Forgotten

Jacob leaned back slightly to view the outside of the tower once more, his mind still not quite on board with the idea that the admittedly large but otherwise normal building was capable of housing an entire tundra — one that even featured small patches of forest — inside. Despite the claims of his mind, however, both the inside and the outside of the dungeon were, in fact, real.

What was also very real were the screams he could hear coming from further out in the tundra. Whatever monsters inhabited this dungeon were seemingly a bit more fearsome than the people rushing in had expected. Jacob couldn't really blame them, as he himself had no idea what exactly would be here, but he had presumed that whatever it was couldn't be all that terribly fearsome. It was the first dungeon on Earth, after all. That assumption was seemingly wrong. Very wrong.

"Who do you think made this?" Ryan asked, as behind him Jacob stepped into the tower proper. "I doubt this 'System' is some force of nature that just came to be. It just doesn't make sense."

"Probably a God got bored and decided we needed this," Jacob lied in reply. Telling Ryan — or anyone, for that matter — what he had learned about Aperio seemed like a bad idea. Doubly so because he could swear she was eyeing him from time to time; something he wasn't quite sure how he knew as the woman had her back turned to him and was currently talking to another Elf and a woman wearing an almost comically large pointed hat.

He wanted to go and talk to them, but that was a stupid idea for more than a couple of reasons, least of which was the fact that none of the women knew him. He had no real idea what he should say to them, either.

"Are you sure she isn't your type?" Ryan asked, following Jacob's gaze. "You keep staring at her. Kinda creepy, not gonna lie."

"She is not," Jacob replied. "I just feel like there is a little more to her. Her mere presence makes me feel… unsettled. Not sure how else I should describe it."

"Can't say I feel the same," the other man said, his voice a little more quiet than before. "I can agree that something is off about her, though. No real idea what that could be. Maybe the fact that she can teleport people — if she is the one that was on TV."

Jacob looked at Ryan and raised a brow. "How many other seven foot, bodybuilder Elves do you know?"

"None, but you never know. Someone probably got a skill that lets them change shape or something."

While Jacob himself had not heard of that particular skill, it wasn't impossible that it existed. He could freely manipulate fire after all, why shouldn't that be an option for flesh and blood? It might be a whole lot more disgusting, but the System didn't seem the sort to care about such things. If, indeed, it could even have feelings in the first place.

"Maybe," he eventually said, turning away from Aperio's group to look deeper into the dungeon. "I guess we try to find a way up?"

"I guess," Ryan agreed. "Not much point in staying down here, at any rate."

The following hours were spent walking back and forth across the tundra, not finding much of anything aside from a few corpses of what looked like larger wolves and some horned rabbits. No matter where they looked, it seemed that the people who had entered before them had cleaned up most of the monsters the dungeon had made.

That was, until there came a sound that Jacob could only describe as air being sucked into itself. The noise caused both of the men to turn around, only to catch what had been one of the wolf corpses rising from the ground, reforming itself out of thousands of strands of blue and silver light. The beast simply stood there for a moment, lifeless, before a subtle blue glow rolled over its eyes. It slowly turned its head towards Ryan and Jacob and let out a low snarl that showed off more than a few of its sharp teeth.

Jacob took a step back, a small flame appearing in the palm of his right hand. He had experimented with a few things that should help him in combat, but actually doing that in a fight seemed a bit harder than he had planned. Ryan, for his part, pulled a rather sizeable knife from one of his pockets and sent what Jacob speculated to be a rather generous amount of electricity through it. More than a few arcs jumped from the man's skin to the blade, or in the opposite direction — leaping from metal to flesh.

Without so much as a shred of hesitation, Ryan stepped forward and slightly to left, dodging the lunge from the wolf-like monster as if he had seen it coming in advance. As soon as the monster was next to him, Ryan stabbed his electrified blade into its side.

Jacob took another step back as the monster landed close to him and turned around to face the man that had stabbed it. He wanted to help, the fire in his hand almost calling out to him to be used, but try as he might, he could not move one bit.

Only when Ryan struck at the monster again, slicing open a bit of its throat, did Jacob find the ability — perhaps even courage — to move. He pulled his right arm back, the fire that danced in his palm growing in size and forming a ball. Jacob thrust his arm forward, propelling the mass of flame he had created straight towards the monster. As soon as his creation hit the wolf it exploded, engulfing the creature in flame for a moment. It fell over, perhaps merely in shock, and Ryan stuck his electrified blade into its head.

A moment later, the same blue and silver threads that had created the monster returned, seemingly dissolving the beast. The strings of light flowed into both Jacob and Ryan, though the latter received more of them, and once the last bits had disappeared within them a small window appeared before Jacob's eyes. It said that he had defeated a level eight [Wolf Simulacrum], and that he had gained a level as well as a few stat points he could distribute as he liked.

"Got a level too?" Ryan asked as he poked at the grass where the simulacrum had been.

"Yeah, as well as some stat points," Jacob replied as he dismissed his [Status] window. "Some of my other stats went up on their own, but I don't feel any different, though."

The other man put his knife back into his pocket — without a sheath, a dumb idea as far as Jacob was concerned — and balled his hands into fists, causing tiny arcs to jump between his fingers. "Can't feel anything either. Whatever changed is probably too small to notice at a glance. Not like when we got our powers."

"Probably," Jacob agreed, taking his eyes off Ryan and looking around the sparsely forested expanse that surrounded them. "Where to next? The mountain?"

"Sure," Ryan replied. "We gotta get to the next floor. Unless this tower has more fuckery planned and we have to go down to go up. Somehow."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Jacob snorted. "This entire thing must be hundreds of miles across. No way any of this fits into that tower. This place is basically made of pure fuckery."

Both of them remained quiet for a moment before they burst out laughing. The mere idea of what they were doing, and where they were doing it, would have landed them in an asylum just a few short weeks prior. But it was all true. They were in a truly gigantic tundra, located within a tower made of what appeared to be glass, that was built on an island in the middle of nowhere and that also housed a giant Dragon on the top floor.

No matter how you looked at it, this entire thing defied all the logic and rules that Jacob had taken for granted as being set in stone. If this Aperio was truly the one in charge of the System, he had to figure out what she wanted from Earth. What could a being of that power even need from a world that had not known magic until a few days ago? Would she try to convert them to some form of religion so she could feed off their faith? Or was it just for fun?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of leaves crunching and the ceasing of Ryan’s laughter. Another [Wolf Simulacrum] was approaching. Ryan pulled out his knife again, the arcs of electricity already jumping across the blade while Jacob readied more of his fire. Getting to the next floor would probably mean getting rid of more than a few of these wolves, as well as whatever other monsters the All-Mother had thought up.

///

Merlin crouched down and poked her finger at the charred remains of one of the monsters she had killed. They were quite unlike the ones she remembered from times long past, but they died all the same. A bit of her patented hellfire was enough to alleviate them of the facsimile of life they clung to.

She had spent more than a few moments looking for even the tiniest hint of a Soul in the beings before she committed them to the afterlife — if the things could even go to one. Knowing what she did about who was likely the creator of this place, she doubted that the monsters were actually alive. Just puppets that dance to her whims… The question of if that wasn't also true for the rest of them still hung in the air, but that was for later; if she asked it at all.

The thing that had annoyed Merlin the most was the fact that the All-Mother had come here as well, under the guise of a mortal partaking in these schemes as unwillingly as the rest. But then, nobody here was truly unwilling; coming here was a choice. Elder Wu had declined, and Merlin herself had waited until the window had started counting down until it went away to accept the invitation. She doubted that would hide her from Aperio, but it was worth a shot.

A mumbled incantation renewed the spell she had placed on herself to remain invisible to the newly awakened that had come here. They would probably question the charred corpses she left behind, but with how many people had come, they would simply assume that someone had rushed ahead. Which is technically not wrong, I guess. In the end, Merlin was part of that group, even if she had not just acquired her powers like they had. Well, most of them.

While she had not seen one yet, she was sure there were more than a few of the old guard here. Probably a few Werewolves that knew how to hide themselves, definitely some Vampires and mages, and maybe even an Elf or two that were undoubtedly lured out by Aperio's little stunt on national television. As reclusive as the Elves were, they could probably not ignore the appearance of someone who very much looked like one of their own — at least going by the ears — and so vehemently went against all the rules they had established for themselves.

Merlin looked around the tundra, trying to find anything that could giver her a hint as to where she had to go to ascend the tower. It was quite obvious that the esteemed All-Mother wished for them to beat challenges in her little dungeon; ones that would probably culminate in fighting that Dragon that had graced them earlier. The only question was how long it would take the people of Earth to actually attain a level high enough to beat it. Sure, if the Elders came, it would likely fall within the day, but everyone that knew of their existence also knew that they very much disliked any form of public scrutiny. The attention they got from the various watchdogs that existed around the world was already more than enough for them.

Another incantation caused Merlin to float upwards for a moment, letting her see above the tops of the trees that dotted the tundra landscape. She didn't spot any obvious stairways that lead upwards, but she did see a mountain in the distance that had a suspicious beam of light emanating from it. Suspicious, because what she was seeing was most likely not light at all, but straight up mana that flowed upwards, likely towards the next floor.

With a light grunt, Merlin fell to the ground as the magic of her spell faded. How she had not seen that giant pillar of mana before was beyond her, but at least she could follow it now. Should have brought a bike or something… She wasn't too fond of walking, but when it meant she could explore the first dungeon Earth had seen in centuries, she'd be willing to walk all day.

With that, she set off towards the mountain, making sure it actually grew closer and wasn’t just a projection the All-Mother had conjured up to mess with her. Merlin pulled out her notebook as no more monsters came to pester her, making note of the other people she could see fighting the wolves and rabbits so she could maybe figure out how long it took for the beasts to respawn.

She also made sure to investigate the more wooded areas of the tundra to make sure nothing was hiding from her. If she had had more time — and the right tools — she would have also checked below the ground to see if the All-Mother had hidden anything else away, but that search would have to wait for another time.

This dungeon would be something studied for years, maybe even decades. Merlin was certain of that. But that was for others to muse over. She was more interested in the Dragon that awaited her at the top of the tower.

GamingWolf

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