An Apeiron Story: 20,000 Doods Under the Sea

Hello doods and doodettes! For this week’s blog post we’re taking a dive into the deeps and exploring the mysterious (and neon!) realm of…

Hello doods and doodettes! For this week’s blog post we’re taking a dive into the deeps and exploring the mysterious (and neon!) realm of Protea, one of the four elemental lords of the Axis Mundi. It’s going to get wet and it’s going to get weird so hold onto your snorkels as we dredge the depths…

Following up from the last story (here!), Crit the Dragoon and his sons Timmy and Tommy failed — quite spectacularly — to reach High Goddess Cosmos and inform her of the happenings out there in the godiverse — and specifically the plight of their friends, out there somewhere and under attack by boods.

Now feeling rather downhearted and sorry for themselves, the trio returned to their erstwhile shack on the beach by the sea, only to find that an old friend has come to visit, and she has plans of her own…

But before we get to it, you know we’ve got some handy-doody reminders for you! The Season 2 Leaderboards are live as of June 21st, so it’s time to show your stuff and climb your way to the tippy-top of the table. We’ll see you there!

Also, this week we have an Angelic Ascension campaign with our partners Guildfi! Register on their platform and complete their Apeiron in-game quests and you can win all sorts of prizes. For more information, check out HERE.

Alright, we’re done with that bit of housekeeping, so we can now settle down and enjoy our storytime, as we return once more to the Axis Mundi, the Center of Creation, and see how our doods are doing…

______

Shame. Shame. Shame!

No dood actually shamed them on their long walk back from the White City to their little shack on the beach. But Crit the Dragoon and his two little doodling sons Timmy and Tommy felt ashamed just the same.

They had traveled across the vast farmlands of the Axis Mundi — weaving across the ever-changing landscape — with a singular purpose: to seek an audience with High Goddess Cosmos, the most powerful being in the Axis Mundi — heck, the most powerful goddess in the godiverse — to go out there and rescue their friends.

And they had failed. Stupendously failed. They hadn’t even seen her!

The only thing they had to show for their adventure was Timmy’s newfound magical powers. As they tromped silently along, Timmy would let off a sparkle from his fingers every now and again as he experimented with his new abilities — much to the annoyance of his brother Tommy.

“Oi!” hmphed Tommy after a particularly egregious burst of light. “Watch where you’re sparkling!”

“I can’t help it!”

“You can definitely help it! You helped it before! Your whole life you helped it!”

“Things are different now!”

“How are they different?”

“I make sparkles out of my fingers. That’s how. And I helped us fly!”

“We didn’t fly! We fell slowly!”

“It saved us, didn’t it?”

“Hmph,” said Tommy. “Dad, tell him to stop with the sparkles anyhow. A dood can only take so much.”

Crit was silent. The Dragoon marched ahead of them, his helmet clanking and his spear on his shoulder. There was no reaction to Tommy’s request.

“Dad?” said Timmy.

Still nothing.

“HEY DOOD!” shouted Tommy.

“Hm?” Crit stopped and turned. “What’s up?”

His doodlings looked at him bemused. “You didn’t hear us?” asked Timmy.

“Nope,” said Crit. He sighed. “Been thinkin’. Sorry.”

“Thinkin’ ‘bout what?” asked Tommy.

“Nothin’,” said Crit evasively.

“Dad…” said Timmy.

“It is what it is,” said Crit. “I know. But…doods we were so close. It’s annoying.”

“Yeah…” the two doodlings agreed.

Then a god got mad at a pair of lazy farmer doods by the side of the road and they had to dodge some errant fireballs. The rest of the conversation — if there was anything left to say — was left unspoken.

______

After a day or two, they finally made it back to the fishing village, cresting the hill that protected the small dood community from roving eyes. Crit planted his spear at the top of the hill, making sure the butt was firmly wedged into the dirt. He left it there, right there at the crest of the hill, like a silent sentinel, and walked off towards the shack at the side of the EDEN.

Timmy and Tommy stood for a moment, looking at the spear sadly. Then they went off to catch up with their dad, who was even now disappearing through the door-

-only to be tossed right out again. The doodlings gasped, but quickly jumped into action, moving protectively in front of their prostrate father. Timmy prepared some deadly(ish) sparkles and Tommy held up his (tiny) fists. They were ready to face whatever might come out of that door-

“AHHHHH!” screamed Tommy.

“GHOOOOOOST!” screamed Timmy.

“No I’m not and be quiet!” shouted the accused figure, stepping out of the shadow of the shack and into the mid-afternoon sunshine. And there she stood: the Summoner.

“It-it’s you!” said Crit, who had picked himself up and was now coming to terms with this blast from the past.

“It’s me,” said the Summoner matter-of-factly. She looked tired. But that wasn’t any different from how she had looked before. Apparently, the spirits of dead doods kept her up during the night so she hardly got any sleep. Which was pretty gnarly, if you asked Crit about it.

They all started talking at once:

“What happened to you back then with the boods and-”

“We went to this snowy place and we were so poor and got sick it was the worst and-”

“-wanted to go see Cosmos but stupid dumb fat dood with bad hair stopped-”

“SHUT UP!” shouted the Summoner.

They shut up.

The Summoner scratched on the bone bow she kept neatly tied to her hair. “I made it to the Spirit Realm. So that was cool.”

“Woah! What was it-”

“Oh! How did you-”

“Did they have toilets in the-”

She held up her hand. They went quiet. Satisfied, she continued. “All of our friends made it out of the bood attack alive.”

“Oh my god that’s-”

“LET ME FINISH.” She sighed. “Why don’t we go inside and have a snack while I tell you what I found out. I’m getting tired of yelling.”

This suggestion was taken as both sound and excellent by the others, and they retired into the shack. Then Timmy and Tommy were sent out to pick up food — they rushed into the village and grabbed some fish and chips — before everyone sat down at the small wooden kitchen table and happily munched away.

With full bellies and the shock of seeing The Summoner behind them, the doods were almost ready to listen. There was just one thing…

“Say, before you begin,” said Crit. “I never actually got to ask you before. What’s your name?”

“Eh?” said the Summoner, picking a bit of fish out of her teeth.

“Your name.”

“Oh right. You can call me Happenstance.“

“Happenstance?”

“Yup. Or just Happy for short”

He blinked, but didn’t miss a beat. “Ok, neat. Carry on, Happy.”

She heaved a deep breath before beginning. “So…last time we were together…was when we were attacked. That’s right…I remember. We were flying through space with Susanoo. We were looking for a way to get to the Spirit Realm. But we got attacked by boods. And there was a goddess…corrupted. We got split up. I ended up with Susanoo. He was being attacked on all sides. But he was so mad! And so was she — the corrupted goddess. Their magic slammed into each other and…I saw a flash of white in the dark. I kind of…fell into it. And then it was quiet. I was in the Spirit Realm.”

Timmy whistled. “That’s some kinda somethin’.”

She nodded. “It was weird there. Not like I thought. My spirits they had described it…differently. But maybe because they’re already not in their bodies, they see things in another way. Not sure. Anyway. I walked around for a long time. Sometimes I would hear sounds. I didn’t know from where, but they were…well, I know they were from you guys. Like I said, it was weird.”

“You were watching us?” said Tommy suspiciously.

“Sort of…but no. I would sometimes see your shadows. Like when you guys were sick. I could see you more easily. But you were still far away.”

The doodlings shivered, remembering that period of sickness with no fondness at all.

“I kept walking all the time. I didn’t get tired. I didn’t get hungry!”

Crit gasped.

“I just kept walking. It felt like I was looking for something…but I didn’t know what. Until I did: I found it. I found them.”

“Who?” they all asked with rapt whispers.

“The Warrior. The Hunter. Our other friends. They had met up with some other doods, and another god, and gone into some sort of…dungeon. There were a ton of boods! Boods everywhere! And a big monster at the end. Just like one of the ones we saw in space.”

Timmy looked like he was about to be sick. Tommy patted his brother on the back.

“They beat it, but it was tough. They went to leave the dungeon but…something happened. There was something in the Spirit Realm waiting for them. I saw it…” she shivered. “It was like a god but…broken.”

“A Chaos god?” asked Crit seriously.

“No,” she shook her head. “But angry, and dangerous. Something happened. I…I couldn’t stay to watch. I was afraid. But I think they’re still there. In the dungeon.”

She fell silent, her eyes drifting around the room. Timmy and Tommy nudged her hands. “What then?” they asked.

“Oh. Sorry. I…well, I left. I was scared. And I couldn’t fight that…thing. So I decided to look for a way out. Back here. To find Cosmos. We need her help.”

“Hang on,” said Tommy, his little doody brow furrowed in thought. “Didn’t that god thingy in the spirit realm — it was angry right? Why didn’t it hurt you? Or…worse?”

Happy gave off a mirthless chuckle. “What god would care about a dood? Especially a lost little dood in the Spirit Realm. It never even saw me.”

She stretched her arms, cracking her joints, then straightened out her hair bone bow. “So I started walking again, except this time it was easier. I didn’t feel like I was lost. Actually I got here pretty fast. And then I just came out…here. So…” she paused dramatically. “We need to go talk to High Goddess Cosmos, doods. That’s our mission.”

There was an awkward silence. “Um…” said Tommy.

“Uh…” said Timmy.

“Oh dear,” said Crit.

She looked at them confusedly. “What?”

“Ahem,” said Crit. “Let me explain…” and he told her about how they had traveled to the White City and met with all sorts of different doods and gods, and how they had even managed to get up to Cosmos’ palace, but had been turned away by a very annoying dood.

“Lublub eh,” mused Happy. “I’ve heard of him. Tough dood. Very stubborn. We’re going to need some real help if we’re going to get past him.”

“Like who?” moaned Crit. “We got help from one of the White City gods. Who could be more powerful?”

Happy looked at the ceiling. “There are different kinds of gods, Dragoon. We just need a more powerful one to help us.”

“And you know where to look?” asked Crit.

Happy glanced at him. “I’ve heard rumors. I think I know where to start.”

“Where?” the Dragoon and his doodlings asked together.

She smirked.

______

Glub the fisherdood had seen a lot of weird things in his — admittedly average — life. Weird things were a part of life when you lived in the realm of the gods. Prayer bubbles would go up and get answered and anything could happen, from sudden rain to fireballs to winds carrying doods around to a sudden table full of food appearing.

That had been one of his prayers. He had been very proud about that one, and it had played a part in him being elected his village’s spokesdood.

But this was definitely up there with one of the strangest things. Out of the shack up by the EDEN had marched that helmet dood and his two doodlings, and they had a doodette with them. She was a scary doodette. She hadn’t even glanced at him before telling him what to do. He had no choice but to listen. She was so scary! All the other doods had agreed.

They had prepared a small boat for the four doods. No food. No fishing rods. Just the boat. And then they had gotten in and sailed off over the sea. Where were they going? What were they doing? Glub shook his head. Strange doods in a strange world.

Meanwhile, just over the horizon, somewhere out at sea, three of the four doods were staring very nervously at the fourth, who was sitting and mumbling to herself near the prow. Timmy came up to one side of his dad at the tiller. “Dad, do you think she knows what she’s doing?”

“Yeah,” said Tommy, coming up on the other side. “She’s kinda crazy.”

“I know boys but she’s also pretty smart,” Crit sighed.

“I can hear you, you know,” said Happy without opening her eyes.

“BEAUTIFUL WEATHER OUT HERE-”

“OH YES JUST GREAT-”

“VERY GREAT WEATHER WITH GREAT DOODS, JUST GREAT-”

Happy opened an eye. “I don’t care what you say, just be quiet. I need to concentrate.”

They went quiet…for about a minute. Then Timmy and Tommy scampered over to her. Tommy asked, “whatcha doin’, anyway?”

“Listening to the spirits. They’re telling me where to go. Take us to the right a bit, Crit!” Crit adjusted their course.

“And where are we going again?”

“Under the sea.”

“Under the sea! You told us yesterday but I can’t believe it. Really under the sea there are doods?”

“I’m not sure. But the spirits say a powerful goddess lives down there.”

“Oh,” said Timmy. His eyes were fluttering a little. “I…can hear…something.”

Now Happy did open her eyes. “What do you hear?”

“They say…they say…a little more to the right.”

Happy cocked an ear. “Wow. He’s right. A little more to the right, Crit!” She patted Timmy on the head. “Good job, dood.”

Timmy smiled. Tommy hmphed. Then he gasped. “I hear them too!”

“Oh?” said Happy. “What are they saying?”

“They say Timmy sucks.”

Everyone looked at Tommy. He shrugged. “What?”

Time passed. They sailed for a good few hours. All around them was water, as far as the eye could see — and they weren’t very tall, so it wasn’t very far. Every now and again — far overhead — a god would go flying by. But otherwise it barely looked like they were moving at all. It was just: blue skies, blue seas.

“There!” said Happy suddenly, pointing to a spot off to their left. They peered. And then they gasped, for the surface of the water was indeed strange where Happy pointed. It was bubbling tremendously, and changing colors — first blue, then purple, then green, as if illuminated by shifting lights from far below.

“What do we do?” said Crit. He had adjusted their course and they were sailing straight to the weird light.

Happy put one foot on the prow and pointed to the light. “Sail, Crit! Right into the light!”

They sailed into the light. And then they sank beneath the waves.

______

They were inside of a giant magical bubble that kept them mostly dry, but for a few drips here and there. It was very quiet inside the bubble as they slowly descended towards the light from the deep. The only sound was a quiet creaking of the boat and the drip-drip of seawater. None of the doods talked: they were staring gobstruck at the ocean as they had never seen it before.

At first, there was light from both above and below that meant they could see everything. They saw fish of all sorts: big and colorful, small and zippy, and some with wide mouths and pointy teeth, going about in big schools or in ones and twos. The fish swam by the bubble without a care in the world, following their own currents through the sea and seaweed. At one point Crit tried to reach out his hand through the bubble and touch one but Happy slapped it before it got there.

As they went deeper the light from the sun started to fade away and they were left in a kind of spotlight. Slowly their world fell into darkness. The fish started to change as well: now less colorful but with strange lights on their bodies, appearing like ghosts out of the watery gloom. And that wasn’t all: there were other creatures now. They could hear them even through the bubble, giant armored creatures with heavy claws clacking across the seabed.

There was a sudden squeak of surprise from Tommy. He pointed out into the dark. “I saw — I saw a giant eye! And a tentacle!”

“Sure you did, Tommy. Sure you did.”

“No really! It was huge.”

“Oh it was probably nothing.” They all huddled closer together regardless.

Down and down they went. For a long time they sat there waiting. It was only them in the spotlight now. No doubt they were thinking whether or not some undersea denizen would decide to have a doody snack. But then it began to brighten up again, ever so slowly. Timmy — with a motivational sparkle from his fingers — peeked over the edge of the boat to see what the light was, and he gasped when he did. The others quickly joined him, and their eyes went as wide as dinner platters.

They were above what looked like an underwater city inside of a giant bubble that was on the edge of a darkened trench. Doods walked comfortably to and fro among buildings made of hollowed-out coral. Neon lights shone over the city, illuminating it in a patchwork of greens and blues, purples and pinks.

“We’re here,” said Happy matter-of-factly. “Welcome to Coralia. According to the spirits I spoke to, this is where Protea, the Elemental Lady of Water, lives. If anyone can help us meet Cosmos, it’s her.”

“Alright,” said Crit, rubbing his hands together gleefully. “This looks like my kinda town!”

Their bubbled boat went all the way down to the seafloor right next to Coralia, then peacefully drifted into the much larger bubble surrounding the city. With a sudden “pop” they had arrived, their boat falling heavily to the sand. They stepped out and onto the seabed, which was sandy and soft. Some of the city doods were looking over and pointing at them. Timmy and Tommy hid behind their dad.

Happy didn’t care. She marched forward, put her hands on her hips, and said very matter-of-factly: “You doods! Take us to Protea!”

“Woah,” said Timmy, impressed.

“Why didn’t we do that in the White City?” asked Tommy.

“Uhhhh…” said Crit. “Reasons. We had reasons.”

Despite her gumption, the Coralia doods seemed rather unfazed by the Summoner’s sudden demands. The doods were wearing an assortment of colorful robes matching the neon-aesthetic of the city.

From within the crowd one dood spoke up: “You can’t just see Protea!”

“Why not?” responded Happy.

A doodling at the front crossed his arms meaningfully. “You need to get the high score.”

“Eh?”

All the crowd of Coralian doods pointed towards a very well lit and sprawling building behind them. Above a very large door was a sign of a dood looking like he was having a very good time playing some sort of…box? Box with a screen?

“Go to one of the arcades,” said the doodling at the front of the crowd. “Get the high score.”

“Get the high score in what?” asked Happy.

The doodling shrugged. “One of Protea’s games.”

______

A little more digging — and a free lunch of fried snippies and clamalams for the talkative doodling at a nearby cafe — and they had a much clearer picture of Coralia and its weird social structures. The arcades dominated life here: the doods were always playing games. If they weren’t playing games, they were eating, or sleeping.

There were four major arcades: the Grand Arcade was the one they had been pointed to when they arrived and was the biggest and most modern of the four, with all the latest and most popular games. Trenchside was one of the oldest arcades in the city, just on the edge of the trench that lurked on the city’s borders. Dood’s Delight offered a family friendly atmosphere with a well-lit, colorful aesthetic and a selection of games catering to younger clientele. And finally, there was Play’n’Eat, a relative newcomer that had rocketed in popularity due to them serving full meals alongside their games.

“Hmmm…” mused Timmy. “This Dood’s Delight place sounds like a good one to check out.”

“Mhm, mhm,” nodded Tommy a little too stoically.

“I like the sound of Play’n’Eat,” said Crit, licking his lips. “Sounds like a party.”

“We’re going to the Grand Arcade,” said Happy matter-of-factly. “It’ll be the best place to find out more.”

“Awww,” the other doods hung their heads in disappointment. But no one argued.

After cleaning up their food at the small cafe and waving goodbye to the doodling, they went on their way to the Grand Arcade. There weren’t actually many doods on the sandy streets of Coralia…but then again, it was hard to tell what time it was here so deep underwater. Neon lights shone out from the interior of the Grand Arcade, giving the city a lurid glow. The coral buildings loomed around them, contorted in strange shapes. And behind it all, outside the city, was a deep and heavy darkness.

Which is to say that the doods made for the Grand Arcade just about as quick as their chubby dood legs would carry them. There were some dood guards with large coral sticks and funny hats at the entrance. One of them held up a hand as they approached.

“Stop!”

“Why?” said Happy.

“Uh…I can’t remember actually.”

“Ok. Can we go in?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.”

Having secured their entry, they waltzed into the Grand Arcade. It was like stepping into a different world. On the streets, it was dark, quiet, sinister. But in here…the lights! The colors! The sounds! They had arrived on the bottom floor of a high-ceilinged atrium. There was a grand stairwell opposite the entrance leading up and around to over five stories of sheer noise that cascaded down gleefully from the open balconies. The place was packed to the rafters with doods.

They stood there for a moment taking it all in. Then Tommy poked Happy.

“Hey so…where’re we going?”

“Uhh…” said Happy. “Don’t know. The spirits never told me about this kinda thing.”

“Oh,” said Tommy. “Dad? Whadda you think?” he turned to ask Crit. But Crit was already gone, strolling off towards the stairs.

“Off we go!” hollered Crit back to them.

They rushed after him. The trip up the stairs to the first floor was enough for them to decide that they would try the games here rather than keep going up. There were groups of doods circled around rows of strange looking cabinets with screens showing images. On this level the most popular game was something called “Dood Fighter 6”, a 2 player game.

Crit was scratching his helmet looking. “Seems kinda weird…whadda we do with em?”

Happy shrugged. This was all rather baffling.

But Tommy walked over to one of the machines and sat down in front of it with Timmy. There were some buttons and a pair of control sticks, and the game started. The two doodlings played a quick round: Tommy beat Timmy.

“Oooooooo,” said Tommy smirking. “I like this game. Lotsa punching!”

“Hmmmm,” said Timmy, looking down at his hands afterwards. “I feel kinda weird.”

“That’s normal,” said a dood from the group sitting next to them. He looked strangely tired, but also…weirdly happy? He had a lopsided smile. “The more you play, the more you can’t stop. Hehe.”

“Sounds great!” said Crit.

“Hey,” interjected Happy. “How do we get the high score on this game?”

“On Dood Fighter 6? Psh. You have to beat Doodaigo.”

They looked over at Doodaigo. His hands were moving so fast across the buttons they couldn’t even follow his inputs.

“Let’s try another game,” said Happy. “This one’s too hard.” They all nodded.

_____

The next level has a bunch of dancing games. They tried one called “Dance Dood Revolution” but only Crit was any good, and he couldn’t get anywhere close to any high score, so it was off to level 3. This level didn’t have any game cabinets, but instead these glass boxes with stuff inside of them — toys and…food? One dood informed them they could get their own doodburgers — for free! — just through playing. Amazing! But no games with high scores, so they went up to level 4.

There were all sorts of games on this level: games where you could shoot down boods, games for racing, games for cooking up dinner as fast as possible. But the game that stood out to them was a relatively new game tucked in a corner called “Metal Monke.” It was a game where you took control of a giant Metal Monke and his army of small monkes and fought against evil monkes in a jungle.

High scores were based around speedrunning through the jungle as fast as possible and beating the Mega Evil Bad Monke at the end. Crit was fine at it, but got hungry and went looking for snacks. Happy gave up after dying the boss once. Tommy managed to sneak into the top 10 after a few tries.

But Timmy was incredible.

“Holy moly,” said Tommy. “Timmy, you’ve made it to 3rd place already!”

“Yes,” said Timmy. His voice was monotone. “But I can do better.”

After a couple more hours — and with a bit of luck — he did it, he got the high score. A small crowd of doods had gathered, and there was some polite clapping. Tommy, who had been watching his brother intently, let out a cheer. “You did it bro! Woo!”

“Who? What??” Happy was woken up by Tommy’s cheering. She and Crit had fallen asleep leaning against each other.

“That’s m’doodling!” said Crit, jumping up and giving Timmy a slap on the back. “Ok then! We got the high score! So can we see Protea now right? How does this work?”

“No,” said all the doodlings in the crowd at once.

“No,” said Timmy. His eyes were locked on the screen. He had started another run. “Now the real game begins”

“Come again?” said Crit.

Timmy’s eyes were glued, his hands moved mechanically over the controls. “Gotta keep playing. Can do better. Can go faster.”

“Just stop,” said Tommy, trying to pull his brother’s hands away from the controls.

“No,” said Timmy, pushing his brother away.

“Come on,” said Happy, “That’s enough- ow!” She had reached out a hand to grab the doodling, but a sudden spark of lightning crackled out of the machine and stung her.

“He’s in the zone,” said one of the dazed doods in the crowd.

“You can’t get him out of the zone,” said another lazily.

“It’s only just begun,” sighed another.

“Come with us and we’ll help you find your own games,” they said to Crit, Happy, and Tommy.

“Let’s play some games…forever,” said another.

“The fun’s only just getting started,” said a doodling.

“Back off!” said Happy. Crit moved his spear defensively in front of her. “Back off I say”

But the crowd was moving towards them unperturbed. They didn’t even seem to notice the brandished weapons. They were smiling happily. “Join us,” they said. “Join us. We have to get more high scores.”

As the gamer doods closed in, Tommy saw his moment and ducked through the bodies back to his brother, who was still playing. He shook Timmy again. “Please bro, come on. We’ve gotta go, these doods are crazy!”

“Gotta keep playing,” whispered Timmy.

“No you don’t! You don’t have to! Come on let’s go-”

“Gotta keep playing,” said Timmy, tightly.

“Don’t you wanna finish the mission? We gotta find Protea so we can go meet Cosmos and save our friends!”

“Gotta keep playing,” said Timmy. He wasn’t even looking at his brother.

“Grrr….” Tommy was angry. Angrier than he had ever been before in his short doody life. What the heck was going on anyway? Stupid game! “STOP PLAYING NOOOOOOOWWWWW!”

And with a terrible roar, Tommy pulled back an arm and threw out a blazing punch that crashed into the machine. The broken screen went to black, and the machine made a spluttering sound, and a small plume of bluish smoke started drifting out of it.

Timmy blinked, then looked at Tommy. “Uh…what happened? Didn’t I just sit down to play?”

Tommy hugged his brother with a sob. Timmy hugged him back very confused. “Uh, you ok Tommy? Also, who are these other doods?”

The crowd of doods behind them were all watching Timmy and Tommy in complete shock. Then one of them said tremblingly, “You…you broke the game. You broke the game!”

“Uhh…” said Tommy. “It just uh…got in the way of my fist…by accident?”

The crowd of doods was unconvinced. In the blink of an eye the big guard doods by the door were there and had arrested Crit, Happy, Tommy and Timmy for troublemaking. They were marched out of the Grand Arcade and back into the empty streets.

“Where are we going?” said Crit.

“Where are you taking us?” asked Happy.

They were moving towards the trench. One of the guards spoke. “You’re to be judged for your crimes.”

“By who?”

“The Lady of Water. Protea.”

“Oh!” said Happy. “Well then. That’s handy.”

_____

At the edge of the city, on the other side of the bubble, there was a terrible darkness. The lights from the arcades just about lit up the steep drop below them into a deep, deep trench. When they arrived, the Guards put them into a cage at the edge of the trench. The cage itself was on a sort of railway track that went out just over the edge. The cage was wheeled out into the water, passing through the city bubble with a popping sound, and gaining its own protective bubbling.

Then the cage was lowered by a winch into the trench. Slowly the lights of the city disappeared. They passed soon into the pitch black, the only sound a bit of creaking from the winch. They couldn’t see anything: not even each other, small as the cage was. So they all held hands and hoped for the best.

After an interminable wait, Timmy spoke. “Uhh…I think she’s here.”

“How do you figure?” said Crit.

“…just a feeling,” said Timmy.

“And a good one, little doodling.” The voice that spoke was enormous, crushing their minds under the incredible weight of water. In the darkness, all they could see were two eyes of purest blue, alien eyes, lidless and lacking pupil or iris: just a watery blue.

“So,” spoke the voice. “You descended into my kingdom. You broke my machines. What have you to say for yourselves before I pop this bubble and turn you into fish?”

None of them spoke. They were petrified. Crit peed his pants and a warmness spread through the cage.

Protea sighed. “Come on, I don’t have all day. I won’t actually turn you into fish…probably.”

“Um,” said Tommy. “I broke it. I’m sorry.”

“And why did you break it?”

“I–my brother he– it was like he couldn’t move. He was trapped in the game. So I just…got mad and punched it.”

“Hmm…” The voice went silent. “Do you know why your brother couldn’t stop playing?”

“He got like addicted to it. It was weird.”

“Those machines test and draw out latent dood magical strength. Your brother has a lot of magic for a dood. He was attuning to the machine.” said Protea.

“Oh!” said Tommy. “I don’t understand at all.”

“You don’t need to understand. All you need to know is: you broke my testing machine,” said Protea.

“Right. Yeah…sorry about that. But we needed him back. ’Cause we needed to come and find you.”

Timmy gave his brother’s hand a comforting squeeze.

“Oh?” said Protea. “And what did you need from me?”

It was Happy’s turn to talk. “Great Protea, we need to meet with Cosmos. We have some news from the godiverse.” And with that, she told her story about her experiences in the Spirit Realm.

Protea was silent for a period of time, her eyes hovering in the black, never blinking. “Well well. Now that is a tale.”

“So can you help us see Cosmos?” asked Happy.

“Hmmm…Lady Cosmos is ever busy. In order to see her, you will need to have not only my blessing, but the blessing of the other Elemental Lords, of Earth, Fire, and Air. If we all agree that this is a matter of importance, then you may meet with the High Goddess.”

“Oh!” said Happy. “Well…can we get your blessing then?”

Silence again. Then: “I admit that I believe your tale warrants attention. However, you also broke one of my machines. That was valuable to me. You must pay for it.”

There was an awkward pause. “I have an idea of how you could pay me,” said Protea.

“What is it?” they all replied.

“I will give you my blessing to go meet with Lady Cosmos, but…I would like the young magical dood in your group to remain down here with me.”

“What?! Timmy?!” yelled Tommy.

“Yes,” said Protea. “He has a talent. I would like to observe him..”

“No! Timmy has to come with us, right Timmy?”

Timmy was silent. He squeezed his brother’s hand again. Tommy whispered: “Timmy?”

“I want to save our friends,” said Timmy. “I’m afraid to stay here alone but also…if it helps, I’ll do it.”

He let go of his brother’s hand. “Lady Protea!” he yelled. “Let’s do it!”

“You accept these terms then?”

“Wait a sec,” said Crit. “Are there any other options?”

“For breaking one of my valuable machines, I will need to make the repairs myself, taking valuable time. I can transform you into fish if you’d like as recompense for this lost time. You’ll be fish for as long as it takes me to repair the machines…or until you get eaten.”

“Oh,” said Crit. “Well then…Timmy are you sure you want to do this?”

“You can’t see me dad, but I’m nodding.”

“Good then,” said Crit. He patted Timmy on the head. “I’m proud of you son. You’re a real dood.”

“…dad you just patted me on the head,” said Tommy.

“Oh…oops…haha,” said Crit.

“Then let it be done,” said Protea. A glowing blue stone floated out of the darkness. Happy caught it and looked at it. “My blessing,” said Protea. “Now go.”

And with that, they started to ascend back to the city.

_____

They — Crit, Tommy, and Happy — were preparing to leave to go find another of the Elemental blessings. Timmy was nowhere to be seen. Tommy was sitting sadly playing with the sand.

“Are we ready?” asked Happy. She was standing by their boat. “We can go back with this boat and figure out our next plan from there.”

Crit hushed her. “Just give it a few more minutes…”

“No need,” said Tommy. “He’s not coming.”

They were starting to push the boat out of the city bubble when they heard a voice. “Wait!”

And there was Timmy running towards them. He was dressed now in some sort of colorful city robe. He was huffing and puffing by the time he reached them. “Sorry…I….was just playing a game…”

Tommy looked pointedly away. But Timmy just went up and hugged him as tight as he could. “I’m gonna miss you bro. Be safe ok? Come back soon.”

Tommy didn’t respond at first…then hugged him back. “You too. Remember to eat!”

Timmy grinned. “Like a dood ever forgets to eat.”

Tommy punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Seeya bro”

And with that, the trio pushed the boat out into the water, and drifted up to the surface, Timmy waving goodbye from the sandy bottom far below the waves.

END

And that’s all for this one! What did you think? Are you excited to meet up with the other Elemental Lords? Do you think Timmy and Tommy will ever be reunited? What about Protea — what does she really look like? Let us know! Come over to our Discord and join in the discussion. And make sure you follow us on Twitter as well, to keep up with all the latest and HOTTEST Apeiron news…

And as always, thanks for reading, godlings. We’ll see you next time.

About Apeiron

Apeiron is the world’s first NFT-based play-and-earn godgame. Apeiron will feature a unique card-based action-adventure combat system combined with god game simulation gameplay inspired by classic god games like Populous and Black & White. Players will be able to build up planets from above before descending to the ground as a powerful Avatar to solve the mysteries of the universe. Players will grow their planet to the point of developmental stagnation, then reset the planetary cycle via an Armageddon event to allow for even more advancement and thrilling late-game alliance level GvE and GvG activities. Apeiron will use a tri-token architecture, which means that there will be three separate tokens to navigate their ecosystem: a governance token, a play-to-earn token, and a premium alliance token.

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