''Stop it.'' I thought flatly. The Damned Thing didn''t bother to answer me, but I could sense the psychic equivalent of a grunt. Definitely getting smarter. Noooot good.


    possibility of freedom had been enough for my inadvertent prisoners to give me their temporary aid. I''ll probably never know, since I''d had a pretty shitty time trying to communicate with my first two victims.


    Thane''s body - lay motionless on the ground, and I could feel the hunk of mindless flesh drawing its oxygen from me through the physical link between us. It was like the worst asthma ever, and I quickly moved to remedy the situation. Just like in the caves prior to this, I shunted the vague presence I had come to think of Thane''s soul into the immobile body. All at once it began spasming on the ground, grasping futilely at the air and kicking its legs as though having a seizure, before subsiding into a sort of twitchy resting state and heaving a giant breath of air into its lungs.


    slapped the shit out of him. I know it makes me a bad person, and that he really probably wasn''t a bad man - but he''d tried to fucking kill me, and I felt that was more than enough justification for some idle revenge.


    "Stop." I called after him, sending the impulse to freeze up the tether between us. At the end of the day, even if it seemed like a whole human body, what was before me was just a giant vestigial organ that looked like the dead guy. It was still part of me, part of my power - and that made it mine. It made Thane mine.


    "Talk to me buddy. Whats the plan here?" I asked him, genuinely curious what his end goal was - besides killing me of course. He stared at me with a mixture of rage and disbelief on his face. Under more calm circumstances I would have considered it priceless.


    "Honestly I don''t really know. On the one hand - it''d be really cool if I could do that. On the other it''s - "


    "Well... fuck you too I guess. Look I''m not a bad person I just - " I tried again, ignoring the interruption the first time because contrary to popular opinion I''m not a totally emotionless killing machine.


    "I - "


    "Jesus shut up would you?" I finally said, more exasperated than mad. Just for added effect I paralyzed him again, precluding his ability to interrupt me anymore.


    "Look man. I don''t wanna kill those people. So far, I''ve only actually killed and or eaten people who tried to kill me first." I explained, giving him a pointed look that had far less effect when I allowed myself to remember that I actually had tried to eat him within seconds of meeting him. I just failed.


    "...Mostly. Look I''ve got urges okay? I''m like an alcoholic but only for you know... human flesh." Geeze. Now I felt bad again.


    "Anyway, right now I just need a cover so I can go over yonder - " I pointed at the shanty town " - and find Nadeen. All you have to do is pretend your my Binder or Owner or whatever you people call it while we traipse about. Cool?" I released his paralysis when I finished, hoping we could get this moving. This had taken longer that I was expecting, so there was no telling where Nadeen had gotten off to while I explained the birds and the bees to Thane.


    care?" Thane finally asked after taking a few moments to master himself and wipe away a manly tear.


    "Because she''s a freaking kid in a world full of psycho cannibal monsters and kid touching rapists like Erwin?" I shot back, confused by how stupid that question was. I understood on a base level that I was a ''monster'' and therefore not expected to behave following socially acceptable norms but still.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Define innocent. If someone attacks me I''m not going to cry myself to sleep after I kill them." I explained, with much more casual bravado than I actually felt on the topic. Obviously if I wasn''t feeling particularly hungry I wouldn''t go out of my way to kill anyone if I didn''t have to. But that seemed like kind of a hard sell to a guy who''s camp I''d liberally killed my way across when last he had a body - so I didn''t bother try and convince him.


    naked."


    "It''ll have to do. Unless you wanna stab yourself a few times and pretend you lost your rags in battle." I added, not thinking he would actually take me up on the offer - because it was fucking insane. To my great chagrin, Thane immediately began slashing and stabbing at himself. All in non lethal areas, but definitely enough that he quickly started to look like the victim of a really bad mugging.


    "What the fuck!?" I yelped, momentarily too stunned to stop him with our link.


    "What are you, some kind of Paladin?" I asked. I wasn''t really that bothered by the bleeding because really this body was replaceable, and being made of my own flesh and blood, insanely unappetizing.


    that later. For now, Nadeen.


    "Come on. We need to get you some pants and a patch job. I don''t want to have to regrow a body for you." I said, dismissing the mouth I was using to speak to him and turning around, only to be yanked backwards when Thane didn''t move from his position.


    die here! Thats not the future I want for my children! And neither should you!" howled the aspiring politician.


    complacent, here, surrounded by more Magic Stones than anyone could possibly know what to do with! Well no more!" A hand and a pale bald head peaked up above the crowd where I could actually see it, and Thane watched in mute curiosity. I had already used my power to close up the worst of his wounds so he wasn''t in any immediate danger.


    spy in the caves! No doubt here to thwart the uprising!"