Pov Vix

  I was still mesmerized by the core that was Father, but I was snapped out of it when I noticed the small cracks all around its surface and even inside. He was struggling so much, yet he was still doing everything necessary—everything he could—to protect not just himself but us as well.

  Slowly, I started to rise as the floor grew underneath me. I got a brief image of where I should be. It didn’t take me long to reach the correct position, and all I had to do was wait for the floor to rise until I was in the perfect position to stop that beam from hitting Father.

  It had been only a few minutes after I got into position when I started to feel the beam getting closer. Its power seemed terrifying. Then I heard Father’s voice, not just speaking to me but to everyone, especially the invaders.

  “If you don’t stop that destructive beam, it’s going to reach a world so dangerous that you could do nothing to stop the destruction that would follow. There would be nothing left of the outside world if that happens. I urge you to stop now.”

  I didn’t know Father could do that, but what danger could he be speaking about?

  “You foolish dungeon. There’s nothing that will stop me from ending you. You think you’re the first dungeon to try these tricks?” The voice was quite sweet, but there was so much malice underneath. I shouldn’t have known who was speaking, but somehow they made sure I knew it was the leader of the Pixies who spoke.

  My father seemed sad about that. I wondered what could be so dangerous. Whatever it was, I had my own job to do. I prepared to do my best, but I was interrupted with a brief vision.

  I saw the beam cutting through a world like many others, but it seemed so dead. Yet somehow that deadness started to stir as the beam cut through it. It was like death was living there, and I had never felt such fear. Was this the world Father was speaking about? Why was he showing me this?

  When I looked towards Father to understand what was going on, I came to an understanding. Father didn’t want me to see this—his life force, his memories, were spilling out from the cracks, and I was unwittingly seeing some of the things he was seeing. There wasn’t much time to contemplate that as the beam continued to approach.

  I saw another scene—that of the fight going on outside. The mountain was half destroyed, the city completely gone. So many of my brothers and sisters were fighting fiercely, killing but also getting killed. A mighty dragon was fighting, being supported by our side. It was being tied down and not allowed to approach the leader of the Pixies.

  I also saw adventurers fighting. A particular group of five was doing quite well against the Pixies. I saw memories of them when they were so much younger, so much weaker—a brief snippet of their journey inside Father’s dungeon. They had made a life here, and I envied that. I would probably never get to have the same.

  Then the beam hit, and I felt pain so encompassing I couldn’t keep myself on my feet. Yet I had anticipated this. The beam tried to cut through my shell, but for the first time, it met something it couldn’t destroy in an instant. This spell seemed to be quite tied to the caster, so I could actually feel the disbelief the Pixie was experiencing—the fact that there was something that could actually halt this beam’s progress.

  Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn’t hold this for too long. There was a flash of magic, and I quickly looked towards the core to see two familiar faces coming out of a portal. The mage who cast the portal stumbled through it, but he was hit badly and staggered. Even before he hit the floor, I could see the life leave him.

  The one who came before, I believe her name was Ziiipe, quickly helped the mage. “No, Vinny, don’t leave me! Please don’t!”

  There were so many tears streaming down her face. A moment later, Father made some sort of crystal appear. She gave him a last kiss and then quickly moved to the crystal. A few more different kinds of crystals appeared, and she quickly started to use some sort of skills to form them into something.

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  It took her about a minute to finish. "It is done," she said in a broken voice. A moment later, another person walked through the portal that was somehow still active. What an incredible mage he must have been for his magic to be so stable that it even persisted after his death. Perhaps Father was also helping to keep it active.

  “Ziiipe, I heard that the skill is done—where?” But his voice cut off when he saw the dead mage. I could see his resolve harden at that, but I still noticed the singular tear that fell from his eye. “Did you make the skill as I said you should?”

  This seemed to snap Ziiipe out of whatever state she was in. “You cannot use it, Carl. Something like this should not exist.” There was a short pause before she continued. “You cannot survive this skill. I cannot lose you too. Think about your family—there would be nothing left of you!”

  “Because of my family, I must do it. We don’t have the time.” All of this took only moments as they communicated so fast. Carl took the skill and pulled it inside himself. It would most likely take him a bit longer to properly integrate the skill, but I hoped he would be fast, as I could feel the first layer of my shell finally starting to give.

  New images assaulted my mind. I saw the dungeon rooms filled with adventurers who were fighting for their lives. It seemed that before the diamond-ranked battle started on the surface, tens of thousands of platinum ranks had rushed into the dungeon rooms and worlds opened up by the first beam attacks. I did not know how the different worlds were doing, but many of the adventurers were being slaughtered.

  I guessed the order to leave no one alive was being followed religiously. There was heavy resistance from the lower floors of the dungeon rooms, but it was horrifying to see what was happening in the upper levels. Father simply didn’t have the presence to help keep the gateways from being used. The attackers seemed quite prepared and knew exactly where they needed to go.

  I was brought out of these memories forcefully when I heard that terrifying scream. It was a bellow of rage and a promise of vengeance. Yet somehow, I also constantly heard the word ‘more’. I focused on the person causing this. It was Carl, doing something I did not know was possible.

  I could sense the skill burning his soul for him to gain more power—that I knew was possible—but he was somehow also burning his very talent so he could get even more power. It was radiating off him, even making the portal a bit unstable.

  Immediately, he rushed through it and started to fight to reach the leader of the Pixies. He was a bit too slow to save me, but I was glad that he was going to be able to save Father at least. I felt the last of my shell giving up and the beam piercing inside of me. Even my insides were giving it a bit of trouble, but not much. A large portion of my insides was being burned away, yet I still persisted.

  I felt the beam hit the other side of my shell, being stopped once again. It was so hard to keep conscious, but I knew that I needed to keep circulating mana so my shell would be strong enough to keep the beam occupied for just a bit longer.

  Then I felt it—the beam stopped. I looked up, barely conscious, but I could still see a person, someone who should not even be able to contest a peak diamond rank, delivering a strike that the peak diamond rank the leader of the Pixies actually had to defend against, otherwise, it might have actually died.

  My life was fading now, but I was glad that the others were at least going to survive. We were winning the fight up above, although we were taking a lot of casualties. “Victory will be ours in the end.”

  Then I heard Father’s voice. “I am sorry, my child, but victory will not be ours. I have failed you all.”

  I was confused. Why would he say something like that? Then I saw images of what was happening down below. Even through all of this, there was one question in the back of my mind: why weren’t the other worlds helping defend the dungeon rooms or fighting the threat up above? Where were the ants and their technology? Now I knew—they were fighting a desperate fight that they had now lost.

  While they were still holding on, the enemy had broken through the only place that meant doom for us all. When the assault started from above, apparently a multitude of diamond-rank dungeons had extended their territory to connect with Father’s. A flood of diamond-ranked monsters soon followed. While Father was able to keep them from pushing their territories further in, the slightly weakened diamond-rank monsters ravaged the defenses down below.

  Especially devastating for our defenses was the first beam attack by the leader of the Pixies. It had gotten through the entire dungeon, and it seems like that was done on purpose. My life was about to end, and I was so incredibly sad. So was Father.

  He still continued to fight as much as he could, but from down below, I sensed attacks coming. Whatever was launched from down below looked like quills. They punched through Father’s core, cracking it completely.

  He was dying now—I could feel it. Then those quills exploded, and I was bathed in the most horrifying fire I had ever witnessed. My eyes snapped open. I no longer felt the pain; I felt the soft mud and the water underneath me. My heart was beating so fast, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the lake and so many people around it. I could feel Father’s voice touching me, but I was so tired.

  “Vix, you need to sleep. You have been burning your soul for so long that there’s barely anything left. You need to recover.”

  I was confused by those words, but I looked inside to see a world filled with darkness instead of the blue light I was so accustomed to. I was so tired I couldn’t even speak. I couldn’t even find the strength to convey any meaning through my mind. What I did see was a word representing my talent: Premonition.

  Instantly, everything clicked into place. I had seen a possible future—the most likely events that would happen. I needed to warn them.

  I tried to pull my strength, but I couldn’t do anything to warn them. I was falling asleep. I could feel it would take decades before I could awaken again. No, that would be too long, but there was one source of strength I still had. I had just a bit of soul left. Yet, if I used it, I would not awaken from my slumber—I would be gone forever. Yet I didn’t even question, didn’t even think, before I started to use the last that I had.

  Father screamed at me, “Stop it at once! Go to sleep, you need to recover!” But I didn’t listen. It was so hard, but I gathered all that I saw and prepared to send it to Father.

  He didn’t want it, but I think he understood that something was truly wrong. He took it and even helped me give him my memories. “I thank you for the life you gave me. Goodbye.” And then darkness claimed me.