Black Clover: Ash and Tarnish

Nobody voted in time, so we're gonna use Shepard's vote instead, okay?

- - - -

As the very short person, clothed head to toe in multiple stitched together layers of thick dire bear pelt walked back into the room of many doors, wherein they had sent the devil and the grimoire to the moon, she knelt, and scooped up a bit of the water in the middle of the room, and pattered back down the doorway with the flickering azure orb above it.

- - - -

I would need to boil the water before I could get another drink.

Although it isn't the best cup I could have used, it was at least the easiest to access.

There isn't any thing here.

I've checked every room this place has, from magenta to red.

All of them have some kind of gimmick, red is an obstacle course, but all of the traps had already been activated.

The orange room was just, full of fog???

The yellow room was a gods damned maze.

The green one, seemed to be some kind of canteen, or perhaps a mess hall… I didn't really get that one.

The cyan room, as it turns out, is five logic puzzles in a row. But it would seem somebody already solved them.

Blue, I don't know, just seems like a lore hallway.

The purple room, how do I put this…

It makes no sense.

The entrance to the blue hallway, is also the same wall with the secret door leading to the purple room.

Like, if -in the room of many doors- I were to go through the door with the blue orb above it, I would be met by the bend in that corridor.

But when I turn around to go back, the door would be gone.

Instead, where once would have been a darkened bit of hallway leading to the room of doors, would be the secret room leading to the purple room.

But -back to the matter at hand- the purple room.

It seems to be the only room in the place that has the capacity to repair itself, besides the door room.

The walls of the purple room, are completely made up of cobblestone.

And although I can tell they make up some kind of pattern, I can also tell that you'd have to be high out of your mind to even begin to decipher any of it.

And sadly, I don't have any doobie on me.

And last, but not least, the magenta room…

It had a broken guy in it.

Like I mean, there's this yugioh card, about a wooden dummy I think it was?

This thing reminds me of that card, but it was made of the same stone of the surrounding room.

Oh, and it was shattered into pieces and lifeless on the ground.

So, really that's it.

Besides that, each room had pretty much nothing.

Well, except for the compasses.

Somewhere in each of the rooms, typically around that room's doorway to the door room, was the compass for the orb of that room's color.

Though, they all seemed to have lost north, since they were each going in circles.

At least, the colored parts were, each also had a geru tip, and each of those tips still kept pointing to the doorway.

This place was probably some kind of, training facility, though it clearly wasn't that good at it's job, seeing as all of the people that were down here, all god turned into mindless puppets for a devil…

Suddenly I don't feel all that thirsty…

Anyway, I did manage to gather all eight of the compasses, but, well, they don't do anything!

Their all pretty much useless.

Besides that, it's been maybe, a week? Since I managed to defeat that secret boss and that plaque still hasn't shown back up.

So, I'm just not gonna think about it.

I've already explored this place to it's up-most, and I had already made some, very cobbled together clothes for myself.

The gloves took the longest.

It's not perfect, but I'm covered completely by quite a few layers, I have clean water, and I'm fairly clean, and I even made an actual backpack.

And here's something else odd, the stomach of the bear.

I should have been full of hail, right? But that's the thing -it's not.

Like, there isn't even a spot of hail anywhere on it's body.

So I was actually able to retrieve my snow goggles, and the bit of spine I had used as a mobile stove also survived, and by carefully carving around the runic array, I now have a fully operational -if inefficient- and entirely mana fueled stove!

So I'm living large.

Or well, I would be, if the hole to the outside world, the one that the bear came through, the one in the ceiling of the blue room? You know, the one I had to crawl out of the bear's ass to get through?

Yeah…

That's gone.

Oh and of course, I dealt with the array I made at the start of this whole mess, luckily, at that point, the thing had died down enough that when I dismantled it, only a very warm breeze rushed at me, which wa definitely the best outcome I could have hoped for.

And either way, it turns out there isn't another exit in this dungeon besides the hole at the top of the door room.

It might have another one, but I couldn't find one.

So, what I'm doing currently, is carving one of it's hind-leg bones into a latter.

Not a great latter, but it should be good enough to ge to the top of the rather small room.

The timer for the pixie stick has gone down to around a month and a week.

Turns out that time flys when you're stuck in a murder dungeon underneath who knows how many frozen water pellets...

Not that it really matters in the face of getting home.

That being said, what should I actually… do?

Once I'm out, sure I'll be free of the depths of this fucked in place, but, I'll still be in a practical abyss of hail.

I could climb up the massive cliff? Ehh, I'd rather not.

I could go the long way, from the desert of hail to the ice mountains…

Or I could go the other way, through the other grand mana zone to, though that would suck, seeing as it's an actual fuckin poison swamp.

No really.

It goes ice mountian, snowy hills, desert of hail, poison swamp with no trees.

So to be honest, I would rather go the icey way than deal with that living nightmare of a place…

And besides, after the motherfucking poison swamp, you'd have to traverse the ever hated Grand Mana Zone of Dust.

Not only, is it a grand mana zone that produces every kind of dust imaginable, it is also unfortunately existent within a dust bowl, meaning all of that dust is constantly being spun around by gale force winds, into your eyes, pours, lungs, did I mention that glass dust is also produced by that cursed place?

And on top of all that, the grand mana zone that the cliff tapers off at, is the Ultime-Volcano Mountian Trail…

And I'd rather not get noticed trespassing on the territory of a certian lioness…

So…

Ice mountains it is.

- - - -

The same person covered by layer upon layer of hide came back into the room carrying a wobbly, white latter.

On her person was a backpack made of the same fur, on the packs side is the same tooth cup as before, covered by more of the same furred hide.

As she set up the ladder, attempting to avoid the water in the centre of the room, the latter slotted into two grooves at the bottom of the slightly cloudy water.

And as this happened, the centre of the floor began to rise with a shaking groan, the flimsy ladder snapped into pieces.

She was quick to step back, but after it was revealed to be a risen dais of stone and not another monster, the covered youth seemed to relaxer a bit, and get closer as the room remarkably drained of water.

Upon the newly revealed dais were eight holes, each in line with one of the doors.

Though the small person was too distracted to notice, slumped over the remains of her hastily made ladder.

As she picked up the pieces, she glanced back at the thing that had destroyed her ladder, only to do a double take at the now raised dais in the middle of the room.

She then once again pitter-pattered back through the cyan doorway with the remains of the ladder in hand.

- - - -

This changes some things.

Well, not really, but if I'm right, then hopefully it should lead to an easier way out of this damned place!

Or it could lead to something, way worse…

That thought had me slowing…

Just in case, I should prepare for something not going to plan.

- - - -

Okay, so, just to make sure I have everything:

- Under clothes: check.

- Inner clothes: check.

- Outer clothes and cloak: check and check.

Gloves and snow boots: check and check.

- Backpack: check.

- Old clothse turned into medical rags: check.

- Sleeping bag: check.

- Old ladder bits turned into a pair of skis and and some ski poles as well: check and check.

- tooth cup: check.

- solidified bone broth and dried meat: check and check.

- Snow goggles: check.

- Mobile rune stove: check.

- Mini bone pot: check.

- Strange vial of green substance: check…

- map: left behind just in case someone else falls down here.

- Runic bear sled: a bit overkill, but it's gonna be my only method of fast transportation during the day, so I'm taking it.

Okay, that's everything -except- why do I feel I'm missing something..?

Oh right the compasses, I'm fairly certain I've gotta put them in that thing in the center of the door room.

Making sure I had everything, I dragged the sled behind me as I walked back into the room of doors.

With all eight compasses in hand, I placed each of them neatly in the socket of the light they most likely indicated.

Red compass for the red light blue for blue, so on, so on.

And when I placed the last compass into the slot, the compasses suddenly straightened out and began pointing directly at the now pulsing orbs.

Then the light of each of the compasses began to drip out of their containers and escape through divots.

The colored liquids, oozing with mana, slowly followed the divots towards the beginnings of each wall.

Then as they met with the doorway, each path of mana split in two, and curved around the door to meet with their respective orb.

At this point, I had scuttled to one of the walls, and was using my sled as a shield, expecting there to be some kind of crazy secret, secret boss that I had to fight, while also admonishing myself for once again falling to the temptation of completing a seemingly innocent puzzle…

Once all of the mana had entered into the orbs, a groaning could be heard, as in the center of the room, the pedestal began to slowly raise, and the eight panels nearest to the thing began rise into the steps of a swirling staircase.

Sufficed to say, I remained in a curled up ball of shock for, quite some time…

Getting closer to inspect it, I found that although it rose to the hole to the outside, it also revealed more spiral staircase going downward.

I walked up the stairs just to make certian that I was right before making a decision, and yes, the hole to the world above lead into a pit of hail, with the hole at the center. The sky was nothing but white, as the clouds refused to part to allow the sun to be seen.

A blast of cold air hit my hide covered face, and I knew, this was my way out.

But, I didn't leave just yet.

I was curious, Damn me, I was curious…

About the stairs leading below.