542 [Fated Encounters: Nyzzet's Labyrinth Conquest] 4/?: Lazuli

-----

The High Ice Fairy Empress, Lazuli, was one of the three Boss monsters that would rotate around the 40th floor of the Thunder Dragonoid Dungeon created by the Thunder Dragon God, Nyzzet.

By the adventurers that dived into this dungeon their entire lives, she was known as the 'mother' of all the Ice Fairy monsters encountered in these ten floors, and even Nyzzet, the god that created this dungeon, was unaware that she was more than a monster.

Despite what information and investigation said about the High Ice Fairy Empress, she was an intelligent being that possessed a consciousness… similarly to cases such as Yiksukesh, Nixephine, or Nefertiti on the Forsaken Labyrinth, she was made into a dungeon monster against her will when she was captured by a god that 'sold' monsters for dungeons inside the Interdimensional Merchant Shop.

Nyzzet, looking for a fitting monster that could be weak yet still a challenge for mortals, bought her and many other potential Boss monsters quite cheaply.

However, Lazuli's identity was… not what it seemed.

When Nyzzet analyzed Lazuli and the Ice Fairies after putting them inside his Dungeon, he quickly understood that they were the 'wild'-type of fairy, similar to monsters, mischievous and devilish demon-like monsters with the appearance of beautiful maidens that could seem to have intelligence but were at the end, senseless monsters.

Nyzzet did not ponder on it for too long because, in the end, he did not care.

However, the god that sold her had put a seal on Lazuli, converting her into a 'senseless' and unintelligent fairy monster, unlike its true identity.

Since she was put into this dungeon, she had been trying her best to escape, to fight back against these adventurers that came to slaughter her… although she managed to take on many lives, she has been slaughtered hundreds of times, slowly losing the focus of her existence.

Experience death so many times made her mind quickly go insane, having her body slaughtered and her soul taken back and put into a dungeon reincarnation cycle over and over again was tiring to her mind and consciousness, which couldn't even express itself due to the strong seal put into her very soul.

It was eternal torture, an eternal hell.

But on the speck of consciousness that remained deep within her mind, she understood why she was given such a punishment… or more, she understood why her sister did such a thing to her.

"Trapped on an eternal cycle of death and resurrection… my mind slowly fades and reappears, in the constant pain and suffering, there is only a path that leads to insanity… is this what you wanted of me, sister? Is this… what I deserved for being more gifted? Is this the fate that I had to suffer for you to take over the throne of Niflheim?"

Lazuli's backstory goes all the way to another Realm, completely different than the Realm of Vida, the Realm of Ice and Snow, conquered by eternal winter, Niflheim.

Niflheim was created by a large piece of the World of Genesis that was split into pieces, this large piece was covered in ice and snow, as it was the planet's south pole.

For the first dozens of years since its separation from Genesis, it remained as a desolate land of eternal ice and stillness, where not even bacteria could survive, frozen alive… the beasts that inhabited this place were also frozen inside this ice.

Many gods saw no potential in such a place filled with ice and went to reconstruct different areas of the planet of Genesis that were split from it, which could be used more easily to reconstruct its atmosphere and life.

However, a few gods, those coldblooded gods of the Ice Attribute took a liking of this land, forming their own Pantheon of Eternal Winter and slowly reconstructing this piece of a world into a realm of its own.

Amongst these gods, the strongest of them all was Skadi, the Great Goddess of Eternal Winter, a powerful goddess that used her brute strength and power over the Ice Attribute to make the other Ice Gods her servants, becoming the leader of the Pantheon of Eternal Winter.

She and the other Ice Attribute Gods used their powers to create an atmosphere in this world of eternal winter, melted the ice, and created forests and rivers, life came back once again due to their Divine Power, in a variety of forms, monsters and animals adapted to the cold temperatures.

However, by the word of the World's Will, Skadi, and the other Ice Gods were given the task of once again creating intelligent mortals that could worship them, so they could grow stronger and, through this power, maintain the existence of Genesis, which was now made into countless realms.

Skadi saw this as a wonderful idea, and with her husband, Njord, the Great God of Sea Winds and Fortuitous Wealth, who inhabited another Realm in the meantime, had many children.

Njord also had many children across Realms, he was, in fact, the father of Freyja, the Great Goddess of Dreams and Nightmares, and Freyr, the Great God of Bright Days and Flourishing Life. He had these two with his twin sister, Nerthus, the Goddess of Fertility, in an incestuous relationship.

Nerthus was killed in the Ragnarök, leaving Njord with his children and with a broken heart, which was then taken by Skadi.

Freyja and Freyr were perhaps his eldest sons, being born way before Genesis was split into Realms. Freyja developed the Dream Attribute to become a fearful goddess through the Ragnarök, while Freyr opted to not participate, for the most part, only taking care of the mortals that inhabited his Divine Realm.

Njord was the father of many children, Freyja and Freyr were the eldest of them all, and also had reached almost the same status as their father, hence, after the Ragnarök ended, they took over the realm of Alfheim which they split in two for each of them, living on their own without their father, and nourishing and creating life on their own.

Njord then was taken care of by Skadi who gave him the love he desired after the death of his twin sister, and through his divine seed, she gave birth to the High Ice Fairies and the High Ice Elves amongst many others.

Lazuli was amongst these children, she was the daughter of two Great Gods… yet she was made into such a pathetic state.

Lazuli was born as a talented High Ice Fairy who later on was raised to godhood as a Living Deity of Rank 1.

She was praised by her mother, Skadi, and her eldest sisters due to her talent with magic and sword, and was seen as the future queen of Niflheim that could one day lead the whole Realm (As Skadi was considered 'retired' and preferred for her children to do everything on her place).

However, Lazuli was not the only promising young lady in the family…

"Tundra… my sister… I never knew that you could go to such heights to accomplish your goals… was I just a mere annoyance to you? Did you never consider me your sister at the end?"

The one that ruined everything for Lazuli's promising future was Tundra, her sister, who was also a High Ice Fairy Living Deity born at almost the same time as her…

Using her connection with a Demigod, Tundra made him kidnap Lazuli.

Skadi, who was very proud of Lazuli was bewildered by this news and using her powers as a Great Goddess, almost turned the Realm upside down while looking for her, however, Lazuli was already sealed by this demigod's powers into a 'mortal' form. All of her powers were weakened and sealed, and her physical body deteriorated through this powerful Divine Energy-charged curse and seal.

She was promptly sold as a mere beast into the Interdimensional Merchant Shop, where the unaware Nyzzet would pay a few Divine Energy Crystals for her, putting her as a Dungeon Boss after being unable to see through the powerful seal… even if he was a God, his specialty was thunder and fighting, he couldn't even see through the seal, and only attributed Lazuli as a wild fairy.

With Lazuli out of the picture, Tundra became the new 'favorite' of Skadi… and Skadi, who had shown such love to her daughter quickly forgot about Lazuli when she gave up on looking for her. She had so many children and was so ruthless on nature that after a few years, such emotions were quickly wiped out of her mind.

Tundra knew very well of her mother's nature, and did this rash decision, knowing that she would just forget about her after a few years.

As Lazuli suffered for many years trapped inside a dungeon, Tundra raised into a Demigoddess and then a Goddess using the help of her large family and vast resources, being crowned not much after becoming a Goddess as the Young Queen of Niflheim… the fate that was destined for Lazuli was stolen by her scheming and senseless sister. The one she thought loved her.

"I can imagine you… Tundra, enjoying your life now as the Queen of Niflheim… being given everything by our family… you had stolen everything that was supposed to be mine… and now here I am, destined to die for eternity, going back on an eternal loop… my mind is weak and fatigued… in a few years… not even my consciousness and memories will remain, and then, I will finally fall into an eternal slumber, becoming a wild monster and losing all sense of self… this is my terrible destiny, the one that seems to have even been sewed by the Supreme Goddess of Fate and Destiny… the red thread of fate… Tundra was the one destined and favored by it… I was a mere… side character at the end… isn't it?"

Lazuli had already given up on her life many years ago, she was now letting herself fall into the void of insanity, to never come back from it…

Her body once again respawned only to be killed by yet another contender.

However, in her dazed mind, she felt the strange presence of a being above everything that she had seen before entering this place.

Although it was familiar to another individual she met before, it was completely different now, it was embracing and inviting… unaware of it, the small speck of consciousness that remained within Lazuli's mind began to expand, to seek this… guidance.

"What is this…? What is this being who calls to me? Am I really worthy of your attention? Why? Why are you seeking me so much? You have… realized who I am? Please… please… do not give me hope… And if you were to give it to me… then please, save me…"

-----

In the Thunder Dragonoid Dungeon created by Nyzzet, the bosses that inhabited the ten floors were always three, they would rotate between three different bosses each day. Yesterday we saw three different bosses, but they might change if we go back to the previous floors.

In our previous visit, these set of floors named 'Ice Cold Caves' have three different bosses, which I had introduced back then when I read the book made by the adventurers that explained the various species of monsters in the few floors that had been explored successfully.

These three Bosses were the Ice-Cold Tyrant Ape, a giant ape covered on white fur and ice scales, the Three-Headed Ice Basilisk, a massive serpent with three heads, covered on ice scales, and lastly the Boss we fought at that time, the High Ice Fairy Empress Lazuli, the strongest of the three bosses, she is seen as the mother of every Ice Fairy encountered here.

I was hoping for us to get the Fairy again, and it seems that Nyzzet heard our 'pleads', as Lazuli was there waiting for us… she seemed to have an ice-cold glare just as before, but there was something strange on her appearance.

She was not in her fighting stance nor creating blades of ice to use against us… she was kneeling on the icy floor and crying.

For a moment, as we stopped our track and saw the Dungeon Boss crying, I felt something deep within her soul… a seal?

A Sealed Divine Presence was residing deep within her lowly existence, and it was calling for me.

"Save me… save me…"

.

.

.