Dargon sheathed his sword and turned away from the slew of zombies he had just defeated; each one looked like one of Vale's citizens. Disgusted, he turned to Felix, who, while still looking about the same as he normally did, was obviously saddened by his people's rather unfortunate transformation.

"Hey, are you okay, Felix?" Dargon asked.

"Huh? I'm fine." He shortly replied. "Let's just find Isaac." He said, stamping off. Felix knew something was wrong; it wasn't like Isaac to stomp off on his own, and he'd done so twice in less than a month. More disturbing still was the transformation of the people of Vale into zombies. . . he knew of nothing that could do such a thing, because only tormented souls of the damned would rise again in the same body they once lived in; only the most evil of people could turn into zombies without some curse acting on them. Figuring the plague of Vale was a curse, Felix puzzled to remember where he'd remembered hearing about the curse of the dead. After thinking for a few moments, the memory hit him like a ton of bricks.

*******************************

"Felix, take a good look at this town." Saturos said, pointing from a cliff at a small hamlet in the middle of an open plain. It was calm and peaceful, with smokes rising from the stacks of each house. Felix could swear he saw children playing in the streets, while many adults hustled and bustled to get here and there.

"What about it?" Felix replied.

"This town has stood in our way in the past as we tried to cross through here. Now, we must pass through it again."

"Won't they just attack you?"

"That's the beauty of it; they will." The Mars Adept smiled.

"And, why would this be a good thing, Saturos?"

"Because, they will not know what hit them; I have an ace up my sleeve." Saturos replied, drawing his bastard sword. The Mars Adept removed a small rune from his pocket and held it up to Felix. "If I insert this rune into my sword, I will be able to harness the power of death itself. Each person I strike with its magical powers shall meet with Death, but his body shall not. Felix, with this weapon we can completely eradicate anyone who stands in our way."

"Saturos, normally I'd be tempted to agree, but if that rune does what you're implying, it might have some unforeseen repercussions. Meddling with the dead is not a mortal's business, my friend."

"I see you fail to see the potential here, Felix."

"I don't fail to see that, Saturos; I just also see the dangers of using a rune such as that. It's probably cursed." Felix returned, annoyed. Saturos scoffed at the Venus Adept. Why he had rescued him three years before he couldn't remember. The boy was far from a visionary. The determined Saturos placed the rune in the hilt of his sword, and a dark energy engulfed the entire blade. Now instead of being a shiny silver like a normal sword, the blade more resembled obsidian stone. Black, smooth, and shiny. Saturos' massive blade was frightening enough with its length alone; how the Adept could hold it in one hand was beyond most minds.

"Come, Felix. We shall see the power of the magic of my blade. Menardi, Alex! We're moving out!" Saturos shouted back to his companions, who were grudgingly cleaning up camp. "We're off to have some fun."

"Good, I was getting bored." Menardi stated, picking up her scythe. Alex picked up his staff and followed without saying a word. "So, it's that village again? I take it you're going to be using the Deth Rune in your sword?"

"Of course." Saturos smiled to his fellow Mars Adept. "Let's go. I want to give the people here a little treat." Saturos began walking down the hill and toward the town. The others followed, naturally. When they reached the town limits about ten minutes later, they were greeted by the local militia, who was less than thrilled to see them. Two score of men stand waiting, swords drawn and shields up.

"Surrender. We don't allow strangers here."

"We just seek to pass." Alex said. "Nothing more."

"Did I stutter, blue boy?"

"No, but I think you had a bit of a lisp." Saturos replied, smirking at the militiamen, egging them on to fight. Some of the men stepped forward, seeking to challenge the man. One actually charged in for an attack, but Saturos was quick with the block and pushed the pathetic swordsman out of the way. The man was irritated now and quickly pushed back for an attack. Saturos deflected the attack again and instead of merely dodging, he slammed the sword into the man's abdomen. Stunned, his comrades watched in horror as Saturos merely kicked his cadaver off the blade of his sword.

"You. . . You killed him! You. . ."

"SILENCE!" Saturos shouted. "There's more." He said, pointing to the cadaver. Then the men watched intently; the man's body seemed to decay rapidly, until the poor man was scarcely recognizable. Finally, the man stood back on his feet, skin flaking off his body in various places, and turned on his former comrades. The men, taken by this action of the necromancer-like raising of the dead, stood stunned, until the zombie murdered another of their group. He slowly arose like his comrade, dead and lifeless. Saturos now leapt forward and began slaying the militiamen two at a time, turning each of them into monsters with one touch of his sword. The newly made reanimated hordes of undead slowly began to move into the town, where screams of horror and pain were heard. Saturos and the others, who remained at the gate, stood and watched the carnage.

"Well done, Saturos. Though you best should remove that rune from your sword, lest you deplete its power." Menardi warned.

"Ah, I believe you're correct, Menardi." Saturos replied, removing the tiny stone from the handle of his sword. The blade instantly returned to its original shiny state; the rune promptly returned to Saturos's pocket. "This has been fun." He stated, evilly watching the people of the town run this way and that, screaming blue bloody murder about the zombies. "It's this kind of moment that I live for. The chaos, the destruction, the fear. It's perfect." Felix frowned behind his mask; this kind of chaos was uncalled for. They simply could've passed around the town and ignored it all together and avoided all of this trouble.

"So Felix, do you understand now?" Saturos asked.

"More than I ever cared to know, Saturos. More than I ever cared." He firmly stated.

"Good. One should always know more than he cares; this makes him crafty. Now then, let's move on. I want to reach Vale in less than a month. If we continue to move at this pace we should be able to make it. I want to have a word with this Kraden fellow."

**************************

"Hey, Felix? Earth to Felix?" Dargon's voice shattered Felix's memory and brought him back to life.

"What is it, Dargon?"

"You were thinking, weren't you? You know who did this, don't you?" Dargon pushed.

"Indeed I do, but their identities are not important until we find Isaac."

***************************

"How could this have happened?" Garet asked, walking through the streets, despairing at every sight of destruction. "Who did this, anyway?" Garet glanced down at some of the dead; they had been fellow Adepts who had trained in the arts of their element, but they obviously weren't enough. Each person was butchered brutally; their bodies devastated. Garet turned around to look at Jenna, who was trailing him by a couple of yards. He looked upon her, scrutinizing her carefully. The whites of her eyes were now a bloodshot red; she'd been crying very much. Who could blame her? She looked absolutely distraught, much like Isaac was after the loss of his mother. "Jenna? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She answered shortly.

"Now that's a lie I'd expect from Isaac: A bad one."

"Garet, don't poke fun!"

"I'm not; I was being serious. Come here." Garet said, pointing in front of him. Jenna didn't move. "Fine, I'm coming over there." He executed what he stated after he ended his statement. Jenna was very upset and looked awful; as bad as the day the boulder claimed her whole family. Garet rested a hand on his friend's shoulder before he continued. "Jenna, I know this is hard on you; it's been hard on all of us. I wish there was more that we could've done too, but there wasn't anything else to be done. I want you to know that I'm here for you whenever you need me, no matter what it's for. And if you can't talk to me, talk to Isaac or Ivan. They'd be more than happy to listen too."

"Garet, you may be an idiot sometimes, but you sure can say the right things." Jenna smiled. "Thank you."

"Hey, what are big oafs for?" Garet returned, smiling broadly. "Now, let's go find Isaac." He turned and marched ahead down the street. The stench of brimstone had more or less faded, though the stench of burned wood and flesh remained. The houses were now more or less burned out. All that was left of them was their outer skeletons. He gazed forth around the horizon, trying to guess where Isaac had disappeared to.

"GARET!" Jenna's voice called. Garet spun on his toes and saw Jenna struggling to keep a zombie from biting her throat. The creature had caught onto her shoulders and managed to knock her staff away from her. Jenna was using both her hands to try to push the zombie away, but it looked like the undead horror would win out in a will of strength.

"Jenna!" Garet shouted, lunging forward at the zombie, punching it in the head with all of his might. The ghoul released Jenna and staggered back several feet, and just as it recovered, it met with the pointy end of the Swift Sword. The creature fell limp around the blade, and Garet pushed the body off with his foot and turned back to his friend. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied, quietly. "Thank you, Garet. . ."

"Is something wrong, Jenna?"

"No, nothing's wrong." She said, picking up her Angelic Ankh. "Everything's fine."

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"I've nothing to hide."

"Then tell me why you're acting like this. It's not like you at all." Garet demanded, walking next to her.

"Well, I'm trying to think of how to say this. . ." Jenna replied, turning away.

"Say what?!" Garet demanded again, beginning to lose his patience.

"To hell with it." Jenna said, spinning around. She grabbed Garet and kissed him adoringly. Stunned, Garet wasn't sure exactly what to do. His mind raced everywhere at once, surprised by Jenna's sudden move. After she stopped, she looked directly into his red eyes. "Does that answer your question, Garet?"

"Um, uh. . ." He mumbled.

"I thought so." Jenna smiled. Garet continued his babbling for a few moments before he finally regained his composure.

"Jenna," Garet said quietly. "how long have you been keeping this from me?"

"A couple of years now, Garet. It just never was the right time. . ."

"I always thought you were irritated with me; I mean, you've been pretty critical. . ."

"Only because I care. Maybe I was just confused about my emotions. . . Speaking of which, if I may inquire as to your feelings, Garet?" Jenna asked. Garet's face blushed quickly and heavily; his epidermis resembled the color of his irises. It took him awhile to speak.

"I've felt the same way, though I didn't know how to say it to you; I always thought you had something for Isaac."

"I guess I did for awhile; I was torn. Both of you were so kind and caring, but I've always leaned toward you, Garet. My feelings became fully clear after I saw how Mia looked at Isaac after the siege of Imil. It was plain to me that she loved him deeply, and I was sure Isaac felt the same way; when Mia ran off to find him tonight I knew I was correct. Plus, I saw a little of myself when looking at Mia; she was in love with someone deeply; something I felt, but wasn't to grips with."

"So, you're saying Isaac and Mia. . ." Garet smirked. "Oh, I'm going to have some fun with this."

"And he's going to have a lot of fun when he finds out about you and I, Garet. I wouldn't mess with him; you know he'd beat you if you two ever got into a duel."

"Yeah, well. . . I still can tease him about it."

"Yes, you can." Jenna smiled. "Though I want in on it too."

"Done." Garet replied, smiling. He was glad not only to see that Jenna seemed like she would recover from the loss of Vale, but that he wasn't alone in his feeling of love. Garet had always had a crush on Jenna, even when he was younger; the Mars Adept had never gotten over it. His thoughts turned to Isaac; come to think of it, he and Mia always seemed close, even when they first met. It was a real head-slapper that he didn't figure it out sooner. His mind quit wandering when Jenna hugged him strongly; she had quite a grip, that's for sure. "Let's go find our group's other set of lovebirds, Garet. No telling how much trouble they've gotten into."