Sigrid didn’t know how long she sat there holding that sobbing, angry child, but eventually he slept. Still cradling his frail form she stood and looked to Skree; the young goblin looked back at her, his face sour and pinched, but he didn’t comment, just looked meaningfully at the crystals that held the children and knights. Sigrid nodded and felt inside herself. She winced at what she found.

Her soul felt ragged, like it’d been flayed and burned. Worse, hours seemed to have passed, yet her stores of [Divinity] were barely restored. Either the goblins had skipped a meal, or something was wrong with her ability to recover power. Still, it might be enough.

Looking at the crystals she spoke. “[Break],” was all she said. The crystals slowly cracked and shattered, their splinters evaporating like smoke even as the captured goblins were released to a chorus of confusion and fear.

The worry of the children quickly subsided when they saw their grandmother standing among them.

“Who’s that?” Anx asked as she looked at the small boy in Sigrid’s arms.

“Your cousin,” the grandmother replied, deciding that was the best description for the relationship. “He’s sad, and angry, and hurt. So we need to be kind, and understanding.”

Anx nodded seriously even as the other children crowded around and did the same, whether in imitation of the girl or out of their own consideration, sigrid wasn’t sure, but it was a good start.

“We should leave,” Skree said, eyeing the pedestal and orb unfavorably. The knights made noises of agreement and Sigrid nodded, so they began their trek back up through the dungeon.

It was a shorter walk, now that nothing was trying to immobilize them, but more than long enough for the grandmother to check her notifications.

[Divine Rank increased from 5 to 10.]

[New [Skill] slot unlocked x5]

[New [Celebration] slot unlocked x5]

[New [Ritual] slot unlocked x5]

[Divine Skill [Communion of Grandmothers] gained!]

[Soulburn Debuff Applied!]

[System Sanctions Applied: Act Your Age!]

[Soulburn]

* Type: Debuff

* Description: You have taxed your soul beyond its capacity, burning yourself from the inside out. With time and care this damage can be healed, however until it is all skills are less effective, and divinity gains from all sources are halved. This damage may not be healed by mortal means, and even deific sources of healing will be of limited efficacy.

* Duration: 10 years

[Act Your Age!]

* Type: System Sanction

* Description: It’s beneath a woman of your maturity to throw a temper tantrum and break things until she gets her way. Shape up and act your age! For the next year you will feel every one of your mortal years.

* Duration: 1 year

It was… bad. But not as bad as it could have been. She hadn’t fully burned out her divine powers, and she could stand a year of feeling old. Hopefully she wouldn’t need too much more divinity in the near future, but she wasn’t going to count on that.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Exiting the dungeon they found the room that held its arch packed full of goblins, all of which called out excitedly and in relief when they appeared as parents rushed to grab up their missing children. Questions flew thick and fast, the knights doing their best to answer them while Sigrid remained silent on the topic of the child she held, asking only that the leaders of the five clans meet with her and the dungeon be left untouched until then.

It was perhaps fifteen minutes later when she found herself sitting on a soft sofa, the boy curled up next to her, still asleep, barely having woken enough to grab hold of her shirt and hang on when she settled him next to her. Arrayed in chairs and on sofas were the five clan heads. They all gazed at the child curiously, the air heavy with their unspoken question.

“By now you all know we found a dungeon,” she began and the five nodded and murmured their acknowledgement of that fact. “Or maybe it’s better to say it found us,” she continued and saw the looks of anger, and yes, fear appear on their faces.

“We should destroy it,” Oict said almost immediately. “Dungeons that leave their confines are dangerous and we can only thank the gods that it chose to capture instead of kill!”

There was a chorus of assent from the other four clan leaders that died out as Sigrid shook her head. “I won’t allow that,” she said firmly, and the five looked at her like she was crazy.

“Grandma,” Blohx said, her voice a little strained. “I understand this world is foreign to you, but a dungeon that’s learned it can hunt outside itself never stops, it’ll keep doing it until either we’re all captured or it’s destroyed.”

“It won’t,” Sigrid said. “Because I will teach my new grandson how wrong those actions were.”

The goblins didn’t gasp, but there were a couple sharply indrawn breaths.

“Grandma, please, it’s a dungeon!” Guilk tried to reason, and most of the others had looks of pained agreement on their faces.

Oict however was wearing a different expression. He was staring at the little boy next to Sigrid with a mixture of disbelief and pity. “It’s the boy,” he murmured.

The others stopped and stared at him, then looked to the small, emaciated figure with varying degrees of shock.

The Grandmother Goddess nodded. “He is. I don’t understand everything, but he says the goblins abandoned him, and he’s been alone for a very long time. He’s an angry, scared, and lonely child looking for any way to make sure he’s never left alone again. I won’t allow anyone to kill him for that.”

“The goblins left him?” En asked. “But there haven’t been any goblins in this city for over two thousand years!”

The room fell silent, then El spoke, his voice almost horrified. “He’s been starving. If he was a big dungeon, there wouldn’t have been enough mana to sustain him. He’d have had to literally cut off parts of his dungeon to survive.”

“I can see the broken links about him,” Sigrid confirmed. “Whatever drove your people from this city must have done it suddenly, leaving him alone and believing himself abandoned. Then he slowly starved in that building that no one else could enter. No adventurers could find him, no goblins came to reclaim him. He lived down there for thousands of years, shrinking, starving, alone. He didn’t take the children to harm them; he just wanted to be sure that you wouldn’t leave again. It was wrong, and like any child we will teach him why it was wrong. But we will not kill him.”

The five goblins exchanged a look, and finally it was Guilk who spoke. “Grandmother… Is this going to be a normal occurrence? Picking up people who aren’t even goblins?”

Sigrid stared at Guilk for a moment, not in anger, but in disappointment. “Guilk, grandson. If I can have enough love for all goblins everywhere, why can’t I have enough for a dungeon? Or… or a kobold, or human? Is love such a finite resource that I must guard it so?”

She looked at all of them. “If I teach you nothing else in this life, remember that love isn’t something to be rationed, but given whole heartedly. And remember that I am the Grandmother Goddess, Grandmother to All Who Need It. So damn straight I’m going to give that love away to even non-goblins.”

Guilk bowed his head, looking slightly ashamed, and she gestured him closer, then as he approached, reached out and pulled him into a hug. “All I ask is that you remember that, and choose to be better.” she said.

“Yes Grandma,” he replied, then, a few moments later, pulled away.

“So,” En asked. “What’s next?”

“Next?” Sigrid asked, thoughtfully. “Next… we call the clans of goblins to come to us.”

“And if the humans, the beastkin, and the other races won’t let them go?” El asked.

“Then we remind them that grandmothers are not to be trifled with,” Sigrid replied as she stroked the hair of the young boy still clinging to her shirt.

“I don’t think that’s going to be anything like easy,” Oict said.

“Perhaps not. But I will not leave a single grandchild in their clutches. And when goblins are free? We move on to whoever else needs us. Because that’s what grandmothers do.”

Slowly the five clan heads nodded as they realized they were witnessing the birth of a new era. The [Time of Grandmothers] was just beginning.