The Aspiring Archivist

Honestly, I can't be sure. It had Malum's purple color in it, though, which worries me.

Hopefully. Lerac gasped. "Woah." Immediately, the wound began to heal, the large gashes knitting back together. After only about a minute, it was gone without a trace. Lerac sat back, looking exhausted. "There is still that crystal that the god put in. I didn't want to remove it since it was embedded in his heart..."

"Yes." Lerac rushed to him and placed a hand on his torn-up chest. "This is pretty bad. If I can't heal him all the way, he's got maybe a minute left." It revealed his true form... and them he retreated. The coward.

Malum casually walked over to Wynn and kicked her in the stomach with enormous force. He then plunged the second crystal into TAAron's heart. As the trident hit him, Malum let out a deafening cry. His physical form seemed to tear away, revealing a different one underneath. A strangely beautiful man looked up at her. He wore white robes, and his hair glowed with the same purple color that the crystal had. Pure hatred was in his eyes. For once, Malum truly looked like a god. The form disintegrated into black energy and retreated, leaving TAAron bleeding on the floor.

That doesn't hurt him, Haly! Use me! Malum did not react as the fire consumed him. In fact, it didn't seem to burn him at all. "Silly halcyon. This time I made my own, proper body." He withdrew the crystal from TAAron's chest, which now glowed a powerfully bright red. "I can't do anything right now!" Malum, putting away the crystal he had used to cut TAAron, drew out a second. This one glowed with an evil purple light.

Malum, unfazed, stabbed Spekkio and kicked him away with unnatural force. "Help me?" He swapped out his dagger for a piece of white crystal, Stacis. Then he cut into TAAron's chest.

He laughed cruelly. "I don't think so..." TAAron, watch out! Malum lunged and grabbed the scholar, pulling him from the group with a knife to his neck. "You know, it took me a while to figure this out. How to get that little piece. It's harder than I thought."

"Yes, I-" Behind the group, a rift began glowing in the air, like a messy tear made in paper. Out stepped a man, unfamiliar in appearance but familiar in disposition. "Hello, friends. I'm here for TAAron."

Lerac shrugged. "I'll go, if that's acceptable. I always like poking around government structures."

"Okay... Let's go, then."

Lerac just hit Wynn with the dagger again. "Next time it's point-first." "Murder?" TAAron got even paler.

TAAron paled. "Death for you? Maybe I shouldn't. I... I..."

TAAron nodded. "...Right." Lerac hit Wynn in the head with the hilt of his dagger. "You can't just leave me alone in a random dimension, dirt-face."

"And I can't come with you?"

TAAron looked crestfallen. "Sounds good, I guess." "Well, I think Haly is... leaving."

"Okay. So, you're going?"

"So, you're betrothed, but you and, well, me..."

TAAron looked surprised. "Betrothed? Interesting... Haly, you seem ill at ease."

TAAron looked concerned, and walked up to the pair. "What's going on?" "Thanks, Spekkio."

Sighing, TAAron launched himself after Spekkio again. This time, he grabbed on, and held with pewter.

"I don't know. I've got a weird bracelet on, and I just sort of look different."

"Myself... but different. I look happy.

Without knowing what he was doing, TAAron burned gold. He skidded to a halt. "What..." He almost didn't realize it at first, but he had caught a brief glimpse of his reflection a few times now. It was him. Except somehow, he was different. He wore different clothes, had had a different hairstyle. He looked at ease, even happy. On his wrist there was a strange crystal bracelet that glowed with a white light. How strange...