PREVIOUSLY
Chi was the primary energy, and life-force of every world. While there were many alternative names for it, chi was the original name given to the life-force of the world by the first finders in all the myriad realms. Sadly, they got wiped out by the biggest scum in history but Elm had to admit that in terms of searching for someone, as long as you were in a world, chi was the best energy for it.
And so, as Pochi tried his best to stop a few quips here and there, Elm focused all of her chi into finding the person who was watching her.
And yet, there was no one. But, that couldn't be right. Her instincts couldn't and were never wrong. Oddly enough, even though she couldn't find anyone meaning harm or even watching her, with chi, she still couldn't shake off the instinct that she was being watched.
And then, it hit her. Maybe it wasn't a someone, and more, something.
With that thought, inside her head, a blinking red dot appeared on her radar. It was in the Northern outskirts. They had walked into the radial range of a dungeon.
Focusing more on the dungeon, she could feel that it wasn't really the typical dungeon that spew out monsters and invited daring adventurers inside, but more like, it was living. Like, there was a soul inside that dungeon that was sentient, angry, and lost.
The Dungeon was moving.
***
When the Dungeon felt Elm's stare on it, it flared up it's aura even more. And, the whole ruins shook.
ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!
"What is this pressure?" Pochi said, gasping within breaths. "It's so. . .angry. How could anything, no, anyone be this angry?"
Elm was quick to move. With a wave of her hand, she covered herself and Pochi with a skin-tight body armour of light. Doused in a sheen of glorious light, Pochi took in a deep breath of air, thanking Elm for the help.
"Thank-"
"We're moving."
"Wha-"
Immediately, Pochi had been grabbed and placed inside one of Elm's pocket as she blitzed through the ruins. Elm was moving at the lower notches of her speed, since she didn't want to flash past the entire ruins and also, she didn't really want Pochi puking his little guts over her clothes.
Pochi, on the other hand, could barely keep up with what was going on. From his view, everything was just colors and spots that flashed past his eyes. Elm had been speeding through the ruins, attempting to reach the northside, as she propelled herself with her legs that were more like springs and treads, thrusting her ahead like a rocket.
"Ugh, I am so going to puke after this," Pochi said, and felt another one knocking on the back of his throat. "Oh, Jesus Christ."
"We're here."
But luckily for Pochi, just as he was about to puke, he felt the world stop, no longer the rush of colors, sight and sound anymore. Dizzily, he got out of Elm's pocket, and sneaked a peek.
They were up on a tree, so perfectly hidden within it's thick ashy-colored leaves that honestly weirded Pochi the hell out, but it served as good camouflage for Pochi and Elm to see what exactly was going on. While still dizzy, and a body that trembled like an antenna, he stared down at what could only be described as a portal with legs.
"What. . .the. ." Pochi heard a disgusting whoosh, as it ate a pillar of bones, presumably other misfortune beings who happened upon the sentient dungeon's lair. "Fuck."
Around them, there was architecture that reminded Pochi of mayan civilization, but at a massive scale, to the point that he felt like an insignificant human who had stumbled onto a wonder of the world. It was like being inside of a massive snail shell and gazing into the depth of its spiraled chambers.
Seriously, when was the blessing by Old Whiskers going to kick in?! He really needed to get big, now!
Elm's senses as the Celestial Hero told her that she needed to get rid of this. . .thing. No, more specifically, she needed to put it out of its misery. She looked at how the sentient dungeon was holding a hammer, and a sword, and she had an inkling of who this dungeon had been.
"Well, what do you think?" Pochi asked.
"We go down," Elm said.
"What if it's a trap?"
"And, what if it is?" Elm asked, confidently.
"It's always been a motto of mine to check things over twice, before engaging with them. And that," Pochi pointed his snout at the walking portal. "Is something I really think you shouldn't mess with."
BOOM!
Pochi saw what the Sentient Dungeon had just done, and was prepared to even beg if it meant they got the fuck out of here.
"Um, Singularity. The thing just broke time-space because a building was in it's path," Pochi whispered with urgency. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but light can't escape through a black-hole so let's get the fuck out of here!"
Unfortunately, Pochi took a look at Elm's face, and he knew that she wasn't going to give up. It was a nifty little trick he picked up along the way, being able to read Elm's otherwise stoic face with a glance, and he would even dare say he was the first one to have that little skill.
But, focusing on the matter at hand, Pochi looked at Elm, and at the sentient dungeon and really wondered if she could beat the thing. While it hadn't been long since he'd met Elm, he had enough of his wits to know that even she wouldn't come out unscathed fighting against that thing, especially since it was an absolute counter to her most basic and primal power of light.
Everyone knew that even light couldn't escape through a black-hole, that was basic science!
A dark thought flashed past his mind. He wondered if it was finally time to bid farewell to the little Hero and sneak out while they were fighting, to save his own skin. After all, it hadn't been long since he was born, and he really wanted to live a little longer than a few months in this world.
There was so much he was promised for after all. If he survived long enough, according to his promise with that being, he would be able to eat dragons and gods for breakfast!
"A surprise attack."
". . .What?" Pochi asked. "That's your big plan against the living, floating black-hole in front of our eyes? The thing that just erased a whole space from existence? Singularity, let us rethink our plan against that thing, please."
Pochi was frantic now. "I mean, there's nothing that thing has that's worth endangering our lives for!" He tried to wriggle out of Elm's pocket, but failed, cursing his super small body. One day, just one day, he was going to be big enough to devour worlds!
"A surprise attack." Elm gathered light into her hands, and from it, she formed a spear.
'Fuck, she's not listening!' Pochi's inherent sense of danger spiked suddenly, to the point his serpentine body got goosebumps. He looked down to see that the living dungeon was staring straight at them. 'Fuck, he's listening!'
"Boom."
Suddenly, thunder boomed in Pochi's ears. He closed his ears from the loud crackle of lightning, but opened his eyes to see that in just a flash, the spear of light had been enlodged deep into the sentient dungeon.
But then, the sentient dungeon grew arms of black, and just. . .erased the light. Erased fucking matter made of light.
Pochi's regeneration factor kicked in, and his ears didn't sound so deaf anymore. The ringing faded away in his ears. "Um, so your surprise attack didn't work so well, did it, Singularity?"
"What do you say to my plan of getting the fuck out of here, eh?" Pochi mused with a smile, because he was sure of his death the moment he heard the sentient dungeon roar at them. It would have been terrifying. . .if he hadn't seen the look on Elm's face.
A smile. A fucking smile on the woman whose face barely twitched in the few weeks they'd been together.
She was deadset on fighting the thing.
"Fuck me."