Dungeon Day 0

  Dan was running really, really fast. He had been running for about thirty minutes straight, and no amount of physical exercise would ever allow him to escape the thing that was chasing him. It wasn’t even the fact that he was going to die since he had learned a while back what usually happens to a pnet when an Eldritch God is trying to eat it.

  That’s right. Earthquakes meant the Eldritch God was beginning its descent toward the World Crystal, and Earth had but a few more hours left.

  So, the real problem with his situation was that he didn’t want to be turned into an aberration. However, for whatever reason, this particur squid-looking motherfucker that was called an octopien did not want to let him go. Dan had felt the thing probe his mind earlier, and after he resisted, the tentacled-faced bastard had decided to capture him.

  Dan had thought of jumping into one of the ravines opened by the earthquakes so he could die before he was captured. However, that had not work when he had attempted it earlier. The monster simply floated him back to the surface. Seriously, what was the thing’s problem?

  Anyway, without being able to do anything, Dan just kept running. His body would give out soon, but he did not want to give the aberration the pleasure of making him surrender.

  Sadly, Dan’s pns ended early when he got the worst case of heartburn in the history of mankind. It felt like his chest was on fire. The pain got so bad that he felt his consciousness start to slip away, and he muttered a "fuck" right before darkness found him.

  Half of the continent was completely destroyed. His minions had shattered the space just like that Eldritch God had done to Earth all those millennia ago.

  Remembering that invasion, he compared this world to Earth. He imagined that-that Eldritch God had been able to shatter Earth’s Ethereal Barrier just as quickly and efficiently as he was about to shatter this one. The ritual to weaken the barrier always took some time to prepare, but it had been done in record time with this particur pnet, and he wondered if he could have shattered Earth’s barrier just as fast.

  Floating above the pnet, the locals called Gcion, he looked down at his next meal. It had been around five centuries since his st one, and he was looking forward to devouring the World Crystal.

  Dan, as his name used to be, felt nothing anymore. He just watched as the pnet's inhabitants, beings of ice and snow with fleshy interiors were killed and turned into more of his loyal servants. The pnet hadn’t even been a challenge. It was primitive in magic, though its level of ambient mana was high. He figured it was all due to the pnet's young age but didn’t care either way.

  Eventually, he decided it was time, and he began amassing his power to finally shatter the weakened area of the Ethereal Barrier and enter the frozen pnet.

  He empowered his rge tentacles, which were the size of continents, and they shone bright with power as he called forth space, time, and soul magic to shatter the barrier.

  After a few strikes, the barrier cracked and broke, letting him finally enter. It was usually around this time when he met resistance from a pnet's inhabitants with the usual assistance of their gods. However, it was not to be; the pnet was too young for gods to have manifested, and the natives were too weak. So, looking downwards, he began the descent to the core, which caused earthquakes all over Gcion.

  It didn’t take long, and he quickly arrived at the world’s core, finding the snowfke-shaped crystal shining with rainbow light. The crystal was huge, and as always, he brought it forth to his maw, taking slow bites and savoring the power that rushed into his being.

  The crystal was soon devoured, and the Eldritch God was left wanting.

  Thankfully, there were always more pnets to consume, and he and his legion of aberrations left the broken remains of the snow pnet behind, already looking forward to conquering the next world.

  An unknown amount of time after Gcion, Dan finds himself in a new world dealing with yet another World Crystal. Except now things are different, very different.

  Dan woke up to find himself in a dark void.

  The only thing in the void was a deep blue, jagged shard of crystal slowly spinning on its axis.

  Wanting to take a closer look at the damn thing, Dan willed his consciousness to get closer, and it did.

  As Dan inspected the crystal, he began wondering why he was dreaming about a blue crystal.

  Actually, what was going on? He had been running from the aberration, and then bam! He got hit by a wave of heartburn that somehow had been strong enough to make him pass out. Which meant he should be an aberration by now. Or maybe he already was, and this was his existence as an aberration.

  That didn't seem right. He had been told by a fey whom he had almost made a deal with that when a new aberration was created. It loses all memory of its previous life, and Dan still remembered his life before passing out.

  After inspecting the shard and finding nothing and with nothing better to do, Dan began examining the void around him. Not long into his examination, he was startled by a voice emanating from everywhere.

  “Ah, Dan, gd you are finally awake.”

  Dan, having no reason not to respond, did so.

  “Hi. Yes, I am Dan. Can I ask who you are? And where I am?”

  “I am the World Crystal you just tried to consume, and this piece of you is currently located in a spatial pocket.”

  “Listen, Mr. World Crystal, sir, I most definitely did not try to consume you. I was running from this aberration, then I passed out and found myself here.”

  “From your perspective, that is correct. However, you currently only have a fraction of your memory. In truth, you were turned into an aberration and then grew into an Eldritch God. At that point, and after an incredibly long time, you had the unfortunate fate of coming to my world where your Heart Crystal was shattered.”

  “Me? An Eldritch God? Ha!” Dan ughed maniacally like he had just heard the dumbest thing.

  “Enough!” Shouted the void, causing existence to tremble and scaring Dan half to death.

  “I do not have time for your nonsense, and if it weren’t for the fact that this shard contains most of your humanity, I would destroy your miserable existence.”

  “Fuck you, man! You’re not my boss! If you want to destroy me, then do it!” Dan growled as he tried to hide his fear and worry.

  “As much as you vex me, you foul thing, I must obey the ws. However, considering I am your only lifeline back to godhood, I would suggest you restrain yourself.”

  Dan wasn’t sure if the void was telling the truth, but he was indeed stuck in a pitch-bck space and wanted to get out, so he reined in his nonsense. It was better to be safe than sorry.

  “All right, fine. So, if what you are saying is right, then I am the shard floating in space here. Which was part of the Heart Crystal of me when I was an Eldritch God?” Dan responded, confused, yet something itched at the back of his metaphorical mind, telling him that the stupid crystal might be right.

  “Yes, that is correct. Now, the battle between you and my inhabitants caused the shattered space your followers created to become even more twisted. And now none of my inhabitants can enter after your st-ditch effort repelled them outwards. The problem is that the rest of your pieces are still somewhere in the many spatial pockets, and due to your uniqueness, they are slowly growing in power.”

  “Ah, I see,” Dan said, cutting the void off.

  “So, you need good old Dan to march in there and put down my other pieces before they rejoin and finish the job. Is that right?”

  “Frustratingly so. However, I do not trust that you will remain sane and reasonable, so we must strike a bargain. I will assist you so that you may get ahead of your other selves and have a better chance at consuming them and regaining your old power. And in return, we will make a contract that you cannot use your newly gained power to strike back at me, my world, or my inhabitants. Well, at least not outside of the agreed terms.”

  “I imagine there will be more to this contract than you have just stated, correct?”

  “Yes, and to assure you, I will not be the enforcer of the contract.”

  Now, that made Dan curious. If this thing was an entire world and he was a fallen Eldritch God, what in the universe could possibly enforce this contract?

  Of course, that was precisely what Dan asked, doubtful yet incredibly curious.

  “Really? What's more powerful than a living World and an Ex-Eldritch God?”

  “That which created both.”

  Now, that was a hell of a revetion. Even if Dan didn’t know all the facts, there had always been questions on Earth about the universe and its creation, especially after magic and aliens came about.

  Dan almost went down a spiral hole of conspiracy just then but was stopped by the void talking again.

  “Very well, Dan, I have set up the contract and its many workings, but before we contact the enforcer you must read and approve of it.”

  “Yeah, probably a good idea with any contract.”

  Words Dan came to regret.

  The contract was long. It took him years, well, maybe not years, but a very long time to read. The damn thing went on about how Dan was going to function like some space-ciming machine and how he would have all these different abilities akin to a god but not to the same level. Honestly, it was starting to sound like he would be making his own conquering dungeon, which sounded badass. If Dan loved anything, it was conquering stuff.

  After reading the contract and mentally signing it, he felt something in the air change, and reality went all twisty and bendy before a humanoid figure, much like some female mannequin, appeared in the bck void. The mannequin's skin was the cosmos. Dan saw floating gaxies and nebus swirling on her skin, and she also had literal suns for her eyes.

  She was doing what she always did: watching the cosmos for exciting things.

  Everything had livened up after she remade it, and watching her creations was always a fun pastime.

  It was then she felt something she hadn’t felt in quite a few millennia.

  One of her World Crystals was calling out to her.

  She giggled. Reality was so fun.

  “Yes, Child? Why do you call?” The woman spoke, her voice manifesting into reality.

  “Mother, I ask for your assistance with a delicate matter.” Responded the World Crystal, which was now next to Dan, taking the shape of a translucent crystal that emanated rainbow light. More importantly, it was the same size as Dan.

  There was no way a World Crystal was that small. He had learned some things on Earth from the fey and knew that World Crystals could be just as big as stadiums from Earth, if not rger.

  Moving on from those thoughts, the two entities were quiet. Some sort of exchange was happening, finally ending as the woman giggled.

  “Oh my!” she said with delight, and in between giggles, she continued, “What an interesting thing you have here. An Ex-Eldritch God and a World Crystal working together. I just love reality!” She finished with clear excitement.

  “Very well, you have my approval,” Then, with some more giggles, she disappeared as Dan heard her st words. “Have fun! I’ll be watching!”

  “Uhhhhh, who was that?” Dan asked the empty void, realizing the crystal other was now gone.

  “That was Mother Eternity or The Chaos Mother; she has many names. However, that is not important right now. What is important is that with her approval, we can move forward. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, as ready as I can be with a super god watching.”

  “Very well. I will now be initiating the Crystal Dungeon System.”

  As he registered the words, everything went completely dark, and Dan lost consciousness again.