As Argrave stared in stunned silence, Garm seemed to be having quite a few problems. fđżeđČđđČbnđšđđl.com
âHow does one move their arm, again?â He studied Durranâs arms. âQuite nice arms, but my faculties appear to have eroded somewhat.â
âThe same way youâre talking, I imagine.â Argrave studied him, trying his best to act as though this situation wasnât abnormal.
Just then, Garm started to tip over, and Argrave lunged forward to catch him. As Garm laughed maniacally, he gently lowered him down to the floor of the rocking boat.
âI feel quite useless,â Garm said with a big smile on his face. âBut this body is a nicer decoration than a stake piercing the bottom of my skull where my spine ought to be.â
Argrave studied Garmâs eyes intensely. Just from their way of talking, it was impossible to mistake Garm for Durran. âWhy are you here? What did you two do?â
âWhy? Thatâs quite abstract. If I knew, I wouldnât have written you that stupid letter. âI donât care for sappy stuff, but I wish for you to know I consider you a friend.â Bleh.â He fake-vomited. âWhy did I ever think to write that? Still, did you cry?â
Argrave looked away.
âAhhh, I can see it. You cried like a bitch. Hahahahaha!â Garm laughed happily. âIâm here because the universe decided Durran is incompetent, and he canât do the job alone. Why else?â He paused. âThe man is very angry at me for saying so, but itâs true. You see, rummaging around in his body, Iâve figured things out about our powers. Oh, yesâpowers.â
Argrave was alarmed by the possibility there might yet be more yet unpacked, but said nothing to draw attention. âSuch as?â
âI understand how to listen to the voices of the dead. He doesnât,â Garm explained simply. âIf you take me back to where we were, with that woman crying over himâshe looked a little like you, come to think of itâI could stand upright amidst the waves of death and decay, and parse the mystery from the misery.â
âYou canât stand upright now,â Argrave pointed out, thought felt disquieted when he wondered how they might explain this to Elenore.
âIâll get the hang of it,â Garm coped. âMastery over deathâthatâs what I bring to the table. Itâs my power. Mine. Durran wasnât man enough to use itâme, though, Iâve seen deaths uncountable. Iâve taken baths in bloodâwhich is a rather ineffective skin treatment, despite rumors to the contrary. It seems heâs made a habit of tossing away perfectly good gifts. Itâs quite the wasteful thing, to bestow the grandest necromantic soul of the age upon one who nigh entirely disregards his specialty.â
Argrave had been an attentive listener, and so asked a pertinent question. âYou say thatâs your power. Whatâs Durranâs?â
âHis? He would know better. Oh!â Garm looked down at his hands. âIâm moving my fingers! No, theyâre not âyour fingers,â Durran. At worst, I can call them âour fingers.ââ
âHave him describe it,â Argrave pressed the issue. âYou saw your power, locked within. Whatâs his?â
Garm listened, then relayed, âHe says he doesnât yet fully know yet, but he knows that itâs useful in combat, and itâs quite powerful.â
âWellâŠâ Argrave nodded. âMaybe thereâs someone I know that can help us out with this whole dilemma.â
âWho might that be?â Garm smiled pleasantly.
âYouâve met him,â Argrave replied simply. âAs a matter of fact, you struck a deal with him behind my back. Do you remember that?â
âDurran?â Garm narrowed his eyes.
âTaller,â Argrave said, and took some joy in watching Garmâs face harden.
âItâs difficult to say if they could be parted,â Raven mused while examining Garm. The man stayed eerily still with extreme trepidation, not knowing just how much Raven had lightened up. Argrave was content to keep him ignorant.
âWhatâs difficult?â Argrave pressed for explanation.
âGarmâs soul does not exist. It was destroyed and melded with Durranâs, and that hasnât changed. The being that inhabits his shell is a manifestation of the imprint left behind, sustained by the Fruit of Beingâs ability. Therefore, itâs difficult to say if he could exist independently of Durranâs ability to witness the imprint left behind by the dead.â
âHeâs wrong,â Garm said with some vim, then shrunk as Raven turned his withering gaze back toward him.
âExplain,â Raven demanded.
âI saw this power. I saw it. I know thereâs a way to leave. I saw the exit.â He looked at Argrave. âBring me a corpse.â
âA corpse?â
âDo you need an explanation?â Garm condescended. âItâs like you, but more interesting. Go fetch one. Fresh, and humanoid.â
Argrave sighed, both enraged and amused at this manâs sudden return. He contacted Elenore, asking, âDo you have any fresh, largely intact corpses?â
âWhat?! I thought you said you had everything under control!â She answered back, panic still lining her tone.
âI do. I just need a corpse,â he answered her.
ââŠwait a moment,â she said.
Argrave looked at Garm. âI ordered a corpse. Delivery driver is on the way. Estimated delivery time is thirty minutes.â
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âWhy not bring someone, have them killed?â Garm proposed.
âBecause people arenât lobsters.â Argrave glared at him. âWe donât cook with living ingredients, here.â
âPeak freshness,â Garm pointed out.
Argrave looked down at the corpse that Elenore had managed to rummage up. He was rather glad to see no fresh wounds inflicted by Elenoreâs agents in their haste to procure a body.
âItâs so old,â Garm complained. âWrinkly, and sad. And whatâs that smell?â
âHe was a beggar. No family far as we can tell, and died in the streets less than an hour ago in Dirracha.â Argrave turned his gaze away from the old manâs rheumy, dead eyes. âIâm not going to kill some twenty-something year old for your twisted purposes.â
Garm grumbled, looking at the corpse. He gingerly raised his hand, then cast a B-rank spell. Argrave could tell at once that it was necromantic, and surely enough, the corpse shambled upward. Its eyes turned to black and gold.
âAlright.â Garm tried to stand, but stumbled a bit. Argrave caught him. âBring me to it. Bring me,â he commanded.
âI see not much has changed for you, even with a body,â Argrave ribbed as he brought Garm over. âStill relying on others to haul you around.â
âOld habits die hard,â Garm jested without taking offence. He seemed bright and cheery, all things considered.
Once Argrave brought him near the corpse, he leaned forward and clung to it. The wizened corpseâs body resisted feebly, barely staying upright with the large body of Durran leaning against it.
âSo, uhhâŠâ Argrave looked around, not wanting to witness this strangely indecent scene of Durran clinging to some old man. âYou have a plan?â
âIâm trying some things,â Garm answered back, crawling up the old manâs body. Argrave looked around again. He did not care to explain this to Elenore, and only hoped her agents werenât watching.
âTrying to get aroused, looks like,â Argrave commented. âThis is what youâre into?â
âNo. I much prefer dead women. A lot less speaking and cuddling, but you can still do the fun part.â Garm continued for a few moments, then looked over with regret etched on his face. âThat is a joke, I hope you realize.â
âSure.â Argrave nodded. âA joke. Youâre not a necrophiliac. I have no doubt.â
âWell, I did have a son, if you want some evidence. His mother may have been a terrible cunt, but I wouldnât go so far as to call her a zombie. The dead, for all their virtues, canât give birth. Plenty of my colleagues with zero charisma tried⊠I, however, was quite the looker. I had no need to rely on such methods,â Garm said distantly as he focused on the task. âOh. Oh! I think this is it,â Garm said excitedly.
âYou had a son?â Argrave asked in surprise.
âYes. Heâs the one that put me on the stake.â Garm stared into the corpseâs eyes. âI think I justâŠâ
Both Durran and the recent-arisen zombie fell to the ground, and Argrave gaped for a moment before rushing forward. Garm blinked open his eyesâor rather, Durran did, given the fact the blackness had faded from his sclera.
âAre you there? Garm, Durran, whoever?â Argrave grabbed his face.
âDurran,â he answered, swatting away Argraveâs grip over his head. âAnd Garm⊠Garmâs voice⊠itâs notâŠâ
Movement to the side drew both their attention. The beggarâs corpse was moving again, and Argrave watched cautiously. It suddenly sat up with intense vigor.
âBy the godsâŠâ the corpse said, in a tone identical to that which had been coming from Durran moments before with a different, aged voice. âThis feels so much better than that idiotâs body. I feel alive! I feel whole!â
The once-sluggish corpse rose up with incredible speed, rolling its arms about. Garm laughed vigorously as he jumped from foot to foot, doing a slight dance. Argrave couldnât help but join him in some mirth despite the morbidity of this endeavor. Then, he looked back at Durran.
âStill bothered?â he asked.
ââŠless so,â Durran admitted after a momentâs hesitation. âItâs less intense, less vivid. Enough so that I can speak to you. But thereâs still a lot there.â
âThatâll fade.â Garm kneeled down before Durran and Argrave. âBut in order for it to do so, you need to do something for me.â
âSecond lifeâs not enough?â Argrave asked him.
âItâll benefit all of us.â Garm shook his head. âI need more corpses. A lot more corpses. If you want for the intensity of Durranâs experience to be lessened, I imagine I need to remove the rest of myself from his body. I wonât accept beggars, anymore. I want powerful people. High-ranking spellcasters. Perhaps we can butcher those sentinels in the Low Way?â
âYouâre kidding, right?â Argrave shook his head. âNot a chance. Not only is wanton slaughter a mite morally objectionable, but creating necromantic things only presents a vulnerability when Gerechtigkeit descends.â
âPah. Do you think anyone could break my hold over this body? I would love to see them try.â
âHow would you know?â Argrave scoffed.
âIt makes sense, doesnât it?â Garm spread his hands out. âI donât feel undeadâI feel alive, totally in control. Have you ever seen an undead being on the same level I am? If Gerechtigkeit can commandeer the undead, and this Fruit of Being chose me⊠it stands to reason that my ability might be one of the counters you need to defeat him.â
Argrave didnât want to act with conviction, but what he suggested was a good enough idea that he hoped it was true. It would explain why the fruit had chosen Durran. He took a deep breath, and thought of another matter that Garm had appeared for, as if by providence.
âI can do that. Powerful corpsesâyou want them, youâll get them. But you have to extract memories from a dead person, and help me with a certain matter.â
âAnd what might that be? Not that Iâm agreeing, of course,â Garm said.
âCome on.â Argrave stood up.
âThis is the spot where a man called Llewellen died,â Argrave explained, standing with the risen corpse in the room where theyâd retrieved the dwarven music box teaching his method of ascension.
âMmm.â Garm looked around. âAnd who might this chap be?â
âOur strongest lead into discovering psychic magic,â Argrave explained. âAnd an invaluable source of magical knowledge that made Anneliese one of the strongest spellcasters in the world.â
âThat woman?â Garm looked over. âYou two sleep together yet, or did the big, strong, thoroughbred elven vampire sweep her off her feet and leave you seething and crying in the sand dunes?â
Argrave stared ahead blankly and said, âWeâre married.â
âThat wasnât the question.â
Argrave laughed. âI feel rather sorry for Durran.â
Garm laughed too, then knelt. âAlright. Llewellen, is it? Iâll see what I can find.â
âSee what you can get,â Argrave tapped the beggarâs body. âThen, come join the research team.â
âJust get me bodies,â Garm nodded. âGood bodies. Thatâs all I ask. For now, at least. Oh,â he looked back. âIs there anyplace a man can have fun in your city?â
ââŠI suppose.â Argrave nodded. âIâve never tried.â
âGive me a stipend, too,â Garm said. âI think Iâm long overdue for some fun. And I need to figure out where the blazes I am, and what the hell Iâm doing. Damn, this feels good.â He inhaled deeply through his teeth in anticipation.