Mr. Skelly stood in the middle of a square. He was stroking his chin with his right hand, his left hand resting on his hip bone. Ahead of him, there was a cage with a pale man inside of it. Along with the pale man, there was a woman wearing black armor. The pale man’s arms were outstretched, clawing at the woman, but the woman’s gauntleted hand was on the man’s neck, holding him firmly in place. The woman raised her free hand and swung. There was a crisp slapping sound—like a slab of beef dropped onto a cutting board. Bloody marks were left on the pale man’s face, and his arms dropped to his sides. His legs went limp, and his head lolled backwards. The armored woman released her grip on the man’s neck, and he dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“What are you doing!?”

Mr. Skelly and the woman in the cage turned their heads towards the direction of the shout. The woman stepped out of the cage, leaving the door open behind her, and placed her hands on her hips. Mr. Skelly jogged over to the newcomer. “Alice!” he said. There was a clunking sound, the one his skull made when it detached from his spinal cord.

Alice lowered her outstretched hand, her fingers still curled up into a fist. “No matter how desperate you are, you can’t recruit people to kill these berserkers for you!” She glared at the woman in black armor. “And you, Mary, just because you’re strong doesn’t mean you can kill people without consequences. I might not be able to do anything to you, but that doesn’t mean Vur can’t.”

Mr. Skelly’s body turned around and walked towards his skull. He spoke while his head was still on the ground. “I think you’re misunderstanding something, Alice. She didn’t kill the berserker; she cured him.”

Alice turned towards the cage. The pale person inside looked very much dead. His body was crumpled up, and from what she could tell, there weren’t any movements: his chest didn’t move up or down indicating he was still breathing, and his limbs didn’t twitch. A dark expression appeared on Alice’s face. “Killing sick people and turning them undead is not curing them.”

Mr. Skelly picked up his skull and twisted it back on. “That’s not what happened,” he said and glanced at the cage. “It certainly looks like it, but Mary here was helping us cure these people with her anti-magic abilities. It turns out they were berserking because of a magical spell.”

Mary nodded. “I thought the undead were imprisoning these people, but after I freed them from their cages, I realized I was wrong. As an apology for disassembling so many skeletons, I’m helping them cure people.”

Alice furrowed her brow. She walked over to the cage and crouched down, taking a closer look at the pale man inside. No matter what angle she looked at him from, he seemed to be dead. She frowned and reached her hand between the bars of the cell, placing her fingers on the man’s neck. There was a pulse. Alice exhaled and retracted her hand before glaring at Mary. “Can’t you cure them in a less violent way? Anyone would misunderstand if they saw what I saw.”

“You’re not going to apologize for punching my skull off?” Mr. Skelly asked with a grin.

Alice stood up and lowered her head, glancing to the side of her foot. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I was wrong.”

Mr. Skelly’s eye socket contorted as he mimicked raising an eyebrow. “You were wrong and … it won’t happen again?”

“Don’t push your luck,” Alice said and pursed her lips. She glared at Mr. Skelly before inspecting her surroundings. There were dozens of cages, and most of them had collapsed people inside. Alice nodded at Mary. “You’ve been really hard at work, huh?”

“It’s not difficult,” Mary said and shook her head. “It’s just slapping.”

Alice furrowed her brow. “Right,” she said. “Anyway, what brings you here? Don’t you have your own things to do?”

Mary crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m looking for that black dragon.”

“The one related to Vur?” Alice asked and raised an eyebrow.

Mary nodded.

“Why?”

“To kill it,” Mary said.

Alice blinked. “And you think Vur will just … let you do that?”

Mary snorted. “I don’t need Vur’s permission to do anything.”

“If you say so,” Alice said and glanced at Mr. Skelly. The skeleton didn’t look like he was going to say anything. “Just make sure all the berserkers are dispelled before you embark on what may be the last adventure of your life.”

“I was already going to do that,” Mary said and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t need you telling me what to do either.”

***

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to fight with your mom in front of Ramon,” Leila said and placed her paw on Grimmy’s head. White light flickered from her scales, illuminating the cursed dragon’s face. There were two bumps on his head, but when the light shone on them, they retracted. “What if he learns from you and fights me? I don’t have the heart to beat him like your mother beat you.”

“She didn’t beat me,” Grimmy said and snorted. “I let her win on purpose. I saw how disappointed Ramon looked when it seemed like I was going to win.” He glanced to the side where Ramon was bouncing Kozabokget up and down with his snout. “If a world-ending disaster happens because of that goat, I’m not going to lift a single claw to help.”

Leila lowered her paw and nuzzled Grimmy’s neck. “Don’t be like that,” she said. “Do you really want our children to live in a destroyed world?”

“We’re living on a destroyed continent now, aren’t we?” Grimmy asked and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think the peace and quiet is pretty nice?”

Leila rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”