Rebirth

by Darkbringer

  With a wave of his hand while yelling, “BEGONE!”, The Fool forced me from whatever dreamscape I was in. Jerking awake, my headache was gone and I felt immensely better. Glancing around, Crystal was snuggled up tightly against me sleeping, while Mongo leaned against the door looking sad and ragged, Tiffany held tight in his arms.

  For all he hadn’t told me, The Fool had given me a lot to think about.

  Under New Management

  Easing up gently, so as to not wake up Crystal, I slowly got up and worked my way over to the door that Mongo and Tiffany sat propped up against. “You okay?” I asked quietly.

  “I dunno, man.” Mongo shrugged slightly and then hung his head. “Skeet’s dead. So’s Megan. We…”

  “Megan’s not dead,” I interrupted. Mongo’s eyes grew wide and he started to rise to his feet until I placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “She’s lost to us now. There’s nothing you can do to help her,” I told him, gently.

  “What do you mean? Lost?” Mongo was much larger than me, and I’m certain much stronger, but all it took was a gentle push to keep him seated.

  “Everyone pushed for us to wait too long. The corruption finally conquered her soul and she’s now lost forevermore.” I didn’t even try to soften the blow. After the way I’d been treated, I didn’t feel as if there was any reason to. “She’s the one who opened the doors and allowed the dead in. She’s the one who strengthened and blackened their bones so they’d resist Heartblade’s aura. She’s now lost, with her soul eternally corrupted, never to be free again.”

  “If Skeet would’ve helped, I could’ve saved her like I did Tiffany and they’d both be alive now. Now, Skeet is ash and our only option is to either seal or destroy Megan.” Maybe I was being a little too vindictive and mean, but it felt good to simply point out the truth of things.

  “How… how do you know? How can you be certain?” Mongo was pale and his voiced trembled shakily.

  “Let’s just say I didn’t hear it from a god,” I said, halfway barking a short laugh. “It’s complicated, but I’m certain it’s the truth. David and Megan are corrupted by the evil Jawbreaker Curse which haunts this place.”

  “Jawbreaker Curse?” Mongo asked, tears slowly forming in the corner of his eyes.

  “The Got-a-chicken-kin-coo-coo-clock-frizzled-sock curse,” I told him, straight-faced and serious. “Does the name really matter? It’s a curse that’ll almost break your jaw when you try and say the name of it, so it’s the Jawbreaker Curse. That’s not important. What’s important is that you listen to what I have to tell you!

  “First, David and Megan are lost to the curse. They can’t be cured. We need to either seal them somehow or destroy them; that’s our only two options. Nuh-uh! No interruptions!” It looked as if he wanted to say or ask something, but I stopped him with a wiggle of my finger back and forth in front of his nose.

  “Second,” I continued, “they’re going to sacrifice Ghost on the next full moon. Whenever that is. Soon I think, and no, I don’t know which moon it is. I just know it’s happening. How? Because a god didn’t tell me.” Anticipating his questions, I continued on without giving him a chance to ask them.

  “Third, there’s some sort of ancient pact regarding this place and the gods. This place is nasty, nasty, nasty – and they can’t do anything about it. There’s an Orb buried somewhere below us which can hold the darkness, and I don’t have a clue where. There’s an altar somewhere below us where Ghost will be sacrificed on, and I don’t have a clue where.

  “Basically, we have to find David and Megan and stop them. Rescue Ghost if she’s not lost to the corruption. Locate an Orb and seal the darkness. All before the sacrifice at the altar occurs. Simple, right?”

  Mongo just stared at me blankly and never said a word. I didn’t have an idea what he was thinking, but I figured it’d do him some good to think about things on his own for a while. Silently, I laid back on the floor and gave him time to think.

  For a long while, Mongo sat there and never said a word. When he finally looked up, tears still at the edges of his eyes, he quietly asked, “Are you certain? There’s no cure for David? Megan?”

  “I don’t think anything is certain in the world,” I told him honestly, “but I’m fairly certain that they’re beyond any cure that we could possibly come up with. It took all I could do to keep you and Tiffany alive when I worked my magic on the two of you, and Tiffany was still herself; still fighting the corruption. David fell under the corruption’s sway several weeks ago now, so I imagine he’s as lost to the darkness as anyone could ever be. Megan…” Slowly I trailed off and then shrugged slightly.

  “Even if we could get Megan back, and I could try the same magics once more, there’s no one to try them with. I’m already corrupt, and I’m going to have to work the magic between me and Crystal when she awakens before I get worse.” I asked him honestly, “Can you imagine Dino doing it? Or Jess?”

  For a few moments, Mongo simply stared into space and then shook his head from side to side. “I don’t think either of them would be suitable,” he slowly admitted. “Mif’s a decent enough guy, but I don’t think he has it in him to deal with it. Tiffany isn’t hard to handle, but even with her, it’s a struggle to stay in command of my own body sometimes when she’s excited. Her moods put a terrible influence over on me now. In time, I might learn to deal with it better, but it’s hard as heck right now.

  “I can’t imagine how difficult it’d be to fight and maintain control, if the other person was actively fighting back with you,” Mongo admitted, looking downcast. “I really don’t think there’s anything we can do to save Megan now. We should’ve taken advantage of the chance when we had it, but we didn’t. That’s on us, not you.” Mongo slowly looked up and his big shoulders slumped. He was silent for several moments, before he finally whispered, “I’m sorry,” and dropped his head back down to lay it against Tiffany’s shoulder.

  “So what’s next?” Mongo asked, seemingly defeated and giving up his leadership position.

  “Shouldn’t you decide that for us?” I asked him, worried about the deep level of depression that he seemed to be giving off at the moment. Perhaps I’d been a little too harsh when I was venting some of my anger and frustration so bluntly.

  “Not me. Not ever again.” Mongo was barely whispering and didn’t raise his head at all from where it drooped up against Tiffany. “I lead six people on a simple task to explore the forest for ruins and report back. One’s died, two have had their souls completely corrupted and possessed by an ancient evil, and another has been kidnapped and whisked off to who knows where, to be sacrificed at the full moon. The only reason any of us are still alive is because you barreled in here like a madman and saved us; otherwise I’d be dead and Tiffany would’ve joined the list of corrupted.

  “I’m never leading anything or anyone, anywhere for anything, ever again,” Mongo moaned, defeat heavy in his voice. “We’ll just sit here till we rot and join the dead if you expect me to lead. I’m not doing it ever again. Never!”

  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever even imagined that I’d hear such absolute dejection and defeat in a person’s voice in my lifetime. Mongo might be alive, but he was a broken man. His guilt, the loss of his friends -- and their souls – was more than he could bear. Mongo was broken; perhaps never to be whole again.

  Looking around, I couldn’t imagine anyone else taking over and leading us. Sighing, I trudged over to where Crystal slept and rested myself beside her. I’m pretty certain Dino might not like it, but it seems like the burden’s mine now to try and get us out of here, find the orb, rescue the girl, and stop some ancient evil from being released upon the land – all while having my own soul tainted and my judgment compromised.

  Honestly, I could understand where Mongo was coming from perfectly. The weight of responsibility was almost overwhelming. If there would’ve been anyone else around the least bit capable, I’d pass the job off to them in a heartbeat. Crystal wasn’
t suitable as she’d listen to me whenever I offered any sort of ‘suggestion’. The two healers weren’t built for leadership positions and didn’t have the personality for it. Mongo was broken, and Dino was…

  No need to even finish that thought. Dino was simply Dino -- not someone I’d trust to even lead me to find my sock drawer in the middle of the night. The idea of him leading in such a high pressure, high stake situation as we were in now? My brain couldn’t even conceive it. For better or worse, I was stuck being to one to have to set our path from here on out.

  It’s just a damn shame that I didn’t have a clue about what to do next!

  Making Plans

  I was still lost on trying to figure out just how the hell we were going to stop the rise of the evil when Crystal began to stretch and wake beside me. “Morning,” I muttered to her, distracted by my thoughts.

  “Morning, My Lord.” She stretched, yawned, and then leaned up and hugged me gently. “Is something the matter? You seem bothered already this morning.”

  How is it that a woman can seem to read a man like a book, and yet we find them impossible to fathom? Smiling lightly, I leaned and gently kissed her back. “I suppose I am a little. Mongo’s given up on trying to lead us anywhere, so I’m going to have to take responsibility to see us to the end. And, worst of all, at this point we can’t even focus on simply leaving; we have to go deeper into the tombs and stop an ancient evil from waking up.”

  “Go deeper!?” Dino blurted, showing that he was awake and eavesdropping. “That’s crazy! We should just get the hell out of here while we have a chance and report the problem to the school. Tell the guards! The knights! Whoever – I don’t care! We should get out of here and leave it for someone else to clean up.”

  Since his yelling made certain that Tiffany and Jess were awake, I figured it was as good a time as any to tell them all about what I’d learned in my dream. “Dino – HUSH!” I’ve already learned that Dino tends to get loud when he gets excited, so the first order of business was to simply get him to be quiet. Glaring and pointing a finger at him was sufficient to get the job done, and he settled down and pouted sulkily.

  “Guys, gather on around,” I told them all with a sarcastic half-chuckle. “I’ve got a lot of wonderful things to fill you in over.”

  “Like what?” Jess asked, sounding scared as she slid over closer and Dino joined her.

  “I know this hasn’t been the best rescue mission ever, Jess,” I told her with a sad smile, “and I’m afraid things aren’t going to get any better. Megan’s been possessed by the ancient evil in this place and her soul is now beyond any chance of us saving it. So is David’s.”

  “How do you know?” Dino asked, looking at me suspiciously.

  “Because I just spent the night being questioned by a God about our actions in this place.” Locking gazes, I was daring him to argue with me. I’d spent a few weeks with Dino, and I thought we were almost-friends. To have him treating me like I was some sort of demon out to devour his soul bothered and irritated me.

  When he finally looked down and didn’t say anything else, I continued on. “We don’t have the talent to save the two of them; all we can do is either seal them in this place for an eternity or else destroy them. That’s one thing we have to do now,” I said, ticking off a finger.

  “Another is we have to rescue Ghost before the full moon.” I ticked off a second finger to illustrate my point. “It’s hard to track time down here, so I don’t have a clue how long we have. Not a lot of time, I don’t think. “

  “Third,” I ticked off another finger to keep count, “there’s some sort of mystical orb down here which can seal the evil. We have to find and recover it. Luckily, I don’t have a damn clue where it’s at.”

  “What’s so lucky about that?” Dino muttered.

  “Bad luck is still luck, and in this case, I don’t think our luck could get any worse.” I half-chuckled at my own lame joke to try and lighten the mood, but no one was buying it. As everyone just stared and looked at me forlornly, my chuckle choked and died, and I had to sigh gloomily along with them.

  “Anyway…” Coughing a few times to try and clear the air, I trudged on with our plans. “Dino, you’re on ‘Dead Clean-up’. Use your magic to blast and burn any of the dead which you can from those bars which block access to the side rooms now.” He started to object, but I raised my hand and stopped him. “You’ll agree, no matter what, we’ve got to get past those dead. Your ranged attack is the best for that, and attacking through the bars lets you destroy the enemy at no risk to yourself. It simply makes sense for you to clear as many as possible for us, don’t you agree?”

  “Yeah. I guess.” He didn’t sound happy about it, but I didn’t need him happy at the moment. Anyone who was happy trapped where we were and in the condition we were in, would’ve worried me to death. I just needed him to agree to the task, and now that was done I could move on.

  “Mongo,” I pointed a finger at him to make certain that I had his attention. “You’re on door duty. It’s going to be up to you to keep that door shut for us, no matter what happens next. Die if you need to, but don’t let the dead in here with us. You may not want to be a leader anymore, and I can respect that, but you still have to be our guardian. Without you, we’ll never do what we need to do and your friend’s deaths will be meaningless.”

  “I’ll keep the door,” Mongo answered grimly. “Till my dying breath if need be, I’ll hold it.”

  “That’s all I can ask,” I reassured him with a smile and a thumbs up. “As for you ladies, you’re all mine for a while! MuHaHaHaHa!” I did my best fake evil laugh, and once again everyone just stared at me blankly.

  “Dammit, guys! Cheer up!” Trying to imitate The Fool, I pulled in my magic and released it in a sudden burst of sound and fireworks. The yelps and screams from everyone as they all hopped up and backed away made me laugh for real. I was hoping to brighten their moods, but scaring the piss out of them wasn’t bad either!

  “He’s a Child of Chaos,” Crystal said, calm and collected while still sitting in my lap, acting like nothing at all unusual had happened.

  “I am not!”

  “Well that explains a lot,” Dino muttered, completely ignoring my denial.

  “Uh-Huh! It means we can trust him!” Tiffany squealed, ran over, and squeezed me tightly. “The Gods don’t choose bad people!” She rubbed her nose up against mine, giving me an Eskimo-kiss, and then half-laughed and ran back over to snuggle back up to Mongo.

  Sorry, Fool. If it makes my team feel better to believe I’m one of your children, then you’re just out of luck. I know I’m not. You know I’m not. But it makes them feel better to think I am. Piss off, Amen!

  “So what are we going to be doing?” Tiffany asked. She was acting completely like a different person now; all bubbly and excited, and not the least bit dark and broody. If I’d known pretending to be something I wasn’t would’ve boosted her up like this, I would’ve done it earlier. Morale is a powerful thing – especially lack of it. I wasn’t going to do anything to ruin it now that the mood seemed to be lightening some.

  With another burst of fireworks, I pointed a finger over at Tiffany and laughed. “You’ve won a limited edition, once in a lifetime, chance to work your magics upon me and Crystal while I weave and warp magics in ways that not even The Fool imagined! You’ll get to keep me numb and pain-free as much as possible, without putting me to sleep, and Jess gets to do the same with Crystal! Isn’t it amazing!”

  “It is! It is!” She half bounced and laughed. “Do it now? Now?!” With a wave of her hands, my whole body went numb.

  “I’b nob quib reeby yet.” I tried to let her know that I wasn’t quite ready, but she’d already blasted me and now I couldn’t feel my own face. Laughing slightly, Crystal leaned up and kissed me on my nose, before pushing me to lean back against the wall. Settling down beside me, she smiled over at Jess. “I’m ready. Let’s get this done and get My Lord’s spirit healed.”r />
  “Wabbit mibbit,” I protested, but it was already too late. Like it or not, the stage had been set for my second attempt at spirit manipulation – this time upon myself and Crystal.

  May the Gods have mercy on us all.

  Marriage

  Since the preparations were already complete – whether I wanted them to be or not – I closed the heavy lids over my eyes and focused only on my breathing and my magic. Slowly, I traced the flows of energy throughout my body and then slowly I spread my reach outwards to feel the energy surrounding us. The darkness in my spirit had grown and was now feeling like a cancerous sore that leaked and oozed miasma which slowly poisoned everything the touched.

  The corruption in the crypt was even stronger and darker than ever before, and at the edge of my awareness, I could sense a tainted wave moving like a leaf across a pond. For a few moments, I nudged and probed at the disturbance with my magic, and finally, I came to the conclusion that this darkness was slowly moving away from us and deep into the bowels of the earth. If my guess is correct, I assume that I was feeling the dark presence of Megan as she slowly moved from us and headed wherever the darkness called her too.

  I’ll have to remember the feeling of that subtle spreading of darkness; it was almost like painting a black wall a darker shade of black, in the dark with no light. Such a subtle feeling, I doubt I could find it if it wasn’t moving. Even if it was moving, I wouldn’t want to stake my life on being able to track it down again. I’ll remember it, just in case I get lucky with it, but I’m not going to be able to rely on hunting that spreading corruption to find our way to them.

  Realizing that Megan was leading me to get sidetracked from my own task at hand – or was it the corruption in my own soul trying to stop me from doing anything against it – I steeled my will and forced myself to focus on my breathing and the magic in the immediate area around me once again. A greasy slime seemed to cover everything; worse than ever before; and I feared that if we didn’t move soon, all of us were going to fall victim to the spirit-rot.