Maid with Necromancy

Kill a mimic the size of a mountain, and the prize was a cake paired with a filled punchbowl, both large enough to feed a hundred. With only four contestants remaining, it was like having a party that no one showed up to, and as good as it tasted, it couldn’t help but be tinged with disappointment.

The red-tinted liquid was a healing potion, similar in quality to the drinks from the last multi-tribe event. The cake was a fancier version of the all-meal bars; a few bites and you were stuffed, so even a slice was sad when you couldn’t eat much. A bitter reminder that this was a game and they were the entertainment.  As the days passed, it only got sadder as they couldn’t make a dent through the beastly confection.

“I’m going to do something really stupid.“ Harmony spoke, finally letting her thoughts free.

Jenny leaned in over the campfire. “Are you going to take my arm as I suggested?”

The smith made Harmony seem mild with experimentations, and even Horatio blew bubbles of protest at that idea.

“I’m not cutting off your arm. Just because the potion was able to heal your severed finger doesn’t mean it will restore your arm, considering I need to remove it and the parts of your soul attached to it.”

The puppets had lied about her death.  Of course, everyone needed to be tested again. Jenny’s flesh turned partially to metal in its resistance to fear.  Soul metal, she called it. The mad woman wanted as much as she could get.

“Please.” She begged.

“Your soul is unstable. Come see me after the Games, when it has actual time to heal rather than magic.”

“I think Lady White has a different kind of stupidity she wants to try.” Pappi mused as he floated overhead.

Since the battle, without needing to hunt or manage a large group of people, she’d trained relentlessly against astral energy. Gone was the illusion that this was solely about being a better healer. When the old man protested. Milo showed up and ordered him to “Do it.” The young man watched closely and gained insights while she worked.

“Harm, you can win this. We’re so close to the end.”  Tyler stressed, immediately getting the implications.

You could be competitive but not one for games when you are the plaything. At least ones that last for weeks. More importantly, the definition of winning had changed. Too much free time led to deeper reflection on Max’s words,  “I need you to recall this conversation whenever you think about helping me again!” How stupid had she been?

Literally [Recall],  each flash of chaos in his eyes focused on a specific word, making the conversation a cry for help.

That didn’t rule out Saccerate.  Something was off; you don’t end up having hair whiter than a grandfather without issues. But when Tyler can be covered in blue flames, Milo can turn part of himself into a semi-tangible astral form, and other typical changes, it wouldn’t be that unusual after a breakthrough that let Max be free of his oath to end up with some physical changes. Working on the fear response deep inside people's containers had broadened Harmony’s knowledge on what she was seeing, and it didn’t look good.  Too many things have happened. Winning is taking care of Adic, Max, and the problematic princess.

“I’ll do what honor dictates of me. Topping the Ascendant Games would have been a nice feather for a cap, and I won’t rule out that chance, but it is not my main goal. With that in mind. Hyacinth!”

The shadow toad hopped out of the night, sized a little shorter than his partner.  He was their one toad wall against every spider wave; they feared him. Opening his mouth, he let his tongue fall out, unwrapping three sticky immunity idols beside Harmony. “Gleck.” He spit them out before heading back into the dark for guard duty.

The first Harmony had acquired on their first days in the games. The mostly silent toad didn’t expand where he’d acquired the others. “One for each of you, so you can do what is necessary when the tribes combine.”

When Lord Tyler fell to one knee, Harmony’s heart reeled at the idea of another person making an inadvisable oath to her. “As you wish, Lady White.”

Loap yanked him up, grabbing one of the immunity tokens in the process.

“To honor those our tribe lost,” Milo added, taking an idol.

“I’d still rather you take my hand if you're not willing to work from my shoulder,” She wiggled the finger she replaced. Parting of the flesh hadn’t been the issue, while it did come off with a piece of soul and container, there was still a residual echo that was refilled by the potion when it grew back. Harmony’s cuts were more complete, and the smith was already looking patchy.

“Not today. But if we do this right, I promise to dismember you once you’re fully healed. We don’t have much time before the deadline. ”  

It’s not like she wanted anything complicated for these gifts. Merely the opportunity to approach her problem in an uninterrupted manner. Midway through explaining options, the world turned white.

​

-Make your way to the castle at the center of the maze, where the ten of you will share a house for the final stretch of the competition!-

Her eyes cleared from the teleportation, with an emaciated Adric holding her up. That hadn’t been listed as his current condition. As of this morning, it was still listed as ‘hopeful’.  Her pockets still had some of the cake in them as emergency rations and a few vials of healing potion.  “What did they do to you? Take these.”

Adric took the cake and potion without question. It didn’t fill out her pet's hollow cheeks but did add some color back to them.

“Rose was trying to convince me to let go of the anchor by limiting my rations, but it wasn’t so bad until the imposter situation. Everyone went to isolate themselves while leaving me out to the elements.“

Cold rage simmered at Adric's abandonment .“Well, why didn’t you come back then?”

“She needed to be close to Maxwell. I’m not sure how long she’ll last until we can officially return her.”

Pulling her attention back from her pet, Harmony took in their surroundings. Beside Adric was Hyacinth, who waited patiently. All of them were in what looked to be the clearing in the middle of a maze, lit by bioluminescent flowers, with the bleeding castle mentioned on teleportation in the distance, lit up like a beacon by the glow stones on the walls. There was no “her” with Adric.

Harmony opened her senses up, soul sight, true sight, necromantic, and all those bits of skills from [Analyze] to [Keen investigative Awareness]. The ‘care’ Adric had been under had taken a visual toll on the man, but whatever his undead nature was, he still had that altered vitality that resisted [Manipulate Undead] and managed to pass the closer scrutiny of  Von Trell.  What she found that wasn’t there before was inside that vibrant soul.

In a display of what could be considered an opposing mix of necromancy and possibly vitalmancy, a chunk of transferred soul nestled inside of her pet, and neither was playing nice as the edges seemed to sizzle in a way that only Adric’s vitality was keeping away damage, and any attempt at forcible rejection was actively thwarted by her pet prince. It had to hurt and was probably more of the source of his sunken look than not eating.

His body held a bond not belonging to him and one she’d played an active part in creating. Looking even worse than her new host, Saccerate, the chaos siren, rasped to her necromantic senses. “Please, help me.”

The possessor would have been the easy villain to deal with, but who knew the long-term consequences to Maxwell?  [Disintegrate] had to lead the way to cut a thin path through Adric's resistant biology to allow [Renew Spirit] to reach the ailing spirit. This time, she tried to specialize in chaos; the practice on Pappi's astral energy was useful for differentiation, but chaos was always a tricky aspect.  The help was marginal, the siren was dying with a desperation that implied possible permanence. It was an area filled with spiritual rot. A splash of [Cold Touch] with [Mend] for stability was all she managed before Adrics healed up, blocking her out.

Poor Saccerate. If her pet cared, she cared. “We don’t have time to waste. We have to find Max. Fill me in on the way to the castle.”  Harmony pressed as she kicked off into the maze.

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