The inside of the makeshift fort was filled with tents. In the middle of the tents was a space set aside for a cookfire. Next to the fire pit was a canopy set up with stone tables and benches. Danny could make out carriages and wagons crammed in the far back corner. An occasional soldier or wizard could be seen moving quietly between the tents. The atmosphere of the fort was very subdued.

Wizard Basalt turned to the group, "Girls, why don't you take Danny to get cleaned up, get him some food, and then come meet us at the healer’s tent."

After the Basalt shadow moved off, Brooke rushed over to give Danny a hug.

Brooke looked down at his torn clothes and all the dried blood, "Are you sure you do not need to go see the healers?"

Danny shook his head, "Nah, I am good. Just hungry."

Ivy traded places with Brooke. When Danny thought Ivy wasn't going to ever let go of him he asked, "What's going on, where is Jade?"

Pulling away from him, Ivy pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and looked to the side, "Jade was injured pretty badly during the attack. She's in the healer’s tent right now, and she is recovering. After she is released, we might need you to... help her get back to her old self."

Danny looked alarmed, "What, She got hurt! Why don't we go see her now?"

Brooke put a hand on Danny's arm, "She is doing fine now. She fell asleep right before we were told you were waiting outside. Her aunts and uncle are with her now, so let's go get you cleaned up and get some food in you before you collapse. You are nothing but skin and bones."

Danny started to argue but his stomach chose that moment to start grumbling, loudly. "Alright, a quick bite and then we will go see Jade."

The girls led him to their tent. Danny noticed it wasn't the one they had been using before the attack. There were two pallets inside and Danny recognized his backpack in the far corner. Brooke brought in a bucket of water and a wash cloth. The girls gave him some privacy to clean up and change into new cloths.

The cookfire was a long pit with a pot boiling on one end and meat cooking on a spit on the other. Brooke and Ivy went over and waited in line while Danny sat under the canopy in an empty spot. The food consisted of bread, soup and a slice of cooked deer meat. Danny dug into the meal. Brooke and Ivy had eaten earlier and were just drinking tea while waiting on Danny.

While cutting into his slice of meat, Danny asked, "So what happened to Jade?"

Brooke answered, "Things were pretty rough there from the beginning. If they had just attacked with the undead goblins, we wouldn't have had any problem handling them. The undead ogres and mountain troll really pushed things in their favor."

Danny interrupted, with a piece of meat in his mouth, "I saw that, Wizard Basalt flew in the air and killed that mountain troll with one hit. That was so awesome!"

Brooke nodded but didn't share any of Danny's enthusiasm, "Yes, it was really impressive, but things got worse after that. The shaman started to raise our own dead to fight against us. Fortunately, we hadn't suffered too many losses at that point, but it was still disturbing to see. Then, after you stopped the ritual spell and caused that explosion we were immediately flanked from the east. The explosion knocked over more than a few people and everyone was distracted. I think they were waiting for something like that to happen, and used it to catch us by surprise. A group of shamans leading another mass of undead ogres and goblins attacked our flank, right where Ivy, Jade, and I were stationed. We really hadn't seen much of the enemy and then there were suddenly dozens of them climbing over the wall. Jade was behind us with her bow and saw that Ivy was distracted fighting some goblins. Ivy didn't notice the ogre coming up behind her. Arrows really don't affect the undead much and so Jade pulled Ivy out of the way at the last second. That's when the ogre grabbed Jade instead. A few soldiers managed to make it over to Jade and kill the ogre and goblins attacking her, but not before they had ripped her arm off."

Danny put his fork with another piece of meat down on his plate. He was suddenly not very hungry anymore.

Swallowing, Danny looked around and asked, "How many are left?"

Brooke answered again, "After the battle, there were a dozen dead and around thirty wounded. Of that only one wizard was killed."

Danny noticed that Ivy had been quiet all through this and pushed his plate away, "Well, I am done. Let's go see Jade."

Ivy got up quickly, "I am going to go find you a pallet for tonight. The wagon with our things loaded on it was caught in the attack and some of our stuff was destroyed."

Danny watched Ivy walk away before turning to Brooke, "She blaming herself for Jade?"

Brooke nodded. Danny reached out and put a hand on her arm, "How are you holding up?"

Brooke sighed, "I am worried about Jade, and I want Ivy to snap out of it... She won't listen to me."

"I will talk with her later, but I want to see Jade. Where is the healer's tent?"

Brooke led Danny over to a long tent near the south side of the fort. As they approached the large tent there was the sounds of a large commotion going on inside. The sides of the tent started moving erratically and a group of three wizards rushed out of the entrance. Wizard Basalt emerged next from the tent, carrying Jade in his arms. His wives followed him out shortly after with their weapons drawn, slowly backing out of the tent.

Lieutenant Cove, with a group of soldiers, rushed over, "What is going on!"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Arya didn't lower her weapon and glanced over her soldier, "One of the recovering soldiers killed one of the healers. She bit through the wizard's neck and then attacked the patient on the pallet next to her. I engaged her only to realize she had been turned into one of the undead."

Lieutenant Cove turned to the three healers standing behind the Basalts, "How did that happen?"

The oldest of the three wizards stepped forward, "Ever since the battle, we have been fighting an infection that barely responds to our healing magics. Anyone that was attacked by the undead seems to have contracted this disease, but it is one we have not seen before."

"Why was I not informed of this!" Lieutenant Cove barked.

The older wizard hesitated, and then stood up straighter, "We were too busy treating the patients to come and inform you of a infection."

Danny had heard enough and walked over to inspect Jade, who still lay unconscious in Wizard Basalt's arms.  Her skin was very pale and her veins were standing out in relief.

*Danny, look at this!*

Danny's vision changed to his mana sight. Normally using mana sight in the forest would overwhelm Danny's vision with innumerable bright dots. Each one representing a creature's connection to the source of mana. Instead, only Jade's connection was visible. Danny figured Cranny could filter this now. Besides her connection, there was a dark mass slowly spreading through her body. Danny had been hoping that the undead they had seen before were just conjured undead. It was clear this was more of a magically spreadable zombie infection. The soldier that turned undead must have succumbed to the entropy magic or died. Danny needed more information.

While Lieutenant Cove continued to interrogate the healers Danny tried healing Jade. His harmony affinity seemed to stop the spread of the entropy curse but it didn't push it back. No matter how dense he made his mana it only served to halt the spreading curse.

Danny turned away from Wizard Basalt and muttered to himself, "There has to be a solution..." Danny couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

*I hesitate to suggest this... What about the harmony-Danny from the sanctuary? That might be more than just a symbolic representation of your affinity.*

Danny continued to mutter under his breath, "I thought of that... what about all these people?"

*We don't know if it will even work. If we can do it, they will eventually find out about it. It could be Jade's only chance.*

Danny could see he had very few options. Reaching out he tapped on Wizard Basalts shoulder.

The large man turned to him, "Danny, can this wait till we get this situation sorted out here?"

Danny whispered, "Jade is in serious danger and I want to try something to help, but we can't do it out in the open."

Wizard Basalt stared at Danny for a moment before looking down at the girl in his arms. The wizard walked forward to brush up against Arya, "We need to take Jade and Danny to our tent."

Arya looked back confused, but then nodded. Singling to the other two wives and Brooke they slipped away. Lieutenant Cove barked orders for the healers to go back into the tent and figure out what was happening. She stationed guards inside with orders to kill any that turned undead.

Danny was surprised no one stopped them, but figured it was because they could cure any diseases that popped up with magic or alchemy. Based on the books in the wizard academy it was obvious they barely understood how diseases spread.

Danny, Arya, and Wizard Basalt carrying Jade entered the tent while the rest stayed outside.

Wizard Basalt gently laid Jade on pallet, "Why is Jade in danger Danny?"

Danny sat down cross-legged in front of Jade, "She and everyone else attacked by the undead have been cursed. The dark magic you saw the shamans use is now slowly spreading through her body."

Arya squatted down next to Danny, "The wizards said their healing magic wasn't working."

Danny nodded, "Yes, healing magic just halts it for a moment and then the curse keeps spreading. I might be able to do something to help her. I will warn you now that I will look different."

Wizard Basalt sat down on the ground next to Danny, "Look different how?"

Danny shrugged, "its best if you just see it for yourself. Now, I haven't done this before so it might take me a while to figure out how. I will probably talk to myself a bit. I tend to do that when working through a problem."

Arya looked askance at the boy and stood up, "Alright, we will give you some space. I will be right over here on the other pallet. Let us know if you need anything."

Wizard Basalt also stood up and sat on another pallet in the room. Both of the adults didn't speak and he could sense them quietly watching him.

Danny looked down at the girl. She normally looked so tall next to him. With her curled up on the pallet, with a missing arm, the girl looked so small and frail. Danny knew he had to make this work.

Running a hand through his hair he muttered, "Where to begin? Do I just cast harmony affinity on myself? That will just heal my aching legs and, uselessly, the rest of my body..."

*I think that might have actually changed. With your upgrade, I have wondered if you can actually heal individual cells if you want to. I have been too worried about possibly using all your mana over a theory.*

"Well, we can test that later. How do we change? Is it the crystal structures in my DNA?"

*I have been going over all your changes and if it's your DNA, then I don't have a clue where to even begin. My money is one the crystal structures in your cellular walls. I am scared to wonder what would happen if you pour too much mana into your mitochondria.*

"Alright, there is just one problem. I do not think I can focus on all the crystals in my cells."

*Your magic follows your intent so that shouldn't be a problem. I am just worried that you don't have enough mana for your whole body. Just try focusing on your hand. Remember, it's the crystal in your cells and not your cells you cast it on.*

"How much mana should I use?"

*I honestly don't know, how about half of what we have saved up so far?*

"No, a quarter. We might have to try multiple things."

Danny took a deep breath and grabbed a quarter of his stored mana. Focusing on his right hand he cast harmony affinity, specifically targeting the crystals in the cellular walls.

Danny screamed as an intense pain stabbed into his hand like a thousand tiny needles. Rubbing his hand gently Danny muttered, "That didn't work. Maybe it isn't the crystals."

*Danny, one more try. Focus on the crystals in your whole body this time.*

Danny looked back at the two adults in the room. Both looked concerned and he smiled reassuring at them before turning back to Jade.

Danny muttered as quietly as possible, "Maybe you should tap into my pain sensors in my hand so you can also enjoy what just happened."

*Danny, we don't have time to be weak! This is for Jade.*

"...Fine"

*Use half your mana this time.*

"Half?"

Cranny didn't respond. Danny gave up waiting and started taking deep breaths, preparing himself. He couldn't afford to let his fear distract him. Danny steeled himself and cast half his mana as harmony affinity on the crystals all across his body.

Danny had closed his eyes after casting, expecting an intense pain all over his body. Slowly opening his eyes he looked around. He hadn't felt the intense pain like he had with his hand. He also didn't feel the healing affect harmony affinity normally caused.

Looking down at his hands he didn't see any of the changes he expected.

"Did it not work?"

*Something is definitely happening to you, give it a bit more time.*

Danny turned around and asked Wizard Basalt, "I think I got it to work but it seems to be taking a while. Do you notice anything different about me?"

Wizard Basalt shook his head, "No, what am I looking for agai..."

Arya drew in a sharp breath and pointed at his face, "Danny, what is that!"

Looking back down at his hands he saw they now had faint crystal like pattern forming all over his skin and a glowing white aura was growing from out of his body.

Smiling, Danny held up his hands, "I hope this works."