I was already feeling some control returning to my body, and I weighed the creature’s words carefully. I wanted to do the selfish thing. Refuse. Argue. Try to escape or fight. But I knew it wasn’t the right thing. It was the thing the dark part of myself wanted, encouraged by the wicked things that were eating their way toward my heart. I needed to be fixed or killed before I got worse. Before I became like him.

Oscar had one thing right though. My job wasn’t worth my life. But more than that, my life wasn’t worth my soul.

I nodded and laid my head back on the soggy ground beneath me. A moment later, I felt three sets of small, cold hands on my arm and face. At first I thought it was going to kill me. The worms, halted on their journeys into me, began to thrash and bite, and for the first time I found my voice to scream in pain. I distantly noticed that the sounds of Jeff dismantling Oscar’s body had stopped and I heard him ask if I was going to be okay. There was only silence as a reply.

Slowly, though I couldn’t say how long it really took, I felt the pain subside as the darkness in my mind and heart began to lift. When it was done, I still ached and felt weak, but I was able to sit up. More importantly, I felt normal again. Better in some ways than I had in weeks. Looking first at Jeff, who was watching me quietly as he wiped slime off his arms, I told him thank you before looking down to thank the creatures that had cured me like they promised they would. It was then that I saw that only one, the one without the mask, was left standing.

“Are…Are they dead?”

It nodded. “As you mean it, yes. The corruption in you was great, and curing it takes a great toll. But that is as it must be. Nothing is won without sacrifice, and every time we thwart the Rot, the sacrifice is made worthwhile. Now rest. You still need much healing, and the rest you have to do on your own.”

Despite my alertness just moments ago, I found myself suddenly very drowsy. Sinking back down to the ground, I soon found myself being carried farther and farther from the terrible shores of that place and that night on warm tides of sleep.

When I woke, I was in a hospital. Back in a world that was familiar and safe and sane. In my gratitude, I wept for a little while.

****