Dungeon of Doors

~ Vivian, Aquartis ~

After my talks with Tekel I'm confident he and his people will be able to handle any adventurers that visit them. They were far from defenseless, and when I explained the possible dangers he and his partner Fraka were open to developing a peacekeeping force. We never did broach the topic of names—it wasn't necessary, as I heard them refer to it as "the basin." Putting the name Tengku Basin on the door for the adventurers to see should work just fine.

Anyway, with Tengku Basin taken care of it is time for me to create a finale for Aquartis. I've got too many things on my plate to keep expanding the watery dungeon further. For now it will end at the fifth level much like Woodrin does.

I grab ahold of my core and leave my body, feeling my perception separate and float upwards. I leave myself and fly through the levels of Aquartis in search of a suitable spot in the earth's crust to carve the next level. It is during this flight I catch sight of a delve in progress. The adventurers in Aquartis have reached the end of Kagami Sea's temple.

There are eight adventurers in the aftermath of a messy battle. Gooey leftovers from mizuoni stain most surfaces, while blood cakes wounds on every person present. I watch as a man I recognize—Kingsley—feeds a healing potion to an unconscious woman.

"Wake up!" A girl covered in blood shouts at a motionless boy.

Closer inspection reveals he is in fact dead. There is no life in his mangled body, and yet the girl is still shouting at his body like all he needs is some encouragement. No one stops her as she sobs uncontrollably over her friend's body. There is a somber quiet strangling all hope for conversation out of the room.

Luckily the woman, who I now realize is Miss Hawthorne—someone I only ever saw outside the dungeon—isn't dead. She rises on shaky legs. Her clothing and skin is covered in the goo of a dead mizuoni as well as her own drying blood. She stumbles toward the hysterical girl and grabs her by the shoulders.

"He's gone, Leah."

Leah stares up at Miss Hawthorne with a broken look on her face. Her eyes are puffy from all the crying, and snot glistens from her nose. She doesn't actually have much of any wounds on her body. Her damage is all in the mind.

"B-But we have h-healing potions, Henry could-"

"No. It is too late."

Miss Hawthorne lets the girl turn to gaze down at Henry's Corpse. Leah's expression twitches as she resumes bawling her eyes out. Her wails are hoarse and raw, loud enough to break any listener's heart. Miss Hawthorne gently rubs her back as she grieves over her dead friend.

I feel very little at the sight, and that scares me. Maybe I need to find some way to ground myself a bit more… But that will have to wait for a later date. For now I'll just make a mental note to double check that Henry is resurrected.

My attention slips back to the adventurers. Those who have wounds have patched them up with a mixture of normal bandages and healing potions. Leah is still grieving, with Miss Hawthorne comforting her, but everyone else has started looking at a particular pair of adventurers.

One is an older man with an air of experience about him—Drist. The other is an unconscious young man with one eye—Billy. Drist is checking the Billy's vitals, his hand resting on the younger man's wrist as he feels the pulse. There's an alarming amount of blood pooled around Billy's body, and his clothes and neck are caked in the stuff.

"It's a shame," Kingsley says solemnly as he approaches.

"More of a miracle, really. He isn't dead."

Kingsley's thick brows furrow in confusion as he looks down at Billy's unconscious body. He has to satisfy his curiosity, and so he kneels down to feel Billy's pulse. He looks aghast as he realizes the one eyed man is in fact alive.

"How is this possible..?"

The older man chuckles dryly "Same way those monster's popping is possible."

The two of them look down at the staff of water in sync. The magic staff's gem is softly glowing, as it always does, and the two men reach for it at the same time. Drist shoots a predatory look at Kingsley as their hands hover over the handle. Kingsley swallows, sweat beading upon his brow, and retracts his hand. It is clear who the better fighter is between these two.

Drist picks up the staff with a glint of greed in his eyes. He hefts it up and looks confused, his eyes narrowing as he looks down at it. He waves it around, like he's attempting to mimic his idea of magic from the songs of bards and illustrations of storytellers.

"Something wrong?" Kingsley questions.

It is obvious something isn't going according to Drist's intentions. He shakes the staff with a tremor of frustration crossing his face. Kingsley raises his brow at the sight of a man normally so composed losing to a glowing rock on the end of a stick.

"This thing must be broken."

Drist discards the item on the ground beside Billy's unconscious body. He sidesteps the young man in order to peer in the treasure chest. A mixture of greed and apathy color Drist's eyes as he looks over the gemstones and golden coins filling the chest. I suppose someone with his skills isn't interested in money. He can probably acquire it without the help of my dungeon.

There isn't much else to watch other than a crying girl and a few men loading bags full of riches. I leave them to their business, floating up and away from Kagami Sea. My mind hovers deeper into the earth—a fair distance from the other caverns housing Aquartis' levels—and I begin digging.

One circular cavern a kilometer wide. The ceiling and walls get their coat of false sky, a cloudy green tinged one. The floor of the space is first layered with stone, then gravel, and finally a mixture of sand and silt. I build up the sediment tens of meters deep before adding the water.

The water reflects the off green color of the sky as it fills the empty space. The water level here varies, with portions of it as deep as a building is tall and others waist high.

My mana twists, forming eddies in the air as I create new seeds I've put off making until now. The water resistant wood I've been using since Rushwater Canyon finally gets to grow from an actual tree. With the branching arched roots of a mangrove and the sagging canopy of a willow, the trees grow to maturity using my mana. Thus the first wetroot forest is born. I'm sure the tengku will be pleased to have a more reliable source of lumber available.

With the wetroot trees comes the rest of the flora. Reeds and aqualilies populate the swamp with greens and browns. Plenty of cover for something to hide behind and jump out at unsuspecting adventurers. I move onto the fauna.

For the majority of this particular level there will only be regular birds and fish, alongside insects and other tiny creatures for the larger ones to feed on. No monsters. This is because I'd like the only thing the adventurers have to fight to be the boss monster. Much like the wendigir this one will use a measure of stealth, but far less so.

For the fifth floor boss fight I think a reptile is suitable. Something big and vicious, with scaly hide and enough jaw strength to crush a man's skull into splinters. I'm going to make an alligator.

I gather up all the mana I can for this task. When I do so a feeling of dizziness hits me, making my mind ache. I feel a tugging at my core—which is quite far from my mind right now—and realize I'm actually bottoming out on mana! I've been all but ignoring the amount of mana I've been putting into things thus far and now I've only got enough for the boss monster, and little else.

If I had a mouth right now I'd be seething. How could I be so stupid?

Frustration will have to wait, though, as I want to finish the task now that I've got all my mana gathered here in preparation. I follow the same process as I did with the rok. I start with the bones, making them sturdy and thick to support the large frame of the monster. Infusions of mana and saphite give it the right attunement to water, or at least that's how I'm hoping it will work. When the skeleton is complete the beast is twenty meters from head to tail.

This should strike primal fear into anyone who crosses its path. I move onto the organs, flesh, and nerves. Everything internal takes shape as I carefully work to make a complete body. My mind aches from the lack of mana swirling in my core whilst I concentrate. Imagery of all the anatomy I've been working with hovers in the back of my head as I stitch the beast's muscles together.

It is time for the armored hide of the alligator. My mana hardens into scales that coat the monster's raw body. Centimeter by centimeter, each portion of the exterior is made. I'm sure if I was in my body I'd be sweating with the effort of the process.

With bone, flesh, and blood complete it is time for the finishing touches. I ensure the claws and teeth of the monster are suited to both combat and navigation in a swamp. The beast is magnificent even in this unmoving state. Claws big enough to crush a person and jaws capable of crushing a carriage in a single bite make it the most dangerous creature I've ever intended for adventurers to kill.

It is not without weaknesses. The eyes are one obvious one, but the beast's belly is soft enough to pierce with enough force. There is no chance an ordinary weapon will harm its scales anywhere but the belly. With these small concessions alone most would die before getting a chance to realize it had weaknesses.

The monster's temperament is a weakness. Big and lumbering, it can move fast through the swamp but not turn quickly. Outmaneuvering the beast is certainly doable for those with enough skill and talent. Someone like Drist, perhaps.

A headache presses on my mind as I feel my mana close to snapping like a thread pulled too taut.

I ignore it and continue, pushing myself to finish the monster, lest it rot here.

Lighting comprised of my mana shoots into the beast like a defibrillator. It convulses, letting out several hissing groans as its eyes roll. I watch with hazy vision as the monster gains its bearings. The way it looks around tells me it has intelligence, deep enough to understand that it has just come to life from what can only be death. I'm not able to appreciate it further as I feel unconsciousness trying to pull me away.

I work with what little threads of mana I have, forming a stone door in a crumbling wall at the edge of the swamp. I link it and a section of the swamp's cloudy edge to other areas—the antechamber and tengku basin, respectively.

My mind feels like its being shaken around like a bug in a jar now. Nausea rolls through me in waves as I rush to return to my core. I lose consciousness, fading like a candle being snuffed out, before awakening and stumbling my way through the darkness.

Eventually I feel my lungs drinking in air and the cold pressure of stone against my cheek.

I managed to make it back to my body, but that felt dangerous.

Perhaps I need a break…