Enormous gates beautifully decorated with various paintings of sea life greeted us. In front of the gate there was also the statue of a sea snake-like dragon. Could this has been Aquarius while being alive? On his hands, he was holding a crystal sphere which seemed to emanate a mysterious power.
"This is the Dream Gates of the Sealing Dungeon. This was a Dungeon we created using the power of the Four Stigmas, and it can only be opened with at least two Stigmas." Said Sapphire. "The Dungeon we made is special, it can only react to a special magic that can be conjured with the Stigmas, but… it seems that over time, the Dungeon has deteriorated."
"It seems like it barely holds any divine power by now." Benladann analyzed. "I do wonder though; doesn't this sounds very similar to the Dream Dungeons?"
"Oh yeah, you're right." Miranda agreed.
"Dream Dungeons? Wait, you mean that super special VIP Dungeon you didn't allowed us to enter?" Yuki wondered while pouting.
"It was a family trip." I sighed.
"Was fun, killed lots of dream monsters!" Benladra said.
"Couldn't eat them though…" Kate sighed.
"Hmmm… Well, Rose, Sapphire, try opening it the old way first." I said. "If that doesn't work, then I might have a way to do it, maybe, perhaps."
"Okay." Sapphire nodded. "Rose, can you help me out? Ah, also…"
Sapphire suddenly kneeled to get into Rose's sight level.
"I… I am sorry for having said those things before. I didn't thought they would hurt you so much, dear." She sighed. "I am your ancestor, and I shouldn't had been so rough with you."
"L-Lady Sapphire…" Rose felt surprised by the old mermaid's kindness.
"I want you to have this, it is a memento that Aquarius left for me." Sapphire said, suddenly giving her a necklace made of small bits of scales from the old dragon. "It is a Sea Dragon Necklace, it will protect you."
"T-This is… Really? But I…" Rose felt surprised.
"Take it my child." Sapphire said. "I am sure you will need it more than me now."
"Thank you…" Rose nodded, wearing the necklace. "And… I was also dumb, I ended overthinking things too much, and didn't really appreciated what I had around me… Don't blame yourself for what happened."
"Aww, child, you're such a sweetheart." Sighed Sapphire. "Very well. Let us do our best."
"Right! S-So how do I do this?" Rose wondered.
"Touch the crystal ball with your Stigma hand and imbue your powers into it, that should do it." Sapphire explained.
"O-Okay!" Rose nodded.
The two touched the sphere being held by the dragon statue, imbuing their powers. Sapphire's Stigma unleashed a black and purple energy, while Rose's Stigma was pink and red.
FLUOOOSH!
The crystal easily started to absorb their powers, beginning to glow brightly. The light reached the rest of the statue and then into the gates, lighting them all up with their combined divine power.
RUMBLE!
The entire dungeon started trembling as the ancient ruins started to react to this power. Perhaps we were getting closer than we imagined.
Crack… Crack!
"Huh?!" Sapphire suddenly realized the crystal was, however, cracking. "No… it's…!"
CRAAASH!
The entire crystal shattered into pieces before they could get to open the gates, everything abruptly ended, the divine power imbued into the gates dissipated into nothingness.
"I-It broke…" Miranda said.
"Well, that was something." Benladann sighed.
"Aahhh…" Sapphire sighed. "I didn't expect even the Dream Crystal to be on this state. Without it, we cannot access the Dungeon."
"Eh?! Then what are we going to do?" Rose wondered.
"Hmm, that Dream Crystal, what were its components?" I wondered, quickly gathering all the shattered fragments.
"It is like the Dungeon's Core, it cannot exist without it, yet it is somewhere within the Realm of Dreams." Sapphire said.
"I see… Then I guess I can remake it for you." I said.
"Y-You can do that?!" Sapphire was shocked.
"Well, I did said I would, no?"
FLAASH!
By imbuing some Divine Power into the fragments and using the [Dream Dungeon & Nightmare Labyrinth Seed Creation (S)] Divine Ability, a brand-new Dream Dungeon Core was formed. This time, it was a beautiful silver sphere with white circuits covering its entire body.
Ding!
[You've exchanged 5000000 Divine Points.]
[You've created a Special Dream Dungeon Core connecting with the [Ancient Dream Dungeon of the Sea Dragon Guardian]!]
"And it's done. It cost more Divine Power than I imagined though…" I analyzed. "Let's see…"
I placed the Dream Dungeon Core where the Statue had it before, and then the girls decided to give it a go once more.
FLUOOOOOSH!
This time, it immediately worked and much faster than before. The gates were fully feed with their divine power and immediately opened, leading to a portal into the Dream Dungeon.
"I knew it! So it is really like a Dream Dungeon at the end." Benladann said.
"More or less." Miranda nodded.
"Amazing, to think you could even do this…" Sapphire said.
"Well, maybe it was Fate itself that brought me here." I joked around. "Now let's explore this place."
Without further ado, we stepped into the Dream Dungeon, a beautiful and dream-like land greeted us. This was not at all like the Labyrinthian Dungeon we imagined, but it was a wide and beautiful landscape covered on blue and green grasses, colorful flowers, wondrous forests, and big, snow-covered mountains farther away.
There were floating bubbles everywhere, containing images inside. Were these dreams? Thoughts? Memories? I couldn't tell right away, but they might have had something to do with everything.
Far away from where we were, passing over a gigantic lake, there was a blue castle, made entirely out of blue-colored metal.
"That's the tomb of Aquarius. And this is the Dungeon of Dreams. It was created with his own Dream Realm and the powers of the Stigmas…" Sighed Sapphire.
"So how do we get there? Do we just walk?" Wondered Miranda.
"Oh no, we must first face the three trials." Sapphire said. "And look, the first one is already beginning."
In front of us, millions of these bubbles started gathering and fusing together into something…
FLAAASH!
