The yellow smog outside the giant, broken furnace was as thick as dirty water.It was the middle of the night in Rustgate, the City of Iron. But in the junkyard, it was never truly dark. The sky glowed with a sickly, bruised purple light from the giant factory chimneys inside the city walls. The air smelled of burning plastic, rusted metal, and old, dried blood.Inside the belly of the giant, abandoned iron furnace, it was completely black.Rick stood in the shadows near the open mouth of the furnace. He wore his torn, dark gray coat. He pulled the hood up over his head so his face was completely hidden. He leaned on his smooth wooden staff.Next to him, Luna stood by the flat iron table she had built from scrap metal. She only had one arm. She used her single, strong hand to arrange clean white bandages, a bottle of strong alcohol, and a few sharp pieces of broken glass. A single, tiny oil lantern burned on the table, casting a very weak, warm orange light in the massive, cold room

Luna covered her mouth with her hand. The cruelty of the City of Iron was unimaginable. They pushed people so hard that they mutilated their own bodies just to survive."The machine works," the young man sobbed. "I can dig through heavy iron now. I met my quota. My sister is safe. But... the rust is in my blood. I am burning with fever. My veins are turning black. I am going to die."Rick stepped forward. His gray, dull eyes looked at the terrible, rusted machine jammed into human flesh."You have severe heavy metal poisoning, and a massive bacterial infection," Rick diagnosed quickly in his mind. "The dark Qi from the old machine is eating your life force."Rick needed to use his Water Qi to flush the boy's blood. He needed to use a massive wave of pure, blue, glowing magical water to wash the black rust out of his veins.But again, Rick could not show the light.Rick closed his eyes. He pushed his bright, beautiful soul deeper into the dark, dirty cage in his mind. He pulled the ugl

The giant iron furnace was totally silent. The only sound was the heavy, wet breathing of the Ghost Doctor.Rick stood over the broken pieces of the Hunter-Killer. The massive silver machine was completely destroyed. Its thick metal armor was smashed into jagged pieces. Its three green glowing eyes were dark and dead. The giant red hand cannon was crushed flat against the dirt floor.Rick leaned heavily on his wooden staff. The staff was no longer a beautiful, smooth brown color. It was pitch black. It was covered in sharp, dark splinters of corrupted energy.Rick dropped the staff. It clattered loudly on the cold iron floor. Clack.He fell to his knees. He grabbed his chest with both hands. He began to cough violently.It was a terrible, tearing cough. He opened his mouth and spit onto the dark dirt. He did not spit red blood. He spit a thick, foul-smelling, dark gray sludge."Rick!" Luna cried out.She ran out from her hiding place behind the scrap metal walls. She dropped to her kn

To stabilize a soul imprint, Rick had to use the most delicate, pure, and brilliant green healing magic in the world. He had to weave tiny, microscopic threads of pure life energy directly into the little girl's bones. It was like trying to stitch a ghost to a rock.But Rick had a terrible problem.He was currently poisoned by his own corrupted magic. His chest burned with the heavy, ugly, dirty gray sludge he had used to fight the Hunter-Killer. If even one single drop of that ugly gray magic touched the little girl's pure, empty soul, it would instantly turn her into a monster of the Ancient Rot.He had to find his pure green light.And he had to do it without letting the green light shine out of the furnace, or the city guards would drop a bomb on them."Luna," Rick said, his voice tight with pain. "I need you to build a box around us. Use the thickest lead plates you can find in the junk. Cover the table completely. Do not let a single crack of light escape."Luna moved instantly

The dark belly of the giant iron furnace was cold. Outside, the yellow smog of Rustgate swirled endlessly. It hid the sky. It hid the sun. It made the entire world look like a dirty, poisoned dream.Inside the furnace, a small oil lantern burned. It cast a weak, shaking orange light against the rusted metal walls.Rick sat on an old wooden box. He was breathing slowly. He was exhausted.He stared down at the dirt floor. He was watching his own shadow.Ever since the little girl, Ash, had warned him, Rick could not stop looking at it. In the dim orange light, his shadow stretched out across the ground. It looked like the shape of a normal man wearing a long coat.But sometimes, when Rick was very tired, the shadow twitched.Rick did not move his arm, but the shadow’s arm slowly lifted. The edges of the shadow looked sharp, like jagged teeth. It was a monster trying to break out of a dark cage."Stop," Rick whispered. He gritted his teeth.He closed his eyes and pushed his mind downward