The dungeon's entrance greeted us like the open maw of a beast, ready to swallow us whole. Contrary to what I remembered it as, the hole in the mountain looked like a man-made tunnel rather than a natural cave. I had heard rumors that my former party had visited the newly born dungeon again after that twice-cursed day, indicating that it had indeed already opened to the outside world, but seeing it with my own eyes was way different from just hearing about it.
Did the girl already try to leave the dungeon? Was she that lonely and struggling that she had wasted the few resources she had on digging a way out, leaving her open and vulnerable in the process? Dungeon avatars would hardly ever leave their dungeon to begin with. Some of them certainly had the ability to do so, but such a young one would never have access to such advanced skills - not that I had any knowledge of what exactly avatars were capable of doing.
As we made our way into the darkness, I couldn’t help but think about the girl we would meet in the depths of the mountain. I had prayed to Cilia over and over again, hoping for her safety, but other than answering me with a feeling of warmth that had run all over my skin - something I had only ever heard about in myths or legends featuring the god’s chosen few - I had found out nothing about the girl’s situation. I didn’t even know her name!
Only now that I was here could I be sure that she was still alive, something I could only pray for after hearing rumors that her young dungeon had been raided by my former party. Sure, they had been unsuccessful going by the fact that only one of them had survived to tell the tale, but if the rumors had reached all the way to me, there were bound to be others in the know.
A small light soon hovered above Alfred’s hand, lighting up the smooth walls of the tunnel and my face. “Are you really okay?” He asked once he was sure he had my attention.
“I am better now.”
“I can already see the light of the first room.”
He was right. The tunnel ahead of us was illuminated by sunlight of all things. We were in the middle of the mountain, deep underground, and there was a sun shining of all things. This was clearly the work of the girl.
I could only imagine what her first room would look like: blank rock and dirt with a few goblins or slimes to guard the poor soul. Only dungeons that had existed for decades employed the help of monsters to gather the resources needed to fill their floors with life and colors, all younger ones had to rely on outside help. And who was going to help her out when barely anyone knew of her being here in the first place? She wouldn’t even have a place to sleep!
With a sigh I carried myself deeper into the tunnels and towards the artificial source of light, always following Alfred’s lead. It was only when the paladin stopped in his tracks to stare in the distance that I dared to walk past him.
What greeted me was a dark gray silhouette, its shiny metal surface reflecting the sunlight against the cavern’s walls. For a second I thought I saw a dog’s or a wolf’s shape, only to be corrected by the white tips on the statue’s ears and tail.
“A Fox?” I couldn’t help but ask aloud.
Before I knew it, I was already making my way towards the carefully shaped structure that easily topped over me by five times. It was only when I was already exploring it with my hands that I noticed the fox was made out of pure mithril, with the white parts of it being made of some kind of stone instead.
“It is warm…”
“How many are there?!” Alfred, clearly baffled.
I followed the paladin’s gaze, only to find several more of the statues surrounding what looked like a giant pavilion. The wooden structure itself protected an equally large and majestic statue from the elements, no, all of the foxes were here to protect it. Not a single one of the large, green gems they had as eyes were looking at anything else but the statue in front of them!
Before I noticed it, I was already wandering towards the pavilion, marveling at the craftsmanship its builder had put into constructing it. But my eyes were soon glued to the statue itself instead, which showed not only one figure but two instead, both of which seemed to rest on a soft bedding of fur. The larger, emerald-eyes and nine-tailed woman was wearing a dress made out of gold and silver and was in the middle of taking care of the younger, one-tailed, and seemingly sleeping one. It didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t a healer taking care of wounds but much rather a mother showing her affection. But… I knew that girl!
The sleeping girl was unmistakenly the one I had saved, her dress looking exactly the same as it had when I had seen her the last time. Sure, the statue had one made from precious metals, but I couldn’t mistake it now that I had seen it. Her face and body, too, looked exactly as I had remembered them. Only that her mimic didn’t display shock, disbelief, and pain but rather emitted an aura of deep comfort instead.
A short glance at the golden writing on the giant statue’s pedestal confirmed who exactly the nine-tailed woman was. I had already guessed it, but reading Cilia’s name and titles was a whole different deal. It meant the dungeon had formed some kind of connection to the goddess and given what the statue was showing me it was a deep one as well.
“A chosen dungeon…” I couldn’t help but mutter.
Of course, Alfred had overheard my words. He stared at me in disbelief before taking a long look at the statue’s inscription himself. His face soon displayed both disbelief and shock, then a deep determination.
“We have to tell the head priest!” It soon shot out of him.
“We still have time!”
“What do you mean we still have time?” Alfred protested. “He has to know!”
“First we should pray,” I heard myself suggest. “After that…”
“After that what?”
“I want to visit the dungeon’s avatar,” I finally confessed. “To make sure she is fine.”
“It- it has an avatar?”
“A girl. She looks just like her,” I explained before pointing at the sleeping figure.
“You knew?! Why didn’t you tell me!”
I could only sigh. It was about time I told him the truth. Still, I hesitated. While Alfred loved me, and dearly so, his duty still came first. He would tell the temple before the day had ended, regardless of what I would say. Still, a few hours, that was all that I needed.
“I wanted to buy her some time. You know how the head priest can be.”
“But the dungeon needs protection!”
“It has only been a little more than two weeks since she became the dungeon’s avatar. She still hasn’t had any time to come to terms with what that means for her!”
“She became a dungeon?”
“She was a normal human girl before! It was Cilia who saved her life and selected her as her dungeon’s avatar…”
Alfred immediately went silent. He stared at me in disbelief, before sighing himself and turning towards the statue again.
“What a mess,” I could only hear him mumble. “You will tell me everything that happened. No further lies!”
“I promise- no, I swear on Cilia’s name. No further lies!”
“I see…”
He stared at me for a while longer, seemingly searching for any flaw in my determination, but when he found none, he reluctantly let go of the matter to instead fall to his knees in front of the statue. Before I knew it, he was already praying with closed eyes.
Naturally, I did the same. The temple itself only had a stele dedicated to Cilia, which was about the size of me and had her names and titles carved into it. It couldn’t even be compared to the tall statues the other major gods had. And as most depictions of Cilia had been lost to time, war, and erosion, there was little that could be done about that in the first place. Nobody dared to create a picture or statue with the face of a god or goddess without ever seeing them in the first place. Just a tiny flaw in the depiction could cause the gods to feel displeasure or worse, and nobody was going to risk that.
For the girl to have seen her in person was a miracle at least, especially after the goddess had been lost to the world for thousands of years. This alone would cause countless pilgrims and artisans to come here just for the chance to see the goddess for themselves.
Thinking of how rare of a chance this was, I couldn’t help but smile as I closed my eyes to pray.
“Cilia, Light of Life, I have come to you with burdens on my heart. Please, Celestial Mother, sustain me with your warmth so I may strengthen my resolve and assist me in saving your child from peril and grief. I plead this of you as your devout follower, o Divine Mother.”
A soothing warmth took hold of me before I had even finished my prayer. It took ahold of my body and surrounded me to all sides before gently carrying my consciousness away. I didn’t even dare to hope to be able to explain what was happening to me, but I knew it felt right. Cilia was here with me!
- - -
When I finally came to, the gentle warmth was still embracing me. But there was more: I was resting on a soft bedding as if made out of furs. There was no hard rock under me, neither was there any coldness. Instead, I felt comfortable enough to forget about all of my worries. It was as if they hadn’t existed in the first place.
“No, I have to get to the girl and help her!”
A soft chuckle answered my thoughts, forcing me to open my eyes. I single glance was enough to confirm it had come from a woman I had only ever seen once before - in the shape of stone and precious metal. She looked exactly like the Cilia depicted by the dungeon’s statue, down to even the smallest detail! Even her golden and silvery dress was correct! The goddess, albeit having shrunk to a size similar to me, kneeled right next to me, looking at me with a gentle smile.
It didn’t take me longer than seconds to lift myself to my knees, bow down, and pray to the goddess, who only answered it with another chuckle.
“There is no need for that, my child,” she answered before placing her hand on my head to softly stroke it like my mother would do, back then when I still hadn’t joined the temple. “It's not what I called you here for.”
I only nodded before daring to open my eyes again. It was only after a few moments though that I had straightened myself again to look at the goddess's face, who readily greeted me with a smile.
“What have you- no, how can I assist you, Heavenly Mother?” I asked, my voice shaking from my nervousness.
“I am deeply grateful for you saving my dear daughter and your wish to take care of her needs and worries. There is only so much I can do for mortal matters, so having such a devout and caring child like you around lifts a huge burden from my heart. It is such that I ask of you to continue looking after her in my stead, so I needn’t worry about her safety and wellbeing.”
“It is an honor to me to be of your help, Heavenly Mother.”
“Are you really willing to accept this task?”
“Yes, Heavenly Mother!”
A sudden warmth took hold of me, gently embracing me to all sides like a blanket. It came accompanied by a green board made out of a foreign material that seemed to fly amid the air right in front of me, despite lacking the wing to do so. White letters were covering its surface, revealing to me words only ever mentioned in legends and fairy tales. But it was me they were ‘talking’ about. I had somehow gotten Cilia’s favor.
「You have been selected as the Champion of Cilia, Light of Life」
Shivers ran over my skin as I realized what this implied. But before I could stutter out a response, tell her that this was too much of a duty for a nobody like me, a sudden sleepiness took hold of me. Before I knew it, I was already lying on the white furs with Cilia gently putting me into a comfortable resting position. A soft smile was on her lips as she watched me fall asleep. What have I gotten myself into?
The dungeon's entrance greeted us like the open maw of a beast, ready to swallow us whole. Contrary to what I remembered it as, the hole in the mountain looked like a man-made tunnel rather than a natural cave. I had heard rumors that my former party had visited the newly born dungeon again after that twice-cursed day, indicating that it had indeed already opened to the outside world, but seeing it with my own eyes was way different from just hearing about it.
Did the girl already try to leave the dungeon? Was she that lonely and struggling that she had wasted the few resources she had on digging a way out, leaving her open and vulnerable in the process? Dungeon avatars would hardly ever leave their dungeon to begin with. Some of them certainly had the ability to do so, but such a young one would never have access to such advanced skills - not that I had any knowledge of what exactly avatars were capable of doing.
As we made our way into the darkness, I couldn’t help but think about the girl we would meet in the depths of the mountain. I had prayed to Cilia over and over again, hoping for her safety, but other than answering me with a feeling of warmth that had run all over my skin - something I had only ever heard about in myths or legends featuring the god’s chosen few - I had found out nothing about the girl’s situation. I didn’t even know her name!
Only now that I was here could I be sure that she was still alive, something I could only pray for after hearing rumors that her young dungeon had been raided by my former party. Sure, they had been unsuccessful going by the fact that only one of them had survived to tell the tale, but if the rumors had reached all the way to me, there were bound to be others in the know.
A small light soon hovered above Alfred’s hand, lighting up the smooth walls of the tunnel and my face. “Are you really okay?” He asked once he was sure he had my attention.
“I am better now.”
“I can already see the light of the first room.”
He was right. The tunnel ahead of us was illuminated by sunlight of all things. We were in the middle of the mountain, deep underground, and there was a sun shining of all things. This was clearly the work of the girl.
I could only imagine what her first room would look like: blank rock and dirt with a few goblins or slimes to guard the poor soul. Only dungeons that had existed for decades employed the help of monsters to gather the resources needed to fill their floors with life and colors, all younger ones had to rely on outside help. And who was going to help her out when barely anyone knew of her being here in the first place? She wouldn’t even have a place to sleep!
With a sigh I carried myself deeper into the tunnels and towards the artificial source of light, always following Alfred’s lead. It was only when the paladin stopped in his tracks to stare in the distance that I dared to walk past him.
What greeted me was a dark gray silhouette, its shiny metal surface reflecting the sunlight against the cavern’s walls. For a second I thought I saw a dog’s or a wolf’s shape, only to be corrected by the white tips on the statue’s ears and tail.
“A Fox?” I couldn’t help but ask aloud.
Before I knew it, I was already making my way towards the carefully shaped structure that easily topped over me by five times. It was only when I was already exploring it with my hands that I noticed the fox was made out of pure mithril, with the white parts of it being made of some kind of stone instead.
“It is warm…”
“How many are there?!” Alfred, clearly baffled.
I followed the paladin’s gaze, only to find several more of the statues surrounding what looked like a giant pavilion. The wooden structure itself protected an equally large and majestic statue from the elements, no, all of the foxes were here to protect it. Not a single one of the large, green gems they had as eyes were looking at anything else but the statue in front of them!
Before I noticed it, I was already wandering towards the pavilion, marveling at the craftsmanship its builder had put into constructing it. But my eyes were soon glued to the statue itself instead, which showed not only one figure but two instead, both of which seemed to rest on a soft bedding of fur. The larger, emerald-eyes and nine-tailed woman was wearing a dress made out of gold and silver and was in the middle of taking care of the younger, one-tailed, and seemingly sleeping one. It didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t a healer taking care of wounds but much rather a mother showing her affection. But… I knew that girl!
The sleeping girl was unmistakenly the one I had saved, her dress looking exactly the same as it had when I had seen her the last time. Sure, the statue had one made from precious metals, but I couldn’t mistake it now that I had seen it. Her face and body, too, looked exactly as I had remembered them. Only that her mimic didn’t display shock, disbelief, and pain but rather emitted an aura of deep comfort instead.
A short glance at the golden writing on the giant statue’s pedestal confirmed who exactly the nine-tailed woman was. I had already guessed it, but reading Cilia’s name and titles was a whole different deal. It meant the dungeon had formed some kind of connection to the goddess and given what the statue was showing me it was a deep one as well.
“A chosen dungeon…” I couldn’t help but mutter.
Of course, Alfred had overheard my words. He stared at me in disbelief before taking a long look at the statue’s inscription himself. His face soon displayed both disbelief and shock, then a deep determination.
“We have to tell the head priest!” It soon shot out of him.
“We still have time!”
“What do you mean we still have time?” Alfred protested. “He has to know!”
“First we should pray,” I heard myself suggest. “After that…”
“After that what?”
“I want to visit the dungeon’s avatar,” I finally confessed. “To make sure she is fine.”
“It- it has an avatar?”
“A girl. She looks just like her,” I explained before pointing at the sleeping figure.
“You knew?! Why didn’t you tell me!”
I could only sigh. It was about time I told him the truth. Still, I hesitated. While Alfred loved me, and dearly so, his duty still came first. He would tell the temple before the day had ended, regardless of what I would say. Still, a few hours, that was all that I needed.
“I wanted to buy her some time. You know how the head priest can be.”
“But the dungeon needs protection!”
“It has only been a little more than two weeks since she became the dungeon’s avatar. She still hasn’t had any time to come to terms with what that means for her!”
“She became a dungeon?”
“She was a normal human girl before! It was Cilia who saved her life and selected her as her dungeon’s avatar…”
Alfred immediately went silent. He stared at me in disbelief, before sighing himself and turning towards the statue again.
“What a mess,” I could only hear him mumble. “You will tell me everything that happened. No further lies!”
“I promise- no, I swear on Cilia’s name. No further lies!”
“I see…”
He stared at me for a while longer, seemingly searching for any flaw in my determination, but when he found none, he reluctantly let go of the matter to instead fall to his knees in front of the statue. Before I knew it, he was already praying with closed eyes.
Naturally, I did the same. The temple itself only had a stele dedicated to Cilia, which was about the size of me and had her names and titles carved into it. It couldn’t even be compared to the tall statues the other major gods had. And as most depictions of Cilia had been lost to time, war, and erosion, there was little that could be done about that in the first place. Nobody dared to create a picture or statue with the face of a god or goddess without ever seeing them in the first place. Just a tiny flaw in the depiction could cause the gods to feel displeasure or worse, and nobody was going to risk that.
For the girl to have seen her in person was a miracle at least, especially after the goddess had been lost to the world for thousands of years. This alone would cause countless pilgrims and artisans to come here just for the chance to see the goddess for themselves.
Thinking of how rare of a chance this was, I couldn’t help but smile as I closed my eyes to pray.
“Cilia, Light of Life, I have come to you with burdens on my heart. Please, Celestial Mother, sustain me with your warmth so I may strengthen my resolve and assist me in saving your child from peril and grief. I plead this of you as your devout follower, o Divine Mother.”
A soothing warmth took hold of me before I had even finished my prayer. It took ahold of my body and surrounded me to all sides before gently carrying my consciousness away. I didn’t even dare to hope to be able to explain what was happening to me, but I knew it felt right. Cilia was here with me!
- - -
When I finally came to, the gentle warmth was still embracing me. But there was more: I was resting on a soft bedding as if made out of furs. There was no hard rock under me, neither was there any coldness. Instead, I felt comfortable enough to forget about all of my worries. It was as if they hadn’t existed in the first place.
“No, I have to get to the girl and help her!”
A soft chuckle answered my thoughts, forcing me to open my eyes. I single glance was enough to confirm it had come from a woman I had only ever seen once before - in the shape of stone and precious metal. She looked exactly like the Cilia depicted by the dungeon’s statue, down to even the smallest detail! Even her golden and silvery dress was correct! The goddess, albeit having shrunk to a size similar to me, kneeled right next to me, looking at me with a gentle smile.
It didn’t take me longer than seconds to lift myself to my knees, bow down, and pray to the goddess, who only answered it with another chuckle.
“There is no need for that, my child,” she answered before placing her hand on my head to softly stroke it like my mother would do, back then when I still hadn’t joined the temple. “It's not what I called you here for.”
I only nodded before daring to open my eyes again. It was only after a few moments though that I had straightened myself again to look at the goddess's face, who readily greeted me with a smile.
“What have you- no, how can I assist you, Heavenly Mother?” I asked, my voice shaking from my nervousness.
“I am deeply grateful for you saving my dear daughter and your wish to take care of her needs and worries. There is only so much I can do for mortal matters, so having such a devout and caring child like you around lifts a huge burden from my heart. It is such that I ask of you to continue looking after her in my stead, so I needn’t worry about her safety and wellbeing.”
“It is an honor to me to be of your help, Heavenly Mother.”
“Are you really willing to accept this task?”
“Yes, Heavenly Mother!”
A sudden warmth took hold of me, gently embracing me to all sides like a blanket. It came accompanied by a green board made out of a foreign material that seemed to fly amid the air right in front of me, despite lacking the wing to do so. White letters were covering its surface, revealing to me words only ever mentioned in legends and fairy tales. But it was me they were ‘talking’ about. I had somehow gotten Cilia’s favor.
「You have been selected as the Champion of Cilia, Light of Life」
Shivers ran over my skin as I realized what this implied. But before I could stutter out a response, tell her that this was too much of a duty for a nobody like me, a sudden sleepiness took hold of me. Before I knew it, I was already lying on the white furs with Cilia gently putting me into a comfortable resting position. A soft smile was on her lips as she watched me fall asleep. What have I gotten myself into?
