Chrysalis

The first stratum is filled with beasts of all kinds. Vicious growls and the sounds of battle ring constantly here, in this, the weakest area of the Dungeon.

The second is filled with shadow and cold and death. A place of darkness where creatures of spun shadow swim and crawl through an endless maze where light is quiet.

The third is a realm of fire, smoke and ash. Demons abound and theirs is an alien and savage existence.

But in the fourth, the impossible begins to become possible. The concentration of mana is such that the rules of the world, of life, of the existence as we know it become skewed. The realm of Myth. To enter this layer of the Dungeon is to step onto the precipice of a different universe.

Excerpt from 'A treatise on the concentration of mana and its effect on the laws of physics'

Pulled forward like a fish with a hook in its mouth, I rush into the portal and am overtaken by a blinding light that washes away my vision and has me seeing stars. The texture beneath my legs changes, the temperature drops and as the light slowly fades I am left staring out into the impossible.

In front of me rises a mountain. An enormous, jagged and snow-capped mountain that rises from a floor so far below that I cannot see it and rises to a height that boggles the mind. Mist and cloud shield the top and unbelievably I realise that it is raining, faintly, but still, raining. I shield my eyes as best I can, since I have no lids to cover them and stare in open jawed wonder at the incredible scenery before me, heedless of the ants who begin to pour through the gate.

Between where I stand and the mountain opposite is a vast open space, filled with what I believe at first are incredibly dense looking clouds, but quickly realise are something else entirely. They are floating rocks. Although rocks isn't really the word I think fits them best. These aren't pebbles or even boulders, these are huge, practically islands. Each must weigh thousands of tons, large enough to host a small village. How in the name of whatever the heck passes for Newton on Pangera are these things FLOATING?!

From one of them pours a steady stream of crystal clear water, cascading over the side in a waterfall that scatters into mist as it plunges into the bottomless depths below. So obsessed am I with what I can see in front of me, I almost don't realise what it is my eyes are telling me lies to the left and right.

And the answer is, yet more mountains, two more in fact, just as colossal as the first. Is this the layout of the fourth stratum? Impossible mountains, the bottomless valleys between and the absurd floating islands in the sky? This is absolutely ridiculous! And I thought the third was weird!

[Hmmmmm. Welcome to the fourth stratum. I believe this is your first visit?] a powerful mind connects to my own and rumbles in my head.

I continue to stare out ahead of me as I soak in this incredible vista.

[Yep, first time. No matter what someone tells you, it doesn't really prepare you for actually seeing the real thing, does it?]

[Indeed no. Though, if you really want to be impressed, you should more closely examine the mountain that lies beneath your feet.]

I suppose I'm standing on a mountain also, aren't I? I can't exactly tell how tall it is, since I can neither see the bottom nor the top, but perhaps I'm roughly a third of the way up? But I do wonder what's so special about this one that the Grove Keeper would point it out. Downwards is the only direction I can't see all that clearly. I can see what is next to me, sure, but not what is beneath my feet. So I tilt to the side a little and examine the mountain I stand upon.

Except it isn't a mountain.

"What?" I mutter to myself.

It doesn't feel like dirt or stone, it's softer than I think it should be, and the colour isn't what I would have expected.

I turn around.

"NO. SHOT."

tangle of roots so massive, so thick, that I thought I was standing on a flat slope. Hundreds of thousands of these rise from deep in the earth and collect at the base of an absurd trunk,

Mother Tree?]

the Grove Keeper's

boggling, running up through

an ancient?] I ask. I

Grove Keeper stares at me

not. Mighty she may be, but she cannot compare

white beard that

save your butt,] I grumble openly, slapping a leg down on the

and your siblings to the conflict. The termites have not attacked us over the surface, it is through the tunnels at the roots of the mountains that

their surroundings in traditioal ant silence, though I've little doubt my siblings are just as awed as I am. Just as we turn to follow the guidance

do you guys all have the same name, by the way? Never

[Sky Wyrm.]

As

no. As in a Sky Wyrm. I do not

Wyrm sounds a hell of a lot like a dragon to me. If it sounds like a

the group as the Grove Keeper leads us confidently downward, eventually walking through a gap between two roots and then within the tangle. What I expected to be nothing more than a cramped maze of building sized roots was actually a surprisingly verdant and well lit cavern in which the bruan'chii apparently made their homes. The wood of their parent had been shaped into all sorts of abodes and a strange glowing fungus suffused the scene with a warm light. There were hundreds of

main front isn't far from here. Mother wishes for you to use this place to house your siblings, though we ask that you do not dig or use the

[I mean… obviously.]

us, we aren't going to start eating the wood, how would that make us different from the termite

Name: Anthony

Level: 41 (Rare) (VI)

Might: 205

Toughness: 180

Cunning: 145

Will: 100

HP: 360/360

MP: 530/530

Skills:

General:

(III) Level 20; Expert Stealth (III) Level 10; Tunnel Compass (IV) Level 9; Iron Mind

Mana:

Condensed Mana (IV) Level 40; Finer External Mana Manipulation (IV) Level 31; Mana Hoarder (IV) Level 31; Layered Mind Magic Affinity (V) Level 24; Directed Mana Sensing (IV) Level 36 Expert Healing Magic Affinity (III) Level 20; Omni-Elemental

Pet: