Eugene returned to the portal where the underling of one of the other crime bosses accosted him. As he suspected, the man approached him as soon as he entered the room.

　　"Well look who decided to return, it`s the one-armed man." The man looked around, "I see you`re short a person. Fucked up a second time, did ya," the man chuckled.

　　Eugene didn`t say anything, he simply cracked the wax coating on the spell his new boss had given him, letting his blood activate it. The man didn`t seem to notice the action, nor the fact that Eugene had both his arms again.

　　"Cat got your tongue or are you yokels too stupid to get a joke?"

　　A second man approached from near the teleporter. "Trouble?"

　　"Nah, this is that country bumpkin I was telling you about."

　　The second man frowned at Eugene before turning toward his friend. "But I thought you said that guy lost an arm?"

　　The first man`s laughing stopped as he took a good look at Eugene. He noticed the arm, then Eugene`s malicious grin a moment too late as the spell exploded outward. The green vapor of the spell covered all three men in a moment.

　　The faster one dashed out of the area and pulled his gun out as he coughed. "What the hell?"

　　Before the man had a chance to pull the trigger on his weapon, his skin, and muscles began to slough off. The man tried to scream but it was cut short as his jaw rotted away, followed by the rest of his skin, muscles, and organs.

　　Eugene watched in detached curiosity as the man and his friend were reduced to dark stains on the floor. Only a dry brown stain on the ground marked what had once been two men. Even their clothing had turned to dust. The only thing that remained behind were old yellowed bones that clattered to the ground a moment later. Eugene had witnessed the after-effects of this spell twice now and it was honestly terrifying.

　　The first time he had seen what it was capable of was when he examined the half-melted body Norman left behind in that foundry town. And Eugene got to experience it firsthand the second time around. He repressed the shudder that threatened to escape at the memory of that experience.

　　He got no joy out of watching the effects of the spell a third time but it was necessary to establish a pecking order with these crime lords. Something his new boss seemed not to care about but that Eugene knew was important if they wanted to be left alone. These men only respected those with power.

　　Eugene looked over at a third guard, who stood frozen in terror. Eugene approached the man, naked as the day he was born, and sized the guard up, it would have to do. The man was barely able to take his eyes off where the other two men had stood only a moment before but Eugene`s bulk made sure the man couldn`t ignore him. Soon the man`s terrified gaze turned toward him.

　　"Tell your bosses, there`s a new player in town. This was only a small demonstration of what he is capable of. If you get in our way, there will be no warning, you will not see us coming. Your organizations will crumble and be repurposed for our needs. Tell them, their death threats and posturing will not save them if they cross us. Now give me your clothes."

　　"Wha- What!"

　　***

　　Anna stormed up to Norman`s apartment and knocked violently. It hadn`t taken her long to extract the information about what happened between her brother and Norman, from her brother. She didn`t use her magic on him, that would just be gross. It was clear something had happened when he returned, alive of all things. She finally decided to confront him about his previous condition to get him to talk.

　　It had her angry, how could Norman be so cold and callous? Didn`t he know they were destined to be together?

　　"Norman, I know, you`re here, open up!"

　　"Oy, keep it down!" One of Norman`s neighbors opened their door and yelled at her.

　　She turned on the man, giving him her best smile and engaging her magic. "I`m so sorry. I didn`t mean to disrupt you. You wouldn`t happen to know where my friend is, would you?"

　　The man blinked slowly as Anna`s magic took hold. "Sorry, Lass, I`m afraid I don`t."

　　"Oh poo," she pouted as she approached the man. "Do you happen to know anyone who might?"

　　The man was all too happy to relay every single detail of Norman`s comings and goings over the last week. Anna rolled her eyes at the weak-minded man as she listened. Norman was one of the few men that hadn`t just caved to her magic. It made her desire him all the more for his strong will and resolve. That didn`t mean she was happy about her soulmate trying to ditch her.

　　She eventually learned everything she needed to learn and released the man from her spell. The man would be dazed and out of it for a bit, but there was no permanent harm. Just a little harmless teasing that she would never take advantage of. She really didn`t understand why Toby was so bothered by it. Also who the hell was this hussy Brigette that Norman had been seen with?

　　She would figure it out, confront Norman about her feelings finally, and the two would run off and live happily ever after. If that meant she would have to leave Toby behind, she would. She loved her brother but she could live without him. In time she would be able to convince Norman that Toby wasn`t such a horrible person. With new information at hand, she strode off to look for this President person.

　　***

　　It was a race against time to gather everything that he needed before leaving Grothlosburg, but Norman did it with Eugene`s help. Somehow the man even managed to source some clover. Norman didn`t ask where the man got it from, he was just glad he had. With all of the ingredients, Norman wasted no time creating some new potions. The process of brewing up a new batch of potions was something easy that helped him take his mind off of everything that was going on.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author`s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

　　He had been run ragged the last few days trying to keep ahead of Toby and Anna. The two had been hunting for him ever since Toby had left the warehouse. Not that they were likely to find him. The President was helping him by keeping tabs on the two of them and alerting Norman when either of the two was getting too close. Apparently, Anna even tried to get information out of the President, not realizing the man was undead and immune to her charm magic. The President had a good bit of fun with the girl when he realized what was going on. He played along by sending Anna on a wild goose chase.

　　Toby was harder to deter as he knew what the President was and he was suspicious by nature. It hadn`t taken Toby long to figure out that while he couldn`t physically harm Norman, he could still capture him. So the two played a city-sized game of hide and seek for a day and a half while Norman waited for Grobert`s call.

　　Although it wasn`t all bad. Norman took every chance he could to taunt Toby about his failings by leaving things behind that let Toby know he had just missed him.

　　Was it petty and childish? Of course, it was. But the man deserved everything he got and more so Norman didn`t stop as he gathered all of his supplies while staying two steps ahead of Toby. It paid to have friends in high places.

　　With the potions now completed, everything was ready. Norman only had to wait a few hours for Grobert to finally contact him, letting him know the portal was in place and good to go. As soon as the call came in, Norman and Eugene gathered everything up and headed for the location.

　　***

　　Toby cursed that damn President yet again. The man was stonewalling his attempts at capturing Norman, that much had been obvious from the beginning. But Toby had his own way to track his former friend. He arrived at another non-descript warehouse and kicked in the door. Using his gun to clear the immediate area inside. Not that he could shoot the man unless he wanted to suffer the same injury. But he would if it meant slowing Norman down.

　　There was no sign of Norman, not that he expected to find the man yet. What Toby did find was the cook station where Norman had clearly made a batch of potion. It was still warm, meaning Norman was close. The trail was getting warmer and Toby activated his ability and hurried to follow it.

　　***

　　Norman and Eugene were greeted by Grobert in a dusty and worn-down building at the end of the teleportation line.

　　"Ay, big man, you ready for another round?" Grobert smiled.

　　Eugene growled menacingly at the man until Norman stepped in to stop it. "Perhaps later, we are kind of in a time crunch."

　　"I heard, got a wee lass chasing you around. Back in my day, we called that a good thing."

　　"If you knew her like I did you wouldn`t be saying that. Is that the teleporter?"

　　The cobbled-together ring of components that sat above the floor didn`t give Norman much peace of mind.

　　"Ay, bit of a mess but it`ll get the job done. After you," Grobert gestured.

　　Not wanting to seem afraid, Norman stepped into the teleporter and out the other side. He felt a bit queasy after the transfer but it wasn`t nearly as bad as he feared.

　　Eugene passed through next followed by Grobert.

　　"And here we are, the edge of the city." Grobert walked over to a door in the building they arrived in and threw it open, stepping outside.

　　Norman followed behind, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the harsh glare of the sun. He hadn`t realized just how dim the light in the city was due to the tall buildings everywhere. Once his eyes adjusted, Norman gazed off at a view he hadn`t seen in over a month. Not a single building in sight. Spread out as far as the eye could see was an ashen haze interspersed by orange-brown rock columns. Norman could see a few of the volcanic vents in the distance, spewing out more of the ash and dust.

　　It took Norman a bit to spot one of the specters amongst the smoke as they blended in almost perfectly. They mostly remained within the smoke, only occasionally venturing outside of it for whatever reason. At least until a living being entered the zone.

　　"You sure we are far enough away from the expansion area that nobody will spot us?"

　　"Ay, the closest expansion team is a dozen miles east. Not that they would care one way or another."

　　"Ok, give me a moment to get ready, then we can set out."

　　Norman pulled out a slip of paper with a mostly finished spell form on it. He realized that he may not have time to draw a new spell form to keep the ghosts at bay so did another test with the same spell on disposable sheets. They worked as long as he stayed within a foot of the sheet. So he made over a hundred of them for this trip. It only required him to complete one line on the sheet to activate the spell, which he did now.

　　As the spell activated, Norman pinned it to his shirt and stepped out into the dry barren ground. He was ready to turn around if it didn`t work but as he continued walking, the specters ignored him completely. They also completely ignored any other undead, as Norman suspected they might, based on his other tests with different forms of undead.

　　Norman got about a hundred feet into the new zone before he heard a heartbreaking cry behind him that made him stop in his tracks.

　　"Norman, don`t leave me, I love you!"

　　He turned and his eyes locked on Anna`s. God, what had he been thinking? To leave the love of his life behind was madness. He had more than enough of these spell papers to bring her with him. Norman began to run back toward Anna but he was stopped short as two burly arms grabbed his.

　　"Let me go, I need to bring her with me."

　　"Fraid we can`t do that, Norman," Grobert replied matter of factly.

　　"Unhand me, you bastards!"

　　"Let him go!" Anna wailed from the edge of the zone.

　　"Sorry, Lass. But you be enspelling him. So I`m going to have to deny your request."

　　The two began to drag Norman further into the new zone and deeper into the fog. Norman watched helplessly as Anna took a few steps toward them. "I`ll shoot if you don`t let him go!"

　　True to her word, the girl pulled out a pistol and fired a few rounds. Thankfully she missed every shot. Before she could fire again, Toby came out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground.

　　"Let me go, Toby, they are taking Norman away from me."

　　"No, are you mental? If you hurt him, you hurt me. Besides, it`s not safe. Did you see the things moving in the fog?"

　　Their bickering faded into the distance as the two dragged Norman kicking and screaming deeper into the zone and out of sight of his beloved. It was twenty minutes before Norman`s mind overcame Anna`s magic and snapped back to reality. It was not a comfortable feeling as his mind felt like it had been run through a blender, causing him to groan.

　　"That sucked."

　　"You all good, Boss?"

　　Norman nodded at Eugene`s question. "And just call me Norman, it sounds weird when you call me boss."

　　The two stopped and released Norman`s arms. He stood on his own and brushed the dust off of his clothes. When he finally looked up, all he could see is a thick haze of dust and smoke, with the occasional shadow of a rocky outcropping hidden within the mist. They were deep in the deadlands now.

　　He took a deep breath, relishing the freedom, and immediately coughed from the sulfury smoke hanging in the air. It couldn`t stop him from smiling though. He was finally free of his old life and the attachments that kept trying to drag him down. On a fundamental level, Norman knew he was just running away again but this was different. This was a new start, somewhere where his enemies couldn`t touch him, where his old life and mistakes didn`t matter.

　　Where he could finally build the dream he had when he first discovered his magic. An undead utopia where he wouldn`t want for anything ever again and he would have all the friends he could ever ask for. Norman knew it wouldn`t be a simple journey but he was ready. He still had some work to do to figure out how to control undead, present company excluded of course. But he would get there eventually, he just knew it.