We returned to the [Archmage's] home to check in with the crew. The once bustling quarters were almost empty.

  Argin paced, her granite legs grinding as she brooded. Tandy stared out into space as if she'd been asked to drown a sack of kittens. Ash was oddly quiet as he tinkered with a dyanonnomite shell.

  "I bet whatever's got them down is about to ruin your day," Meredeath murmured, her eyes on Briyain's bowl.

  You're late, the aquatic nightmare stated. You missed dinner. Missing dinner is responsible for 30 [Pet] deaths every year. Cole is in danger.

  I rolled my eyes at the Tuli Monster. Briyain needed to keep his thoughts in his fishbowl.

  "What's going on?" It was telling that not even Tandy raised her head to answer my question.

  Richard stuck two tentacles out in my direction like a toddler wanting to be picked up.

  I grabbed him from Tandy's shoulders. He curled up tight against the back of my neck.

  "They've decided there isn't enough time to save the bottom dwellers. If they're infected or refuse to evacuate, they're just going to bring the city down on them anyway." Tandy waved her hand at me, forestalling my objection. "They've calculated that the rate of infection is increasing. If they don't act soon, over a third of the population will be infected by the end of the week."

  We were talking about thousands of people. The kids in the ball game.

  There had to be some sort of magical or maganical solution.

  "What's the rush? Why don't we just evacuate everyone who's not infected while we work on the rest of the population?" I didn't see why we had to do this now. we had time to work on the problem.

  "It's the [Corruption]. A lot of the early Stone Wardens died fighting [Corruption], and once they found out that the Fire Wyrm is loose, they’re committed to do whatever it takes. I'm pretty sure they'd bring the entire mountain down today, with everyone in the city, if the city council would let them."

  Tandy put a tear in her practice fabric as she spoke.

  “Someone even suggested putting a bounty on the infected and sending the Paladins of the Hunt after them.” A click followed Ash's words, as he put together another detonator.

  “They’d commit genocide?” I was flabbergasted.

  “They’re already planning it.” Tandy ripped out stitches on her practice cloth, emphasizing her anger.

  They all sounded defeated.

  "I just don't understand how they can justify it? They’ve become monsters." Argin had stopped pacing. She looked at me with haunted marble eyes. If she'd still been human, I was sure she'd have been crying.

  Maybe that was the problem.

  "Argin, did you know your ancestors could come back to life?"

  The stone giant was quiet for a moment as she brought her emotions under control.

  "There were stories, but none of them have animated in my family's lifetime. Not for a couple of hundred years. We thought it was magic that we lost. Or that magic had weakened, and it was no longer possible."

  My mind raced. These Stone Wardens were nearly [Immortal]. That separation from their people must be influencing their reasoning.

  “Argin.” I stopped pacing, trying to soften my words. “Do you still feel human?”

  "Cole, that's not a kind question," Tandy chastised me. The time for kindness was long past, we needed answers. I didn't rescind the question, but patiently waited as Argin struggled to answer.

  "No, not exactly. I feel different. It's not a wrongness, but my body is different, hard and everything else in the world is much, much softer. I feel like me, but I'm not exactly human anymore."

  Alright, I needed a couple of last pieces to see if the picture I was putting together was accurate.

  "Meredeath, when you were communing with Argin's great-great-auntie, why'd your skill work? I didn't think you could talk to rocks."

  Meredeath frowned, unsure what I was getting at. Briyain, however, jumped to the conclusion.

  She talks to the dead. I can attest that the dead care little for the living. Mystery solved. Can I have dinner now?

  I reached into my pocket, finding a jelly bean. It turned out that the Tuli Monster had a bit of a sweet tooth. Flipping it into his bowl, I had one last question. This one was going to hurt.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  "Alright, my last question is for you, Richard."

  I'm sure I'm not going to like it. He curled a little tighter against my neck. I wasn't sure whether he needed comfort or was threatening to choke me. Either way, I'd thought about this for a long time, and it was time to know the truth.

  "Richard, do you feel different? You've been an [Immortal] for hundreds of years. You’ve been a slug for most of that time, do you feel like a human still?" The group grew quiet. Ash stopped fidgeting, and Tandy looked up from her practice cloth.

  Briyain was the only one that ignored everyone as he chewed on his jelly.

  Argin might have well have become a statue. Richard silently squeezed against my neck as though he was expecting the question, but wished that I hadn't asked it.

  A pin could drop in the room, and we all would have heard it.

  The silence was broken by a small flurrrp from Briyain's bowl. Several air bubbles were released.

  Briyain sorry, I have been known to have stress flatulence from tardy dinners. A sulfurous, rotting algae smell slowly dissipated into the room.

  Meredeath took a deep breath, as she choked mid-belly laugh on the stench. Ash started giggling, he was never good at holding back laughter. By the end, I had tears streaming down my face as I gagged on Briyain's moment of weakness.

  Ribs aching, I picked Richard up and put him on the coffee table in front of the crew.

  He looked up at me, his tentacles imploring whether we really had to do this. I gave him a slight nod. It was time to know the truth.

  I do not feel human anymore. Argin and I were the only unsurprised ones in the room. I'd thought about it for a long time, Richard, and his old mentor in the library. Sentient non-humans like Briyain weren't terribly common.

  Richard had once been human, just like Rhi Voss and Argin. Like Raif.

  I looked up at Argin as Richard continued. I was slowly transformed into a slug over many years, an avoidable byproduct of my class. Unfortunately, I just couldn't stop myself from using the powers that transformed me. And then, I was a full-time slug. I've been like this for hundreds of years. It happens gradually, that loss of humanity. Rhi probably doesn't even realize how much she's lost. And Raif.

  And the [System] I added in my head. I had other theories about many of the powerful beings that ran our world. They all knew each other, and Richard's confirmation that he, once, had been human was all I needed to start really putting all the pieces together.

  Just like I was in danger of becoming.

  "So, are you saying that the Stone Wardens are not human anymore?" There was a long pause and a sniffle. We all pretended not to notice. "Am I no longer human?"

  Richard uncurled and reached out his tentacles towards Argin as though he was sniffing the air. Evaluating her humanity.

  Nah, you're still human. It takes a good hundred years to lose that spark.

  I mean, as consolations from a slug go, that one was okay. Maybe he had a heart.

  Although I have slime, which gives me + 10 to [Soul Power], so it's possible you don't have a soul.

  "You just made that up."

  Did I? Richard started grooming himself.

  "Okay, so Cole. Are you saying that the Stone Wardens are undead, or no longer human... and that's why they're willing to sacrifice a quarter of the town to the plague? That seems a bit of a stretch. I don't agree with their policies, but they're still in there. That one guy helped you save Richard." Tandy paused, I could tell her mind was racing. She was tearing at her practice cloth again. "Is that why you and Meredeath are so hesitant to practice your powers?"

  I cringed. I'd been chasing Richard's secret so hard that I didn’t want to admit what it meant for me. Meredeath was on it though.

  "You think you could get your new class from an undead papery hag and not have a few doubts?"

  I mean, I'd been worried as my body rearranged itself. Getting [Gills] still wigged me out when I thought about it too hard. I'd been worried I was becoming some half-human monster. Richard looked at me, his tentacles waving. I couldn’t meet his gaze, I wasn’t ready to confront slowly becoming a real-life slug.

  "Wait, guys. What would happen if Richard died? Would Cole still turn into a slug?" Ash was jumping to a few conclusions a lot quicker than I wanted anyone to.

  "I'm not turning into a slug, you guys."

  Ash waved my objection away. He took out a sheaf of paper and a grease marker and began sketching the plume.

  "Look, the bond or infection is magical. It's coming from something. If we can destroy the source, it should go away, right? It's the same plume that's on Raif, right? They're bonded to Raif."

  We looked at the sketch as he drew an outline of the big Rock Slug sitting at the heart of the underground caverns in Cersapil.

  I'm [Immortal] so the analogy is flawed. Richard looked at Ash's drawing. But if you killed Briyain, his influence over Meredeath and the [Party] would cease. If you killed Raif, I'm not sure the citizens would return to their normal selves, but they'd be free of his influence. It depends on how far the mworms have burrowed.

  "Why do you think they've been targeting the lowest level of the city?" Tandy asked thoughtfully. It was obvious she had some theories, but she wanted us to talk it out with her.

  "Convenience?" Ash threw out.

  "No one cares about poor people." Meredeath added her idea.

  "The better question is what do they get out of having so many minions? Meredeath and I watched some kids playing ball today. Those with the plumes moved so much better, so much smoother." It'd been teasing the back of my head. Why create an army of minions? The mworms didn't seem to do anything insidious. Those kids weren't planning a rebellion, they were playing in the street. Half dream state or not, they were living the life of normal kids. "Why do that? Those kids aren’t going to fight the city guard?"

  It's Raif. Richard drawled. He's the one with the mind-bending powers. He's always had a soft spot for children, donated to orphanages, sponsored local ball teams, championed public schools. It's why I found it so odd that he'd fallen to [Corruption], he was always so stalwart. Never in a million years did I expect him to lead to the collapse of a city, not when innocents would die.

  "What if he hasn't?" Tandy said suddenly. "When I was under his influence, it didn't come across as malevolent. In a lot of ways, he was encouraging me to remember my love of music."

  "Like he was hinting at how to unlock your magic?" As soon as I said it, I knew I was right. "Maybe Raif hasn't gone over to [Corruption] after all."

  Or maybe you've had one too many brain worms crawling around in your head.

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