Inkitt Link -- which I strongly recommend while the site is having so many issues with formatting and such from the update.

“So what happened?” I asked, looking at the sorry state of my surroundings.

“Nuttin…” Skeet muttered under his breath, as he turned and staggered from the sick room and back into the common area. Aside from myself and Crystal, everyone else was passed out and unable to say a thing. Questioningly, I arched an eyebrow up while staring towards Crystal, and she swallowed deeply, looking for the proper words.

“It was…” She paused for several moments and wrapped her arms around herself and trembled slightly, while searching for the proper words. Even exhausted, I pulled her over against me, and held her in my arms as I leaned back against the wall and slowly eased myself down onto the floor. Nestling her head deep into my shoulder, she simply shook and trembled for several long moments while I stroked her hair.

“It was a memorable experience,” Crystal finally offered, as she tried to get herself back under control. “At first, it didn’t seem like anything was happening. We laughed and joked about how Mongo looked like he was going to kiss poor Tiffany, since she was held so close in his arms and he was trying to counter-match her breathing so hard.

“And then all that changed in an instant.” Crystal shivered and snuggled in tighter; I wrapped my arms around her and embraced her as tightly as my exhausted muscles would allow. “One moment we were joking and poking fun at Mongo, the next moment he let out a scream that made my hair stand up straight and he tossed Tiffany half across the room.

“Skeet and Dino jumped on him to try and hold him down, and Jess ran to make certain Tiffany wasn’t hurt from where she was flung. Mongo was too wild, too in pain, for the two boys to hold – he tossed them around like rag dolls and was trying to rake his own eyes out of his sockets, when I finally tackled him and helped. Even with the three of us, it was all we could do to contain him! He had the strength of a madman!” Crystal trembled from the memory, and it took several moments of simply stroking her hair and reminding her that, “It’s all right. It’s all over now,” before she finally calmed down enough to continue.

“It wasn’t until Jess came over and worked some minor magic to help numb his pain somewhat, that we managed to get him under control,” Crystal finally continued. “It was then that we all saw the streaks spreading across his body. When someone gets poisoned, or bit by a snake or spider, you can see the streaks as the venom moves up their veins. Something similar happened to Mongo. A white glow spread up his veins, slowly covering him from head to toe, and as it spread, the effects were horrific to watch.

“Mongo’s skin dried up. His muscles faded. Spots grew on his flesh, and he simply withered and wrinkled, fading away on the spot. As we watched, horror-struck, Mongo went through the agony of aging fifty years in less than the span of a candle mark. I’ve never heard anything as awful as the screams he was emitting, or the dreadful gurgle they turned into as his throat and mouth withered almost to nothing. He was a feeble, withered up shadow of a crippled old man by the time the glow faded.”

“I may have taken a little too much of his life,” I admitted, half-shaking along with Crystal as she quivered against me again. Even hearing her talk about it, it sounded vile and unsettling. To actually watch it happen? To hold the person down while they’re undergoing such a process. It’s no wonder they were all so shaken.

“It’s Okay,” I whispered gently to Crystal. “You don’t have to say anything else. It’s over now. I won’t make the same mistakes next time. You’ll see; I’ll do better.”

“Are you certain you want to do that again?” Crystal asked, barely at a whisper. “I doubt Skeet will agree to go through that. Not after seeing it. And are you certain you could do such a thing to yourself and maintain the magic while experiencing it?

“I’m going to have to,” I replied grimly. “If I can’t, I plan on dying trying. I’m not going to let whatever this corruption is down here keep influencing and affecting me. If I fall prey to it, my magic would probably be strong enough to break the barrier and let it escape. I’d rather perish than let what we’ve seen, what we’ve felt down here, escape. My death. Your death. Even all our deaths are preferable to letting this corruption out so it can spread across the world.”

Crystal was silent for several long moments, and when she spoke again it seemed as if she’d regained her composure. Without quivering, she determinedly continued her tale. “When the glow finally faded from Mongo, he slumped over and simply wheezed, struggling with each breath. Jess worked her magics to help keep him alive and breathing, and she began begging for you to stop. To undo what you’d done. To have mercy, pity, and decency to quit.”

“Which, of course, I didn’t.” I said, sighing. “I didn’t need the distractions. The magic was too difficult to control, so I blocked my hearing and sight so I could simply follow and work with the flows of life.”

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about her pursing you ever again,” Crystal said, trying to force a smile. “I think when we’re out of here, and back someplace safe, she’s going to avoid you like the plague. I hope you know another healer who might travel with us later. Jess never will. Not again. Not in my honest opinion.”

“I only did what I had to do,” I muttered, sad and defensive.

“Perhaps.” Crystal agreed. “But I think she’s now filled with so much fear and anguish regarding you, she’s going to bolt like a rabbit when given the chance. I may be wrong,” she admitted, “but I don’t think so.”

“Nothing I can do about it now,” I told her sadly. “I just hope time shows that I did the right thing, in the long run.”

“Me too, My Lord. Me too.” Crystal took several deep breaths and then turned and lightly kissed me on the end of my nose. “If it’s any consolation, witnessing the experience with Tiffany was just as breathtaking and inspiring as with Mongo. When the glow settled into her, her color returned, her skin shined and glittered. Funnily enough, I even noticed that her nipples perked right up! She looked so peaceful, so lively. It was almost like I’d imagine an angel to look.

“The white glow of life settled into her body. Her skin grew paler. The pinks of her lips – both her upper and lower lips,” she laughed lightly as she said it, “and her nipples all turned alabaster white. Even her fingertips and toenails were white. It was like she had so much life inside her that it was bubbling over and trying to escape.”

“That’s how it kind of felt to me as well,” I admitted. “It was almost as if it was too much life for her body to contain it. I almost felt like she might explode if I wouldn’t have drained it back out.”

“Thank the Gods she didn’t explode!” Crystal shook all over once again, and looked wild eyed at me. “I was thinking that it didn’t look like what she’d went through was that bad at that point. I guess I was wrong…”

“Well, I don’t know that she even could’ve exploded. I just know that’s how it felt,” I told her soothingly. “So what happened after that?” I asked, trying to move her away from focusing on people exploding. Crystal had enough to give her nightmares for a while; she didn’t need “what might’ve been” to make things any worse than they already were.

“After that, things got bad again,” Crystal said dryly. “Real bad.”

“Mongo regained his youthfulness, which was a good thing. At least, up until he started screaming once again. He didn’t try to hurt himself, or get away this time. He simply curled himself into a ball and screamed. Raw, unadulterated, horrible scream after scream after scream.” Crystal was speaking so dryly, so unemotionally, it was like she was simply repeating the words while completely blocking the image from her memory.

“Jess tried to use her magic to heal him, but as soon as her hands glowed, she began to scream as well. Mongo was curled up in a fetal position, and Jess simply collapsed on top of him and tried to do the same. Dino tried to do something with his magic to help pull Jess out of it, and then he just collapsed and screamed as well.”

Lifting her head to stare me in the eyes, tears freely flowed down Crystal’s face. In a heartbroken sob, she tried to speak several times and failed, before finally getting out, “It.. it was awful. The looks they made. Their expression will haunt me until the day I die. Even after,” she corrected, weakly. “And their screams echoing endlessly with each other…. It was almost enough to drive a person mad!”

“And my greatest shame,” Crystal admitted, crying freely now, “is that I didn’t even try to help them. Their pain was too great. Their screams too much. At least Dino tried to help Jess. I was too scared to. Too scared to hardly even breath, for fear that I’d experience whatever hell they were going through.

“I was a coward, My Lord. In fact, I think I even pissed myself,” Crystal confessed. “No matter how much I wanted, I couldn’t bring myself to try and comfort them. Honestly, I thanked the Gods when it was all over; had it continued for even a moment longer, I don’t know what I might have done.”

So quietly I could hardly hear her, Crystal finished her story, “I simply couldn’t stop thinking, that that was going to be me soon. I… I don’t know if I can handle that, My Lord. I don’t think I’m that strong.”

Gods forbid, I don’t know if I am either – but I’ve got to be.