After the conversation with Veles we went to Taco Villa, because, you know, there's nothing like greasy food to appease the hollow feeling of utter despair. Carbonated high-fructose corn syrup helps too. It doesn't, however, help the slow process of turning back into dirt. It hurts it, in fact. By the time we got home I was in horrible pain, wheezing and clutching my aching abdomen.

We very quickly realized that there would be no walking until the pain subsided. Jordan effortlessly picked me up and carried me inside, placing me on the couch. He inhaled deeply,

"I'm sorry, for earlier. I shouldn't have acted like that."

"It's okay," I smiled at him past my pain, slowly curling into the fetal position.

Jordan winced, "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"
"Well," I groaned, "it feels like period cramps, you got a heating pad?"

"Uh..." Jordan thought for a moment, "No, but I've got a lighter and some gasoline."

I glared at him and he chuckled, "Alright, I might have something else."

Jordan went to the kitchen and started digging around in the cabinets. At one point he screamed flew away from the sink cabinet, followed by a rat that was bigger than the guggle. The rat scurried under the refrigerator. I laughed once, followed instantly by a stabbing feeling in my stomach. Jordan ventured back into the cabinet and brought out a hot-water bottle that looked like it came from the second world war.

"This might do the trick." he put on a pot of water and watched it, taking it off just before it started to boil.

The heat did help the pain, a little. I was still curled in the fetal position, but it had lessened. Jordan tried to smile at first, but that went away, replaced by the real feelings of exhaustion that plagued him.

"You look like you need a nap," I said weakly, teasing him. He chuckled and shook his head,

"No. I'm going to go around these apartments and see if anyone's got something for pain. Not that they'll give it to me, but hey, I could always sell a kidney or something."

"You don't have to do that, I'm fine," I protested. I didn't want him to go, not only because life without a kidney was a little more than our finances could handle, but because I was scared of being alone.

"It's okay," Jordan said, "I won't be gone for very long. Besides, I'll be close if you need anything."

That was that, I suppose. He got a coat, the weather was turning cold, and made his way out the door. Soon after he left the Wolpertinger made her way out of the wall. She looked at the TV before staring at me expectantly. I shook my head and grabbed the remote. Luckily for me, the channel was already playing Spongebob, so my mythological friend stayed around.

It was then that I heard something coming from outside. It sounded like the wind when it blows through the leaves of a cottonwood tree, except, when I looked out the window, the trees were all still. I sat up abruptly and reached for the gun on the table, only to find that it wasn't there, I'd left it on the counter when I'd made a bowl of cereal. I stood up, started making my way to the gun, and as I did the door blew open, stopping me in my tracks. Standing in the doorway was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She had long brown hair that fell in waves down her back, and she was wearing a medieval dress comprised of earth tones and small gold buttons. Perhaps her most prominent feature, however, was a giant burn that covered the right side of her face, spilling down into the collar of her dress. I looked at her right hand and confirmed that it too was completely burned.

The woman had pointed ears, she was an elf. I remembered what both the Lonedark and Veles had said about 'Burn Face' being after Jordan and I, so I jumped at the gun on the counter, but I was beat to it. The thing, the grey mass of smoke that called itself the General grabbed the gun before I could.

"Calm, child," the woman spoke, "We do not want to hurt you, though we will if we must."

I believed her, for some reason. Her features were stern, but not cold, she looked almost pitying. I conducted myself carefully, backing as far away from them as I could.

"What are you here for then?"

"My name," The woman said, "is Alvera. I doubt you have heard my story, despite it being the reason you are nearing death. I would, with your permission, like to tell it to you, though it is rather long."

Her politeness was so different from the attitude of her General that it threw me off guard. I nodded at her to continue, thoroughly believing that she was not going to hurt me.

"May I?" she gestured at a chair and I nodded, she sat down before speaking again, "the parents of you friend Jordan are from Anderewelt. Has he told you about Anderewelt? Yes? Good. Jordan's father, Joseph, was originally from this world, but he met Jordan's mother, Ailis, when she was on a brief trip to this world. They fell in love and she brought him with her back to Anderewelt, where they were married. Shortly thereafter, they conceived a son.

Now, before this, Ailis and I were friends, and she knew that I had conceived a baby as well. Jordan was born shortly after my friend, and he was very ill. He died, shortly after birth. Ailis and Joseph were inconsolable, though I did try. But, one night, I awoke to the smell of smoke burning my throat. The way from my quarters to those of my infant son had been blocked by a towering wall of fire. But I, I pushed through the flames," she placed her fingers lightly on her face, "and ran to get my child before the same happened to him. He, however, was not there when I arrived. My child had been stolen, by someone I had considered a friend. Ailis took his soul and placed it in the corpse of her child, bringing him back to life." Alvera was not angry when she said this, she simply seemed tired as she continued to speak,

"I am sure that both you and Jordan are great people but I need my son back, "A tear fell from her eye, "and in order to do that I- I-" she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"You need Jordan's soul back." I filled in for her. She nodded, and in that moment Jordan himself walked in the door and startled back, dropping a ziplock bag of small white pills. He brought out the same black gun he'd used to kill the dragon when I'd first met him and pulled the trigger, aiming it at Alvera's head. Rather that falling down dead, she and the General shattered, breaking like a mirror and disappearing.

"Are you okay?" Jordan asked. I didn't answer, I was staring instead at my revolver, lying on the coffee table.