Clap.

  A loud single clap resounded throughout the room, drawing attention to the clapping figure.

  “I think that’s enough of that,” Anton said. “I, for one, am eager to see what Jaeger’s bonding process looks like. And I’d like to see it sometime tonight.”

  Rolling her eyes, Lemuria shifted, her long, serpentine lower half slithering across the floor, moving beneath her, and raising her into a more comfortable position.

  “Of everyone in this room, you should be the last one advocating for rushing things. You literally have all the time in the world.”

  Cocking his head sideways, the skeleton looked at the lamia, his confusion evident even on his unmoving features.

  “What does my undying nature have to do with patience?”

  Lemuria’s face took on the look of someone who remembered having the same argument numerous times.

  “I forget who I’m speaking to sometimes.” She muttered. “Jaeger. When you are ready, let’s move this along.”

  With a shrug, Jaeger picked up the yatagon.

  “Where do you want me?”

  Lemuria tapped her chin before motioning him to follow her. She glided across the floor to an open area that was conspicuous in that the area was clear and empty aside from a pristine rug. She gestured at the rug.

  “I tend to handle my more, messy problems there.” The tip of her tail slid forward and lifted part of the rug, revealing a series of runes etched into the stone floor. “Containment, cleansing, and stasis. Any mess you make won’t leave the area.”

  Jaeger raised an eyebrow.

  “Why would you have a stasis rune?”

  She gave a sharp predator’s smile.

  “Any wounds made over it won’t get any better, or worse, once they’re made. They simply stay as they are. In this case, it will allow you to precisely make your fatal wound, but not go any further. In other cases…”

  “In other cases, you can add as many wounds as you like, allowing you to inflict as much pain as you’d like.”

  Her smile dropped, and her expression went cold.

  “You said it, not me.” Then her eyes lit back up, and she moved her tail back to herself. “But I like you and wouldn’t do that to you, not to mention I don’t think Kaeleth would let me.”

  The chaos elf loudly turned the chair she’d remained sitting in towards the pair.

  “Indeed, I would not. I have need of him.”

  Lemuria smirked.

  “Of that I have no doubt.”

  Another loud clap sounded out. Once again, Anton worked to get everyone back on pace.

  ‘Enough chit chat. Jaeger, kill yourself. Lemuria, make sure it doesn’t take. Hurry along now.”

  The called-out figures exchanged a look and moved. The bounty hunter moved atop the rug and drew the blade from its ornate scabbard. The foreign script on it was still eye-aching to look at; it drew Anton’s attention for a moment, who wandered forward to look at it before stepping back and waving Jaeger onward. He held the blade and turned its tip towards himself, before stopping and setting it down. Under the confused gaze of the others, he began to strip, removing the clothing and armor on his torso. Once he was bare from the waist up, he grabbed the sword and took a ready position, waiting for Lemuria.

  The madam/priestess had summoned forth a scepter that seemed to shift, twist, and writhe as though it were a living snake. She held it in one hand and ran the other along its haft as though calming it. Her attention was drawn to a rustling of clothing and watched as Jaeger stripped down.

  She’d known he was muscular, and his demeanor hinted towards a rough lift style, but it was only now that she fully appreciated it. Underneath his clothing, his body told a story of a man who fought for everything he had. Lacerations, rips, burns, stabs, and slices could be seen across him, along with a few others that she could not recognize. The most common being areas that seemed almost like fully healed amputations, except the amputation wasn’t clean, were Jaeger not human, she would have sworn parts of him were ripped or blown off him and simply regrew. But she’d scented and scryed him when he arrived, and aside from a slight chemical scent, he registered as wholly human.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Mmmmhhhmm.”

  “Interesting.”

  Lemuria turned to Kaeleth with a toying look as the other elf released an almost involuntary sound. Upon meeting the lamia’s gaze, the elf blushed and averted her eyes. Lemuria smirked and turned back to Jaeger.

  “I am ready when you are.”

  The bounty hunter rolled his shoulders, took a deep breath, and plunged the blade into his stomach. A grunt of pain and a clench of his teeth were the only signs of pain. With trembling arms, he effortlessly sliced the blade sideways, opening his insides to the outside. For a moment, he heaved with pain, and then he froze. His entire body stopped, from the trembling muscles and twitching eyes to the bleeding guts and flopping intestines.

  Lemuria raised her staff, but was stopped by Anton.

  “Wait.”

  She turned a quizzical look to the lich, who simply pointed to the bounty hunter’s arm, where a bracelet had lit up with a silvery light. The pair watched as the bracelet’s light slowly grew brighter and brighter, becoming a silver eclipse, before fading away. Anton lowered his arm and waved Lemuria forward. She raised her staff again and cast her healing spell. As she did, she also sent her tail forth and had it wrap around the bounty hunter’s wrist.

  Slowly, she used her tail to pull his wrist and the blade backwards. As it left the man’s body, her healing took hold. His intestines retracted, his blood flowed back into him, and his stomach sealed like a mouth closing. As the last stitch of flesh and muscle sealed, Jaeger regained control of himself.

  He gasped in pain before running his hand along his stomach and finding it smooth and healed. He tried to move his sword hand only to find it held in place by a familiar-looking serpentine tail. He followed it to Lemuria, where she met his gaze.

  “That was certainly an experience. Did it work?” She loosened and moved her tail away as she asked.

  “Yes, my boy, did it work? And what are the results?” Anton asked, a fervent light in his sockets.

  Jaeger took a breath, appreciating it for a moment before wiping his bloody blade on the rug and looking at it.

  The yatagan remained almost identical to its original form with two exceptions. Its blade was a glossy black; it appeared to be made entirely of worked obsidian; he’d known of some chirurgeons who had scalpels made of obsidian, but nothing half as big as this yatagan. And the eye-aching script was gone, scoured clean. He turned to the others and showed them.

  “Obsidian, eh? Well, with the chosen trinity of elements that make it up, I’m not surprised; it was either this or onyx. Although for obsidian, I would have assumed a Fire connection. Fascinating, simply fascinating.” Anton mumbled aloud as he cocked his head to and fro, examining the blade. "This process you went through also raises a wonderful contradiction. You cannot wield any weapons that aren't a part of this curse, yet the only way to add weapons to the curse is through wielding them. Does this mean that every time you wield a weapon not a part of the curse, you run the risk of it turning upon you? Or is this a sign of the artifact's sentience recognizing the difference between falsely wielding a weapon and wielding one to add it to the curse? This is very fascinating."

  Lemuria pushed the lich backwards, his mumbling turning to rants as he questioned the process behind Jaeger’s curse and the Elemental nature of obsidian.

  “This is all well and good, but what does it do? And can the Sultan track it?”

  Jaeger pointed the blade at the desk.

  “Let’s find out.”

  Marching forward, his clothes left behind, he places the yatagan over a fresh paper and waits for Lemuria. She slides around him and puts the magnifying glass over the yatagan, and a new paper appears.