Inkitt Link, for those interested.

“So what’s the verdict? Am I dying?” Odd to say such words while staring down at your own body, like a ghost.

“You’ll be fine in a bit, I think,” Tiffany answered with a giggle. Apparently she had no issues with Crystal’s body calling mine, ‘me’. I guess her own connection with Mongo helped with that, even though their ability to swap back and forth seemed much more limited than mine and Crystals. Still, the fact that I couldn’t swap back to my own flesh right now was bothersome, to say the least.

“Then is it the taint?” Gods, I hoped not! It was enough of a pain to remove a small sliver of taint from my spirit. I don’t think I’d be able to do it again, especially not with the amount of poisonous fire that I’d felt coursing through my veins. I honestly felt like I’d be more likely to just spread it than dilute it.

“It’s virulent bone rot,” Jess replied, taking a moment to wipe sweat from her brow. “Probably the worst case of the disease that I’ve ever heard of – definitely the worst that I’ve ever seen. Now bugger the hell off before you distract us and we turn Michael’s bones into soup or something!” Distractedly, she waved a hand at me, and the little floating orb drifted over and zapped me lightly several times until I backed away and left the healers alone.

Ungrateful ass! Don’t you know who created you! Sure, it might’ve been with the life of the healers, but still…

Sighing, and feeling unloved by my first living creation, I now knew how Frankenstein must’ve felt. Easing over to Mongo, I could tell that he was struggling to unfasten his armor. “Here, let me help,” I offered.

“Thanks,” he muttered, his voice full of pain.

“How the hell are you still alive,” I asked, while pulling the pins and opening his breastplate. Blue and yellow discolored bruises covered the majority of his torso and frame.

“Good armor,” Mongo said, smiling weakly. “Whatever that bastard thing was, it hit me like a runaway wagon. I thought I was done for, especially when I ended up on the ground and it kept sledgehammering its fists against me. Thank you,” he whispered lowly, giving me a weak thumb’s up. “That is Michael in there currently, right?”

“I’m Michael,” I told him, with a laugh and a wiggle. “Wantta cop a feel while Crystal’s out goofing off and sleeping in my body, like a lazy bones?”

“No thanks. I think it’d hurt my hands to squeeze them right now.” Mongo half coughed out a laugh and then slowly eased down to the ground. “If it wasn’t for this armor, that thing would’ve turned me into jam right there on the floor, I think. As it is, just the impact and crashing my own body did on the inside of the suit is enough that I think I’d have to get better to die.”

“You do look like a hunk of meat past its prime,” I told him, laughing.

“Just what the hell was that thing?” Mongo asked, getting serious and cutting to the heart of the matter. “Where the hell did it come from?”

“I think they’ve been here all along,” I answered, after thinking for a few moments. “Outside, we killed several huge swarms of the dead as we worked our ways along looking for you guys. Using my magic, I could sense the creatures moving across the ground. Skeletons are light weight, barely leave any impression. Zombies exert more weight and shuffle more than walk. I could tell the dead apart after studying how the moved across the ground somewhat.”

“That’s an extremely useful trick to pick up,” Mongo said, admiringly. It was odd; we’d spent several timeless days together, and honestly, I think this is the most that we’d said to each other in that whole time.

“It was. The sword here can destroy the skeletons, and at the time we were afraid they’d find some way out and swarm the local farmers. Thinning their numbers seemed productive,” I explained. “Now, it seems almost as productive as trying to drain a lake with a bucket. There’s just too many of the damn things. No matter how many we put down, it doesn’t seem like there’s an end to them.

“I think it’s the Jawbreaker Curse in action,” I told Mongo, as I sat down and rested Crystal’s body across from him. “Whatever the curse is that’s on this place, it puts it outside the reach of the gods. Death can’t come for a soul here, and Order has no sway on his place. Kill the dead and instead of them staying dead or being destroyed, I think the curse brings them back after enough time has passed. I think the most we’re doing is scattering a few bones and making the corruption spend a trickle of its power to undo all we’ve done.

“And, I’ve learned already – this damn place has a lot more magic at its command than I do.” It was irritating to admit, but it was the simple truth. I wasn’t like Dino and unable to admit that someone or something was more powerful than me. This place had shown me several times that if it focused its will to blocking my efforts, and I couldn’t just brute power my way past it. All I’d have to do is try and melt a wall somewhere, and I’d be reminded of that fact.

“That’s…” Mongo paused for a moment, looking for the proper word, and then just shrugged. “I guess it is what it is. We’re still not going to give up and quit, are we.”

It didn’t sound like a question to me, so I didn’t treat it like one. “We’re not,” I agreed, smiling lightly. “The bastard darkness has knocked us down, but it hasn’t knocked us out. I know what I’m looking for now. Those damn creatures won’t get a second chance to hit us unaware. I’ve felt them all along,” I admitted, a little embarrassed.

“On the surface, there was a group of dead which would be on the ground at one spot and then just suddenly somewhere else a large distance away. I thought they might be some form of magic-wielding dead using teleport magic, so we avoided them. Now,” I explained with a half laugh, “I know from personal experience they’re nothing more than leaping lizards! Now that I know what they are, I can identify them and be prepared for them in the future.”

“Well….” Mongo drew the word out, as if he was reluctant to finish his thought. “Even if we know about them, how the hell are we going to deal with them? What if they’re somewhere that we can’t just avoid and have to try and fight our way through the bastards?”

“That’s not our problem,” I told him, a slight twinkle in my eyes. “Zippy is going to take care of all those bastards for us! Aren’t you Zippy?” Hearing me call it by the name the girls had given it, the little orb slowly floated over and pulsed curiously several times, changing color repeatedly.

“How? I’m certain that’s what you just asked, right!” Slowly the orb floated up and down and changed colors to settle as a pulsing pale pink.

“Well, I’ve got some work to do, and then I’ve got some work to do, and then you’ll have work to do,” I told it, laughing lightly. This damn darkness might corrupt a lot down here, but I be damned if I was going to let it corrupt my laughter! Just for spite, I stood up proudly and put Crystal’s hands on either hip and gave my most evil warlord laugh again. “MuHaHaHaHa… PTttffttt!” I couldn’t do it! Hearing Crystal’s voice trying to sound dark and evil, was simply too much for me and I ended up choking on my own laughter and then laughing for real!

Much to my amazement, and my amusement, Mongo looked startled for a moment and then he joined in the laughter fest – at least until he started groaning and holding his ribs. “Damn Child of Chaos! You’re going to kill me with laughter!” Tears leaked from the corner of his eyes, and he half curled. Laughter and bruised ribs apparently don’t go so well together, and when Tiffany came over and smacked him upside the head, warning, “If you die from laughter down here, I’ll make certain you’ll regret it forever, as I’ll just never stop crying.”

What a threat! By Mongo’s pained look on his face, and the way he pulled her over to hug her, despite his injuries, he took her seriously too – it was all just too much for me. Her pitiful expression, quivering lower lip, pouty face. His big sorrowful look and promise, “Sorry. I won’t let the mean laughter kill me.” I laughed so hard, I ended up back in my own body!

One moment Crystal’s body was laughing and almost crying, and mine was lying still and unmoving where the healers had just finished their magics over it. The next moment, Crystal was staggering around drunkenly – her soul waking and returning dazed and confused to her own flesh – and my body rolled over, laughed uncontrollably and pounded on the floor.

Honestly, I think I would’ve been okay with the switch, but Jess tried to kill me! Mongo accused me of death by laughter, but Jess was the real guilty party. Leaned over, examining my eyes, she screamed, fell backwards, and stained a wet puddle across the ground when my body just suddenly sat up and burst laughter in her face. Her look of shocked horror, fright, and then embarrassment was just too much. I laughed so hard, I almost had an asthma attack – and I don’t even have asthma!

When I finally got myself under control, everyone was staring at me as if I’d did something wrong. “Sorry?” I said, half apologizing, half wondering exactly what I was apologizing for.

“Child of Chaos,” Mongo muttered, while Crystal was the one nodding in agreement this time. I didn’t even bother to try and tell them different anymore; they didn’t believe me anyway.

“Chys, you need to carve me some chunks of stone free once again.” We were close enough now, shortening her name was completely natural. Besides, she could easily tell just by glancing at my own thoughts and emotions, I was using it as a term of affection and not looking down on her or anything.

Nodding, and then flexing a few times to be happy in her own body once again, Crystal finally eased over and slashed the far wall several times. “We still don’t have time for more armor,” she warned me, as the debris began to pile up around her feet and legs.

“I know,” I assured her. “This isn’t for armor. This is for Zippy. I’m going to make it a weapon!”

The little orb spun a few times and changed color curiously, and then it began to pulse excitedly. Zipping over to the wall near Crystal, it started zapping bolts of current into the wall, scorching and leaving black spots all up and down it.

“Awwww! He’s so cuuuuute!” Tiffany squealed in delight watching the little thing, and then ran over and grabbed it in her hands and hugged it tightly. “You hear that Zippy?! You’re getting a Heartstone weapon too!”

All in all, I couldn’t help but stare in amazement. How the hell could she grab it like that and not be electrocuted? Just how smart was the damn little thing? How much did it understand? Just what the hell was it, anyway?!

I’m mighty afraid Zippy is going to get me in all sorts of trouble when I get out of her and the school and others see him for the first time. Cringing, I could just tick off my list of offenses in my head. Destruction of the forest while making Heartstone. Check. Death of team member at the hands of my slave. Check. Creating an artificial lifeform out of corrupted death magic, with no idea what it was. Check. Performing magical experiments on the living, altering and merging their souls. Check.

Thinking about it, maybe I should give up on the evil warlord laugh. I might just be turning into one! Maybe I should practice my ‘I’m as innocent as Tiffany’ laugh. “Teeheehee. Heehee. Hee!” I tried it, but it didn’t work. I certainly didn’t feel any more innocent; all I felt now was stupid and the center of everyone’s attention once again.

Sighing, and trying to ignore all the stares focused on me once again, I began to work my magics on the loose stone and melt and purify it. Crystal was carving a lot of stone quickly from the wall -- there was only dirt and stone behind the one she was hacking mercilessly at, with no room directly behind it – and it didn’t take long before I had enough for my needs. I didn’t even have to tell her when to stop hacking; she felt when I was satisfied and stopped naturally on her own.

I wasn’t going to spend long on the task at hand. Time was too important for us. I could almost feel the moments slipping away, tick by tick. Melting the stone, I purified it and hardened it, and then shaped it into half a dozen man-length toothpicks. “Done,” I said, smiling broadly.

“And what the heck are those for?” Mongo asked, going over to pick one up, just to be zapped by Zippy. Apparently the orb didn’t want anyone else to touch his toys!

“You’ll see,” I promised. “Zip, I’m going to have to tug and alter your magic just a little,” I warned the little thing. It changed colors a few times and then fluttered over to Tiffany as if it wasn’t certain and wanted her opinion on the matter. Gently, she took it in her hands and then lightly kissed it. “It’s okay, Zippy. Uncle Michael wouldn’t hurt you. You can trust him.”

Uncle Michael? When the heck did that happen?! Shouldn’t I be a Papa, at least?

Deciding not to worry too much about it, as Zippy finally floated slowly over to me, I gently reached out a tendril of magic towards the little orb. Thankfully, it apparently understood enough that it didn’t zap me again this time, so I began to slowly make a connection between its energy core and the oversized stone shards on the ground. As each one was slowly enchanted and connected to the orb, they slowly rose up from the ground and began to rotate slowly around the little creature. First one, then another, and finally all six ‘toothpicks’ were floating in orbit around the orb, much like the planets around the sun.

“There! Teeheehee!” I tried the innocent girly giggle again; it’s definitely not for me. “My parts done now. The rest is up to you Jess. Tiffany.”

“And just what are we supposed to do?” Jess asked, eyeing both me and the orb curiously.

“Zippy’s now a floating spear wall,” I told her, grinning broadly. “You guys just need to teach it to position those ‘toothpicks’ and brace them against the ground in front of us. The next time one of those leaping bastards jumps at us, Zippy will be there like a giant porcupine, just waiting to give it a surprise!”

“And just how are we supposed to teach it something like that?” Jess asked curiously.

“I dunno,” Tiffany answered, as she grabbed Jess’s hand and half bounced, “but we’ll figure something out! Come on Zippy! We got to teach you how to fight!”

I have to admit; I can see why Mongo likes Tiffany so much. Even surrounded by all the darkness of this place, coming so close to death and damnation herself, she was still a bright light shining amongst the darkness.

“You’re just as bright a light, My Lord,” Crystal reassured me, mind to mind as she snuggled up and hugged me.

Gods! I just wish it didn’t feel so dang odd – almost wrong even – to be hugging and comforted by her like this. Honestly, in some ways, I think I was happier being tainted before the cure.