From one of them pours a steady stream of crystal-clear water, cascading over the side in a waterfall that scatters into mist as it plunges into the bottomless depths below. So obsessed am I with what’s in front of me, I almost don’t realise what it is my eyes are telling me lies to the left and right.
And the answer is more mountains, two more in fact, just as colossal as the first. Is this the layout of the fourth stratum? Impossible mountains, the bottomless valleys between, and the absurd floating islands in the sky? This is absolutely ridiculous! And I thought the third was weird!
[Hmmmmm. Welcome to the fourth stratum. I believe this is your first visit?] a powerful mind connects to my own and rumbles in my head.
I continue to stare ahead, soaking in this incredible vista.
[Yep, first time. No matter what someone tells you, it doesn’t really prepare you for actually seeing the real thing, does it?]
[Indeed, no. Though, if you really want to be impressed, you should more closely examine the mountain that lies beneath your feet.]
I suppose I’m standing on a mountain also, aren’t I? I can’t exactly tell how tall it is, since I can neither see the bottom nor the top, but perhaps I’m roughly a third of the way up? I do wonder what’s so special about this one that the Grove Keeper would point it out. Downwards is the only direction I can’t see all that clearly. I can see what is next to me, sure, but not what’s beneath my feet. I tilt to the side a little and examine the mountain I stand upon.
Except it isn’t a mountain.
“What?” I mutter to myself.
It doesn’t feel like dirt or stone, it’s softer than I think it should be, and the colour isn’t what I would have expected.
I turn around.
“NO. SHOT.”
It’s a tree. The tree. In place of the mountain is a gnarled tangle of roots so massive, so thick, I thought I was standing on a flat slope. Hundreds of thousands of these rise from deep in the earth and collect at the base of an absurd trunk that must have a circumference in the kilometres, which rises up and vanishes into the cloud and mist overhead.
[Is that the Mother Tree?] I ask stupidly.
[Of course,] the Grove Keeper’s thoughts glow with pride.
I slip into my mana sense, then shut it off. The amount of energy flowing through this tree is boggling, simply boggling, running up through the roots and converging within the heart of the tree. I had no idea it was possible to get this strong!
[Is the Mother Tree an Ancient?] I ask. I feel like I have to check!
The Grove Keeper stares at me in surprise.
[No, of course not. Mighty she may be, but she cannot compare to those creatures.]
I swear by every fibre in the holy white beard that the tree wiggles in laughter at me. Wiggles!
[I came here to save your butt,] I grumble openly, slapping a leg down on the root beneath me, [no need to laugh at me!]
[Hmmm. If you would come with me, I will direct you and your siblings to the conflict. The termites have not attacked us over the surface, it is through the tunnels at the roots of the mountains that they strike.]
By now, thousands of ants have gathered outside the gate, absorbing their surroundings in traditional ant silence, though I’ve little doubt my siblings are just as awed as I am. Just as we turn to follow the guidance of the Grove Keeper, a faint sound sends my antennae swaying through the air. That sound had definitely come from above, and was reminiscent of something I would really rather not see.
[Hey there, Keeper, do you guys all have the same name, by the way? Never mind that, I just wanted to ask if you knew what caused that sound?]
[Sky Wyrm.]
[SKY WYRM? As in, a dragon?!]
[Hmmm, no. As in a Sky Wyrm. I do not know this dragon of which you speak.]
I nervously clean my antennae as I keep my eyes trained on the sky above. Sky Wyrm sounds a hell of a lot like a dragon to me. If it sounds like a dragon, then it might well look like a dragon, and at that point, I don’t particularly care what you call it, I don’t want any part of it.
With a final glance upward, I follow along with the rest of the group as the Grove Keeper leads us confidently downward, eventually walking through a gap between two roots and then within the tangle. What I expected to be nothing more than a cramped maze of building-sized roots was actually a surprisingly verdant and well-lit cavern in which the bruan’chii made their homes. The wood of their parent has been shaped into all sorts of abodes, and a strange glowing fungus suffuses the scene with a warm light. There are hundreds of the tree people here, abiding together in the quiet manner of their kind. Here and there, the larger Keepers stroll, the plants glittering with energy and life wherever they go.
[This is Aruatha, one of our settlements. The main front isn’t far from here. Mother wishes for you to use this place to house your siblings, though we ask that you do not dig or use the roots as materials.]
[I mean… obviously.]
As much as not digging pains us, we aren’t going to start eating the wood. How would that make us different from the termite scum?!
78. The Thing That Should Not Be
Suffer not the termite to live.
[No, we don’t need to get settled or any such thing. We came to kill termites, so lead us to the front. We are keen to begin the work,] I tell the Grove Keeper, who seems a little disconcerted.
[You should adapt to the mana level before fighting,] he warns me, his slow, deep tones ringing in my head. [You aren’t used to what it’s like on this level. It can affect things in strange ways.]
He’s not wrong about the mana level, it feels as if it’s so thick I could swim in it. My legs are on fire, sucking incredibly dense energy out of the ground, which isn’t even the Dungeon, I’m just pulling it from the roots of the Mother Tree! What it feels like to actually step on the Dungeon floor where the veins are present… I can’t begin to imagine.
[My people hunger to taste termite, and even I may not be able to hold them back,] I confess to the large wooden figure. [It is best that you lead us to the enemy, otherwise we will run there on our own.]
He frowns down at me.
[I did not realise your kind were so bloodthirsty.]
[You’ve never seen an insect fight another insect? Best not get between them.]
Ever since we came beneath the surface and amongst the roots of the tree, I could sense a savage mentality rising amongst my siblings. And, if I’m honest, within myself also. The termites! They’re so close now! The hated enemy, the war that has lasted on Earth for over a hundred million years. Only one social insect shall be allowed to prosper, the resources of the Dungeon belong to the unending swarm of the Colony! We will not allow these rivals to exist!
Somewhat disturbed, the Keeper leads us away from the settlement and the nervously peeking bruan’chii who watch a force of ten thousand mighty insects march past their community, each one burning with the need to fight.