As we entered the altar room we saw that it was covered in a hazy mist, obscuring most of the room. I could see the two candles burning brightly on the altar even through the mist, that seemed to swirl with every movement, almost clinging to our bodies. I was tense as hell walking into this creepy room, expecting the inevitable boss battle. I swung my head to the left, seeing movement in the mist. I stared at the space, waiting to see if I spotted it again. The room was deathly silent like a shroud had been draped over it. I chuckled internally at that thought.

"Welcome," a raspy wispy voice said from somewhere in the room.

The voice seemed to come from everywhere as it echoed around the walls. I wasn't able to locate the speaker as I frantically looked about the room.

"Back to back," I whispered to Fiona.

"Ok, but leave some space to maneuver," she replied as I felt her armor brush my shoulder.

"Oh, no, don't be like that. I get so few visitors. You came to play, let's play," the last word coming out with malicious intent. The voice cackled and the mist thickened into fog making it nearly impossible to see.

A sickly green ball of energy flew from the fog right at my face. I dodged out of instinct, realizing my mistake too late. The spell hadn't truly been aimed at me but the back of Fiona's head.

Fiona must have realized something was amiss, twisting to the side to avoid the eldritch blast of energy almost completely. The armor on her shoulder had a slightly melted look to it after the blast skimmed across its surface and flew ricocheting off into the mist. This foe was dangerous and cunning. We would need to be careful.

"A little heads up would be nice," Fiona said heatedly.

"Sorry,"

The quick apology was all I was able to offer the woman, another blast of energy coming my way. I yelled out a warning, dodging it easily. The crafty boss was waiting for that though, a bony hand shot out of the mist trying to grab my wrist. I pulled back on instinct, the cold that radiated from those digits leaving frost on my arm from just a brief touch.

"Ok, don't let Creepy McGee touch you, his hands are literally ice-cold," I said, shaking off the painful numbness. My battle lust was rearing its head for the first time in a while. God, I missed this feeling of walking the razor's edge.

"How rude, I will have you know my name is Ra-."

"I'm gonna stop you there, don't care. How about you be a good specter and just pass on ok?"

The rage-filled scream I got as a reply filled me with both dread and joy. The next eldritch blast came at Fiona from the right. She used her reflect ability to knock it away but with no target it just impacted the floor, liquefying a small section.

"We can't keep this up forever," Fiona hissed to me.

"I know," I replied, trying to think of something to get the undead to show himself so I could target him with healing, "Switch sides with me, I wanna try something."

As soon as the next attack came in we both ducked under the blast and swapped positions. The fog was so thick I couldn't see the candles but I had a general idea of where they were and I swung my staff out to try and hit one.

An angry hiss from the fog told me I might be on the right track. The hastily yelled warning from Fiona to dodge another incoming blast affirmed that notion. I was glad the magic he used was relatively easy to dodge or we might be in some serious trouble. I swung again, taking a step closer to the wall and this time my staff skidded along the top of the altar so I knew I was getting close.

"Protect me, I'm going to do something stupid," I said, not waiting for a response as I swung my staff a third time.

"Whaaa...?"

Time seemed to slow down for me as my staff impacted one of the candles. A loud boom shook the room, my perception of time returning to normal. The candle was unharmed but the shockwave blew the fog away for a brief few seconds. Unfortunately, it also left me a bit addled. I could hear Fiona yelling something that I couldn't quite make out. When I had the presence of mind enough to look, I could see a green sphere about to strike my torso.

I also got my first look at our adversary.

Forsaken Undead | Crypt Lord | Level 15

The Crypt Lord was decked out in rotting robes with maggoty skin that barely clung to the creature's bones. It exuded such a foul presence that I gagged in revulsion. I quickly multicast Healing Touch on the undead nightmare and Rejuvenate on myself as the orb impacted my chest, knocking me to the ground.

Multiple things happened then. I was cursed with necrosis which drained my Endurance one point for 30 minutes. My chest started to burn as the orb ate away my armor and hit me for 186 damage, with added damage over time that lasted another 10 seconds, for an additional 3 damage a second. But the most beautiful thing that happened was the scream of pure rage-filled pain coming from the Crypt Lord. My dual cast spell inflicting their healing powers on the undead menace for one and a half times their normal healing according to my damage notices.

Crypt Lord takes 227 life damage

Crypt Lord takes 227 life damage

It wasn't over though, the foul thing still lived. While it was struggling to deal with its pain, I stripped off my armor and tossed it to the ground, where it continued to smoke.

Fiona hadn't been idle during this time either. She had shackled the creature and attacked it multiple times with the Mace. Unfortunately, she had to back away as it tried to grab at her and I could see a layer of hoarfrost on her mace.

I tried to get off a Stunning Gust but the fog rolled back in, obscuring the boss from our sight again. He must have also broken free of the shackles because my spell failed to hit him.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" the creature raged.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Here let me pay up. I think I have my wallet here somewhere."

Sarcasm wasn't lost on the undead as he chucked another eldritch blast my way. I was starting to think this guy was a one-trick pony when I saw a cloud of pure darkness come towards us right after. Fiona grabbed my arm and we dived out of the path of the cloud of darkness. I swear I heard voices whispering from the cloud and I shivered. We scrambled back to our feet, not sure where in the room we were as the fog obscured the walls.

"Can you use your wind spell to chase this fog away?"

" I could try but I have a feeling this isn't a natural fog, probably an illusion or magical in nature but I can give it a go."

A quick glance told me I had a little over 380 mana. I hit myself with Healing Touch to top off most of my health and winced at the 80 mana cost because of my Multicast effect.

"Alright, I can cast it for 4 seconds, but you are going to take some damage. Try to hold on to me."

Fiona nodded as I began to spin my staff. Faster and faster it spun as the winds picked up speed. All the while Fiona held on and did her best to bat away the enemy's attacks. Four seconds may not seem like a long time but when you are standing there trying not to die, four seconds is an eternity.

Despite her best efforts, we each took a blow from the malignant green light and our endurance each dropped another point. I managed to stay on my feet and keep the spell going. Luckily I was at full health but the blow still hurt. Hitting me for over 200 before the damage over time applied, which was over half my health with my loss of 2 Endurance points to the necrosis.

The wind was now buffeting us fiercely and I could faintly hear a shriek as a blur of bones and robes was tossed around in the maelstrom. The storm didn't push back the fog but it appeared that the Crypt Lord had lost his concentration on it as it started to fade. I kept an eye on the creature as my spell ended, to see where he would land. I had just enough mana to pull off one more trick. I cast Godly Might and Blink Stepped, draining my mana all the way to 12. Before I could be overwhelmed by the surging headache from mana depletion I sped forward. I brought a mighty overhead swing down on the creature as it started to rise.

It tried to block my blow with its arm but my staff bashed through the appendage like it wasn't even there, continuing on to the creature's head. Caving it in with a resounding crack that seemed to disperse the remaining fog in the room. I had just enough time to see the damage notice before I passed out.

Crypt Lord takes 304 damage

Crypt Lord reduced to 4% health, Overkill activated

Crypt Lord has been vanquished

You have lost the title Team Killer

I awoke a few minutes later my mana having recovered almost completely. I looked over to see Fiona sitting there. Were her eyes red? Wait, had she been crying.

Our eyes met and she started to tear up again.

"I thought you were dead you idiot, stop doing stupid stuff like that," she said between sobs.

I'll be honest I was at a loss, I knew our friendship had grown, and I had forgiven her for attempting to kill me. She did after all save my life, so it was only fair. Of course, me being me, I had to go and say something stupid.

"You cry over all your friends like this?"

"Only the ones I care for," she said quietly.

Well shit, now I really felt like a heel. I mean don't get me wrong I liked the woman, despite everything we have gone through. Hell maybe because of all the shit we went through. She turned out to be a stalwart companion and someone I rather enjoyed spending time with. I don't know if my feeling went past that point though. It was hard to feel more after your heart had been ripped asunder by someone you thought you cared for. I was pulled from my melancholy thoughts as the woman leaned in and kissed me.

It was a kiss filled with all of her passion, desire, and need. I was helpless to resist, not that I wanted to. It turns out I felt a need just as great as her own. I had just suppressed it under layers of emotions I didn't want to acknowledge. A kiss is where it started but our mutual need was too great to stop there.

What happened after was a magical time, filled with a primal need for some connection, any connection between both of us. In the most romantic place possible, a dirty old crypt.