I woke up… again. I was starting to get tired of this. I propped myself up with my little arm stumps. My hands were still forming.

“Sup.”

The sudden voice stopped me in my tracks. Had another statue invaded the room? I scanned the area worriedly.

“Down here man.”

I looked down. I saw nothing but my bones, my staff, and the floor. I knocked on the floor. Is the voice stuck under here? I’ll save you! I grabbed the staff and started hitting the stone pavement.

“Bro stop! What are you doing?”

I dropped the staff.

“Dude, come on.”

I looked at the talking staff on the ground. Just then, I noticed that it looked different from what it had earlier. It was no longer falling apart, its thin, plain appearance now replaced by a thicker wooden pole, with odd engravings on its surface, as well as metal rings around the end of it. Wow.

“Pretty cool huh.”

I gave it a thumbs up. I bent over and picked it up.

“My name is Oak, by the way.”

I patted Oak on its head. I hope I patted the right side.

“You did.”

I widened my eye sockets. You can hear me?

“I sure can. I think it’s because I’m an ego weapon now, and you’re the dude I’m bound to.”

I nodded my head thoughtfully. I sat down resting my chin on my hand and letting Oak stand straight.

“What?”

Am I a dude?

“Are you asking me?”

I don’t know.

“Well… what’s your name?”

I don’t have one.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Then I’ll give you one. Your name is…”

It paused for a second. If it had had the ability to, I’m sure it would have sat down in the same position as me.

“Your name is Skelly, short for Skellington. You are a guy. I am also a guy. Nice to meet you.”

I shook Oak’s non-existent hand. Nice to meet you. We sat awkwardly for a minute. Then, suddenly standing up, I grabbed Oak and set back onto our adventure. We reached the destroyed fountain room, my bony heart aching from the sight of the glowing puddles scattered around the room.

“Here man, dip me in a couple of those puddles real quick.”

I curiously obliged. I watched the glow from the puddles slowly fade as it was absorbed into Oak, his carvings beginning to give off the same glow.

“Ahh, that’s nice. By the way, I noticed you evolved.”

I nodded, walking over to the last group of puddles. I’m a Skeleton Heretic now.

“Wow, that’s a pretty cool name. The eye in your chest is kind of freaking me out though.”

I tilted my head. Eye in my chest?

“Yeah man, you haven’t seen yourself yet? Here, look at yourself in this puddle after I’m done.”

The glow faded from the puddle, and I noticed my reflection. I had stayed the same size as before, but seeing myself for the first time gave me a feeling that I was much bigger than I seemed. I gave off an intimidating aura, almost like a tangible darkness. My eyes were now glowing a dark red, much like the Magic Skeleton that I’d seen in the second mirror, and a slight red mist was flowing from my mouth and chest cavity. Lastly, there was an eye engraved on my chest, staring straight at myself. I shivered. Eugh. I should have picked the furry beast.

“The what?”

Don’t worry about it.

All the puddles in the room had lost their luminescence, and we were stuck with two decisions: left, or right.

“I say right.”

Right it was. We headed down the hallway. It was much longer than the previous one. Finally, we approached the end. Nevermind, just a left turn.

“Hm?”

Don’t mind me. We turned and kept walking. Into a dead end. I stared at the wall, unimpressed. I turned back, ready to go down into the other hallway.

“Wait. Look for hidden contraptions. Like that torch over there, it could be a lever.”

I shrugged and walked over to the torch, pulling over. Nothing happened. I looked back at Oak.

“Try the other one.”

I went and tried the other one. Nothing happened. I don’t know if it's the torches…

“No no, trust me. Try the rest.”

I began back down the hallway, tugging half-heartedly on every torch. It was failure after failure, as the torches wouldn’t budge and inch, almost as if to mock me. Thankfully, I had the patience of a dead man. Heh.

“What’s so funny?”

I have the patience of a dead man.

“... What?”

Nothing, don’t worry about it. I continued down the hallway, eventually getting to the fountain room. I stopped before entering. What now?

Oak hesitated.

“I still think the torches are the answer.”

I rolled my eye-fireballs. Why don’t you check them then. I stepped into the room, and something on my right caught my eye. A lever. I walked up to it and pulled it down. A loud grinding noise started at the end of the hallway. I began the trek back down to the dead end.

“Wait, what about the torches?”

I turned and threw Oak into a torch. As he approached the torch, blue particles gathered around his head, causing a sharp noise to fill the air. He hit the torch, and blue shockwaves exploded from him, traveling through the stone wall. The torch was the first to give way. I watched as the lit wooden shards were scattered onto the floor and wall, leaving black streaks in their wake. The metal hinge holding the torch flew off the wall, whipping narrowly past my forehead. Unfortunately, Oak’s shockwave was not enough to damage the wall, which meant that all the force was redirected onto him. He shot into me at a ridiculously high speed, passing through the hole underneath my ribs and landing harshly on the opposing wall. I stared in shock. A moment passed in silence.

“No more torches. Got it.”

I kept staring. Slowly, I raised my hand, finger extended, pointing at where the torch had been. All that was left of it was a flower of ash imprinted onto the wall.

“Yep. What about it?”

I stared at him for another moment, then walked over to him and picked him up. That was a lot more dramatic than last time.

“Well I am a [Divine Epic-tier Ego Weapon] now.”

My jaw hung open. I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded a whole lot cooler than [Skeleton Heretic]. [Divine Epic-tier Ego Skeleton]. That had a nice ring to it.

We finally reached the end of the hallway again. The wall had disappeared, giving way to the entrance to another room.