Dungeon at the End of the Universe

Dittillapp was a peculiar one. Was their day not exactly perfect? Sure. Were they tired after the whole day? Yes. Would they have rather gone to sleep already and maybe, perhaps, not wake up for at least a month? Of course.

And yet, despite all that, Dittillapp was still awake at home, busying themselves with some minor things that were quite inconsequential. Frankly, it looked as if they were waiting for something.

A bit more time passed and indeed, it turned out to be the truth.

At some unknown sign, Dittilapp stood up, left their home, and went to stand outside. Once there, they only waited for a few more minutes and then a glowing pillar of light enveloped them, leaving nothing behind.

Dittilapp, in the meantime, found themselves transported to a very peculiar land. But as if in spite of all the strangeness occurring around them, they simply ignored it all and headed straight for a cave that had risen from the ground some distance in front of them.

Inside that cave, a floating ball of light patiently waited. And once Dittillapp reached out one of their hands to it and touched it, a strange blue screen appeared in front of them.

“…” Dittillapp didn’t say anything even now, somehow not at all baffled.

Ah, is it my turn again? Alright then, great.

Welcome back dear readers to the best part of this here story, for I, the Narrator, hath returned. But enough of that.

As it so often happens with these things, Prshky, Rampampadam, and Dittillapp all touched the System orb at the same time. Thus, they became marked as part of the first wave of System users on this new planet, nay the whole solar system, nay the whole galaxy, nay the entire Universe!

Hmm, what were they called? Was that not mentioned yet? I swear, this new generation of storytellers has no respect for the craft. Fine, I suppose I can do their job for them.

In the Universe of Ferras, within the GarGar Galaxy, inside a smallish solar system called the Lichtung, a lively planet that went by the name of Lapis floated through space. And on that planet, a race of six-armed people evolved. They called themselves the Sipalians.

They were stout people. Powerful legs, six arms (each set ending in a different kind of hand), and a head filled with about 80 eyes. In addition to this rather… peculiar appearance, they also had certain advantage to most other animals. They had the ability to pull minerals directly from the earth through their legs, which caused their legs to be encrusted in a layer of stone armour that sometimes even reached up to their waist. But I digress.

Now back to out three intrepid adventurers.

Prshky, the sky scientist, was in a strange and artificial seeming landscape. When he reached out to the System orb, the cave he was inside of rumbled and a new passage opened up, leading deeper into the earth.

Ram, the constructor, was in a mysterious crystalline landscape. When she reached out to the System orb, her cave also rumbled and opened up, revealing yet another passage leading further into the earth.

And Dittillapp? Well, they were still the outlier in this group, but that’s not my place to reveal the hows, whys and whats. It’s too early for that. Suffice it to sat that they too had a passage open and that they too ventured further below the crust of the moon they all found themselves on.

They walked and walked, all three of them, until they came upon caverns of medium size. They were all still separate, but all of them saw an identical thing.

Inside those caverns, a single, small, strange statue stood. Why strange? Well of course, because it only had one set of arms and eyes!

And this statues, surprise surprise, began to move! Not only that, it then started to attack them!

Ram had the easiest time of it. With her considerable strength, she managed to easily smash the thing apart. Dittillappm, too, was quite fast. They bopped and weaved between the statues attack, striking as precise spots, until it stopped moving. Only Prshky was left, and he was having trouble. He was running as fast he could, too afraid of becoming his statues punching bag. Eventually, he found an outcropping in the caverns walls upon which he could climb and then pummelled the statue with a barrage of rocks.

Once the battle was done, another mysterious screen appeared before all of them. Before, when they had touched the orb and it first appeared, they couldn’t do much with it. All that appeared after the initial message was a simple screen with their name on it. Now, however, something new appeared.

Naturally, Prshky picked wizard almost as soon as he could. Ram, after some consideration, picked knight. And Dittillap, with a small sigh, picked rogue.

Then, another new passages appeared from the caverns they were in, and they followed them. After perhaps another hour of walking, the three of them at last arrived in a new cavern. But this time, not alone.

Yes, all three passages led to the same room. Finally, all of them were united, forming the very first adventuring party of this Universe. Just like the Dungeon had intended. Well, were it not for a small hiccup.

But it would appear it’s my time to go now. I seemed to have skipped over a bit too much detail, and someone is angry with me. Oh well. Bye bye, and we’ll see each other soon!