(Drake's POV)
After having eaten, we decided to move forwards right away. It wouldn't be right to sit around and rest to our heart's content when we don't even know how the people that monster captured are currently.
Even if they're dead… we need to get them back quickly, maybe I could work something out and even revive them, but that's only possible if their deaths are within a short time frame, less than an hour maybe…
Nonetheless, I would rather continue advancing on this Dungeon's last level and think about that later, once we finally face what had truly happened to them.
If I ever speak this out loud, Tyrannus and the warriors might lose their morale, and Emerald too, seeing how attached he was to the people of that village.
Hmm, he sort of reminds me of Surtr in that regard, someone attached to the people of a small village, completely different than us dragons, that gave them company and love.
I guess I'm not so different myself either…
Is this our nature as dragons? To seek company despite how we are fated to be lonely beings. Finding friends even in those that aren't even our kin.
It is indeed something we share in common between Surtr, Emerald, and I…
I've only meet this kid for like two days, but I guess he has been growing on me a bit, he has been showing his hard work.
But what's coming next will be even harder, I need him to be well prepared.
"Zero…"
As we walked out of the hall where we were having a meal, I called Zero, the Dungeon Spirit of the Dungeon Demon's first inheritance.
"Yes, Master?" Zero asked, emerging at my side on his humanoid-like form, made of white light and without any features other than that.
"Can you sense the other Dungeon Spirit?" I asked. "Is it really here?"
"It is…" Zero nodded. "We've already seen many memories of someone that was a dear friend of my master. I've beginning to think that this Dungeon might have been created not only for master to pass on his legacy, but also for his friend, Jonathan."
"So?" I asked.
"My fellow Dungeon Spirit must be within the Dungeon Core… Though, I'm not sure what has happened to him. He would had already appeared by now but… I feel unease." Sighed Zero. "It feels like whatever Lord Jonathan was creating… has somehow taken over my fellow brother."
"Aren't you bothered about it? You seem perfectly calm to me." I wondered.
"I… Well, it is difficult for me." Zero admitted. "I am hoping that… nothing wrong has happened to him, truly. But… if something did go wrong, it would mean that my master's inheritance would be ruined, and that the powers left behind could unleash a catastrophe if left alone."
"Then?" I asked.
"Then… If my fellow Dungeon Spirit… cannot go back to how he was originally created and remains… fused with that thing. Then… It would be for the best to eliminate him." Zero sighed. "Is this what you wanted to hear, master?"
"…I wanted your opinion." I sighed. "I've been considering the same possibility, but I didn't wanted to do it all without asking you first. You've been a competent ally that manages all my Dungeons, it was only natural for me to ask your opinion first."
"I see…" Zero seemed saddened about this entire tragedy, something that this inheritance had never been intended for.
"Here we are." I said, looking at the next gate. "Let's go."
Everyone nodded silently, already accustomed to the visions. The vine-covered gates opened, as we entered the hall inside.
FLAAASH!
And we found ourselves once more watching the visions of the past…
.
.
.
The World was in total chaos, no matter how much they fought, it always felt like things were only going to get worse.
Jonathan kept working harder than anybody else, both fighting and on his research. Not only was he investigating ways to purify Miasma, but also created all sorts of magical and highly technological tools.
By combining his Technomancy with the Magic of this world, he made it possible for the people to defend themselves with greater armor and equipment.
And with the Dungeons created by Takeru, the people had both shelter and armies of monsters to rely on against the menace of the Chaotic Plane.
However, as time went by, he kept finding out that Oberon was moving in the shadows, doing things in the background.
The man that had ascended into the first ever Venerable of the world, had not only betrayed his friends and his brother to reach this far, but had destroyed the Kingdom where he was born, and had liberated the Chaotic Entities from their Realm to enter Yggdrasil and invade it.
Despite their efforts to fend off the invasion and close the portal, no results were being given, and despair was quickly beginning to fill everyone's hearts.
All while Oberon didn't even engage on a fight with them unless he was chased by them. He would simply watch from afar, as the world was slowly torn apart.
He kept learning about this world as he researched his things, learning about why this world was the way it was, about its ancient mythology, about the gods.
All of these fantastical things made him feel in awe, and even on how ridiculous everything was, he couldn't help but feel some sort of connection between his own world and this one.
"Was I summoned in the future? Within a world that the Last Child helped to create?" He wondered many times, looking at the gigantic tree that maintained the entire world. "Could that tree… Could this Yggdrasil, truly be…?"
However, no matter how hard he tried to communicate with the tree, he was unable to. And when he attempted to get closer, an invisible barrier of power would always keep him away.
The tree was wary of all invaders… It would never let anybody get closer to it, even less when the world was undergoing such a chaotic age.
"Yggdrasil…" He sighed, looking into the seedlings he had created, made from fragments of Yggdrasil he had been given by his Summoner, the last Prince of the largest Kingdom of Alfheim before his brother, Oberon, destroyed it.
"This tree, no matter how much I analyze it… I cannot find the same components that the original tree we sent into space had." He wondered.
["It might simply be completely different, Professor… To begin with, such speculation was too ridiculous to believe."]
"Maybe…" Jonathan sighed. "Maybe I can't find answers no matter how hard I try. But… At the very least, we can do something right now."
Several large glass tubes were overflowing with bright and dark energies, four test subjects he have been working on for years were finally reaching their last stage.
"After years… Finally, we've finally… found it. With this… We will be able to help Yggdrasil clean the world from the Miasma infecting it." Jonathan smiled; his eyes filled with hope.
"Jonathan…" Takeru was right at his side. "Is this what you've been working all this time? Incredible… Maybe with this… And my Dungeons…"
"Our first step must be to clean this world from the Miasma infecting it, so Yggdrasil can regain her strength." Jonathan said. "I want to believe you're the same child I sent to the stars back then… And as a father, I cannot let you perish. Jessica wouldn't forgive me for that, wouldn't she?"
