“Sylph, keep cutting her head off,” Henry said, sending a pulse of energy into the chained woman to reinforce her binds. “As long as Harriot is dying, the Corruption can’t try to attack us. That’ll buy us time.”

“Now might be a good time for a rundown of what the Corruption can do,” Damien said. “Why isn’t she dead? The mantis thing died quickly, didn’t it?”

“It didn’t have a host,” Henry replied, crossing his shadowy arms. “No renewable power source. As long as it’s attached to Harriot, the Corruption has more energy than we’ll be able to burn through anytime soon. Imagine trying to exhaust Herald.”

Damien shuddered. That wasn’t an idea that he fancied entertaining. Sylph chopped Harriot’s head off for the umpteenth time and frowned. “So what do we do? Standing here cutting her head off forever isn’t a reasonable option.”

“There are a few options,” Henry said. “We’re doing the first one, which is keep cutting her head off until it works. Probably not going to work. The second would be trying to separate the Corruption from Harriot. If we can split it off, it won’t be bound anymore, but it also won’t have any way to renew its energy.”

“How do we split it?” Damien asked.

“I’ve got a few ideas, but none of them are great,” Henry warned. “In all the cycles I – or Herald – have existed through, a Void creature has never been corrupted. We’ve died or disappeared, but never fallen to the Corruption like this. There was never an opportunity for it, since we restart the cycle before the Corruption can ever take serious root.”

“Does that mean it’s too late?” Sylph asked. “Is the Corruption too permeated throughout the Mortal Plane?”

“No,” Henry said, shaking his head. “I’m confident we would have noticed if the Corruption was everywhere. I think our problem is far different – we’ve got a traitor. It’s the only thing that would explain why every Void creature was bound in some way or another when we arrived on the Mortal Plane.”

“That doesn’t help us much in the moment,” Damien said with a terse frown. He sent a gravity drill into Harriot’s body, but the wound quickly sealed over with green acid.

“But it is important,” Henry said. “Back on the more immediate problem, though. We might just be taking the wrong approach here.”

“You’re saying we should stop killing her?” Sylph asked.

“Not exactly,” Henry said, the faint outline of a grin crossing his flickering features. “We’ve got a problem, but we also have the perfect opportunity.”

“What’s that mean?” Damien asked. “I’m not seeing any upsides to the immortal time bomb.”

“That’s because you’re looking at it wrong,” Henry said. He approached Harriot’s body, kneeling before it just as Sylph chopped her head off again. Henry watched the stump of the woman’s neck closely as it bubbled and started to reform. “We have a creature affected by the Corruption with absolutely no way to really escape us and infinite lives. This is the perfect test subject. The Corruption has never been trapped in a manner such as this, which means this is a great opportunity to study it.”

“What can you tell just from watching a woman grow her head back?”

Damien asked. “We already know she’s immortal.”

“Not the physical attributes,” Henry replied, holding up a hand to stop Syph’s scythe from descending again. “Look at the Ether surrounding Harriot.”

Damien cast his mental net out again and squinted at the headless woman. At first, the lines of Ether didn’t appear any different from the golden energy filling the surrounding area. However, after a few moments, he realized that the lines touching Harriot were slightly fuzzy. Miniscule particles of energy rose up and floated away into the air surrounding her, making it as if there was a faint halo enveloping the woman.

“Is she diffusing the Ether?” Damien asked.

“More like destroying it,” Henry said. “Slowly but steadily. I believe the Ether is getting converted into the incredible regenerative properties that the Corrupted all seem to possess. However, that does make me wonder just how quickly that conversion rate is. Sylph, take a step back.”

Sylph hurried to oblige as motes of purple energy started to gather in the air around Henry. A sphere the size of a head formed in his hand, spikes of jagged energy pulsating out from it an erratic pattern.

Harriot’s head reformed just as Henry thrust the spell into her stomach. The room filled with a violent gale as the spell exploded, sending blades of dark energy tearing through Harriot’s body. Acid sprayed as her flesh tried to knit itself back together, but Henry was unperturbed.

He formed another hissing ball of energy and slammed it into her once more. Harriot’s body shuddered as it was torn apart. Henry stopped right as his magic threatened to completely dice her into tiny pieces.

“Watch the Ether,” Henry ordered as acid bubbled, trying to form back over and seal the numerous wounds covering Harriot. The halo of gold surrounding her grew larger as the lines of Ether started to decay at a faster rate.

The floor beneath Harriot sizzled and popped as her body fully reformed. She snarled at Henry, but before she could even say anything, he sent a purple blast square into her face. Damien grimaced as his stomach turned over.

Even though he was well aware that Harriot wasn’t a human, Damien couldn’t completely handle the sight of what Henry was doing without feeling a little queasy. He drew a steadying breath, forcing his emotions to the side. Henry was right – they needed every advantage possible against the Corruption. His personal feelings could wait.

“You see it, right?” Henry asked. “They use more Ether the more damage they take. And look at this.”

He pointed to Harriot’s shoulder. A small chunk of her flesh hadn’t reformed. It had turned a stony gray, just like what the mantis had looked like.

“If the surroundings run out of Ether, they can’t repair all of the damage,” Sylph said, taking the words out of Damien’s mouth before he could say them. Henry gave her an approving nod.

“Looks that way,” Henry said. He blew Harriot’s head off again, then shoved the woman to the side. She crossed over several new lines of Ether, but the gray spot on her shoulder showed no signs of healing. “And it stays that way, too. Once the Corruption fails to regenerate, that part of it is gone for good.”

“So we know how to kill them,” Damien said. “Although… what happens to the Ether once it gets consumed by the Corruption? Is it just gone?”

“Looks that way,” Henry said, his voice darkening. “Which is why they need to be stopped. That means we’ve got a way to kill Harriot over here. Just keep blowing her up until we burn through all the Ether in the area and she’ll turn to stone and will die like a normal monster.”

Sylph started to raise her sword but Henry shook his head. “Hold on. There’s still more to be gained. We know a method to kill the Corruption when its in a host, but it isn’t particularly efficient.”

“Is there a way we could manually separate Harriot from the Ether?” Damien asked. “With mental energy, maybe.”

“That was what I was about to try,” Henry said. “Watch her closely, and cut her head off if she tries anything. This will take a bit of concentration.”

The lines of Ether surrounding Harriot started to shift. They bent and warped around her, moving slowly at first as an invisible force seemed to resist Henry. With a snap, several of the lines pulled away at once. Harriot’s body slumped immediately.

Gray started to spread across her arms and legs. Henry released the Ether and it shot back into place, reconnecting to the woman’s body. The creeping gray stopped and she started to regenerate once more.

“Well?” Damien asked. “Is it viable in combat?”

“It should be,” Henry said. “We’ll have to hold the target still, but it should only take me a few moments to pull the Ether away from them. As long as we can do that, the Corruption won’t have any way to heal itself.”

“So should we put Harriot out of her misery?” Damien asked somewhat hopefully.

“Not even close,” Henry said, turning back to the woman and decapitating her once more. It had happened so many times that the floor beneath her was pockmarked with holes the width of dinner plates from all the acid pouring down Harriot’s neck. “There is still much to learn, Damien. If you want to keep the Mortal Plane intact, you’re going to have to sacrifice something. As far as things go, a few nightmares isn’t the worst thing you can trade.”

“What do we need to check next?” Sylph asked. “We know how to kill them.”

“All knowledge is vital,” Henry replied, a thin blade forming in one of his dark hands. “And we’ve got a good bit of time left.”

The next few hours were full of memories that Damien desperately wished he didn’t have. He learned many things about the Corruption, the most important of which being that it could feel fear.

After Henry had confirmed there was a way to kill Harriot and the Corruption within her, he allowed her head to fully regrow. He hadn’t thought he’d ever hear a monster that wanted to destroy the Mortal Plane beg for its life.

However, no matter what Henry tried, it refused to offer up any information on how it had found Harriot or managed to corrupt her. When Henry was confident that they’d gleaned every last bit of information possible from the monster, he dragged the Ether away from her and nodded to Sylph.

She thrust her blade into Harriot’s chest without an ounce of hesitation. The blade punched through the flesh with a hiss. Acid bubbled up around the wound, but the chained woman’s flesh started to turn stony and gray.

The affliction spread through her body, covering more and more of it until Harriot was stone all the way up to her neck. Sylph pulled the blade out and thrust it in again. The stone cracked. Harriot’s face warped into a snarl, but no sound came out.

Her body crumbled and fell to dust. The chains binding her crashed to the ground with a series of loud thuds that carried the heavy tone of finality, leaving the three of them alone in the room.

“That was enlightening,” Henry said. “It’s been a long time since I was able to gain such a degree of information about the Corruption. This is invaluable.”

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Damien said, tasting bile at the back of his throat. “But I’m more glad it’s done.”

Sylph’s scythe retracted back into her shoulder blade and she pulled a strip of beef jerky out of her bag. She polished it off in a few bites and put a comforting hand on Damien’s shoulder. “You’ll learn to live with it. Remember what you’re fighting for. That wasn’t a human, and it would gladly have destroyed everything we know if it had the chance.”

“Logic doesn’t have a great way to affect emotions much,” Damien grumbled. “I know that. If anything, I’m pissed at Herald. You can’t tell me it didn’t know that Harriot was corrupted. That bastard doesn’t do anything on accident.”

“It almost certainly knew,” Henry said. “If it was able to redirect the portal straight to Harriot, then it knew the Corruption was very close. I suppose it’s possible that Herald thought the Corruption was just very close to the area, though.”

“Why don’t’ you just ask?” Sylph asked. “Can you not both speak to Herald at the same time? Summon him out like you do with Henry.”

“Henry kind of does that on his own,” Damien said, but a thoughtful frown crossed his face. “I could probably try to pull it out, though. I’m just not sure it’s a great idea. Henry, if I call Herald, it won’t be able to break the contract, will it?”

“It shouldn’t be able to,” Henry said. “You’ll have to be very specific with how you call to it, though. Don’t leave any loopholes. It’s yet to be seen if it’ll even respond to you, though.”

“Only one way to find out,” Damien said before turning his mental energy inwards.

Herald. Come out – we need to have a talk about the Corruption.

Several long seconds passed with no response. Then the tips of Damien’s fingers started to tingle. A strong chill ran through his body and his teeth chattered. A line stretched out from Henry and connected to Damien’s foot where his shadow would have been.

It split back off as a new form started to materialize a few feet away from Henry. Unlike the former, the new shadow was much more defined. It looked like a plain, featureless doll made out of a black, metallic material.

“Creepy,” Sylph observed, keeping her distance from Herald.

“What do you wish to know about the Corruption?” Herald asked in his flat, emotionless tone.

“Harriot was Corrupted,” Damien accused. “Why didn’t you warn us? We all could have gotten killed if I didn’t realize that she wasn’t a Void creature anymore!”

“You knew the rune would take you to the Corruption,” Herald said. “Your abilities were sufficient to identify the truth, and Henry’s prediction was correct. I knew the Corruption was close to… Harriot, but I was not aware it had already taken her.”

“Why not warn me as soon as we got there?” Damien asked. “You knew as soon as we saw her, right?”

“You would have learned nothing,” Herald replied. “The Corruption can be anywhere and everywhere. Suspect everyone. It is a master of disguise. Had I simply warned you, you would be lax in the future.”

Damien pressed his lips together. The only thing more annoying than Herald was Herald when it actually had something of a point, no matter how psychopathic it actually was. “Fine. But what does this mean for us? The Corruption destroying a Void creature, that is.”

“Unless you plan to change your course, nothing,” Herald replied. “We are expendable. The cycle is all that matters. Concern yourself not with Harriot’s fate, but with keeping the rest of this plane from following suite. Is there anything else?”

“Do you know anything about what might have trapped us in the first place?” Henry asked. “All I can think of is a traitor, but the chances of a traitor in our midst…”

“Almost nonexistent,” Herald said. “But I have come to the same conclusion. Our brethren are not to be trusted. Had Harriot not been Corrupted, I would have suggested you end her regardless.”

“Wasn’t she your friend or something?” Sylph asked.

“She was a tool. As are you. As am I. All that matters is the cycle.”

“Is everyone from the Void a pessimist?” Damien asked. “Or did I just get landed with the one sourpuss?”

Herald didn’t grace that with a response. It flickered and faded away, returning Damien’s shadow to him and leaving the three staring at where it had been in silence.