"The ice is breaking," Luna gasped in horror.Rick stared at the cracking ice. He understood immediately. "My magic was holding the ice together," Rick explained. His voice was filled with sudden, rising panic. "It was connected to my pulse. When you sealed my magical gates... my connection to the spell was cut. The magic in the ice is dying."CRACK. SPLASH. A piece of the solid green ice broke off and fell to the concrete floor.As soon as the ice hit the ground, it melted instantly. It turned back into raw, boiling, highly toxic purple acid. The acid hissed loudly, burning a deep hole right through the solid concrete floor. Toxic purple steam rose into the air."The acid is waking up," Forge yelled, backing away. "The tidal wave is going to thaw!"They were standing directly underneath thousands of gallons of concentrated, flesh-melting poison. And the magical dam holding it back was disintegrating by the second."We have to run!" Luna shouted. She grabbed Rick's arm. She pulled him

Luna’s eyes went wide. She understood what he meant.For years, the core struggle of the Ghost Doctor was his own suffering. He took the pain of his patients into his own body. He absorbed their poison. He drained his own soul to heal them. It was a beautiful sacrifice, but it was killing him. It had almost destroyed him just a few hours ago.But now, because his magic was sealed, he was forced to find a new way. He could not absorb the poison anymore. So, he had to change the environment."Healing without touch," Rick whispered. His brown eyes shone with excitement. It was a massive breakthrough. He felt like a brand-new doctor. "If I don't touch the sickness, the sickness cannot infect my soul. I can heal from a distance."Rick turned around. He looked at the giant, breathing mechanical heart in the center of the room. He looked at the hundreds of thick, silver pipes leading out of the heart. The pipes went up into the ceiling. They spread out across the entire City of Iron. They w

The air in the junkyard was normally filled with the sound of coughing. It was normally filled with the clinking of metal and the heavy sighs of tired workers.But tonight, Sector Nine was completely, terrifyingly silent. The bright, beautiful green light that had sung through the metal pipes was fading away. The sick people sitting on the muddy ground felt healthy. Their lungs were clear. The terrible silver dust had been pushed out of their veins.Brin, the tough woman in the dirty leather apron, stood near a rusted metal wall. She wiped sweat from her forehead. She looked at the young teenage boy, Jace."We survived," Brin whispered. Her rough voice was full of wonder. "The Ghost Doctor saved us from the pipes. The silver plague is gone."Jace nodded. He looked down at his own hands. The dark veins on his neck had completely vanished. "He did it. He sent the cure through the metal. He is the greatest healer in the world."The crowd of scavengers slowly began to stand up. They stre

Forge, the blind machinist, stood a few feet away. He bowed his head in deep respect. "He is the battery, Doctor Rick," Forge whispered sadly. "His soul is incredibly strong. It never runs out. It just regenerates, only to be drained again. It is a perfect, horrible engine."Suddenly, the hidden speakers in the ceiling crackled to life."A touching reunion, is it not?" Auditor Isaac’s smooth, polite voice echoed in the silver room.Rick stopped crying.The sadness in his chest instantly froze. It turned into something else. It turned into a quiet, absolute, terrifying rage.Rick did not scream. He did not yell. He just listened."You thought he died of a natural plague," Isaac said from his safe, clean tower miles above. "He did not. The High Saint Yuren and I created that plague. We infected your master deliberately. We needed him to become weak. We needed his physical body to fail so we could harvest his brilliant soul without a fight."Isaac chuckled softly. It was a cold, dry soun

The fifty Elite Hunter-Killers did not need to be told twice. The bravest, cruelest soldiers in the City of Iron were completely broken by fear. They had never seen anything like this. They dropped their heavy shields. They turned around and ran as fast as they could back toward the tall black walls of the inner city. They ran for their lives.Doctor Vance scrambled to his feet and ran behind them, slipping and sliding in the toxic mud.The scavengers did not chase the guards. They walked slowly toward the Incinerator Piles.Mothers found their dead children sitting up, breathing warm air. Wives found their husbands. Friends found friends.They hugged each other. They wept. The crying was so loud it echoed across the entire valley. It was the sound of pure, impossible joy.Brin stood in the center of the glowing green mud. She looked at the giant pillar of light shooting out of the sewer grate. She knew where that light came from. She knew it came from deep underground."He is giving