Dungeon Robotics 131

Evening everyone! How's the week been treating everyone? 

Louella

I jumped as Regan addressed me. After what I had just witnessed, I knew that if anyone could help me it would be him, but that still didn’t help to control the nervousness I felt of meeting the only person I could remember. As soon as I saw him, the vague image I had solidified into a striking image.

“Are you… Are you able to help me?” I asked concerned. “Everyone else said it would require going to a source of great mana.”

Regan bent down to look me in the eyes. “Yes. I can see where they’re coming from. That’s actually a good idea.” He paused and I felt like he was looking into my soul. “My question is why you are allowing the mana to fight over you?”

“What do you mean? I haven’t had much say in the matter.” I peered inside myself to watch the flaming pillars form from the globes of floating magma that were in between the two oceans of mana. Arcs of lightning would lurch from the oceans and strike the pillars. After I had found the staff, it had calmed down, but being in the dense mana of the dungeon had caused it to start acting up again.

“It is your body. Even if the manas appear different, they are from the same source. Namely, you.”

“I thought Glorious put the fire mana inside me?” I asked and turned to Nero who was the one that said as such.

“If he put mana inside you it would have killed you. No, he might have changed your shell a bit, but the soul and the mind are the ones that control the mana. He just made the conducting material better suited to fire rather than lightning.”

I screwed up my face as I tried to understand what he told me. It was best to think of it like metal conducting lightning. Some did it better than others. Like how my staff was made from silver which could conduct lightning every well. I paused as I thought about how I knew that.

Turning back to Regan after coming out of my thoughts. “I… think I understand. So, you’re telling me that since there is fire mana inside me, then I should be able to wield it just as well as the lightning mana?”

“In a nutshell,” he replied giving me a thumbs up. “Though probably not as well. You have had close to fifteen years to practice with lightning after all.”

“What exactly does this mean for me though?”

“Well I want to run a few more scans to be sure. Wouldn’t want to cause you to explode would we?”

I grimaced and shook my head at the imagery. “Please no.”

Regan looked at the rest of my group. “You guys going to be okay for a while?”

“This is one of the best rooms I’ve ever stayed it. It would be prefect if there was some wine and women,” Nero said as he leaned back in the chair. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that chair was a throne, the way he was treating it.

“I can help with the first,” Regan replied then snapped his fingers. There was a thud in the other room along with a small mana fluctuation. “I just made this place two days ago. I haven’t had time to stock it.” 

“Dungeons really are the best,” Nero said as he hopped up and moved to the kitchen.

“Now,” Regan said and held out his hand. The girl with him had a firm lock on his other arm. 

She noticed me looking. “Only for today mortal.”

I took Regan’s hand and before I could even blink, found myself in an entirely new place. While the room that we were staying in had glass and wood that made it welcoming, this place was mainly white metal and possessed a large amount of light. I had to squint to see. Regan turned and started heading down one of the hallways.

I quickly followed. There were windows that peered in on various things happening. In one room, there was what looked like a glass bowl that floated in the middle of the room. I gulped as it appeared to be full of blood. Regan must have heard me as he turned to look at it as well.

“Ah. That would be your old friend. Quin.”

“What happened? Is her blood worth that much to keep it around even if she’s no longer around?” I asked a bit disturbed.

“What?” Regan asked looking at me with a questioning expression. “Oh, right. Memory loss.” He tapped on the wall and a panel came out. “Quin. Wake up. I have guests.”

The blood started to move and a hand formed that gave the glass a rude gesture. “The blood is alive?!” I asked surprised.

“Yep. She tried to kill you a couple times so don’t worry too much about her. You got her in the end.”

“I… see.”

I closed my eyes and turned to continue following Regan. I really wanted my memories back. I was tired of not knowing what I and everyone else around me had accomplished. We eventually came to a large room that had a something set up in the center that had several disks in each direction.

“I would have moved us directly here, but I have wards set up to prevent teleporting. Had a few of my things walk out over the months from beings that don’t know not to touch things.”

“Nothing too dangerous I hope,” I said.

“Well, one was a body that I’m pretty sure a celestial took over. Not sure what said celestial’s agenda is, but I’m ramping up my celestial defenses whenever I can. Now! Let’s get to work.”

The next few hours flew by as Regan did his scans and tests. I could feel my mana act up during different tests. At times, the fire mana would be reacting, at others it would be the lightning. I did everything I was told to as I wanted to get fixed once and for all.

Finally, Regan turned off the latest machine and gave me a grin. “Alright. I’m sure we can fix you. I got three options for you.”

“Three. That’s quite a lot.”

He shrugged. “I say three but for the most part they are about the same.” He held up a finger. “First. We can channel enough electricity into you while you cultivate to flush out the fire mana. This would essentially put up back to where you were before Glorious got his hands on you. This is the safest route, and would finish your transformation into an elemental.”

I wasn’t sure about giving up my mortality, but if that was the first option, I likely didn’t have much choice. The later options were usually worse after all. “Okay, next one?”

He held up another finger. “Second, and the most dangerous one is we do the same thing only with fire mana. Your body is at tier three, and you would have to cultivate enough fire mana to replace your lightning mana. It would take several days to several months.”

I cringed at the thought of being surrounded by fire for that long a period of time. “Not that one then. The last one?” 

He dropped his hand instead of raising another finger. “Third and the option that I feel is most interesting. We combine your manas. Sadly, I’m not sure what exactly will happen.”

“Combine? How would we do that?”

“Using fire mana in conjunction with yours, I will create a micro sun. Then using your lightning mana, you will turn your body into a plasma. If you can balance the heat and the electrical charge. You could reach a power that has never been seen on this world.”

“What are my chances with this option?”

“Better than the second, but a lot less than the first.”

I thought about it then turned to him. “Can you save me if it looks like its about to fail?”

His red eyes lit up and he looked down at the girl next to him. I wasn’t sure if they were communicating or he was just thinking about it. I felt a little jealous that the girl was taking his attention but managed to ignore it with some deep breathes. Finally, he turned back to me. “It would be difficult but given our history and friendship. I will endeavor to do everything I can. Which might, I warn you, result in you getting a shiny new body like this,” he said as he tapped his chest.

I smiled at the warning. At least I will feel better going through with such a change knowing that I will still get to exist. “Very well. Option three then.”

“As always. I like your spirit. Would you like to start right away?”

I nodded. I wanted to get my memories back and I wanted to be in control of my body again. Regan led us to an even larger spherical room. “Wait here Louella. You too Alara.” He said as he motioned for me and the girl to wait while he moved to the center of the room. 

“He cares deeply for you, mortal Louella.” I jumped as that was the first time Alara had spoken to me. 

“Thank you. I’m not sure given the state of my mind but I think I care deeply for him as well.” I said watching as Regan worked. “He was the only person I remembered after all.”

Alara made a pout that was extremely cute on her. I couldn’t place her age. She looked to be just starting her womanhood, but there was something aged about her as well. “He’s mine and I will fight for him.”

“Umm. I’m not sure if it’s a romantic feeling I have. If I had to place it.” I searched my damaged and partial memories and feelings. As I told her, romantic wasn’t the world I would use when I thought about the feelings I had for Regan. They were certainly love, but different. “Maybe… fatherly? Yeah, I think I see his as a father or maybe a grandfather.”

“Parental. I don’t know that. I will have to ask Regan if that is safe,” Alara said putting her hands of her hips.

“Um, sure.”

A wave of heat interrupted the moment. I turned from Alara to see a ball of glowing light in the center of the room. Beams of energy lanced into it as I felt a magnetic field around the outside that held it all together. Words that I knew but wasn’t sure where I learned them were popping into my head one after another.

A gravitational wave echoed out next that pushed Alara and myself back a few centimeters. I gulped as I realized I would be walking into that thing. The brightness of the sphere would have been dying the room white if it weren’t for a blacking shroud that was hanging a distance from the sphere. Regan had created a spell or something similar that was pulling all the light into itself.

Regan walked back over to us with a grin. “I made it more authentic then I’d planned as I’d been wanting to create a sun here for a while but wasn’t sure of the ramification of doing so. This gave me an excuse.”

“Glad I could help,” I said staring at the sphere. The energy moving across its surface slowly. I felt like it should have been a thousand times bigger, but even at this size, was still awe inspiring.

“Is it safe?” Alara asked the question I was too afraid to ask.

“If anyone but her and maybe, three other people I knew were to get near that they would melt instantly to then be crushed. So no. It is not safe.”

“Lovely. What should I do?”

“Head into the sphere. As you move closer balance your mana. Do not try to enter until you feel you are ready. Just take your time. That beauty isn’t going anywhere.”

I gave him a nod, then turned to head toward the sphere. After a few meters, each step grew heavier. For the first time since I partially got my memories back. I started to use my mana. If it really was part of me, then they should work together to make sure I survived this.

While initially the heat didn’t faze me as I grew closer, I began to feel the effects. I used my new fire mana to pull the heat in and channel it around myself. There was a charge in the air. Using my lightning mana, I controlled that and used it to contain the heat. I was doing a decent job, but it was hard to say the energies inside me were balanced.

I took another step forward when there was another gravity wave. Before I could react, the new energy flowed into me as my lightning aura failed to repel it. I grimaced as I thought I was about to fail when I realized that the new energy was causing a reaction in my body that was in the process of breaking down. The last thing I saw was I was pulled into the sphere.