Dungeon Central

"WAIT, DO NOT TOUCH THAT" she had not been fast enough to stop her companion, she was a second late to spot the trap, her whole vision was covered in white flames, just as she extended her hand the flames had devoured everything, a small mercy at least, there was no pain, as her vision changed like a shining ray of sun, it all had ended.

The alarm clock woke her up with a gentle beep. That was enough for her to woke up, it had been some time since she had last dreamed about her past, but there was nothing she could do about it, and it was time to get up. She stretched and went to take a shower, a warm bath. How easily and quickly one could get used to things. As she entered the shower, a song began, a piano began playing and upbeat tone, she smiled as the music started.

"Just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world…" she was singing along, and old song, but ever since she heard it for the first time, she still felt an incredible while listening to it. She finished taking a bath, and changed into comfortable clothing, a pair of jeans and a oversized sweater. She took a quick look at herself in the mirror. Her chestnut hair fell free to her shoulders, her skin had a natural tan to it, and looking at her, a pair of grey eyes. She looked at her reflection for a moment, and then she went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

She served a bowl of cereal, and some fruit. She lived in small apartment, but it was in almost downtown in Termina, an expensive zone but she liked it, and she had no trouble affording the place. She cleaned the dishes and prepared herself to get to work. She went to the largest room in the whole apartment. The studio was an open space, with windows on the ceiling letting the natural light inside. She had made it by turning to bedrooms and a bathroom in this big an open space. At the center of it was her console.

The EIC, Erebos Immersion Console, was a last generation total immersion console. A medium size platform, and a adaptable bed, that could be made into a chair. Like most immersion consoles, it offered the user the choice of moving in real time, to react to the user movements inside the console, or to either sit or lie down, while using it. Most consoles had this arrangement, since most people spent a lot of time inside the NAVINET, it helped to control the health of the users.

She started the console and placed the halo like helmet over her face and went at the center of the platform. She like moving around and felt more natural once she finished using the console, when she used it like this. As soon as she started the helmet, her consciousness was captured by the gear, and she found herself on the home screen of the console.

A grand and open space, large windows all around and red brick walls. In front of her, a menu displaying the apps to run. It always took a few seconds to adapt, she moved her body and stretched, the console calibrated and synched her movement, with that done she needed to get to work. She gently selected the app, Dungeon Central, a small light covered her, and as she blinked, she was transported to another room. The brick walls were replaced with a resplendent blue light over dark wood.

"Welcome to Dungeon Central" a gentle voice rang directly on her ears. A simple greeting, but she had none gone tired of hearing it. "Would you like to go your Dungeon Master headquarters?", she smiled before nodding, the room faded like shadows, and finally she found herself in her true studio.

"Welcome Dungeon Master", a sweet voice called, she smiled as she heard the voice, "Did you have a good rest?" a lovely girl made a small bow to her. She had pale pink hair, and sapphire eyes, behind a big pair of glasses, she was dressed in a dress resembling maid clothing but in a more formal way, with a cape over it, and a pointy hat.

"Good morning Agatha, yes I did, thank you for asking" she replied to the bowing girl, who waved her cat's tail at her response. How quickly had things change and how fast she had adapted, to think that 4 years ago, she had woken in a different world. Isekai, a genre from Japanese light novels, translated as a different world, it refers to a normal person from earth, travelling to a to another world inexplicably, more often than not the catalyst of such events a legendary being known as truck kun.

She had not been graced by truck kun, unless the dragon who breathed purifying flames on her had been name like that, but just as she turned to ashes, she woke up on earth. That was 4 years ago.

"We are ready to make the connection, Master, your orders?" Agatha was staring intently at her. She sat at the large wooden desk, and after a moment of hesitation looked to Agatha and smiled. She had been given a chance, and now it was time to take one again.

"Proceed"

She felt cold, and it did not make sense, that she could feel anything did not make sense. She opened her eyes and found herself in an unknown place, her vision felt blurry, I need my glasses, she reached for the nightstand and found them, as she grabbed them, she stopped. I do not need glasses… no, I do, since I was 8. Were the fuck am I?, she felt her head dizzy, as if she had received a mace to the head.

I died, there is no way I survived the purifying flames, then how… her head was hurting again, slowly images began pouring, she felt as if she was dreaming. The first ones were blurry, simple things, an old dog, a bowl of cereal, her mother's laughter. Then they were becoming clearer, some kids, no, her childhood friends. Somehow as images came in, she understood them, her old self confused, but slowly a life passed on her head.

Then it happened, she was in the car with her mother, when they crashed into another vehicle. She woke at the hospital; she had no close family. She was taken care and had to rehabilitate for more than a year. Her mother had an insurance, even though she was taken to a foster home, the medical expenses were taken care of.

She remembered her high school, she had made few friends, but she had a foster sister and brother, and she liked them a lot. Her new parents were good, she felt her heart pounding as she recalled how much patience and care they had with her, until she loved them back. She remembered getting accepted at the Termina University, she was an architecture student.

In what felt like an infinite moment, a glimpse to a life, one she had lived. Each memory was real, she had been there, and in a way, she was still aware of her past. She had been an adventurer, a famous one. Her body felt awkward, she felt it a lot lighter, there was a lot of muscle missing, but more importantly, she could not feel the skills, she had spent so much gaining.

I died, and somehow, I was given another chance. A world completely different, one without magic and skills, but one who allowed so much freedom of ideas, one where her old life was used in books and illustrated novels, comics. One where her old life, was represented inside games.

Slowly, everything was making more sense. She was in the apartment, her parents had rented for her brother and her, so they could attend university. She took a deep breath and took her phone from the nightstand. The little device was placed where her old dagger would have been. I really am in different world huh. She looked at the time, 4:11 in the morning, how wonderful, she really understood how to use it. She checked her calendar, there were to things marked.

She was going to present her model, she had been working on it, since she had started attending the university. Next to her bed, on a large table that occupied most of the room, was the model. She smiled when she saw it, it was an incredibly ambitious project. Five year of work, and it would be part of her exam, she had taken a specialization in medieval architecture, for her mind was filled with memories of another place, and there resting on her table was a model of the last place she had ventured to, in another life, Castle Vrant.

She got up to inspect the model, an old castle resting on and edge of a mountain. There were some ruins at its entrance, they had once been some barracks and other buildings, but now just parts of a wall. The castle was similar and yet very different than those made in the middle ages. It had several towers, but the bulk of it, was made downwards, as if it was carved from the very mountain.

She had even made a cut out on the west side of the castle. The whole above ground part of the castle was in ruins, the stairs were lost to reach some of the towers. She have had to make most of the furnitures laying in ruins, some of them were in a way different. The model was very nice, and she had even had to arrange some parts, she had added some support structures, and run the model to ensure they would hold. This has taken a great part of the work, and what had gained the respect of various teachers. She however had seen the thing standing, it had been done with blood, sweat and magic.

The thing that really set it apart from other models, apart from the size, was that underground. There was an intricated design along the walls on the ground floor, they had been hidden among the ruins, but once you had uncovered them, and used and incantation, a secret passage would open. The model showed it as it if it had already been open, and there laid the real deal.

A underground lair, made for pursuing knowledge, and then turned into a prison, to hold what had been found. There were eleven floors, varying in size. Traps were hidden, and in some rooms were creatures from another world, called fantasy in this one.

The eleventh floor was the last, and it ended, on a room with a stair to a lower floor. The room was a trap. She had written, on the last floor before the stairs, "How many more floors could a mountain hold? let just hope they are enough to keep what lies at the end inside". Her professor had loved that part. She had guessed 3 more, no one had gotten that far, and perhaps it was a good thing.

She smiled at the model, it was the result of hard work, from two very different lives. She sighed; I have to get some sleep. She returned to the bed and checked the phone again. The second thing on the calendar. She had promised her siblings to play with them a game called Dungeon Central. The game was gaining an incredibly popularity, in truth she had wanted to check it out, but she has had to focus on finishing the model. Tomorrow however was the day. She had worked hard, she had wanted to check the game, read about it a lot, but she knew herself. If it were as good as it seemed, she would have trouble finishing the model and her lasts assignments.

The game was in essence a sandbox. The main idea revolved around dungeons in the perspectives. The first one would have you create a dungeon, and make it grow and expand. The second one, was to create a party and explore and conquer dungeons. The devs had spent a massive amount of time developing the game, in a way the development was focused on 2 parts, more than a make a game, they created tools. They wanted to create a tool that would allow you to make incredibly detailed dungeons. The second part of the team had to develop the gameplay. Create a great AI, and a massive set of rules, so that you could create what you wanted with the tools given and have an awesome and balanced response.

During development, the company Epoch, had managed to work by hand with the best AI labs, and universities, to develop the AI for Dungeon Central. The AI alone, was an incredible feat, and had received many awards, not just for gaming, but for technology in general. She had followed the news about the game, but she has had to wait for 3 months until she could finish her work.

She gamed a lot, games made her remember another life. When immersive gaming began some years ago, she had gotten really hooked, however she had yet to find a game that could really hold her attention. She played a lot actually, but, she had yet to find "The" game, as her brother said. She had become and architect because she wanted to learn and understand in a different way, the places she had seen.

She had not wanted to see the dungeons people were making, she wanted to dive into the game, and tomorrow would be the day. She placed the phone on the nightstand and closed her eyes. As she felt sleep, she was lost in her memories again. Sometimes she was riding a bicycle, other times, she was running for dear life. She walked inside places no one had in hundred years, and she remembered waiting for the bus. Strangely or perhaps because in both her name was the same, things were easier.

Then as she sailed trough different memories, she heard mothers voice. "Aurin, come dear, we are going to be late", the last time she called her, and as it had appeared it vanished. She was holding someone in her arms, "I am sorry Aurin, you will have to leave me here", she could not see the face, the tears and blood were getting in her eyes. Thankfully both memories faded as well, as Haruki Muraki said "Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional". She woke again, a felt a tear on her cheek, memories were many things, good, bad and everything in between. Still they made her, and it would not change the fact that she still had an exam in the morning. "Go to Sleep Aurin", she closed her eyes again, and after a moment, she drifted. away.