I felt my own face twist through multiple emotions, finally settling on rage when my gaze dropped down and saw their hands intertwined together.

  "So that's what it meant." I said as I stood, letting go of Lia's hand. My hands clenched into fists and my Spark flared with rage, agony tearing through my chest. I cried out and grabbed my chest, struggling to stay on my feet. Rosie blurred next to me, whining and allowing me to rest on her. "Thanks, Rosie." I said as collapsed back into my chair, exhaustion ravaging my brain. "Fuck, that sucked." The wolf whined and sat between me and Lia. She laid her head in my lap and I pet it, the feeling of her fur grounding me.

  "That's what you get for using your Spark while it's drained." Kiltont said, smiling at me. I flipped the bird the bird and stared at Jen.

  "Turns out," I said, glaring at the two people standing in the doorway. "when a Molinbi grows all its flesh and explodes, it's cause the fuckin' bitch is still alive! She's the Molinbi!" My voice rose as I spoke and I pointed an accusing finger at Jennifer. Anthony's gaze furrowed as he looked at me and Jen didn't say anything.

  "Marshall?" Lia asked, her voice icy. "Who are these people?"

  "The man is my Quarterback and fraternity brother; Anthony Harper. The woman is my fiance, Jennifer Avinaldi. I found her fucking him the night I died saving her from a fire." Lia's face contorted into one of anger, the fire in her eyes growing even further. The fire consumed her emeralds, turning them into forests of flames. She turned a look of pure rage on Jen, stood and took a step towards her, but then stopped. Her penciled lips drew themselves into a confident, cock-sure grin and she sauntered back over to me, a sway in her tiny hips. She sank into my lap, placing her arms around my neck and kissing me deeply. My body and Spark reacted to her, tiredly responding to her teasing. My arms wrapped around her small frame and held her close, basking in her warmth. I swear I felt my Spark recharge as we kissed, taking some of her power to fuel my own. We broke a few moments later, my breathing shallow, and I gave her a tired smile. Her grin was mischievous and sexy and I couldn't help but kiss her again. Feelings of love poured from Lia as she turned in my lap to look at Jen, smiling at her.

  "I should thank you for leaving him." she said. "He's mine now." Jen gave her a confused look, blue eyes narrowing. I sighed and shook my head, holding Lia closer.

  "Please don't antagonize her, my Lady. I'm too tired to deal with the bullshit I know is coming."

  "What the hell are you doing?" Jen asked, her voice stony. She glared at me like I was the one in the wrong. I exaggeratedly looked around for who she was talking to.

  "Are you talking to me?" I asked, pointing at myself. Lia laid her head against my shoulder, her sweet, flowery scent coating my mind. My arms slid down and one wrapped around her waist, holding her close, while the other rested on her thigh.

  "Who else would I be talking to?"

  "Any one of the people in this room?" I offered, looking around. "This place is weird compared to home. There's a fuckin' dragon in the room. That's not important, though. How are you here?"

  "I am speaking to you, dear." Jen said, flashing me her patented grin and ignoring me. Again. This time, though, instead of love in her smile, I saw anger and frustration. She let go of Anthony's hand and stepped towards me. "Who is that girl and why are you kissing her?" I sighed heavily.

  "This is..."

  "I am Lady Ameilia Sarie Freyolin," Lia said venomously. She turned a hateful look on Jen and rose from my lap, stalking forward. "Duchess of Hylent, and I demand you show my Champion the respect he deserves."

  "Your Champion?" Jen repeated, her eyes going wide. "He is my fiance and..."

  "NO." I said firmly. The word echoed around the room, silencing the girls. Everyone looked at me and I stood with difficulty, staring Jen in the eyes. I took a deep breath and steadied myself, glaring down at my former fiance. "No. Our engagement is off, Jennifer. You slept with another man a week before our wedding. I trusted you and you broke my heart. Twice. Yeah, I know about Rob." I said, eyes stony. She opened her mouth to respond but I talked over her. I was on a roll now and I wasn't going to let her stop me.

  "I forgave you because I genuinely loved you. I thought I could make it work, prove myself to you, that you would come to see that I was the one who loved you, not any of the. I see now that you never really loved me back and our time together was meaningless. So, I'm done. I've had enough. You and I are finished. I never want to see you again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish what we started before we were so very rudely interrupted." I shot a glare at Elysin who gave me a comforting smile. The dragon rose from her chair as well.

  "Before you go, Marshall, there are two more things you must be aware of. Firstly, you got very, very lucky tonight. Had I not blessed you with a fully-formed Spark, you would be dead. Just now you used two Coins to save your foot. You must be more careful from now on. Take the Macawian up on his offer of combat training. Better yet, have him convince the Master of this Guild to use its training room. Secondly, you must harden your mental defences. If you suffer another day like you did burying those people, you will not succeed in your mission."

  "What mission? What are you talking about? I didn't agree to anything."

  "It doesn't matter if you agreed. You are my Vessel and you will obey me. I supersede everything, even your Lady. You will go where I tell you, when I tell you, doing what I tell you. You do not have a choice." I felt a presence press itself down on my brain and I groaned, putting my hand to my head. Rosie whimpered, fear and worry flashing in her azure eyes, then turned a scared growl on the dragon. I pet her with my other hand, calming her.

  "I'm okay." I told her, stroking one of her soft ears. She moved closer to me, pressing her soft fur into my leg.

  "The other two are Vessels as well and will help you in your mission." As Elysin spoke, a green light the color of the jungle I had arrived in gleamed from Jen's forehead and the faint image of a woman exactly like Elysin but dressed in the same green emanating from Jen flashed behind her. At the same time, Anthony's throwing arm lit up a blue the color of the ocean. It shone from his hand and a man dressed in a blue three piece suit flashed behind him. I sighed.

  "Fuck. Why are you telling me this?"

  "We gods cannot interact with the world individually. We require Vessels to enact our will on the physical world and I have chosen you to be mine. Another dragon has done the same with another being and you are going to stop him before the entire world falls. These other two Vessels will be of great help in doing so."

  "And you can't give me any specifics?"

  "Not at the moment, no. Even now, I have told you more than I should. As G.I. Joe says, 'knowing is half the battle'. I can tell you to start with the Nevind's corpse." I scoffed but pushed through her ridiculous reference.

  "That reminds me. When I killed the Nevind, two things happened. The first was that a black soul rose from it and sped into the night. I don't know if that's normal here, but I saw it. The second was the loot message. It said that the kill wasn't mine and that I didn't have the right to loot that monster. What the hell does that mean?" Elysin smiled at me and said nothing. I sighed and shook my head. "Let's work it out, then. What would cause that kind of message to appear?" I thought back to what the message said and it showed up again, the black text floating on a light blue screen in front of me.

  This kill belongs to someone else. You can not loot it without permission. Kill Owner: ???

  I read the message aloud and looked around.

  "Any ideas?"

  "If someone else killed it, then was it already dead?" Anthony asked, his brow furrowing. "Are there zombies here?" Elysin's smile increased further and I groaned.

  "Really? Zombies? Is it a plague like The Walking Dead?"

  "No, I don't believe it is a plague." Kiltont said, folding his hands and leaning his chin on them. "I think we are facing a Blessed. An exceptionally powerful one if they can reanimate and control a creature as strong as a Nevind, but still a Blessed."

  "You said you saw a black soul leave the Nevind when it fell, right, Marshall?" Lia asked. I nodded and returned to my seat, steeling my mind. It seemed I wasn't quite done with the conversation, much as my body was telling me it was.

  "I did." I sighed.

  "I saw it, too. The black went west and the white went up."

  "What?"

  "The black went west." Lia repeated, her voice firm as she retook her place in my lap. My hands found themselves naturally on her waist and thigh as she leaned her head against my shoulder and said "After the battle, there was a second pulse from your Spark and I saw a white soul rise from the corpse AFTER the black soul had already left."

  "I did feel another power akin to mine but opposite when I stabbed my dagger into its leg. It burned away when I made contact, though. It's empty eye sockets also remind me of the Molinbi, linking back to the black smoke." I sighed and took my hands from her body with regret, pulling my notebook from my Inventory. I flipped to an empty page and began taking notes. "What was that white you saw, though?"

  "I don't know."

  "Hmmm. Did my True Sight transfer to you as well, I wonder?"

  "Let's focus back on the topic at hand." Tzolob said, dragging the conversation back on track. "Have we ruled out disease?"

  "I believe so." Kiltont replied. "Only one of the creatures approached the walls tonight. If it were a plague, there would have been more and we would have reports of other creatures behaving strangely. Elysin also mentioned the other dragons having 'Vessels' as well." I nodded, his points making sense.

  "Hmm, that tracks. Plus, I for sure would have been exposed if it were a disease. I don't feel off but maybe we should do a check just to be safe." Elysin waved her hand and my Spark surged up, drawing a pained groan from me. I groaned and closed my eyes, bearing the pain. It was only a few moments before the pain faded and my Spark withdrew to its tired state. It felt even more tired now, like my workout partner had called me a bitch and I pushed that extra rep that I really shouldn't have. I need to stop using my Spark until its fully recharged.

  "You are perfectly healthy and suitable to be my Vessel." Elysin said.

  "Could you find a less creepy way to say that?" I asked, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. My Spark was sore and it pulsed weakly, searching for something. I felt it move up my chest and settle right under Lia's head where it grew slightly warmer. Lia sighed and sank further into me, closing her eyes.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  "So warm." I heard her whisper. Burgundy hair tickled my neck and I yawned fully, my vision going a little blurry and my head feeling full.

  "Glad I don't have to worry about turning into a zombie." I mumbled, closing my eyes. I felt my head lean against Lia's and my breathing deepened. Damn, I'm tired. "Guys, this conversation has been awesome but I'm exhausted and my Spark needs to rest. I feel like the longer I'm in this room the more likely it is someone's gonna do something that will set it off again." Elysin laughed softly.

  "Oh, dear Vessel. I will not be able to communicate with you in such a direct manner for a while, so use this time wisely."

  "I wanna use it to sleep."

  "Well, that's too damn bad. You get to talk to me."

  "Fine. So there's some asshole running around raising dead monsters? That sum up what we've learned tonight?"

  "Maybe." Tzolob said. "A Necromancer has not been seen in the Empire in generations. It is rare for a person to go that far down the path of Dark magic and still retain enough of their mind to control their summons."

  "But if it's a vessel like me..." I trailed off.

  "We need to get you three trained. Now." Tzolob said, looking Anthony, Jen, and me each in the eyes in turn. I gave him a tired smile.

  "Can I sleep, first? Please?" Tzolob nodded.

  "Of course, of course. I'll have some food brought to your room."

  "Thank you."

  "Marshall." Elysin said, her odd voice bouncing around in my head and forcing me to pay attention.

  "Yes, ma'am?" I asked, looking at her.

  "Be careful. I brought you here, but I cannot bring you back. If you die a third time and don't have the power to save yourself, that is it. Please, take care. I do not wish to see your corpse leading an army of dead." On that horrifying note, Elysin faded in a flash of gold, leaving the head of the table empty and silence in her wake.

  "Well, that was fun." I said, standing and holding Lia like one would a child. My body screamed as it moved but I fought through it. There was less than a hundred yards between me and my bed. "But I'm goin' back to bed now. Don't disturb me unless you're bringing food or water." I started to walk out of the room and tried to slip by Jen and Anthony, but Jen didn't let me. She moved to block my path, a look of anger on her face, but before she could say anything, Rosie interposed herself, stalking forward and growling menacingly, the hair on her back raised.

  "Rosie." I chided softly. "Be nice." She gave me a look that told me she really wanted to bite something and I sighed. "Fine. You wanna go on a hunt?" Her canine face broke into a smile and she arf'ed her assent, both front paws leaving the floor. I chuckled and looked down at her with pure love. "Alright, alright. We'll go hunt something together in the morning, ok?" She looked upset and dove back into my shadow.

  "Master, I need to hunt tonight. You used all the energy our Lady gave you, but I haven't." She sent me a pulse of her own Spark and I was slammed by the image of a roiling mass of black shadows. It felt cool and refreshing, like taking an ice bath and some life came back to me, and I understood her predicament.

  "I see. I'll ask Lucinius if you can have free access to the city." I turned and looked at the Commander. "Commander, Rosie still has some energy to burn. Is it alright if she goes on a little hunt?" Lucinius blinked at me, confused.

  "Why are you asking me?"

  "So you can tell the guards not to shoot her. I'm not goin', I'm fuckin' beat, bro." Rosie whined and her Spark pulsed again. I could feel her desire for me to go with her and I closed my eyes, assessing my body. I was sore and beat and tired and a dozen other things, but I was standing. I was holding my Lady with ease, barely even feeling her weight. My muscles worked, my body worked; I was alive. I could sleep when I was dead. "Nah, you know what, I am going with her. Who knows when I'll get another chance to hunt with my Shadow Wolf. Rosie, may I invite our Lady or would you prefer just us?"

  "Just us." she said, jumping out of my shadow. I smiled down at my Lady in my arms and Lia smiled back at me, kissing my cheek softly.

  "Have fun and be safe. I'll be waiting." she said without me telling her.

  "Always, my dear." I set her down and turned to Rosie. She barked and jumped around, her tail blurring black as she wagged it fiercely. She turned and moved towards the door, Anthony and Jen moving out of the way this time. Rosie held her head high and glared at the two of them as she walked by. I followed close behind her with Lia right behind me. We parted with a smile and she went left, back towards the room, and Rosie and I went right, towards the stairs.

  "Prescott!" a male voice called from behind me. I turned to find Anthony chasing after me. "Yo, wait up!" Grumbling, I stopped and waited for him to catch us. "Hey, man, may I come with you? We need to talk." I looked down at Rosie who growled, padding forwards on silent paws to sniff Anthony's hand. As she was inspecting him, Kiltont came up to us.

  "Tank, before you leave for your hunt, you might want to consider getting a new weapon. I hear your dagger broke in the attack." I sighed, drawing the weapon from my Inventory. When I did so, however, a floating grid exactly like the one in my Notebook appeared in my vision. Neat. Wonder why it only showed up now? Oh, well. This world is weird, so what's it matter? I did notice that there was an additional space that was full, but was too tired to pay attention to it at the moment. I pulled my dagger free with a golden plume of smoke, looking at the broken blade.

  "Yeah, Zerik did say that Steban weapons have a tendency to break against armored opponents. What do you recommend I get?"

  "I recommend the spear. It is easier to learn and master than other weapons and gives you a longer reach than a sword or dagger. Follow me." He walked past me, down the stairs to the first floor. I turned to Rosie and asked:

  "Well? What's the verdict?" She nodded firmly, turning and walking after Kiltont. She pranced along, head held high and sleek coat glistening in the magic light; absolutely gorgeous. I shrugged and looked at Anthony. "Alright then. I guess you're coming." I followed Kiltont down the stairs and further back into the guild. There were more counters manned by more people dressed like Railey serving lines of other Sparks. I could feel the power in the room around me like a tidal wave pressing down on my head. In my already hurt state, it felt like I was walking face first into a rock concert with no preparation. I had to take a few deep breaths to keep my heart rate under control. I had never felt such intense pressure from a room.

  "Hey, Kiltont?" I asked as we wove around a particularly rowdy table. I grabbed a piece of food that nearly hit Rosie out of the air and threw it back at the offending Hunter. "Is it normal to feel like my head is about to explode? There's so much power in this room."

  "You get used to it. It's common courtesy for Hunter's to keep their power restrained while in town, but most of them don't listen to that in a place like this. There aren't enough Blessed strong enough to sense every Spark, so they let their power run free. Non-Blessed can not sense our power unless we intentionally focus it on them."

  "Is that what this feeling is?" Anthony asked, coming up beside me. "I thought it was just because we were in a new place."

  "We Blessed are able to sense the power of other Sparks, both man and beast. It helps us to gauge wether or not we can fight that being."

  "Nice. A built-in Danger Sense." I said. "That's gonna make things easier." Kiltont came to a stop in front of one of the larger counters in the Hall with a male Vartin behind it. The boy was dead-eyed and young, no more than fifteen or sixteen.

  "How may I help you?" he asked, his voice just as dead as his eyes. He sounded so defeated, so broken that it stabbed a knife of pity into my heart. I smiled kindly at the boy and gestured to Anthony and I.

  "We need weapons, please, sir." I said. The boy stared at me without seeing and nodded.

  "Yes, Sir. What are you looking for?"

  "A spear for the large one and a bow for the other." Kiltont interjected.

  "A bow?" Anthony asked, confused. "Didn't you just say the spear was the easiest?"

  "Tank has the more battle experience of the two of you, so unless you want to join him up close, I suggest you bring some kind of ranged weaponry to keep him covered. You do not have to be accurate, just keep the enemy pressured while he kills it. Bows are best for such a job."

  "I trust you, Kiltont, so we'll go with that." I said, turning back to the boy. "But, sir, if you wouldn't mind throwing in a knife to replace this one." I summoned my broken dagger and placed it on the counter. The boy looked down at it and nodded.

  "Yes, Sir." The boy turned and walked away, behind a green curtain. He was gone for a minute or two before he returned with four weapons in his hand; A spear, a bow, and two knives. He laid all of them on the counter, then turned and walked back behind the curtain, only to reappear with a quiver of arrows. "Your weapons, Sir." I grinned and grabbed the spear, handing the bow and quiver to Anthony He took it with a nod and I handed him one of the daggers as well. All geared up, I thanked the boy and left. Kiltont walked us to the Hall's door and opened it for us.

  "I am not going with you." he said. "This is your test, Tank. Have a good hunt." Test? This isn't a test, this is fun.

  "Thank you Kiltont, but this ain't a test. Rosie and I are just goin' to burn off some steam. At least, she is. I'm gonna take it easy." He gave me a knowing look and I smiled at him. "Honest." He shook his head and walked away, back into the Guild, disappearing into the crowd. I turned to Rosie and pet her head.

  "Ready, sister?" She barked and jumped, tail wagging. We walked out into the night and made for the Southern edge of the city, where we first entered. We walked in silence, the only sounds being the revelry still going on deeper in the city and our footsteps. Well, pawsteps, in Rosie's case.

  We had exited the city a little while ago, the silence still reigning over us. I was simply enjoying the walk with my wolf and the late evening air. The sounds of the night were calming, bugs screaming all around us in sharp, high sounds. Anthony was getting progressively more nervous, fiddling with his bowstring and glancing at me every few seconds.

  "What's up, bro?" I asked without looking at him. "Guilt eating you?" He jerked, his face reddening, and he glanced at the ground.

  "Yeah. I just... I feel shitty about it, dude. She came onto me and I was drunk and I knew I shouldn't have done it but fuck she's hot and what I said..." I stopped his rambling by placing a hand on his shoulder.

  "Listen, man." I said calmly. "I'm not gonna say that I'm not mad, 'cause I am. I'm fuckin' pissed at both you and her and if my Spark were at full capacity we would be having a very different conversation. I really, really want to tear your head off--and I could, I've done it before--but I won't. I love you both and if you make her happy, then that's okay. I'm only this calm because I have Rosie and Lia, both of whom actually care about me. Jennifer doesn't give a fuck about anyone but herself, so be careful. Trust me, I know."

  "So I'm stressing over nothing?"

  "Not nothing; you still fucked my fiance a week before our wedding. Weren't you listening? God, you're as bad as her. You broke the bro code, bro, and I. AM. PISSED. We might not have been the best of friends but you're still my Quarterback. I protect you and I take that job seriously." He stared at the ground in shame.

  "Yeah, I know. I am sorry."

  "I know, Harper. I know. Now, get lost and let me go on a midnight walk with my wolf. Rosie!" I took a hard left off the path and walked away from him, killing the conversation and Rosie ranging out in front of me. Exhaustion and rage were making me act irrationally and I was hot. Even in my weakened state, if I stayed around Anthony for a moment longer, I was going to attack him. So, I left.

  Rosie let our a woof and took off after me, overtaking my slow amble with ease. She was a blur of shadow as she moved, zipping back and forth through the field. Her coat was slightly darker than the darkness around us, which is how I knew where she was. That, and our bond gave me perfect knowledge of her location. We ambled away from the city, towards the where the Nevind had risen. I watched as she leaped into the air and dove down, a squeal sounding from where she landed. Before the squeal had faded into the night, Rosie appeared in front of me, holding some kind of animal in her mouth. She dropped the mangled corpse at my feet, a bloody smile on her canine face before vaporizing in a puff of black smoke. I could feel her excitement as she bounced between my shadow and the shadows around us, simply reveling in her power and enjoying the night. The pure, unadulterated joy exuding from my wolf put a smile on my face and calmed my tired heart. There was another squeal and another corpse at my feet, blood dripping from her jaws. I knelt and pet Rosie again, brushing the body by accident.

  Would you like to loot this corpse?

  "Yes." I said. The corpse began to smoke like the Tyribom had and Rosie dropped it. We both watched as the four legged, orange colored creature turned transparent and disappeared entirely. Rosie's mouth began to smoke as well and she whimpered, pawing at her tongue. Soon enough, all the smoke was gone.

  One pound of Cailopit meat

  One Cailopit horn

  You: One EXP

  Rosie: Ten EXP

  "Huh. How 'bout that." I dismissed the message and looked over at Rosie. "Turns out I can loot the creatures you kill." Rosie barked and vanished again, running off into the night. She's a good girl. It didn't take long before she dropped another Cailopit at my feet, followed by four more. I looted them all, each one netting me one pound of meat and one EXP for me and ten EXP for Rosie.

  A little while later, as Rosie was just starting to get tired and the stars had just begun to fade, her grin spread wide and true. The shadows around her darkened, her abyssal fur contrasting the ivory teeth that flashed in the moonlight and a message appeared.

  Level up!

  Rosie has advanced to Level 26.

  "Hey, look at you!" I said, rubbing her neck and ears. "You leveled up." She barked and wagged her tail slowly. "Are you ready to go home?" She nodded, a smile on her face. We turned and headed back towards the city, the walls a dark blob in the slowly lightening sky. I sighed, my body sore and tired. I had just wanted to go back to sleep with Lia and Rosie and here I was, pulling an all nighter. Oh, well. I can sleep when I'm dead. Again, I suppose. I'm just happy nothing attacked us. Thank you, whatever gods are out there. My God, if you're listening.

  I was shaken from my thoughts by Rosie's soft bark. I blinked and looked over at her, and found her staring hard into the brush. I frowned and walked over to her.

  "What's up?" I asked. She vanished into the shadows around us and I waited, my senses on high alert. I listened for anything that would signal what she was doing but nothing came to me. Then, a sharp, piercing cry came from about fifty yards in front of me.

  "Rosie!"