Mace’s instincts took over at that point, and the only thing I remember feeling was relief.

Finally, the test begins!

Whereas looking back now, I know that if I were in control, my thoughts would’ve been:

OH MY GOD I’M FALLING AND I’M GONNA DIE IN THE ARMS OF A DEMON JOKER!

Or something to that effect.

But thankfully, my true self was not in control. As the creature wrapped its long spindly arms around me in a bear hug, I managed to get my right arm free when it tumbled off the bridge with me in its grasp. I shot my right hand out, grabbed the rope railing, and prayed my new and improved Strength score was high enough to hang on. It was, but pain exploded in my shoulder as I wrenched my arm out of its socket. I watched my torch fall fifty feet, bounce off several jagged rocks, and then come to rest between some stalagmites.

And that’s when I realized the monster was gone. I hung from the rope bridge by myself. I searched the area where my torch had landed, but I couldn’t see the monster anywhere.

What the…?

My right shoulder was the definition of agony, and I was surprised I could still hang on. I swung my left hand up, grabbed the rope rail, and pulled my body onto the bridge. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the dark ceiling.

“Mace!” Sonja yelled. “Are you all right?”

“What happened?” Stephen followed.

That’s what I’d like to know!

I didn't feel any other injuries besides my shoulder, which seemed to be hanging by a ligament. I noticed a tightness in my chest, but that wasn’t a surprise. A monster had appeared out of nowhere and scared the bejesus out of me. A heart attack was understandable.

“Mace?” Sonja yelled again. I felt the bridge bounce and creek as she made her way toward me.

“I’m fine,” I shouted back. I carefully stood on the narrow slats. “Stay there and let me get across first.”

She stopped, and the bridge ceased swaying. “You sure?”

“Yeah. Did you guys see something attack me just now?”

“What, just before you fell?”

“Yeah.”

Sonja looked at Stephen, who shook his head. She turned back to me and said, “We didn’t see anything. You were just walking along, and then you flipped over the railing. Why, what happened?”

I turned around, half expecting to see that monster again, but it was just a dark rope bridge ahead of me. Or at least the five feet I could now see in front of me without my torch.

“I… I’m not sure,” I said.

Maybe it was an illusion. Constantine said he had found a Ring of Illusion when they fought a gelatinous cube during my previous life. Maybe there was somebody on the other side casting an illusion at me.

Nothing is ever “nothing” in this place, I thought. I could still feel how its bony arms slipped around my torso and lifted me off my feet. I could still hear its raspy voice.

I glanced at my forearm and could see my stats without any torchlight. My Hit Points glowed a red “14/16” due to my injured shoulder. It wasn’t a big drop, so I decided to hurry up and get across before healing myself. I began making my way across the bridge.

The crossing was even more harrowing without the light of my torch. While the torchlight behind me gave the faintest hint of light, I mostly had to feel my way across with my toes and hands. Fortunately, the “attack” had happened almost in the exact middle of the bridge because afterward, the trek was more uphill than before.

It was slow going, but I made it to the other side. I almost wanted to hug the two anchor stones around which the bridge ropes were tied. Beyond the stones, a path led to a dark cavern about ten feet ahead. I couldn’t see a thing inside.

I knew my friends couldn’t see me, so I turned and yelled, “I made it!

Sonja waved her torch in confirmation, and then Stephen started across the bridge. I watched him make his way slowly like I did, and I tensed as he got to the middle. But nothing happened to him, and he continued toward me.

I winced from the pain in my shoulder, and the tightness in my chest had spread toward my abdomen. I checked the stats on my forearm and then blinked in confusion:

Hit Points: 13/16

But they were “14” when I checked before. Why had they dropped another point within a few minutes? Did I have internal injuries that I couldn’t feel?

Now that I was on solid ground, it was time for some magical healing. I put my left hand on my right shoulder, focused on the divine magic in my Ancestral blood, and muttered, “Enhanced Healing Touch.”

Warm energy rolled down my left arm and into my hand, then into my shoulder, soothing it like a warm compress and taking away the pain. When the spell ended, my shoulder felt as good as new.

I checked my stats:

Hit Points: 16/16

Magic Points: 3/5

My Hit Points were green, but my Magic Points were red since they were not full strength. I was about to look away when I noticed my Hit Points turn red again:

Hit Points: 14/16

“What?” I muttered.

Why were my Hit Points still going down? Even as I stared at them, they ticked down to “13/16.”

Stephen approached swiftly now that he had reached the end of the bridge. He bounded up the last few steps and landed on the rocky surface with a relieved sigh.

“I hate bridges. Even solidly built ones. I even hated driving over—”

“I have a problem,” I said, as my Hit Points ticked down to “12.” The tightness in my chest and abdomen became a growing ache that had nothing to do with getting scared on the bridge.

“Is it the attack you mentioned?”

“I think—ahhh!”

The pain in my abdomen exploded, as if my guts were being sawed open with a serrated knife. I doubled over, started coughing, and blood sprayed from my lips.

“Enhanced Healing Touch,” I gasped in between coughs. The divine magic once again encased my body in a peaceful warmth. The stabbing pain in my guts evaporated, and the blood stopped flowing from my mouth. I looked at my forearm:

Hit Points: 14/16

But as I stared at it a few seconds, my Hit Points ticked down to “13,” and the tightness in my chest returned.

Stephen scrambled for one of the sacks on his belt, pulled out a blathering aberration’s rotting eyeball, and popped it into his mouth. He hurriedly chewed it, swallowed, and then pointed his hands at me and said, “Identify!”

Dark mist floated from his eyes as he scanned my body up and down. During his scan, the pain returned to the same white-hot level as before. I collapsed to the ground, more blood spewing from my mouth. I barely noticed the nausea I got from Stephen’s magic.

I only had one Magic Point left, so another “Enhanced Healing Touch” was out of the question. I looked at my forearm as I lay in a fetal position to see I was down to “10/16” Hit Points.

Had that creature cursed me?

“This is bad,” Stephen breathed, still scanning me with that faraway look. “This is so bad.”

“What?” I gasped, then gagged up another gout of blood.

“Something’s inside you. And it’s eating you.”

The horror of that diagnosis was so awful that I couldn’t even scream. My internal organs were on fire, and it certainly felt like a monster was eating its way through me. And my Hit Points were down to “8/16.”

All I could manage was, “Get it out.”

“I might be able to, but…” Stephen leaned forward so that I could see his face. “I need to use Krait’s magic on you.”

No! I felt Mace cry out. Absolutely not! I will die before I let that heathen god’s vile essence pollute my body!

His resistance to the idea was so strong that it even made me hesitate. I could feel his revulsion, his willingness to let the monster eat its way through my chest like that thing from Alien—better a horrible death like that than being healed by Krait’s evil magic.

I opened my mouth to tell Stephen to do whatever the hell he needed to do to save my life and end this agony. Blood trickled from my mouth as I gurgled, “Don’t touch me with your filthy magic.”

Stephen’s eyes widened. So did mine.

I didn’t mean to say that!

I opened my mouth again to tell Stephen to cure me, but out came a raspy, “I’d rather die.”

Damnit, Mace! I couldn’t control him at all. The thought of Stephen’s magic curing him felt akin to him damning his eternal soul. Better to die in the physical realm and live eternally as a spirit than lose his soul.

I thought it was idiocy of the highest order.

Stephen’s lips curled up in anger. He sniffed once and said, “Chris, if you’re in there, you have to overcome Mace’s resistance to my magic. It only works on ‘willing’ creatures. Otherwise, you will die.”

I’m trying, goddamn it! I meant to shout, but all that came out was a bloody snarl. I could feel Mace’s resistance to Stephen’s spell and even saw it in my mind's eye as a hazy blue glow upon my skin. I tried focusing on it, ordering it to turn off, disperse, whatever, but it wouldn’t go away. It was locked in place, and I had no idea what the key was.

My forearm said I had “4” Hit Points. I had no more Magic Points left. I was going to die.

But I didn’t want to die. Not again. I didn’t want to start at the beginning, waste time, and force Sonja and Stephen to retrieve me from the Spawn Room. Hell, I wouldn’t blame them if they just left me there and pushed on for Constantine. Mace had been nothing but trouble from the beginning, from killing Stephen in a fit of prejudiced rage to running off after goblins by himself. Now he wanted to deny the only cure that would save his life.

This is why I hate playing paladins! I screamed in my mind.

“Chris, talk to me,” Stephen yelled into my face. And then, in a softer tone, “Come on, buddy, get Mace to stop resisting. I know you can do it.”

I opened my mouth again in vain to tell Stephen to heal me, but only a wet gurgle came out.

My Hit Points went down to “1.” Then I thought, Mace, you and I need to work this out. After I rest a bit…

I closed my eyes.