Again, Ryker was silent for a moment.

"Hm." he mumbled.

He then sighed, and made his way over towards Eke, laying down beside him on the bed.

"........." he looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't.

'...why do I get the feeling you're hiding something?" he asked mentally.

Ryker smiled as he saw this.

He then placed a hand on Eke's head, gently ruffling his hair.

"......." he was then silent, as the shard in his chest 'pulsed' slightly.

'What the?' he wondered.

'What's happening?' he asked himself, as he looked around, trying to pinpoint what was causing this.

Eke's rush to the bathroom had caused Ryker to be jolted awake.

"Huh!?" he exclaimed.

"Eke!?" he said, looking in the direction of the bathroom.

"Eke, what's wrong!?" he asked, starting to crawl out of bed, but stopped when the shard in his chest started to pulse violently, causing him to clutch at his chest.

"Ngh!" he grunted in pain.

'The hell is happening...?' he thought.

As soon as Ryker saw Eke come out of the bathroom, his jaw almost dropped.

"Wha...!?" he exclaimed.

"Eke, that does NOT look 'fine'!" he said to him, getting up and rushing over.

"Eke, what the hell is happening to you!?" he asked.

"When did this start?" he asked further. "....and does this have anything to do with you touching that black water earlier?"

"......" Ryker was silent, before a voice entered his mind.

'I can fix him.' it told him.

This caused Ryker to take a step back back and grasp his hair.

"Ngh!" he grunted.

"Let me take the curse from him. I can draw it out of him. it said further.

Ryker then sighed, and looked at Eke.

"Eke... do you trust me?" he asked.

Ryker's body, as if by instinct, rushed up and got between Eke and the door.

"Eke, please!" he said.

"I... I know how to... to remove this from you." he told him.

"Or... or, rather... the 'other me' does." he said further.

"Please... just... just talk to him? I'll put him in the front of my mind, and he'll talk to you." he went on.

"Eke, that crap is leaking out your nose. We don't have time. Please?" he almost pleaded.

Almost as soon as Eke said the last part, Ryker slumped down for a second... and then raised his head, his eyes black as coal, his body surrounded by a thin black aura.

"A wise decision." he told Eke.

"I'll say it now, your time is severely limited." he said further.

"Give me your hand. Your infected hand." he went on.

"I will suck the curse out of you. Draw it out before it ends you."

"Simply put, it's demon-laced magic." Ryker responded.

"As for who? Who knows." he then said.

"Probably some poor sod that thought they could tame it and use it." he told Eke. "Odds are the magic consumed them and they fell into the water, their body rotting away and serving as little more than an incubation engine for the magic to spread." he explained further.

"Much like it's trying to do to you." he went on, extending his hand.

"Grab my hand with your infected hand." he instructed Eke.

"I'll take it out of you, and put it in the shard in this body." he said further.

"Your precious 'brother' won't be harmed." he added with a smug smirk.

"Perhaps." he responded.

"However, if you die here and now, you know he'll be devastated." he told Eke.

"So you need to make a choice." he said further.

"Die here and now, and have him potentially be blamed for this... after all, you and him are the only ones in this room..." he continued, his smirk growing.

"...or allow me to take it out of you, potentially growing stronger." he said further.

"Make your choice."

His smirk faded, and he looked deadly serious.

"Good." he replied.

He then jolted his hand forward, grabbing Eke's black hand, and squeezing it tightly.

As soon as he did so, Eke immediately felt like he was going to throw up again. His guts felt like they were being twisted and knotted in various ways, but he also noticed that the vision was slowly returning to his eye. As his vision cleared, he then saw that the blackness on his hand was slowly disappearing, seemingly being sucked into the hand that had grasped his own.

The whole ordeal lasted for close to 5 minutes, before it was gone, and he let go of Eke's hand.

"Now, then." he said.

"You threw up some of that in the bathroom earlier, yes?" he asked.

"I need to draw it out of the piping system here, lest the entire building succumb to it."' he told Eke with a smile, before turning and heading into the bathroom.

"I'd advise hydrating yourself ASAP!" Eke then heard him call out.