I still didn’t understand, she had decided to spare me, even granting me the powerful magic items in her possession before seeing me off.
Our previous meeting still felt like it was halfway a dream, but my robe and the map were physical proof it had indeed happened. I had never expected to meet her again. But the first question that had come to me was rather simple: Why was she here, of all places?
“Though I may seem to have much idle time on my hands, that could not be further from the truth,” she said. “I have many matters that demand my attention in many different places, so our meeting here is a mere coincidence. Or at least, that is what I would say if it weren’t so contrived. There must be a reason we’ve come across each other once again. I will admit, however, that I initially had no intention of making contact with you. My previous gifts to you were purely an apology—in general, I would prefer to see you progress along your journey by virtue of your own efforts.”
Apparently, she had expectations for me. I didn’t know what they were, exactly, but she didn’t seem to bear me any hostility at least. That didn’t mean I could outright trust her, but I supposed the trust of someone as insignificant as me didn’t make much of a difference to someone as powerful as her.
The last time we’d met, I’d been a thrall. I’d gotten quite a bit stronger since then, by my estimate, but I doubted it had increased my theoretical chances against her at all. It was a good thing she wasn’t directing that dangerous atmosphere of hers in my direction, because I suspected she could wipe out my very existence with a single twitch of her finger... Or perhaps without even moving at all.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
That was what my instincts were telling me, anyway. Being around her felt just like the time I’d run into the dragon in the Water Moon Dungeon—primal fear, coupled with a sense of resignation in the face of an opponent I couldn’t ever possibly hope to defeat.
In short, I was completely powerless. From another perspective, though, that meant that I could act a bit cheeky. After all, I was so beneath her that she probably wouldn’t care.
“I do appreciate what you did for me,” I said. “But if that’s the case, why are we speaking now? I’m pretty busy too—I was going to explore this dungeon with some companions of mine.”
“Oh, I’m aware. I wouldn’t have acted if I hadn’t noticed that the dungeon was on the verge of absorbing you. If I had left you be, you would have become a part of it, never to leave again.”
“What...?”
“It seems you have a rather poor understanding of what dungeons truly are—though I suppose that’s only natural. It would not take long to count the number of individuals who still possess such knowledge.”
“Are you implying that you’re one of them?”
“In a fashion. Because of that knowledge, I judged you to be in danger. You saw something, didn’t you?”
“Yeah... A man and a woman talking.”
“That was one of the dungeon’s memories—or perhaps you could call them records. I am not especially familiar with this particular one myself, so I couldn’t say. Regardless, a fragment of what happened here in the past flowed into your mind. Such things are usually stored in a dungeon’s core, and— Ah. Are you aware of what a dungeon core is?”
“Well, more or less...”
“That makes this quick, then. A dungeon core is like the source of a fountain, connected to the entire dungeon and its contents. That includes the monsters that inhabit it. When a monster intrudes from the outside world, the core will extend a connection to it—and it is that connection you narrowly avoided falling prey to. It is also what allowed you to see into one of the memories stored in the core.”
“In other words... You saved my life?”
“To put it plainly, yes. However, you are still connected to the dungeon, so I would not recommend staying overlong. If you wish to explore its depths without being consumed, then you must ensure you leave once each day. Otherwise, the same thing will happen. Even if you don’t, you may still be granted more visions.”
“Hold on. So there’s no getting around that? At all?” I had to continue exploring with the others, but if doing so meant getting sucked into the dungeon...
“Maintain a strong will,” the woman suggested. “While you may be drawn into the dungeon’s memories, you should be able to pull away if you are determined enough.”
“Are you...sure?” Just as I was thinking about how that didn’t sound so hard, a thought suddenly occurred to me. “Wait—if dungeons try to absorb monsters that come in from the outside, why didn’t anything happen to me in the Water Moon Dungeon? Or the New Moon Dungeon? Or all the others I’ve been in?”
“That would be because this dungeon is... Ah, it seems I am out of time. I must leave you here, lest I miss the window to attend to my business. Incidentally, there is a chance that those who were near you saw the same vision. You may have some explaining to do. Finally, if I were to give you a word of advice...”
“Yes?”
“There is a place here whose entrance only you may discover. Now, I really must be going. Farewell.” The woman gave me a polite wave as my surroundings began to shift and warp.
“Wait!”
There was still so much I wanted to ask her—but it was too late. The center of my vision swirled, compressing into a vortex, and everything began to darken. Finally, I was once again bodily launched into what felt like a suspended void.