As the possessed body of Captain Maynard walked through the hallway, he hatched a plan. When Emil returned to the storage room, Mabel and one of the hospital workers were waiting outside of it. The concern was clear in their expressions. So as he approached them, he cleared his throat and readied himself to play his part.

“Sir, are you feeling alright?” asked the worker. It was a man, someone who hadn’t been there when the captain suddenly collapsed. His uniform was a bit different than that of the employees he had already met. Emil extended out a hand, and the other man took it.

“Yes, I’m fine, It’s just the result of a long day, nothing to be concerned about,” he assured, speaking a little too quickly. Internally, Emil chastised himself. Confidence was the name of the game for his behavior. To leave as little room for doubt as possible. He just needed to back up his every word with a firmness that didn’t invite the opportunity to respond with a “but”.

“I see. Well sir, I believe I haven’t introduced myself. I am Dr. Ansel, a senior member here in our hospital. If you do feel that anything else is wrong again, feel free to reach back and I’ll be glad to help assist with maintaining your good health. Especially…” His eyes glanced away, and he paused. The doctor shook his head.

“Sorry, never mind. If you would excuse me.” The doctor gave the captain a slight bow of respect, before parting ways to make his way down the hallway. But before he had left, Emil knew where his gaze went. Dr. Ansel had looked in the direction of where the mayor’s body was currently kept. Emil watched him walking away for another moment, before turning back to Mabel. She gave him a small nod before speaking.

“Captain Maynard, if you like to go back in and continue your inspection, the others are still waiting inside.”

“Yes, let’s go in. I want to take another look at these effects,” Emil said with a nod, before opening the door. The two of them walked in together, with Mabel following behind him. She closed the door behind herself after entering the room. As Emil entered, the other guards stood at attention. He dismissed them, and walked forward to the storage units. He reopened the one that contained his personal belongings, and stared inside.

‘Alright, it looks like everything’s here. Including my other memory orbs, the personality half the mayor’s soul. Now then, let’s see about getting it all out of here and back to my camp,’ Emil thought to himself. From when he had gone through the captain’s memories, he had gotten a peek into how the man had planned to take away his stuff even while on an unofficial visit. Borrowing that plan, Emil added to it and made his own adjustments. He turned around, and faced the few people who were gathered together in the room. Preparing himself, he knew that he would need to talk quite a lot now. So this would be the moment of truth.

“Everyone, it has been made clear to me that the items contained here are too dangerous to leave alone. In truth, being in short contact with one item is the reason why I just acted the way I did. Taking into consideration what I was told, regarding how they affected others well, I know it’s not merely a coincidence. Instead, these are obviously objects containing a dark power. And it is my responsibility to ensure the safety of this town’s citizens. Until we know more about their true nature and to best handle them, I will have these effects moved to a safe location, to be kept secure under my authority.” He looked over at the two guards, picking out both of their names from Maynard’s memories.

“Gabe, go retrieve a container that can securely hold these items while they’re being moved.” The guard saluted, and promptly left to fo and fulfill his task.

“Jac, find the senior staff and inform one of them of my decision. These items are a hazard, so they will be taken away as soon as Gabe returns. If they object, tell them that this was my immediate order, so they can come to me about it afterward.” With his commands now given, both of the guards were out of the room. The hospital worker that had arrived at the room with the captain was now staring at him, his mouth slightly open.

“Sir, do you-” the man began, but was cut off as Emil raised a hand.

“This is for the best interest of upholding public safety. The paperwork and official channels can be dealt with later. Is that clear?” Emil asked while staring intently into the man’s eyes. He tried to make his expression rigid and firm.

There was a genuineness to what he just said, however. Never had he thought that the items created from his powers would have a negative impact on normal people. So he did feel responsible for how they had affected the hospital workers that had just been doing their job. And it was that sense of self-responsibility that ultimately came through in his tone.

“Ye-yes sir.” The worker was the first one to break eye contact as he looked away. A few moments then passed. “In that case, sir, I think I should go and return to my own duties. Please excuse me,” he said as he then quickly left the storage room.

“Good,” Emil said with a nod. It didn’t take long for the first guard to return to a container. One that was big enough to contain everything, but also had a latch to keep it all secured inside. Emil had the guard put everything from the storage unit inside, making sure to order him to minimize prolonged contact with the items. It was as this was being done that the second guard, Jac, returned.

“Captain, I did as you commanded and informed a member of the hospital leadership of your orders, sir. They said that they would comply with your demands. However, I was told to tell you that they will be coming to your office later today to further discuss the matter,” Jac reported.

“Very well,” Emil replied. “Now hand me the contraband and wait for me outside. I still have one last thing to do here.”

“Sir!” Both of the guards affirmed with a salute. Gabe handed him the container, and then the two of them exited the room. Emil glanced down at it, knowing that all his things were inside.

He was so close, now all he had to do was safely get it back to his camp. Once that was done, Emil could let go of Maynard’s body somewhere in the town. He did feel a little bad, knowing that the older guard would feel the heat for his actions later. Especially since the captain would remember none of this, and be even more confused as a result. But in the end, it would be for the best.

“Captain Maynard,” Mabel began to say, interrupting his train of thought. “If there is nothing else you require from me, may I leave for the day? Hadwin and I never had the best of relationships, but he was an acquaintance of mine for many years. And standing here… I think it’s only now that I’m starting to fully realize that I will never get to see him again.” Her eyes had started to tear up.

“Of course. You have done more than enough for today. Feel free to go home and get some rest,” Emil responded. Mabel then curtsied, before leaving Emil alone in the room. When the door closed behind her, he allowed himself a deep sigh of relief. He took a moment to straighten himself back up, adjusted how he carried the container, and then also left the room.

Emil began to walk through the corridors of the hospital, going back in the direction of his and the mayor’s rooms. He still wanted to take a closer look at the mayor’s corpse. Captain Maynard’s arrival had forced him to postpone that plan, but now would be a good opportunity.

When he reached the room, the door had been left closed. But it was unlocked, so he opened it and peeked inside. Save for the body on the bed, there was nobody else in the room. Emil let himself in, silently closing the door behind himself. There was no lock to secure it, so he grabbed a chair and placed it directly under the handle. Just in case anybody tried to enter, he didn’t want to be taken by surprise by them simply walking in.

Emil walked up to the bed, and stared down at the corpse. He placed his hand down against its chest. Just as he saw in the captain’s memories, the torso had remained largely intact. It was the skull that took the brunt of the damage. He took a closer look to inspect what was left of the head. The memory orb he had put inside the mouth was definitely gone, most likely it had been destroyed. That would have cut off the undead from its energy source, and rendered it inactive.

He felt an itch inside his mind, and grimaced. His memories of what happened right after he had set the cleric aflame were close, frustratingly so. Emil agreed with Maynard’s original assessment, that there had been an explosion of some kind centered around Hadwin.

But what he didn’t know was what actually caused it, thus killing both of them. Those few precious seconds of missing memory were still just outside his reach. He just knew that if he could remember the last few moments leading up to the explosion, it would all click into place. Emil didn’t know how, but he could feel it nonetheless.

From within the Mayor’s chest, Emil could feel a faint presence. It was weak, so much so that he hadn’t noticed it until now. He concentrated, focusing on locating it. Deep within the corpse’s torso, Emil eventually discovered the source of the presence. A small fragment of the mayor’s soul.

Emil reached out to it with his own spirit. It was difficult, trying to do that while keeping up the concentration needed to keep his control over the captain in check. But he was able to pull off the balancing act, and made contact with this piece of Mayor Duran’s soul. And as he did, the last memories of the undead before its apparent destruction revealed themselves to him.

An undead being’s mind and nerves didn’t work the same way as a human’s. Even if the mayor had been too slow to react to the lightning, he had at least been able to process what had happened, unlike Emil. That experience was directly imprinted onto the soul fragment. But as Emil looked through these memories, the missing pieces in his own mind finally fell into place. He broke the connection, and took a step back from the body.

While Hadwin was burning, the cleric had called out to his goddess. He blasphemed against her, and in response, multiple strikes of lightning struck him down. But in what was certainly the main point of the older man’s plan, Emil was also directly hit by the blast. Everything after that was still a blur, a haze of him fading in and out of consciousness.

But he vaguely remembered giving out the command for his undead to help him. And then later, feeling an acute sense of hostility from Theo, and the undead’s unfaltering desire to protect its master. He didn’t remember giving the order for it to back off, but it was clear that he did from what he saw earlier in the captain’s memories. Emil needed a few moments to process all of this.

‘So, let’s say that Hadwin was being literal when he said his soul would go to Flumdea after he died. And I can only imagine that would be definitely true now, considering she’s likely angry with him for what he said. The question becomes… what would have happened after that? I have no idea what a god’s direct relationship with their cleric is like, especially after said cleric dies. Would she have given him a chance to explain himself, or what?’ Emil asked himself.

But if Hadwin had been given the ability to tell the full story to Flumdea, then that meant the goddess would now be aware of him. And yet, Emil’s spirit was obviously still here, instead of being permanently wiped from existence. So would his physical death have been enough for her, even if he continued to exist as a ghost?

The idea spun around his mind, but there were too many unknowns for him to draw a conclusion. Religion had never been Emil’s strong suit, especially when it came to obscure deities and secretive cults. So the fact was that he had no basis to draw from to make any conclusive or definitive thoughts.

His gaze fell back on the corpse. The rest of the mayor’s soul that he had left in it was destroyed. And yet, just the small fragment that did somehow survive still contained all the mayor’s memories and knowledge. That fact was both very interesting and brought its own set of questions.

How little of a soul does there need to be for its memories to remain intact? Is it just the memories, or would the effect replicate itself if Emil did the same to the part he had with the mayor’s personality? Was it due to his use of Soul Manipulation to separate it into two, concentrated halves? What about other souls and the deterioration over time he had seen in them?

Emil reached back out to the fragment, and grabbed it with his spectral hand. The small piece of the soul easily phased through the corpse’s flesh when he pulled it out. That was also curious. How it was uninhibited by a physical barrier, but the fully intact half and the memory orbs were with the storage unit. Emil drew it into himself, not absorbing it, but simply continuing to hold the fragment against his spiritual form.

It was then that he removed the chair from in front of the door and left the room. He had many questions, and little in the way of answers. Emil rubbed against the container that held his possessions. If there was one benefit to being a ghost now, it was that he had all the time in the world to accrue more knowledge. He could go to any place at any time, and no person or door would be able to get in his way. But first things first, he still needed to drop his things off back at the camp.