Chapter 25: The Secret I Never Wanted to Hear (1)

Ebony tried to recover after such a traumatic event, kneeling on the grass while her companion Cristofer, a near-undead, continued trembling with his head lowered.

“(That bitch… That thing… It was a necromancer…)” Ebony thought as she watched her blonde hair get stained by drops of her own vomit.

She tried to sit up for a minute while holding her head because of the intense pain she felt, the presence of that man dressed in black had left her completely dazed.

“(In the original game… that thing wasn’t alive, there was definitely no one like that bastard! That thing isn’t even a living being… It’s death itself… I can’t believe something like that exists…)” the blonde thought in frustration.

For a Healer, life was positive energy in its purest form; death, on the other hand, was the absence of life, it was a zero, and the undead were negative energy that devoured life itself.

But that man, with just a single step, smothered both energies, as if he were neither positive nor negative, not even a zero. To Ebony, that man was the expression of a natural force beyond positive and negative.

“(Now I understand why Richard doesn’t go near these inns, or any other monsters…)” The blonde tried to stand up while thinking, struggling to overcome her dizziness.

“(That bastard uses portal magic to move around, so whoever messes with his inn will die in seconds… I don’t think he’s very patient, not with a damn chain of inns like that… We got lucky.)” Ebony looked at her companion with pity.

Cristofer was worse off than she was; unlike her, he was just an animal driven purely by instinct at that moment.

For a second, the young woman felt so bad that she looked away from Cristofer. Just moments ago they had cheated death, but it wasn’t something to celebrate.

“(We almost died… Both of us… He… It’s my fault, if only I knew how to fix this stupid body… This wouldn’t have happened…)” Ebony kept thinking as her tears began to fall.

Cristofer, as if reacting to her emotions, moved closer to her like a wary cat, crawling across the ground and supporting himself with his hands.

The blue-eyed girl saw the bright green eyes of her companion; they were so devoid of life that they only made the weight in her heart heavier.

Ebony tried to lower her hand to stroke the boy’s hair, but as his instincts dictated, he took advantage of the moment and tried to bite her when he felt the warmth of her skin getting close.

The blonde pulled her hand away just in time, but with the necromancer gone, Cristofer began letting out animal-like whimpers before lunging at Ebony.

“Snap out of it, idiot! I’m not a damn snack!” the blonde shouted as she was pinned to the ground, using her arms to push the zombie away from her flesh by grabbing his shoulders.

“Damn it… If only he could be purified…” Ebony kept trying to think of what to do despite the danger she was in.

In the original game, “Board of Towers and Legends,” the undead weren’t a race of their own yet; they were more like annoying monsters tied to specific areas of the map.

Back then, zombies didn’t spread their curse through bites or cuts like what had happened to her friend after being captured by a ghoul that infected him through a wound.

But among her memories, Ebony suddenly connected a thought—her Healer trait was broken.

She couldn’t heal her allies, but she could

heal her enemies, and according to the laws of that world, that shouldn’t be possible, since you could only heal those you cared about or felt affection for.

However, that very realization sparked an idea that made her blue eyes shine.

“(If I can heal my enemies despite wanting to kill them or hurt them… that means my trait might be so broken that it recognizes as allies those I think are my enemies…)” Her eyes widened in shock.

With a quick movement using her leg, Ebony managed to kick Cristofer away from her, buying herself a few seconds.

“(If that’s the case… then right now I might be able to heal him… Technically, he’s my enemy.)” Ebony couldn’t help but smile faintly as hope surged inside her.

The zombie lunged at her with his jaw wide open, nearly dislocating it as he tried to bite the small blonde’s neck.

But at that moment, Ebony raised her hand and spoke a single word.

“Heal…”

{{Life Magic: Purification}}

A greenish glow began to cover Cristofer, who froze as he felt the magic coursing through his body. In that instant, he began to writhe in pain.

Cristofer’s body started releasing a bright green vapor from every pore and even from his mouth, as if he were burning from the inside.

After several moments of intense pain and loud screams like those of a wounded animal, Cristofer collapsed onto the ground.

Amid the grass and under the dim glow of the inn’s lamp, something changed—Cristofer’s face was no longer pale, his skin regained the color of life.

“Yes… Yes… YES! Hell YES! I knew I could fix it with a bit of ingenuity!” Ebony shouted in celebration before kneeling beside the boy.

She began checking his pulse and body temperature; both were alarming. His heart was racing uncontrollably, and his temperature was so high that Ebony thought he might still die despite her help.

“Hey, hey, you idiot soul, breathe, focus, you can get through this…” She adjusted the boy’s head onto her lap while trying to calm him down.

Feeling his life so faint, like a candle about to go out, only made things worse.

“Heal!”

{{Life Magic: Healing}}

A green glow once again wrapped around the boy’s body, but this time there was no reaction—he was still fighting for his life.

Ebony already knew it wouldn’t work, but she couldn’t bring herself not to try.

Deep down, she finally understood her trait: she could only heal those she saw as enemies, not her allies. And now that Cristofer was alive again, she couldn’t heal him—meaning he was going to die because of her anyway.

“(Maybe… I should’ve waited for them to arrive… If he had stayed a zombie a bit longer, they would’ve saved him… Damn it… Don’t die, idiot!)” Ebony hugged the head of the barely fifteen-year-old boy.

The blonde girl couldn’t withstand so many emotions piling up one after another and ended up letting her tears fall onto Cristofer’s face.

“Hey… Idiot, stop crying on my face… I’m trying to sleep…” the boy said, barely opening his eyes.

“YOU MORON! You’re awake… Stay with me, don’t fall asleep, hold on, they’ll be here to help you soon, please don’t fall asleep!” Ebony started thinking, remembering she still had a couple of healing potions left.

But when she tried to give the potions to Cristofer, he didn’t improve even a little.

“Hey, shorty… I don’t think I’m gonna make it… Can I tell you something?” the boy said, forcing a faint smile with all his strength.

“Go to hell, idiot! What do you think I am, a walking will? Whatever you want to do, do it yourself—so survive!” Ebony snapped back, furious, exhausted, worried, and above all, terrified.

“It’s important, shorty… I… The truth is… I’m not part of the Cult of Promises…” Cristofer said as he clung to life, unwilling to take that secret to the grave.

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