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--- A dangerous past.

His body, incapable to move. He was still conscious. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't move his eyes. Just to look up to the skies is what he was able to do.

He didn't know what was going to happen next, but his body just laid in the arms of the four demon-like creatures... ghouls... whatever the hell they were. He felt like he was really screwed.

NO EARTH?! Never mind, he's screwed.

"Well... what do we have here?" Decruda stepped into the scene with a curious question.

Sure there was earth. Earth everywhere. Earth surrounding them. They were underground and all. The only problem was that the holding area of the caverns was just a giant chasm. Up top, the ceiling would be lost in darkness, below, the same, and once again, across from the rather large ledge which housed the adamantine doorway, it ended in empty darkness.

The holding cells of course, were held around fifty meters out from the edge of the ledge on the scarcely lit wall, out from bridges made of adamantine. Each one was as odd and different as each individual would be, none were the same; this only attributed to the appearance that the cells were crudely made or even scavenged from existing ones.

And the truth was something like that.

Adamantine was a heavily used metal in this area for two simple reasons; one, it was an extremely strong alloy, so it made sense to be used for holding cells; and two, being in diplomatic relations with the drow, the metal was easily accessable.

Anyway, back to the situation at hand.

"Another test subject perhaps?"

Meanwhile...

Silver Moonblade was dumped across a cold metal table rather unceremoniously in a dimly lit room illuminated only by an equally cold unnatural sourceless light.

"You..." the examiner, a rather gaunt looking man with pale sunken eyes and who appeared to have a habit of folding up his dirty hands close to his chest began, "Are dying."

Something it didnt take a genius to discover. Such an obvious and dumb statement would probably put the examiner's ability in question. Until of course, he continued.

"Your body is rapidly breaking down." he went on, "Not to mention the fact that your body is overfilled with arcane energy. This body of yours, though it can produce energy like this, is useless, because it cant metabolise and break it down." speaking with a cold mechanical tone that reflected a professional doctor's analysis of something. The only difference here was that the examiner clearly didnt have a medical degree or a even certification as a real doctor.

"This thing that you want; to live even when you know you are doomed, is bold. By doing so, you will be one of us, the world will forsake you, you will be forever cursed, forever damned." he continued, finishing with a question "Is it truly what you want?"

This was a very important question. Here, in the cursed lands, this organization, unlike those on the surface which paraded around in public, dd not measure wealth in money. It measured resources in bodies. Currency in souls. And one thing was definate; a freely given soul was the most valuable of commodities.

But it didnt matter if Moonblade understood that what he wanted was a binding contract to hand over his soul on his own free will in order to remain on this world but live a cursed life. He was going to die if he didnt, and a corpse was just another resource to be had.

"Ah yes, thank you." Decruda said as he looked the man over.

"You may go if you wish." he answered her question before he began to cross over the bridge to where the man would be located, his mouth twisting into a smile.

Another earth guy, he might not need, but a living subject was excellent. Especially so that he was in need of parts of a person at the moment.

He couldnt really just go and drag a body without restraints through the caverns, as the holding cells were not moveable, so he'd have to sedate the man to make sure.

Unable to get too close because of the pit, he'd simply take out his blowgun, load it with one of the needles, and shoot it at the man's body. Preferably the neck. And then just for good measure, he'd shoot another one on the other side.

Let the toxin sedate him while he got to work on the bindings before he would drag the body over the bridge and dump it on one of the metal tables.

And then out the door, through the dark halls, they would head towards the other room, where one dying Silver Moonblade would be located. Ready to sell his soul to the devil.

"Yes." There was someone else here.

A man who had stumbled into the area of course, come to cheat death. And of course, resources would be needed to do something about it. It just happened that it was quite fortunate for the two people to show up at once.

She paused, then moved her eyes in an arc. It was a contemplative gesture.

"I'll watch."

As if right on cue, the other man was rolled into the room as well, Decruda pushing the metal table on wheels with Descant in tow, as she decided to follow and watch.

As for Moonblade, his cursed body now would be little of comparison to what would he become in the very near future. By accepting the deal, he signed a contract with his spirit. The hand he had grasped the shadow form's hand with when he entered the grounds of the keep would feel as if it was burning once again as the flesh on the palm of his hand would blister and turn to scar tissue; a brand, marked in the shape of a circle with a crescent moon covering half of a crude skull in the backdrop. And then the brand would disappear, sinking into the flesh, marking the soul.

Now, during that short amount of time Moonblade would be branded, the table which carried Joran's body would be rolled right up next to the dying man's, crashing into it with a metallic jar as Decruda held it in place to keep it from rolling any further before he walked off towards the far wall. A wall whose many shelves were lined with many bottles, potions, and jars of scrolls; typical tools of a magical workshop.

"See what you can do to keep him alive while I search for that potion..." Decruda directed the examiner, "His blood is unclean, correct? Clean it."

The gaunt examiner began to edge towards the two bodies.

"Dont move." he began as his dirty hands reached out at the two, "Have you ever heard of spiritual surgery? Where the practitioner needs no tools such as a scalpel?"

Yeah... he was going to use nothing but his hands. Those dirty, mangled, leathery hands, whose thin fingers ended in fingernails whose tips were black, filth having accumilated beneath them without proper hygenic practices over long periods of time.

One arm outstretched towards each man, he placed his fingers against each man's chest before he pressed down, feeling a second's resistance before it disappeared and his hands sunk into flesh.

Now, Moonblade was not suppose to move as having a hand inside one's body, moving around doing who knows what could be potentially fatal. And likewise for Joran. The only difference was that Joran would be unconscious, or at least paralyzed, so he shouldnt have to worry about it.

The 'surgeon' worked quickly though, for what he was going to do was pick out either man's circulatory system, pulling their arteries and veins sticking out of the skin out of their bodies to tie and fuse them together. The point of this was very simple. Moonblade didnt have the ability to metabolise the arcane energy produced in his own body, so it would be directed to flow directly into the other man's to be broken down, cleaned through the other man's system.

As for the risk that the other man also wouldnt be able to metabolise the arcana, that was extremely unlikely. As noted by Descant, the man Joran had some sort of power with elemental earth. The elements of course, part of the inner planes, were arcane energies to begin with, so it shouldnt be a problem at all. However, the risk of improper blood transfusion such as different blood types did run a very serious risk, as well as any diseases which were spread though blood. But that didnt really matter anyway, because this process was only to prolong Moonblade's life expectancy for a short period of time, and then he wouldnt really need his body much afterwards anyway. The only one who really had to worry about such a thing would be Joran.

Also, now that their bodies were directly connected, it would be hard for one or the other to move very far away from one another without severing major blood vessels and causing both to bleed to death as their systems went through one another. For the moment, if one died, the other would die as well.

"It is done, sir." the examiner would say as he moved towards the wall, looking to help Decruda scour the area for the needed 'tools'.