The air was just as foul and dank as it was at the entrance, if not worse now. Ted had stopped a short way inside and waited for the rest of the group. He felt his legs wobble once he realized that the other's weren't right behind him. 

 

"It's a bit scary alone in the dark."

 

A nervous moments later, the rest of the party had caught up to him.

 

"Oh hey, there you are, I was beginning to wonder if I should clear the dungeon by myself." He said to them, but fooling no one since his kneecaps kept clacking together. 

 

"Don't split the party, idiot." Phil chided him and lightly smack him across the head. 

 

"I'm glad you're safe though." Karen said with a small sigh of relief. 

 

"Aww, she cares about me." Ted sang lightly to annoy her. 

 

"Yeah, well, don't expect it to happen again." she replied.

 

A slight creaking sound was all the warning that they had as a spear came careening out of the darkness and spearing Ted through stomach. 

 

"Ted!" Phil and Karen yelled out in horror. 

 

No one was on guard. No one had expected the sudden attack. They had just entered the dungeon. And they had no experience in a fight.

 

Shhhk.

 

Shhhk.

 

The sound of bone scraping against stone echoed through the chamber. A pair of glowing red eyes shimmered in the darkness. They were drawing closer.

 

Shhhk.

 

Shhhk.

 

Another pair of eyes appeared. 

 

Then, another.

 

Phil and Karen stood paralyzed in fear and indecision. Ted collapsed onto the ground, overcome by fear.

 

"No." Karen whispered. Her body unconsciously took a step back. Then, she screamed. "NO!"

 

She started to run. 

 

"Stop." Zephyra commanded. 

 

[Contract Command Activated]

 

Karen's body froze mid step. A foreign compulsion kept her body from responding to her own will. 

 

"Don't panic. Come back. Prepare to cast. Zephyra continued. 

 

The fear immediately quelled down inside of Karen. Although, it was still very prevalent. Her body turned a complete one hundred and eighty degrees, took two steps forward, steadied her stance and raised her staff. 

 

"Phil. Face front. Shield up. Prepare to fight. We're counting on you."

 

[Contract Command Activated]

 

Phil responded immediately. The desire to protect his friends combined with her commands, his body didn't even try to resist the compulsion and welcomed it. 

 

Thock. 

 

A lazy swipe of the sword collided with his shield. It had barely any strength behind it. Phil grinned. The skeleton was seriously weak! 

 

Zephyra turned toward the unfortunate bard and bent over him.

 

"I'm sorry. They shouldn't have been able to throw a spear like that at all." She shook her head, shrugged and giggled. "You better pull that thing out of you. You look like a pin cushion."

 

Ted's eyes widened in horror as his hands moved on their own to the shaft of the spear. 

 

"Woah! Woah! Wai-wai-wait! Wouldn't it be better if you pulled it out?" 

 

Zephyra looked at him blankly for a moment, pursed her lips, and placed a finger on her lips. 

 

"Hmmm, nope!" She said cheerfully. "I don't know how to pull one out. And, I don't think that I have the strength to do it either. You should be fine though."

 

"Wh-what? I can't do it!" Ted said panicking. 

 

"You'll look really silly with a spear in your stomach the rest of your life." Zephyra giggled.

 

"I'm dying though!"

 

"Oh, don't be dramatic. I told you, didn't I?" A smile that was positively beaming lit up the corridor. "I won't let you die."

 

Zephyra placed her hands on Ted's and lifted it gently. 

 

"You're all very important to me." She said warmly.

 

"Zephyra, I love-" Ted started.

 

His hands suddenly met the wooden shaft of the spear as she maneuvered them toward it. 

 

"Pull. It. Out."

 

[Contract Command Activated]

 

Phil had managed to defeat one of the skeletons without too much trouble. He had a lot of luck though.

 

 He wasn't very experienced, or very well trained compared to most [Warriors]. But, if his sword instructor from the guild had seen his fight, he probably would have torn all of his hair out. Phil had immediately forgotten every stance and technique he was ever taught and simply swung his sword around willy nilly. He seemed like he had never touched a sword a day in his life. Fortunately, the skeleton was very weak and very slow. 

 

One of the wild swings clipped the skeletons and it immediately fell apart with a lot of clacking. 

 

And, somehow Karen had managed to defeat the other skeleton. Although, it had taken her way longer than it ever should have to cast a spell. Her teeth kept chattering with nerves and she stumbled  over and bit her tongue while trying to pronounce the words to her spell. But, she eventually cast it, nearly lighting Phil on fire in the process. 

 

"[Fire Magic: Spark]!" She shouted at the end of the incantation, closing her eyes and turning her head in the other direction. 

 

The spark of flame bounced off of Phil's armor plate, colliding with the wall and then bounced onto the skeleton by happenstance. 

 

It should be mentioned that spark is considered a 0th tier spell. Typically, it was used to start a campfire and was not well suited for combat. As a result, it was something of a miracle that it managed to ignite the debris surrounding the skeleton at all. It also told volumes about the quality of the skeleton itself to be defeated by a 0th level spark. 

 

Nevertheless, the group emerged victorious. 

 

Phil killed one skeleton. Karen killed one skeleton. And, Ted unimpaled one spear.

 

"There, there, that wasn't so bad was it?" Zephyra pet Ted's hair as tears streamed down his eyes. He was in heaven and he was in hell.

 

"Is he alright?" Karen had collapsed after she had defeated her skeleton and watched her treat him.

 

"He'll live. The easy part is done. You can leave the hard part up to me." Zephyra said comfortingly.

 

"Th-the easy part?" Ted choked. 

 

A dozen, or so, needles rose up all around Zephyra. They glowed with a ghastly pale green blue color. 

 

"Of course. The hard part is that I'm going to need to sew the wound shut. Or, else it'll just get worse." 

 

"W-wait!" Karen called out. Her face turning pale, she hated needles. "Couldn't you just cast cure wounds instead?"

 

The spell cure wounds was a beginner level spell for divine spellcasters, most casters weren't regarded as a healer without it.

 

"Cure wounds?" Zephyra asked with a blank stare. "I don't have any spell like that."

 

The needles descended on Ted with ruthless efficiency. However, much to Phil's and Karen's surprise, he didn't cry out in pain much as she worked. It only took a few moments before Ted was standing with his stomach patched with a few neatly sewn stitches. 

 

"Tah-dah! Good as new!" Zephyra announced, clearly pleased with her handiwork. 

 

"Huh. It didn't hurt. It doesn't hurt." Ted stated while feeling the stitches with his fingers. "Why doesn't it hurt?" 

 

He had been treated by doctors and clerics alike over the course of his many years of mishaps. However, there was always some residual pain, soreness, or stiffness from the procedures. Even if magic was involved in fixing him up. But, he felt completely fine now. 

 

"Geez, be careful with the stitches! You don't wanna open it up again." Zephyra chided him and sighed. "Right after I had made it look so nice too…"

 

"What did- how did you do that? I haven't seen anyone use needles that proficiently." He froze as a realization suddenly dawned on him. "There wasn't any blood either."

 

"Well, yeah. The biggest problem with healing magic is that it doesn't replace blood. So, if you lose enough from your wounds you can still die of blood loss." Zephyra stood up and raised her head proudly. "Hehe, but, yours truly discovered a way to get around the blood loss!"

 

"You mean…" Karen said trying to wrap her head around it. "Our healer is a genius?"

 

"She's a hard worker?" Phil thought.

 

"Our goddess is an actual goddess?" Ted wondered. 

 

"I used the natural life repelling nature of necrotic energies to keep the life blood inside!" Zephyra said triumphantly. 

 

Dead silence.

 

"Ah, wait. That was supposed to be a secret." Zephyra muttered to herself. Her face heating up into a blush. "Um, surprise?"

 

"Eh?!" All three shouted. "Help! Our healer is a necromancer!"