Chapter 25 – Floor 1 – Nure’s Prophecy

As the sun set over their first night in the dungeon, the second in command of Ziphe's sub-party and a runic specialist, Superior Councilman Nure, walked past Clico and Omira indifferently to go below the main deck.

Ziphe had finished his cordial speech, and members were socializing and celebrating on deck about their descent into the dungeon. Some slowly left the main deck to inspect their personal quarters as the sun set. Nure had no passion nor incentive nor care about the expedition. His greatest curiosity, however, was the nature of the Dungeon and its inner workings.

Looking at the vast ocean in front of him, he was perplexed of how such a scene could develop right underneath the plains of the former Beast Kingdom Tynak. The plains of Radon rested against the dormant volcano, Mount Hevel, yet underneath this mountain lay an ocean that seemed to be larger than the continent itself.

Perhaps the Dungeon teleported them to an unknown territory, or perhaps the Dungeon itself was bigger on the inside? A sun that wasn't their own set over the hum of the soul-like water. Was it all an illusion? It was too much to be real.

Only one man was able to answer his questions, the so called '21'. As Nure entered the underbelly of the rocking ship, he knew the voyage ahead of them would be long. Ziphe had just finished saving the remaining members of the party hours ago, and things were winding down. Nure wasn't needed in the control room for now, so he had free time.

It was time for answers.

Nure patiently allowed Ziphe, Xie, and 21 to have their way in the preparations, but Nure came on the expedition for only two reasons: his loyalty to Ziphe and to learn how the dungeon operated. Heading to 21's quarters, Nure knocked three times, bluntly yet softly.

"Ah yes, Nure, come in." A confident voice chimed through the door. Nure was unimpressed. Any decent prophet should be able to predict who would come to meet them. Wasting no time at all, Nure let himself in and saw that the room had been repurposed into a makeshift meeting room. Nure stood across from where the waiting 21 was sitting.

Dressed in the formal brown Wizard Association attire, Nure sized 21 up from top to bottom. In all cases the man in front of him appeared to be an ordinary Wandering Sage. A Sage or Wizard from the association not backed by a country or organization was known a wandering member of the association. 21 wasn't even that strong at first glance. Perhaps he had a unique physique or bloodline? Back when he was masked, he was mysterious, but now, he seemed ordinary.

21 wore the traditional elemental insignia shown on the average Wandering Sage attire; each element took up one fourth of the insignia on the chest of the Sage's uniform. In the top left was the depiction of a flame while in the top right lay a bird to symbolize the air. The bottom left and right held a water droplet and a mountain respectively. 21 was nothing special compared to the Ziphe's and Nure's of the world.

21 had short brown hair and had blue eyes that shown a glint of intrigue upon seeing the interesting Councilman in front of him.

"So this was the man under the mask, a normal guy who smiles a lot," thought Nure.

Nure wondered if the man '21' was looking down on him or if his average looking appearance made him try to overcompensate by being overconfident. 21 smiled from ear to ear at the probing Superior Councilman.

"A predetermined meeting shouldn't feel so forced…" thought Nure as he saw the meeting room/bedroom 21 had fashioned. It was obvious 21 had rearranged his room in a hurry as soon as he got there. Maybe 21 guessed some would hear the rumors about him and preemptively envisioned who it would be? Breaking up Nure's thoughts, 21 addressed the situation.

"You wonder about the Dungeon. You wonder why Ziphe believes my prophecies. How about this, I will give you a prophecy." 21 paused. Nure said nothing and waited.

"There is a specific ending I desire. Many chess pieces and variables have been put in play by the Deities and Authorities alike. I have examined the different scenarios thoroughly, but I know you don't really care about the expedition's results.

For most people in our situation, an important prophecy I could give would be the floor of which they will die on. Unlike most, I must tell you in advance since you don't care." Nure began to laugh dryly at 21's assessment.

Nure was generally a serious person. His lanky build made him appear unsettling, even more so than the Shade Omira. He wore robotics that hung over his body and had runic inscriptions all over his skin. Scars of white slid across his face, and he hunched over deeply while standing. His brown eyes also had deep circles underneath them. 21, unfazed by his appearance and creepy laugh, continued.

"At this point I can see you don't believe I can predict much at all, but let me tell you one thing, without me, this party shall fall before the 50th Floor." 21's face suddenly became serious.

Nure spoke up at this point, saying, "Ziphe may believe and trust you. I must concede that I do not. The last time this dungeon opened was nearly 1,000 years ago, and it is recorded the previous serious expedition team cleared up to the 80th Floor. Our party may not be as powerful as theirs, but I would predict we could make it to at least the 60th Floor with little problems." Nure interjected and sat down in the chair 21 had prepared for him.

"Ah yes, the previous Wizard King Locke took a party of 13 into the dungeon, and only 3 returned, all seriously injured after 500 years of being in the dungeon. 500 years is a long time, much longer than the average human life span. To the Gods, this time is not long enough to kill them of old age, but interestingly enough, only 20 years passed on the outside." Nure listened intently. This was historically accurate.

"Does time here appear to work normally compared to the outside? No." Nure remained silent, listening closely to the information. Although he told 21 he didn't trust him, he did trust Ziphe. If Ziphe trusted 21 with his life, he would at least pay attention to the strange man's history lesson.

"Does the space within here appear to scale? No. Look at the ocean right outside. A sun that is not ours hangs in the sky, is that real? Yes. This dungeon is bound by different laws of nature compared to our home planet Ryko."

"Go on." Nure was intrigued that 21 had brought up some of the questions he desperately wanted to ask.

"Each floor in this dungeon has a Deity assigned to it, which they call an Administrator. Every ten floors are classified as a sector, which is run by a Sector Administrator. I'm sure you already know all this.

Each Floor and Sector Administrator are able to take control of each floor or sector and impose rules on them that everyone must follow, including other Deities. If a Deity must obey the laws of a dungeon floor, do you not think there is a chance a God will break those laws and perish?" Nure listened to 21 carefully.

"This floor, Floor One, is a part of the Ocean of Souls. The trickling souls that enter the dungeon from Floor 0 are vast and have become a vast ocean over time. The multitude of spiritual energy is so thick, a person can swim in it, and a boat can float on it.

Perhaps the next floor or sector may be a river, or a storm, or a canyon, or a battlefield, vision, dream, small room, or anything your imagination can pop out. Each Administrator has creative license to create a vast world like Floor One, or they could make small trial. Who is to say which floors are harder than others? This ocean would be impossible to cross for the unprepared.

Wizard King Locke, a renowned person known as the strongest Deity of the modern era, took with him an entire party of Deities. If 13 Deities who worked together could only clear 80% of the dungeon, what does that say about the dungeon? Should it be possible for a party of 100 Wizards, Sages, and Kings? Of course not!"

21 spoke faster and faster.

"How many Deities do you think appear at the world at one time? 5? 10? 20? It has depended on the era, but one thing is for sure: in the three great dungeons, Gods, Goddesses, Shades, and monsters lurk around every corner, waiting for fools like our party to come in arrogantly, only to be consumed and slaughtered."

21's words shot out of his mouth louder.

"How many Deities are in our party? Officially, only five Deities reside in our party:

Ziphe the Grand Councilman,

Tyermsy of the Gatekeepers, and

the Three High Priests of Order, Chaos, and Void.

Not even considering the hidden Deities in our parties, we have all still been split up into four groups. How likely is it for three, four, or even five Deities to keep a party of 20 plus people alive against trials the strongest Wizard King and his party of Deities could not?

No, the overwhelming majority of our pathetic sub-groups should die well before the 50th Floor!" 21 stopped suddenly. He grinned maniacally.

"Now, you, Nure of the High Council, are a strong individual. In fact, you are among the strongest. Your aura reaches the level of a high-King of the S Rank. Without me around, I predict you would have died on Floor 65. A great achievement." 21 stood up and applauded Nure enthusiastically. Nure listened with curiosity.

"Floor 64 and Floor 65, floors of courage, floors of beginnings and endings, but no! No, you won't die there. Indeed, you yourself have eluded to your own death. There is a great reason The Great Wizard King Lock returned after suffering grave injuries. You will die on Floor 80."

Nure sat half-convinced. He wasn't mad at the prediction but curious. 21 had a weak aura. He looked like an average mid to high ranked Sage. Unless he was concealing his true nature somehow, he was no stronger than a low-King or no weaker than a mid-Sage. Skills like prophecy would without a doubt scale with the aura of an individual. Prophecies of this magnitude and accuracy would be near impossible even for a B Ranked God like Ziphe. Unless someone was feeding him information, it would be irrational to think 21 was telling the truth.

"Still unconvinced I see? I can tell by your expression; I don't need prophecy to see that. It is too short a time into the dungeon to see how heinous its nature truly is. Right now, our parties have been sent to four different floors. Years will pass before we are reunited into one party again. By the time our parties meet up again, more than half of the original 100 will no longer be with us."

Frowning at the prediction, Nure fidgeted uncomfortably.

"This dungeon was created to subjugate all souls that enter. No King, Queen, Deity, Sage, nor Wizard has ever conquered the dungeon besides The First Deathless, an Authority above common reason. It could even be argued from the legends that he conquered Hell by luck, and when Hell was redesigned years later by the Architect, it was built even stronger than before.

What I'm saying to you now is that conquering this dungeon is impossible. It was specifically designed to be unconquerable.

Without me, it will be impossible to progress.

Without me, this party is doomed.

Without me, there is no hope.

With me however," 21 grinned again, "even an average Sage can conquer Hell." 21 passed a book across the table to Nure and then abruptly got up and left his own room.

"Come find me when you are convinced." He confidently spoke on his way out. Nure sat dumbfounded. Picking up the book, its cover read, Nure's Dungeon Encyclopedia.