In the Silent Palace of ice at the center of the Underworld, Xombie awakens. He gasps for air, "Damn! It's colder than a kiss from Nil in this place!" He looks around and notices a pale woman leaning against a column. "Oh hey Nil!" "Funny," she smiles and motions to a simple table with two chairs in the center of the chamber. The little witch had changed a lot. Her once black hair was a snow white, where there was a pointed hat sat a crown of icicles, her red eyes now glowing blue, her pale skin was still pale but had a faint blue tint, and her faded black robes had been replaced with a regal white gown of webbing. "Sure," Xombie cracks his neck and plops down in the chair resting his boots on the table. "Love what you've done with the place! Very...cold...and empty..." "Thank you," Nil quietly takes her seat, "but we're not alone. My Children are never far..." Xombie looks to the ceiling and sees a massive web and the many glowing blue eyes of Nils Spiders. He crosses his arms, "Ya know I know a guy that can take care of that for ya. A bit of atomic fire and blam! No more nasties!" "I'm fine, thanks." Nils smile faded, "So let's get to why you're here. You died." Xombie sighed, "Again. What was it this time? No! Wait, I remember! I was battling a Low Quality Troll and then some coward shanked me in the arse!" "Well, I can bring you back, but..." She leans forward, "...is that what you really desire?" Xombie inhaled deeply and rose from his seat, "You know what? I don't know... I've been at this awhile now and I'm just...I'm tired, Nil...so damned tired... Maybe it's time I set my axe aside and see what Bernthal has in store for me at the end of the tunnel." "Well..." Nil stood and silently paces around Xombie, "It'll take awhile to reconstitute your physical form on the Mortal Pla-" Xombie, eyes glazed over, stares at Nil. Nils shoulders drop, "You're very old and very dead. It'll take a bit to bring you back. Magics hard." Xombie smiled, "Riiiiiight, gotcha!" "So," they both take their seats, "if you'd like to take a nap and think on it for a bit, I can arrange that. And when your body is ready, you can make the decision then." Xombie thought for a bit and then nodded, "Yeah... Yeah I think I'd like that...so! What do I have to do? Shake on it? Sign a contract? Need some of my blood? ...you want a cookie?" Nil places a green crystal the size of a fist on the table between them, her face devoid of all emotion, "Just place your hand on this." "Oh. Well...I'll see you later then, yeah?" Xombie smiles and grabs the crystal with his fleshy hand. Nil smiles, "I sure hope so. Sleep well, my friend." She then whispers an incantation and Xombie is absorbed into the crystal. She picks the crystal up and her smile widens. Nil looks up to the webs, "Look what I have, [i][b]mother[/b][/i]!" The last word seeped in venom. The spiders above skitter toward a lump of webbing and begin to lower it until it hangs before their Queen. Nil waves her hand and the webbing receeds to reveal the face of a woman, withered and broken, black hair turning grey, the eyes gone, the mouth stitched closed. Nil holds the crystal before her prisoner. "It's your friends soul! And what a mighty soul it is! I'm sure it wouldn't miss this tiny scrap..." Nil pulls a thread of green energy from the crystal and hisses another incantation. The thread expands and wraps around the crystal forming another cocoon. "There...no more power from Bernthal for all your little morsels in Offtopic! One less obstacle to overcome..."