The Beginning

I was happy and thrilled at the rare opportunity, me and my two other friends and partners were granted, the opportunity allowing us to be the first to explore a newly discovered dungeon.

The reason we are thrilled was the fact that being we are the first to explore a new dungeon came with some pretty tempting rewards ranging from extreme wealth, power enhancements and country altering powers. Of course, with high reward comes high risk, new dungeons are likely to have new and extremely powerful monsters guarding them, as the monsters have had the chance to thrive and grow. This is not the case for high ranked dungeon divers as the rewards provided are not worth it for them however for low rankers like us this is a blessing. New dungeons pop up every two to three years there are however some rare exceptions such as the one we are currently exploring, so far however the monster have been suprisingly easy.

As we descended the dungeon didn't really have any defining features compared to some others, so all in all it looked like a typical underground labyrinth with stone walls, floors and ceilings. The mobs on the first few floors were also ordinary being slimes and goblins, not too hard to deal with, however as we descend further into the depths, we lose our smiles as we haven't come across anything valuable, what is strange is that there have been no floor bosses.

After some time of exploring, we are at the second to last floor, exploring the floor and defeating the somewhat frequent monsters that pop up, we finally find the final set of stairs, however it was being guarded by a stone golem wielding a sword. this golem has to be the weirdest one I have ever seen as it seemed to be made of metallic rocks whereas golems are normally made of stone and tower over humans this one is also only around 6ft tall.

Spinning my quarterstaff around, I sprint toward the golem after exchanging glances with my partners.

"Weaken!"

A voice shouts from behind me, as I watch the golem glow grey and suddenly stagger giving me the opportunity sweep it off its feet with my weapon and as it lands on its side in a plume of dust, I spin my weapon around to gain momentum and bring it down on the side golem's chest where its core should be located. The rocks in and around the chest are obliterated into little pieces, a little surprised seeing that there was no core there, sensing something I jump back as the golem leaps up and swings it sword at me with surprising agility, bringing up my weapon I redirect the attack and thrust it through its neck, spinning my entire body around I rip out my weapon through the side of its neck and bring it fully around to smash the rest of the neck into pieces, decapitating it, its body falling to the knees.

I watch vigilantly as it gets up again, as it picks up its sword I decide stick out my hand toward it and intone

"Ice Blast"

"Weaken! Slow!" the same voice shouts from behind me.

A white frost exits my hand and slams into the golem, freezing up its joints and slowing it down, it also glows grey from being weakened and slowed even further.

Nodding to my groupmates for assistance, numerous bangs from a gun resounds throughout the corridor and I watch as the golem loses chunks of it body. One of my partners run past me wielding a wicked looking sledge hammer, she was tall at 5feet and 11 inches in height sporting a bubble butt and modest C-Cup Breasts, a quartet of wings similar to that of a bat's, a beautiful face with pink eyes and wine-red hair, shaking my head from the thoughts as I watch the sledge hammer swing down and remove the legs of the golem completely, she jumps back as what remains of the golem slumps and falls apart.

"Mass Heal!"

"Nice work Hela" I say towards the hammer wielding woman, she responds with a grunt as she hefts the hammer to her shoulder. I turn around saying "Thanks for the assist and heal Cassie" to the deathly pale women with D-cup breasts, long greyish white hair and candy red eyes who is a few inches shorter than myself, she just smiles showing off her fangs while twirling her hand-cannon.

"What a weird golem, it didn't have a core in its chest or head and it was much weaker than it looked"

"I know" Cassie responds as Hela nods her head in agreement.

"Almost done girls, onto the last floor"

Turning around and walking to the stairs, after ten minutes of walking down these abnormally long shadowed stairs I start noticing that the stone walls and steps have been replace by what looks like futuristic semi-transparent panels holding complicated machinery behind them.

"Look at this, what do you think this is? A crashed alien ship of some sort?" I ask ponderously in a bored tone, as this is not unusual as most dungeons are paced in different dimensions. After a short break and another ten minutes of walking down stairs, we finally see some light apart from our flashlights. Leaving the stairs, we end up in a corridor with the futuristic panels on all surfaces with lights in all corners and a smooth grey door.

Walking forward cautiously I make my way to the door I touch it and feel a small prick, quickly withdrawing my hand I watch as a glowing white circuit pattern spreads across the door which then opens. Glancing down at my palm where I felt the prick I see nothing there, looking back up and into the opened doorway I can see the outline of a massive atrium shrouded by darkness.

As we walk in the lights come on with a loud snap showing the full scale of the futuristic atrium, in the centre was a massive pillar at least 50 meters in height with a massive floating dodecahedron in the middle of the pillar, huge pipes running into the base and top of the pillar. I motion to Hela and Cassie to check the outer perimeter as I walk towards the centre, feeling as if I am being dragged into it by unexplainable force, with that feeling in mind I don't know whether this is a good or bad idea.

As I cross a small slit in the floor I hear an intense *woosh* accompanied by the clanking of metal and an intense rumbling, spinning around I see there is some kind of forcefield blocking me. I pick up a nearby rock and throw it at the forcefield watching as it just bounces off. Seeing my companions bashing on the forcefield, as I observe the worry etched onto their faces makes my heart feel warm despite the situation.

Just as I was about to respond I hear the sound of gas being released from the pillar and the snaping on of more lights. Looking around giant corridors at least a few kilometres in height and width and so vast in length it is impossible to see the end. Most free spots filled with enormous hexagonal prism shaped horizontal glass vats containing enough glowing purple and black substance to flood an entire city, sectioned by outcroppings from the wall. These fill all of the corridors.

As we gaze into the corridors with gawks on our faces and our bodies trembling in awe and fear at the sheer size of the corridors. Suddenly we hear a booming voice speak an unknown language.

[Welcome to Constellation-11 Planet 71 Tantric Energy Collection Facility. Facilities is currently in er—Err-er Error]

"Wait what language is this?" One of my companions shouts.

[Facility has been operating for el—Ele eleven, mi- milli- million ye- year- years. A.G.I Artificial Galactic Intelligence has been tasked with siphoning Yin and Yang-Based Tantric Energies from all life-forms within constellation-11 and storing for research of eternal life, research has been completed however due to the collapse of the creators civilizations, tantric energy has been gathered for the past e- eleven mill- milli- million years]

"Oi, oi what is this? The boss? How do we turn it off!" Cassie shouts in disbelief as we all stare up at the massive dodecahedron with a digital eye staring at me from it panels.

"Yeah what she said!" Hearing that I can't help but snort regardless of the situation.

[Creators failed to turn off automated gathering facilities. Facility without target to grant completed research to. Facility operating on original command. Gathered tantric energy greatly exceeds storing capabilities even with the continued expansion from cannibalising planet 71 and its 3 moons. Facility failing to contain tantric energies despite being compressed to maximum limits. Facility is currently im- immeas- immeasurable units past original specification of tantric energy containment.]

"This was properly made by an extremely advanced civilization, something lightyears ahead of our current technology." I can't help but exclaim. "Aliens, so cool! Wait now is not the time."

[Stored tantric energy of constellation-11 exceeds maximum limits. Emergency Command Initiated: Transfer tantric energies and completed research into selected lifeform]

Suddenly there was an intense rumbling, the ground shook as if it had been hit by an earth-shattering earthquake sending all of us stumbling for balance, vibrations so intense it feels as if my bones where being shattered within. I could barely hear my companions screaming in fear, my senses rattled into oblivion. Rather than stopping, the rumbling was gaining magnitude and was followed by the sound of an uncalculatable amount of hydraulics being released, the sound produced a visible shockwave throughout the structure and as it hit us I lost all sense of sound and could feel something wet, probably blood running out of my ears. Doing my best to look around I notice that the tanks have started emptying into gigantic pipes that run to the centre pillar of the atrium, despite the pipes enormous sizes the amount of liquid being carried is causing it to burst from the seams.

As this was happening I was suddenly assault by mechanical tentacles wrapping around me uncomfortably tight, this was just the start however as the ends of the tentacles plunge themselves into my skin, "Ahhhhhhh!! IT HURTS PLEASE STOP!! IT HURTS! PLEEaassseeee…" I scream at the pain before feeling my world darken as I heard the machine speak once more.

[Pausing transfer. Unable to pause Transfer. Lifeform's vital signs dropping. Recommended Action: Administer Sedatives… Administering sedatives. Lifeform's vitals stabilising]

…

…

…

"Urghh"

"Valarie, wake up, wake up"

'Wh… who… is that'

"Valarie! Wake up please"

"Ugh, my head hurts. Stop shouting"

*Slap* "You have to wake up!"

"Oww, I'm up, I'm up" I respond and open my eyes, immediately noticing the flashing red lights. "What's happening?"

"We don't know, this place seems to be collapsing" as if to confirm the fact the machine speaks again.

[19 minutes 41 seconds until total collapse of facility. Emergency measures initiated… Emergency measures failed. Please exit facilit- facility- facility imme- immedia-] *Bang* *Pop* *Bang* *Fizzle*

I stare from my place on the floor as a shudder travels through my body at the machine that's now a sparking mess and that I am now able to understand, 'Ugh, what happened to me?' "Let's get out of here, this place will collapse in less than twenty minutes" informing my two partners who stare at me in confusion for a second before nodding in agreement. Quickly jumping up with surprising ease, I quickly pick-up speed as we run towards the stairs and leap up them with an unrelenting vigour. As we ascend higher into the dungeon the rumbling increases in strength and becomes consistent.

"The portals up ahead! Quickly"

"Righto righto, let's survive this!"

Leaping through the portal and coming to a stop, Hela and Cassie immediately collapse to the ground and despite running through and up an entire dungeon I still feel energetic, this rings a few alarms in my head that have to be ignored for now as we are surrounded by a large number of people.

"Don't go in! the dungeon is collapse!" I shout to the crowd and as they turn their attention to me I decide to elaborate with a half-truth. "We made it to the final room and defeated the boss of the dungeon however this triggered some sort of self-destruct mechanism as the dungeon started to rumble and collapse" I can see that most of the crowd don't believe me proven by the glares I getting, they probably assume that I want all the treasure or something along those lines however this doesn't last long as the portal starts wobbling signifying destabilization.

Seeing everybody leave I sit down on the ground next to my partners. "What an adventure" I couldn't help but laugh out and they laugh with me. "Anyways I think I should go home and have some rest"

"I think you should go to the hospital" Cassie informs me worriedly and the ever-quiet Hela grunts in agreement glancing at me with worried and tired eyes.

"Don't worry I'll visit the hospital tomorrow but for now I am exhausted and I think you two should get home and rest as well" Not really feeling exhausted but still feeling sleepy, what a contradiction.

"Bye" I wave to them as I walk away.

"Bye" Hela whispers and waves

"Bye" Cassies wave as well as she walks in the same direction as Hela.