User blog:MockingJester/Curse breaker

And so, I fall from the ledge of the living, 

Down, down to the between, 

My crown, broken by steel, 

Picked apart by hands, 



Hands I've thought communed, 

Blind to their deceit, 

Bound to their greed, 

<span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Their hearts, snared by the share, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Share they've spent, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Share I've still had, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">To rob the little hands, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Once I depart in betrayal, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">So I part, the last spell from my mind, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A curse from my voice, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">For malediction to strike, 

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">''<span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All those who surround me... ''

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Years. Decades. Centuries. Millennia. All of them may have passed. None of them may have passed. He could not know what measure of time passed through his eternal sleep, buried in a place hidden to many. A place sealed to those blind to the arcane.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He remembers the sudden influx of life swelling his body that once sheltered no warmth, left to sleep for the rest of forever. Plucked from the between where his remnants wandered, he felt lifted to the living once more, shrouded in audible. A whimper played by his side since his depart, wailing all the more vividly, pulling his soul from the limbo that he called home.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His hand spews the earth aside, grasping the long-gone sensation of air across his fingers. The feelings, a momentarily lapse in his mind "This feeling, air...?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">No time to ponder it, he continues with his second fist upward, spilling more earth from the dirt that couple overhead while seeing the return of his first hand surrounded by splinters. His grave is enveloped in a wooden casket. now shattered at the front.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His second-hand returns, a fist full of his arcane might, returned to its master like a companion dutifully waiting at the door. Pulled close, he sees it. A radiant emerald coupling with orangite tint swirling seamlessly in his palm illuminating the mask on his face in the shape of a man deep in mechanics. Two miniature disks are fixated on each side, teeming with a returning promise of power flowing through as well as his attire's metal. One concealing the entirety of his face further hindered by a hood.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Flourishing with arcane again..." A brief expression of confusion tethers his hidden features. One outshined by the gleam in his eyes, an emerald glare burning orangite fumes. He'd only glance at his arcane strength that the excess of overflow punctured the tomb on which he was put to rest, slamming it open in an exalted explosion of dirt and splintered wood flying anywhere and everywhere, opening his casket, his grave, to the outside.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Immediately, his lungs contract, forcing him to sit, his mask detached for a moment. Hollow coughs fill the sequestered surroundings, a vocal recreation of a battle for life-supplying oxygen he was deprived of.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His gaze is blurry, choked in the struggle, blurred at the extremities, diverted from the illuminated trees bearing azure luminescence. Almost singing in the wind, or at least, it seemed this way in his resurrected ears.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He does rise, eventually, a steady foot over the grave that hosted his body. His sight grazes his hands "I...feel...alive...how?" They feel weaved anew, his body, renewed. The arcane master pressed one of his hands against his chest on two different spots "They're...they're gone. A blade wound...here" The finger traces to a hole on his humble chest plate, now encased in his magic. Wrapped around as a shield on his person, manifested in the shape of miniature hexagrams in the thousands.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"And...a spear wound...here..." The metallic finger rises to the center of his heart, the shaft, broken within. The sensation of hollowness on his spot is gone, masked by skin and muscle. His armor, however, bears its own wounds, slashed and cut, unlike him. His body is healed of the wounds that ended his life.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Man...?" Acting in instincts, the sorcerer's body shield flares up as he turns to the surprise of his second life.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"What the...what am I seeing here?" Surprise prompting his muffled voice to capture the interest of others. Alongside his resurrection, zombies had risen from their tombs. Their hollow eyes and sluggish movements. Harrowed expressions, pungent skin. Gone...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Their eyes are simple, but a sight to behold. Their pace, humble, and hauntingly human. Their dead pigment, rescinded to a breath-taking pale touch dancing in the light of the azure slowly fading.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of them approached him, surprised in their own right. Women. Living women in a zombie-like stature "Zombies in name only..." his whisper prompts them to cease their march, surprised still.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A man among a grouping of women in ragged clothing. A difficult task to figure out whether he or they were more astonished.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They watch him and his every movement, almost like automatons. His senses turn him away to others still half-way through the earth. Many more half dug yearning to wander the surroundings. Their hands claw at the air just over the earth that keeps them buried in stretching moans.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Those that surround the man take an instinctive step backward at the sight of his mask gleaming in power. By the mere thought, he acts on those unable to free from their earthly prison via the stew of emerald flame eating away at the soil, hungry for the boundless sustenance.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Only...to shriveled before any spec can couple with the undead women's attires. This sight invigorates them, calling out to the man "Chemanda..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemanda...?" He looks to many of them carrying this singular word, this name in their lips, gazing back at them. Their position, significantly less idle, the transfer to a docile pose inherently present.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"It...is...you...our..." Her sentence is left in the soft winds, carried to his mind and thoughts. Flooded with memories of past life, he turns to see more and more of them approach slowly. The overriding tide of remembrance washes over the new shape they bore.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes, Chemanda Prabhu". Seeing them lower their heads further crystallizes the memoirs of the past. No army. No legion. Only a platoon of the undead gestated from Chemanda's arcane spell risen to serve, once. Uncharastically, his hand was no iron fist, but a velvet hand to his shambling minions close enough to mimic men in life with time. They cared and marched in his stake, even to the point of attempts to defend him in the snare he was flushed, alas, to failure.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They rose as he did, however, shaded in blue gazes and pale ocean flesh. This, to him, was more alarming than the fact that his undead followers had become women "But...I did not summon any of you here. Your eyes, they tell me as much..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He lifts his hand, a mix of confidence including doubt on his hidden expression at wrestling control over his returned adjuvants "It matters little, raise your heads, minions".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One by one, rigid from the resurrection they partook in, they lift the blue hue etched on their dull expressions, simultaneously looking back to the only man in miles.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One of his hands snaps, fingers full of emerald residue. Weapons once mind-crafted for each minion fasten on each's hands, sharpened in arcane edges. They look at their arms, a bewildering cast from their now fair visages.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Grendel, Maxim, Jonas, Gideon. All four have slain me in a snare. Now, I return the favor from the grave". Chemanda howls in deep throat, laced in a vengeful tone. His raised arm slams down, mimicking the grasp of staff in its fingers. One such staff appears, a blade-like gem honed at the tip in the same color of his aura with orange fledging fleeting from its contours. Only, it was chipped.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The zombies look back to their revived master, his staff, pointed North. His arcane senses depict one of the betrayers having fled to this direction. "So, here I will march".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And so, he marches, taking the front as he did before, the undead, behind. At least, it used to. A chorus of arcane weapons weaves itself to his ears via the tips of arms planting on the soil in their auras, almost cutting deep into it.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Surprise prompts his head turn "What? What is?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"...no..."The zombies look back at him, an expression of harrowing conflict long juggled in their new flesh's favor.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No? You refuse my vengeance?" His steps rescind, pacing to one of the many near.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"...no...no more...no kill..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"...no death..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"...enough...no want..." Connected to his will, he feels the struggle in their limbs, unwanting the weapons their grasp. None of them seek a march of revenge.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"What is..." Chemanda was confused, bewitched. His minions, so earnest in their desire to abide his orders, now refused his call to arms.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He raises his hand, power actively fueling it as it wrestles control at his platoon "Something must be interjected in the control binds". His cohort withers down, paralyzed in place in a joust of direct control. Gazes blink in a duel of emerald and the azure scheme pigmentation in their irises.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Alas, it refuses to move from their bodies, remaining overtly dominant. His struggle is futile, punctured by a voice speaking of such  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Perhaps is that not what they want anymore?" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"!!" His zombie minions duck, feeling the instant reaction of their previously deceased master. Crackling manifests on the broken jab of his emerald staff, now wielding fire honed to a lacerating edge by the lightning that dances around. One he swings around, galvanizing flames all around in a repelling reflex.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The ring expands immediately, undisturbed on its borders of destruction...save for a spot. One drenched in a hue of blue stars consuming its volatile energy as a shield. This was but a detection array for Chemanda, quick to turn to the direction of the flaring ward.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Here he sees her. A woman in a blue hue. Her eyes, azure and glowing in conjunction with the flare of her ward. The black dot invested in the middle is naught but gone, replaced by a siege of blue shading her irises. Anyone could have mistaken her beautiful eyes for lightless. It was not, for they swelled in what looked like drops from the bottom.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her hair is a cooling tide of white accentuating the pale hue of the faltering gaze and pigment. No singular strain dares to mask her face, instead, laid on her back and some, the side. The reflective light of the trees glimmers still on its peerless ebony. They tread shortly to the nape of her back, concealed by a veil of darkness akin to mourning tissue. Two pointed ears in pale blue snap out where a human's earlobes would take place, further displacing her from a human being.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her entire attire is that of a mourning woman prone to tread the mausoleums such as the one he stands on. Purposes to wallow, yet, they catch and keep his gaze, hidden as it is. Something stirs within him since the first second of his gaze.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"And I suppose this rescinding spell afflicting my minions is yours..." He points the chipped tip of his staff toward the woman, once more charged in the prowess of fire and lightning.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I've...brought them back to life, yes..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Her voice crackles, struck by the accusation of Chemanda's tone, reeling in a familiar manner. Its effect is immediate on the spellcaster, plaguing him in a feud of blurry thoughts.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">After their collapse...I thought they would... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Chemanda knows of her speech. The spell keeping his minions standing would have ended the moment life leaked from his body. This woman, whoever she was, seemed to have the intent on giving them a scent of what he once provided. Undead, they were. But his, they were. Free to wander the domain he and his former allies once built.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So...you...peered to my...history..." The zombies remain motionless, idle, a subtle nod to the woman who they recognized as she who roused them up anew.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"But...why make them..." The struggle to speak made manifest on his masked tongue is a strenuous effort from Chemanda Prabhu. His address to her words is a scarce possibility, for his mind sing. It sings of the harrowing delight to her mere presence, once repressed even among his newly anointed minion made women.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">It sings of hunger suddenly and painfully snapping to life in his bosom, directly all of his senses to the woman amidst the rest. A hunger he never feuded with, never at odds with his human instincts. The ones recognizing her voice like a familiar one. A woman in every sense of the word.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">It sings loudly in his mind and body, seeking to spring him to her, where he would--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"HHhnnn!!!" The woman buckles away, startled by his impromptu reaction and the deep shriek muffled by the resonant mask as a brief but pungent burning sensation rubs off to the air.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Sir?! <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Her voice breathes honey tainted in worry at the sight of his fingers radiating in a deep emerald shade. Five fingers, five smoking holes on his robed armor near his heart. His thoughts, he thought them invasive, foreign to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'm alright. Just...cleansing my thoughts..." This appliance drives away the buzzing burrowing of his mind tempting him, leaving a clarity inside.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">I see... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Her composition seems placed back to the front, the same way her march leads her to face the man from a decreased distance. By a manner unknown, she knew there was little in the way of hostilities between them. Likely an observation to the zombies that stand idly, free to diddle as they wish.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Tsk...the cleansing spell is still a pain to use" The fleeting flame to his hand finally withers down, the peace of his mind already feuding against the thoughts bound to her proximity, though at a much less severe degree.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The woman has a node to curiosity to that sentence, a familiar facial structure to bounce to Chemanda. He can see it, blurred back to her slightly weeping demeanor, exacerbated by the pale hue of her skin joining her hands at the middle.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You said they no longer want to maim. How would you know that?" He ignores it, placing his mind at the foreground of his immediate interest.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Yes...this spell I used. It was only to bring them back to you and no more. They missed you since you passed... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Her voice is a soft whisper, a melody constantly enticing his ears. One stirring this unknown hunger to his in conjunction with her fair visage, sublime and somehow, submissive.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I see..." Once again, her words allude to the familiarity. Virtually none knew of the exceptional care he had for his risen minions, going so far as to give them a mortal appearance. Yet, she just delivered a reciprocal quote about their attitudes toward him. Another thing little, if anyone knew.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This shape they bear, it is not of my hand, but the aroma of the new demon lord <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" A faint smile etches her lips, close to a giggle to the confusion foaming behind his mask and hood. They move, quelling this nascent shape of thought " <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Surprised? The new ruler of us monsters have grown tired of the endless bloodshed between us and you humans. In centuries passing since your ultimate demise... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Her delicate voice falls from the mischevious melody to a brief moment of haunted harrow. Speaking her last word had pierced her heart with a needle, stopping her midway with a glimmer of a singular tear.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda clenches his fist wrapped around his staff, feeling the pulse of his thoughts stirring again, forcing himself still amid her renewed stream "... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">our fair lady in the throne...she sought out a former hero of the opposite side. Two hearts weary of the endless violence that sees both our kind merged in hate and spite. With the previous demon lord deceased, it became obvious that the majority of us sought it as well, rushing her to the throne for her empathic will to swell us whole. This reluctance to bear arms in your name is nascent of her bottomless wish to see strife no longer. We all share it. In fact, is it the reason you see me standing before you... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I..." Her visage peers to him with certainty as if she saw his unraveling expression underneath his mask. He understood. If they no longer wanted to march in vengeance, then so be it "What of you, miss? You say this is the reason you stand before me".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Yes <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" She approaches him further, hands ever joined at the middle. Tears foam at her eyes, threatening to fall " <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">When you died, you spat a curse for those that killed you...but now...now... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" In a deft swiftness, her hands take his free one, placed in between. Her voice, fully ingrained in the tearing momentum " <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda, your curse, you must break it. I beg of you!"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"What?! Break my--how do you of that?!" His stalwart demeanor grinds down to a startled man, swiftly removing the only appendix embedded in her palms away. His stance is defensive, virulent.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Please...they no longer--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"How do you know of this?!" His voice tones alongside the sky, the latter, overtaken by the shroud of his ancient power.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Because I was here!" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Her voice screams against his own, honed by lament over his startled side  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"They struck you twice. One by the side and one to your heart. I was there when you fell...felt your life slip from my fingers even as I held you close <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" A few tears drop on her cheeks, perfectly aligned to the markings anointed.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You...you were there..." Chemanda snaps in realization. The familiarity buzzing in his head, it was but the strings of memories knocking deep in his head. This wailing woman was no stranger, but another revenant from a past life. One undoubtedly clear to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Jane..." He remembers those who betrayed him, leaving him dead on the floor. Hands stained in his life, further looking to taint them in looting. His eyes bled out the light within them. The little persistent at the middle were pelted by the same tears that befall the wailing banshee once more taken to hold his palm in her grasp. A shriek of vengeance overtaking his undead minions that briefly collapsed on their knees. A shriek of overwhelming pain wincing at her bosom, cuddling the dying man in spite of the trickle of blood washed on her robe.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I told you to flee, Jane..." He moves his hand away from her palm, tempted to feel the tear-moisten cheek, coupled by her palm striving to feel it. To say her tear had rendered it wet was an understatement. All of her wallowing misery that passed in his death filtered to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Memories, vestiges colliding with his. An anguished woman cuddling his deceased body besides a shattered crown. Zombies, renewed with vengeful plight scourging the four betrayers away, illuminated with an azure glint in their dead irises, forever barring them to the promise of his treasure cove.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">I couldn't, I-I just couldn't. Not with you here... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Her head moves sideways repeatably, keeping the palm that strokes her cheek closeby, her other hand, broadcast to the ancient cohort pulled to her words. Each of them bears a miserable expression in empathy to the revealed Jane  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Neither did they. They moved more akin to themselves than my howling shriek. They helped me bring you here, dug the soil on which you would be buried before finally falling apart... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"And...what about---"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I gave it away. I knew you would have preferred the little ones to profit from it. They, they lived well. From shriveled orphans to strong men and women. Met someone they would call their own. Started families that stretch to our current era. They...were quite distraught to learn of your passing" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane laughs in melancholy  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So many of them thought you invincible, to say the least" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda stifles laughter, drinking deep in the touch of their tiny hands grasping his fingers whenever they wanted his attention. Many of them once took to play with his undead minions, the latter, surprising master at the basic game of 'hide and seek'.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Quiet claims to the fields surrounding them, the moans of the monsterized zombies, hushed as well. He looks back to Jane, her hushed whimpers warmed by an underlined relief to feel the hand of her mentor on her cheek.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This silence softly moves apart "You said you wanted the curse's removal".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Closed in a mix of relief and distraught, Jane's eye rise to meet his emerald tide  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Your curse. Yes...it struck them as intended. Misery and plight became everlasting to them, to their graves. But, in their deaths, it went to spread to the other members of their families..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No...for how long?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Centuries. The same span of your sleep. They..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Her voice stops, feeling a slightly more ingrained hand on her cheek. Looking up, she sees the man, sees through his breathing apparatus. Remorse splashed on his expression.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Reciprocating his benign touch, Jane's hand presses deeper on his finger, relief ever the more to hear his true self thoroughly anchored to his resurrected body. Before it moves from her, as he does. He paces outside of the court. A place isolated amidst a land of rock and marroon cerulean.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">She follows closely, her monstrous senses picking up the subtle crackling of his arms in an amalgam of mana. Several paces away from the park-like court of graves, he stops and turns, ready to let loose, ready to-- "Hmm, I'm sorry, friend, could you take two steps backward?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His voice is directed at one of his old underlings, a short-haired woman that seemed just on the cusp of an imaginary line. Her head raises slightly, knowing to be the one spoken too. She nods, her bare feet slapping the surface of the soil twice rather than once.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Ready to hurl his bundle of mana. And he does, a flight of particles rushing upward from his palms to dance around a carefully selected circle, now etched on the bare ground. A low hum resonates across the scar that is the shape, illuminating through the wounds.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And then, an aggregation of wood, stone, metal, steel, books, parchments, tools, furniture, and many, many more, all suspended high in the air, seamlessly woven from singular specs of particle.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You're bringing home here?" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane's voice whispers, hands ever joined at the middle.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Can't let my minions wander in this desolate place". His returning voice is decisive in the matter, the venerable palace he once built in a remote area, assembles in yet another.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I am sorry, I thought they would--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I thought they'd come seeking my remains too, do not worry". Chemanda's old spell is an autonomous one, folding the space between this place and the one the palace once stood on. The zombies recognize the happening, opting to step indoors where leisure past is their anew.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He turns to the north again, the direction of one of his betrayers' family, a step towards it. Among the tumult of the wind manifest from his spell. Among the brooding skies choked in clouds, he walks in this direction, his attire, old and withered with him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A stark contrast to Jane's outfit, a mourning widow who hadn't the taste of marriage in her tongue. Her voice, melancholic lullaby traveling his ears. Honest tears glimmer from her soft cheeks singing in the lament of unfortunate descendants caught in the onslaught of his lasting curse. Manifest spite spilled all too far.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her song drives the rescinded buzzing back to the foreground. A hunger grumbling lower than his abdomen, lecherous in nature speaking as a strong as would his stomach. It buzzes, acting against him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">It persists through the first of his traveling north to a disfranchised village. Wood and knots are the flesh and muscle of the buildings. A swamp-like territory afflicts the place with bog water and a damp atmosphere.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The people present bear this hidden burden, scraping by any way they can. Rags and soil are the vestiges they carry, impoverished like the place that bears them. Chemanda can easily feel the radiative genesis that is his curse of misery directed toward a place in particular.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He gazes at it, feeling the distant relatives of Gideon bogged deep in the malediction of his dying words "When my fleeting mind designed this omen to afflict Gideon, I did not think it would have spread so virulently to his siblings, let alone their children". He turns to a quietly whimpering Jane, her heart unable to cope with the imagery of people ignorant of the curse that plunged them in the current depths of poverty "Is it the same for Grendel, Maxim, and Jonas? Do their relatives suffer at my misguided hand?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A hushed 'yes' comes whispering to his ears, further wincing his sight behind the darkness of his hood, prompting him to walk among the unfortunate, the poor, all taking notice of the couple in blackened outfits. They see the spectrum of his fingers flickering in blue, mana dense enough to be visible. Their collective eyes turn away, back to the darkened skies that embraced them for so long.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">But, the flicker that dances in the middle of their shackled town becomes as enticing as the buzzing of his body afflicted by Jane's sorrowing song. A song with promises of a cure, testimonies of their struggled wrought by past betrayers, a thought bonded with Chemanda's. Her song is a swan's calling to the afflicted, enchanting them toward the man ripe with azure mana.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Their hands come stretching forward, the endless misery of poverty of riches, poverty of substance, poverty of life, teeming at the tip of their fingers. They plead for what amounts to the promise of life no longer blighted.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The metallic surface of his gloves feels the encrusted touch of the ailing, a spur of mana touching them back and spreading throughout their body. Burrowing deep in their psyches, it seeks out the amethyst stain chipped on their back and devours it. A stab to the malediction that sees the afflicted burning brightly from within. A purifying light of absolution touching them one by one, by the thousands.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Such is the returning purity that was to be that the sky slowly begins to open, tiny cuts made about by the defiance of renewed spirits. He walks further away, a house in sight through rows of people stretching their hands to be touched, a pitiful gaze in their expressions. He moves without resistance, letting those close take a sip of his mana, with Jane's song shining in escalation as the town gradually discards the darkness of his omen. Bright tears and a brighter voice.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The people, now removed from the curse, place hands on their bosom, quiet in gratitude. Slow to disassemble, the spirit to better themselves hounding them forward, subtly. All the while his hand moves to the front of the door. The banshee's wail had inadvertently called to one inside.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A frail child besieged in size by the tall man in the hood opens, raising his tiny head upward. Or he would have, had Chemanda not thought appropriate to take a knee to meet the youngling, his hood removed to let a brand of black hair stand out.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"W...who are you, mister?" The tiny infant asks. An inherent sadness to his eyes showers the wizard with guilt. His own doing.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'm an acquaintance. An old friend of a distant relative. What's your name?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"My...name? Timmy. Timmy Wonderville".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Timmy. A strong name for a young one. Are your parents here?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The young Timmy shakes his head, pointing to the swamp further "They've gone fishing for today's supper. They...they've been doing that often..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">It was clear to Chemanda that he spoke in childish lament. A common sight for the forgotten he once tended to. Longing to see his parents more often. To cultivate a bond that they could not because of the constant hunger brought by the poverty of food "I see. Well, Timmy, could you open your hands for me? I have something I want to give you".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The young one spurs in tempting hope. With the state of his village, Timmy scarcely had anything given to him, much less by strangers. He was thaught to be wary of said strangers, yet the calm demeanor Chemanda projects breathed safety in his heart, watched by the eyes of a man who wouldn't let anything happen to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"A gift?" He asks.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes. A gift. One worth a lifetime" The wizard's metallic gloves softly take in Timmy's hands and the instant snap of his demeanor is felt. The scraps to his impoverished status, burned.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Woah...I'm...glowing" He speaks in childish surprise, touching himself as the light flickers away, forever taking the spot of his curse. A blessing to make up for the malediction.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes, you are. Now, listen to me, Timmy. When mom and dad come back home, I want you to hug them, alright? Maybe they'll be tired, maybe they'll be grumpy. Whatever state they are, embrace them, ask them to lift you so that you may hug them closely. I've invested you with a power to heal them by this".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Woah! Really?!" Excitement teems on Timmy's voice.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda nods "Really. Think you can do that?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Do I?!" Overly excited the way a young one should be, Timmy tackles the wizard with an appreciative hug, returned in kind before his internment back home, waiting for his kind parents to return.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda's body flickers upward, sitting on the roof of a house. Jane stands behind, ever singing, a flourishing voice filled in joyous tears, witness to his repairing spell weaving the townfolk's shriveled homes to a higher standing. Rocks and plywood, steel and bolts, all marching to replaced the withered planks and rotten ropes. All by the nearby resources, the vestige of ancient powers made present once more.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">An unusually taxing deed for Chemanda who would before, carry his minions in the dozen in everlasting sentience, armed with arcane weaponry long before the sights of exhaustion came knocking.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Here, Chemanda panted greatly, feeling the arid depletion of mana lashing at his exterior. A sight Jane is not blind to as they walk west, seeking Grendel's relatives. She takes the hand not wrapped around the staff of emerald  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"My fair wizard, perhaps would it better if we rest?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'll be fine. I just need to absorb more mana--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"All the more reason for us to rest, Chemy"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemy? Where did that come from--" His voice is silenced by the pull of her hands dragging him through the night to a nearby cavern where she bids him sit near the entrance. Grievously panting, Chemanda takes a gander at the night, admiring the star twinkling the way forward.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Slowly, Jane approaches the slumbering man of a past life, heavy on her chest. Her eyes observe his restless form, obviously coming to the conclusion of the first brands of exhaustion, a hint of something else caught in them. She knees and lays over the man, making sure to be his center of view, her chest smoldering over his own, her voice close to him. A teary gaze portrayed to the man, moving lips slowly singing. A lullaby to comfort him. A buzz drilling his mind.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Courtesy of the thoughts battling in his mind, seeking to spur him toward the woman in his grasp, far from another, far from all. It whispers through her singing voice, goading him. Why does she sing so? Does she know how provoking her delectable tone is? Is she this ignorant of the grind she puts in his mind? How alluring it is? The promises it makes on behalf of her body, it's taste...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Seeing her sing so innocently, giving her voice to soothe his ailing exhaustion stirs the hunger. It was as if he was actually famished, the tone in which it shrieks. Famished and parched.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He looks at her again, dedicated to her song. A melody his ears couldn't catch, blotted by the snare of his mind. It coerces him to look closer. Again, it talks softly, presenting her as the most delectable meal.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her pale blue lips, the wine on which to drench himself, sweet with a hint of spice.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her chest, hidden by the mourning attire she bears, molded to her feminine body, the flesh for his fingers to fondle as if they feast on a basket of bread.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And her forbidden place, the main course to glut himself in tirelessly. If only, after tearing her legging apart. If only, after ripping the delicate piece of clothing balanced in front of it. If only, after splitting her underwear as her voice turned to resignation, unwilling to resist his desire to defile her, to spread her--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No" Instantly, Chemanda Prabhu's hand becomes immolate "Just...no..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"!!" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane's lullaby is snuffed out by her jolting body, instincts spurning her away by the sight of his immolated arm in metal and leather. With no hesitation, he presses it against his breastplate, the unwanted smell of singed alloy permeating the area as it buckles. Through his energy shield, through the armor he was buried in, he feels the overwhelming pain of the cleansing running amok in his body, seeking out the source of his aggravating thoughts trying to compel him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His head jolts upward in reaction, unable to mask the suffering a cleansing by flame brings both to his body and mind, burning the vicious thoughts away...or so, he thought.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemanda, what is...? Are you hurt?" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane approaches hands-on all fours, a gilded expression of worry on her face. Undoubtedly, seeing a man's head slump down to a chest choked with smoke is a reasonable bothersome picture.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'm alright...I'm just...think I might be afflicted with side effects..." He raises his head just barely enough to catch a glimpse of her face, already closer than he anticipated. Her knees bend close, weighing down on the leggings. An ushering voice speaks the hymns of health, healing spells washing on his self-inflicted wounds. The same wounds sapping any remainder

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">---

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His journey to the west to seek Grendel is yet another punctuated in his strained limbs. The shadow of exhaustion never giving Chemanda a moment of respite, punctuated in his walk. Perhaps the delirious mind that comes tormenting him had a snippet of truth: he hadn't eaten in days.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And he wouldn't give in to the yearning for food, not until the relatives of Grendel Desmond were washed clean from his curse beyond the grave. Once again, Jane began singing in melancholy, attracting the woes of the people who never knew the strings of malediction to bind their fates. Touched by his hand in the thousands, they would live life anew, spreading this bright outlook in the sky. Dark clouds punctured senseless...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The meager nourishment they had accumulated before the sensation of a lifting burden, they gave in quantity to Chemanda, grateful for what is akin to a miracle stranger swathing the shadow that buried them in misery, even as he unraveled new domains over the withered building they once called home.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And he ate it all, hoping to quell this rumbling strain running acid in his limbs. Ate it for the best of thirty minutes, all under Jane's watchful gaze hushed in silence. Surprisingly, she wasn't all that hungry. Perhaps a benefit of this new body she walks in.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Once more, at the darkest of twilights, Chemanda's pace withered down, prompting his ancient companion to seek out shelter for him to rest with little in the way of his protest battered by the back of her hand as she drags him away.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"It seems I hadn't enough nutriment to be this tired again" Chemanda's staff rests on his lap by the admission of his rattling hands, refusing to remain still.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You just need time to settle in this revigorated body. That is what I am here for, Chemy..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane speaks, kneeling down to his size. Her bridal gloves come reaching into his gauntlets, grasping his palm in a bonded middle. Her touch, an antithesis to the unnerved arms of the spell caster, soothing them to a lull.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He feels the calming tide of her simple touch, a...feeding to his hands and arms. Not so much calming them as satiating them by an unknown mean to him. However she does it, it brings a semblance of respite to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"It's what I'm here for... <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" She whispers, leaning close to his shoulder, a humble smile stretched on her face following a benign sigh.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda couldn't believe it. His body seemed to regain a measure of strength, the majority radiating from her own. It was...peaceful.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A peace that doe snot last as her tone hums in the air, mimicking a song of the utmost simplicity. A rapturous symphony for any ears present. For Chemanda, a rift for the deviant voice twice hushed by flames returned with a vengeance. Again speaking to her vulnerability, her isolation with him midway to the south to Maxim's distant relatives set centuries beyond his death.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The crumbs she offers, an insult to the gourmet her body is, asking only to be taken. His mind screams in relentless appetite, all directed toward his ancient companion unknowing of the quarrel in his head. A thought lifting his hand to her chin, raising her eyes to meet him. A face devoid of any presumption of resistance, suggestive to the rob of a kiss, to her back on the floor, unable to struggle--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This time, immolation would rise to the next degree, spurning the soft-spoken banshee from him. Her old arcane senses had only augmented in her conversion, easily feeling the swell heat forming in the crust of his hand.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A startled gaze befalls her gentle visage, knowing all too well what was to begin anew " <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her voice is snuffed by the harsh flame burning through his cloak, one he presses on himself with an overwhelming degree. It courses through him in a much more virulent rate, leaving his cloth somehow untouched while he singes from underneath. Another cleansing ripe with pain, trying to set the deviant thoughts ablaze for their suggestions.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Jade flames flow through him, twitching his body in the persistent pain. A pain he gladly tastes if it meant quelling the voice compelling him to...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This struggle against pain, it had him standing upright. Yet, now he stumbles back down, his entire body enthralled in smoke. A task robbing him of the strength to keep himself from slipping to a bare sleep. Though, as his eyes slip down, he could swear to see Jane's slightly downed body close, hands glimmering in azure and shining diamonds dropping from her eyes. And a whimpering, low enough to slip between reality and hallucination,  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'm so sorry...he...he just won't..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">---

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Twice more did Chemanda's self-immolation occur in the twilight of his deeds. The curse he once inputted no longer had a place in his betrayers' relatives, set apart by the distance of time.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Flanked by his rapid exhaustion, cuddled by his endearing companion, the spell caster would yield to the beauty of her song devoted to calming his aching spirits, only to stir his desires awake.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Twice done, his response to those were of the cleansing flame by his own hand, to Jane's dismay, doubling her devotion to lean on him, comfort him amidst this hidden struggle he found himself losing ground to.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of it, accumulated in their walk back home. The more the voices came yearning, the more tired Chemanda became, speaking the truth of his repressed hunger. A hunger that could not be satiated by food. A hunger he thought nothing more than a vile fantasy.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Whichever it was, truth is, walking had become an anomaly to him, forcing a knee down on the soil. His shield, a benign focus left to the automatic effort such as breathing, collapses as well.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemanda, are you hurt? Let me help!" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane rushes close, wrapping her arms around his free hand not stationed on his staff, trying to help him up. Her monster strength is obviously more than enough to contribute in this effort, though it wouldn't last, her body, moved from the man of his own arm  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemy?!"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">She sees the flickering sparks on his hand, waiting to boil him anew. His thoughts had come back, stirred yet again by her gentle voice. Her eyes shine in their own shade, locked on the nascent flame crackling across his palm. A subtle shift of magic sees them snuffed out, choked out of oxygen in a flash fashion.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A surprise for him to feel her faint sparks deny his fire the breath of life. Struggling to stand as he is, he turns his look to her distraught pose "Jane, do not meddle in this".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Why shouldn't I?! You were going to immolate yourself! Again!" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I have to. My mind is afflicted with something." His hand rattles again, quick to be grasped by Jane, brought to her heart.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, it's not. There is nothing wrong with it".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You can't...y-you don't. It's telling me to..." Slowly, but forcefully, Chemanda removes his hand from Jane's bosom, the latter, further troubled by his persistent distance.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I know what plagues you, Chemy...I can soothe it if you would just let me <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">" Joined at the center, her hands cup in a pleading stance, tempting a footstep his direction.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, not like this. Not like this. I would prefer a second death before--" Finally, it happens. His hunger, as baseless as it was, spoke on her behalf. Or perhaps, was it just the feelings he never allowed to blossom in the first place, forcing thorns around the rose that would have co-joined them in their past life.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Whichever it is, his resurrected body was at its end, no longer able to sustain itself, depleted of the essence that would allow him a firm anchor to life. Grains sunder underneath the surface of his finger.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His fingers.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The surface of his wrist.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His arms.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His elbows,

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His shoulders.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">From the top of his head to the lowest of his greaves. Dust. And ash. Both flowing from the pockets of his robes. The gaps in his armored segments. A sundered activity in the air of heat in blue. Chemanda looks at his hands spreading the incandescent ash, the familiar and unwelcomed sensation of death leering in his shadow. Unwelcomed...and yet, looking back to Jane, the voice that screams in his head, it was the best of two horrid worlds. Death. Defilement. He had chosen.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A horrifying sight for Jane, who makes little of his protests to run at him, a fierce intent on embracing him. Amidst the dust of his withering body. Amidst his impendent rebukes.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, no! Stay back!" The quiet embrace back to the world in-between Chemanda was welcoming among the choking dust promptly turns to clamor, a struggling hand projecting the front of his palm in his mandate.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One duly ignored, a desperate wail circling his being the same way Jane's arms circles his nape. The wail of a woman left to wander the world years after his death, deeper than the boundary in which he was returning. A land of shadows figures atop unending gray landscapes.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Years. Decades. Centuries spent tending to his desolate grave, only to now see him whisking away once more. She fiercely cries against it, sobbing in defiance as the tone in her voice growls in a fleeting arcane. As it turns out, another agreed, his mind whisked away.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Not to the land in-between...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">But somewhere else. A second ago, he struggled against Jane's relentless wailing, unwilling to concede to the voice that shouted in his head. The next one, he stood here, amid nothing but the passage of wind. The sky...and floor both map an endless chasm of ocean blue.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"What is...where am I?" He raises an arm forward, feeling the faint brush of wind moving. His feet touch no floor...and stands on solid substance at the same time.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The answer to his question would, however, come with the hushed whispers reaching to him from above. Raising his head instead of his arm, Chemanda's surprise is total.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Far above him, two others. Looking down at him. Their words had ceased with his own. A man on the right, crowned with an orange crown gleaming as his gray armor was. The power running through the gaps of his fabric is unfathomable, heavy in its mere sight. No allusion to man is present within the silver individual. Yet, Chemanda instinctively knew another man lingered in this empty realm.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The other man had fewer war plates to her body, instead, weaving an outfit more akin to the occult. One in the design of Lilith's age with how exuberant it was at showing her feminine body. A venerable mask conceals her face as the man's helmet does to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Virtra, I thank you for finding his wondering spirit long ago in the realm of Limbo" The woman turns back to the armored man, a voice of honest gratitude seeping from the mask of stone bore on her face.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Of course" he mimics her, facing the venerable avatar "A shame your patron called out to him before mine could. Someone this moved to undo the sins of the father is a perfect addition to our fold".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Which is exactly why my lady wants this one at our side. I understand this missed opportunity to your kind. However, we rarely have men of the old era demonstrating such spirit. This man was already claimed by one of us. Surely, you of all people can understand the feeling".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes. I do" A rift tears behind the man in silver, waiting to cross it "Once all is said and done...I would like to visit once in a while. It's rare to see another of my time walking the living world".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The woman nods, noticeably less stoic in her tone. Words undecipherable to Chemanda, breaching his auditory senses as nothing more than white noise "Of course. The Virtra are always welcomed in our mausoleums. You need but to knock".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, that's good" Unbeknownst to the confused spell caster, the man in the silver armor had also made away with his regal speech, instead, taking on the febrile temerity of a father "I will come back to you on this. I can feel my little Theressa walking up and, I know she's going to be crying for a bottle".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The woman giggles, the aroma of a softly whimpering child well clear in her ears "I think she's already calling out for it, hmm?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Oh dear...oh, oh dear..." He leaps within the rift, dashing in impossible speed "Hold on, hold on, daddy is coming--" The rift closes midway, leaving the woman meters higher than Chemanda.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A mistake hastily corrected in the flash of a singular step. One made to stand before him and a table weaved to existence. "Would you care to take a seat?".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her voice is further white noise impended in his ears. They play again, and again, and again in the process of his surprise to everything he sees and saw. Slowly, and quickly, the words become increasingly clear in his head.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The words do make themselves pristine to him and him alone, the request applied to with little thought to the sensation of a chair in velvet and wood, perfectly comfortable to him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Can you tell me what was that about?" Chemanda speaks before his mind allowed time to formulate a request, steeped in the tone of an inherent familiarity to the woman "Who even are you?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I've got a more interesting question: what man would so readily march unto death after no more than a few years back to the living world?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda recoils slightly "What?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You know what I've asked to know. Why would you so easily go back to the lightless realm of Limbo with one of us yearning to keep you among the living?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda sighs, his voice swept to the low tide of spite "Well, I don't know about you, but I fell rather jaded with that voice screaming about her being some piece of meat for me to indulge in".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh?" The woman lifts a hand in question, a mix of admiration and appalling joined at the middle "Is that what you think?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Between giving in to this senseless deviancy toward my...friend and death, the choice is an easy one to make" Chemanda sighs again, deeply "Running around to correct a mistake is grating lifestyle when the voice of an old friend, a...well, Jane's voice constantly stirs this desire...this demand...this...baseless hunger to tear up her attire and defile her on the spot...Limbo you call it? The place that ate my time in the afterlife? This...over the whimpering body of my closest friend..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I see. A selfless view on the matter was it anyone else. Unfortunately, where I stand with the greater sum of our kind, I see a rather narrow-minded mindset with the stance you're picking".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Is that so?" Chemanda turns a scowling glare toward the masked individual.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes. And no. From where I stand, I see a man who's been repressing himself enough for his own thoughts to turn against him. I didn't expect that poor Jane to explain anything about us before you committed to express your marital desire. Seeing that you stand before me, it seemed like an endeavor almost missed entirely".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Explain anything about you?" Chemanda takes on a dismissive stand "So, you're telling me this yearning for this horrid act is by design..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, not really" The woman broadcasts her hand wide open "Let me tell you of the world where you stood on a while ago. A world now bound to the dark throne bearer, Lilith and the man who should have slain her, instead, taking arms beside her against his own patron who would see it slack with the wail of the defenseless".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes, yes, she talked of that--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes. Only the basics" Her hand projects the palm his direction, a directive to withhold his words "Think of the zombies that were resurrected alongside you, so quick to refuse the arms you bestowed them. It is more than just a rejection of unnecessary violence, but a nascent desire to love and be loved in return".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Love, you say?" Chemanda was already somewhat confused, unsure of where she was going with this.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes. With the advent of our change, our mindset has changed with it. Empowered by it. It is like the concept of soulmates you humans harbor. The sort of feeling coming from it that you can't truly explain in words, the one that spurs you to feat you didn't think you could manifest. We want and do indulge in its eldritch and benevolent effects. Like your companion, the one you keep rejecting".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes, the one you apparently want me to--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Please, let me finish" Once more, she raises her hand "My friend may have managed to single you out in the world of Limbo long ago, but, reaching to pluck you from a realm of shadows is her feat of this indescribable feeling, nascent in the love blooming in her heart long ago. Well, before it was ripped with your tragic end".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Wait...what--" Jane loved him even before her metamorphosis. This was an outlook he didn't expect to hear.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"She never told you how long she wandered in a world made bleak with your absence, did she?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda is again confused, appalled in what he hears "But...I told her--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"She wouldn't. No matter what you said or did to let her mind ease up, she would abide none. Such was the depth of her sorrow that my lady herself heard of it. Why do you think you stand here right now?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh, she's the one who brought me here..." Chemanda's head takes a dive, heavy in the epiphany "So, it wasn't just to make up for those who were brought low by my curse..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"It was two birds and a singular stone. Yet, even as my patron offers her hand to you, whose heart beats strongly back to her, you reject her devotion, keeping this honest love repressed unto death".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Love, you say? Is the love you speak of the one that whispers deviancy? That looks at Jane like a piece of meat? The one that tells me to reap her cloth and womanhood like some drunk at a pub?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, no, it is not. That is merely your thoughts coming to exhaustion with your continual repression. The rose that bloomed within you, now sprouting thorns in the repeated oppression of an era past. A rose that now knows of the essence she may weave to keep you by her side". The mask leans to the side, her face following suit as it clings to it "And really? You think one of us would be so easy to coerce? Considering how easily your Jane drove the betrayers away, I'm surprised at this statement..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And once more, Chemanda sinks low "The dust that sprouted from my hands and being..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You are returned to life, but only by the blessing of her power. One that she can continuously feed you through the love we now seek to receive and give. Your thoughts merely want to indulge in this very consensual desire to live, to taste her. To live the life you would have had, were it not for the four whose greed plucked you from her side. Listen to them again. This time, try to discard this self-restrictive shackle that blinds you to it..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The more they spoke, the more he understood. Not only of Jane's relentless journey to this singular moment he almost threw away but also of the woman standing before him. Like the man in silver, Chemanda Prabhu was mutating. His hint of emerald color took to an oceanic blue. He feels his body, his very soul being drafted to a divinity's side. The unknowable power that eluded him now welcomed him in its embrace. Wearing itself on his robe in shades of blue and black.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He nods, a quick embrace to everything said...and more "Is the fact that I feel the colors of your--my...our patron drafted on my robes normal?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"The man you saw in gray asked the same question once. That you can pick up on this subtle recruitment process is an answer on itself. Men of the past with the empathy to welcome an age unknown to them is a boon we don't see a lot. She didn't take to miss her chance to get someone of this quality, much less with one of her adherents already calling, how you say, 'dibs' to him".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Dust begins to manifest around him, the colors of his renewed robe enabling an easier amalgamation towards him. Life called back, reaching to him from the realm of thoughts.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I see she's calling back to you. Again" The mask of stoicism slips from her proverbial demeanor, giving way to an endearing sister looking for a younger sibling "Make sure not to miss this time, keeper".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes...keeper? Keeper of what exactly--" The dust accumulated around all dives on Chemanda, instantly banishing him from the realm. He was no longer dead, no longer fit to walk the place.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His eyes snap awake back to the warmth of the weeping banshee's embrace, one he had pushed away time and time again his journey. The dust that swelled so far from him returned in due form. Tired, exhausted...and renewed all the more.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Part of his journey was done, those afflicted from his curse, now at peace. Life was now theirs to live. Together.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda looks down on Jane's wail, the metal of his frontal plate stained in tears. A finger on her chin, lifting the teary visage, sublime even in the depth of its sorrow. His mask, buried with him, tethered on his face since his revival, now, at last, disengaged. Ancient mechanisms rotate around it, disassembling and receding the pieces one by one until only the newly acquire ocean gaze permeates the darkness of his hood.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'm sorry" he whispers, a voice unfiltered, fully human in origin. Her tears gulp and snuff out, discharged from the mourning tone of rejection. They fall once more, a shinier outlook on them, coupling the delighted smile of her cowl.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemy? You're back..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He nods, a hand on her cheek. His simple touch conveying all he had to say. Her tone hushes in hums, joining her forehead to his.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This moment of communion is interrupted by the exhaustion that still impairs the man. A state quick to prompt Jane to spread her arms, welcoming him to her fold as a wife would her strain husband  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Come, Chemy. Let me carry us home" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The voices in his head speak to him, discarding the violent tone they belittled him before. They speak of her hands inviting him to her lap even as they waste no time taking his in.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The soft-touch of a woman's bosom reaching the side of his weary face, coupled by her hands on the other, woven like silk. The honey of her humming murmur. All of it, a loving touch his new perspective could etch to times when she was human. A woman who yearned to act this way before the spear of betrayal had terminated this aspiration.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her smile is a gentle one, resting by his side while the light of the sky shines on the couple, shimmering the resting Chemanda on Jane's throbbing chest, a delight beyond imagination to finally have her affection received. A bright smile rises on her face, one persisting through the impromptu upward rush of their dismantled bodies absorbed through a traveling plane.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">It shines again, splattering particles and illumination on the entrance of his re-shaped castle. They hum in presence, returned to the front. This time, Jane would not abide by any hesitation, prone to rise on her feet, hands grasping his wrist.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm~ <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Her eyes closed, she begins humming, the essence of azure detaching in small quantity with the pace of their joined walk inside the palace once inhabiting children of past lives. A bastille of ringed walls had erected itself around the palace's territory, enveloped in azurite flames torched above.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmm...hmmm...~  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Windows dressed in blue portray the docile glow of the moon in a dim shimmering of blue. As with Chemanda's outfit change, so did the palace he once lived in change. Aftermath he gleams at through the slow and deliberate walk among gothic pillars decking the corridor to the main halls.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Their paces gradually open up on those he let loose. The minions that once played and tolled with the abandoned children of past lives now joined hands with strangers. A man for each of them that journeyed to his humble settlement. The woman seemed to speak right about the womanly monsters yearning for affection, their collective eyes turned to their ancient summoner.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Zombies no more, their elongated ears and glistening skin washed in the same as Jane spoke of steps taken in the fold of she who walks the border of life and death. They still pronounce their allegiance to him in their voiceless stares, eyes now glint in the same sapphire as Jane's.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Enchanted by his close friend's humming, he dismisses them, giving them free rein to watch the nightfall with those who came throughout his year of absence. A decision placarding his confusion in the advent of the next day by the words of his subordinates promising the foundation to their edicts the same way he did to them.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of this thought of the near future is set aside, swept by Jane's continual hums, her voice, like her hand, guiding a man toward his ancient resting place. Up the stairs at the edge of the halls across countless corridors dedicated to hosting furniture for rooms.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Through the door to a room, overly simple in nature with naught but a bed by the wall, open to the light of the moon by its sides. A pantry to the corner where he stores his cloth. A miniature table where he may etch ink on papers.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hehe, I see your taste for simplicity remains the same",  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">she giggles.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You try putting any thought to some 'you' time when you're so busy". He shakes his head, feeling the pull of her hands drawing him to the bed. A wholly devoted smile presents itself to him all the while.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I do recall how worked you were back then. But, do not worry, Chemy..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane gently guides him to the edge of the bed, sitting him horizontally as if he was about to sleep. Her delicate body sits on him, lap for lap, chest for chest  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"...where I couldn't soothe you back then, I intend on making up for it in this life" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">With no more halt, Jane begins singing, her vocal phones a pillow for Chemanda's ears to sleep to. They caress his lobes at the side of her chest caressing his torso, teasing the ripe body underneath her folds.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">In fact, everything about Jane teases him, leering him closer. The voice return, a gentler invitation to observe the immaculate beauty of his once-subordinate elevated to a closer standing. Her monstrous attributes, now of all time, do enchant him.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Knowing her actions to be so deliberate and sincere in the results they seek makes this an easy endeavor. Chemanda's thoughts raise their hidden voices to her pitch. A heavenly accent pitching the softness and sweetened lips that sing it. A taste too enthralling for the decreasingly exhausted man to resist trying.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Two fingers pluck the azure chin, working in union with the other one currently pressed across her waist from the back <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">. <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> A briefly stunned surprise crosses Jane's expression from left to right, early translated to a halt in her breathing. With the element of surprise depleting, comes her anticipation to what her monster instincts whisper. The closing eyes full of stars, the flush of heat on her cheeks, her blue lips puckered, throbbing.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They feel the pulse of his moist pair sealing them close, showering her with the opaque warmth of a man. Regrets come stringing her mind about at its sensation. Benevolent as banshee Jane was, this would be a rare time, alongside her spiteful words toward Chemanda's killers, where she cursed their names, casting them deeper in the abyss where her heart could never forgive them. This kiss, her very first committed by the one she loved so much, an overwhelmingly greater delicacy and communication than she ever thought. A simple mark of affection the two of them were robbed of centuries before.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Chemanda's hands cling to her waist, overwhelmed by the softness of a monster's lips. Stirred is his long-repressed need to experience more, taken to his limbs tenderly caressing her sides. Her arms response in the ushering of a stronger cling to his nape, blissful in the embrace, unable to resist a few delighted tears.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The cowl that decks her white and short hair falters in the slow movements, setting alight the ebony bristles atop her head by the natural light of outside interference.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Chemy..." <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Her banshee body hunger to devote itself further, a breath to meekly call his name between their kiss. Even shortly in the afterglow, her voice picks up, humming in a sweeter tone, laced in the bask of their exchange.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her lean, woven in a more womanly manner, unable, yet more unwilling to commit any resistance from Chemanda's raising hands teeming to her chest...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">---

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">---

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"h-Hmm, H-m-M, hM-h, H-MM---? <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Hrrrrr..." An elegant voice strings across the night of the keeper's palace. A welcoming place to a thousand tombs of heroes and civilians once without a name to etch on their tombstones, now given proper sepultures to ascend to their proper resting afterlife.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">An elegant voice followed shortly by a tinier, more discordant tone, not unlike it, yet so unlike it.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"hm-M, hM-M, hmm, mmh---mmm" Other men living with their wives tend to the field in scarce amount, the majority enjoying a night in the arms of their beloved, most of them, sleeping in their inviting bosom.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Their ears are removed from the disharmonious tone left to so much improvement, the one with the voice, quick to abandon her attempt.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Fufu, do not worry, my little voice. You need only practice to hone your voice" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> The former voice moves, its mere existence acting as a dotting parent, returning to the young voice's side, a warm embrace of encouragement along the way.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Jane cuddles her progeny, the youngling sitting on her mother's lap, the pearl Jane and Chemanda were denied in their former lives. Tiny hands resting comfortably on the larger fingers of her parent among the throne room. A place reformed in Chemanda's name by those he took under his wing. The same men who right now, sleep soundly in the bosoms of his ex-minions. Or took to a nightly walk to cuddle their own offsprings calling for them whilst their beloved doze away.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">If the little Jenna was comfortably rested upon her mother's lap, then Jane was sitting directly on her husband, the latter, seated on the marble molded throne. He enjoyed the benign view of his singing wife impart her guidance and motherly tone to the monument of their joining, a hand resting on the throne's armrest.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">By his hovering side, a crown attached with a breather mask. A crown fabricated in chilly silver and sapphire, the recollection of another once shattered. If he wasn't sitting under the title that allowed him to walk to a goddess' precious servant for comfort, then he wouldn't be beliving the fact that his subordinates had scoured the lands for the rusted pieces of his old crown to give them her new life as he was given. Hammered in the shivering arcane of Hel's flames.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Perhaps do you want to hear the song that united your father and me?" <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> Jane's tone sets Jenna <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">ablaze in enthusiasm. A quiet enthusiasm setting her tin pointed ears upward. All under her mother's giggle briefly glancing to an equally smirking Chemanda  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Alrighty then~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her hands move with haste to set her child's head on her bosom. Her breasts, literally becoming the warmest of pillows for the youngling to lay on, immaculate in their blossoming design, hindered by but the style of robes that she once wore.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Feeling her infant's impatient eyes set upon her, Jane's lips begin to reverberate, imbued with the swan voice of a banshee  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, aahhh, aahhh...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The song that she hummed before, trying to comfort her now-husband who's lap she softly sits upon  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> ~Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The hymn she chants amidst her spreading arms, welcoming an exhausted keeper  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, aaahhh, aahh...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The chant she sang in the midst of her pregnancy, a nursery to their unborn child. The tone she hummed to her wailing newborn, soothing her in the first seconds of her life, embraced in her mother and father's arms, singing with tears. Singing with joy...