A ghoul clawed at her throat and she barely dodged the attack, skidding backwards on her back before rolling to her feet. The ghoul came at her again and she ducked another vicious swipe.

She reached for her sword, confident in her ability to cleave the life from this monster, but it wasn’t there. She hesitated in confusion for a split second, disbelief spread across her face. A clawed hand raked across her back and sent her sprawling forward.

She caught herself and sprinted away from the undead, searching for her precious sword. The floor was cluttered though, rubble and all sorts of broken armor and weapons strewn about. And no matter where she looked, she couldn’t find it. No. It doesn’t make sense...he was right here…

“Whisper! Where are you!?” she screamed, her voice echoing around her.

The ghoul caught up and sliced down again with wicked claws. She blasted it in the face with a bolt of shadow that sent it reeling back, buying her more time. She whipped her head side to side. A glint caught her eye. “There!”

Kass rushed to the piece of black metal peeking out from beneath the rubble and tried to pry it free. She tugged as hard as she could but it wouldn’t budge, the weight on top too much. She clawed at the crumbled stone and broken pieces of armor, ripping it away and tossing it to the side.

She cleared half of it, exposing the hilt of the sword, and went back to trying to pry it free. She gripped the handle as hard as she could and pulled with all her strength. With a snap, Kass flew back and landed hard on another pile of rubble.

Confused, she looked at the broken sword in her hand. No...it can’t be...wait a second… she looked at the scratched blade and saw silver peeking out from underneath its black color. Paint? A fake...not Whisper.

She threw it to the side in frustration.

By now, the ghoul had mostly recovered and was stumbling in her direction again. Half of its face was missing and it was moving a lot slower than before, obviously injured. “Come on then! I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” she screamed at the ugly thing, angry that she couldn’t find her friend.

The ghoul screeched and then ran at her, its movements grotesque and unnatural. Kass charged as well, readying another point blank shadow bolt. Just before she released her spell, the ground suddenly fell away and she plunged into the darkness below.

She tumbled in the air, end over end and she fell at great speed. Every rotation she caught a glimpse of light above. A halo. Wait a minute… It all looked and felt oddly...familiar.

Kass smashed into the ground, feeling her body snap and break, pain exploding through her. She just looked up at the light above, trying to place where she had seen it before…

A hand grabbed onto her arm and the light disappeared. More hands grabbed her and pulled her down, into the ground, closing her off from the world above.

“Kassandra.” Whisper’s voice called out. He was close. If only she could get to him, wherever he was. Then they could kill these things and escape this place. Together. If only they had been together, this would never have happened. Why weren’t they together…?

She felt the hands pulling her deeper and deeper into the darkness below, hundreds of them. Some tore into her skin with sharp claws, but the pain was nothing...she hardly felt it… What is pain? A hand clasped over her mouth snapping her from her thoughts. She tried to scream, but she couldn’t, the hand was too strong.

Tears came to her eyes as she slowly suffocated. Unable to breathe like her body begged her to. Help! She yelled, but no sound came out. Help! She tried again but to the same result. Just let me go home! Please! Why am I he-

“Kassandra!”

She sat up with a start, clutching the hilt of the sword tightly and summoning her orb of light into the room.

“What?! What is it?!” she asked, breathing heavily, her heart pounding in her chest. Sweat dripped down her face and her coat was wet with it.

“I...do not know. Some sort of nightmare. You were yelling and your body temperature spiked. I tried waking you many times. I almost resorted to shocking you.”

“A nightmare...ugh…” she sighed. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she didn’t let herself. “Thanks for waking me...that was terrible.”

Kass stood up and wiped the beaded sweat from her face with the sleeve of her coat. A nightmare...just what I needed… She moved over and slid her feet back into her boots.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Approximately five hours and twenty two minutes.:

“I feel horrible...like I only slept an hour...and I’m so thirsty.” She summoned the barrel of juice, not having another option, and poured some of the blue liquid into her palm. She downed it, and poured another as she relished in the taste.

She noticed her headache slowly fade away as she finished her second handful and her body started to relax. She stopped herself from taking more and put the barrel away. That stuff is amazing...I mean I feel so much better already.

She glanced at her resources and was happy to see that they were all topped off, even her health. Some more good news. Her stomach rumbled slightly and she summoned the partially gnawed on nutrient bar and started back at it, slowly slobbering on it enough to break it down. The taste was less than desirable, especially after the blue juice, but it was food, and she really needed food.

She stretched as she ate, trying to limber up the sore muscles and tight ligaments. Funny that I’m at full health but still sore… Even the juice didn’t take away the achiness.

“Alright what’s on the list for today...or whatever it is...tonight? It doesn’t matter… Let’s see, I wanted to try out both my new skills, and we need to find that tunnel as well as the Anderstone if we can, those are a must. Oh! And I wanted to ask you a few more questions...if that’s okay.”

“I will gladly help in any way I can,” replied the blade.

“Thanks! I think I’ll start with the skills.”

She packed up her new bedroll after letting it air out for another couple minutes while she ate, and then stored both her nutrient brick, as she started calling it, and the bedroll back into her coat.

Once she felt ready, she gripped Whisper in one hand and slowly opened the door with the other. She sent in her orb as soon as there was enough room and peeked outside. After a full minute of watching and waiting, and sending her orb flying in all directions, she decided it was safe enough.

She opened the door and stepped through, almost expecting something to jump out at her considering her luck, but still, nothing happened. Huh, isn’t that the first. Kass swung Whisper over her head and pressed him against her back. In an instant a metal cord materialized around her and secured the blade to her.

As she moved farther into the room, she did notice a change, however. She noticed the bodies of the nobles first, but then looked at all of them that were strewn about and found the same thing occurring. They’re...disintegrating. Only a few pieces of each noble remained, along with the tattered clothing that they wore.

“The mana binding them to this world has ceased, their ancient bodies no longer able to maintain cohesion.”

“I hope these poor people are resting now...what that necromancer did to them...and the disease. They didn’t deserve it.”

“Few would deserve such a fate.”

Kass turned away from the scene and tried to distract herself by channeling her mana in an attempt to cast her new spell. She started with shadow bolt, which sounded easier and less scary for her to test. I already used it in my dream…somehow... She wasn’t sure how her subconscious already knew what the spell did. She added it to the growing list of questions she needed to ask.

For now, she focused on the spell, letting instinct take over as the mana coursed through her. When she was ready, she extended her arm and released the spell. A bolt of dark energy shot out from her fingertips and sped across the room until it smashed into a wall, creating a small explosion and leaving behind a crater the size of a baseball.

A lot of things had happened to her since she arrived in Arkos. All of them fantastical and crazy enough that if she were to tell anyone from back home about it, they would probably lock her up in the insane asylum.

Of all the things she’d experienced so far, Kass would rank casting that spell near the top of the list. She felt powerful, mana still coursing through her veins and filling her with its energy, and she felt capable of actually having an impact on the world for the first time in her life. Like the small crater the spell had left behind on the rocky earth, she too wished to make an impact.

But most of all, she cast magic. It was something that every child wished they could do, but the real world crushed those dreams in cruel ways. She had given up years ago on trying to be something that she could never be, battered by the reality of life on Earth. But now, now it wasn’t impossible to reach greater heights. With magic, new avenues opened up all around her, the possibilities seemingly endless.

She had cast magic. Chills ran through her body as she thought about it and looked at the damage done to the wall. Maybe I can make a difference here… I mean, just saving Whisper was a bigger difference than anything I’d ever done before…

“Well done.”

“Thanks, that felt amazing.”

“Indeed, your heart rate increased dramatically.”

“Ha,” she laughed, “I guess that’s one way to put it…”

“And what of the other spell?”

“I was just about to try it out. I’m a little nervous though, learning the spell was kinda freaky. But it’s okay, I’m mostly over it. Let’s see what this does.”

She focused on the spell she wanted to cast and activated it. The world changed slightly, but Kass could still see everything around her just fine. She looked down at her own body and found that it was hazy, like looking at a computer screen with missing pixels. This is weird, but I’m glad I’m not on top of that invisible platform again…

Kass returned her gaze to her surroundings, trying to see if anything about them changed. She turned around, and then screamed as she came face to face with a ghostly form.

“Ahh!” the sound came out instinctively and she brought her hands up in front of her face.

“Do not fear me, child. My name is Emelia. Long have I waited for this day.” spoke the semi-transparent figure, the voice sounding otherworldly yet definitely feminine at the same time. This woman...Emelia, from the diary.

“I can understand you...and speak to you…” the ghost nodded, “I...know you...err.. about you… You died here, from disease, and then the necromancer…”

“Yes, a tragic story to the end of my people. The man you speak of was named Saulthron, but he wasn’t an evil man. His intentions were always to help those that-”

The voice suddenly stopped talking and the ghost disappeared from view. Oh, right… She cast the spell again and Emelia returned, still speaking.

“-though watching those that he cared about die around him one by one proved to much for his soul. Once he discovered that he had caused this disease to enter the village, he blamed himself for the deaths of everyone. It broke him.

“I do not blame him though. He could not have known that he was a Carrier.”

“Does that mean that he could have spread it to me?” Kass asked, thinking about the written word ‘pustules’ and really starting to worry. A look of consternation passed over the woman’s face for a second and a white pulse emanated from her. After a second, she smiled.

“No, as long as you-”

The spell fell again, but Kass was ready this time and cast it again almost immediately.

“-you will be okay,” finished the ghost.

“Can you say that again? I’m sorry, I missed it because of the timer on this spell…”

“To tell you more of our story is not why I am here, however,” the spirit continued on, not pausing to repeat what Kass had missed. “I chose to stay behind in hopes to offer a gift to the one that freed us from our torment. Those that have already left for the afterlife gave unto me a portion of their power. Now I grant this power unto you, Champion of Morund.”

The ghost floated closer to Kass and lightly placed a thumb on her forehead. Not knowing what was happening, Kass just let it happen, feeling like this spirit didn’t mean her any harm. Energy pulsed out from the ghostly woman and flowed into her, slowly at first, but picking up speed.

Kass stood there unmoving, both arms held awkwardly to the side as she tried not to interrupt the process. She found the situation she was in a little funny, and imagined she probably looked like an idiot to anyone that couldn’t see the spirit in front of her.

She just smiled at the thought, just trying to enjoy the moment, but when the ghost woman smiled back at her she couldn’t help but giggle, and then she started laughing fully, unable to stop herself. The spirit laughed with her, or maybe at her, and soon finished the transfer of energy.

Kass made sure to cast Astral Walking again before it ended this time and watched as the smiling ghost floated up and away from her.

“Good luck, and thank you for saving us,” Emelia said before disappearing from sight.

“Woah,” she breathed out a breath, “can’t say I’ve ever experienced that before…”

“What? Talking to yourself while standing perfectly still? I’m beginning to worry about you.”