Dungeon at the End of the Universe

Rampampadam, or Ram to her friends, was exhausted. She’d just finished work and was on her way home. Of course, there she’d still have to make dinner for herself, not to mention the mountain of chores that had slowly piles up over the week once more. Once again, her weekend would be completely wasted on stupid household tasks. And as if the very Universe hated her, the Waddler was also running late.

She sighed and folded her arms. And folded her arms. And at last, also folded her third set of arms. Each set was bulkier than the last, as would be befitting of someone of her occupation. She didn’t have no fancy job, but an essential one nonetheless. Without builders, few things in civilization would be the same.

Time passed, Waddler still nowhere in sight. By now the stars had already come out into the night sky. The stars, as well as something extra which hadn’t been there before.

Looking up into the sky, Ram snorted. The Light, as people had began to call it, was the main topic of discussion in pretty much all circles for the past few fortnights^[1]. And sure, maybe it was interesting, but she couldn’t understand why it had to be such an omnipresent thing.

^[1] the author thinks they’re being very clever here by using fortnight (or 2 weeks) instead of month, since this world didn’t have a moon until recently, but completely disregards that by the same logic there also shouldn’t be things like weeks, hours, minutes and other measurements we are familiar with

For Ram, the Lights was the least of her problems. For one, there was that huge mountain of chores that had piled up. But all that is besides the point. Right now, there was nothing more pressing than the exhaustion from a hard day’s work.

Or so she thought.

Just as she was almost dozing off, a green pillar of light shot out of the Light, aimed directly at her. At first, she thought it was just a hallucination. It wouldn’t be the first time she saw or heard strange things when sleep deprived.

But the beam of green did not stop. As it grew closer and closer it also began to feel more and more real. Almost like it emitted a direct pressure on reality. For a split second, just before it hit, Ram realised something was very, very wrong. Then she was bathed in the green glow, and once it subsided, she stood there no more.

And then, a Waddler arrived. Seeing as there was no one waiting at the stop, it shrugged and continued on.

But back to Ram’s perspective. For her, as soon as the green light subsided she found herself in a strange landscape.

All around her were strange bundles of crystals, acting almost like bushes. Every now and then there was also a more tree-like crystal formation. Ram took a step forward, which is when she realized that even the ground was covered in minute crystals, like blades of grass but pointier and much more brittle.

She walked around a bit, accompanied by the constant crunch of crystals breaking underfoot.

After perhaps a minute of this, something truly strange happened.

A distance away, the crystals suddenly began to grow. The ‘grass’ that had been there grew and grew and grew until it formed a crystal dome. And within that crystal dome, a floating orb of light appeared, making the whole formation twinkly and shine with its otherworldly light.

Ram, naturally overcome with curiosity, decided to walk closer. It’s not every day that such a magical occurrence happens to someone as ordinary as her. Then again, the whole being transported to who knows where was quite magical too. But who’s counting anyway.

She stepped towards the newly formed crystal cave, grass breaking underfoot. Crunch, crunch, crunch, Ram neared the floating light.

On the way, she looked a bit closer at the various crystalline plants that grew here. The grass she was already familiar with, but the bushes and trees were another thing altogether.

The bushes, for one, were in fact sort of bushy. Not exactly soft, like a real bush, but it did give way a bit without breaking, an almost paradoxical behaviour for a crystal.

The trees, on the other hand, Ram couldn’t even scratch. Whatever they were made of, she couldn’t break of a twig, let alone a branch, even once she put her full weight into it. And she was very proud of her weight, almost twice as much as most of her co-workers.

The fact remained, the trees did not budge. They didn’t even bend the slightest amount like the bushes had.

So, curiosity unsatisfied, Ram continued on towards the crystal cave.

As soon as she entered it, it was as if the entire world had transformed. With each part of the wall being made out of hundreds, thousands even, of crystal facets, the whole room felt much bigger than one would expect. The constant reflection gave the illusion of the room being much bigger than it seemed. That, combined with the almost omnipresent lighting the reflections also caused, gave the room a truly ethereal feeling.

Ram naturally tested the walls of this cave, since it grew from the brittle grass she had been demolishing along the way, but they were almost as impenetrable as the trees had been. No matter, there was still one more mystery to investigate here.

The glowing orb which had so patiently waited in the middle of the cave.

As Ram approached, the orb moved towards her outstretched hand. And once it made contact, a truly strange thing happened.

“What?” Rampampadam said, baffled.