Inkitt Link, for those interested.

While everyone was being silent and lost in their own worries about things, I took some time after our conversation to sit, hold Crystal, and meditate. I’d been taught how to feel my magic, how to control it, and I knew it as well as I knew the back of my own hand. Probably better, honestly.

If there was something wrong with my magic, I was determined to find it.

Breathing slow and steady, I pulled upon my own inner essence of Earth and traced each and every flow, weave, and circulation of the magic in and out of my body. I figured since the corruption had attacked me while I was channeling the magic of the earth, the greatest chance of my being corrupted lay within it – but I found nothing at all wrong. The darkness had tried to grab a hold on me through the flows of Earth, but my control and mastery over my own talent was too great and I’d successfully fought it off.

A quick, cursorily glance at the flows of Air, Water, and Fire also showed no signs of any corruption. Fire, by its nature, tended to burnout before it got corrupted – or else it feed off whatever was trying to corrupt it and simply grew stronger. Air was a magic that could be corrupted easily – but then it’d simply drift off and separate like smoke in the wind. It was too peripatetic, moving and circulating too much for any real darkness to settle on it.

As for the magic of Chaos… I didn’t even bother to worry with checking it. Anything that could corrupt and taint something as unstable as the energy of Chaos wasn’t anything I could deal with. The same with the magic of Order. Ritualistic, rule-bound, inflexible. Corrupt the magic of Order, and it’s no longer Orderly. It simply ceases to be.

That left only the flows of Life and Death within myself to trace and account for, and it only took a moment for me to locate the issue when I was actually looking for it. Creating Heartblade had required a sacrifice of a piece of my life; a small portion of my soul; and the taint had used that wound to spread its influence into my innermost essence.

My life, and even my very soul, had been corrupted and darkened by the taint all around us!

“Oooohhh!” Opening my eyes, I stared directly at Crystal and informed her, “I’m telling!” I know it was a serious situation; but I just couldn’t help myself. If one can’t enjoy life while dangling from the end of a noose at high noon, when will they?

Laughing slightly, Crystal leaned up and gently kissed me on the forehead. “And what, pray tell, are you telling, My Lord?”

“It’s got me! I’ve been corrupted!” I told her, excitedly.

“Poor taint!” Laughing, she simply snuggled up and stroked my hair slightly. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know yet,” I told her, seriously. “Part of me is tempted to try and force it out and free myself with my magic. A separate part of me is tempted to wait a bit and see what this taint wants from me. What it’s going to try and do to me, or want me to do. If we can assume that it took control of David, it might try and make me do the same thing he did. We may be able to use it as a lead to find the others.”

“Vetoed,” Crystal said, as she flicked me across the nose.

“Vetoed?”

“Yep. I veto that idea. It’s not going to happen.”

“Hey now! Who said you get to veto my ideas?” I asked.

“I did,” she answered calmly. “Is that a problem, My Lord?” She was staring at me, as if daring me to say that it was.

“Umm… Aren’t you my servant?” I whispered quietly, so no one else could hear.

“Absolutely,” Crystal confirmed, “and I’m serving by vetoing the idea. Now that we’ve settled that issue, tell me how you’re going to remove the taint and heal yourself.”

“I don’t know if I want to now,” I muttered, pouting.

“Doesn’t matter.” Crystal shrugged and grinned evilly at me. “You’ll do it whether you want to or not.”

“And why’s that?” I had to ask, since she sounded so certain of herself.

“Because I asked you to, and I’ll be worried and sad if you don’t. You don’t want me to be sad, do you?” She fluttered her eyelashes and rocked her chest left and right slightly, making her breasts sway slowly and hypnotically from side to side.

“That’s just mean. And manipulative.” Even knowing what she was doing, I couldn’t help but stare, enthralled by her shameless behavior and her pure beauty.

“It is,” Crystal agreed readily. “It’s also effective.”

“Fine!” I couldn’t help but laugh – she truly was one unusual woman! And, it’s not like I’d honestly given the idea more than a passing thought. Perhaps if it was Dino who was tainted, I’d allow the corruption to alter him so we could divine its purpose. Myself though? I was afraid if I truly lost control, there wouldn’t be anyone here who could currently stop me. Temptation was there to see what the taint would do, what it wanted, but so was the danger that if it grew too strong, I’d lose trying to exorcise it.

Glancing around, the others were all busy doing their own things, and no one was paying us any real attention. Mongo and Skeet were polishing weapons and cleaning their armor so they’d be prepared for whenever Jess finally gave the ‘all clear’ on leaving. As for Jess, she was in the other room again with Dino, tending to the two sick girls.

If it wasn’t for Crystal being with me, I would’ve been sitting in the corner all alone. I give Dino heck over all the girls and such that hang all over him and toss themselves at him, but in the long run maybe he was the one who’d found a better way to live. Heck, I hadn’t even managed to find Crystal on my own; it was Le’Nara who purchased her and sent her to watch over me. Was I really that hopeless, forlorn, and anti-social?

For several moments, we sat in silence while I brooded to myself. It wasn’t until I realized that I was starting to feel envious of Dino that I burst out laughing. Pulling my robe wide open, exposing my bare self underneath, I grabbed ahold of Crystal and tugged her over into my lap. Pulling her in tight, I kissed her passionately --- and repeatedly! Moving my hands down, I tugged her up and lifted her skirt from where she half sat on it, before gently sitting her bare hips back down on top of mine.

“My Lord!” She looked shocked, but didn’t try and pull away. “Are you wanting me here?”

“I’m wanting to feel you here,” I told her seriously. “Is there a problem with that? When I started trying to think about ways to remove the corruption’s grip, it started trying to make me feel alone, isolated, and worthless.”

“No problem, My Lord.” Crystal smiled lightly, the leaned forward and kissed me passionately. “No problem if you wish to feel, or if you wish even more. I was simply shocked at the sudden change.”

“Sorry,” I blushed slightly. “I suppose it was simply my way of showing the corruption that I wasn’t alone. I didn’t mean to do anything to embarrass you.” Mongo and Skeet were now staring in our direction and whispering to each other, assumedly about us.

Snorting slightly, Crystal flicked her hair behind back over her shoulder with one free hand, and then slowly stood up. Without taking her gaze off mine, she unfastened her skirt, stepped out of it, and then tossed it over her shoulder towards Mongo and Skeet. It didn’t make it all the way to them, but she didn’t seem to notice at all. Slowly and calmly, while still staring deep into my eyes, she straddled my lap and then lowered herself down in it.

“I said I was surprised by My Lord’s actions,” Crystal reiterated. “I never said I objected to them, was embarrassed by them, or disliked them. My Lord should feel free to feel me anytime he so desires. If others find it objectionable, then they can simply get over it.” Leaning forward, she kissed me passionately several more times, before finally nuzzling forward to rest her body up against mine and hug me tightly.

“You truly are a lovely woman,” I told her honestly, as I pulled her head over slightly and nibbled on her ear gently a few times.

“I try to be,” Crystal replied quietly, as she relaxed and let herself rest gently against me.

I didn’t feel there was anything else that needed saying, so I gently pulled my robe closed around us both and held and rocked her gently while thinking over the problem before us. Of all the things to corrupt, Life and Death were two of my weakest talents. When I’d created Heartblade, it was only by replicating what I’d already felt from the stone around us.

It was sheer power, willpower, and tenacity to replicate the results so her sword matched the metal surrounding the graveyard that had allowed me to tear a chunk from my soul. I really had almost no understanding of what I’d did, and I certainly didn’t have any understanding of how to undo it.

Honestly, I didn’t think it’d even be possible to undo what I’d did. Even if one rips a chunk out of their arm, they simply can’t glue it back in place a week later and expect it to go back to normal. The piece of spirit I’d used had become part of Heartblade, and it wasn’t mine own anymore. There was no “undoing” it, and I had no clue on how to “heal” it.

Several hours came and passed, with Crystal simply relaxing and nuzzled tightly against me, while I mulled over various possible solutions. Jess came back in from tending the girls and thumped Dino to keep him from saying anything, or bothering us. Skeet and Mongo sat together with the two of them and they all whispered while staring in the corner we were in, looking concerned. I’m not certain exactly how we looked, or what they were thinking, but they seemed worried over Crystal and me.

“Eureka!” I yelled and Crystal half fell backwards out of my lap. Somehow, worrying about what the others were thinking had made my mind make one of those unfathomable leaps to an answer. “I’ve got it!” Looking down at Crystal, as she lay sprawled and enticingly in front of me, I laughed exuberantly and smiled while holding out a hand towards her.

“Marry me?” I asked, waiting for her to reach out and take my hand.