Chapter 64:
Let the Healing Bloom
[ Bind the ghost?
Yes/No ]
The Skull was right about one thing. It wasn’t time to ask questions. Whatever binding meant, it was all I had left, my energy was running on empty. I put all my faith into one click of Yes. My literal life depended on what it did.
The flames reached their most intense point, held for a second… and then lashed out from the mask and straight through my fishbowl, the helmet seeming to amplify the flames, sending them out even further. They enveloped the ghost, a wave of blue fire, crashing down and around the bleeding spector.
His screams returned to the same heights as when the swordsman lopped off his arm. The fire was like a mythical beast of flames, running around and around, burning everything it touched.
And binding. I saw what it meant, now. The flames brought the ghost down and contracted around him until the flames reached their apex, and burnt out, leaving behind black and blue chains that bound the ghost to the ground.
“Take the chains, Fleshbag,” the skull said, still in the corner of my vision, edging me on.
Part of me wanted to call all this off now, just walk away. The ghost was bound and as far as I had gathered of the rules of all this, I could walk away with my life. But that wasn’t enough for me anymore. This ghost had just went on a murder spree and I was its next target. I would see whatever this was through to the end.
I grabbed the end of the chain where it dug into the ground near my feet. As soon as I touched it, it leapt from my hand up into the mask’s mouth.
“Dinner’s served!” The skull exclaimed, the corner picture of it breaking out into a wide grin.
And then it opened its mouth and swallowed the chains, in a massive inhale. They passed harmlessly through the fishbowl, and into the depth of the mask, whatever horrors were in there. The ghost was dragged, still screaming, along with the chains. Right before his head disappeared inside, I took one last look at him.
And smiled.
The mouth of the skull mask chomped down on the ghost, devouring him fully and the flames kicked up again. I could almost hear him screaming, being burned up, its energy adding to whatever power source fueled the mask.
“That was a good one, Fleshbag! Take this!”
[ Bound Soul Rank 1
Souls bound: 1/1
+15 Bonus Stats awarded!
The more souls you bind, the more your power will grow! ]
[ Requirements for Bound Soul Rank 2
Souls bound: ⅓ ]
+15!? Jesus. Ghost hunting had never been so lucrative.
But in that moment I didn’t fully care. I fell to my knees and unequipped my helmet and tore off my mask. Just in the knick of time. I barfed, my stomach heaving.
“Ew,” the skull mask rightfully said from a few inches from the puddle. “You fleshies are so damn gross.”
Suddenly, the giant skull appeared in the center of the pit again, illuminating the dungeon. It looked down at me, puking.
“I have to agree with my skull compadre. Yuck.” It shook its head, getting back to business. “But, you did it! We have a successful bound soul! To one miss… RaeDarz.”
Confetti shot out from either side of the skull, raining down on me, landing on my puddle of puke.
There I go again, over describing my puke. What is that, the third time? And I think it’s always been MY puke–what the hell? Am I the only one who throws up in the Interverse!?
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“And for the other three survivors… you walk away with your lives. Yay for you!” Another rain of confetti, but less showy as before.
Wait… he said three survivors?
I looked over to the circle of fire below the giant skull and, the swordsman was there, shadowy figures crowding around him.
I tried to run over there but another shadowy person stepped in front of me, holding me back.
“You all have made it to the big time now. Congratulations!” Giant skull said. “You will be taken to have your wounds healed and then… your first party as full on members of the Blue Skulls!”
“What?” I tried to fight against the now crowd of shadow figures as they led me away from the other survivors. “A party? I don’t care about a fucking party! We almost died!”
The giant skull winked. “Almost. Heal up and enjoy the festivities! A winner is YOU!”
The giant skull’s smile was the last thing I saw before the shadow people escorted me through a hidden passage and basically lifted me off my feet, carrying me to safety.
Healing I could handle but, please god, not a party.
#
The shadow creatures–because they were creatures, their bodies were odd, made up of pieces and parts that didn’t quite go–carried me down a long hallway. It was just as dark and musty as the rest of it, but the very middle of the ground glowed with the blue fire, like a spring leading up to the eventual river. It reminded me uncomfortably of the cave from the battle royale game. But, that dank and wet cave did lead me to my fishbowl.
But somehow I doubted something as great as that waited me down here. I was definitely glad to be heading at an upward slant, at least. If they were going this fast taking me lower I think I’d just throw in the towel then and there.
The creatures lunged to the side, busting open a door I hadn’t even seen. And once through the doorway they jumped, catapulting me off of them and into the air. As I fell, screaming my head off, more of the shadowy creatures popped up, bringing a whole ass hospital bed with them. I landed on top of it, perfectly fine. Although the pillow was kind of terrible so my head hit harder than I would like.
But over all? 9/10 landing, would travel Creepy Shadow People Lifts again. But hopefully not.
As soon as I was safe on the bed, the shadows scattered, seeming to dart into the corners of the room and melt into the real shadows. The room felt still and empty without them, it would be easy to trick yourself into thinking they hadn’t existed at all.
A few minutes passed where all I could do was sit, awkwardly and stare–also awkwardly. Doctor’s offices were kind of a thing of the past in the Interverse as the world itself could act as a doctor, telling us what we lacked and needed more of. Always present. But old Earth shows and movies were obsessed with doctors offices and hospitals so I was familiar with them enough to tell you with 100% certainty that the room I’d been dumped in was an old Earth office mixed with a dungeon.
It was cramped, had the uncomfortable bed and two chairs against the far wall. A sink and counter, with a rolling chair nearby. The walls were covered in positive sayings like, “Did you get hurt by a ghost? Well you’ve come to the right place!”
All standard Earth fair, but made weird. The sink was medieval looking, the counter dirtied with grime. And no fluorescent lights but a chandelier overhead, burning with blue flames.
“Yeeeah, I’m not dealing with this shit.” I brought up my menu and pressed to teleport home.
[ You can’t do that now! Try again later. ]
“Fuck!” I swore, slamming my fist on my knee.
“Trying to bail before seeing me? I get it,” a super slow talking voice said, startling me.
In the doorway was a… skeleton? He was dressed in robes, but they were open down the middle, revealing his lack of flesh, his bones exposed all the way down. His hood was up, obscuring his face. I expected to see a blue skull burning there but, if it was, the flames were off.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“The doctor,” he said, again, so slow. It was like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. “I was told you were hurt by a ghost.”
I shrugged. “I mean, the ghost was attacking me but the worst hit I took was from a back fired explosion. So, does that mean I can get out of–”
I tried to get up but the skeleton now stood by the bed and he gently, but firmly, pushed me back into place. He gestured with his hand and the chair rolled over to him. He sat down, the bed lowered on its own, and he slid up closer to me.
“Won’t take but a moment,” he said. He took my arms looking all over them. “You are gravely injured.”
Yeah, you think? How much were they paying this guy?
“Injuries from ghosts are no joke. They can linger, fester. But you appear to be correct. The ghost did not damage you.”
Oh hell yeah! The stupid thing hadn’t even dealt damage to me. I was proud of that, for a second, before it dawned on me how lame it was that I almost died not from a crazy never before seen Interverse monster… but a fucking back fired explosion. Ugh, I had a lot more training to do.
I became aware that the skeleton guy had just been holding my hand for the past like forty seconds, intently looking at my palm. I wiggled it. No reaction, he held firm.
“Hey,” I said, reaching to bop him on the head.
At the last second, he jerked his head away and pushed my palm against the one I tried to touch him with. He released and rolled to the other side of the room. Geez. The dude really didn’t want me to touch his head.
“Ah, I apologize.” He didn’t sound too worried or embarrassed, just… bored. “I got a bit lost there. You have… nice hands.”
That was a part of my body I’d never once been complemented on before and, as such, I didn’t know how to react.
Finally, I just said, “Can you, like, heal me? So I can get out of here?”
“Oh, of course.”
He extended his right pointer finger, twirled it around, a flame budding into a rose. Once formed, he threw it at me. Acting on reflex I put up my hand to stop it but it broke apart before touching me and split into hundreds of petals. They covered me, but they didn’t burn. It was instead a gentle warmth and everywhere they touched, my body’s damage wound back. Within seconds I was back to full strength. And not just my body, but my MP reserves were completely restored as well.
The petals lay all on and around me for a tad longer before burning out, leaving without a trace, taking all of my pain with it.