“Why is my sword panting?” I asked helplessly.
“Just ignore it. I’m properly oiling and maintaining her.” Xin declared.
We were still in front of the dungeon entrance, but now Xin was enthusiastically using a rag and some ointments she had pulled from somewhere and was now working Alysia over.
“I’m not sure a spiritual sword needs to be oiled.”
“Swords are swords, and Master should maintain them properly!” Xin cried out.
She was slightly scary when she was serious. I cleared my throat.
“Um… anyway, about the dungeon’s influence…”
“When I was pulled into this body, I was given a real form. It severed my connection with the dungeon. You don’t need to worry about me. I can focus my attention on Alysia…”
“Uh… actually, I was more worried about everyone else. You were the dungeon master, so you should understand what happened more than anyone. Astria’s memory was a bit foggy, so I was hoping you could give me a better understanding of the situation.”
“Don’t tell me your mind was blocked too?” I asked and sighed. “I mean, it’s not that big of a deal. My plan wouldn’t change much. I’ll finish curing the residents and once I stake a claim on the dungeon, I’ll enter through the mansion and confront Elaya. I should be able to talk some sense in her at that point.”
“It’s not that my mind was blocked, but that I won’t tell you the situation.” Xin declared.
“M-mom?” Alysia spoke up on my behalf.
“Deek, what are dungeons?” Xin suddenly asked such a question.
“Um… they’re the lore from an incomplete story. They’re blights on the land which corrupt the local mana, turning it into the miasma.”
“That makes them sound evil. Dungeons are neither evil nor good. They can be destructive, but so is a tornado. You wouldn’t call a tornado evil, it simply is.”
“That’s true…” I responded thoughtfully, although I still wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.
“In essence, a soul is a conduit for mana. Mana is a part of the world. It flows through the earth as gaia. However, it flows through all living beings, connecting us to the world. This is the essence of life. When someone dies, their soul disperses into mana and rejoins the life stream. We who aren’t necessarily as closely linked to the life stream, we have a period where we can be restored to life, this would be the resurrection spell.”
“Right.” I had guessed most of this already from my own observations, although it was nice to hear another confirm some of my theories.
“When a soul is threatened to be destroyed prematurely when it’s unsatisfied with its end and feels like it still had a purpose in this world, it begins to change, attempting to defy its fate, and refusing to enter the life stream. This is the beginning of a curse. Once a soul falls down this path of corruption, it will become a seed for a dungeon, planting itself into the earth and feeding off of it, a lingering purpose still driving it to fulfill that one desire, to complete that lore.”
“Xin, what are you trying to say?”
“Down in that dungeon is a soul that fell into despair. It is a soul that wanted its story to be heard. Deek… Master… will you be the one to hear it?”