The split double doors close behind us, and the massive archway compacts back in on itself. The unfathomable amount of bright flashing ether commands dull, then reverts to only lines and dots in my vision. Seconds later, every sign of its existence completely disappears.
Not only does this archway deactivate, but so does the overwhelming pressure of Primordial Aura and the sensation of being watched pouring down from the trees.
I turn around, and to my utter surprise, I see dark brown bark and bright lush leaves overhead.
My gaze focuses on every tree we passed on our way here, and they all appear in my vision as normal vibrant organisms. There are no longer any auras or energy waves stopping me from seeing their real form.
In fact... I can't sense their outlines at all. This is only a visual I can see. My probing aura stops only a few hundred kilometers away, slamming against an invisible barrier where the archway was. It makes out faded lines and dots where shielding commands are blocking this domain from the outside garden.
Instantly, I feel another internal change.
My soul bond with Ember grows far weaker, like this barrier is limiting its reach. In the depths of my soul, it's still stable, but the direction and potency have been padded out similarly to the sensation I felt when I first limited my senses from their highest state.
A smile creeps onto my face as I realize Ember must be in one of these domains too.
I turn back around and follow the black winding path inward, following the Black Ogre with even more curiosity in my eyes now. This is because many other identical True Purple Cored Ogres are lined up on the sides of this road, bowing to him as we pass.
Every single one of them has a dark astral form layered with an internal mana-based greater form. They're all extremely impressive, standing a few hundred million kilometers tall each, and many wavering with their own royal Vibrations and Primordial Aura. However, none come close to our guide's size and power.
Large structures begin popping up at the sides of this road. Some look like towers, and others look like battle stadiums. The majority appear to be houses for small amounts of Ogres to live in at once.
They're made of dark brown wood, with light green leaves used as additional building material. Most of them are held together by thin lines and dots shimmering with high-quality ether. I can't tell exactly what all these commands do.
The further we travel in, the more Ogres I watch stop what they're doing and show respect to the Black Ogre floating down this winding path.
Some look up from friendly spars in these arenas, others appear to be working on crafting or altering their soul weapons.
I even see a few Ogres hovering in circles, waving their hands in front of one another, and the faint outlines of High-Quality Ether commands are being formed and altered. Either they're teaching a class, or practicing some kind of array casting techniques with each other.
Some sit at the bases of a few trees with their eyes closed and legs crossed; meditating in groups. There are plenty of structures with closed doors housing True Cores, but none that I can see into to tell what exactly they're doing.
We travel past dozens of structures, hundreds of Ogres, and about five large trees before the scenery starts changing.
There is a massive hole in the road before us, and deep gashes in the roots of the next few trees are extremely apparent. Destroyed structures are left vacant, and the sounds of training and teaching are left far behind us.
The further in we travel, the worse the damage to the surroundings gets. There are even large chunks of the tree's trunks missing and enormous craters that span tens of trillions of kilometers, obliterating the road. Even the destroyed structures appear less and less as we travel in this far.
The Black Ogre keeps moving forward, following the curving path where the road used to be, and meeting back up with it where fractured parts of it still lie on the ground.
He eventually slows down over a clear strip of road that isn't cracked, between two massive trees, then turns around to look at us again.
"This should be secure enough for us to speak without being monitored. Please, explain what kind of legacy you came across to make it here without the Imperials being notified... Was it one of the Overseer Races? Or just an Elite like ours?"
He looks at us with a studied gaze, but there is truly only curiosity behind his eyes. Without the cover of white mist or a glow of ether commands, I can see their true grey color beneath. This is a warrior that has lost everything, and is only trying to protect what he has left.
Still, while he may be accepting, I'm still hesitant to tell the truth.
"The Legacy itself? I don't know much about it... we stumbled upon it a few zones below this one. I couldn't tell the difference between an Overseer and an Elite's Legacy if there were two right in front of me."
I pause for a moment and look around at the destruction he just brought us through, then back at him. "What caused all of this...? Are there enemies inside your domain?"
He smiles, but the sadness in his eyes doesn't leave.
"There were enemies. Not long ago, actually. But, I managed to fend them off. The Imperial's Outer Guard have a domain nearby. Just three of them managed to cause this much damage before I could handle it."
I sense no deception in his words or aura. Without showing some trust and giving him some information back, I doubt this will go smoothly. Maria and I send messages back and forth with telepathy to decide on our new course of action.
His eyes tighten to gauge my reaction, but I'm not the one to reply.
"Well—It looks like we're on the same side after all then. I'm Maria."
"I'm Jay. Sorry to see the Royal Family still gives you trouble up here..."
We both nod, and tense up to get ready for anything; but the expected result happens.
"You may call me Ulgar. I'm the last of the Original Generation of my Elite Clan, The Black Ogres. It seems we are on the same side... opposed to the Demons. It is just jarring to see new lifeforms up here. I thought our era was the last to ascend. The only naturally occurring lower races in the garden are the chameleons and the swarms. Though, they aren't exactly what I would consider living beings like us."
Relief washes through us, and Maria is the first to reply.
"What do you mean they aren't living beings like us? Are they holograms? Fake monsters?"
She looks my way, remembering the descriptions of Celia's Divine construct I mentioned, making us both wonder if we're trapped in another pocket world like it... or that they're all possibly automated avatars in a surveillance dome like the green zone's grand citadel; but Ulgar's response says otherwise.
"Oh no. They're as real as you and I. Their lifespan has just run out. It's a technique used to sacrifice certain parts of your soul in order to break the limits of natural mortality. Of course, a strong enough glyph imprint is necessary, and you'll never grow stronger once you choose that path. But they will never die. It's rumored some of the swarms are from the Dryad's Era."
I question him next.
"So that's why I couldn't sense them... like they had no soul... or weren't even connected to the system at all..."
Ulgar smiles wider, and a glint of nostalgia shows in his eyes.
"Yes, it's common for the lower lifespan races to do so near the end of their natural life. There were a large amount of elves that transitioned a while back... Then again, I don't get much news of the other areas of the Garden. Our Clan is only closely affiliated with a White Griffin Domain and a Fiery Mammoth Clan holding two domains nearby. The only visits we get are warnings of new Imperial raids or the Demons coming to wipe us out themselves."
A light wave of despair flows back into his gaze, but Maria comments back to the initial subject.
"What are these Glyph Imprints you're talking about? Is it like an avatar or a soul weapon, or some kind of technique that can be learned? Is that why we can't wield or sense High Quality Ether properly?"
The Black Ogre looks at us with surprise and confusion again, then thinks to himself for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"You really don't know what your Legacy granted you, do you...?"
While we aren't sharing the fact that it was granted to us by a Void Creeper, or that an Immortal Dragon is wound up in my soul bonds, the truth is we have no idea what he's talking about. The blank expressions on our faces make this truth obvious.
Ulgar starts to chuckle, then turns around again, waving at us with one of his massive hands.
"Come on, follow me. We have an artifact that can stimulate Glyph Imprints and activate yours. Well—at least back to the Elven Era. It's highly unlikely there are any legacies left in the Lower Zones left unclaimed before them, so it should do just fine."
____________________________
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying Dungeon Diver and want to follow Jay on his journey 20+ chapters ahead of schedule, check out the Patreon link in my profile bio.
There's custom chapter art for every new daily upload too!
Thanks for reading:)
____________________________