The town of Holden was in chaos.

Crystalline creatures screeched and skittered through the streets, their razor-sharp limbs leaving deep gouges in the pavement.

Jack stood at the center of it all. Around him, his horde of undead warriors moved, their lifeless eyes fixed on the crystalline creatures. But even as they fought, more of the creatures seemed to pour in from every shadow and crevice.

“We’re losing ground!” shouted Marcus, one of Jack’s lieutenants, a more sophisticated undead Jack had spent years on. The burly zombie was wrestling with a particularly large crystal beast, its faceted body reflecting the street torchlights in a dizzying array of colors.

Jack gritted his teeth. “Hold the line! We can’t let them spread further into the city!”

He’d been working on the cure, as usual, when there’d been an alarm. A lot of people in a part of town had turned, thus Jack had to leave his lab and come out here to make sure no one got hurt. The bishop was busy working, and Sir Thomas was out for more leads on the Night Whispers.

Above them, a bone-chilling screech split the air. Jack looked up to see his prized undead—a massive wyvern, swooping low over the rooftops. Its leathery wings stirred up gusts of wind as it circled, its cry seeming to draw the attention of the crystal creatures.

“That’s it,” Jack muttered. “Herd them together.”

The wyvern’s strategy was working. The crystalline beings were starting to cluster, drawn by some instinct towards the flying undead. It made them easier targets, but their concentrated numbers were still overwhelming. Jack’s eyes scanned the “battlefield”, and he assessed weak points and opportunities. That’s when he spotted her—Seraphina. She flickered through the chaos, her lithe form darting between the crystal monstrosities.

The muzzle she always wore was gone.

Seraphina’s face was fully visible for the first time. Both of her cheeks bore vertical slits, like gills on a shark. As he watched, her jaw unhinged, opening far wider than any human mouth should. Rows of razor-sharp teeth extended, glistening in the eerie light of the battle.

Damn vampires, Jack shook his head. Well, let’s see what you can do, bloodsucker.

Seraphina moved like lightning. One moment she was yards away, the next she was upon one of the largest crystal creatures. Tipped with vicious claws, her hands raked across its surface, leaving deep score marks in the seemingly impenetrable hide.

The creature whirled, its limbs slashing through the air, but Seraphina was already gone. She reappeared behind it, her mouth open in a feral snarl. A jet of dark liquid—her blood, Jack realized—sprayed from her palm, coating the creature’s back, seeping into it through the marks left by her claws.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, with a sound like shattering glass, the blood combusted.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the creature’s crystalline body, and it let out a piercing shriek of pain.

Seraphina wasn’t done. She leapt onto the creature’s back, her claws digging into the newly formed cracks. She began to pry the beast apart, widening the fissures.

The crystal monster bucked and thrashed, but Seraphina clung on like a tick. Her face split open even further, the slits on her cheeks revealing glimpses of muscle and sinew beneath. She plunged her hand deep into the creature’s core. There was a pulse of light, and the beast went rigid. Its screeches died away, replaced by a humming sound.

Then, like a marionette with its strings cut, it collapsed to the ground.

Seraphina stood atop her fallen foe, her inhuman features slowly returning to a more human appearance.

Jack couldn’t help but be impressed. He’d known Seraphina was powerful, but this... this was something else entirely.

“Not bad,” Jack said, prompting her to glance at him. “Though I’d appreciate it if you don’t split them like that.”

“Oh, it’s not dead. We’ve discovered that much by now, haven’t we? Destroying their cores only puts them into sleep.”

Jack shook his head as she launched herself back into the fray.

Above them, the wyvern let out another piercing cry. The remaining crystal creatures were bunching together, driven by the undead dragon’s influence. It was the opportunity they needed to end this.

“Seraphina!” Jack shouted. “Think you can handle the big finish?”

The vampire turned to him, her face flushed with the thrill of battle. “Just point me in the right direction. I’ll paint this town red.”

Jack nodded, then pointed towards the largest concentration of creatures. “There. Hit them with everything you’ve got.”

Seraphina’s eyes gleamed. She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. As she did, her body began to change. Her skin took on a darker hue, veins pulsing visibly beneath the surface. The slits on her cheeks opened wide, revealing glimpses of a maw that seemed to extend down her neck.

“You might want to step back,” she warned, her voice distorted and inhuman.

Jack didn’t need to be told twice. He signaled to his team, and they all fell back, giving Seraphina a wide berth.

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The vampire crouched low, her body coiling like a spring. Then, like an explosion, she launched herself into the air. At the apex of her jump, she spread her arms wide, and a torrent of blood erupted from her body.

The blood formed a massive, swirling vortex around her, growing larger by the second. Crystal creatures caught in its pull were lifted off the ground, drawn inexorably towards Seraphina.

“Now!” she roared.

The vortex collapsed inward, compressing into a dense sphere of crimson.

For a heartbeat, all was silent.

Then, with a sound like a thousand thunderclaps, the sphere exploded.

The shockwave rippled outward, shattering every crystal creature caught in its path just enough that they wouldn’t outright die. Windows for blocks around blew out. When the dust settled, the street was littered with glittering crystalline creatures.

Seraphina descended slowly, the last wisps of blood reabsorbing into her body. She touched down lightly in front of Jack, her features once again mostly human, save for a predatory glint in her eyes. And her pale skin. It’d gotten paler. Hmm, the more blood she uses, the paler she grows.

“So,” she said, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. “Do I pass the audition?”

Jack looked around at the devastation, then back at Seraphina. He shook his head, a rueful smile tugging at his lips. “I’d say you just rewrote the whole damn play.”

A smattering of applause broke out among the guards of Holden and soldiers under Sir Thomas. Seraphina basked in the attention for a moment, then turned back and flicked her wrist. Blood poured out of her and crystallized into a mask—a mask she wore immediately.

The wyvern landed nearby with a heavy thud, folding its wings as it surveyed the aftermath of the battle. Jack patted its scaly neck absently, his mind already turning back to how he could create a cure.

All the crystalline creatures had one thing in common—aside from being, well, made of crystal—and it was that they all had a core somewhere in their body.

A core, that Jack found, that was the only lead he had to curing this crystal plague.

***

Jack and Rosemary huddled over a cluttered workbench. Vials of water samples from every well in the area lined the surface, each carefully labeled and awaiting analysis. Jack ran a hand through his disheveled hair, his eyes bloodshot from countless sleepless nights. “You’ve been right about the water. That the contaminated water—it’s the key to how this plague is spreading.”

Rosemary shrugged. “I said it already, it makes sense. The wells are the lifeblood of this town.”

“We’re gonna have to cut off the infection at its source,” Jack said. He picked up one of the vials, holding it up to the light. Tiny, almost imperceptible crystalline structures floated within. “If we can purify this water somehow, we might be able to stop the plague from spreading further.”

Rosemary’s brow furrowed.

“But how do we make the cure? We’ve tried every conventional method of water purification, and nothing seems to affect these crystalline particles. And that’s just purifying the water... I’m talking about saving the turned people here.”

Jack fell silent. He began to pace, muttering under his breath as he worked through the problem. Rosemary watched him, eyebrow raised, though she was far too used to Jack’s antics by now to care.

After several long moments, Jack stopped abruptly.

“I do have a way...” he said, his voice trailing off.

Rosemary leaned forward eagerly. “What is it?”

Jack’s eyes took on a distant look as he explained, “It’s about necromancy. Every crystalline creature has a core—an imbued object used to perform these transformations. The crystal in the water goes into people’s system, solidifies into a very small marble in their stomach, and it isn’t digested. It stays there, awaiting the trigger to erupt out and begin the transformation. As a [Necromancer], I recognize the work when I see it, and this... this is definitely necromancy... Well, a form of it, at least.” He paused, collecting his thoughts. “The souls of the transformed are still tethered to their crystalline bodies, just buried deep inside, muffled. Theoretically, I could bring them all under my control and use my [Necromantic Spells] skill to, well, undo the transformation... I do have a spell that will work.”

Rosemary stiffened, her eyes widening. “What? And why haven’t you done it yet?”

Jack sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. “First, I’d need something... something I don’t have.”

He didn’t elaborate further, but his mind shifted. Lord Theodore was out searching for it—a book. A Sealed Artifact recently discovered, but stolen away by Malakai. Without that book and its knowledge of this particular branch of necromancy, reversing the transformation would be impossible. Maybe not impossible, per se, but definitely not easy.

Jack’s suspicions about Malakai’s involvement with the Night Whispers organization and his potential role in creating the plague only intensified.

If he could just get his hands on that book...

Pushing those thoughts aside, Jack continued aloud, “And even if I could do it, it wouldn’t solve the plague entirely. It would only turn the crystalline creatures back to humans. But there’s a significant side effect—they’d lose all their memories.”

And I don’t want that... Jack finished internally.

“That’s better than dying,” Rosemary shrugged.

Jack stared at her.

She stared back.

“You know, Rose, sometimes I wonder what goes on in that brilliant head of yours.”

“Oh, mostly calculations and witty comebacks. Why, want a peek?”

“Really?”

“Well,” she coughed awkwardly, “no, I didn’t mean that. But... desperate times, desperate measures?”

“Rosemary,” Jack leaned against the workbench, “we’re talking about erasing people’s entire lives.”

“I know, I know. But at least they’d be alive, right?”

“Alive but empty. Just shells of who they were.”

“Okay, fair point,” Rosemary conceded, then perked up. “But consider this: new beginnings?”

“That’s... disturbingly optimistic of you.”

Rosemary nudged his shoulder. “Hey, someone has to balance out your doom and gloom.”

“I’m not gloomy,” Jack protested, crossing his arms. “I’m realistic.”

“Realistically gloomy.”

“I prefer the term pragmatically pessimistic.”

“Oh, that’s much better,” she said sarcastically. “Very catchy.”

“I try.”

Rosemary leaned against the workbench, unconsciously mirroring Jack’s posture. “So... Mr. Pragmatically Pessimistic, got any less memory-wiping ideas up your sleeve?”

He shook his head.

Rosemary’s face fell as she processed the information. “So we’re back to square one?”

Jack shook his head vehemently. “No, not square one. Not necessarily. We know more now than we did before. We just need to keep pushing, keep searching for a solution that doesn’t involve memory loss.”

He picked up another vial of contaminated water. “There has to be a way to not only purify but also cure the people without resorting to such drastic measures. We just haven’t found it yet.”

Rosemary joined him. “Alright, what if we’re approaching this from the wrong angle? Instead of trying to destroy the crystals, what if we could... neutralize them somehow?”

“Like rendering them inert? Preventing them from bonding with organic matter?”

“Exactly,” she said, her excitement growing. “If we could find a way to coat the crystals, to make them unable to interact with living tissue...”

“We could stop the spread without having to destroy them outright,” Jack finished. “We’d need to find a substance that can bond with the crystals but remain harmless to humans and animals.”

Jack began jotting down ideas furiously.

“It would need to be something that can permeate the entire water supply without altering its taste or properties significantly.”

“Well,” Rosemary rolled her eyes, “I doubt the people will mind a little bad taste if they can avoid memory-wipes. Or worse, death.”

Jack shook his head, then sighed.

He had work to do.