“So how do we get there?” Jay asked. “As convenient as these caverns have been, I don’t think they stretch that far north.” If they covered that much ground, it felt like a recipe for the whole thing collapsing. He was honestly surprised that hadn’t happened already.

  The normal way was a ship, Agensyx said.

  “I don’t think there’s nearly as many boats as there used to be going around,” Jay noted. The visions in the book – the ones that hadn’t been a trap, at least – had shown hundreds of ships flooding the oceans around Ostros, all flying under the same flag and crewed by undead. What he’d seen so far of that same area had only included a single boat.

  No, the spirit agreed. Likely not. And by the time we return to where we started, we will be very close to being as far from Ayor as it is possible to be.

  Jay recalled the memory of the map he’d seen and realized the familiar was right. They were underneath an island off the southern tip of Ostros, and Ayor had been the northernmost continent. It might have been faster to go over Halea’s south pole, if they’d had any way to fly.

  Would it be faster to go back to the city and find a boat from there?

  No, because boats are illegal on the island.

  “What?” Jay hadn’t heard anything about that. “All boats?”

  Yes, all boats. The only legal boat that is allowed there is Kinicier’s own, which has been memorialized and almost deified.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. They’re a small island with a lot of people. How do they feed themselves without fishing?”

  Both other portions of the mental bond gave off a feeling like a shrug.

  “Never mind,” Jay said. “That doesn’t matter. If they’ve been passing up easy food for however long they’ve been there, that’s their problem. Good to know that that’s off the table, though.”

  I hate to say it, Alister started, but we might be running again.

  “Why would you hate to say that? You hitchhiked on my arm the entire time,” Jay pointed out.

  And you hitchhiked on the big one for large chunks. What’s your point? Alister shot back.

  “My point is that I’m tired of running places.”

  Did you not volunteer to run yourself when I offered to carry you? Agensyx asked.

  “Yeah but I thought that was going to be a one-off. Also I was feeling motivated at the time. Now my feet hurt and I am no longer motivated to run everywhere. Is there a magic car I can buy or something?”

  What’s a car? Alister asked.

  Jay pushed the memory over.

  That does look useful.

  I do not think there is the correct terrain to make sure of one of these even if they did exist, Agensyx said, having seen a memory of cars before.

  “You say that like they’re something that could feasibly be created,” Jay observed.

  They could. As I just said, I will not put anything beyond the capability of humans. It would be a new combination of enchantments, nothing more. It is far from impossible.

  “Maybe I could give someone the idea,” Jay said. “No, never mind, that sounds like a bad idea.” He could see that becoming a quick route to getting locked in someone’s basement and then dissected – mentally or physically – for more ideas.

  Then we run, Agensyx hummed.

  I’ll sleep.

  “How have you not slept enough? You hibernated for over a week,” Jay reminded him.

  I can always sleep, Alister said. Always.

  A new mental voice intruded, this one separate from the familiar bond. It was a brief and disjointed whisper that sounded like someone yelling out of a bus window. Incursion – ward weakening – find the cause – deliberate sabotage? Something boomed outside as the voice reached its peak, shaking the room.

  Either the caverns had spontaneously developed weather or the doorguard golem’s fast-flying people had made another pass. He hadn’t been joking when he said they were moving fast; that noise might not have been a full sonic boom, but it was definitely the kind of noise something only made when getting very near those speeds.

  They were the only thing that changed in the time that the whispers had shown up. Huh. The only thing he could think of that could possibly have done something like that was [Esoteric Comprehension]. Jay didn’t think it had ever triggered before, or at least he never noticed it if it did. He recalled the description:

  Whispers, check. Knowledge, check. He’d found the reason behind it. At least he knew what that ability did now, which had been bothering him.

  God, he had so many new spells to try to test out too. There were so many other unknowns eating away at him. Just once, he wanted to know everything he could do. It would make it so much easier if he knew how his spells would function when he needed them. The thought of trying out the new ones threw him back into the memory of watching the lizard-thing warp and die under the influence of [Bolt of Decay].

  That was going to be something he was going to have to get over. Or at least learn to dampen the recall. Every memory coming back in vivid detail like that was going to get really annoying if he racked up a few more bad experiences.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He zoned back in abruptly, the conversation having continued between the two snakes. The last word he caught was arms, but he hadn’t caught anything around it, and the bond went silent the moment the snakes noticed he was paying attention again.

  Silent for all of a second, at least, before Agensyx hesitantly threw out a question. Jay, he started, would you show me your arms?

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit. One or both of them had noticed. Had his hand fallen out of his pocket when he passed out? Maybe he hadn’t grabbed the book quickly enough to make it hard to see.

  Or maybe Alister had known the whole time. He’d been in the Kisyonic training hall when the stains had started, after all. Whatever his half-conscious state had been, he’d been biting the clay golems. It wasn’t out of the question that he could have noticed the darkness growing at the same time.

  Slowly, Jay pulled one of his arms out from under the sheets of the bed he was still laying on. He hadn’t realized he didn’t have his jacket on until then. He laid it flat, palm up, facing Agensyx. The almost mycelial tendrils that had been tracing upwards had spread, dyeing most of his lower arms a sickly gray spotted with bruise-like patches of the original darkness.

  And the other one?

  His left arm was in the same state.

  Exactly how low did your health get when you picked up that book? Agensyx asked. His voice was the kind of quiet that only comes from intense anger.

  “Uh. Zero,” Jay confessed.

  And you did not think that was the kind of thing you should have mentioned immediately?

  “We had other things we needed to talk about,” Jay deflected. “And besides, it’s not like I died.” That was weird in its own right; there had been a part of him that hadn’t expected to wake up at all. He admitted as much to his companions.

  Alister’s mental thread was roiling. Jay could feel wordless, overwhelming curiosity seeping out but couldn’t tell what it was directed at. Maybe the skeleton was still trying to figure it out himself.

  Agensyx’s portion of the bond was a step beyond the fervor of Alister’s, the seething anger that had made an appearance so many times before reaching new heights. Unlike the smaller snake, he wasn’t willing to stay quiet. Most people do when their health depletes. The shock of anything that can deal that much damage generally ensures that. You are lucky to be different.

  The familiar’s mental voice broke as the anger built, and he resorted to flat-out yelling in the audible voice he so rarely used. “You should be dead! Do you understand that? Will you get that through your thick fucking skull, Jay? I can feel you not comprehending it. You. Should. Be. Dead! And that is the best-case scenario! What is it about this that you refuse to get?

  “When I asked you to cast your spells through me, I was trying to save your life. Not restrict you. Why not just do that? What could possibly have possessed you to keep doing it in the most dangerous, least responsible way?”

  When he stopped screaming, Agensyx was barely an inch from Jay’s face. His head had risen as he ranted, snaking its way closer and closer. Each statement was punctuated by a jabbing motion from the spirit’s serpentine head.

  Jay didn’t know how to respond. What response could he even give to something like that? Agensyx hadn’t raised his voice like that ever, much less sworn, and the combination of the two was jarring.

  His mental scramble for a reply was interrupted by the door grinding open. Ovav stepped in, glancing around as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

  “Is everything alright?” she asked.

  “Leave,” Agensyx and Jay said, neither sparing her a glance while they did so.

  “A-are you sure?” she asked again. “It sounds like something is wrong in here.”

  “Leave,” they repeated, still in unison.

  She bowed her way out, swatting at the button to open the door without turning around to look at it.

  Jay, not wanting to reignite the argument, tried to shift back to what they’d been talking about before. “So we need to go north, you said?”

  Yes. There was still a snarl in the familiar’s mental voice, but Jay could feel him pulling it back. Repression like that wasn’t healthy; now wasn’t the time to bring it up. Ayor is far, far to the north.

  “Then let’s go. I’m tired of sitting here. Do your wings actually work?”

  The confusion killed the rest of the anger Agensyx had been feeling. To glide. Not for true flight.

  “Good enough,” Jay determined. “You should be able to handle my weight with minimal issue, right?”

  That is likely.

  “We’re jumping off those balconies from earlier, then.” Jay threw the covers back the rest of the way and swung his legs off the side of the bed. “Let’s go.”

  He pushed himself to his feet and fought the tide of vertigo that rushed in to stay standing. He succeeded. Barely. Alister slithered across the bed and up onto his arm, then he headed for the door. His jacket was hanging from a hook by the door’s button that he hadn’t noticed on the way in. Jay grabbed that and threw it on, the sleeve slightly wider where Alister had latched on.

  He half expected the skeleton to slither out and back into his normal spot on the outside of the jacket’s sleeve, but he stayed where he was. Probably for the best; Jay could only get away with claiming to be a [Snake Tamer] for so long before someone got suspicious about the visible skeleton.

  Agensyx still hadn’t moved and Jay shot him a look. “Are you coming or not? Ayor was your idea, so I don’t want to hear any of your complaints about me not thinking things through.”

  You do not like sitting still, do you?

  “Gotta ride the energy while I have it. Sooner or later, I’m going to crash.” Jay was surprised it hadn’t happened already. That kind of ebb and flow had dictated his life for so long he was used to taking advantage where he could.

  The scaled bulk of the spirit finally moved, joining Jay by the door. Let’s go, then.

  Jay hit the button to open the door and they headed for the nearest floor with open windows, brushing Ovav off when she tried to offer to guide them wherever they were going. Agensyx bent down to let his bondmate on his back when they reached the first of the openings. He hopped on.

  They jumped, falling for a second before Agensyx’s wings caught the air and turned the fall into the envisioned glide. Jay wasn’t sure how much ground they’d gain from doing this, but every foot they saw from the air was one they didn’t have to walk. The spirit banked gently to turn, putting them in the direction they actually meant to travel.

  Further ahead, six spots of light shone in the air. Jay couldn’t tell what they were, but they hadn’t been there when the group had passed through initially.

  “What do you think those are?” he called up to his familiar.

  The serpent took a second to consider it. Those are likely the people that flew past earlier. They certainly look humanoid enough for that.

  “Is it a bad sign they’re going the same direction we are?” Jay asked.

  I do not know. They may just be visiting the library.

  That didn’t seem right. If the brief intermission of thoughts he’d picked up had come from those fliers and this was the same group, they were on a mission. A highly important one, if the use of the word ‘incursion’ had anything to say about it. Jay had a nasty feeling it was connected to the Unlife he’d accidentally brought into being.

  “Maybe we try to avoid them, yeah?” he suggested.

  If Abus wills.

  Jay couldn’t even tell his familiar that he was tempting fate by saying that, since it wasn’t really tempting fate to bring the god of fate into things. It was closer to setting up a giant lightning rod on top of a mountain, strapping yourself to it, and then being surprised when you got electrocuted. Probably with similarly negative effects.

  They flew on, ignoring the clamor from the Asanti in the pillar. It sounded like they were trying to encourage Jay to come back. He had absolutely no intention of doing so, potentially ever. If he ever found a way to guarantee the locking of his soul into his body, maybe. Definitely not until then.

  Jay could feel the unfinished conversation from earlier weighing on them as they traveled. They’d have to finish that at some point. He didn’t know when, but he did know it had to happen.

  Unfortunately, the snake had some good points. Health would only absorb so much severe damage. There were entire categories of injury that would overwhelm the effect without one of the healing classes to hand. This hadn’t been any of those, but who knew how many people had even run into something like this before?

  He hadn’t heard of any sort of soultrapping effect outside of the implications of his still-untested [Soulbinder] spell. Even that specified that it only used the remaining soul energy in a body. Maybe there were more advanced forms to that spell that would trap souls before death. Or maybe there were Soul Mages wandering around that could do something like the book’s effect.

  Jay dismissed that idea. There was no way necromancy would be reviled enough to have the only Class Curse if there were people wandering around stealing and repurposing entire souls. At least all his powerset did was reuse the leftovers.