Ascent of a Dragon

Violet

Aleph leaps, just too late to avoid another assault. Shit! What is this thing? It doesn't matter where I look, it always finds a way behind me! Using her wings to stay afloat for a moment longer, she scans the area, searching desperately for her assailant. Gone again! How fast is this thing?

Cyan

What have you gotten us into?! Why have you gotten us into this?! Agh! A whoosh of air precedes another bout of vertigo as the pair spiral recklessly through the air. Lyla clings tight to her makeshift harness, desperately trying to suppress the growing nausea from all the spinning. Okay, I can chew this idiot out later. First things first is getting us out of this mess! Can we go back the way we came?

Violet

The entrance is gone! Dammit, and I don't see any other way out! The wall where their way in was believed to be lays covered in moss and vines. Were there once a tunnel there, there is no longer. Okay, think! Escape isn't an option, and I seriously doubt I can hide anywhere either. My black scales stand out here like a sore thumb! I can't fight either if I can't see the enemy... Shit, what else can I do?

Cyan

This thing has been avoiding both of our sight perfectly. We can't see it, but it can see us... Or is it maybe invisible? Another swipe, this time targeting Lyla. The dragon shifts, turning just enough to avoid taking the full brunt of the blow to the neck as the pair are slammed into the ground.

The instant she regains control of her motion, Lyla turns swiftly to catch their assailant, finding nothing but the empty air and sparkling cavern wall. How is it so fast? Where does it go? My dragon can somehow sense it coming. What does it know that I don't? Wait! I still don't have a name for it!

Violet

This is getting easier. There's a shift in the Aether all around me every time it attacks, but this thing is too fast for me to react! If I knew where it came from I could turn in time to strike back, but even when I guess it somehow seems to just know where I'm going to look! Another whoosh of air, and another tumble. Dammit!

Cyan

What about Shenron? No wait! Not the time! Lyla clings tight as they're sent flying once again. Damn, I really need to figure out what's going on here. We'll get nowhere if we keep letting this thing toy with us like this. Okay... I'll need to focus. She breaths in, eyes losing their vision as she focuses every aspect her mind to its peak. All faculties report! Panic mode is a go!

Violet

Huh? What happened!? Aleph panics, catching the limp fuzzball with her teeth, trying her best not to clamp down too hard as they're sent tumbling again. Why is she unresponsive now? Was she hit? This thing doesn't even hit as hard as that big rock lizard though, and she took that just fine! The attacks don't let up, slamming at the pair with increased vigour. Aleph swipes randomly, almost managing to nick their attacker with her bladed tail. Yet the constant flailing through the air makes any meaningful attack nigh impossible. Dammit!

Lyla

"Identify the problem." "Unseen enemy." "Fast attacks." "Idiot dragon." "Avoids gaze." "How?" "Uncertain." "An archmage?" "Or perhaps an equally powerful beast?" "No, we'd be dead." "Then an ability." "To detect gazes? Or perhaps Mana?" "Dragon has none." "Assume it's the gaze." "What else?" "Many vines, lots of moss." "Vines?" "Do they have Mana?" "Barely. More than the dragon though." "Fucking weird dragon." "Agreed." "Could the vines be the threat?" "Too fragile." "Not if they're never struck." "Stays out of sight. Attacks one-sided" "Can't be the moss." "The moss looks cool." "Then it's the vines." "So the plan." "It won't attack where it can be seen." "Then we need only have eyes everywhere"

Violet

Swoosh! Crack! Crash! Attacks come with increased ferocity, filling the air with the crack of whips as Aleph struggles to keep contact with the ground. Pain sears through her bruised scales as each blow slams into her with an increased fervour. Unable to even think as she endures the onslaught, a strike manages to reach through her guard, slamming against her belly as the air is forced from her lungs.

Shit! She loses grip of the spider, who goes tumbling away from her. Slamming her foot the ground to chase after her companion, she halts. The pair simply stand there, eyes locked with tiny spidery legs outstretched in a stopping gesture. What? Silence. No attacks, no movement, save for the laboured breathing of the obsidian black dragon and the slowly waving legs of the pale white spider.

Cyan

Ha! I knew it! Ten points to spiderdore! Hm? Why am I wet? The cavern remains calm, serene as the pair stand motionless under the shimmering glow of the white and blue walls. Okay whatever, if we keep looking at each other like this there'll be no 'behind us' to attack from, and we can simply walk out of here uncontested. Probably. Now to just communicate this to-oh, wait. Beaten to the punch. Lyla watches the dragon's tail as it points towards the amalgam of vines in the centre. What?! No! That's the opposite of where we should go!

Violet

Right! I should have realised this. Can't attack from behind if there is no behind to attack from! Aleph frowns at the spider shaking her body side to side. No? I figured as much. But I'm in no position to relent. Lifting her front leg, now completely bereft of sensation from the knee down, she points at it with her tail, and once again at the vines.

Cyan

Huh? The leg? I was wondering about that... That's the one that got snagged by the plant isn't it? But so what? You can heal now! Though I still can't sense your Mana... Unless it's not Mana you're using. Don't those abyssal abominations some cultist idiots occasionally summon each have their own energy type or something? Hold on... There's no way this dragon is actually some eldritch freak who gains power from consuming the living, right? I swear if this idiot starts sprouting rocky scales and freaky white tentacle vines I'm gonna...

But there's just no way. I know his handiwork, this dragon was clearly made by the Progenitor, and there's no way he'd let some X-dimensional wacko sneak its gooey tendrils in one of his creations. The guy made me! And I'm perfect! So clearly this one is too! Just a bit of a raging dumb-ass. So then, what could it be?

Violet

Aleph's frown grows desperate, the silence within the cavern only accentuating the tension of their staring contest. This situation is my fault. I panicked when I realised what being too slow could mean, and I rushed us into needless danger. I stand by the need to pick up the pace, but I should've been more careful. I should have considered the immune system issue before I set off, hunted more big rock lizards, and dealt with it. The stare-down continues, the dragon watches in desperation, while the spider glares back with suspicion.

I wish I was able to communicate this properly. But I don't have that luxury. And neither can I wait like this. I've already lost all sensation in my foot, and if I lose control of my knee as well I won't be able to run. I'll find a way to apologise later. Hopefully she at least got the gist of the issue.

Cyan

Hey wait! Why are you running towards me! Stop! The dragon plants its snout on the ground as it sprints her way, beckoning Lyla to her perch. Gah dammit! Lyla hops, landing cleanly between the horns, still facing in opposite directions. Fine! Whatever! Not like I have much of a plan either. I doubt this thing would let us just walk out of here. It probably hid the way back when we came in. The pair bolt towards the core of vines in the centre unchallenged, a slight limp the only thing slowing them down.

Violet

Something's moving! Aleph jumps, cleanly dodging the vine whipping towards her from in front. So it was the vines! That actually explains a lot... I guess it's desperate now that I'm running to its core, but so am I. Able to dodge the now visible attacks, Aleph bounds onward. Even as the attacks build in frequency she charges unperturbed, not letting the occasional brush against a whipping vine slow her down.

Almost there! I just need a decent chunk, then I can flee. I'm not sticking around to find out just how outclassed I am here! She reaches the nexus of knotted vines. A swipe of her tail cuts clean through, letting her clamp her jaw on the loose vine and tear it from the core. Now I jus-... shit. No, I can handle this. I remember, I've dealt with worse. Just... Breathe. Focus. Fight.

Cyan

I believe this is what one might call being royally fucked. The entire cavern shifts. Every vine pries from the wall, leaving behind bare grey stone patterned between the patches of vibrant blue moss. The air trembles. The ground shakes. How do we- The view shifts, as if answering Lyla's desperate query. A violet glow wraps around them both. Tiny bubbles form between the dragon's obsidian scales, dancing through the air like violet flames.

The dragon bolts. Lyla grasps on with all her might as they bound onward towards the rapidly approaching wall of vines. Panic encompasses the spider's mind as the charge towards their doom, yet she holds strong, clinging desperately to the dragon's onyx horns.

Aleph

Onward. The only goal processing within her mind, all irrelevant thoughts culled in the name of pure concentration. Muscles are tensed to their peak, claws splinter and crack against the force of each stride, every speck of energy is devoted to the task of escape.

Aleph maps out her winding path through the wall of vines. Too slow. Aether burns within her. The naturally passive energy turns predatory as it begins devouring her own Aether attuned body. Cracked scales, excess body mass, and unused muscles. Even down to the marrow in her bones. Anything not needed to continue her charge is burned and consumed, lightening her body and infusing her with more Aether.

She accelerates. Dancing through the web of slashing and swiping vines, rending apart any obstacles with her remaining claws. The crunch of bones from her improperly placed foot is ignored. Left. Right. Over. Under. Not stopping until...

Cyan

Holy shit we actually made it through?! Finally having reached the far side of the wall, the cavern now appears almost bare. The glimmer of blue moss no longer accentuated by the pale shine of the vines. Save for the few remaining tendrils of white poking out from the ground, too short to reach the pair. A thundering Thwoom is heard behind them, yet neither spares the time to look back, instead charging to the nearest hole down, no longer covered by the vines.

They drop, tumbling and crashing down the hole uncontrolled. Thud! Plonk! They land. Lyla splays across the ground, a throbbing pain pressing against her skull. Uuuuugh... Who took an axe to my beautiful brain. Right... Me... Because of this idiot! Dammit I'm too far down to be doing that... Pulling herself from the ground, Lyla looks to her companion. Looks like I'm the better off of the two of us. But seriously? Who eats in a situation like this?

Violet

Pain courses through ever fibre of Aleph's being. Torn muscles, fractured bones, and patches of blood soaked skin, bare of scales. The only part of her not in agony is her leg, now completely bereft of touch, though it lies in much worse shape than the rest of her, the foot and ankle bent at awkward angles from improperly slamming into the ground.

Must... eat... need... the Aether... Fighting through the pain she takes slow, agonising bites into the chunk of Aether rich vine she managed to pry from the amalgam. Bite, after slow bite. She manages to down half the chunk, before succumbing to her fatigue. Darkness claims her mind as she collapses.

Many ancient records speak of the Great Labyrinth and the fantastical environments it once held. Below the first layer, believed to be a dark network of caves much like the layers we see today, was said to be a tremendous cavern of sprawling lights and mysterious invisible creatures who could sense the gaze of others. Below this, a sprawling forest of vibrant green trees with a tremendous variety of wildlife. Many such records even claim the presence of an eternal blizzard able to freeze Mana itself, an ocean of magma which never cools, and one particularly adventurous record of a floor of death and corruption, barring passage to the deepest layers below.

These records make the claim that in the year 722 PR, the ruler of the labyrinth used his immense powers to pull the Great Labyrinth deep below the surface, replacing it with the hard metamorphic rock seen above ground today. Now while many records support this theory and the geological surveys indicate this as a feasible explanation, I think differently. If the ruler were so powerful, what reason would the have to run and hide? What enemy could possibly challenge a being capable of terraforming a continent? No, I believe these stories of great blizzards and mysterious lands of death to be just that. Stories. The true explanation is clearly that the labyrinth was always as deep as it is. Instead of being pulled down, I see it as more likely that there was once a great mountain spanning the Continent, which was upheaved and destroyed during the first great battle of the gods in 812 PR.

Today I shall show you proof of my theory, and by the end of my talk, you too will be believers of the Great mountain theory!

- Excerpt from a transcript of renowned scholar Caeron's lecture on the great mountain theory, circa 3676 PR