I rode Bella along the edge of the desert. The transition between zones left enough solid ground that we could traverse it with ease. It wasn't the most direct route but that was ok.

The trip back to the now useless boat dock, that Martin and the others used on our first visit, took a few extra hours.

I spotted a few dust plumes in the distance from sand devourers. They kept well clear of the transition zone, although, one shadowed me for a bit before it headed off into the desert.

The boat ramp looked odd, jutting into the sand. Bella had no issue climbing up the surface, her claws clicking on the old concrete.

When we got to the end of the ramp she stopped. She made some clicking noises as she searched about.

"What is it, girl?" I asked, producing my staff and looking around as well.

Fiona appeared next to me, "something feels off."

"Yeah, Bella feels it too."

I hopped off of Bella to give her free reign to fight. This would also free me up. I held off on imbuing my staff until I knew what I was dealing with. I did refresh my other buffs though, and I added Impact to my staff. It would be nice to be able to add that back to my arsenal.

Suddenly Bella's head arrowed in towards a section of thick vines and small shrubs. Something, hell, many things burst through the wall of vegetation and started sprinting across the parking lot toward us. Their movements were off.

"Any idea what we're dealing with?"

"Some sort of undead," Fiona replied in disdain.

"So, fire it is."

I imbued my staff with fire, preparing for the creatures to get close enough to use Identify on.

Husk | Level 7

Husk | Level 3

Husk | Level 8

I checked a few more but all were between level ten and three. There were a lot of them though. I cast Earth Fist, changing the spell to form a knee-high wall about twenty feet long.

The first husks ran straight into the wall, falling over as the ones behind didn't stop.

Bella was hissing and snapping as they got closer. I waited until a large part was within my cone for Disruption before I activated the spell.

All of the monsters caught within the spell were either killed or knocked to the ground, the fire burned away at their clothing.

"These must be fresh undead," I said, noting that the bodies didn't combust like zombies or other undead.

Bella took this as her cue to attack. She ran in and grabbed one husk by the arm and shook it like a dog shakes a toy before tossing it twenty feet away. At least I thought she tossed it, turns out she just ripped its arm off.

Fiona also shot towards the enemies, they ignored her completely.

"I don't think my attacks are harming them," she said in a panicky voice.

"Bella stay clear!" I yelled, spinning my staff to activate Eye of the Storm.

The creatures ran headlong into my maelstrom of fire and wind, heedless of their own safety. One even managed to make it through before the winds were too strong.

It tried to claw and bite at me but my armor's shield flared up. I booted it in the chest, sending it back into the storm. I kept the spell going for another five seconds before I let it end.

Ash and burnt corpses fell from the sky, breaking apart upon landing on the ground. A few of the higher leveled husks survived my spell but were burnt too severely to walk. That didn't stop them from trying to crawl towards me still.

Bella Ran by and used her sharp back claws to rake their bodies.

I decided to let her finish the rest off as I surveyed the area.

"These aren't normal undead," Fiona said, floating up to me.

"Why do you say that?"

"I should be able to harm undead, they still have souls, they are just corrupted... these things have no soul."

I turned over one of the less crispy corpses with my foot.

"Fuck," I said quietly. I recognized this man, he was the guy that greeted Martin when we first entered Arman.

"This doesn't bode well for the town," Fiona said, looking at the corpse.

Part of me said just leave, don't get involved, this isn't your fight. I had to work hard to suppress that mindset. Fiona was right I needed to recapture my humanity if possible.

"Let's go see if anyone survived, and maybe what caused this disaster."

I checked all of the other corpses but didn't recognize anyone. After I stored my staff I mounted Bella and the three of us made our way towards the town wall.

The swamp was quiet, eerily so. Usually, there were the ever-present sounds of frogs, bugs, or other animals. Now, there was just silence. It made the area feel oppressive and foreboding. Every nerve in my body said run.

I fought off this sensation.

Congratulations you have successfully overcome the effects of an Aura of Terror, the aura will no longer have any effect on you

I stopped as the sensation lifted from my body and mind, allowing me to think clearly again. That's when the scream came.

You have been stunned for 5 seconds by the cry of a True Banshee

Bella and I remained motionless as an apparition of pure horror flew at us. Its clothing was torn and stained. In one arm it held a sword much like Fiona's, in the other were four-inch-long fingernails that came to wicked points. It flew at me with a malicious gleam in its eyes.

Fiona flew to intercept it, their ethereal blades clashing as it tried to force itself closer to its prize, me. It managed to rake its claws across my chest a second before the debuff ran out.

My heart seized in my chest as I fell backward off Bella. Bella bolted towards the swamp, the terrifying creature too much for her.

The pain of the creature's touch was like nothing I had experienced before. It was like the cold of the specters multiplied by a hundred, but that wasn't all. A feeling of something very nearly being torn from my body left me shivering on the ground.

I could still hear the two clashing as it tried to get around Fiona to get to me. I knew if I didn't get up soon I was going to die here.

I pulled my staff from my ring and wobbled unsteadily to my feet. My eyes were blurry from the tears streaming from them but I got off Identify anyway.

True Banshee | Level XX

I was having a hard time tracking the two as they kept fading from view and reforming. I decided to activate another use of my talisman.

It helped a bit, allowing me to see their forms a bit better when they faded from view. The Banshee managed to knock Fiona off to the side and sped towards me. My throat locked up in terror but my muscles still responded as I swung my staff at the creature.

As soon as my staff came into contact with its wispy outline it let out a cry so powerful my muscles turned to jello and I collapsed on the ground. It shrieked like that the entire time it flew back into the city.

Fiona rushed over, "are you ok?"

"Uhh...," was all I could get out, my muscles not yet responding.

I was incapacitated for a good five minutes. Fiona floated around nervously the entire time. If those husks had returned I would be dead since she had no way to harm them and Bella had run off into the swamp. I hoped she would return safely but now I had to worry about myself.

I wasn't even sure what the Banshee used to attack me, nothing appeared on my HUD. Eventually, the effect wore off and I could move again, I retrieved my muddy staff that had fallen from my limp grip. As I examined the weapon I noticed a slightly glowing bit hanging from the part I struck the Banshee with. I decided to try Identifying it.

Essence of Life

"Well, that's not ominous."

"What?" Fiona asked, not getting any closer to my staff.

I pulled the diaphanous material from my staff and showed it to her.

"Hmm, never heard of it before."

I decided to store the item in my ring, maybe a merchant could tell me what it was or what it was worth.

I turned towards the city and blew out a breath. "Well, ready for round two?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Not even a little, but I want to see if Martin and the others survived, plus it's the right thing to do."

"Alright, I'll try to keep it occupied so you can strike it again. Your weapon definitely hurt it."

"Hold up a sec," I said, wandering over and picking some hanging moss from a tree.

I mixed it with a bit of mud and shoved the concoction into my ears. It was not the most pleasant sensation but it should reduce the effectiveness of the Banshees wails. I gave Fiona a thumbs up as we headed towards the town once more.

I checked my combat log to see what sort of damage I had dealt the Banshee. My one strike had hit it for over 500 damage, no wonder it fled. I had gotten extremely lucky and got a critical hit along with impact activating. This also included my bonus of 15% from 'Light in the Dark,' and the 10% for 'Knight of Retribution' titles.

I had no clue what level this creature was at but it was easy to tell it was strong. My guess is it was stronger than the Sand Devourer I fought.

The only reason Fiona was able to hold it off was its single-minded drive to get at me. I doubted even she would be able to fight it off seriously.

The gate to Arman was open, swinging in the light breeze. Dozens of corpses of husks littered the ground around the entrance. We had found a few more down by the quads but no sign of Martin or his friends.

There were no signs of Martin, Joshua, or Clem near the gate either. I suppose one of them could have been a corpse I charred beyond recognition. I held out hope that they persevered or managed to escape.

I did see a black tar-like substance on the ground that smelled like sulfur and rot. I wasn't sure what that was about so I stayed well clear of it.

Nothing moved within the city as we made our way inside. Fiona had returned to her invisible form. Occasionally I would hear the plaintiff wail of the Banshee in the distance. It was muted significantly by my impromptu earplugs and only stunned me for a second. The worst was when I heard the gleeful cackling, followed by someone screaming.

I stayed my course though, I didn't know where the scream had originated from and I would not be able to get there in time to do anything anyway. No, my goal was the bar where Martin's sister was the last time I met her.

As we got closer Fiona tapped me on the shoulder. I had to pull out one of my earplugs to hear her.

"There is some sort of barrier up around the bar, it is preventing me from getting any closer."

"Good, that means there are probably survivors. Can you stay out here and try to lead any other people this way?"

"I can try but I'm liable to scare them more than lead them."

"Well, then just scare them in this direction."

She nodded, fading from view as she moved off to search.

I clutched my staff as I headed towards the bar. I couldn't see this barrier but I trusted Fiona.

I knocked on the door quietly before I announced myself. "It's Paul, from the desert. Anyone in there?"

I heard a few muffled words as someone unbolted the door.

"Hurry get inside," someone said, gesturing for me to enter.

I squeezed through the gap in the partially opened door. The door quickly shut behind me as it was bolted back into place.

Twenty people were in the bar, either sitting or standing. They all looked at me expectantly. Martin rushed up and pulled me into a hug with a few slaps on the back.

I was a bit thrown off by the unexpected amount of affection.

"Glad to see you're ok, Paul, we were worried the Banshee would get you."

"What happened?"

"We're not quite sure," Sally said, walking up to join the conversation. "How did you survive?" she asked in a demanding tone.

I see she had dropped the mask of friendliness that she greeted me with the first time we met.

"Just dumb luck," I replied.

"Not good enough," she said, producing a sword.

'Looks like Martin bought his sister a storage ring.'

My first instinct was to destroy her and be on my way. I suppressed that desire as Martin intervened.

"Dammit, Sally, tensions are high enough without us fighting each other. But really, Paul, how did you survive?"

"Anyone able to Identify items?" I asked instead.

Martin and Sally both nodded. I decided to take a chance, handing Martin my staff. I had my other one in case things went south.

Martin let out a low whistle as he inspected the item, handing it to his sister.

"You made this?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Can you make more?"

I crossed my arms, "why should I? You were ready to gut me a moment ago, now you want my help. Sorry, lady, I have been through too much shit since the world ended to do anything for nothing."

I knew I was being a tad unreasonable with the current situation, but I wasn't about to let this woman walk all over me. If we couldn't come to an understanding it was best to cut my losses and move on. I would still try to take down the creature but I wouldn't supply these people with rune-crafted weapons.

She grit her teeth and shoved the staff back into my hand. "Screw you, we can handle this ourselves!"

"Not likely," I replied dismissively, "I barely survived my encounter and I had some help. Do you even know what level this creature is?"

Martin replied before his sister could fly off the handle at me again, "No, nobody that has gotten close enough survived, do you happen to know its level?"

"I don't but it's over 30, that much I can say for a fact."

This brought concerned mutterings from the people now clustered around the three of us. It was starting to make me nervous and I was eying each of them as a possible threat.

Martin must have seen my discomfort. "Alright, people let's make some room so the Constable and Paul can discuss terms."

The group grumbled but moved away to give us some space. I gave Martin a small nod in appreciation. He must be desperate if he referred to his sister as the Constable.

"What do you want for your help?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Nothing much. Just an empty home of my choice after this mess is cleared up."

"That's all?"

"No, I also want a System oath from both of you and anyone else that gets these weapons, stating that they will not disclose my methods, sell, trade, or give away the items unless they get my say-so."

"Fine, I swear by the laws of the System to not disclose the method used by Paul Fuller to modify items and will not sell, trade, or give away those items without his express consent. Happy?"

Martin repeated the oath and I felt the binding magic settle on the three of us.

"What about Clem and Joshua?"

Martin gave a sad shake of his head.

" Sorry... I didn't know."

"It's fine, they went out fighting to save others."