Duncan was terrified. The cat’s extreme mobility and incredible damage were far beyond anything he’d faced in training or his previous dungeon delves. His spear felt useless – he felt useless. Mairi was dead, Antoni was holding his intestines in place with his arms as he tried to heal himself, and the damned cat was appearing and disappearing at will.

Again the cat appeared, Blinking into existence next to Antoni and clawing his face off. Duncan’s frantic thrust struck the panther in the shoulder, where Mairi’s flame attack had charred the flesh a handspan deep. The boar spear penetrated a good ways into the wound and the tip grated on bone. From the other side, Pyotr’s mace struck with considerable force, breaking ribs and collapsing the beast’s side.

The panther disappeared, immediately reappearing directly behind Pyotr. It repeated the attack that had disabled Mairi earlier, both sets of front claws impaling Pyotr. This time, his armor failed him and the claws pierced deep into his back. Pyotr grunted and activated his most advanced defensive Technique, and the stone floor flowed up around him, encasing him in dense stone armor, rooting him in place, and trapping the Panther’s claws inside his body.

The panther roared, and as it struck at Pyotr’s neck, Duncan thrust his boar spear over Pyotr’s shoulder and into the beast’s mouth, piercing its soft palate and striking deep into its brain. It flailed wildly for a moment, and Pyotr’s eyes widened as he felt its claws flex in his innards. Then the cat died, and Pyotr collapsed from his wounds. The stone pillar protecting him receded into the floor and he disappeared under the dead weight of the panther.

Frantically, Duncan pushed at the corpse of the panther. It weighed significantly more than he did, and he struggled to get it off his mentor. Eventually he had to use the butt end of his boar spear as a lever to push it aside enough for him to check on Pyotr. The panther’s claws came out of the guardian’s back with a gush of blood. Duncan applied pressure to the wounds, and the bleeding quickly slowed. Pyotr had a passive regeneration Technique - he should recover over time, leaching strength from the stone. For now, though, he was unconscious and defenseless.

Duncan checked on Antoni and Mairi, but both were clearly dead. He removed their gear and stored it in Pyotr’s storage bag. Their families would be grateful for its return. The bodies he had to leave for the dungeon. Dungeons fed on those that died within them - that was the rule. He turned his attention to the panther. Around its neck, it wore a simple leather collar with a dark crystal pendant hanging from it. Duncan took that and stored it in the storage bag as well. He skinned it as best he could and took its claws and teeth. He had to leave the body for the dungeon, but he was entitled to its treasure, and the hide, claws, and teeth of a powerful spirit beast were treasures in their own right.

Then he sat down to wait for Pyotr’s regeneration to progress far enough for him to awaken. There was no way Duncan could drag Pyotr out of the dungeon with his stone armor. He was really hopeful the cat had been alone.

Some time later the corpse of the cat melted into mana along with the bodies of Antoni and Mairi, and the cloud of mana dissipated into the dungeon. The cycle of life in a dungeon was cruel, but efficient.

Not long after the bodies disappeared, Pyotr opened his eyes and groaned. Duncan made sure he was in Pyotr’s line of sight, but still kept his eyes on the entrance to the deeper caverns.

“What happened?” Pyotr asked.

“When you immobilized the panther with your stone technique, I was able to stab it in the mouth and kill it. Antoni and Mairi’s bodies were taken by the dungeon. Their gear is in your bag.” Duncan sounded cold and emotionless to himself. Just the facts for now. Mourning could happen when they were safely outside.

Pyotr sighed heavily. “Alright then. Let’s head out. Another experienced team can run through here later on to make sure that was the only large threat in here.” He climbed to his feet, picked up his mace and shield, and secured the planar bag to his belt. With a shake of his head, he indicated Duncan should lead the way out.

Once they were outside, the attendant on duty immediately used a healing Technique on Pyotr and triggered the alert beacon to call for backup. Two delvers had failed to return, and the two that had looked uncommonly torn up.

In less than an hour, leading figures from the Delvers Guild had gathered in a back room of the guild hall in Stonewatch to hear Pyotr’s report. Pyotr was succinct in the retelling up to the point where he was rendered unconscious by the claws in his back. He gestured to Duncan to take over the tale from there, and Duncan quietly explained how he’d killed the panther with the spear thrust into its mouth, and how he’d recovered his groupmates’ gear and looted the panther while he’d waited for Pyotr to regenerate.

Pyotr took over again. “We don’t know if the panther was generated by the dungeon, entered by the entrance in our valley, or found another way in. The dungeon looked normal, at least as far as we could see, so it seems unlikely that it has changed types.”

The highest ranking guild officer present, a tall mage named Agamar, who had strong affinities for both fire and ice, responded, “We’ll have Becca’s team completely clear the goblin dungeon to ensure it’s safe and there are no other large predators lurking.” Becca’s team was comprised of some of the strongest delvers in the valley – the guild was taking no chances in checking out potential new danger in the dungeon.

Pyotr began pulling Antoni and Mairi’s gear out of his storage bag. “We’ll need the guild to return these to their families” he said. Everyone paused a moment to bow their heads in respect for the dead.

“Of course,” Agamar replied. “And we’ll have their ceremony in two days’ time in the main guildhall.” Family and friends would gather to tell tales of Antoni and Mairi’s prowess and of their lives outside the dungeon. Food would be eaten, drinks consumed, and tears would flow. A delver’s life was a dangerous one – the guild lost a dozen people or more a year.

Once they had reported to the guild, Pyotr and Duncan stopped by the guild’s appraisal office. They had only a little junk from the goblins they’d encountered, but Duncan felt sure the trophies from the spirit beast would be valuable.

The guild appraiser was duly appreciative of the quality of the pelt, claws, and teeth. But when he picked up the crystal on the collar, his face went ashen, and he sat down heavily. “This isn’t a gem,” he said. “It’s an affinity stone.”

Pyotr and Duncan both leaned forward over the table. “Which affinity?” Pyotr demanded.

“Space.”

Duncan was full of excitement. “Is that why the cat was teleporting madly all over the place? A space affinity?” If he could do that, he’d be a real powerhouse.

“Possibly,” Pyotr replied. “A mastery of space magic techniques could allow teleportation, I expect.” He smiled wanly. This was a rare find, but it came at a high cost.

“Do you want it?” Duncan knew that, as the senior delver on the team, Pyotr had the right to claim the stone if he wanted to use it himself.

The question hung in the air like a weight over Duncan’s head. He was more anxious about this than he’d been about facing the panther in the first place. Pyotr smiled at him. “Nah, son, you use it. Between my stone and spirit affinities, I’ve a full slate of techniques as is. You’re blank as a newborn, lots of room for growth. And it’s my job to hold my ground and keep the baddies focused on me. Flitting around the battlefield is not my thing.”

Relief flooded Duncan and he sagged as he relaxed – he hadn’t even known how tense he’d been. “Thank you Pyotr – I am profoundly grateful” he said.

“You are most welcome, Duncan. Let’s hope something great comes out of this to help mitigate our loss.”

Duncan returned to his room and sat on his cot. His mind whirled and his thoughts were conflicted. He got back to his feet and visited the meditation gardens to process the events of the day. It took him hours longer than usual, but at last he stood up, his mind clear and his stomach complaining. He returned to his room and ate some of his delving rations, unwilling to venture out to find food.

When he woke the next day, he still felt the weight of the day’s activities. After his morning ablutions, during which he had to endure the sympathy and questions of the students and other novice delvers in the bathing room, he made his way to the common room for breakfast, only to be directed to a side room instead, where his family were all waiting for him. His mother engulfed him in a hug the moment he entered. “We heard you lost half your team yesterday! What happened?” And so he had to explain yet again, although he edited out all the details this time around, saying only that his team was set upon by a giant teleporting cat that had entered the dungeon, and that it had killed Antoni and Mairi.

His mother wasn’t deflected. “You should stop delving. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m sorry, mama,” he replied. “I can’t talk about it now. I need time to process.” Duncan extricated himself from his family as politely as he could manage, and fled back to his room, breakfast forgotten.

Once alone in the blessed silence of his room, he pulled out the affinity stone and examined it again. It was a black rhombohedral crystal as wide as it was tall. It didn’t glow, or pulse or anything. It was just a matte black crystal that happened to be able to drastically boost his Space affinity. He took a few preparatory breaths, then placed the crystal against his forehead and pulled at it with his mind as he inhaled. The crystal dissolved into a cloud of mana that melted into his head. There was no pain, no struggle. He just fell unconscious.