Larry charged at the Bone Knight.

He swung the pipe at his enemy. The metal pipe crashed together with the Bone Knight’s sword, and Larry’s arm was knocked back from the force of the blow. Webs of cracks spread across the knight's bone blade, much to Larry’s surprise.

Shouldn’t a weapon like this be harder to destroy?

A dim green light flowed out of the cracks, and the sword mended itself back together.

Hah, there we go. That’s his trick.

The knight slashed at Larry, its bones breaking and reforming as it bent in an unnatural way. It was not limited to a normal body’s movement, it seemed. Larry dodged backwards, using his newly raised Agility to its fullest. He eyed the knight, observing possible weaknesses. The obvious solution would be to destroy its skull, since it was the item that was used to summon it. But if the skull could heal itself like the sword, this guy should be pretty much unbeatable. Larry threw a quick glance at Jorg, who was fighting the Bone Knight’s summoner.

If I’m unlucky, I might have to stall it until Jorg kills the mage.

The knight’s cape caught the wind and fluttered behind it, framing the Bone Knight with black fabric. They eyed each other, searching for weaknesses. Unfortunately, Larry’s current condition gave the bone knight more than a few angles of attack. He gripped his pipe harder, determined to win.

Larry circled around the knight, positioning the campfire between him and his enemy, and slowly backing away into the shadows. The knight began walking towards him, stepping through the fire without slowing down. His bones popped from the heat, but healed immediately. The knight caught up to Larry, who was only able to walk slowly due the pain. Their weapons met again, But this time Larry wasn’t pushed back as hard as before. Some of his strength had returned. He used it to parry the knight’s attacks to the best of his abilities. Each time the knight hacked at him, Larry blocked clumsy and took a step backwards, and each time he stepped backwards, the force of the knights attacks felt slightly weaker. Larry grinned. He could do this.

Their weapons met each other one more time, then Larry finally reached the place he needed to be, to win this fight. Right behind him was the unconscious female mage. Larry knew she wasn’t dead yet, because her pain fed into his Parasite ability. He could feel the energy she radiated. And now he was at the source of it's that power.

He gripped the metal pipe as hard as he could, testing how much strength he had left. The bone knight attacked again, and Larry stepped to the side. He swung his pipe with all the strenght his left arm could conjure up  and hit the skeleton’s bone armor directly. Its chest got blown apart. Green light shone from the inside of the armor, blinding Larry momentarily.

The knight stepped forwards, ignoring his destroyed armor, and grabbed Larry’s arm. Its fingers dug deep into his flesh. It raised its sword. For a moment, time seemed to stop, and Larry took in just how bad his situation currently was. Only two days after reviving, he had lost his arm, gotten half of his body burned and worse, was about to die again.

The Bone Knight brought its sword down upon Larry, who desperately raised his wounded right arm to block it. The sword carved through the stump, hitting bone. Larry screamed. He could feel the blade split his shoulder’s bones apart. The knight pulled at the sword, trying to rip it out of Larry’s arm so he could attack again, but the blade stuck firmly in Larry’s bone, denying it its weapon. Larry clenched his teeth. This was his chance.

He jumped forwards, into the knight. His enemy lost its balance und fell backwards, letting go of Larry’s left arm. Before the knight could do anything else, Larry brought the pipe down on its head, crushing it. The light was beginning to repair it slowly, but Larry just kept crushing it until the light grew dim, and ultimately dissipated. When he was sure he had won the fight, he sat down next to the unconscious mage. Her pain still powered him, and he feared that leaving her side would make him to weak to stay awake. Or alive. Larry watched Jorg fight the male mage. There wasn’t much else he could do right now.

The wall of flames between Jorg and the mage had faded away some time ago, and Jorg was forcing the mage back again. Both men showed signs of fatigue, but it was clear that Jorg was a physical fighter, and the mage not. While the mage’s movement became slower, Jorg still attacked with extreme speed, breaking the barriers of the mage as soon as he cast them. Jorg would win this fight, Larry realized. Jorg could handle it, he trusted. There was no need to watch this fight anymore, so Larry simply lay down next to the female mage and closed his eyes. For the first time after Jorg and Larry had spotted the mages, he relaxed his muscles.

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“You dead?” asked a voice.

Larry realized it was the female mage. He wanted to jump up and fight, but his body was broken, and his spirit was spent.

“I’m not dead,” he said.

“Shame,” she said. “Because I’m too messed up to kill you myself. My body's a wreck right now. I wonder if I’ll ever get the smell of my own dissolving hand out of my nostrils.”

“If you think you are fucked, you should take a look at me. You really fried me good with your spell.”

“I did take a look at you. I have no idea how you are even alive right now, let alone how you fought of Richard’s Knight of Bones.”

I wonder what she’d say, if she knew my body was running on her pain-power right now.

“My name’s Melissa,” she said. “You?”

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too, buddy.”

They stopped talking and lay next to each other. Larry could still hear the faint sounds of Jorg’s fight, the howling and the thumps of Jorg’s hammer hitting barriers. From time to time he even felt a little bit of the male mage’s fear and pain reach him, refreshing him just a little bit.

“Who do you think will win?” the female mage asked.

“Jorg,” he said, answering her question even though it hurt to move his burned lips. At least talking would keep him from falling asleep.

“Yeah, I think so too. Richard’s pretty strong, but he was never good in a direct fight. I was supposed to keep people of his back while he did his summonings. The moment your friend hit me with his shield I knew I’d die today.”

“You are not dead yet,” Larry said.

“Neither are you. Somehow. But I seriously doubt either of us is going to wake up tomorrow.”

Then she stopped talking. Larry could still hear her quiet breathing, but it was weak and stagnant. Larry opened his eyes. Carefully he rolled his head to his side, the grass below his neck grazing his burn wounds. He looked at Melissa.

She was just lying there, looking towards the sky. She wore a black rope with similar symbols on it than the female mage from Jorg’s old group. They looked less professional though, as if she had stitched them on herself. She probably had. Her wounded arm was firmly tucked into her robe. He could hear her cry.

“Crap,” she said. “I never thought I’d go out like this.”

Larry didn’t answer.

“I thought it’d be a grand execution, or a magical experiment gone wrong. The kind of experiment that would turn an entire country into a toxic wasteland, you know.”

She laughed, but her voice was raspy and shaky.

“But mainly,” she said. “I thought I’d die when I’m ready for it. This... “ she paused, taking is a huge breath.

“Is bullshit!” she screamed.

Melissa went quiet after that, leaving Larry to his thoughts. He knew how she felt. He had gone through the same experience just two days ago, when he was still back on earth. It was bad, he knew, to realize your life was over this soon. So much one could have done that never happened, never would happen. And the worst part about this whole thing? Larry knew he was the one that had put her in this situation. He was just the same as the guy that had shot him.

“Yeah,” he said. “It really is bullshit.”

And then he passed out.

----

“Nothing like a good whiskey, am I right my dear friend?”

The fat man named Gregaton poured the golden-brown liquor into Mattlean's glass. Mattlean picked it up and considered the embellishments which were carved into the glass. Fancy flowers and spirals flowed along the sides of the glass, distorting the image of the liquid inside. Mattlean put his glass down.

“Actually,” Mattlean said. “I dislike the taste of alcohol.”

Gregaton turned pale.

“You are right Mattlean, my dear friend. Nothing should be allowed to dilute a brilliant brain like yours. My servant shall dispose of this… foul fluid.”

Gregaton snipped, and a servant hurried to him. Greg gave the poor man a few instruction, and the whiskey was taken care of. Mattlean smiled. In truth, he did enjoy a good whiskey. He simply did not like Gregaton.

“Now,” Gregaton said. “Let’s talk about business, shall we?”

“Indeed,” Mattlean said.

“I hope you've considered my offer from the last time we met. Work for my guild. It would be an honor for us, and both sides will profit, surely. I’m sure you must have made a decision until now?

Gregaton's eyes glimmered with anticipation and greed. Mattlean nodded. He definitely had made an decision.

“I have decided.”

“Wonderful. I’m delighted to know you will be working with me from now on, my dear friend.”

“I’ve made the decision that you are not worthy of my time.”

With the flick of his writs, Mattlean blew Gregaton head off. He watched as the servants in the room panicked. Mattlean picked up the whiskey and took a sip.

“Nothing like a good whiskey, my dead friend.”