- Chapter 4 -

Four Corners Of The World

Given the situation I refused to devote even an iota of attention to the notifications that swarmed around my awareness like flies. Thankfully, they retreated before I could voice my anger. I didn’t know what to take in first. Should it be the fact that there were two vessels vying for my attention, tugging on my consciousness? There was something foreign, what I was sure was the Core, as well as a separate entity projected outside of it. Having your consciousness split hurt. But quickly the tug-of-war ended as my consciousness settled into the projection, the Core a vague tug at the edge of my awareness. Is this how a Core navigates its territory? I speculated. Although there was still a link between the two- everything I did, this projection, my Core tried to do too. But the Core, being only a floating ball, translated the movements of my arms and legs poorly. I knew because it started spinning this way and that as it hovered in the air whilst my projected body instinctively thought about running.

Why run? THAT was because of the dead bodies that littered the artificial landscape, not that they were bodies anymore. They had long since decayed into nothing but skeletons encased in dusty armour. I might have been OK with them just been skeletons, and not rotting sacks of flesh, but they had to start moving. ALL of them. I don’t know how many because I wasn’t able to count them, energetic as they were. I imagine they were enraged by the explosion. Yeah, I know, fuck my life.

Even though I spawned in the last moments of the explosion, I’m pretty sure I just broke something. Some altar like construct, which my Core was now on top of, had significant portions of its top littering the ground around what was left intact. Not only that but the glow that emanated from the inscriptions, these patterns carved into almost every inch of the altar, broken or otherwise, was fading. It’s broken. It’s definitely broken. How did I manage this? I just got here. I haven’t even done anything yet!

Parallel Me is, NEVER, EVER, going to let this go. As if on cue he started shouting at me. “Snowball! SNOWBALL! A FUCKING SNOWBALL, you stupid piece of shit!”

I quickly changed topic, “Is there nothing we can do? Like purchase monsters?” The bottom and mostly intact part of the altar looked reminiscent of a step pyramid. It was delaying the slow and uncertain steps of the newly risen undead. I cradled a spark of hope whenever one stumbled and fell down. I was so stressed I couldn’t even laugh.

Parallel Me’s strained voice explained, “They are considered hostiles and as such our capabilities in this room, this ‘contested territory’, are restricted. No monster we purchase can be placed here. Or any purchase for that matter. And before you ask we don’t have any other rooms to-”

“Is THAT meant to happen?” I said, mouth agape with horror as I pointed to MY Dungeon Core.

Parallel Me quickly turned and looked, hastened by my tone. Taking in the sight, he whispered, “No. Not even a little bit.”

He looked shaken. I probably looked worse. My Core, originally, looked suspiciously like glass. Now, however, my lifeline was infected with streaks and veins glowing a sinister blood red.

CRACK! The sound mutated into a sputter. Molten fissures scarred the surface as they spread. The originally perfect sphere started to deform. I felt sick all the way to my bones. I took half step forward when a part of the core, outlined by those molten scars, started to cave in on itself. Am I dying? Am I already dying?! Multiple cracks rang out, one after another. The first section apparently could take no more, quickly collapsing in on itself. The same started to happen on the other side. Then another and then another.

I looked on, helpless. Then… THUMP… … THUMP… … … THUMP… It sounded jittery at first but soon it turned into a constant roar. THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!

“A heart?!" I had no other words. It was beating a steady rhythm now, resonating with the surrounding earth. I looked over to Parallel Me. “What is HAPPENING?” I hollered. I was still worried but that feeling had abated somewhat, seeing that my Core was not dying. As if on cue, I felt it. Something cold. Emotionless. Something that promised the sweet release of everything. Death, I knew instinctively. Darkness now tinged the edges of my core, like my core was perpetually between me and a sun, eclipsing it. Is this roller coaster still not over! “Please tell me I’m not dying?”

At last Parallel Me recovered from his shock. “No, you’re not dying. It’s our newest affinity; death. The System must be doling out some rewards.”

Parallel Me stopped the words that were half way up my throat by calmly turning around. What is he doing-? I followed suit. It was to my shock, then joy, that I realised the undead had all stopped moving. They were just staring. At first, I thought that they were looking at me, then I realized they were looking at the core. Parallel Me started moving down the altar. Startled by his actions, I blurted, “Stop! They'll eat you!”

“I’m just a manifestation, remember? No one can sense me in any capacity except you. And you… I don’t know how you’re outside your Core right now… Maybe you are like me, a manifestation?” Parallel Me concluded, before absentmindedly tacking on, “Or another System gift…”

“Why have they stopped?”

“I would like to know too, but I assume it has something to do with our affinity.”

“You don’t kno-” I stopped and quickly said, “How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Parallel Me mumbled, not taking his attention off the book.

“Pull a book out of thin air, like a goddamn magician!”

Parallel Me scowled in response and turned to glared at me. “The store, where else?”

“You can do that?”

“Of course, I told you that you can buy things from the store!” Parallel Me carefully enunciating each word and looked at me like an idiot.

“I swear, despite you being me, these conversations take twice as long as they should! HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO BUY STUFF FROM THE STORE? HOW DID IT APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR? WHAT HAPPENED TO NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO SO 30 SECONDS AGO!”

“Oh,” came Parallel Me’s sheepish reply. “I’m the highest form of autonomous will. So of course, I can access the store. If you want to do so yourself, just will the menu to appear in front of you, navigate to the catalogue, find something you want to buy and buy it. As for the contested territory status, it has vanished. I’m trying to find out why.”

“And it appears out of nowhere? Just plops into existence in front of you?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure I used the exact phrase ‘out of thin air’ serval times…”

“Honestly? I thought you were exaggerating.”

“What did you think would happen? We walk down to our local ‘Dungeons R Us’ to buy it?”

“I… but… Ok then, whatever. But what about you doing it without my permission?”

“You would have been fine with it if I asked, so I was able.”

“How-”

“I’m you and you’re me, remember? Parallel Wills on my level are used to run entire dungeons, if we had to ask before we did anything we wouldn’t get anywhere. I mean I’m YOUR parallel will. I do what you would do in my shoes, we don’t ever desync because we are still connected.”

“Dungeon...s?”

“Haven’t I mentioned that before; you are able to have multiple dungeons and Dungeon Cores.”

“I honestly can’t remember, I feel like I’ve known you for years.”

“Of course you know me, I’m you.”

“Not what I meant.”

Parallel Me frowned. “What? Like you can’t keep track of all the good times?”

I quickly gestured. “We’re surrounded by dead things, read the book. And it better not be expensive, I don’t know how much… money…?”

“DP - Dungeon Points.”

“I don’t know how much DP I have but-”

“Don’t worry, basic educational books like this are cheap, especially since it’s related to our newly acquired affinity.”

“Ok then, read… how long is this going to take? They might flip out…”

After a while, and reassured that I’m invisible, Parallel Me insisted that I do something useful. So, I started to scout my immediate surroundings and double check that the undead were the only surprises we would have to deal with today. Casting an appreciative glance over the equipment on the undead, I was soon sure every single warrior in this place is equipped with some valuable armour and weapons. Even the monsters indulge in this observation occasionally.

Now that they weren’t trying to kill me I had the time to notice the various clues shouting, 'different races'. There are the obvious hulking forms of what can only be monsters. Children sized ones. Not children, I was sure after a closer look. They are a little too wide, in a sturdy sense. They must be Dwarfs. I also spotted a few that I suspected to be elves. Their armour was different from the rest, more… elegant. It was just speculation but I felt like I was right. If I had to guess the monsters are team dungeons-must-live. While Humans, Dwarfs and Elves seemed to be team dungeons-must-die. All the races teaming up to kill the bad guy- a dungeon. I’m a dungeon now… Will it be me against the world?

As I stared out into the room I felt something nagging at me. Investigating the notion, I looked around. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I let the nagging feeling slip from my mind as I took in room I spawned into. A more accurate word would be cavern. It was truly massive, I wouldn’t be surprised if, volume wise, it was equivalent to a sports stadium or two. Overall the cavern was rectangular, and along the two shortest walls were one entry way each. The ground was composed of lose dirt, gently sloping up from one doorway to the other. Ruined structures littered the landscape. The walls, looking more like natural cliff faces, soared up towards the ceiling. The ceiling was riddled with clusters of crystals, each giving off impressive amounts of light.

I winced at the scale. Will I ever get to this point? These invaders look like elites and yet there are hundreds of them. How long did it take for a dungeon to grow in order to warrant an invasion force like this? I looked around some more, pondering. My eyes locked onto the most notable thing smack bang in the middle of the floor. That altar sure as hell sticks out like a sore thumb though. What could it possibly be for? Was it this floors trump card? A grin spreads across my face. It must be reeeeallly valuable. I went ahead to, um, investigate but I didn’t get anywhere before Parallel Me issued a summons. It pulled me back into the situation I was probably trying to ignore.

“What? Found anything?” I asked.

“Yes. We should really hurry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“For now, nothing, hopefully. These undead are very simple creatures. They are very hierarchical.”

“Hierarchical? Like… deferring to authority?”

“Were authority is a more powerful undead. Specifically, a source of death mana with intelligence behind it.”

“Does that mean that we can control them for not?”

“Yes, with simple undead,” Parallel Me said, gesturing to those things around us, “they have no self. The few instincts they have stem from the death mana that sustains them. So, to control them all you need to do is inject your own death mana into them and they will just do as they're told because your will becomes their will.”

“Ok, and what's the rush? Didn’t we just get a bunch of powerful minions?”

“I’m sure you have realised, but these people, monsters, whatever, weren’t weak when they were alive.” I didn’t like were this was going. Parallel Me elaborated, “I don’t know why this battlefield wasn't rife with the undead before we got here but these are only… ‘new-born’ undead. While most undead have a slow growth rate, if any at all, in the case of ‘high level corpses’, it still won’t be anything to sneeze at if, no, when, they get stronger. I know we can’t even handle them now if they tried to kill us. And if we lose control over even one of them- it becomes a hostile and we would no longer be able to place purchases in this room. Our only room. We’d be screwed.”

“What do we do? Even if we could kill them it would be such a waste.”

Parallel Me rolled his eyes. “Cheap skate.”

“I’m resourceful. Besides, in this dungeon, we recycle. That’s my first policy.”

Parallel Me’s muttered, “Under the threat of death and this asshole still wants to be tight about DP. We are so going to die.”

“Shut up.” I snapped.

“Luckily for you I have a solution. Our core’s interspatial storage.”

“Our what now?”

“It’s a pocket dimension inside of our core.”

“Of course there is…” I took a moment to NOT think about it, before having to think about it. “Won’t putting them inside make the problem worse? We will never be able to take them out. They'll just mature inside.”

“No, there is no passage of time inside our interspatial storage.”

“Really?” Excitement tinted my voice as I thought of the possibilities.

“You will have to command them to touch your core and then ‘will’ them inside.”

“What? You want me to let hundreds of undead armed to the teeth near my Core?!”

“We don’t have the ability to do it remotely. Stop arguing, we need to hurry.”

I turned to the undead. I had been fixedly looking at Parallel Me. “What do I do?”

Parallel Me quickly instructed me in how to use mana tinged with death. I felt silly just thinking that, but swiftly got the hang of it. I was proud. Parallel Me beat that pride with a big-ass stick. All dungeons can manipulate mana with extreme ease apparently. If anything, I showed lacklustre talent in comparison to any other Core. Getting the hang of imposing my will took a few extra minutes, the stakes making every one of them agonizing. But I managed. It felt like dyeing water. Soon the undead were all lined up and disappearing, one by one.

There was a slight mishap with the first one. His arm twitched towards his sheathed sword and I swear his empty sockets had hatred in them, aimed right at me. It might have been because I tried to rob him blind, but I’m not an expert on the undead. Regardless, I didn’t try it with any of the others. Just you wait, all your stuff will soon be mine. On the other hand, Parallel Me seemed happy about the show of emotion it displayed.

It might have been my imagination but towards the end it seemed as though they were getting... restless. Despite my mounting exhaustion I still managed to place all the undead in my Core’s interspatial storage. “Parallel Me?” I asked. “I feel exhausted and… fuzzy?”

Parallel Me frowned. “Weird description… but I assume it’s because of your expenditure of mana.”

“OK, err, what do we do now?”

“That would be a good segue into your profile.”

The thought of The System brought up all those pesky notifications. I wanted to get rid of them before talking to Parallel me so I decided now is a good a time as any. I picked one of the ones that felt ‘louder’ than most of the others:

Congratulations! You have seen the whole world! You have earned the mythical achievement “The four Corners of the World.” This comes with two rewards. The fist reward is the title: 'Globetrotter'. The second is the mythical item 'World Map'.

“Map? That’s the reward, a map?” I grumbled. “What use is it after the fact?”

Parallel Me on the other hand was giddy. “Useful enough for there to be a profession built around it, you muppet. And stop complaining, we both know you cheated. It must be counting The Systems map from when we chose our spawn point. And a 'Mythical Level Item'? Dungeons, Heroes and Monsters are rated as either; Common, Uncommon, Rare, Superior, Legendary, Mythical or Godlike. Mythical is only one away from the best. If we were to buy a Mythical graded item, or monster, do you know how many zeros it would have in its price tag?”

Beep. A map appeared in my hands and the notification disappeared. I let out a surprised grunt, the map was heaver then it looked. “I… um…” I gingerly held the map in my outstretched arms. “What do I do? I don’t want to break it.”

Parallel Me rolled his eyes. “A mythical level item should be quite durable. Let’s have a look, say ‘Appraisal’.”

I briefly looked at the map. It showed an antiquity styled map of the world. “Appraisal?” I stated, unsure, and a window popped up.

Off to the side I could hear Parallel Me say, “Say that and The System brings up a window to show you the profile of an item or even person.” I turned to the appraisal window. It read:

[Mythical] World Map:

A detailed map of the world as you saw it throughout your travels. It shows a live birds-eye view of the world within a limited range of your person. Revealed portions of the map update changes automatically. At the cost of mana to initiate and sustain you may scry any location on the map. The map also has some miscellaneous utility features.

“Live birds-eyes view?” I repeated. “I don’t think it’s working.”

“I don’t think it works while we are underground.”

Relieved that my new toy wasn’t broken I started giggling uncontrollably. I carefully placed the map into my Core’s interspatial storage.

Parallel Me chided, “Stop giggling, it's unbecoming of a Dungeon Core. And you’re not going to play with your new toy?”

“That was only the first notification I selected, there’s way more. It’s about time this System gave me some benefits.”

Parallel Me said, “Well you go through them then. If there are any that require a decision, wait for my council. I’m going to go do a more thorough scout of the surrounding area.” Parallel Me literally blurred away into the distance.

“Ok, don’t have too much fun.” I replied. I willed the notifications to appear before me. I took my time slowly sifting through them with anticipation. I stopped my search only after finding another ‘loud’ one. I read the corresponding window with high hopes:

Congratulations. You are an affront to nature. You have earned the title 'Abomination'.

“Fuck off.”