Dungeon at the End of the Universe

Well, there was no question about it. While I’m sure the other categories have some interesting specimen in them, slimes are just simply the most versatile. Technically, everything came from slime.

Actually, that may not be true anymore, what with the existence of Dungeon, fae, and things like the Universe Congealment. But whatever, my point still stands. I choose slime.

Monster type [slime] chosen.
Selecting monster.
Monster selected:
Purge Slime

Oh-ho? That sounds interesting. But I can check it out later. For now it’s time to wrangle my new Ability under control. Then Faellen will be able to help me figure things out. Hopefully.

I quickly bring up the description of the Ability to double check what it does. Perception, yeah yeah, expanded senses, of course, within aura… maybe that’s the clue? Maybe if I can control my aura I can control it? Or at least leave Faellen out of the effect.

Yes, I’ll try that.

“Hold on just a little longer, please. I’m trying to get it under control,” I send to my fairy companion. All I get in return is a grunt, but I sort of get what it’s saying. Something along the lines of: hurry up you stupid rule breaking Dungeon!

Right, so then, aura. Can I maybe Sense it?

Hmm, doesn’t look like I can, at least not yet. Same goes for Control, can’t control something I can’t Sense. What other options are there?

It takes me a little while, but suddenly I remember something, something I did when abomination Faellen came knocking. Speaking of that, we should really do something with that thing’s corpse. I don’t want it to just rot in my Dungeon forever.

Anyway, back then I somehow dove into my Core and used Final Stop to infuse some spears. I think. Could’ve been something else but that’s what it felt like. Either way, if I do something similar now I could do something. Not infusing spears, obviously. I don’t need more perception altering to fight against. But it could give me more control over the Ability.

With only a vague memory to guide me, I reach within myself. My world shifts and twists. I can still feel my Dungeon, but it’s muted, like it’s just out of reach. Instead, what stands before me is sight as majestic as it is destructive.

Two balls of energy orbiting each other, like two stars in an endless spiralling dance. One, I feel, is just on the brink of collapse. The other almost feels like it isn’t there at all, even though it quite obviously is. End and Paradox, my Primary Aspects.

I look around, searching for my Secondary ones. If this is the Core of my being, then my one and only Eldritch Ability should have a connection to the Aspect. In fact, a few faint line extend from the End and Paradox, running off into the distance. Those should be Final Stop and Ignore That, as well as… yes, the last two are heading in the same direction. Those go to Endless End.

As I’m scanning the two stars, something flies by in front of one of them. I focus on it. It’s, a hexagon? There’s more detail on it that I can’t really make out at this distance. And weirdly, as I focus on it, more and more of the hexagon begin appearing around the stars.

In almost no time at all, there’s a veritable swarm there, a web of them covering most of the stars’ surfaces. That’s when I realize, it’s a Dyson swarm. The System is represented as a Dyson swarm, how fitting.

That only leaves one last thing. Where the hell is my Eldritch Aspect? If both of my Primary ones are stars, giant sources of uncontrolled energy, and the System is a Dyson swarm, something meant to contain that energy and make better, more efficient, use of it, then the Eldritch… what is the Eldritch?

It’s an outsider. Something from a far off place that hasn’t adapted to the new rules of the new place. But it’s also more than that. Many things other than Eldritch would fit that description. Just look at me as an example, what makes me special?

I bring something with me, something that can’t be stripped away. A piece of the rules from that old place I came from. Memories of an old home.

And then I see it. Far, far, far away behind the stars. So far away they are barely even a dot in my vision. There I see it, ships. Sea ships, air ships, space ships. All of them and none of them, for it doesn’t matter. It’s only a representation after all. And on those ships are people. People of all sort of walks of life. There are refugees, there are conquerors. Immigrants, tourists, explorers and adventurers. All of them are coming.

Of course. What could be more Eldritch, more strange, more other than a different culture. A different way of life.

I pause there for a second, letting it all sink in. Before long, though, I have to continues. Time is ticking, and I came here with a purpose.

Another look reveals a thread coming off of the Eldritch fleet. I follow it, leaving the core of my Core and the star system within it behind.

The thread eventually ends. The Ability it connects to, Taste if Old Memories, is much more abstract and less concrete than my Aspects. I can’t even begin to attempt to describe it, so I won’t.

What’s important is that I could sense it working, affecting the world around me. I grabbed that feeling as tightly as I could and ascended, returning through the layers of my Core until I came back to full Dungeon awareness, the feeling still held in my metaphorical hand.

It was different now. It no longer felt as direct as when I stood directly in front of the Ability. Still, as long as I held it, I could Control it. And right now, I wanted it to stop.

In the future, when I’ll want it to actually mimic the Laws of the Universe, I’ll have to gain actual mastery over it, but for now this will suffice.

Immediately, I can feel something shift. Almost as soon as that happens, Faellen also stops shivering on the ground. Alright! Mission accomplished!

My celebration is sadly cut short when I hear a venomous voice in my mind, “What in the Wylds was that!?”