《Origin Dungeon》 In the beginning, there was confusion. Pressure¡­ Tightness¡­ Light¡­ Confusion¡­ I do not remember much of how I came to be. I slept for most of what I can only assume to be my formative years. I know that I remember feeling pressure all around me and what I now know to be pain. I was surrounded my light and noise, it was confusing to say the least. This is not to say I do not know how I came to be. No, that can be inferred thanks to the convenience of status screens. They are incredibly useful things. If I remember correctly, they were created by some god that had gotten very bored with the creativity of the various creatures it had observed. Then in a flash of shocking ingenuity and creativity. It stole the idea from some species on another plane of existence. Never did say what they were. I can only imagine them as being very strange to even think of something like that. Got sidetracked there. Status screens¡­ They do not show you everything, and honestly there is much confusion regarding them. Several races (and a few gods) think they contain many secrets and hidden information. While that is partly true, mostly they are just frequently being updated to suit the tastes of their creator. Presently they are setup to display ones¡¯ qualities and capabilities in a generalized format. My own is a little unique. ¡°Display Status Screen¡± [Self] Name: N/A[Librarian?] Species: Origin Dungeon Gender: N/A Level: ¡Þ Age: ¡Þ Class: Dungeon[Unique?] Health: ¡Þ Stamina: ¡Þ Mana: ¡Þ Str: ¡Þ Agi: ¡Þ End: ¡Þ Int: ¡Þ Vit: ¡Þ Wis: ¡Þ ¡­ ¡°Display Species Description¡± [Self] Species Information ¡°Origin Dungeon¡± Dungeon that has formed its core under the immense pressures of energies at the creation of creation itself. ¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­.. Like I said, it gets updated frequently by the god that made it. Though it has been in effect so long that any changes that are made are so insignificant that they are hardly ever noticed. I know my status is strange, mostly because that idiot can never seem to make up his mind about me. It would seem that I confuse him immensely, and he takes great pride in supplying the system with accurate information. He knows I am older than him, that I am a dungeon, aside from that he does not know much of anything. Which makes me question his integrity seeing as he has decided to not only name me¡­ sort of... but also give me attributes. If you can call infinity an attribute, I know I don¡¯t. The only reason he even came up with that species name and description were because I had told him of my earliest memories. That and him being unable to identify me with his ¡°Godly¡± powers. Aside from that, I change my appearance often. Not for my own amusement, but more because I see no need for a defined appearance when I ¡°appear¡± before others. I am literally sentient condensed mana. (and everything else, but whatever, right?) I know a great deal about a great many things¡­ probably more than anyone, or anything there is. I know most dungeons are slaves to their instincts. This is of course because their birth usually robs the direct vicinity of mana causing hunger to be the predominant urge that drives them. Even when full, they usually cannot forget that first hunger. Luckily, this never happened to me. Due to how I was born, and all the abundant energies that were available to me at the time. I have never felt any such hunger. I¡¯m not sure how long I existed in there at the beginning, an eternity? an instant? I know that when things started expanding I lost a lot of time, mostly spent sleeping/digesting. When I came to the pressure/pain was gone, the light, the sound. All of the bad things I had experienced were gone. I was adrift in the vast expanse of space. Viewing creation in all its majesty. The silence was almost as bad as the noise, but you get used to it. I actually kind of liked it.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Then, by pure happenstance I fell into the gravitational pull of a nearby star. Which also coincidentally put me on a perfect course to crash into a world. Now something I think is important to note is that while I had been drifting through space I was not just twiddling my metaphorical thumbs. No, I was learning, studying, recording all I saw. Terrified by its impermanence, a fear that I have unfortunately never grown out of. Because of this I have always saved any knowledge I could. Storing it in every way possible to secure it in as pure a form as possible. Something else to know about dungeons, they feel a primal drive to protect themselves from birth. This can again be easily understood as they are crystallized mana. Mana may not be sentient on its own, but it does have traits. After Eons of being absorbed/used/manipulated by just about everything there is it naturally has some inborn fears and paranoias. I am again happy to say that being as old as I am, I predate such tendencies. Thus, when I arrived a planet, my first thought was not to build, or dig, as the case may be. No, my first thought was to learn. Me ability to sense my surrounding being incomparable. I was able to sense far from my core. As in beyond my own galaxy. I put a lot of effort into that thank you very much. It also helped a lot with my studying. Because of this I was not surprised that there were sentient species on this world. They are after all, rather common. Doing a quick sweep of the world I was on to refresh my memory about which one it was and its systems. I was both overjoyed and saddened to see it was a ¡°popular¡± world. I say popular because of the activity that surrounds it. There are several sentient races on the world. To save time though I¡¯ll only list the recognized sentient races. There are the Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Halflings, Goblins, and of course Gods. You may say, but, those all sound very familiar!? Well, you did spot that last race right? They tend to get around a lot and if my story has told you anything yet. It would be that gods can and will meddle. Anyways, after my sweep, and identifying the world. I immediately know what to do. I have been planning for a long time what I would do once I encountered another sentient. I would transform into a repository of knowledge in such a way that others can also enjoy what I have learned. In this case, I became a library. Although I say that, I later learned I went a bit overboard. I transformed myself into a cylindrical tower that kissed the clouds and dug deep into the earth. Not only that, but it was completely unnecessary! This is because I also warped the space within myself to be capable to storing my information in such a small (comparatively) space. My library was formed to the current planets standards. That is to say, books. Not a minute too soon either, because immediately after I was finished with that I had my first visitor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [POV Hermes] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was visiting one of my favored worlds when I saw something unexpected. There was a comet blasting towards the planet. This in and of itself is not all that unusual. However, moments after it had breached the atmosphere and crashed, something happened. A massive scan swept the entire world. Not believing in coincidences, I moved towards the direction of the meteor. Expecting to find a crater I was shocked of course, because I found a gigantic tower. Moving around the structure I was further surprised to discover it appeared to be made of a single solid piece of white marble, but if that was the case it could not be this tall. I spotted a pair of large (too large) double doors near the base of the tower, a series of circular stairs leading up to them. Arriving at the doors and preparing to use a good amount of strength to open them. I was instead surprised to find them sweeping smoothly open at the lightest touch. Beyond the doors were stacks of books, taller than the doors, stretching farther than I could see. As I stepped inside while looking around, the doors shut behind me with not even a sound. I only noticed because the cessation of the wind. ¡­ Approaching the nearest stack and grabbing a book at random I flip it open to find I can read it. Not in some language I have learned from the many worlds I have visited, but in the language of the gods. ¡­¡± That¡¯s not possible¡± ¡­. The reason it is not possible is because the gods only even have a written language because some of them wanted their own private collections of things, and they wanted to prove they could do whatever a mortal could do. ¡°Hello!?¡± ¡­ ¡°Hello¡± [Unknown] Who was that? It sounded like it came from all around me. ¡°Where are you? Who are you? What is this place?¡± Great job not sounded surprised or scared there hermes.... ¡°Hmm¡­. in order, I suppose¡± [Unknown] ¡°I am everywhere, I have not yet decided on a name, this place is me, and it is a library¡± [Unknown] Oh great... ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re everywhere. Also, then what do people call you?¡± ¡°I mean this is me, I wanted to be a library and so I am. This is also the first time I have spoken to anyone.¡± [Unknown] A new god perhaps? But who would choose to be a library? ¡°Well, then why don¡¯t you start wanting to be a person. I do not exactly enjoy having conversations with the air.¡± ¡°Alright¡± [Unknown] Suddenly a bright light flashed before me. After my eyes clear, I was able to make out the form of a young man who looked to be in his late teens, early twenties. ¡°You look much younger than your voice sounds¡± ¡°would you prefer I look older? I understand I am old, but age doesn¡¯t really show when you do not have a body¡± [Unknown] ¡°Oh? How old? Also, what do you mean you do not have a body. You said you were the library.¡± ~Got you~ ¡°My form is a crystallization of energy that does not age, and can shape the world around it. Creating anything I wish, with sufficient knowledge of course.¡± [Unknown] Well crap. ¡°So¡­ then you are a Dungeon.¡± ¡°Yes and no¡± [Unknown] ¡°Dungeons are crystallized mana, I am more than that¡± [Unknown] Ah yes, you are an insane ''Library Dungeon''... ¡°Okay, well this is a strange dungeon¡­ how do you plan to kill anything with a library?¡± ¡°Why would I want to kill anything?¡± [Unknown] ... ¡°You¡¯re a dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes, but that and my own personality/behavior are two different things.¡± [Unknown] hmmm... ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡°Anyways, where did you learn the language of the gods? Why did you use it to write this book?¡± ¡°I learned it when the gods came up with it, and I did no use it to write that book. All my books are read in the best known, written language, of whoever is holding them.¡± [Unknown] ¡­. ¡­. ¡­. Okay. ¡°Why is the library so big, how many books do you have?¡± ¡°All of them.¡± [Unknown] ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To preserve them, remember them, and share them.¡± [Unknown] Dungeon falls from the sky... Dungeon becomes a library... Dungeon has more books than the rest of the planet... ¡°Share them¡­ Then do you have books here from other worlds? This one seems to describe a species I have never even heard of.¡± ¡°Yes, I have all knowledge I have encountered in my travels stored here.¡± [Unknown] So not just books then? Wonderful... ¡°And you mean to share this knowledge?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± [Unknown] haa.... ¡°I am sorry to ask this of you, but please restrict the knowledge available to those who enter. I cannot have someone gaining knowledge too far advanced and accidentally destroying this world.¡± ¡°Sounds reasonable, I suppose¡­ Granted you gods play here a lot.¡± [Unknown] Oi... ¡°Well, I will just limit the knowledge per person, only access to the limit of what their world has so far discovered, or if from multiple worlds, the limit of their peoples¡¯ discoveries.¡± [Unknown] Sounds fine... ¡°Well, that sounds fine. But if you cause any trouble on this world I will remove you.¡± Need to show it who is in charge. ¡°Do not threaten me. You are incapable of forcing me to do anything other than what I want. I am willing to capitulate and be helpful only because it coincides with my own goals and is reasonable.¡± [Unknown] Dang... ¡°What goals are those then?¡± ¡°To preserve knowledge, to gain knowledge, and to share knowledge¡± [Unknown] ¡°Right¡­¡± ¡°Well, I feel like I need a name to call you by¡­. But I will have to get to that later. I may have been the first one to arrive here, but I doubt I am the only one to notice this place. I¡¯d rather not be thought of as the reason for your arrival.¡± ¡°Well then, goodbye for now Hermes¡­¡± [Unknown] Wait what? ¡°I never told you my name¡­¡± ¡°I know.¡± [Unknown] From small beginnings come great things It was not long after Hermes had left that another visitor arrived at my library. To say I was surprised by my second visitor would be a lie, as I try my best to always be scanning for more knowledge. My newest visitor was a small creature, barely out of its adolescence. It was a bird. It flew through the opening of my doorway, that to it, appeared to be no more than a hole in a rather large tree. Now, I know what you must be thinking. You are wondering why my Tower now appears to be a tree? Well, simple answers for simple questions. I appear as that which other would appreciate and seek out. I may be a tree, a tower, a mountain, or a burrow. I still take up the same amount of space, but the perception others have of me is warped. I learned this trick from a rather interesting species that created it as a means of natural defense. They would blend into any environment, capable of hunting just about anything. Unfortunately, they achieved sentience in the later years of their solar systems life cycles. Truly a miracle in and of itself. But, as with many others, they were not able to advance enough to escape the fate of their dying star. Sad¡­ yes, but they are remembered. Their culture, teachings, beginning and end. Just another reality that reinforces my choice in form. The creature was interesting though. Its body covered in a modest plumage of white and gray. Its head slightly rounded with piercing eyes and a small beak (comparatively). Large wings that almost dwarf its main body. Very impressive. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [POV ¡°Owl¡±] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As it entered it looked around in obvious confusion. Expecting to find a nice nook, it instead found a vast forest. A forest within a tree. How strange¡­ As it flew further into the forest, all around it were strange sounds, smells, and flashes of light. It could understand these things in a way it never thought to be able to understand anything. IT can speak to others of its kind, and hunt prey. But, never had it thought to be able to understand that which it did not know without being told by another. Here, the world seemed to be telling it stories. All around it, it could see and learn new things. It heard the story of the Great Hoo, who had lead his people from the felled forests. Across the empty earth, and finally to the Frozen Wood. He learned of the White death, that could hunt the hunters. An owl so large, so formidable, that it would hunt down wolves and bears alike. He also learned of other stranger things. Of the Peoples, the walkers, the talkers. He learned that there are many kinds of them, each thinking themselves unique¡­. Like his people thought themselves unique. He learned of the Humans, with their frequently changing ideals, and their varied speeches. He learned of the Elves, their love of the world, and their hatred for anything they believe is not natural. He learned many things¡­ After what felt like years (was actually a few hours), he flew in search of the exit. The entrance to this strange land. He hooted out his fear and worry over being lost. With so many distractions all around him, he could not rely on his own senses. Everywhere he looked there were more stories. But looking between the stories and seeing the world was difficult. As he hooted with increased panic, there was a sudden silence to the world around him. As if everything had dimmed, the world seemed to fall silent. Yet the surroundings were still clear as day. Searching for the cause of this change, he looked around himself to find a strange owl behind him. He had not heard its flight, nor could he smell anything from it. He hooted his question again in fear at this strange owl that was familiar yet at the same time unknown to it. ¡°What is this strange place? I cannot find my way home!¡± (Owl)Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The strange owl hooted an answer in a voice unlike any it had heard before. It could hear the youth of a child, with its inquisitiveness and its joy at everything. But it could also hear the age of experience and knowledge. As though the owl before it was no child, as though it was the oldest thing there was. ¡°This is the Forest of memory. Where all that has been learned, is remembered.¡± (Unknown) ¡°The exit is just behind you, all you need to do is want to leave.¡± (Unknown) Shocked by these statements, I took a moment to collect my thoughts. ¡°I have been trying to find the exit for hours, I have looked all around myself! This forest is endless!¡± (Owl) Suddenly the strange owl looked amused. In a childlike manner, it said. ¡°Have you now? You have only been here for a few hours. Are you sure you are looking for an exit, and not more stories?¡± (Unknown) ¡°Try this, imagine your home. Imagine your family, your friends, the prey you hope to hunt. Then think of going to that feeling, that place, and hold onto it.¡± (Unknown) I did as was suggested, concentrating with all my might. When I opened my eyes to see I was still here I opened my mouth to complain, but the strange owl spoke again before I could. ¡°Now look behind you¡± (Unknown) As I did so I saw a tree with nook in it much like the one I had used to enter this place. Through the hole, I could see where I came from. Before I left, and without looking away from my way home I asked the strange owl. ¡°Will I ever be able to find this place again?¡± (Owl) I could hear the amusement in its voice as it answered my question. ¡°Of course, I do not intend to leave anytime soon.¡± (Unknown) ¡°Who are you, and I was asking about the forest.¡± (Owl) ¡°But, I am the forest.¡± (Unknown) Feeling an intense shiver go down my back at the words. I fly off, through the hole in the tree. Intent on returning home. Eager to tell my story, and those which I had learned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [POV ¡°Library?¡±] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the small owl flew away, I could sense another being headed in my direction. Unfortunately, it was another god. This one stormed through the doors of the tower. Immediately stopping like all others. It was surrounded by stacks of books, but seemed more interested in finding something, or someone. As the god rounded its twelfth stack of books it seemed to become enraged. Shouting at the empty air. ¡°COME OUT! I know you are here, whoever you are! This world is mine! If you do not come out I will destroy this place with you in it!¡± (Zeus¡­ of course¡­) ¡°That would not be wise. Especially since you do not have the power to do such a thing. But, should you try. I would be very upset.¡± (Unknown) Hearing my voice, he spins to face me. Momentarily stunned by my appearance. Which is that of an old man, in long robes. Wearing a pair of round wireframe glasses with a pair of white gloves. ¡°Hah! So, you show yourself! Good, this place may stay. But it is mine now, you will leave this world before I destroy you!¡± (Zeus) ~Sigh~ ¡°Well¡­ Seeing as you did not listen before. I will say it one more time. You have no power over me. You cannot threaten me. It would be best if you either calm down, or you leave.¡± (Unknown) ¡°How Dare You! I am Zeus, King of the Gods! Lord of this World!¡± (Zeus) Looking at Zeus blankly for a moment. I respond in a dry voice. Already tired of the idiocy of this conversation. ¡°I know you are Zeus... I also know you are not lord of this world. Just one among the many gods who like to tamper with it.¡± (Unknown) ¡°Also, King of the Gods? Really? What would An or Nammu have to say about that? Or perhaps El, Viracocha, Brahma, or Ra. There are many gods who proclaim themselves king. Or that have created worlds, some even creating entire realities. So please¡­ do not be so full of yourself.¡± (Unknown) Shock clearly evident on his face. Zeus¡¯ eyes quickly darted about. Finally, he lifted his hand and fired a rather large bolt of plasma (lightning) at me. Which I did not bother to dodge. As the energy collided with me. It became my own. And vanished from sight. Not understanding what had happened, Zeus fire off a few more shots before stopping. Looking at me questioningly he finally blurted out. ¡°What was that! How did you do that!¡± (Zeus) ¡°Well¡­ that was you attacking me. That was also me not being affected by that attack. Also, this is the response to your attack.¡± (unknown) Without warning, Zeus found himself in a room surround by memories. The memories of those he had hurt, those he had wronged, those he had violated, those he had killed. He attempted to transport himself out of this place, only to find he could not. He tried to stop the images, the thoughts of those he had wronged, to close his eyes. But was unable to, nothing seemed to even slow them. After what felt like an eternity, and what was not even a fraction of the memories. He found himself standing next to the entrance. Shaking, and seemingly not entirely aware of his surroundings he turned to me and said in a quiet voice. ¡°what was that. where did you get those memories? what is this place.¡± (Zeus) ¡°Those were the memories of those you had wronged. Some of them at least. I did not feel the need to subject you to the entirety of them. I got them from those that experienced it firsthand. Also, it¡¯s about time. This is the Library. It is a place of remembrance and knowledge.¡± (Unknown) Almost before I could finish speaking he was already out the doors and moving away at incredible speed (for him). I do not know if what he learned here will help him. But, hopefully it will have some kind of positive effect. You may be asking why I would let him leave. Why not imprison him, why not kill him for all he has done wrong. Everyone has different views, different feelings about things. If you had lived his life. You would have done the same. I have long since learned that no one can judge another. It is an impossibility. You can impose your will on them. But judgement comes from within, not without. Only by understanding the entirety of ones¡¯ actions can they even begin to make a decision about what they have done. Everything else is just actions based of previous experiences. No one has control over that. The most that could be done. Would be to remember what was done, why it was done, and hope that the memory would be a deterrent until such time as those actions are needed again, or should they need be avoided. What Dreams May Come. (Incomplete) ¡°Death may be the greatest of all (Human) blessings.¡± After Zeus left, I find myself unable to forget the memories I had shown him. In all truth, I am unable to forget any of the stories I have collected. While I stand here looking at the front door to my dungeon, which is itself just me in another form. There are also numerous other copies of myself. Flitting between book stacks, flying through forests, scrolling through pages of documents. Some connected to me, others temporarily disconnected. So as to enjoy stories anew.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Lost in thought I find myself walking towards the door, stepping through it only to sit on the steps that lead up to it. While I sit, others join me, A child in the appearance of a young elf girl, a pitch-black cat curling itself on her lap. My own appearance that of an old man. We are all one, but for now, we are also separate. I find myself looking up at the sky. Wondering, not for the first time, if it would not be better to limit myself to only experiencing that which is directly in front of me. If I did, much would be lost. But, at the same time, everything would feel new. Nothing would be expected, or already known. Lost in my musings, the child beside me flips open a worn, yet completely intact book.