Dungeon at the End of the Universe

Once we’re once more firmly outside of time I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s strange though, how did they find us this time?

Faellen apparently has the same question, “How in the ever changing Wylds did they find us this time?”

“No idea,” I reply, “Zemis was in extreme time, they shouldn’t have been able of notifying anyone.” We’re both silent for a while, mulling it over, before I continue. “But the way that other deity made its way through my Dungeon… it definitely felt like they knew exactly where Zemis was kept.”

“Did it… look like they were following a trail to them?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. But how? That also doesn’t make sense.”

Faellen facepalms. “We completely forgot about divine energy.”

I think back. Back to when Zemis was trying to resist our transportation spell. Back to when the two deities worked to construct a divine palace. Even back to when I first managed to shit my perception to spot the divine realm.

Each of those times I’d been able to sense the divine energy. Even when Zemis sent that message to everyone on Lapis I was able to sense it and decode it.

“How did I not notice them sending out a distress signal?”

Before our theory crafting discussion could spiral out of control, I activated my Ability again. It wouldn’t do to travel too far back in time.

We emerged within proper time, and space. Far, far, far in the distance, I spotted a familiar star.

“Huh, did not go that far back this time at all,” I muttered.

“Finally learning to control that Ability of yours, eh?” the fairy joked.

“But back to the matter at hand,” I tried to shift the conversation, “why couldn’t I sense Zemis doing shenanigans with divine energy? And how do I prevent it from happening this time around?” A brief pause. “That’s assuming we’re going for the same strategy this time too. Which I am.”

“I don’t see a need to change strategy,” Faellen said. “As for you not being able to sense divine energy… I think it’s nothing too complicated. An active scan should do it.”

“Explain please.”

“In all the circumstance when you were able to sense it, they weren’t really trying to hide it, right? Those were overt acts of divinity. In fact, they may have even made it easier to sense, which is why you didn’t even have to look for it.

But I’d be willing to bet that when sending a distress signal from the cage, Zemis was at least somewhat trying to make it inconspicuous. Not to mention that a simple message isn’t exactly a power intensive thing to send out.”

That… did make sense. Besides, there has yet be something I wasn’t able to sense with a bit of effort.

“But how to stop it?”

“Well,” I wide grin splits Faellen’s face, “from what I’ve seen so far, your Abilities are very synergistic. So if you can Sense something-”

“-I can apply other Abilities to it too,” I finish the sentence.

Yes, that’s a brilliant plan. Plus, if it works as well as think it will, I’ll be killing two birds with one stone.

Time passes and both me and Faellen fall into familiar tracks. I send out the first Dungeon seed onto point nemo island and begin tunnelling out to the spots where the other Seeds will soon be. Meanwhile Faellen once again begins training our favourite trio of advenurers.

Rampampadam, Prshky, and Dittillapp. This’ll be the third time they’re going through the tutorial. Even if they don’t remember the previous ones, Faellen does so it should be able to provide them with more effective guidance.

There was one slight hiccup at the very beginning, when the trio entered the Sipaloon village. We completely forgot that out resident villagers did not know about the time loop.

Luckily, Faellen was able to give a quick explanation. I specifically did not listen in, because I knew it would be something holy sounding and did not want to know how my divinity was elevated in the Sipaloons’ minds.

And then we mostly just waited.

My Dungeon Seeds progressed, Faellen was almost done with our favourite trio of adventurers, when it finally happened. The dot of light appeared within my sight.

I quickly gave the signal to Faellen. It activated the ritual we had once again prepared. After that, everything was inevitable.

Zemis struggled just like they did before, but the ritual was too strong. Especially if powered by a whole moon. A moon that is a Dungeon.

Suffice it to say, there was no risk of them breaking out.

A few seconds later the deity which had caused us so much trouble appeared within my Dungeon. Not waiting for a second, I activated the enchantments. Time shifted, slowing down for us and speeding up for Zemis.

“Ha! Easy, just like last time,” I laughed.

“There’s still one part you need to do.” the fairy reminded me.

I began scanning around the room we’d locked the deity in. My Sense was dialled up to 11, watching for the slightest sign of any unusual energy.

For a long while, nothing happened. Which was understandable, inside time moved much faster so it’d take a while for Zemis to realize what was going on and decide to send a message out.

Still, I didn’t stop. For all we knew, even a single second could be enough for some other god out there to know what was up. I couldn’t let that happen.

More than a day later, I felt a brief wave of divine energy exit out. Before I could act, or do anything at all, it retracted back inside. Probably not the message then. Hopefully.

Another day passed, and finally I felt it. A gentle pulse of divinity, expanding in all directions. There were slight variations in it, the message.

Not waiting for them to reach even halfway outside my Dungeon, I got to work. With a slight application of my will, I Destroyed. Two things happened as soon as I did so.

A flood of mana bathed my Dungeon. Not as big as when I Destroyed Universe energy, but still large.

And second, I got a System notification.