Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

Absalom guides Barns through the busy streets of Ravinatra in a world of greyscale, hovering to a building off the strip.

They come to a towering skyscraper - a black monolith of sharp, jagged edges and a triangular shape that rises high into the sky. Compared to the other buildings around, it feels out of place - devoid of traffic, light, and grandeur. The type of place someone would walk by and never fully notice, despite how conspicuous it appears.

Absalom leads Barns inside. In their ethereal forms, they pass through the walls of the edifice like ghosts, and they find themselves in one of the top rooms of the tower.

A man sits at a large and official desk, facing away from them. Dark shadows blanket the scene, making him hard to see. As Barns floats there, immobile, he squints his eyes in the dark office to try and make out the figure, but it's impossible.

In that moment, the door of the office bursts open, rattling on its hinges as if blown open by a maelstrom.

Despite the suddenness, nobody appears at the other side of the door. Not yet.

Barns flinches, instincts screaming for him to move. But he can't. The absolute certainty that whatever comes through that door is something he isn't meant to see - it fills him with a creeping sense of dread.

'Who - or what - opened the door in such a forceful way?'

It's all Barns can think about.

"Absalom, what is this?"

"A memory of a dream. The First Undead - Emperor Yharan, uses his power to control all other undead. He must have never imagined something like this would happen - that one of his undead could break free, resurrect - with memories of the dream."

"So…are we peering into something he doesn't want us to see?"

"Something he would never want you to see. You are the one who he fears most, after all."

"Me?"

Before Absalom can answer, A shadow appears in the doorway. Dark, mysterious - shrouded in absolute blackness.

A sickening sound like cracking bone emerges from the shadow.

From the shadow comes a voice - feminine, but inhuman.

"Nice to see you again, Yharan. Or should I say…"

The voice speaks another name, but as she does the sound in the room distorts. It's unintelligible.

Barns raises an eyebrow and turns to Absalom. "What'd she say?"

The former zombie doesn't speak, he just points back at the feminine shadow.

"I've brought what you asked for." the shadow says. "A perfect vessel."

Another figure steps out from the shadows. Their identity is completely obscured, and they stand in the hallway wearing a white spacesuit. They step into the room and perform an exaggerated, flamboyant bow.

From the cosmonaut's helmet, an ugly, screeching voice that speaks way too fast fills the room.

"Yharan! You're the only one who can help me and give me the most BEAUTIFUL gift, YESSS?"

The man sitting on the other side of the desk chuckles.

"Beautiful?"

Barns gulps. It's the first time he's ever heard Emperor Yharan's voice. It's strong, bold…and familiar. Too familiar. But as Barns racks his brain, he can't understand why.

"Yes, beautiful! Soooo beautiful! I want it, I NEED it, it's the only thing that can take me to the next level! My flesh is rotten and POOR, SO POOR, Mr. Yharan! Ohh, it's the reason I wear this STUPID suit because anyone who looks at me just VOMITS from how awful I look. Do you want to see? DO YOU THINK you can hold down your lunch?"

"You. Wish-giver. What is this? He's insane."

Yharan's voice again. It sounded so familiar. Barns is sure he's heard the voice before, but it's different. Deeper than he remembers…it's hard to place.

He holds his head, straining to picture where he's heard it before. In Dimartino? Or…"

The shadows that still lurk by the door curl up in quiet anticipation like a breath that never releases.

"You didn't wish for a sane vessel…" it says, somewhat amused. A skeletal hand emerges from the shadows, holding a red book. It hangs open, one word visible scrawled across both pages.

'CONTRACT'

Barns looks from the book back to Yharan, who still faces away from them all. If only he could see the Emperor's face…

"I accept," he says coolly. His presence commands the whole room, even with the eclectic cast around him.

"Then he will become the bearer of your wish. He who shall inherit the power of the undead. A pestilent plague, infecting others and spreading darkness in your name."

"Yes, YES! Please, I want nothing more than to DIE but never DIE! Let me do it, let me become WHATEVER you want me to become!"

Emperor Yharan rose from his chair, but still Barns cannot make out any of his features. But just before he turns around, the world fades away, leaving Absalom and Barns in an empty, dark void.

"Absalom!" Barns shouts. "What was all of that, what did I just see!?"

The former zombie closes his eyes.

"The fruits of Emperor Yharan's wishes."

"Explain like I'm five," Barns says, overwhelmed.

"Emperor Yharan made a deal with darkness itself - the shadow which held a red book. She is a being beyond comprehension. A weaver of dark fate. A being closer to godhood than any I've ever known."

"And the astronaut?"

"Emperor Yharan becoming undead was never part of his plan - the misguided wish of another cursed soul. He sought someone who could bear his power. That man in the spacesuit was recruited by the darkness. Someone so reviled and evil he relished the idea of becoming a lord of death."

"Yharan was able to transfer his undead powers to someone else?"

Absalom hesitates for a moment before answering. "In theory, Yharan became immortal as an undead, but without the drawbacks of undead corruption. He passed that corruption to the man in the spacesuit with a contract - one they both accepted and uphold to this day."

Barns takes a deep breath, processing everything.

"Then…the man in the spacesuit. He's the one who controls the horde outside Dimartino?"

Absalom nods. "The very same," Absalom says. "And if you defeat him, Barns…if you take his power…"

Barns feels the weight of the words before they're even spoken.

"I can give you Necromancy."