Novelux Blackglass Caldera Mystery Dungeon

[Jackie Cat]

"Powehi, were there any other mystery dungeons around? Before this happened?"

The somber Lucario turned and fixed Koa with a dark stare.

"...What is a 'mystery dungeon'?" he asked, dully.

There it was, then. The truth of the Caldera was that five thousand years ago, mystery dungeons were unheard of. Perhaps stable divine rifts existed, or peculiarities in the world-fabric, but not dungeons. This had been the first, a grand and potent debut for a new kind of supernatural phenomenon, brought about by the events of Lorrel and Amida's clash. Too much power in one place, and at one time...

"All right," he called out to the dungeon. "Show us the core and we'll be on our way."

Amida's eerie red light danced over Dark Matter and the World-Spirit, dulling the colours of each to a murky brown. The pair continued to stare out into the distance as the false-sunlight dimmed, then brightened, again and again. The nights and days passing. Hadn't Powehi said that Amida had burned for months?

His ancient apparition grit its teeth in a bitter grimace.

"It will never heal," he muttered, grimly. "It will only... stabilise. Once she burns out."

"It didn't have to happen like this," murmured Auriga. "He could have succeeded without... this. If only—"

Auriga's eyes could not be seen behind the light-flooded domes that protected them. Yet something in her voice made her sound as if she were weeping.

"You should never have risked it," snapped Powehi. "You will recall that I did warn you about this outcome."

The Flygon scoffed, miserably. "Is that truly so, my shadow? I think I'd have taken notice if you had predicted a dark cloud swallowing the sun."

"Do not be flippant with me, Auriga. Do you think I meant to predict a specific disaster? No. You still don't understand, my light. You have not heard me. You have learnt nothing."

The World-Spirit sighed, light spilling from her jaws.

"I have heard you, Powehi. You lecture me about my past choices, and I swear to you that future champions shall be made mortal. But what of the present? Millions shiver in their homes and you talk to me of what I have or have not learnt?"

Powehi stared back.

"Yes."

He didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.

"I do. You cannot live in fear of grief, my light. You thought to weight the dice of fate, that you might never grieve like this, and yet you grieve now. You will feel grief again, Auriga. The sun will fall and rise ten million times more on another ten billion shivering souls, and whether they shall bless or curse their existence falls to your capacity to change. You must do better."

"Go. Go away from me, shadow. I do not even wish to look at you, callous thing that you are."

The jackal paused. Then he closed his eyes, and a rattling sigh trembled from his dry lips.

"As you wish, beloved."

The light of the Living Sun dimmed once again, and the Wayfarers were left in darkness.

The myth of the Sun said she now slept in her sacrifice. If Amida was just as powerful as Lorrel, and Lorrel's light never left Forlas despite Powehi's insistence that it should... Was it possible Amida's light still remained of this world as well?

Two powerful beings full of Radiance, both with the power to shape the very fabric of existence with their gift.

Steven winced as the formation of the Caldera dungeon reverberated through his body with the screech of nails on a chalkboard.

He needed to go back to Sunward.

"I am the sun," whispered the darkness. "I bring light. I burn and shine, now and always..."

It was said like a prayer. The voice was soft, but ardent. Desperate, even. As if the speaker were willing it to be so, wishing something into reality amidst the direst need...

The words burned a certainty into Steven's mind. The sun yet lived, resting somewhere in the hidden places beneath the skin of the world...

He would find his way back to Sunward soon enough. It was calling to him.

---

...Heroic spirits? I could not detect you in Blackglass Caldera for a moment there. Can you still hear me? It appears you have found an exit.

The Wayfarers were back in baseline reality, stood on the lip of the crater rim.

It was early evening, and scattered clouds hung low and dark in the sky. Sunlight caressed their outlines, showing silver against the grey. Out over the lake, seabirds called.

Now, as for five thousand years, the sun was shining.

 

[Ambyssin]

"We're here. We found the heart of the dungeon."

And that heart practically served as a warning. Nova looked out toward the sun, frowning. "So, somehow us contending with Alexander wasn't on the same scale as a victini blasting apart a meteor." He wasn't sure whether he found that reassuring or not. For all Nova knew, the decision to work with natives—and Powehi, for that matter—had shielded them from repeating the same mistakes.

"But the Covenant," he muttered. "Chasing after radiance. Trying to make it. It's going to end the same way."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion reminded himself that Powehi had been the one to send him here in order to ward off the feeling that even being here was, in some way, an invasion of his privacy. It felt increasingly likely that this was the event the two spirits had stopped speaking over.

Even as Auriga called him a callous thing, Gladion felt that odd style of empathy he'd come to associate with Powehi in their discussion. Auriga was wrong, he believed. Maybe he just hadn't come to understand her perspective yet, but if anything she came across to him as more detached, especially given her role in this disaster. (She called him callous thing, and he called her beloved. Ouch.)

Nothing about Gladion's personal opinions changed what made the most sense for him to pursue next. The dungeon's version of Auriga had told him how and where to pursue her. It was time, at long last, to meet her... Hopefully.

 

[Tetra]

So this was the first. The thought was sobering, and chilling. A single reckless act, well-intentioned, had altered the course of history forever. Created an entire force of nature in the form of mystery dungeons.

"It didn't have to happen like this," murmured Auriga. "He could have succeeded without... this. If only—"

"If only you'd listened," Koa muttered irritably, though more under his breath than out loud. Arguing here and now, with this Auriga, was pointless. Hearing Powehi and Auriga argue and Auriga spurn him left a hollow feeling inside him. 'Shadow', she'd called him. Like a thing. So this was why he refused to speak with her, even now...

He hadn't much cared for Powehi's attitude at first, nor his ominous messages or demeanor. But between his help with ousting Cipher, his protections against the shadows and now this. It was hard not to see the shadowy entity in a.... different light. As a protector. For a moment, a thought of Giratina crossed his mind. It also stoked the annoyance inside him he felt thinking about Auriga.

Koa gazed out at the crater before them, the world once again still and back to the present. Nova's words made for a chilling reminder of the kind of power the Covenant was chasing after. Did they not know the story of what happened here? Would it even change their mind if they did? Perhaps they could try.

We're okay, Betel. It looks like what happened here is what created mystery dungeons. Too much power at once is dangerous.

"We should tell the other Wayfarers," he said quietly.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight against the darkness left from the heart of the dungeon.

'Hi Betel. We can hear you. We're alright.'

Alright was maybe a bit generous. Unharmed was probably the right word. Because all of this, the vision-- the knowledge-- was a lot to take in at once. Steven knit his claws together, not out of anxiety, but almost like he was holding onto something, wanting to not let it slip away between his fingers.

Five thousand years. It had been five thousand years since the World-Spirit and the Embodiment of Shadows had spoken. Lifetimes had come and gone, and yet this one event had driven them apart so irreversibly. Did Auriga still mourn her decisions? She had since summoned other heroes, but in her grief had she retreated from them as well? Did she believe that if she provided guidance as she had done for Lorrel and Amida, that more heroes would end up as they had?

Surely both she and Powehi had to know that regardless of their involvement, it was impossible to ensure a perfect outcome to any event.

Still, the world persisted. Pokemon lived and thrived here. Civilizations rose and fell. Life carried on. All because of Lorrel and Amida. Two souls that shone bright with both joy and sorrow. Was it not as Powehi had explained? There was not light without shadow. There never was meant to be victory without sacrifice. The world was never meant to continue on without changing.

Wordlessly, Steven reached down and scooped a small handful of black sand into one of the now-empty pouches on his bracer. He'd find a small bottle for it later.

Levitating back up, he glanced towards his companions. He nodded in agreement with Koa before Nova's words gave him pause. He turned to Gladion, recalling what he'd said earlier as they'd entered the Caldera. "Do you think that Matthias fellow is going to try to find Auriga for himself?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Do you think that Matthias fellow is going to try to find Auriga for himself?"

Gladion though about that for a moment, an audible hmm rumbling from his throat.

“No. I think if they asked him to, he’d fail. On purpose. Say what you will about him, I won’t say much to his defence, but I don’t think he’s the kind of guy to see this and decide to help them do it again. Just doesn’t line up with any of his myriad possible MOs.”

He paused again.

“He said this place wasn’t what he was looking for, but it… pointed him in the right direction? His task was related to long-lasting radiance. Came from strong usage, which I guess we just saw. Something about atmospheric effects, but I haven’t a clue what that means.”

He felt like they were missing a piece of the puzzle. Or maybe he was just missing it himself.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I mean... they made their own Auriga," Nova said, looking skyward. "Except... Betel can't bestow radiance the same way Auriga is able to." A pause. "Err, no offense."

His cheek bolts turned once. "We can't say for sure when Sage was made... but it sure sounds like the two halves of the 'heroic summoning' pie. Betel to draw in humans. Sage to bestow radiance upon them." Nova exhaled deeply. "Except Sage couldn't generate radiance like they were hoping. So, I'm willing to bet that, in the absence of making it themselves, they want to find sources they can use. Which, I think... might have something to do with what we just saw here."

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

“He said this place wasn’t what he was looking for, but it… pointed him in the right direction? His task was related to long-lasting radiance. Came from strong usage, which I guess we just saw. Something about atmospheric effects, but I haven’t a clue what that means.”

Steven thought for a moment, bringing a claw to his chin. "Long-lasting atmospheric Radiance?" he echoed. "Hm, I hadn't considered it before, but maybe he's referring to Sunward? It's a stretch of desert in Sojavena where the sunrises and sunsets are unnaturally long, taking up almost the entirety of the day to progress. It's quite a sight."

A wistful smile crept into his expression. "It's actually where I first arrived in Forlas. We were taken in by the Wardens of the fort there, sworn protectors of the land where the Sun is said to sleep."

He trailed off, considering Nova's remarks. It was true, Arthur was almost single-mindedly set on discussing Radiant dungeons at that round table, and Saffron had confirmed the Covenant was pouring resources into seeking out Radiance sources... Steven's gaze darted back to Gladion.

"Wait. Matthias said what he'd found here pointed him in the right direction? They're not after Auriga. They're trying to find Amida. And she's at Sunward, I'm sure of it."