As the flames attached to the crying Netar raged on in the distance, Chammie valiantly climbed the hill and made his way to intercept Jebediah’s curse chant that he had started. As far as Chammie was concerned, he was the only one who could stop Jebediah before things turned sour. Chammie sped his feet double time on the hill, unable to get much traction as the dirt flew from his feet from below. He clawed up and reached the top, only for the guards to notice him and rush over to stop him.

The guard’s boot loomed over Chammie as the shadow shrunk on his face, it seemed as if he were going to be destroyed and fall from a great height. The boot connected with his face and he fell from the top toward the bottom. His life as he knew it was over. The scream left his voice as he realized what was happening. That it was impossible to stop his death, to prevent it. Adrenaline surged through his body as he felt his body cushioned by two arms, his vision now full of Aldweck’s face who looked onto the hill above with a serious expression. He glanced down at Chammie, “Are you okay?”

Chammie nodded.

“If Velis had pointed out what you were doing, then I wouldn’t have been able to catch you. Remember to thank him after all of this is done.” Aldweck put Chammie down and looked at Jebediah who was still chanting.

“What’s he doing? Is he about to curse someone?”

“Yeah! I think he’s about to curse Erick!” Chammie said.

A breeze lifted the air as the battle raged on in the distance between Netar, Erick, and the Caraha tribe. Aldweck’s hair flew in the wind, he squinted, looking through the bright air to Jebediah. His robe was lifted up by the current he was creating. A dark swelling cloud began to form over Erick.

“We have to stop him!” Aldweck shouted, “Velis, Steilart!” He motioned for them to follow him. They were quick to follow suit, being unable to do much about Netar who was vastly outclassing them in every capacity.

Aldweck ran to the base of the hill and turned around, “I need you guys to lift me with your hands and throw me as high as you can in the air!”

“Gotcha! Make it quick.” Steilart said, kneeling as Velis followed suit. Aldweck stood on their hands as they jumped up, Aldweck also jumped as they reached the highest point and he started to fly up the side of the hill. He grabbed onto the ledge with one hand and slammed the other onto the edge to get himself situated.

As the guards were on higher alert now, they were hardly put off-guard by this display and rushed to knock Aldweck back into the pit. Mitch, using his new resolve, lifted himself up in an explosion of strength and clotheslined them both to the ground as he looked at Jebediah with anger in his eyes. He had been nothing but a pain in his ass, and he was going to make Jebediah pay.

A stifling of hot air ran through the sky as the dark cloud became more pronounced. An ugly white hand began to reach out of the dark cloud above Erick, reaching to grab him. Erick saw this and went to move away from the hand when he narrowly dodged Netar’s fist that went to snatch him out of the sky. Even on fire, Netar found a way to consciously attack, making it difficult for Erick to focus on anything but the monster at hand.

Netar was melting away but fighting with full power, the hand from the sky was slowly reaching out to grab Erick as he pulled away from it.

“Hey, jackass!” Aldweck said, cracking his knuckles and looking at Jebediah.

Jebediah ignored him, still in the middle of his chant.

“Well, I’m not going to wait for you to respond!” Aldweck jumped toward Jebediah, he avoided him and clasped the book shut before turning with anger toward Aldweck.

“I was nearly complete with my cursed spell, you dare intervene?!” His eyes turned pitch black as a black fog permeated out from Jebediah.

“I’ve had enough of your shit!” Aldweck raised his fist and slammed it into Jebediah’s face, making the back of his head bounce off the bark of the tree. Aldweck returned with another fist full of pain as Jebediah shrieked in agony against Aldweck’s harsh blows. Blood flowed from the back of his head and made him stumble forward.

Aldweck turned around and slammed Jebediah to the ground, punching him again and again. His face was disfigured after Aldweck had finished. He let out a sigh of relief as the blood dripped from his knuckles, “I really wasn’t looking forward to whatever bullshit you were about to pull. So thanks for the fucking curses, cunt.” He kicked Jebediah’s head and took the book before a voice creeped out from the forest.

“Are you sure you’ve won?”

One of the guards got up with Jebediah’s demented smile.

“You can’t be serious?” Aldweck took a step back.

“Give me that book. You overestimate yourself.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Aldweck said, sending a punch at Jebediah’s face only for Jebediah to block it and punch Aldweck back.

“What?! Why are you good at fighting now?” Aldweck stumbled.

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“The Book of Curses deteriorates the body. That body of mine had become far too weak for fighting, but this one can withstand the power to use my real strength or at least a small fraction of it.” Jebediah’s lips curled.

Aldweck groaned, “God, you’re such a piece of work, man.”

He charged Jebediah and smacked his guard with the book, only to twist his leg and sweep Jebediah off his feet. Jebediah quickly saved himself, rotating on his hand and using his legs like a viper as his feet struck Aldweck’s chin, sending his head high into the air.

Jebediah flipped back and then ran at Aldweck, his fist being caught by Aldweck who was starting to feel the weight of Jebediah’s attacks.

Just as Jebediah was starting to get in a groove, Aldweck swung his head back and smashed it against Jebediah’s, knocking him out immediately.

“I have a feeling you can’t transfer bodies again. I’m taking this book with me, I’m sure it’ll come in handy.” Aldweck said to the unconscious Jebediah before he slid back down into the pit where Chammie, Velis, and Steilart had been waiting on him.

“Did you win?” Chammie asked.

“Yeah, but we still have a whole other problem to deal with.”

“Agreed,” Steilart said.

They turned to the dissipating hand in the cloud and the Netar who was screaming at Erick. Through the rocks and pebbles that layered the pit between all the skeletal remains were the warriors of the Caraha tribe. Many of them had been ordered to back off from the devious beast by Chief Zaberdack and Naomi who were clearly in their own class of strength.

Netar sucked in a huge valley of air and sent it through his pores, blowing the fire in every direction and extinguishing it. Erick had to put up a magical shield to avoid the flame from burning everyone to a crisp.

Naomi sent two fists in at the same time, they barreled into Netar’s skin. Netar’s skin tried to suck her arms in but failed as the strength boiled over and caused Netar to be blown back into the wall. He slumped over before looking up, when Netar looked up, Chief Zaberdack was there with a deadly kick that split his face in half.

Erick was over Netar, building an extremely powerful arrow of flame that burned through the sky like a judging phoenix that had risen from the ashes. Netar’s face congealed back together as it turned into its liquid state. It moved through the valley and up toward Erick as the red arrow sliced through the slime and caused the slime-like fluid to catch ablaze. Netar screamed in pain, whatever curse had been afflicted on him did not appreciate fire and was unable to congeal himself back together as his cursed flesh turned to ash.

It was as if the phoenix who had risen from ash, had the power to create more ash in those around it. If another phoenix were to arise from those ashes, it would surely be corrupted.

“I’m not sure how we just managed to defeat that thing.” Chief Zaberdack sighed his stress away.

“Clearly, with my superior strength.” Naomi smiled.

Erick descended upon the party, sweating from all the magic he had to use to take down Netar. He looked toward Aldweck, “What about Jebediah? Is he still around?”

“I took care of him. He’s unconscious up on that hill.” Aldweck said.

The looks of Chammie and Velis seemed to validate this claim, Erick nodding, “As expected of master. Should we run from this place before he wakes up?”

“We need to move now. Toward Zubikai.” Aldweck said.

“I will lead us in the right direction.” Chief Zaberdack said.

~ - ~ - ~

The group had finally found a gravel road to follow. The Jagged Desert had turned into the forest and the forest had now turned into green rolling hills with a single narrow path. Every now and then they would pass by a few trashed houses that seemed abandoned. Clouds rolled over the sky as time actually was moving. The sun had now set toward the afternoon sky, and many of the men paused to take time to mourn for their lost companion who had fallen in the battle against Netar and Jebediah. Everyone paused and paid their respects before moving onward on this long trailing road.

Erick was the first one to lose his will to keep going in the party. The amount of magic he had used against Netar was no small amount and the rest of the group was quick to follow his lead as they settled near a small pond and boiled some water. Most of their weapons had been stripped from them, and there was no way they were going back to the Jagged Desert where time held no concept. The place was hot and all directions seemed pointless as the hills all looked exactly the same.

If one were a masochist, one might say, being captured by gnomes was a blessing in disguise. Aldweck wondered if they hadn’t been captured by dark cultists, what would have happened to them in that desert? He didn’t want to get too deep into thought. The coming days were going to be even more dangerous, so he might as well enjoy the rest while he had it.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, Chammie spoke up, “Why did you take that Book of Curses, Knight Aldweck?”

“I figured it might come in handy in the oncoming battle.”

“Master, you can’t be serious! Using that is suicide! Please reconsider.” Erick exclaimed.

“It’s fine Erick, I am stronger than I look. I have survived inexplicable things because of my powers. This book is just an additive that I can use as an edge against those we may struggle against. Do not worry, I’m hoping I won’t have to use it.” Aldweck smiled.

“If you say so.” Erick’s shoulders dropped.

“Think about it this way, this is realistically our only weapon if you aren’t counting Naomi or Chief Zaberdack’s absurd strength, but then you would have to account for Chammie’s navigational abilities, Velis’s reliable nature, Steilart’s marksmanship, or our magical powers.”

“That’s a pretty corny way to put it, but I guess he’s got a point.” Steilart laughed, as the rest made attempts to laugh along with him. The party settled down for the night and everyone drifted off to sleep. Velis was on guard, watching for people who may try to attack them during the night. The light of the fire glowed off his face as he looked into the fire.

He thought for a long time about his grandmother, about how Grandma Reylis may be dead because the resistance had been flushed out. He thought about Commander Larience who had to be still out there somewhere, and he thought about the group he was with now. He had gotten to know Aldweck, Erick, and Chammie through a crazy spiral of adventures. A non-stop passage of action that made his heart want to puke. They barely had time to bury their fallen before things were at a cliff face. The second attack hadn’t been expected, but who were they to be so convinced that General Hickory wouldn’t come and pursue them? They had been fools.

Velis was convinced that somewhere along the way, it had to have been him who had made the critical mistake. He looked on at Steilart who was clearly a much more capable fighter than he was. What had Velis contributed to the group? Even Chammie was proficient enough with ships to cut their navigation time by half of what the Caraha tribe had been used to. How was that even possible? Velis thought in awe of all his newfound companions, his mind, lingering as everyone cozily slept by the fire.