After dinner, the two sat on the couch in the living room. A pizza box with a few uneaten slices was sitting on the coffee table. Ahylino was playing a video game, excitedly explaining things and pointing them out to their mom. Dee chuckled, thinking back to when she would spend hours gaming with her friends. Then she got a job. Then she was homeless. Then magic happened. Then she had a kid. Things have changed so much. It was exhausting. But, looking at the smiling face of her child, it was more than worth it.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise came from the door. "Mom!" Ahylino shouted in surprise. Their eyes glowed with an otherworldly awareness. "It's the same person as before." Their eyes stopped glowing.

Dee jumped up and ran over to the door, hoping it wasn't as urgent as it sounded. She opened it and saw one of the adventurers from before, but now their shirt was stained red. "Please, I need help. Something's chasing me." They wheezed.

"Quick, get in here!" Dee grabbed the stranger's arm and pulled them inside. She closed the door and shouted a spell at it. The door glowed yellow as an arcane lock activated. No one was getting in that door. "Ahylino, get the med kit." Dee calmly instructed, trying not to panic her child. Ahylino ran to the bookcase. Dee sat the man down on the couch. She didn't like having an adventurer in her house, but she wasn't about to let someone bleed out and die. She started to look him over the best she could. He had several puncture wounds in his stomach and chest, and a lot of bruising. Ahylino came back with the kit and set it down next to their mom. "Good job, honey."

"I think I was poisoned. Do you have any healing magic?" The man asked, his voice shaky and quiet.

"I do. Ahylino, hold my hand," Dee reached out and held the hand of her child, who had moved to sit next to the stranger. In truth, Dee didn't need Ahylino's help to heal this man. However, it would keep Ahylino from feeling anxious and teach them something at the same time. Dee placed her other hand on the man's chest and began to channel her magic. It flowed through her, into her hand, and out into the adventurer. Ahylino's own magic followed, flowing into Dee, guided by her. Ahylino felt how their mother changed their magic and pushed it into the man. Ahylino did their best to try and memorize the way the magic changed. As Dee focused, she could see the wounds knitting themselves back together and feel the poison being neutralized.

The adventurer took a sharp breath, finally able to fill their lungs without pain. "Thank you, ma'am," they pantted with a smile. "You saved my life."

"No thanks necessary. Just doing what I can," Dee gave a comforting smile. She started to wrap him up with bandages. "I can only heal what I know is there. So the bandages will help in case anything gets torn open. You should also go to the hospital as soon as you can."

"Of course. What can I give you in return?" The stranger asked.

"How about you tell me your name and what's chasing you," Dee asked.

The stranger sighed, and recounted the events. "My name is Zack. I was traveling with a group of adventurers. We were hired to clear out some monsters that had taken up residence in a nearby forest. But you already know that. While we were taking them back, a different one ambushed us. It was stronger, and it knew how to use magic. I managed to get away." He pulled out what appeared to be some kind of compass. "I have this device that can track magic. It's how we tracked down those beasts to begin with. We knew magic transformed them, but we didn't know it was to such extremes. It's also how I tracked you down. You're the only druid for miles, so your magical signature is relatively high."

"Where's the creature now?" Dee asked.

Zack tapped the compass and the arrow pointed behind him. "It was tracking me, but I think it got lost once I was around other people." The man looked at Dee with a worried expression, "I wouldn't have led it to you."

"It's okay," Dee said. "Try and stay calm, or you might open up those wounds," She put her hand on his shoulder. "Plus, we can protect ourselves." She reached over and picked up Ahylino, holding them close, "Isn't that right, little one?"

Ahylino nodded and cuddled up against her. "Yeah! We can beat anything," they said.

"That's my kid," Dee kissed her forehead.

"Um," Zack pointed at his compass, which was spinning around wildly. "I think it found me," He said with a shaky voice.

"Stay here," Dee placed Ahylino down on the couch and walked outside to the walkway of the apartment building. The walkway was large enough for two people, with a cement, waist high wall. She could hear rapid skittering from above. Dee turned to the source, and saw the creature crawling down from the roof into the walkway. Its eight legs supported a bulbous abdomen with a pair of sharp fangs. Its many eyes locked onto Dee as it opened its mandibles, cold air coming from it. Dee took a step back into a fighting stance, pulling a staff out of her hair in the process.

The spider hissed and charged at her. She dodged to the side and hit it with her staff. It stumbled. Dee jumped back to put some distance between them. The spider turned around and charged at her again. She grabbed the staff with all four hands and blocked its attack, then pushed it back. It tried again, and she dodged and hit it in the face. It hissed and stumbled back.

"Is that all you've got?" She taunted.The spider lunged at her, and she raised her staff, knocking it back. It tried again, and again she pushed it back. Finally, it lunged again, and she hit it as hard as she could. It screeched and ran off. "Strong, but not smart," Dee said to herself. Before she could relax, she felt something sticky on one of her arms. Looking down, it was a spider web. "Never mind." It was pulled taunt and Dee was sent flying, crashing through the cement wall and flying in the air. She landed on the roof with a hard thud. "Ow," She groaned, standing up and brushing herself off.

"Mom!" Ahylino called. They jumped onto the roof with Zack.

"It's okay," Dee called. "Just stay back." She stood up and charged at the spider, hitting it hard and fast. It lunged at her, but she rolled to the side. It tried again, and she dodged, hitting it in the side. It screeched and backed off. "Come on!" Dee yelled. She was trying to hold back, but couldn't help get riled up. This was a little fun.

It charged at her once again, and she raised her staff, ready to block its attack. Instead, a shard of ice shot out of its mouth. Dee was knocked back and hit against the ground. She got up, feeling her chest hurt. She turned to charge, but the spider spat out more ice. This time, she dodged and hit it, making it stumble back. The spider seemed to have enough, as it roared. Ice began to cover its limbs like armor, and its fangs grew longer and sharper, blue-green venom dripping and forming frozen puddles on the ground. It disappeared in a white flash and reappeared behind Dee, stabbing its leg right through her chest, then freezing over her torso.

"Mom!" Ahylino cried.

Dee's hand grabbed the leg sticking through her. "Alright." She pulled herself off it and fell to the ground. She rose to her feet in an unnatural way, similar to a marionette being pulled by its strings. The ice fell off of her, like her body wasn't there anymore. "Play time's over!" She roared as her eyes glowed a wrathful amber. Nature's magic came to her aid, surrounding her. She called upon it, and channeled it into herself. She glowed green and orange, a sign of a druid transforming into an animal. Only, Dee didn't transform into an animal. The green and orange gave way to an ethereal purple and gold. Different types of fungi started to grow over her body. Her face became covered by a mask of mushrooms and moss, her limbs became wrapped in mycelium, as well as her tails. She was like a living, breathing ecosystem of fungi, only with her still at the center. Dee, and the many entities growing on and in her, formed a true symbiosis. "I'll show you what a circle of spores druid can really do," The top of her staff transformed into a large mushroom cap. She swung it, and purple and gold spores burst out of it. The spores hit the spider's face, and it screeched. It lunged, trying to get away from the spores. Dee swung her staff. More spores hit it, and it was forced back. She swung again, and more spores hit it, forcing it further back. When it tried to move back more, it was stopped, surrounded by a cloud of spores. Mushrooms began to grow over the ice on the creature. It cracked and shattered to pieces, and the spider was without its armor. Dee pulled one of her free hands back and shoved it forward. A green, skeletal hand shot out and slammed into the spider, the magic rotting it from the inside out. But the spider still persisted. It lunged, but Dee was ready. She dropped her staff, and pulled all four arms back. When it was in range, she unleashed a flurry of blows onto the creature. It fell onto its back. It screeched and its legs jolted, as it desperately tried to get up. Dee threw one of her arms forward, and a whip of thorny vines materialized around her arm, following its motion. It wrapped around the spider, puncturing it with the thorns. Dee turned around, and swung her arm. The vine followed, sending the spider up into the air, and was slammed down hard onto the cement roof, causing it to crack. Insect blood splattered and pooled out of the creature as its legs curled up, finally dead. Dee relaxed, and the fungus on her body disappeared, returning to its dormant state.

"You did it mom!" Ahylino cried. They ran up and hugged her. "That was so cool!"

"Thanks sweetie," she smiled.

"I can't believe it," Zack walked up to the spider, examining it. Then he turned to Dee. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Dee tapped her chest, which looked unharmed. "Spores closed up my wound the second I pulled that thing's leg out of me. Honestly, I was never in danger. I doubt it could have actually gotten past my defenses even if I let it." She sighed, "But, the landlord is definitely going to complain. I was hoping I could just thwack it to death, but it pushed my buttons."

"Amazing," Zack awed. "A druid that uses mushrooms to fight." He shook his head, "I don't think I've ever heard of something like that before. It's definitely a unique approach."

"Yeah, well, not too many people understand that death and decay are also part of nature. And fungi thrive off it," Dee smiled

"Well, you've done more for me than I can ever repay." Zack frowned and looked down. "I hope my friends can rest easy now."

Dee debated a thought before sighing. She already came this far, might as well help a bit more. "How long ago did they die?"

---

The sun was rising as Zack dragged the last of his friend's body onto the roof. They were damaged, but not mangled. "That's all of them," he said. What are you doing?"

"Just watch," Dee cracked her knuckles and held out her hands. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Spores began to float out of her finger tips and towards the bodies. The bodies began to float into the air, as the spores wrapped around them. Fungi began to grow over their wounds and soak up the blood on the bodies as they spread. After a minute, the wounds were completely covered up by fungi, and the adventurers all gasped for air as they came back to life.

The adventurers looked over their bodies. It took a second to process. "Oh my god! We're alive!" One of them cried. They all jumped and started to hug each other and cheer. Zack ran over and joined it. They seemed pretty close.

"How did you do that?" Zack asked.

"I can bring back the recently deceased using my spores," Dee explained. "Like i said, people forget that death and decay are all part of nature. I just stitched them back together and guided their souls back to their bodies. A soul will usually linger around the body for a few hours after death, so that was easy. But the bodies are still dead. You're all essentially zombies." Dee's tone turned more serious. "I can't stress this enough, I cannot break the cycle of life and death. I just allowed your souls to stay connected through the death part of that cycle. You'll probably rot more if you don't have enough magic to feed the spores. You can die any time you want, if being undead is something you don't want. You just need to will it. You'll have enough time to get your affairs in order. But, if you want to continue as you are now, I'd suggest just pretending you have half the mana you normally do. That way you'll always have enough in reserve to naturally feed the spores. As long as you're giving to nature just as much as you're taking, you should be fine."

The adventurers all looked at each other, debating what to do. They thank her one more time, talking among themselves as they, along with Dee and Ahylino, all went back downstairs. As they went down, Zack looked back at Dee. "Thank you so much for saving my friends. They mean the world to me."

"Of course. I couldn't let them die when I could help." Dee said.

"Is there anything we can do to thank you?" One of the resurrected adventurers asked.

"Never mention this to anyone," Dee said in a very demanding tone.

The adventurers all laughed. "Don't worry," Zack said. "After this, we're all retiring from adventuring."

"Back on the job hunt already," One of the ex-adventurers said.

"We'll make it through," another said. "Just as long as we stick together."

They started to joke and laugh with one another. Dee couldn't help but look at them nostalgically. Images of a time before, in a large cave, with glowing fungus. Eight different figures, Dee included, hugged each other as they walked, laughing at some inside joke that Dee has long since forgotten. She shakes away the memory, seeing the group of friends talking amongst themselves happily. She looks over to Ahylino, who is ranting and raving about how cool the fight was. Dee smiled.

Once they were down the stairs, the ex-adventurers bid the mother and child farewell, returning to wherever they came from.

"That was awesome!" Ahylino shouted as they entered their apartment again.

"It really was. Haven't fought like that in years," Dee responded. She sat down on the couch.

Ahylino climbed onto the couch and hugged their mother, "You're so cool, mom."

"Thank you," Dee hugged back. "So are you."

Ahylino giggled and nuzzled their head into their mom's chest, "I can't wait until I'm strong like you."

Dee kissed the top of their head. "I love you, Ahylino."

"I love you too, mom."