How Dungeons are Born.

"No!" wailed Richards. "No!" 

"Hang on," Lissa growled, whipping the oxen to a faster pace. "Theo, Gisel, stay in the wagon, but keep a lookout!"

"Yes mother," I said, as I saw Rath running full speed into the fight. 

I'd never really seen my mother in battle before, not properly I mean. The incident with the bandits on the way to our farm had been fought out of my view. The only other times I'd seen her wield a sword was with Freia, and very occasionally, Hungerford.

Those times, as impressive as they were, couldn't compare to Rath in anger. 

About ten metres away from the nearest spider, she jumped, summersaulting through the air, and landing on the spider's back. With a colossal swing, she sliced down and severed the beast in two, leaping back off it again even as it was screeching its death.

She landed in front of the second spider, which turned its attention to her, stabbing with two of those deadly legs. It may as well not have bothered. With a quick slice left and right, they were hacked off, spurting blue ichor over the road. Before the severed parts had even hit the floor, Rath was running underneath the great arachnid, sword held above her, slicing through the chitin, and cutting the monster down the middle.

With a horribly human wail, the second spider collapsed. 

I saw Rath stand there for a second, dead still, sword raised, scanning the area for other threats. None found, she calmly wiped her blade on a cloth carried for such a purpose, and sheathed it. 

"Your mum is amazing," Gisel gasped, eyes wide.

I nodded. The whole thing had taken about ten seconds. Ten seconds to completely devastate two enormous, deadly spiders.

Lissa, having reached the scene of the battle, leaped to the ground, showing an acrobatic ability equal to that of Rath's, and ran over to the stabbed man, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. Pushing a wailing woman villager out of the way, she knelt over him, held her hands on the wound, and began chanting. 

Again, I saw the holy mana coalesce, but this time in much greater quantities. It had barely started to form though, when it suddenly blinked out of existence.

I head Lissa swear, something that she rarely did, and hang her head. Sighing, she reached up to the man's eyes, closing them. Only then did she look up, at the woman she had pushed aside earlier.

"I am sorry," she said, as the villager exploded into tears. "He has joined our Blessed Mother."

Standing, she allowed the woman to fall onto the dead man, wailing and sobbing. Lissa, taking a deep breath, looked around. "Is there anyone injured?"

There were none. It seemed our rescue had been, almost, in time. My mothers were swarmed by the grateful fishermen, and their families, who, in turn, were pushed aside moments later as a burly middle aged man, a sword at his side, ran up to join them.

"Blessed!" he said. "Warrior! My greatest thanks for your assistance! I am the mayor here, name is Tailor Vist."

"Mayor, I am sorry we didn't arrive sooner." Lissa gestured at the dead man.

"Oh no, not Wolsey!" The mayor shook his head sadly. "Please, excuse me one second Blessed." He walked over to the woman, who was still sobbing and lying on the body, and squatted down next to her, muttering some words of condolence no doubt.

Rath trotted up to the wagon. "Are you two all right?"

"Yes mother," I replied.

"You were amazing!" Gisel gushed. 

"It was no great feat," Rath said. "Whilst they look fearsome, they are a fairly low level beast."

I looked over again at the spiders, and gasped. "They're melting!" I said.

Indeed they were. The two monsters had become mere puddles of bluish goo on the ground, their shape almost totally lost. Even as I watched, the goo itself began to steam and evaporate. A minute later, there was no sign they ever existed, with the exception of two blue shards of crystal.

"What are they?" I asked. Both shards were pulsating with energy to my view.

"They are heartstones, also called mana stones," Rath replied, walking over and picking them both up. She came back and handed one to me, the other to Gisel. It was surprisingly heavy, and slightly warm to the touch. "When you kill a monster, like these, their essence returns to the dungeon realm from whence it came, leaving behind the stone that attracted it to this dimension in the first place.

"I don't understand," I said. "So, if one of Gisel's tribe was killed…?"

"No!" Gisel scowled, "we are nothing like these creatures."

"They are not the same. Let me explain."

"Please do," I said.

"This." Rath tapped my heartstone, "is made of concentrated mana. For some reason, which no one really understands, a large mass of it sometimes forms, nearly always underground. This mana is so dense it becomes solid, and evolves, becoming aware, alive in a way. It usually manifests as an underground structure, small at first, but if left unchecked it grows and expands."

"You're talking about a dungeon!" I gasped. It seemed watching anime was paying off at last.

"People call them that, yes. If left alone for a while, and as they are usually underground at that point, most are, then even more mana takes form, as heartstones within the dungeon. These stones attract beings from other dimensions, like a lure to a fish. Because these things usually spawn inside dungeons, their home dimensions are referred to as the dungeon dimensions. They break through into our universe and grow around a mana stone, which becomes, essentially, their heart. 

"Hence the name," I said.

 "Indeed. Some stones are small, with less mana, and these become the lesser beasts. Others are larger and more powerful, which become the tougher monsters. Also, if a monster eats other heartstones, it can grow in strength, size, and even intelligence."

"And so the dungeons are inhabited by monsters," Gisel added.

"That is correct," Rath went on. "The heartstones are valuable, and hence sought after. They can be used in the creation of magic potions, powders, spells, and even artefacts. I shall give that one to you Theo. Gisel, you may have the other."

"Thank you!" we both said.

"So, is there a dungeon near here then?" Gisel asked.

"Given that we have dropped heartstones, and these attacks have only just started, I'd say a new dungeon has grown enough to reach the surface, and these spiders have come from it. There are other less likely options, but let's find out more information. Wait here for a moment please." 

We nodded, and she walked off towards Lissa, who was speaking to the villagers.

"If you didn't get it from your mother," Gisel turned and said to me, "we demon races are not from those dungeon dimensions. We were here first, so perhaps you are the dungeon dimension monsters."

I'd obviously touched a nerve.

"I'm sorry Gisel. I spoke without thinking."

"Mmf." She sniffed, but said nothing more, and we both waited as my mothers spoke to the villagers, including the mayor, who had directed some men to carry off the poor dead Wolsey.

After what seemed like a fairly heated discussion, with lots of pointing towards the east, Rath and Lissa both nodded, and climbed back into the wagon with us.

"So?" I asked, as they both sat there and looked at us for a moment, without saying anything.

"I still don't like it," was all Lissa said, to Rath.

"We've been over this, leaving them here will be no safer," my other mother replied. "And I think they are more than capable of taking down these monsters, with our support."

"What are you talking about?" Gisel scowled, although I was beginning to get an idea.

"Congratulations," Rath said, by way of a reply. "You're going to join us for your first monster hunt!"