Wings for Him

by Laughing Jack

Trouble in the forest

Isaac roused from his sleep with a sneeze, scattering the dust directly in front of his face and causing his eyes to water as the grainy particles tried to gather under his rapidly blinking eyelids. Standing up, he discovered two things; one was that, to his dismay and discomfort, he was very stiff from his unusual sleeping position, the second was that he was sore from his night spent on the unforgiving stone floor. Stretching his stiff body, he looked around the room in an effort to remember what had happened. When the memories caught up to him, he could only grimace. 'Looks like I sure got the metaphorical neck of the chicken,' he thought glumly.

Looking back to the broken throne, he saw his backpack where he’d left it leaning against the side. Vigorously brushing over his maroon shirt and faded jeans to dislodge the last of the clinging dust, he walked over to retrieve his pack, being careful not to touch the throne for fear of what happened last night. Wiping off the dust which had settled on the pack overnight, he decided to take stock of what he had.

Unzipping it, Isaac looked inside and grimaced at the folded shirt and trousers that made up his work uniform. ‘I guess I could keep them. If nothing else, I might need the cloth,’ he thought. Somewhat absentmindedly, he set those on the seat of the throne, which he hadn’t bothered to move away from in his desire to check his supplies. Soon joining the clothes was the set of knives sheathed in the scroll tube and a couple of granola bars. 'Looks like breakfast is accounted for.'

Checking his backpack one last time with the hope of finding another snack, he almost missed a twice-folded slip of paper that had made its way to the bottom of the packs side pocket. ‘That’s odd,’ Isaac thought, cocking his head to the side in confusion. ‘I don’t think I packed you before I came here.’ Pulling out the paper and unfolding it, he could only stare blankly at the strange text written on the page. ‘... I didn’t realize I… sleep-write? … No, I don’t think I have THAT many issues.’ He frowned down at the slip, frustrated about the lack of readable information on the small paper.

Shaking his head, he stuffed the slip of paper back into his backpack, repacking his knives and clothes, and stuffing one granola bar into his pocket and unwrapping the other. Crumpling the wrapper and stuffing it into his back pocket, he thought about his next move as he crouched down, eyes downcast.

'Option A, wander the forest for berries and maybe find some easy meat. Pro: survival, maybe find other people. Con: a couple of bad berries or a predator could kill me.' Mulling it over, he continued looking through his train of decisions, trailing a finger through the dust as he crunched on his breakfast. 'Option B, stick around and hope for the best...' He shook his head at that. 'Nope, too uncertain. I doubt anyone comes by often enough to matter, and I'd rather not give the next visitor an ominous view of my dead body.'

Finishing his granola bar, he slapped his knees and got to his feet. "I suppose it's decided then," he said, grabbing his backpack from the ground where he had set it down. " 'The path to life is through the fire' as my father said."

Slinging his pack to his back, he paused before turning back to the throne. '... Nope, not gonna try sitting in that hunk of rubble again,' he thought, turning back to the stairs and retracing his steps from the previous night.

Making his way out of the ruined castle, he looked back at the place which had served as his resting place for the night. With a smile, he called out (to no one in particular), “Allons y,” and set out across the bridge and into the forest.

Luna awoke with a gasp, struggling with the blanket she found herself tangled in as her body tried to adjust from sleeping to trying to fly. 'Wait, blanket?' she thought as her mind caught up to the present, stopping to stare at the unexpected sheet of cloth. Looking around, she took in the cozy room which she now recognized as Twilight’s guest room, giving a half smile as she looked at the bookshelf fully stocked with what she guessed were the extra books from the library. ‘And yet she continues to order more books,’ she thought with a wry chuckle.

Turning her mind from her surroundings, she tried to recall what had happened before her untimely slumber. Thinking back, she couldn’t recall anything beyond her encounter with the stallion who had called himself Tempus Fluit. The way he had talked gave her the impression that he knew her sister, so why didn’t she know of him as well?

Filing that line of thought away for later, Luna untangled herself from the blanket, letting it fall off of her as she stretched her body and gracefully stepped off the bed. Her mane and tail, now freed from the cloth that had held them, flowed freely in an unseen breeze, the ethereal blue acting as a window into the night sky as it’s mistress now walked through the library. Following the sound of something sizzling, she was delighted when she smelled well-cooked pancakes coming from where she knew the kitchen to be. Entering the kitchen, her hungry stomach zeroed in on a small stack of pancakes resting on a plate set in the center of the table. Luna barely noticed Spike by the stove, standing on a stool so he could reach the pancakes he was cooking. Acknowledging his good morning with a distracted greeting of her own, she lifted a nearby plate in front of her as she sat down at the small table.

Just as she sat down, a certain lavender alicorn made her presence known by stumbling down the nearby stairs, dark rings under her eyes showing how little sleep she had gotten since Luna had seen her the previous night. Twilight made it to the table, seating herself without preamble by Luna, not seeming to notice her as she looked hungrily on the few pancakes that had already been cooked. Luna decided to break the silence with a, "Good morning Miss Sparkle."

Blinking tiredly, Twilight looked at Luna blankly for a moment before her eyes widened in recognition. "Pr- Luna!" She snapped to full awareness as she looked at her latest guest. "I'm so sorry, I'd forgotten you were staying overnight. Oh shoot, the library is still a mess is-” Luna, deciding that the morning would be better spent in relative peace and quiet, put her hoof over Twilight’s mouth, simultaneously quieting her and getting her attention.

“Twilight,” Luna began, blinking the last dregs of sleep from her eyes. “I think we can make it through breakfast without worrying about the cleanliness of the library.”

Flicking her ears back sheepishly, Twilight nodded her understanding. Moving her hoof away, Luna floated a couple of pancakes from the stack to her plate, the lavender alicorn beside her following suit. Moments later Spike moved the last of the pancakes, one of which had just finished cooking, to his own plate. 

Noticing how uncharacteristically quiet he was being, Luna looked over at Spike, noting the way he tried to not be noticed by anypony else. Glancing at Twilight, she too was looking at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. Looking back at Spike, a plan wiggled it’s way into Luna’s mind.

"On the other hoof,” Luna’s voice took on a playful inflection, “I think I saw a number of research books among the shelves set aside for fiction.” She caught Twilight’s attention and winked at her. “Perhaps it would be a wise idea to get that resolved as soon as possible.”

Spike tensed imperceptibly as she said this, his eyes widening a bit as Twilight caught on. “O-oh dear," she said trying to sound serious but almost failing. “You’re right. Then again…” Spike looked at Twilight with thinly-veiled hope. “... If there’s a mix-up between the reference and the fiction sections, then there might even more books where they shouldn’t be.” Twilight paused, looking directly into Spike’s eyes to add weight to her next words. “We’re going to have to reshelve the whole library again.”

Spike sat there for a moment, looking at Twilight before one of his eyes started twitching. “Twilight, didn’t we do that just a couple of days ago?” Seeing her nod, he continued, “Wouldn’t it be fine to just sort through them at the end of the month as usual?”

The mirth that had been slowly building in Twilight’s eyes was instantly replaced with cool consternation. "Spike, what would happen if we left the library unorganized?”

“Nothing Twilight,” Spike snorted. “Hardly anypony comes to check out books, and everypony that does has to look for half an hour to find their book, all because you insist on reorganizing the entire library every month.”

“Don’t you remember what I said when I told you about it the first time? Reshelving once a month makes it easier for us to organize all the books we exchange with the library in Canterlot.”

“I still don’t get why you insist on doing that exchange thing,” he grumbled. “Nopony comes here that often.”

"Spike, the monthly Canterlot Literary Exchange is there so that ponies have the opportunity to read books from all over Equestria," Twilight patiently explained. "Not only that, but it also helps less known authors by circulating their books throughout libraries all over Equestria."

Spike grumbled incomprehensibly, folding his small arms in defeat. After a moment, he looked back at Twilight, suspicion in his eyes. “You’re the one who helped come up with the idea, so why am I always the one who ends up putting the books back on the shelves?”

Whatever retort Twilight was about to give died in her mouth as she looked blankly at Spike. Luna, seeing an opportunity, answered him in a knowing voice. “I’m sure she means to, but it is easy to get distracted.” She looked at Twilight with a glimmer of humour in her eye. “Doubly so when there is so many books one hasn’t read before.”

Spike glanced at Luna thoughtfully, the gears of his mind turning as he recalled his previous reshelving experiences. His brow furrowed, he turned again to the librarian magician. “That actually explains a few things,” he said, more to himself than to the two ponies beside him. Twilight ducked her head sheepishly under his gaze, a light blush forming over her embarrassed smile.

A moment passed in silence before the mare in question looked down at the table, sighing in defeat. "All right, I may have gotten a bit distracted the last few times the books arrived," Twilight said hesitantly, “and maybe I wasn’t exactly helping you like I should have.” She looked up, an apology writ upon her face.

Spike's eyes softened a bit. "Aw, Twilight. It's alright, but please try to help out next time." Twilight smiled as he continued, “After all, I can understand when you just wanna cuddle with a new book before you read it.”

Twilight reared her head back indignantly. “I-I don’t cuddle books!” she stammered, her slight blush returning to her cheeks.

“Then what were you doing with ‘Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’ last night?” Spike retorted, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Twilight gaped for a moment before raising her snout in a mockingly haughty manner. “I can’t help it if I fall in love with Newt-on’s writings,” she replied, her answer and tone causing Luna to snort. Spike sent a confused look toward the night princess, then shrugged dismissively.

“I suppose you can’t really control what attracts you, huh?” Spike asked. This time it was Twilight who couldn’t hold back a giggle. Spike looked blankly at her before he shook his head, dismissing the two mares as crazy before he started eating.

A quiet moment was shared as everyone ate, eager to finish their meal while it was fresh. It was Spike who broke the silence.

“So, no offense or anything, but what brings you here today Princess?” he asked offhandedly. Twilight’s ears swiveled to listen, eager to her the results of the Princess’s findings.

Finishing her last bite, Luna gathered her thoughts before she spoke, directing most of what she said to Twilight. "After our… meeting last night, I found that the source of the thaumaturgical disruption is located somewhere in our former castle.”

Twilight gave her a worried look. “You mean you didn’t get to see what caused it?” Seeing Luna shake her head she continued, “Why not? Did it leave before you could see it?”

“Nay, I…” her eyes hardened imperceptibly and her posture straightened, “I was intercepted before I could get there.” She rushed to clarify upon seeing Twilight's confusion. "Somepony took me by surprise over the forest. I’m not exactly sure how, but he managed to hit me with an odd spell, something I cannot honestly say I have seen before."

Twilight looked thoughtful before she responded. "'He' was with you above the trees?" She asked. Seeing Luna nod she continued. "He also cast a spell on you? The same one who was with you?" She chewed her lip a bit. "Then you're saying..." She trailed off.

Luna nodded. "Indeed. It seems that there is an alicorn that neither of us knew about." She frowned, remembering what he had said. “Although he seems to have some connection to my sister. Tell me, do you recall anything about a certain ‘Tempus Fluit’?”

Gaze unfocusing, Twilight thought back through all the books she had read. She shook her head. “I’m sorry Princess. I can't say for sure, but I don't think there's any books, either here or in the Canterlot library, that mention that name. Can you remember him well enough to describe him?”

"Certainly," Luna said nodding. She described her encounter, paying especial attention to the stallion’s appearance. "There was something odd about his magic as well. Even with my own extensive knowledge, I have never known a spell to simply pass directly through a barrier."

Twilight frowned at that. “Technically speaking, there are only a few spells that can bypass a barrier. What happened when it touched the barrier? "

"It didn't seem to touch it, more as though it went through it as if it wasn't there," Luna replied.

The lavender mare's frown deepened at that. "'As though it wasn't there?' There isn't any spell recorded that can do that." She blinked, suddenly unsure, "At least, there aren't any that I've heard of. It's most likely a specialty spell. That leaves another question though: what kind of magical specialty allows a spell to retain an effect after passing through a magic-based barrier?" Twilight paused, her mind halting on that thought. "Come to think of it, what did his spell do?"

It was Luna's turn to frown. "I'm not entirely sure. Except for the fact that I felt perfectly fine waking up in the morning, as opposed to my normal evening awakening, I cannot say that I notice any odd effects."

"Mmm… I'll look into it later. It seems like a promising topic, even if the don't find out his name.” Luna inclined her head gratefully.

Spike's sigh drifted into the lull of conversation. "Are you two going to eat before the food gets cold?" He asked, midway through his own meal.

Twilight gave a slightly exasperated eye-roll at his impatience as she and the visiting princess started eating. The room was quiet except for the occasional sound of appreciation for the home-cooked meal. It was Luna who hesitantly broke the silence next.

“Twilight, it may not be the ideal way to spend the day, but would you care to lend me your aid for today? I would like to investigate what it is that this mystery stallion is hiding, and we would appreciate somepony to watch our back."

A slow, small smile spread across the lavender mare’s face. “Of course I’ll help. It isn’t likely coincidence that we both see something unexplained in the same night, and if you’re right about the old castle—”

“ —Then we will likely find our answers there,” Luna finished.

Letting loose what felt like the thousandth yawn in the past hour he had been walking, Isaac marveled at the fact that the forest, despite being somewhat desolate, managed to cultivate an air of menace that permeated the entirety of the forest, from the boughs and trunks of the trees  to the leaves and thorns of the shrubs which grew near the path he had followed from the bridge. ‘I almost wish something would happen, if it’d only make things a little livelier,’ he thought to himself.

Almost as if the forest had been listening to his thoughts, he heard a patch of bushes rustle a few feet away from the path. ‘Fuck! I didn’t think jinxing was a real thing!’ he thought, panicking as the rustling continued before a snake about as wide as his arm slithered toward him. Jolting in surprise, he backpedaled as the snake drew closer to the path, not seeming to pay Isaac any mind. His surprise turned into puzzlement as the snake made to cross the path in front of him. Partway across, the snake paused, rearing it’s head back and turning to look at him with what he could only describe as an expectant look.

Blinking rapidly, Isaac tried to make sense of the snake’s actions. “What? I hope you aren’t trying to ask me for food,” he said, feeling somewhat foolish for talking to a snake. To his surprise, the snake shook it’s head at him in an unmistakably negative gesture. “Oh, alright then. Umm… Good morning to you then, I suppose,” he said, his voice trailing off toward the end. Nodding pleasantly at him, the snake lowered its head back to the ground and slithered along to the other side of the path. Isaac stood there for a moment, pondering what he had just seen. ‘... It’s gotta be magic. That’s the most likely answer to all this weird shit.’

Mentally facepalming, he continued along the path.

“Ugh, most definitely the worst idea I’ve had all day,” Isaac groaned. Shortly after his encounter with the snake, he had found a patch of berries a few feet from the path. Figuring that he’d just found a small lunch, he had picked enough berries that he’d had to use the bottom of his shirt as a makeshift pouch. That done, he made it back to the path, munching on the berries as he continued on his way.

He hadn’t known, however, that his stomach would decide to rebel against him for his casual choice of food. A couple of hours later found him clutching his stomach as he walked through the forest, barely paying attention to the path anymore, his feet falling heavier upon the dirt and foliage as he slowly trod on.

Isaac groaned again, hunching over his stomach as he felt it rumble sickeningly. ‘That’s the worst part of it,’ he mentally groaned. ‘My stomach’s so loud, every predator- NO! I refuse to jinx myself again.’

Stumbling along, he heard his stomach growl again, seeming to echo throughout the trees surrounding him. 'It'd figure that I would be transported away from home by some supernatural old man, only to be killed by some bad berries,' he thought humorlessly as his stomach growled louder. Pausing at the sound, Isaac realized that he hadn't felt his stomach rumble for about a minute.

Eyes darting around, he looked nervously at the surrounding forest, seeking the telltale signs of life --of a predator-- that was surely stalking him. Looking hard at a now suspicious piece of foliage, he strained his eyes to make out the shape of whatever was following him.

Almost as though they realized that he was aware of them, the creatures slunk out from the surrounding forest, encircling him as they looked hungrily upon him. Isaac looked at the creatures in disbelief. ‘Wooden… Wolves? Wait a minute, could they be… Timberwolves?’ He chuckled, the pain receding into the background of his mind in favor of the present threat. ‘That’s bad, I’m gonna be killed by nature’s unimaginative practical joke.’

Even as he made his silent comments the wolves as one turned to face him, making Isaac shiver as their eyes appraised him as one. ‘Well, here’s the part where I make some crack about getting the rumble seat ride,’ he thought as he briefly remembered the old song his father had sang to his mother long ago.

Snarling, the wolf to his left ran the few feet separating them, leaping to tackle him as time seemed to slow for Isaac, his senses going into overdrive at the threat of impending doom. Adrenaline pumping, he moved aside, narrowly avoiding the lunging wolf as he ran for the temporary break in the wolves’ circle, his stomach pains all but forgotten as he sprinted  hard, the wolves not far behind him.

Later, if someone had asked what he was thinking then, he would have told them he had been thinking of ways to get away. The truth, however, was that he only had room for one thought: ‘Nope! Nope nope nope, no way!’ Arms pumping hard at his sides, eyes wide in panic, he ran as fast as he could, barely noticing that he had left the path. as he ran, one of the quicker wolves managed to close the distance between them, snapping at his heels and calves as Isaac yelped, pushing his body to the limit in an effort to get away.

A loud sound interrupted his frantic thoughts, followed by the breaking of glass. Sparing a moment to look back, Isaac saw shards of glass scattered around the wolf that had caught up, the liquid which must have been in the thrown container making a sizzling sound not unlike cooking meat. The pursuing wolves stopped, whipping their heads around in an effort to locate the new threat.

Feeling a tugging on his shirt, he looked down to see what looked like a miniature zebra. ‘What the… Magic, that’s right,’ he thought, taking in the striped mohawk that only reached up to his stomach, marking her as shorter than he thought a zebra should be. Tugging again, it seemed to be trying to tell him to follow as it started running, only sparing him a backward glance as she moved. Snapping back to the situation at hand, he followed the zebra, running to catch up.

As luck would have it though, their escape didn’t go unnoticed. One of the wolves saw them run, snarling as it too ran after them, drawing the pack’s attention until the chase was resumed, this time with more prey for them to catch.

Following the short zebra, Isaac found himself led through the forest, nearly losing his guide at one point, all the while the pursuing timberwolves snapped and snarled their hunger only a few yards behind him. Just as his energy started to flag despite his adrenaline rush, he found himself running almost face first into a gnarled tree. Cursing his inattentiveness, he looked up at the tree, noting how it as well partook in the forest’s general atmosphere of creepiness. Looking around to see where his guide had gone to, he saw an open door in the trunk of the tree. ‘I suppose treehouses are a regular thing here,’ he thought, the irony coloring his mind with amusement.

Hearing a growl not far behind him, he spun, eyes wide to better see everything – anything – happening. What he saw puzzled him: the wolves had spread out at the treeline, yet wouldn’t even approach the treehouse beyond their positions, opting instead to growl their displeasure at losing their prey. Puzzled over their strange behavior, Isaac was startled to hear the zebra nicker at him from the doorway.

Noting the confusion on his face, the zebra gestured for him to follow it as it went back into the tree. Shrugging, he followed it into the tree, sparing the growling wolves a backwards glance before ducking through the doorway. Looking around, Isaac realized he had been wrong about his initial impression: the tree was hollowed out to form something closer to a hut than the house he had expected. The ceiling was only a few inches taller than the top of his head, he observed a he straightened fully. Furthermore, the hut seemed chock full of voodoo masks, flasks and vials of strange liquids, and various plants, some of which he had seen in the forest on his until-recently uneventful walk. Taking up the center of the living space, resting in a dip in the floor was a large cauldron, half full of a bubbling liquid, heated courtesy of a crackling fire lit underneath it.

Looking once again at his savior, he watched it take off some sort of saddlebag made of woven grass, gold jewelry quietly clicking together as she somehow twisted her neck to take off the bag. ‘Okay, We may have been running from a pack of wolves, but how on god's green earth did I not notice all that jewelry?’ he thought, privately astonished at not only his own inattentiveness, but at the fact that a zebra was wearing jewelry.

As he watched the zebra, it turned to face him, giving him a look of curiosity as it once again made it’s series of sounds. As it “spoke,” Isaac noticed that the sounds it made had a particular cadence or pattern. ‘If it’s trying to talk to me, I hope it isn’t saying something important,’ he thought, his puzzled face managing to convey his confusion to the zebra. Brow furrowing, it started gesturing at him with its hooves when a loud grumble broke through the zebra’s efforts to communicate. Clutching his stomach, Isaac was reminded of the berries he had eaten, the resulting pain forgotten in his flight from the pack of timberwolves.

So distracted by his discomfort, he didn’t notice the short quadruped's look of concern, nor did he care to take notice as it walked around the hut, checking a couple of flasks before slipping one out from a cord of rope hanging near one of the shelves. Walking over to Isaac, it reared up on it's hind legs, bracing itself on his shoulders with it's forelegs and all but pushing the flask held gingerly between its teeth in front of his face.

Blinking dumbly for a moment, it took him a second to realize the obvious. 'It wants me to drink that?' He thought a moment before throwing caution to the wind. 'I might as well,' he reasoned. 'It could have left me alone with the big bad wolves, so what's there to lose?'

Reaching up with one hand, Isaac accepted the proffered flask, thumbed off the cork stoppering it, tipped his head back and drunk the foul smelling liquid, gagging a bit as it passed down his throat. There was an almost immediate relief as his stomach ceased its rebellion against its troublesome guest. Sighing in relief, Isaac started to thank the zebra but stopped when he realized it was likely it could understand his words as well as he could understand it. Instead he settled for a deep bow to show his thanks, which the zeba accepted, inclining its head toward him with a relieved smile.

Zecora was puzzled by the strange creature. Standing twice as tall as her on it's hind legs, it wore clothes to cover it's hairless body which left a good portion of his upper appendages uncovered. It was obviously intelligent, if its expressions of gratitude were anything to go by. What actually puzzled her was that despite its intelligence, it had made made little effort to communicate with her.

“Strange creature from abroad, you have an answer I would seek,” Zecora began, stepping, “please tell me now, why do you not speak?” Cocking its head to one side, it let out a few sounds similar to the monkeys found deeper in the forest. ‘Unsurprising it should be, considering it’s apparent primate ancestry,’ she thought.

“It seems that although you can certainly speak, your grasp on our language is rather weak," she said solemnly. "There is something I can do, though compared to words it is quite softer. The method to you might be a bit new, but rest assured it’s little more than magic powder.” She smiled a bit as the creature scowled, its incomprehension the cause of a good deal of frustration for it- him she realized, if his sharp chin and wider shoulders were any indication of gender.

Her smile widened in amusement as she heard him mutter something incomprehensible under his breath.

“Fucking mini zebra,” Isaac muttered. When it had continued “talking” to him, he had told it that he couldn’t understand what it was saying. Despite that, it continued in it’s oddly cadenced voice, giving him a smile as he scowled at it. ‘I hate it when people don't take a hint,’ he thought.

Isaac was startled to hear his stomach rumble, though calmed down a bit when he realized that he was simply hungry. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his last granola bar, squashed by his mad dash from nature’s bad joke. ‘Food’s food I guess,’ he thought. ‘Now if only there were more of it...’

Shrugging, he wolfed down the small bit of food, sighing as its taste briefly passed through his mouth, dropping down his throat even as the zebra watched. The morsel did little to satisfy his stomach, a fact not lost to the zebra. Giving Isaac a calm look, it walked over to the cauldron, grabbing a ladle as it passed by a table, and scooped some of the liquid into a bowl it balanced on its hoof, which it then passed over to him. Eyeing the bowl curiously, he took a whiff of the steaming liquid inside. Somehow, it reminded him of the soup his god-mother had always made when he visited her.

Shaking away the nostalgic thoughts, Isaac briefly looked for any nearby utensils before shrugging and lifting the bowl to his lips. Drinking the soup, he gasped as the hot liquid seared his tongue and throat, his urge to eat having caused him to forget the consequences of consuming hot food without waiting for it to cool. Taking quick breaths in a futile attempt to relieve his scalded mouth, he swung his head around in search of something he could cool his mouth with. Zeroing in on a nearby drinking mug, he dashed to the table it was on, depositing the soup bowl on it as he grasped the mug in his other hand. Barely noticing the panicking zebra that was moving to stop him, Isaac downed the liquid without giving any thought to the contents of the mug.

The mug, empty now of its previous contents, was deposited back onto the table. Sighing in relief, Isaac savored the slight numbing feeling the drink had brought to his mouth. Turning his head to look at the zebra, his sheepish smile turned to a puzzled frown when he saw one of its forehooves striking it's forehead in an imitation of a human face-palm. 'Or would it be called a face-hoof?' he thought. 'Wait, could it be... That wasn't something safe to drink?' Darkness encroached on the edges of his vision, the feeling of numbness that had started in his mouth spreading throughout his body.

'Well sh-'