“Good to see you again Ned” said Jed greeting him into camp for the night.

Fred cooked several small plucked ducks with a stick over top of the roaring fire. The mood of the camp was the same as that of what surrounded the out of bounds of the campfire's light, a bleakness with both moons absentee from the air.

“Did we lose anyone in the mountaintop explosion? Why are the faces so long?” asked the wizard riding into camp.

“We traveled by day and slept in the trees at night working back to civilization slowly, the same as you wizard but on our own path,” said Jed.

“Until I found a dead body near the tracks” said Fred in a monotone voice.

His face wore a heavy frown that had been locked into place since he had stumbled upon the latest scene of violence.

“Quickly this way wizard, and pawn please take the meat stick from me it is yours to handle and dole out to the troops how you see fit” said Fred handing over the fowl charred on stick to the man sat next to him at campfire.

Ned followed Fred and one other soldier down the bank. A path of wild grass besides cattails, soggy bottom from the nearby bog close to the field they walked over. The trees had died from over moisturizing of their roots, spruces spread dead branches all over as the path. They all began to descend into a small pond on the last hill of three. At the water's edge a body sprawled in armor, head submerged in the water.

"Why it looks like a knight. All the way out here must have fallen off the steed when they hit mud at too high a speed" said the wizard, dismounting.

“No, her chest has been cut awash with wounds, many stabs going straight through the armor into the breast, no doubt something that was done by a blade of sharp crystal” said the other soldier as they neared for a closer inspection.

“A very interesting case we have here” said Ned, the wizard taking out a sketchpad and beginning on his latest project.

“Yes, a death that is most peculiar, now if you don’t mind, I will let you be the one to take a closer look due to your experience in these matters” said Fred standing as far back as he could get away with while still casting enough light with his lantern.

“Closer, I need more vision” said Ned beckoning over his shoulder.

He bent, latching ahold of the loud metal that scraped on itself as he was fishing out the dead from the brown waters full of sediment. A soldier bent down to join with the wizard as they lugged it together, a slow sprint weighed down by carrying the dead body back up the bank. They dumped it onto the dry grass. Fred came, and the light began to tremble shaking all over as he approached them.

"Did any of you lot take the helmet off, and put it back on?" Ned asked the other soldier by his side.

"No," the man said, shaking his helmeted head in the dim light as the crickets played into the dark night sky that surrounded them.

"Fair enough" said Ned as he bent and struggled to pull it off.

"Wow this thing is really stuck on"

The other two men nodded many times in agreement until a squishy pop as the helmet popped off the waterlogged head of the dead. The corpse had long black hair, with thick black eyeliner, lipstick, make-up and a sharp choker around her neck made of zombie crystal.

"A witch" gasped the other soldier.

"Makes sense then that she was murdered and then dumped here as witches can't drown," said the wizard.

"A sound theory here and what of what hasn't been stabbed on her chest the royal crest of a knight from the empire" said the other.

"Both a witch, and a knight at once?" Fred said, quivering.

"Not possible for such a thing, she conjured the armor as a replica of the real deal for some scheme of hers that got her killed," said the wizard.

"Sound theory again wizard, we better keep this body hidden and give it a proper burial by morning tomorrow we should have a hole dug" said Uhla.

"Stand behind, as I bring her back with a new experiment," said Ned.

"Zombie shards defile a corpse in my opinion with how brainless they become on resuscitation," said Fred, face frowning as it always did as he looked away into the jungle night as a monkey howled.

"This is a new brand of stone I have made in my lab, a fusion of two crystals melted together, combining zombie and teleportation. When I stab her, she will be teleported to the core which may fix the zombie issue of the zombie crystal unlike any soul brought back before, this is the only chance we probably have of ever figuring out the killer," said the wizard.

"I suppose if she has speech or memories we will see at once who the killer is" said Uhla.

The two soldiers looked away as Ned removed his new stone flashing it to turned backs.

"See guys I got it right here" he said before stabbing it directly into the dead eye.

"Poof" they both teleported into the ether.

"So let me get this right the wizard is gone again, he took a dead body, but he left his donkey" said Jed later back at the campfire heating up his hands with Uhla and two other soldiers sitting on logs.

"Yup, how long did it take us to return from our trip to the core do you remember? With this information we can guess when he will be back to fetch his pet" said Fred, feeding the mule with a spoon out of a can of beans.

"I don't know, but it felt as if it was an eternity in my mind that I'm finally just sobering from the experience" said Jed.

"I feel much better, as the wizard said all my ailments have been removed. I have a brain that's been deep cleaned, the blanket of dust and mold growing inside my soul is gone, I am no longer plagued with crippling fear and anxiety" said Fred.

"Hmm a place of ice, snow, a bright full moon penetrating the lands at all hours,and crystals everywhere" said Uhla.

"Yes, that's just the spot. How did you guess?" Asked Jed leaning forward.

"The Crazin tribe tradition details the afterlife taking place in another compartment guarded by a million wolves where the greatest warriors' bodies will be frozen inside giant crystal statues preserved in the corner for when they are called to fight on Tenare again by the oldest spirits" said Uhla.

"Fascinating" said two others together.

Another soldier hearing the talk joined besides the fire, his face and hands had tribal marks that had begun to fade.

"Lightning strikes whenever the spirits are working, as they work together to transport a target to the 13 gods of crystal" the new soldier explained.

Ned hung onto Nancy as they traveled through time and space, nearing the core of Tenare.

“Poof” they crashed into a snowbank breaking apart on impact, as Ned went tumbling down a mountain.

The inertia from gravity was too much as he fell hand over foot down smacking into small furs that slowed him grabbing at his garments. The full grown trees loomed ahead, he dodged a ledge the top of which was covered in icicles before he smashed into more brush. Ned dug his arms in, slowing himself down as he saw his feet approaching a sharp drop, a cliff edge.

“OOOOO” he looked down at a massive drop below as his arm jerked sore as it snagged onto a little tree, some roots already pulled out and more coming every second.

Ned slowly slipped himself around looking at the ledge edge. He began to climb the tree back up the steep incline one hand over each other, working himself back to safety. The wind whipped around the mountain blowing through a pass this cliff overlooked. Ned was blown side to side as the tree slowly pulled out; he kept on going, not looking down at the ground. Wolves were howling, his hands were already begging to numb from the cold. The core's moonlight shone down, blinding him as his head peaked over the ledge, while the rest of his body still dangled in the wind below a drop to the death. At least this one's soul wouldn’t have far to travel.

The edge of the cliff was covered in a topping of powdery snow. Ned tried grabbing at it once and he was smart to have held on to the tree.

“Crack” the last root breaking sounded as the tree began to plummet over the cliff edge and the wizard now found himself hanging from just his shoulders, dug into snow.

One by one he worked upwards with every motion of the wind threatening him. It was laborious but his body found the energy to hold on and keep climbing. He hit the top and rolled over to safety, a small ledge going back in a bit, the snow falling off the overhang instead of entering within. The cavity had some snow, but it would have been blown in, as some did now as Ned entered.

Things were very cold in the core. Ned scrambled looking through the hundred or so pockets of his wizarding robe to find the crystal he was looking for. At last magma crystals were in hand, but what about the starter? It was another scramble, until he remembered to calm himself and breathe each breath as they came to him. The pocket where he usually kept the flint was empty except for a gathering of lint. Time was ticking in the arctic with no gloves on his hands.

Ned was up jumping around doing jacks as his eyes scanned. A pile of stones, and more strewn all over the floor. He picked through the pile until he found the best he could figure and got back to his magma smacking the rocks together.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon” said the wizard.

“Smack, smack, clack, clack” said the rocks smacking and tiny sparks emitting off them.

“Wooosh!” the magma lit up a block of hot as Ned dropped it and stuck his hands down above it.

“Aaaah” he said, his heart warmed with heat, and the knowledge that he had not died yet today.

Ned dropped his body on a sprawl onto frosted granite.

His vision blurred back, his limbs were burning, the magma still alive in front of him the whole time he had slept. Thunder as lightning cracked in the sky outside, what sounded like monkeys took up howling, it could not be mistaken that it was hundreds of animals fighting over something no matter the variety; perhaps it was over a single scrap of food. Who knows why anything would have the purpose to fight and die here with so many crystals everywhere. I suppose that is the main difference between animals and I thought Ned to himself inspecting and taking some small crystals of all different varieties, stuffing them into his pockets.

Lighting sparked again, and the wind blew a full gust into the cavity, ripping into eardrums. A figure cloaked in armor stood at the entrance as thunder boomed beside it.

“ZAAAAP!” lightning came into contact with the metal armor electrifying the figure.

It smelled of burnt flesh as the zombie lurched forward towards Ned, and he jumped back. Her armor was blackened, her hair was soot, and her face was shrunk, wrinkled or ripped off from the frost and flame.

“Do you have a name?” asked the wizard.

“Nancy,” stated the deceased.

“Can you tell me your killer?”

“Prince Edward Longbottom, he is a killer and cannibal who has rampaged all over the kingdom killing millions and eating thousands all covered over by the crown, I will have my revenge ending his life with what little reincarnation I have here” she said.

“Now I do not know this man or how bad of a sadist he truly is at heart, but with my short military career so far morally I've got a lot of things I could be doing better, but I believe you should journey with me and the soldiers at once where you will present the account of your own murder to the council of the kings court, and the prince will be sent to the dungeon after for sure” said Ned coming a bit closer to rewarm his hands.

“I will kill him myself; a corpse doesn’t have time for those things” said Nancy’s zombie going back out where it rested back on the entrance wall.

"I am a pacifist, I cannot put my stamp of approval on any of your plans for the murdering of murderers, I have my own ideas about justice, only once we have given it an honest try first in the courts. said the wizard.

Meanwhile in a land on the other side of Tenare the elves were celebrating, especially the executives. The crystal stock is amassing faster than ever anticipated. The goblin, dwarf, and human slave mines had triple output this season, and there was always room for more to do work for Headmaster Elf. Secretly under the table the crystals had started to flow from the center of the planet, the elves already scouted it last year when they had found a way to harness the power of teleportation to bring things back.

The Elves had the best scientists of all, and they had worked long and hard hours to harness the power of every crystal that was dug up. Several seasons ago the number of known crystals had only been 10 but now it was 12. Some of the lesser designs had been sold for even more crystals to the human empire, the idiots who only ever seemed to mess with Magma. Nobody except the Elves would ever harness the power of mass teleportation, or any of their other advanced technology only they had; the rules on sharing things were very strict and only done in the pursuit of amassing more in the end. The rules written in the stone on every street by the Elven high council who usually governed from the top of the pyramid, but not tonight.

"How are you today senior elf" said the servant as more were taking elven bags inside at once.

Trq got out of his carriage and strutted over to the lakeside in a business suit constructed of crystal fiberglass. He reached the point where six other executive elves had gathered. A traditional elven ship of wood carving was sailing right by as everyone gawked. Fresh cedar, yop bark, sap, and science to power her engines forward with crystal.

"There you are" said the oldest elf of the group putting arm on the last to joins back as they formed a circle at the end of the path by the river.

"Ok I brought you all out here for a reason, the pair of you can come out now" said the eldest.

Two heads half human, and half fish stuck themselves out from the water with a splash.

"Ahh nice to meet to looks to be a nice pair of Bootlickers" said Trq who snapped his fingers loudly several times in a row. "Servants get these fish some food to feast on at once, I wouldn't want them to be hungry when they tell us all about the latest news from the planet, "

"The human king's death sure has been swell for us huh guys" said the elven executive with the highest heels laughing.

"Bootlickers tell us all the latest gossip about this damaged prince who wishes to take over the business from his mother" said the eldest elf raising his hands to the moon.