Before Ritzy could react to Mognog’s shout, his mana had already been sent out and enveloped Mognog. Ritzy didn’t know if it was because Mognog just had a smaller body since he was just a skull or if it was because he had started becoming more familiar with the spell. But it only took a moment or two before Mognog’s head jumped up into the air, and a bed of bone sprouted out of the ground to catch it.
“Um… Mognog?”
Ritzy spoke to the skull, whose flames had calmed down until they were nothing more than a pair of smoldering ember-like marbles of fire. Mognog rested atop the Deathbed suited for him as if it were a pedestal.
The square Deathbed was less than half a meter wide, but its overall design was similar to the ones carrying Talia and Maya with its four skull-bearing bedposts. The only difference was that the skulls were smaller and seemed to have a slightly different shape that, upon closer look, resembled the barely wider and bulkier structure that Mognog’s skull had.
But Ritzy didn’t care about the Deathbed itself, even if it was interesting how Mognog had gotten his own design. He was interested in the fact that the spirit flames in Mognog’s eyes had lost their intensity and how Mognog didn’t respond.
It was impossible to find out what Mognog had wanted to say before Ritzy conjured the Deathbed. But based on how Mognog appeared to be sleeping, Ritzy felt like he could guess what it was about.
Ritzy looked at Gerhart.
“What do you think, Gerry? Let him sleep and continue marching, or should I wake him up?”
Gerhart thought for a few moments as he looked at Mognog’s sleeping head.
“Having him available at all times would be nice. But if you can’t carry him comfortably, it might be better to let him sleep and then get rid of the Deathbed as soon as something happens.”
“Mmm.”
“How much mana does it take, by the way? Like, can you put him to bed and get rid of the bed several times?”
Ritzy closed his eyes for a few moments as he sensed how much mana he had left.
“A few times, I think. It didn’t take as much mana to Deathbed Mognog as it did for Talia and Maya. If I don’t make a tether, it would be easier.”
Gerhart nodded.
“It’s good to know Deathbed’s mana usage is proportional to the size of the undead, I guess. But let’s continue like this. I’ll keep my eyes open and watch our surroundings, so focus on following me and being prepared to wake Mognog up when I give the signal.”
Ritzy nodded and began walking behind Gerhart, who resumed the march.
Ritzy moved his mana to his hand to grab the Deathbed with Mognog. However, he quickly realized it was more mentally straining to do that than it was worth, so he made a short tether and dragged the Deathbed behind him along with the other two. He was still a little awed at the fact that the Deathbeds ignored obstacles and wondered why it was like that. But he couldn’t get an answer or understand by thinking about it, so he stopped and looked at Gerhart’s back.
“What’s the signal, by the way?”
“What?”
“The signal for waking Mognog. What will it be?”
“I’ll just tell you to do it or something. I don’t know. Focus on walking, Ritzy.”
“Okay….”
Ritzy and Gerhart sank into silence as they trudged through the forest, only the sound of rain and their own labored breathing to accompany them. Neither of them could be bothered to keep track of time, especially when it was difficult to tell whether it was early morning or late afternoon due to the grey clouds shrouding the heavens.
It was only once night fell that Ritzy and Gerhart started noticing they had been walking for a while.
“Rest?”
Ritzy didn’t even bother responding to Gerhart’s suggestion. He found a nearby stone and plopped down on it while stretching his legs. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he let the raindrops fall on his eyelids and forehead. He opened his mouth and tried to catch some.
Ritzy just wanted to fall asleep, sleep for a day or two, and then wake up to eat a warm meal. Unfortunately, his exhaustion and surroundings made it abundantly clear that he wouldn’t get what he wanted.
Despite being so wet, cold, tired, hungry, sweaty, and generally exhausted, both in mind and body, Ritzy knew they weren’t out of the woods, either figuratively or literally. And falling asleep now would not be a good thing, even if it was tempting.
He heard Gerhart lean against a nearby tree. Deciding to make use of some company to keep him distracted and prevent him from falling asleep, Ritzy unsummoned Mognog’s Deathbed.
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“..ait!”
Mognog’s shout startled both Ritzy and Gerhart, and they snapped back to alert as they looked at the skull with green flames for eyes.
“Huh? What happened?”
Mognog’s eyes flickered back and forth as he looked around and noticed the vastly different surroundings and the darker ambiance than moments before. Mognog looked at Ritzy.
“Kiddo… What just happened?”
Mognog didn’t understand what was going on. The last he knew, he had tried to stop Ritzy from activating Deathbed on him, and then the next moment, he had been somewhere else. And based on the weather and the budding darkness that had started lowering itself over the forest, some time had passed.
“I Deathbedded you while we walked. And then, just now, I removed the Deathbed.”
Ritzy was too tired to give a lengthy answer, and he closed his eyes again as he leaned back.
Mognog was silent for several moments as he thought about what had happened. He had lost all cognition and awareness of the outside world and himself as soon as Deathbed took effect.
“Kiddo, did anything happen to me while I was on the Deathbed?”
“No.”
Ritzy instinctively responded since he couldn’t think of a more proper answer.
“Wait– There was one thing. Your eyes stopped glowing.”
“What?”
“Well, not completely. You know, those flames of yours fill most of your eye sockets. But on the Deathbed, they were like tiny pebbles of green fire. They didn’t even move or anything.”
Talking about the mysteries and mysterious effects of his spell did give Ritzy some energy. But not enough to realize that Mognog might not have any understanding of his current form.
“So, my eyes stopped… burning?”
Mognog didn’t sound like he was talking to Ritzy. It was more like he was thinking aloud and trying to understand what was going on.
“Kind of. But don’t worry. It looked cool.”
“That doesn’t really matter, kiddo. But thanks.”
Mognog grew silent as he thought about what Ritzy had told him and what he had just experienced.
If his eyes had stopped burning and stopped moving as if frozen, and it felt like no time had passed since Ritzy put him on the Deathbed, maybe his first guess about the Deathbed wasn’t entirely correct.
“Kiddo…?”
“Yeah?”
“I think your spell freezes your target in time.”
Mognog didn’t quite believe it since spells affecting time were quite advanced, but it was the first conclusion he could draw, given the information he had on hand.
“Yeah?”
Ritzy opened his eyes and looked at Mognog, not quite understanding because of his exhaustion.
“Yeah. No time at all passed for me. I didn’t even feel myself fall asleep or get put on the Deathbed. Not even when you removed it or anything. Nothing. At first, I thought Deathbed would, like, put me to sleep. That’s why I shouted, by the way. But now, I think it stops time for your target or something.”
“Really?”
“Of course, it’s only a guess. But it isn’t impossible, even if it’s improbable.”
“It’s awesome if it’s right, though, isn’t it?!”
Ritzy leaned forward in excitement.
“I guess? If anything, it’s incredible you got a time-manipulating spellbook from that kind of dungeon. And that you learned it in such a short time.”
Ritzy closed his eyes and rubbed his chin in concentration as he thought about the spell.
“Hmm. But it didn’t feel like the spell did anything with time when I read the book or used it?”
Ritzy’s words stumped Mognog for a few moments before he remembered something.
“Kiddo! Do you think it might have anything to do with you?”
“What?”
“You said your spells, rituals, and summonings or whatever fail a lot? Or that they don’t work how they’re supposed to since you summoned be instead of something that can fight?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not sure, but what if whatever is behind that also changed the spell into its current form? So, instead of Deathbed sending your target away into a storage dimension, it summons a Deathbed to carry that target with you. It also freezes the time for that target since undead can’t find any rest in the land of the living or something?”
Ritzy narrowed his eyes at Mognog.
“I don’t know… That sounds kind of farfetched, Mognog.”
“Hold up, guys.”
Gerhart didn’t open his eyes as he spoke since he was just as tired as Ritzy. But just like Ritzy, he didn’t want to fall asleep. He just needed to rest his eyes a little. So, to stop himself from succumbing and entering the world of dreams, he joined in on their admittedly somewhat interesting discussion.
“What if it’s not directly related to the spell? Maybe the storage dimension Ritzy’s spell would have taken his target to work differently from our world? But when those Deathbeds end up here instead, there’s a conflict or something.”
“So rather than it being a part of the kiddo’s spell, it’s like an unintended side effect of the Deathbeds being in this world?”
“Yeah, it could be. Of course, I don’t know anything about magic. I’m just saying what I think. What do you think, Ritzy?”
“I don’t know. But I think Gerhart’s on to something. Besides, these Deathbeds aren’t really here, I think. They feel like some sort of projection onto this plane. That would explain why they ignore the trees and all that.”
“Yeah. But why did Mognog bounce off?”
“Because he’s dead.”
“Makes sense.”
All three of them thought about Ritzy’s Deathbeds and how they might work. If they had more energy, they might have been a little more enthusiastic about coming up with more theories, but for now, that would do. It wasn’t as if making any more guesses would actually tell them anything. Ritzy would have to experiment, or they would have to find a more experienced mage or necromancer to ask. But that would come after they escaped their current predicament.
“Continue moving?”
Gerhart stood up and glanced at Ritzy.
“Yeah.”
Ritzy stood up and began walking.
“Hey, don’t forget me!”
Before Ritzy could take more than a few steps, Mognog stopped him.
“Right.”
Ritzy put Mognog on a Deathbed again before continuing to trail behind Gerhart.