Rodger sat at his field desk inside his field tent. He was currently reading several reports using the dim candlelight.

He, as King, had spent more time away on a warpath to kill all the [Molten Onyx] infected, than he did governing the kingdom at the capital. He wrote letters to his wife periodically to reassure her that he was okay.

“My King! The Demigod guild leader of the Demon hunters has important information to share with you,” said one of the guards outside his field tent.

“Escort them in,” said Rodger.

He put down his feather pen that he had been taking notes with and rubbed his eyes before letting out a long yawn as he stretched.

Ualtar walked into the tent and only nodded his head to Rodger not showing the customary respect that was required when meeting with the King.

“On our skirmishes near the border we found that some of the infected had started to change in appearance,” said Ualtar straight forward.

“In what way?” asked Rodger.

“Right now nothing drastic, some were bigger, smaller, faster, slower. But if they keep changing who knows what they will become. It may be even harder to kill them.”

Rodger quickly wrote down a few notes and then looked back to Ualtar. “I will keep that under consideration when I send forces out from now on. Is that all?”

“It is,” said Ualtar. He gave Rodger a wave and turned to leave the tent.

Before he left the tent Rodger spoke up, “Ualtar, the work you are doing clearing out towns and solving problems around the border is much appreciated. You will be properly rewarded.”

“Of course. A large portion of my guild was going to leave for another place to do something but now that this plague has started we cannot let it spread in our new adopted home. This is more important and It seems the other guild leaders have chosen to do something similar,” said Ualtar.

***

Akira stood on top of one of the rickety groaning wooden ships as it sailed north up the unfreezing river.

His bodyguards along with Klyn and Fluffball and a few others all stood around him. When they had first boarded the ship they were skeptical if it could even hold their weight without breaking and sinking.

They still held their doubts and stayed on the top deck when they could in case the ship started to sink.

Wherever Klyn and his six subordinates walked the skeleton pirates cleared a large path for them while they stared daggers at them. Some of them even went as far as to not step on the same spots that Klyn and the others had stepped on due to fear that they might die from some holy cootie virus.

Besides the eerie ship groans and the flapping of the skeleton pirate flag, the ship was mostly quiet. The only talking or chatter came from Akira's group or when Captain Pegleg talked to them.

“We will be arriving At our destination soon!” shouted Captain Pegleg from behind the large wooden wheel used to steer the large ship.

Farther up the river hanging over the land was a dark fog that grew darker the farther north you looked.

“Looks to be the same thing from before. What do you think about all of this Klyn?” asked Akira.

“I still need to get a closer look and we need to do a few tests before I can say anything.”

“Looking at that fog stirs my memory, but it is as murky as the dark fog ahead,” said Zundar as he stared at the dark clouds in the sky.

“How poetic of you. I didn't think a big hornie guy like you would have it in you. I thought you were just a muscle head. There may be some hope for you yet,” said Captain Pegleg.

Zundar rubbed his large horns on his head and looked to captain Pegleg who was now standing next to him.

“The way you say that...it sounds more of an insult than a compliment,” said Zundar.

“What? I love your big sturdy horns. It's about the only thing that you have going for you. Everything else is meh.”

“Wait, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be steering the ship?” asked Akira looking back at the empty steering wheel.

“It's fine...the shnip can handle a few minutes without me babysitting it,” said Captain Pegleg waving a hand to dismiss Akira's concerns.

“We're headed right towards the left shore!” said Klyn pointing towards the approaching snowy beach.

There was a large jerk as two shorter skeleton pirates jumped towards the large steering wheel and started spinning it furiously to bring the ship back towards the center of the river.

“See? I call it my automatic pilot system. Works good enough but the ride is very jerky since we swerve back and forth. It still needs a bit of work,” said Captain Pegleg.

It took slightly longer to get to the destination due to the zigzagging but there were no major problems.

“Everyone but the regulars disembark and head to the shore!” ordered Captain Pegleg.

The skeleton pirates all clamored to the side of the ship and either jumped into the river water below or started climbing down the side of the rotting ship. This was the same for all the ships under his command.

Soon there was only a small skeleton crew left on the ship. (:p)

“Aren't you guys coming?” asked Captain Pegleg when he saw Akira and the others not moving.

“If we jump into the water we'll get sick if we don't stop and take care of ourselves,” said Akira.

“Oh... right... I forgot you guys are fragile like that. I think I have something for that,” said Captain Pegleg as he walked over to a wooden chest.

He opened the chest and started to throw things over his shoulder while looking for something. Broken weapons, pieces of armor, and other useless treasures that had been collected during the many fights on the open sea started to pile up.

“It's here somewhere...I think.”

“Yap!” said Fluffball as he sat next to the wooden chest. His tail was wagging furiously as he watched the bony hand take out item after item.

Drool started to form at the corners of his mouth as his head followed the arm back and forth.

“Fluffball, come over here,” said Akira.

Fluffball turned to Akira and gave him a pouting face.

“Come on, I'll get you something better later,” said Akira. He did not want to start some trouble over a taboo subject that Akira knew captain Pegleg would not like one bit.

“Hmm, it's not here...” said Captain Pegleg when the wooden chest was empty. The ground was now littered with all kinds of things. Everything on the ground was considered a treasure by Captain Pegleg.

“What is it you're looking for?” asked Akira.

“If you can't find whatever it is, we can just use your rowboats,” said Klyn.

“That! That's what I am looking for!”

“Rowboats?”

“Yes, those small smips where did I put them?” asked Captain Pegleg scratching his head.

“Over there,” said Klyn as he pointed towards several rowboats hanging over the side of the ship.

“Right! Well, I'll see you guys on shore!” said Captain Pegleg as he jumped off the Boat. There was a small 'pluoop!', sound as he made a small splash in the water below.

Akira just shook his head at how odd Captain Pegleg could be sometimes.

Due to how poorly the rowboats were taken care of they did not try to fill them up completely and as this was the case they were forced to make a dozen or so trips back and forth from the ship to transport all the large Garg mounts of Akira's guards.

“Yap!” said Fluffball as he ran around and through the large gathering of bony skeleton pirate warriors who all had some ice covering their bones from the river water. He would stop at a random skeleton pirate and sniff them before continuing his inspection of the others.

The skeletons paid him no attention and continued to mill about not saying much.

“Are you guys ready yet?” asked Captain Pegleg.

“We are,” said Akira as he hopped onto the back of Grarr and rode up to Pegleg.

“What do you want to do?” asked Pegleg.

Akira turned to Klyn looking to get his input.

“I think we should get close to but not enter the fog. We should inspect and observe what is going on and try to see the things inside from the safety outside.”

“Agreed,” said Akira.

“I am glad you see reason. We can't go charging headfirst into unknown trouble like you normally do, touching or biting off more than you can chew,” said Klyn.

“Hey! I don't do it on purpose it just happens,” said Akira.

As they approached the fog-covered land the sky above them grew darker and darker. The bright light from the winter sun reflecting off the snow was turned into a dim gray.

The skeleton warriors walked in front of the group on top of the snow which did not sink down. They were all ready to fight if needed.

Their group stopped at a thick cluster of trees that could be used to block the winter wind and also as a sort of fortification due to how close the trees were together.

“You, you, and you pick a few others and start filling the gaps between the trees with snow and ice,” Captain Pegleg commanded some of his subordinates.

“This is a decent enough place,” said Klyn as he looked out from behind several of the trees onto the open snowfield in front of them. There wasn't much to see due to the dark fog covering most of it.

“Hmm... this fog gives me a feeling that I have not had since a long time ago,” said Pegleg.

“Right! It gives me chills,” said Zundar.

“I can't remember what it was since I don't have my brain anymore,” said Pegleg.

As the two were talking Akira noticed a small boulder-sized shadow roll out of the fog, it stopped at the edge still covered in the fog.

Fluffball stopped his inspection of the Skeleton Warriors and turned his head towards the creature. He ran over to Akira and let out a loud, “Yap.”

Fluffball continued to look back and forth from Akira and the shadow. As if sensing their presence the shadow started rolling towards the wooden grove.

Akira signaled for his guards to form a shield wall behind the small snowbank that had already been erected by the digging skeletons.

Pegleg joined Akira and also ordered his minions to get ready for a fight.

When it was fully out of the fog and halfway to them Akira recognized the now small boulder-sized white-furred figure rolling towards them.

It was a puffball creature like the one that they had met before when they first adventure south.

He doubted this was the same one as it was far larger than the one they had seen. As it rolled toward them Akira noticed that there were several large patches of empty fur where the skin was a stony black.

With a 'Yap!” Fluffball darted forward jumping over the small snow wall and squeezed through the trees.

“Stop him! That thing is infected!” said Klyn.

“Fluffball, get back here!” shouted Akira.

His words did not get through to Fluffball. Fluffball sensed that this was his old rival that had humiliated and wounded him when he was still a small pup.

Fluffball's size exploded as he changed into his full size while charging towards his rival.

The rolling puffball started to roll even faster as it sensed Fluffball coming towards him.

The two smashed into each other with a loud thud! The hard and powdery snow was sent everywhere clouding up their vision for a moment.

Klyn started to chant one of his longer holy chants that he was confident in and directed it towards Fluffball.

The nearby skeleton pirates including Captain Pegleg all stumbled over each other trying to get away from Klyn.

“What the %^&$! I told you not to do any funny business!” shouted an angry Captain Pegleg.

“Fluffball don't bite it! And don't let it bite you!” shouted Akira as he and his guards started to move forward to join Fluffball who was now in a fierce fight with the infected puffball.

ROAR! RAWR!

Two loud roars echoed out from inside the fog vibrating the ground from the power of the roars.

“Crap! What now!” shouted Akira.