Ascent of a Dragon

Through the eyes of a dangling spider

I wonder if Kirby would be a good nickname... She is kinda pink, and has that weird gravity, pulling ability. Would help if I'd ever actually seen Kirby, but still... Lyla hangs precariously by two legs from the dragon's horns with a confidence held only by daredevils and wall-crawling critters. Her eyes are cast down, staring bored at the black void beneath them. The cavern is filled with a lukewarm steam, pushing in from the sides and filtering up through the hole they entered from. And what about Kong for the monkey? He is a king after all. Said monkey grips to the straps wound around the dragon, his eyes indicating he's somewhat more shaken by the vast nothingness surrounding them.

"Hey Lyly! So what now?" "Uh, I guess we just fall. It'll take a while though, so maybe I should strap us in first." "Hoh..." Lyla pulls herself up and begins wrapping her threads around the dragon, this time being more thorough in giving the monkey place to rest. "How long exactly?" "Took me half a day to fall the whole way. Granted, this body of mine falls slower than you will, but it's still gonna take a while." "Why does such a big hole even exist?" "No clue. Ask the Progenitor. He made the place." "The shadow guy?" "Yea, that's what I've heard he looks... Wait! How do you know what he looks like?! You were just born!" "I remember him putting me in this body as a soul." Must be a time traveller thing... Or an eldritch thing. I'm still on the fence there.

Lyla finishes her wrappings, nestling herself in a comfortable cocoon while the monkey lays strapped to the dragon's back like a restrained criminal. "Well, we'll be falling for a while, so we may as well set off now." "Hoh?" "Sure!" "Hah!" The dragon releases her claws, allowing the trio to plummet. Wind rushes by as they pierce downwards, the flat ceiling swiftly fading out of view to leave them falling through an endless black fog. "So how will I know when to start gliding again?" "I think the steam clears up pretty quick, maybe a couple hours into the fall? After that you'll know when we're close enough for the light to star filtering through the atmosphere." "That's... Is this even a planet at this point?"

Hmm, yea. This is gonna take a while. "I'm going to sleep. You guys can too, and I'll wake us when we start getting close. Just nudge my legs or something if you need me."

Through the eyes of an awkwardly bound monkey

It would seem we are left to naught but our own thoughts. How long is a day? Must be long, based on their conversation. The warrior peers into the void. Nothing peers back. How lonely this must be to fall through alone. I should consider myself lucky to have companions on this journey. Though it would be nice if the bright one would bind me more... considerately.

Through the eyes of a bored dragon

What if I play a game? I could play... I spy? Aleph spys the void. Okay maybe not. How about charades? With who though? She peers at Goldy, who lays seemingly transfixed by the nothingness surrounding them. Granted, that's mostly due to his head being tightly bound in place like the rest of his body. Okay maybe not him. He looks like he's enjoying himself. How about Lyly? She raises her eyes, peering at the slumbering arachnid. She's asleep... How did she say to wake her? Nudge her legs? If I move too much I might spin out of control... My tongue? It's long enough, but what if she's having a really nice dream? Hmm... What else can I do.

Through the eyes of a 'sleeping' spider

"So it turns out dream demons are apparently real." ... ... ... "What?!" "Really?!" "I'll never sleep again..." ... ... ... "Crazy stuff... How's Alulen doing?" ... ... ... "He's been better..." "Still sleeps a lot." "He made pie!" ... ... ... "Gah! Pie? You've gotta send me those feelings!" ... ... ... "Here!" ... ... ... "Hmmm, delicious. Dulcis pie is my favorite." ... ... ... "How's the dragon?" "Oh, and the monkey!" "Any new friends?" ... ... ... "So many questions! Man, this latency sucks..."

Through the eyes of an introspective monkey

I am still yet to grasp this concept of a 'name'. There is something more to it than simply a description. The emissary appears to have assigned me the name Gol Dhee. I believe this to be an affectionate term, meant to show endearment. I quite like this name. And yet, the bright one refers to me by a different name. Thamon Khee. I believe this one to be more derisive, perhaps dismissive. Though her stance on me remains a mystery, and so I cannot be confident in that assessment.

'Tis strange though, that I possess two names. Should names be granted per individual? Must I create names for the emissary and the bright one? Perhaps I can simply continue to use the ones I already have been. I'm sure I'll be told if this is in error.

Through the eyes of a very bored dragon

Now that I think about it... Doesn't Goldy already have nicknames for us? I learned his language, which also happens to be similar to one I know, but I don't know what Hinya Mul or Ho'mah means. So is Hinya just my nickname? How cute! I knew this human was a keeper! Or wait... was it monkey? I keep forgetting...

Whatever, maybe I just need some sleep. Seems to be Lyly's approach. She did say she'd wake me when we're close. Though... If she's asleep too how will she manage that? Oh well, I'm sure she has this all figured out.

Through the eyes of a bored spider

Ugh, it's like this every time I jump down here... It takes so long! We're not even a third of the way and I'm bored! Maybe the dragon's up for a game? Nope. She's asleep. Monkey? Staring deeply into the void... Maybe I should've given his head some freedom of movement...

What to do... I could try actually sleep? Though... Now I can't seem to get the idea of a dream demon eating my soul out of my head. Scary...

Through the eyes of a bored monkey

Fascinating! I am beginning to make out shapes in the darkness!

Through closed eyes

I open my eyes. I'm somewhere... warm and dark. I press against the walls. I press harder. They break. I look at myself. I have fur... no, feathers. But they are yet to grow. I have- Ow! I was attacked? By what? By others... like me? They are... aggressive? Why? They attack me again. I have not yet figured out this body... I... I'm falling... I'm falling! I'm about to-

"Uaaah! I'm falling!" "What?! What's going on?! Why are we panicking?!" "Haah!" Oh wait... I'm supposed to be falling. "Ah, sorry. Bad dream." "..." "..." "..."

"So... Are we close?" "It's only been three hours. We're not even half way." "Huu..." "I see... You guys wanna play a game?"

A mere fifteen hours of falling through an endless cavern of pitch black nothingness, and finally, the void below begins to give way to a dim, blue glow. Compared to the hours of uniform stagnancy preceding it, the next few minutes prove positively vibrant. Faint blue slowly gradates, giving way to a pale white as the ground comes into view. Aleph flares her wings, the new stimulation proving euphoric after the hours of inactivity. She glides, arcing towards the large hole before her.

She flies through the hole to the layer below, yet her glide proves too steep, the trio finding themselves careening into the rocky floor. Squelch! Flop. "Oh right... I forgot to mention that gravity gets noticeably heavier as we go down." "Thanks... Wait, heavier? Shouldn't it be lighter?" "Well, it should actually be way heavier on the surface. Nobody really knows why gravity seems to be weaker than it should, except maybe the other divine beasts who won't ever tell me a damn thing!" "Huh. Probably Mana. Or gods." "Eh. I've never been the religious type."

Aleph stands, shaking off the slush covering her, and her still bound companions while she's at it. Lyly squeezes out of her bundle of threads to begin slicing them all apart, freeing Goldy and offloading Aleph. "So, good news! I actually know where we are now, so we can just follow my usual path from here!" "Hoh!" "Yay!" "Bad news though, is that my usual path is me-sized..." "Hoh..." "Ah..." "Which is fine for traversing each layer since the monkey can just expand them, but may be an issue between layers where the rock gets tougher." "Hoh." "Hmm." "Okay, can you guys stop that? I'm trying to have a serious conversation here." "Shorree..." "Sorry..."

"I could try compress myself to fit in smaller passages." "You can do that? Right! Of course! All dragons can change forms! Standard fantasy stuff!" "Yea, I'll need more Aether though." "How much?" "At least ten times what I have to even consider it. Unlike my last upgrades I'll have to rewire large parts of how my body functions for it to work. Otherwise I might explode." "Annuther is weird." "That's just biology, not Aether." Aleph raises her head, surveying their surroundings. Above them lies a large crater in the ceiling, leading to the hole they entered through. Rivers of icy water cascade into waterfalls all along the edge of the hole, leading into further rivers and pools decorated with eddie's of slush and ice.

White orbs lay inset into the ceiling and pillars, pale vines spreading out and into the rock like ivy as they bake the cavern in bright light. Unlike the storm cores, these ones seem more organic making it difficult to determine whether they are artificial or biological. Small critters litter across the landscape, large blue insects skating between ponds while white lizards skitter around pillars to hunt similarly white moths and centipedes. Pale blue birds hang from the ceiling, their heads tilting as they regard the black, white, and gold interlopers standing out like a sore thumb.

"How far would you get from eating the stuff in here?" "Not even worth one big rock lizard. Waste of time if we're not hungry." "Well this layer is pretty tame, at least compared to super snakes and mountain lizards. Worth a look though."

Nino and Lana

Of the five celestials adorning our sky many would label Nino and Lana, our two suns, as perhaps the most divisive. For while it is our suns who give us life and grant us light, it is also these suns which slowly burn our world, turning once bustling forests and jungles into the harsh deserts which now claim a third of Magnus Mundus. Several studies have shown a strong correlation between longitude and favour of the suns, with those living in the southern deserts and savannas harbouring a greater fear and servitude in their mythology, while those in the north show more reverence and gratitude. It is worth noting though that many of these studies are either incomplete or exaggerated, in large part due to our historical enmity with inhabitants of the outer continent.

There are many theories on the origins of the names Nino and Lana. The most popular theory posits that Lana, the white sun, was the sole original star within our sky and named after one of the old gods. It is then believed that interference from the gods, perhaps during an ancient war from before the calamity, is what created the red sun which was then named Nino after the god who formed it. A similar theory places Nino as the original, having been a white star like Lana only to be damaged in ancient times, and for the gods to create Lana to maintain the habitability of Ao.

Native Maolas tribes tend to harbour their own theories, many bordering on religion. Many such tribes from the southern deserts of the outer continent claim that it was the mythical ruler of the labyrinth, or even the Progenitor, who named the stars, yet those from the eastern tundra equally claim that they were named after the Progenitor themself. Those hailing from other worlds tend to view these theories with scepticism, instead claiming that both suns must have always been there, and that all theories invoking gods and powerful displays of Mana are simply blind religion, attributing myth to nature. An understandable belief considering the nature of the world many of them hail from, yet we must not forget the fact that divine interference is a well documented and highly impactful part of all domains of Ao.

It is worth noting, that the names Nino and Lana are incredibly old, dating back even before the great calamity. The earliest record of the terms comes from a metallic tablet discovered in an ancient ruin on the western coast of the outer continent. The tablet was written in an old dialect of Aoan, that which is still spoken by the ancients today, proving testament to the language's long history. It is also of interest to many scholars, that of the five celestials Nino, Lana, Tao, and Vao are considered to have Aoan roots in their names. Yet the dwarf moon, Deorum Luna, or simply Luna, is very clearly Latin in origin. The theories on this are endless and deserving of their own book.

- Excerpt from Anya Chiff's 'Shape of the Skies'