“W-T-F?” Mike said softly and without inflection as he looked over the aftermath of Troy’s magic experiment.

His mind was in too much of a mess to do much more than stand in shocked silence.

The girls were both deathly pale but breathing, albeit shallowly.

Troy on the other hand had been burned down to his skeleton, his body – nothing more than a pile of bones – sat in the ashes of his destroyed equipment. The concrete floor around his feet was burnt into a strange skull like symbol Mike had never seen before.

Obviously something had gone wrong. Maybe everything had gone wrong. Mike didn’t know. He just knew he felt completely fine. That, strangely, worried him.

Sara was the first to stir. Her pained groan cut through Mike’s shock, bringing his awareness back into the moment

Mike immediately considered stepping over and buying her another potion. Pragmatism stayed his hand. He’d wasted two potions on her already for no return. He saw no benefit to wasting another.

If he did end up spending the credits it made more sense to wait till Yunah was up and watching. Then at least he earned brownie points.

Sara’s obvious pain did concern him. He felt terrible about not helping more. Pragmatism warred with sentimentality in an invisible battlefield.

Mike stuck with his decision anyway.

Reminding himself that Sara hadn’t bothered to learn his name, until after the world went to shit, did help make him feel a bit better.

The thoughts weren’t apples and oranges. How someone treated him before zombies and after both said things about their character. The Sara before hadn’t been rude exactly, just disinterested. The Sara since had only ever been nice to him.

Still feelings aren’t always logical. Mike not giving her a potion was a logical decision based on contribution versus cost. So far Sara simply hadn’t contributed as much as she cost. Further increasing that gap made no sense.

“Are you okay Sara?” Mike asked, hoping she didn’t take the initiative to ask for a potion. Turning her down would be more than a little awkward.

Her voice was weak when she finally answered, “I’m fine. Mostly. I just feel weak. Like someone drained my energy.”

The more she talked the stronger she sounded. With a visible struggle she sat up where she fell, taking in the immediate area.

If she noticed the pile of bones or the scorch marks and made the connection between them and Troy she gave no visible reaction. Her eyes were completely focused on Yunah who had yet to move.

Mike didn’t talk, he wasn’t sure what to say. Instead he bought a cold pack of soda from the system and handed her a can. He hoped the sugar would help energize her. Drinking also gave them both a reason to sit in companionable silence.

The longer they sat the better Yunah looked. It wasn’t a quick process. Slowly her skin began to glow. Her breathing rhythm normalized. From there it only took Sara gently shaking her shoulder to bring her back.

“Ahhhhh!?” She screamed, her spine arching as her had shot out and grabbed Sara around the throat.

Mike, sweating on the inside lunged forward and wrestled her into submission. Holding her arms pinned from a high mount position he could only smirk at how awkward things were when she finally recognized him.

“Mike?”

“Yeah, its me,” he said.

“Could you get off of me? You’re pretty heavy.”

Even Sara laughed a little, lightening the mood somewhat. As soon as everyone was under control Mike let Sara explain what exactly had happened.

“So I died?” Was understandably Yunah’s first question. Feeling the heavy vibe in the room Mike didn’t known what to say as he cozied up to the side of a warm metal pipe a few feet further into the room. Sara had handled things well to that point. He let her retain control of the conversation.

For a while he just watched the two girls as they talked. Staring at them so openly even the day before would have had him labeled a creep.

He felt no shame in his actions. He was hardly planning anything untoward. It just struck him that two of the most attractive girls on campus had come to depend on him over the last twelve hours. Before, he’d largely managed to ignore the strangeness of that. It was becoming harder without and immediate a threat to preoccupy his thoughts.

Sara was a traditional cheerleader type outgoing blonde with full lips and breasts and long smooth legs. Tanned but to her chosen level of perfection with an impeccable sense of fashion. She was almost the generic “pretty girl” from any highschool in America.

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Yunah was shorter with raven black hair. Her proportions were smaller. But she carried then off with a dignified air, like royalty. An air that would occasionally be spoiled by a childish joke or impish grin so at odds with her princess like aura the gap could make the most stone hearted man feel moved.

Her new changes only seemed to enhance her base beauty. Where before her skin had been porcelain, now it was jade. Her dignified brown eyes – now red – held a hint of actual power. Her cute little ears were now pointed like a Vulcan’s and her “fangs” were simply her upper canine teeth elongated by a fraction.

“Done with your inspection?” Yunah asked him, clearly amused at his blatant ‘checkout’. Mike almost stammered some embarrassed apology but caught himself.

“Just taking in the scenery.” He said instead with a smirk. Sara laughed sending a playful wink at him. Yunah just rolled her eyes though Mike thought her cheeks might have flushed a bit

“The world really has completely changed,” a familiar voice grunted out sounding equal parts amused and displeased.

Mike knew that voice. But it was impossible he was hearing it. The confusion and fear that followed gave him a lot to consider.

Even having seen Yunah rise from the dead hearing Troy speaking after being turned into bones was too insane. Were there any limits to this so-called ‘system’? Clearly it could mess with such a fundamental force as death. Was there even a level beyond that kind of power? The questions didn’t really matted but they wouldn’t stop coming either.

Eventually Mike recovered enough to ask the obvious question, “Troy? Is that you?”

A slight movement in the pile of bones and the black magician’s skull seemed to sort of hop on top of the pile. Then, with no obvious vocal chords or other means of sound generation he spoke by virtue of moving his jaws.

“As far as I can tell I’m still me. St least mentally. Metaphysically I’m probably pretty fucked up looking.”

Mike let the bait slide away without reacting. He wanted real world answers not a pointless debate none would win so Troy could fee sorry for himself. They needed to start small and keep it more or less general.

“How?” Was the best Mike could come up with.

Troy laughed, receiving an awkward laugh from Yunah and Sara who both seemed to be coming out of their shell shock after seeing Mike talking more or less normally with the pile of bones.

“The question is both simple and impossibly complex. The simple answer is I walked right into a curse. The system didn’t like my loophole so it punished me. If I was really cynical I could say the spell was a trap for arrogant beginners. But its more complicated then that.”

“How so?” Mike had asked before it even registered consciously. Giving Troy the perfect chance to sidetrack the conversation towards the whys and how’s of his problem.

Troy seemed to get Mike’s unspoken annoyance to some degree and mercifully kept his answer short. Short for such a complex and multifaceted topic anyway.

“As near as I can tell the magic and items offered in the system are all real somewhere.” Surprisingly Troy held up a hand from the voice lt of bones to forestall any questions.

Taking the momentary pause he rebuilt himself to waist-high with his head once more on his shoulers. Only now it was even harder for Mike to accept the Skeleton was the one talking. Closing his eyes for a moment he focused only on Troy’s renewed voice.

“Basically at some point my magic book belonged to an actual necromancer’s apprentice somewhere. It was him who actually devised the ritual. The problem is this ‘system’ that governs everything seems to be sentient on some level.”

“Are you saying you think the system has thoughts and feelings? Like it’s a living and breathing thing?” Yunah asked, the idea seeming to fill her with a sense of awe.

Troy snorted, but his answer wasnt condescending only doubtful, “I don’t think i giant Artificial Intelligence or some equivalent to that concept. I can’t say too much for certain but I can tell you the system has actual emotions. It was offended and angered by my attempt to circumvent its rules. At the same time it seemed to be mildly impressed and unable or maybe only unwilling to directly interfere.”

“If it didn’t interfere then how were you cursed?” Sara asked pointedly.

Troy sighed, Mike opened his eyes to see the skeleton completely lreformed, hunched over running a finger against the concrete distractedly. After a moment troy sat up and his ‘eyes’ – living flames in the sockets of his skull – flared with intensity.

“Everything I’m saying is speculation. Like an ant catching a glimpse of a humans mind and creating conjectures based on it’s understanding of life.”

He waited for the others to nod before he continued.

“I felt real emotion. Anger, betrayal, and then amusement and even finally acceptance. But it wasn’t human, it was too abstract and intense for that. Maybe I totally misread everything. It doesn’t really matter though because I do understand my curse.

Originally the cost of reviving Yunah would have been split among those who anted her back. I judged that was probably the three of us. Adding someone insincere might have backfired.

Anyway all the curse did was split the cost differently. I paid the cost of flesh, bone and blood for reshaping. Sara paid the cost of spirit and vitality of the calling. And Mike paid the system’s toll of credits.” Looking at Mike he added that’s why you feel fine. But your purse probably took white a hit.

Suppressing a groan Mike confirmed Troy’s hypothesis. He was bankrupt. Less than ten credits to his name.

He hadn’t noticed earlier when he bought the soda cause the cost ratio was so low it only took a single credit for mist general items. He’d need to get hunting again as soon as possible

Yunah had shrunk in on herself during Tory’s narrative. She looked down at the concrete in what was probably a mixture of self pity and shame as she said, “sorry guys. I’ll try to be worth it.”

Mike almost laughed at her but held it back. She was the most “worth it” member of the group or would be soon as far as he could tell. Combat capable with stealth abilities, brains and more than a little courage, she was the complete package. He was just a reckless bruiser and Troy was a cowardly armchair general.

Troy’s answer was quite different from whatever he might have said had he trusted himself to speak.

“No worries. I think I might actually like this body better for now. It has drawbacks, like I think I’m technically a monster for now so I level slower and evolve between monster types. But I get benefits like restless, and indefatigable. Basically I can study magic without end and never get hungry sleepy or mentally drained. Eventually I can evolve into a player race again and be a necromancer. Or possibly stay a monster to become a lich of some sort.”

Mike felt chills from the new Troy’s outlook. The coward was gone that was for sure. On the one hand it was comforting. On another it was potentially terrifying.

Suddenly feeling the day’s exhaustion like a weight between his shoulders Mike shrugged and suggested they head to bed. In the morning he’d bring up finding his family and see what they said.

In the mean time he was tired and hungry.