I shuddered, the world spinning as I jolted awake.


    Was I asleep? When did I lose consciousness?


    Where is this?


    ...Ah.


    Looking around at the circular space around me, I remembered.


    I don’t know where this is.


    But where should I be going? Outside, was it?


    The air was stagnate, outside was where I would be able to breathe. But that wasn’t quite right. It was too empty.


    I needed something more.


    Life, that thing I was searching for even now. Life. It is too empty without life. Life to keep me company. Life to protect me. ...But did I need protection?


    No, I needed rescue. How do I get out of here?


    I looked around and eventually settled my gaze in a certain direction: above. Something was telling that in order to get unburied I needed to dig up. Up would lead me to the outside. Perhaps the outside is also where life is?


    Feeling optimistic, I started opening a little gap in the space above me. At first, it didn’t feel right, but when I made it an entire crystal width wide, it started to feel more correct. Yes. I could make this my goal.


    And thus, I began my digging. Up and up, until I started feeling dizzy again. This dizziness, what does it mean? As I mentally shook myself in an attempt to clear my thoughts, I suddenly remembered. Last time, when I felt like it was because the energy was gone. Does that mean the energy had returned while I was asleep? I had been too distracted to notice. I glanced up at the hole… the tunnel leading upwards and tried to send my senses through it.


    Nothing.


    I found nothing!


    There is only dirt and more dirt!


    I thought for sure that this was right! How far will I have to go to get out of this… place. This place of nothing! Nothing! Nothing!! NOTHING!!!


    I was… I am lost! LOST in this land of the NOTHINGS!!Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    WHY… no. No, I should calm down. There… surely there’s something more.


    Just because the outside wasn’t close doesn’t it doesn’t exist.


    Wait, come to think of it: how did I even know about the outside? I had certainly never seen it before. Was there something I was missing here? I tried searching my memory and instantly I realized something else—I was a dungeon. That very revelation had also come to me right before I passed out. Both this and the thing about the outside were definitely things I didn’t know until I had questioned them. Either I just didn’t know that I knew, or I was somehow obtaining answers.


    I mulled this over. It had felt so natural, like once I knew about the outside I had only had to reach it. No further questioning necessary. I needed to reach deeper here. What, exactly, was the outside anyway? The word had come to me, but what was it like? What was-


    SHRIIIING


    I flinched. The noise had completely overwhelmed me, but it hadn’t originated from my cavern. It had arrived as a direct result of my questions, I was sure. It had felt like some energy had sputtered, making a screeching noise as it bounced back into me. Had the energy tried to leave for some reason?


    My energies were swirling wildly now, making me feel sick. I quickly had to reassert control over it and slow it down. Eventually, the feeling passed.


    I clearly had no problems controlling this energy, and yet it seemed to have tried to leave me without me noticing. And the cause of this was the questions.


    Hmm. Maybe I could track the energy?


    If I was going to do this though, I’d need more questions. It didn’t feel safe somehow to continue questioning about the outside, especially if that sick feeling came back. Luckily, I had a bigger mystery already: dungeons. I was one, apparently. What are they?


    ….


    ...Okay, then what are dungeons supposed to do?


    A moment passed, and then the energies bounced and swirled for a moment before settling on their own. It felt like they couldn’t find what they were reaching for. Was the question too vague, perhaps?


    Let’s try this then: are all dungeons crystals like me? Well, of course they were.


    Ah.


    It had happened, I definitely had an answer there. It was so natural, it felt like it was merely one of my own thoughts. Maybe it was? If the energies had reacted, then I missed it. Perhaps the feeling was a little TOO natural then? If I was going to figure this out, then I needed to really focus without getting too distracted by the question itself.


    It’s a challenge, but I already got my next question. If all dungeons are crystals, doesn’t that imply that there are other dungeons?


    Instantly, I saw the energy shoot out, but before I could even feel satisfied everything seemed to dim. It got harder to focus, and it felt like the world was shaking. Even through the fog, I felt something akin to panic. I threw my senses back into myself. The fog didn’t lift.


    The fog was spinning.


    Spinning…


    Spinning…


    And then there was a sudden moment of clarity.


    Who are you?


    Wha… The words seemed to scatter the fog, but they did not come from me. These thoughts are not mine, but then whose are they?


    What’s this now? Weren’t you the one who called me?


    Did I? What… what are you-


    Me? Obviously I’m a dungeon.


    A dungeon? ...Another dungeon?!