Megan's body drifted. Her consciousness decided that enough was enough and after all this it was better to just not care and drift, no more pain, no more suffering, just... nothing.
What was she doing? She didn't care anymore.
Where was she going? She didn't want to think about that, so she didn't.
What was happening to her? She didn't care.
Megan remained unconscious as she drifted down, down first through sand then, as if by teleportation (which it was) she shifted position in the dungeon and drifted into the third section. An area completely underground, no entrances or exits to be found. Fortunately, Megan, still glowing with unknown energies, shining with power, just happened to appear above a massive marble altar dedicated to a Goddess worshiped by the denizens of this section of the dungeon, a race of blind mole-rats. Now, although the mole-rats could not see Megan, this just meant they could not identify if Megan was a mole-rat or not. They may not be able to see her, but what the mole-rats were most sensitive to is how much power a being holds and it is one thing that mole-rats respected and that was the respect for powerful beings with more power than them.
So, imagine their surprise when Megan suddenly burst into existence above the altar to their Goddess, shedding unknown powerful energies as a byproduct of her cultivation breakthrough and body reconstruction. Of course, these nurturing energies also were extremely beneficial to the Mole-rats and caused all wounds to heal, birth defects to be fixed and generally increased the health and life expectancy of everyone.
"The great Goddess of Soil and Stone have deigned to grace us with her holy avatar and given a great blessing to the Mole-rat race!" They cried out in unison!
Megan was oblivious to the actions around her and would need time to acclimatise to her new body and cultivation which appeared to have skipped the whole Core Forging stage and settled at the beginning of Focus Formation. That was not to say her core was lacking in any way, far from it. Megan's cultivator core was at least double the normal size, shined with a bright azure-golden light and was compressed and tempered that it just exuded power and absolute control. The core was more akin to a cultivator who was about to enter the Focus Assimilation stage and was like the core had become a focus core already which was crazy because what Megan had was definitely a cultivator core. The thing is that to progress through the Focus Formation stage one had to absorb an object both linked to the cultivator and used to further the cultivator's power. The most popular focal objects were small purpose-built machines with artificial intelligence that was tasked with assisting the cultivator throughout the rest of their lives. But in Megan's case she was not even aware of this as she had only really been taught what to do up to the end of Core Forging stage. Right now Megan couldn't care about any of this as she subconsciously refused to wake up and deal with reality right now. It would likely take a while for Megan to awaken, considering what she had just gone through.
For nine days Megan floated above the altar, glowing and expelling enriching energies. Then over the course of three more days, she slowly descended as the glow from her skin and soul died down and disappeared into Megan's core.
Despite its flawless composition Megan's body now had, her cultivation had just gone through a very tumultuous breakdown and rebuild. Megan had come close to death for so long during the process that it was no surprise she now lay in a deep restorative sleep akin to a normal mortal in a coma but much less detrimental.
Once her body finally settled softly on the altar a lay there for another half a day before any Mole-rats were able to approach. When they did, they did so with the utmost caution and reverence. Finding a comatose Megan on the altar it was quickly discovered that the Goddess was not a Mole-rat but due to the circumstances the Mole-rats forgave her this transgression and worshipped her as a Goddess anyway. They lifted her body onto a large golden palanquin carried by multiple strong and important Mole-rats and Megan was paraded around the various villages and towns lining the massive underground caverns that the Mole-rats called home.
Mole-rats lined the streets just to get a chance to see her, and the Mole-rat royalty had their children lightly touch the Goddess in the hope they would receive additional blessings from her when she awakened. Megan's palanquin was carried around the entire Mole-rat civilisation over a period of fourteen days and nights, the story of her appearance getting passed around and more embellished as time went on.
"It is said when the Goddess appeared that all the Mushroom Monarchs of the Fungian race bent down in homage to her grace and were blessed with improved bloodlines!"
"The Goddess expels light that can resurrect the dead!"
"When my daughter touched the Goddess, she gained the ability to fly!" (Why would a blind Mole-rat want to fly underground?!?)
Once the great parade was over, they brought Megan's body to a sacred site of their people, guarded by their strongest beast warriors. The sacred site consisted of a series of caverns with spiritual hot springs used to strengthen and test their beast cultivation and bloodlines.
Bringing Megan into the very innermost chamber, one meticulously carved, sanded and polished out of the purest of the crystalline metal the Mole-rats painstakingly mined, refined and forged. In a recessed oval bowl shaped directly in the floor of this chamber there was a liquid, glowing with a soft blue-green light that filled about three quarters of the bowl to the rim which was level with the rest of the crystal floor. Embedded into the ceiling of the chamber a massive red pulsing crystal was positioned and on the bottom of the crystal a very slowly forming drop of the same liquid that mostly filled the bowl below it could be seen. About once every century or so that drop would actually fall and all the Mole-rats would throw a huge celebration when it did, knowing that their sacred pool would one day be ready and one lucky Mole-rate would get the chance to lay in that pool and ascend to heaven. They knew this as in their past there had been a total of 3 ascended Mole-rats who had entered this chamber and never left again. So, they must have ascended, right? The others that had tried? Well, the less said about what happened to those unfortunate Mole-rats, the better.
Of course, Megan was not aware of this, nor was she aware even when the Mole-rats ceremoniously allowed her body to slip into this bowl and at first Megan's body just lay on the surface. As the Mole-rats looked on Megan's body slowly started sinking down, proving the liquid was extremely viscous to the point it was almost a solid mass that would absorb kinetic impact quite readily and to get under the surface one had to be slow and methodical. Once the Mole-rats appeared satisfied that their Goddess was sinking into the liquid like she was meant to, they left the chamber and ten strong Mole-rats rolled a perfectly fitted crystal metal door into place, completely sealing off the chamber. Now if in a year when they open the door again and find a dead body, they would know that Megan was an imposter or not.
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It took two days for Megan's body to slowly sink into the fluid within this crystalline chamber. Even when completely submerged it appeared she could still breath with no issues, as the liquid appeared to enter and leave her lungs just as easily as air.
Once Megan gently lay on the bottom of the bowl immediately the whole chamber she was in lit up in colour and spiritual energies as something reacted to her presence. Megan's skin which was now completely comprised of some kind of extremely durable and flexible material became active as the skintight suit Megan wore absorbed into her body. Megan's skin appeared to be reacting to the presence of these strange energies as colours flashed in time to the colours surrounding her. The liquid she was in then rose from the bowl, Megan still inside and formed a hard crystal egg inside which Megan's form could still faintly be made out. Spiritual energy swirled and consolidated around the egg, the remaining mysterious liquid joined in an almost lazy manner, picking up speed at a much slower rate than the rest of the energies transitioning into a whirlwind of power surrounding the crystal egg Megan resided in. Every colour imaginable and even some never considered before joined the vortex as the intensity rose to unbelievable heights.
It was from these swirling energies that a sight appeared that would have likely floored anyone watching as a hand clenched in a fist appeared whirling around and around with the energies, seemingly unaffected by the impenetrable surface of the egg and all the disruptive and dangerous energy in the air.
The hand then opened and sitting on the palm was a small golden orb. With the appearance of this orb the whole room shuddered, greatly disturbing the Mole-rats in sitting in reverence outside the chamber. In a flash the remaining liquid swirling around the egg began to be absorbed into this orb! Considering only about half a litre of this liquid went into the creation of the egg Megan was currently cocooned in there was quite a bit of this liquid left, and all of it was quickly being absorbed into this golden orb!
None of the tempest surrounding the orb appeared to be affected and in fact greatly speed up when the last of the spiritual liquid was absorbed into the orb and the hand closed and retracted back from where it came.
The energies peaked and with a clap of thunder the egg disappeared from the chamber, leaving behind a very empty bowl and some soon to be very confused Mole-rats.
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On a ledge high on a mountain there lay a massive cave entrance. This ledge was completely unreachable unless one had the ability to fly. If one was to enter into this cave and follow it until reaching a sharp right turn, then continue until the light coming from outside is no longer visible and one was enveloped by darkness, then immediately turn left and pass through the illusion of a cave wall then one would be presented with a large stone door. Now, if one had the appropriate permission and medallion on them then the door would give out a soft glow then unlock and swing open, revealing a very ordinary hallway the likes of which would be the same across the universe. Now again if one had the right permissions and another mysterious medallion on them then the door at the end of this hallway would then open after stepping past the first and which then would close behind the being entering this sacred grove.
Within this hidden location there was a garden. A garden filled with flowers, from the spiritually enlightened down to lowly plants without any spiritual energy whatsoever. Every flower had been meticulously positioned for maximum effect. The colour, the scent, size and shape all curated to instil wonder, amazement and fascination. Every flower personified perfection in its existence, exquisite in purpose and immaculate in form. Every breath taken would invigorate the senses as the fragrant perfumes melded together with the surrounding aromas in such ways that every second step would entice soul-stirring emotional responses different for every being that traversed the space.
Deep within the centre of this garden there lay what definitely resembled a bird nest. But not an ordinary nest. This nest appeared made from strands of shining golden material sourced from the very furthest reaches of the universe and even beyond. It was though all birds in all of existence past and present got together to design and build the ultimate bird nest, built for ultimate comfort, style and safety to the young birds raised in such a place. Each carefully curated strand of material, whether it was a piece of straw, or a small branch, dried grass or twig was a fantastic deep golden colour and exuded spiritual energy akin to the energy put off by a sun. Fortunately, the energy was not as hot as a sun for obvious reasons, but what was obvious was that the materials here were extremely valuable.
In the centre of this nest spiritual energy began to swirl and cause a disturbance. Not enough to affect the materials of the nest, but enough that it captured the attention of the one and sole occupant of this garden. As the being drifted down towards the disturbance in the nest the energies appeared to reach a crescendo of purpose and with a loud bang there materialised a large egg-shaped object. The very egg-shaped object that had recently been formed in a small crystal chamber in an underground room.
Raising one exquisite eyebrow, Jessa, Queen of the extinct race of harpy not seen since the disappearance of the progenitor race that unified the known universe in the past softly spoke, "Well, what do we have here?"