《The Deepest Dive》Time to talk.
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The conversation had to wait however, the pocket dungeon was full, the portable bridge was affixed to the platform and the supplies that couldn't be stored in it were packed on gurneys. These were much larger than the tiny personnel lift could handle, so Ishani was shown the cargo lift in the Armoury for the first time. About the size of a medium-sized shop floor, the lift was made of a sturdy steel frame and had a large, heavy gate. There were no sides, no roof, just a solid platform, a railing around the edges, and a two button control panel. It went to the Armoury and the Hangar/garage only.
Talk was impossible on the rattling and swaying platform, but time was definitely of the essence. When they emerged into daylight, they saw an actual hangar, not the ersatz of the antechamber of the Armoury. There were planes of various sizes from the small to the large, and the hangar was full of them. The smaller planes were at the far end of the hangar, closest to the crew quarters. These were magically enhanced fighter jets, capable of carrying a portable and the warheads that would be needed if a dungeon breech ever occurred. The larger planes were in the middle of the hangar, and were the ones that would be used to transport teams to high danger dungeons, as well as ship relief efforts to affected areas. These were the spiritual successors to the old Globemasters and Hercules planes. Unlike the old polluting planes, all of these ran off matter anti-matter reactions. Magic hadn't diminished humanity's ingenuity, and instead had opened new possibilities for the development of technology. Things like anti-matter production abruptly stopped needing many kilometre wide reactors and the output of a nuclear power station for a few grams a year. Now a properly cast spell could create a gram of it in a few second, and have it held in a magical stasis chamber until it was needed. This had two effects, the fuel storage for planes was now very much lighter, one gram of anti-matter had enough energy to propel a fighter jet for literal months of continuous flight. The other effect was that a breach in the stasis chamber would release something akin to a nuclear explosion.
Much of this was lost on Ishani as she was ushered quickly into the waiting belly of a Galaxy-Ranger class transport vessel, through its cavernous hold and into the cabin. The Cabin was richly appointed, with a large, well-lit, round table at the centre, clearly used for the most important meetings of the passengers. The table was covered with a large selection of maps, logistics information and some hot drinks dispensers. The only tell that this wasn't in a boardroom somewhere was the seatbelts on the otherwise unremarkable leather chairs around the table. Mere moments later, the team was all seated and the door was closed to the cargo space.
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Chris claimed one of the two chairs facing forward, Lin the other. Next to Lin, Wolfgang was sat, and next to Chris, Adili. Somehow Ishani had ended up sat on the far side of the table, isolated and facing the team as though this was a job interview. With a start, Ishani realised that it was either that or a tribunal, ready to pass judgement on her crimes. Not that she could remember committing any crimes. The last couple of hours had been frantic, overwhelming and honestly she still wasn't over being summoned to The Dome on her day off at very short notice what had felt like a week ago, but was actually only about three hours. The plane jerked as the cargo hatch was closed, then almost immediately afterwards Ishani felt the weight of her body fall into the straps that held her to the seat. The sound of the engines annihilating the air inside them was deafening, which was at once an intrusion and a welcome break from the non-stop motion of her day. As her parents had taught her, she took this opportunity to meditate. A deep breath in, straightening her neck as much as she could against the G-forces. Exhale, allow the brows to relax, the eyes, the jaw. Each breath in pull in the fresh air and alertness, each breath out, let out the stress. The body becomes a sack hanging off the pillar of the spine. Turn the attention inwards, noting each motion of the body for each breath. Thoughts rise, they're noticed and then attention returns to the breath. The feeling of the plane banking is acknowledged, the attention returns to the breath. There's no fighting against the sensations, against the thoughts. All of these are noted and the attention returns to the breath. This pendulation between the delicate and light attention on the simple act of breathing and the traumatic and confusing experiences around her gradually narrows and slows. By the time the plane levelled off, Ishani was largely focused, centred and barely deviating from paying attention to her chosen touchstone.
Her eyes opened and now she was clear of the fear and confusion that the day had brought. I'm here because I've done what I was asked to at every step of today. I've worked as hard and as well as I can, and I'm damn sure that it's harder than anyone else in my class could have. But they're putting me here and treating me like it's a trial? No, this is not going the way they think it will. She'd passed through fear, she'd left confusion behind. She'd spent time in the clarity inside her own mind and there was only one thing she knew now. These people in front of her needed her, and they were treating her without respect and without care in some cases. She was not as old or as high a level as they were. But she was sure that she was angrier than they were.
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"What, in the names of the gods, is going on. I've been put on this team without so much as a by-your-leave and I need some answers before we get to our destination. You," she pointed at Chris, "you're the avatar of Magic, so why do you even need a team? More especially, why do you need me, someone so much lower level than you that I'm not even a rounding error on your power level? We've got maybe three hours, I hope you can explain enough of it in that time."
Chris looked absolutely stunned. "I... I was... I just..." He shook himself, physically as well as mentally. "I'm not actually a god, and avatars here are not the same as avatars on the other side. I've only got the real power when I'm right next to a bridge. I'm on a team because of my protection. You do not need to know about that yet, it's not something I'm allowed to give you. I do not give it lightly either. I'm here to support these three. They're the real team. I'm effectively classless. They're the muscle, I'm the insurance. That's why I've got a team."
Wolfgang butted in "We're also the brains, Bagpuss here is great for carrying heavy things though!"
"As I was saying, I have reasons to be on this team, and this team has reasons to take me. Now I've probably been a bit brusque with you, and it's not your fault. You're in this as much against your will as any of us. I apologise, we've not been fair to you." This sentiment was quickly echoed by the rest of the team, showing that while he might protest that he was merely there for support, the rest of the team viewed him as their leader in more than name alone.
"But you have some answers to give us too", Chris went on. "This elfward will only work against actual elves. Not against the humans who express their magical selves as elven. That means at the very least, you're not one hundred percent human. That's pretty rare, and it should be in your file. Now, I've not actually had time to do more than scan the headlines while you were meditating, but I didn't see anyone who's come over the bridge in your ancestry."
It was Ishani's turn to answer, and she took a moment to best order the facts. "I'm not a human, I'm an elf. I am not from this side of the bridge, but I was born a human here." She hesitated. "I was born to researchers on the other side, not terribly unusual, but it was at the same time as the breech in the Domes. So the realms were far closer than they are normally."
Adili chipped in, "I remember that day, the bridge was in a state of flux. I was in the middle of a conversation with some of the researchers, and then they were there and here at the same time. Every experiment went awry. I was just a junior diver then."
"Yes, the day a dungeon had three Gates, one on each side of the bridge and one inside the Bridge. Which was supposed to be impossible", Lin sounded like she was about to go on a lecture about transplanar dynamics, when Chris interrupted her.
"We all know what happened, please continue telling us your story."
"Well, I was born in both realms at the same time. But then as I was being welcomed into the world, the dungeon closed. The bridge snapped back to its normal size and half of me was left here and half in the other realm. My parents were with me on the other side, and they rushed back through to try and join me back together. They succeeded, partially, there's only one of me, but I was human on the outside. When I go back to the other side, I become an elf. As a child, I was kept here, it seemed better to keep me in a lower magic area to prevent side effects. I've been back a few times, but I won't actually move back until I've reached elven adulthood. It's a real pain to shrink to a child again when I cross over. It doesn't happen in high magic zones here. No one knows why."
She sat back, a little exhausted from the conversation. It wasn't often she revealed her elven heritage, but it was always cathartic.
"I am amazed no one thought to tell me about you" Chris said, after a moment's consideration. He reached down to take the coffee that an attendant had somehow managed to pour without anyone noticing, and took a sip. "Then again, I've got fifty years of dispatches to go through, maybe it's in there. Arun really should have told me though. Thank you for sharing that with us. Right, here's the strategy when we land at KIA..."
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Travelers [DROPPED]
DROPPED. The story focuses less on dungeon building than on the why of dungeons and how they fit into the universal order. While I am working from a grand plot, the writing is going slice of life style because I need to do that to work out how things progress into that grand plot. The original story seed idea / synopsis is below. The Grand Tapestry protects Rhofhir from Primal Chaos by imposing Order via patterns. However, the patterns grow stiff, stagnant, and so the Tapestry is nearing a time of Unraveling. Evidence of past civilizations wiped out during previous Unravelings foreshadow the apocalyptic catastrophe looming over the world. The mages of the Arcane Asylum reach out across dimensions, searching for some way to prevent, or at least stall, the coming Unraveling. Among the many voices they find is a gifted graduate student researching machine-assisted telepathy -- and his gaming group. Lena never expected that the chance to play DnD with telepathy would result in her becoming an actual Dungeon Master, nor that her friends could become the bosses of her dungeon. This is, in many ways, her dream come true, but there's a catch: What happened to Brad, the creator of that telepathy machine?
8 98The Envoy of Darkness
"Everyone loves a good fantasy, but my life was turned upside down by one."What would you do if you had the ability to control the air? How about if you were suddenly brought to a world where, despite your powers, you're at the bottom of the food chain? On a fateful night, Max Walker finds himself summoned to Asterisk and contracted to Liliana Lockwood as her familiar.Forced to leave behind his life on Earth, Max begins a precarious journey into the unknown world of magic. Training as a knight, learning to control mana, battling rogue necromancers and even being mistaken for Duke Walker's son... it's just one thing after the next.But as if that wasn't bad enough, Asterisk, a world which subverts reality as you know it, may just have something to do with Max's own heaven-defying origin... and a secret that could leave the universe hanging by a thread. By the way, this entire book is available on AMAZON KINDLE.If you like what you read, please consider buying it. Your support would mean a lot. Plus, you will get to read all the way to the end weeks before the last chapter gets posted here.https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08816QJND This is Book 1 of a projected Trilogy titled "The Legacy".Schedule - Chapters will be published once a week, around Sunday. Bonus chapters might come in occasionally now that I have a stockpile.P.S - Feel free to comment, especially if you have any advice or criticism to offer. On that note, if you could leave a review and/or state your thoughts about the novel as a whole that would be awesome too.This story has also been uploaded on the following sites:www.wattpad.comwww.webnovel.comwww.scribblehub.com
8 117An Anomaly's Life Inside A Galge is Seriously too harsh for me!
"Im the only one who knows the truth of this World" Hitose Matsuri, A boy who had everything in life Money Knowledge Fame Power Looks... but there was a single thing he was lacking......Women! as he thought of a fast way to learn and Communicate with them He Learned the Existence of the Sub Genre of Video Games Called [Dating Sims] lavishly spending time on his newfound hobby with this newly bought Galge of his-[Constantine:Le Rhapsodia] as he was just about to start the playthrough- *bang* the sound of a loud gunshot was the last thing he had heard but... for last thing that he had remembered... it'was a click of a button *Click* [Load New Game] waking up inside the game he didn't know what he was for sure but he... thought of himself as something... An Anomaly, something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified, something anomalous...He became an unknown character [Gray Dè Bernardò] an anomaly had Come forth but witnessed by no one.... had just entered this World --------------- Update! Yall may want to visit my twitter acc, there are news, updates, arts for the characters lying there in wait so make sure to come and check it out! @TenKoMatsuri
8 103Cerberus Wakes
The Paramountcy made her. Now they want her gone. When a force of augmented soldiers successfully took down an enemy leadership cell for the Paramountcy in Power, Alex Marlboro, the gritty female commander of Team Cerberus was certain the perks and rewards would soon tumble in. But as their celebration was well underway, events turned macabre and twisted. The squad dissolved. Then one by one, team members went missing. Targeted. As deep tragedy struck her friends and loved ones, Alex was forced to confront the shocking truth about their patrons . . . But that was only the start. The chems that had kept them alive were cut off. She and the remnants of Cerberus had days to live before being eaten alive by their own bodies. Will she have enough time to uncover the invisible hands behind the murders and exact her revenge? This is a cyberpunk tale of betrayal, avarice, and vengeance, replete with hi-tech and low-lives.
8 185Spirit Realm: The Devil's Path
Spirit Realm, the world full of mystical energy. That is the name of this strange world which is home to many, many creatures. It is also a new home for one young man from Earth, who forged a contract with fate and reincarnated here. The world where various races reside—be it Dragons, Demons, Angels, Monsters... Nothing should be strange or unexpected in this world. Asura, a curious fella from Earth, came to this world with the help of fate—to the world from his dreams. Ever since he read the first fantasy book, it was his wish to come in a world like that. However, he is no mere visitor in this world—for in his new life, he is a being that represents disorder. He is a Devil - the only one of his kind. His soul was summoned by occultists while they were tinkering with the forbidden knowledge, giving him a chance to meet his lifelong partner - a little girl by the name of Xia. Their journey will be long, hard at times and fun at others, but as long as they are with each other, nothing is impossible. The new Demon King has been born, bearing the mysterious power nobody came in contact with before him. Just for possessing this power, a bunch of deities had cast their curse on him—that is how terrifying this power is. Let us witness the legend these two will make - their journey on The Devil's Path. /— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —The cover image doesn't belong to me,Character: Lu - Elsword— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —/
8 171Starlit Crown
Leo thought he knew everything about his best friend since kindergarten but when Sky tells him they must never see each other again, Leo learns there is something else going on. Sky’s destiny to take over his father’s position as the Celestial Warrior is fast approaching but his illegitimate brother’s arrival makes this power transition far more complicated and dangerous than ever. Cover by @artemikass on Twitter
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