Erend stood there longer than he realized, staring at the carved Dragon as confusion settled deeper into his brain.
The mural did not feel like a warning or a threat. It felt like a record. Like the city was telling him what it had been, not accusing him of anything, but demanding to be acknowledged. This painting had been created after the disaster.
He could not understand why the Dungeon would show him this, or why it chose now, at this level, to abandon its usual monsters and replace it with this silence and mory.
His eyes moved back to the Dragon’s wings that stretched wide over the city below.
"Was this a Dragon ruling them, or sothing closer to a god?" he wondered.
The thought unsettled him more than any monster he ever faced. He was a Dragonborn himself that was created in an unnatural way by the System. If Dragons had ruled cities, or even this world even, then Dragonborn had not simply appeared one day as anomalies or weapons. While he didn’t even know where this world was located before appeared inside the Dungeon World.
The Dragonborn had existed since a ti beyond record. Active, influential, and possibly feared.
"How many of us were there," he thought. "And what did we do?"
The absence of monsters made him anxious. The Dungeon felt like it was deliberately telling him this.
"Veyrun," Erend said quietly, reaching inside his soul.
[System proxy acknowledged.] Veyrun replied. Erend felt like he had been awakened in the middle of his sleep.
"Why is there no monster here?" he asked. "And why did the Dungeon change like this?"
There was a brief pause.
[At higher Dungeon levels, Dungeon Worlds begin revealing relevant information to the host of the System power.]
Erend blinked. His breath hitched. "Relevant information?"
[Yes.]
"The System or you never told that," he said.
[That was because you never asked. And the System power determines the ti of showing it when we think when the hosts are ready.]
Erend stared at the mural again, realization slowly taking shape. The Dungeon was really no longer testing his strength. It was giving him clues. And it had decided that he was finally ready to see what had existed long before him.
Erend did not step away imdiately. He moved deeper into the structure, drawn forward by a pull he could not explain.
More murals revealed themselves as he brushed away sand and debris. So showed the sa Dragon from different angles, not always looming, sotis coiled around spires, sotis resting at the center of gatherings.
Other murals depicted Dragonborn standing beside people that looked like the Elves and figures he did not recognize. This ti, their scales were carved with care rather than fear.
A few minutes of searching later, he found fragnts of artifacts embedded in stone alcoves. It was a shattered staff with a Dragon motif wrapped around its shaft.
A cracked tablet etched with symbols that repeated across several walls, as if marking a shared belief or law. None of it felt random.
Everything connected, forming pieces of a larger story he could sense but not yet grasp.
Confusion filled his brain, but curiosity also felt stronger.
"This isn’t just a normal ruin," he thought. "It’s a record that survived its own end. I need to know what happened here."
Then another thought cut through him sharply.
Level 60. The corruption waiting there. The thing he knew he had to destroy.
He clenched his fist and exhaled slowly because the ti mattered.
"Veyrun," he said again, urgency creeping into his voice. "What do I need to do to leave this level?"
[To proceed, the host must uncover significant clues.]
Erend frowned. "Clues to what?"
[To formulate the true history of this location.]
His jaw tightened. "You’re telling I can’t just move on?"
[You can. But doing so would result in incomplete data. Thus, you will not get the important information you need in the future.]
"In the future..." Erend glanced back at the murals, at the Dragon’s unblinking stone eyes. Veyrun’s words just sounded ominous.
He understood then. The Dungeon was not forcing him. It was offering him a choice. Power alone would carry him forward, but understanding would change how he used it.
"So this is what I got from reaching higher levels," he thought. "Not just strength... but knowledge and responsibility."
He straightened, and determination settled into place. He would move faster and gather what he could as soon as possible. And reached Level 60.
Erend stepped out of the structure and scanned the ruined streets. The silence remained unbroken. No monsters surfaced.
"Aesa. Eccar," he called loudly.
Monts later, movent ca from opposite directions.
Aesa erged from between two collapsed buildings and approached. Eccar climbed down from a broken rooftop, landing with a soft crunch of sand and stone.
"What is it?" Eccar asked, imdiately alert. "You find sothing?"
Erend nodded. "Yeah. I need you both to see this."
Aesa narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"Sothing important," Erend said. "I found murals. About one of us."
They exchanged a look before following him back inside.
They entered the large chamber. Pale light filtered through the broken ceiling, illuminating the stone walls.
Erend led them straight to the mural.
Aesa stopped first and narrowed her eyes.
"That’s a Dragon," she said quietly.
Eccar’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the details. The worshippers, the wings stretched over the city, the Dragonborn figures carved beside the kneeling people.
Aesa swallowed. "They’re Dragonborn."
Eccar frowning. "You’re telling this place worships Dragons. And Dragonborn stood with them."
Erend watched their reactions carefully. Confusion mirrored his own.
"I talked to the power," Erend said. "This level isn’t about fighting. At higher levels, the Dungeon starts revealing information relevant to the host of the System power. This is a replica of a world outside this Dungeon."
Eccar turned sharply. "Information?"
"Yes."
Aesa looked back at the Dragon’s eyes carved into the wall. "So this isn’t just a normal level like before. It’s sothing we’re supposed to understand?"
Erend nodded. "To move forward properly, we need to find significant clues to form the real story behind this place."
"And if we don’t?" Eccar asked.
"We can still move on," Erend said. "But we’ll be missing sothing important. Sothing we’ll need later."
Erend’s expression hardened. "There’s a source of corruption in level 60. We still have to destroy it quickly. Which ans we don’t have the luxury of taking our ti."
Eccar sighed. "Alright. So we search fast."
"Exactly," Erend said. "We gather what we can, piece together the story, then move on."
"Let’s find the rest of it," Aesa said.
Erend glanced once more at the mural before turning away.
—
User Comments
0 comments from readers