A Chessmaster and his Game

It was time to move into the house, after a week of work on both their parts, Scootaloo was out for two weeks for Hearth's Warming Eve, and Jackson had received a Hearth's Warming bonus payment.

Haggling some ingredients down to extremely cheap prices, he prepared to make Scootaloo her dream breakfast on Hearth's day.

But forty bits to buy presents for all of his friends with, he was going to have a hard time. How could he get meaningful gifts on such a tight budget?

His friends, both old and new, helped out, with the tight budget being spent on raw materials to be refined with care.

He made a checklist, he needed something for Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, as well as his sister, and because he was so generous, his sister's friends.

Now was the time for his old friends to help out, especially Curtis, because the chests in the basement held plenty of materials to make what was needed.

For Twilight, he took Arin's joke as help and made an 'ass' tree, well, more like a tree with the word 'ass' carved into it, rather than a tree that grew disembodied asses. This oddity fucked the rules of intelligence and helped him write a book of poetry, plagiarizing so many human poets that it wasn't even funny, and writing some original material in there as well, it was a really good read, but he couldn't think of a title at the moment.

For Rainbow, he took Curtis' smarts as help and built a heater, since he had heard her complaining about how damn cold it was in a cloud house during the winter, granted having windows made of ice certainly didn't help that factor at all. He copied the design of his water heater and stored a 'YOL TOOR SHUL' inside a container, then built the rest. The idea was that the fire breath shout would quickly bring water to a roiling boil, and the steam would heat up the house. The humidity would be absorbed by the walls, leaving a refreshing heat in its wake.

For Applejack, he took Dalton's fanaticism and built a multi-tool, since no doubt Applejack had to do a lot of tool-related things to keep the farm running, so he included a screwdriver, a clipper, two knives, a saw, a nail puller, a bottle opener, and a small hammer, he had Scootaloo test it, and found that pony hooves worked a lot like magnets, but better, as they could selectively grab anything whether it was metal or not. All of the tools worked very well, and the gift was complete.

For Rarity, he took Kevin's fascination with Japanese culture and constructive skills, and made a kimono, to the best of his ability, it was nice looking, with and indigo base and white lotus flower designs peppering it, Scootaloo, being the good little helper that she was, confirmed that it was very comfortable. The crafting table helped immensely with getting everything put together, especially the kimono, the multi-tool, and the steam heater.

For Fluttershy, he made another kimono, because anything else that he tried to think of, she already had something that did the same thing, even his Animal Allegiance shout amulet, which would put animals into battle-mode to protect her. This kimono was a light teal, like her eyes, and had little orange carp designs peppering it, Scootaloo confirmed that this one was also very comfortable.

For Pinkie, well, he was absolutely stumped, what would she want that would be meaningful? The only thing he could think of was ice-skates, because she loved having fun and Jamie once told him that ice-skating was fun. So he went to the chests and was surprised to find that the other ones were not empty, as he had originally thought, but had a plethora of random materials that I won't patronize you by listing individually. Strings, plastic and leather, and iron, and voila, ice-skates, he was loving the crafting table too.

Now came the hard part, Scootaloo's gift. Her friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were easy to get gifts for, he made Applebloom a multi-tool as well, and got a book of songs for Sweetie Belle, since he thought that she had a very nice singing voice. Scootaloo, though, he didn't know what to get or make... until he suddenly remembered an old trick he had read about on the internet.

"So, Scootaloo, I have everypony's gifts all ready, even yours, I'll let you guess what it is, here's a hint; it's something that you really wanted," he bluffed, and she bought it.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, um... new scooter wheels?" a nod for no, "Um, a cool weapon like yours?" a pause, then a nod no, "Um, flying lessons?" he had to remember that one, and nodded no, "Oh, um, hmmmm, is it tickets for me and Rainbow Dash to go to a Wonderbolts show?" he had to remember that one too, and nodded no, "Oh, well, that's everything that I wanted, wait a second..." she trailed off, looking at him suspiciously.

Poker face status: engaged, "What?"

"You didn't actually say that you were going to tell me what it was, dammit, I wasted my breath listing off all the things that I wanted," she cursed, mentally slapping herself for taking the bait on this joke.

"Hehe, well Scoots, ya got me, I said I would let you guess, but I didn't say that I would tell you if you got it right, so come on, chin up and let's go, I'm going to show you the rest of the house," the tall man said, picking the little filly up and spinning around.

"So this is the main room, it serves as a living room and a kitchen, the living room has a fireplace with special fuel," he looked at the Netherrack block in the fireplace, "The fire won't go out unless you put it out, and all you have to do to put it out is tap the base of it." he demonstrated this by using the flint and steel he had found to cast a small shower of sparks onto the base, causing a roaring, crackling fire to light up over every inch of the red stone, "I'll put it out at the end of the tour, next is the second floor," he walked up the stairs into the hallway.

"Guest room, side room, your room, my room," he listed, opening each door in turn, the master bedroom was his, and the room right next to it was Scootaloo's.

"Wow, this is a really big house," the orange pegasus said, going starry-eyed at how nice her room was.

"Yes it is, that's why I picked it, now then, the basement," he announced, swiftly walking down the stairs and over to the concealed entrance to the subterranean level.

"Oh no, I've seen scary movies, are you sure the basement is safe?" the violet-maned pony asked, worried for her safety.

"Trust me Scoots, I can assure you that the basement is completely and utterly safe, it's fully lit with a warm sunshiny lighting system, and the only thing, the ONLY thing down here is chests of random stuff." he said, before mentally shooting himself in the everywhere-on-his-body for practically begging fate to shit on him.

He turned the lights on, and two things immediately became apparent to him:

1) The colors have changed, the lights are now blue, the chests have turned gray, and the stone brick walls are now much lighter.

2) There is a Lich King in my basement.

"Hello, master," the lich said, bowing before his better.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Jackson gently set Scootaloo down on top of one of the chests before whipping out his Bucking Blasters at the royal skeleton.

To the former's surprise, the latter merely shrank back in fear, before speaking quietly, "The Lich King code of honor dictates that I must become subservient to the one who bests me in the field of battle, as such, I am now your butler, a lowly butler to the new king," he explained, before adding, "Please don't hurt me, master." in a pathetic tone.

"That's cool, but how are you alive?" the master of the lich demanded.

"When you slew me, my soul was destroyed in the process, and thus I am now a Siurl, that's S-I-U-R-L, pronounced see-earl, my continued existence is controlled by a circle of logic, I am alive because my necromancy powers work, and my necromancy powers work because I am alive, this adds to the fact that my being alive keeps my mana levels up, which fuels my necromancy, so if master bores of my services, he need only cast a mana burn on me, and I shall cease to be. Please master, I shall be good, I shall serve you to the best of my ability, please, please please please please please," the siurl's begging for life was reduced to a madness mantra as he groveled at the feet of his master.

"Well then, a wonderful gift for me, just in time for Hearth's Warming, you may stay, siurl, you shall reside in the basement and serve my family, agreed?" the jade-eyed man tried to stay nice, because he wasn't a giant dickface.

"Agreed, thank you for letting me stay, master, thank you." the groveling stopped, replaced with gratitude.

"Hey Scoot, say hi to our new butler," Jackson laughed as his sister joined in.

"Hello... wait... what's your name?" Scootaloo asked.

"I... I am..... please wait a moment, my name evades m- ah, right... my name is Anjuel Smitonio, hispanic angel and ancient paladin of Ba'Hal, the god of murder, I became a necromancer as part of tribute to my god, and eventually ascended to the status of lich and later Lich King, please, if master wishes to call me Anjuel, I am under every obligation to accept it," Anjuel revealed, regaining some dignity, and bowing on one knee before his master.

"Very well, Anjuel, I have a task for you: fix your fugly face and clean your body, you offend both my eyes and my nose, there's a bathroom underneath the stairs to the second floor," the officer pointed out.

Anjuel realized how poorly he looked, with no flesh on his face, his ratty, dirty, wispy tendrils of gray hair, and his garishly-glowing green eye-fires, he rose to his feet before bowing at the waist and ascending the stairs to bathe and groom.

Jackson smiled, his home was already fifty percent better with this new addition.

"Alright, so, it's time to get ready for tomorrow, Pinkie invited us to her place for the centralized celebration, and the presents are all ready, and I feel like our home is ready for a good life, I think we're going to have a good life, Scoot, what do you think?" he asked.

"I think we're gonna be fine," the orange pegasus replied, grinning at the thoughts of tomorrow, it was going to be Hearth's Warming Day, and she was going to spend it with her awesome big brother.

There was a knocking on the front door upstairs.

Brother and sister ascended the stairs and went to the front door to answer it.

"Ello there, wha's up?" a zebra was standing on the other side, looking forward but turning his gaze upwards, "Damn man, you tall as heeeell," he was jive and cool.

The two males locked eyes, and a special connection seemed to be made at that moment.

"Soul brotha," Jackson muttered.

"I've found my top homie, wha'sup? The name's Samuel R. Freeman, the R is for Ratchetness, I can tell by just lookin' in yo eyes, we're meant to be soul brothas, the top dogs, THE bros that go before the hoes, and I got a monkey, his name is Bobo," Samuel introduced himself and his pet.

The diaper wearing chimp gave a wave and a *ooh ooh aah aah* before giving Jackson a handshake.

"This is a special connection that we've found, we are and were destined to be, a salt and pepper duo, welcome to my family's home, Sam," the tall man stepped back and allowed the afro-sporting zebra inside.

"Nice place ya got 'ere, swag out," the zebra complimented.

At that moment Anjuel stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a blood red tuxedo with a gray undershirt, his rat's nest of a hairdo now a well-kempt mat of hair over the sides and top of his head, pale skin covering his face, though his bony hands remained fleshless, but were now a sterile white rather than aged tan.

"Cool, ya got a butler, aye'yo butler, wha's a zigga gotta do ta get some food 'round he'e?" Freeman's accent was thick, and a bit hard to write.

"Hello sir, I am Anjuel, the butler, I shall acquire food for you posthaste sir, anything for my master and his guests," the siurl said before quickly stepping into the kitchen area and preparing some food.

"Ratchet, be nice to Anjuel, he's a good guy when you start getting to know him, and he gave up being a king in order to be my butler," the jade-eyed man realized that that sounded a lot better in his head.

"That last part perfectly describes wha's hap'nin in a rap song when you play dat shit back'ards, you give up the money, bitches, and fame, essentially bein' a king, ya give it up and ya be a butler," the zebra philosophized.

*ooh ehh, ooh ehh* Bobo spoke up.

"Alright, let me explain everything," the master of the house insisted, clearing his throat.

~One explanation later~

"Wow, *nom* that was a really *nom* cool story, I would feel bad if I couldn't *nom* have heard it," Samuel said, nomming on a daisy sandwich.

"Yeah, *nom* imagine if some sort of *nom* banner came up, and it just *nom* skipped my whole explanation, *nom* that would suck," Jackson agreed, eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

"I agree, master, though I am thankful that you were kind enough to glorify my pitiful excuses for villainous escapades," Anjuel thanked in great gratitude, soaking his hands in a glass of milk, since he was nothing but bones, there wasn't any point to eat anything, but those bones needed to be strong.

"Well, you see Anjuel, I did that because... if I told the vanilla story... it was literally just me shooting myself and then shooting you, I wanted to look more heroic than that, so from now on, the glorious way that I told it is now the legitimate story, and you will confirm it if the need arises," the tall man explained, polishing off his sandwich before standing up and walking over to the wall, getting down his machete and shield.

"Alright, I'm going to head into town to tell Pinkie that we'll be having a couple more guests for Hearth's Warming now, I'll be back later, sorry for having to step out so soon,"

"Perhaps I and your 'soul brotha' should accompany you, master? It would be wise to introduce us to your friends, and a great honor to myself," Anjuel suggested, turning himself into a pony, his freshly-cleaned gray hair drooped around his head, though was cut very short in the front, his green eyes turned jade, the same color as Jackson's eyes.

"Aw'right, sounds mothafukkin' GOOD, I'll get my jacket," Samuel said before pulling a denim jacket out of his afro and putting it on, moving the long, thick braid that the back of his mane was tied-into to the side.

"Right, that's not a bad idea, come on you two, Scootaloo, you can stay here if you want, I trust you enough to hold down the fort, and I already told you all the rules,"

"Yeah, don't answer the door if it's not you, don't answer the phone if it's not you, don't leave the door unlocked if I go outside, I know it all," the orange pegasus listed, trotting over to the basement stairs, "You three have fun," she said, descending into the subterranean room.

Waiting not a moment longer, the leader of the family opened the door and stepped outside.

~Some time later~

Lots of ponies were out and about, enjoying the cold weather and copious amounts of snow, it was actually lightly snowing at the moment, which just made the whole seen a little better.

Jackson was leading his two new family members through town, his destination was Sugarcube Corner, his phone was pumping out some title-to-situation appropriate music.

Samuel was banging his head up and down, and Anjuel was doing his best to enjoy it.

"Nice beats, dude," somepony suddenly spoke up, and Jackson paused the song to see who it was.

A white unicorn with an electric blue mane, the style was not so much a style as it was unkempt spikes of messy hair, she wore purple reflective shades and had a music note for a cutie mark.

"Uh, thanks, you...." he trailed off, motioning for her to introduce herself.

"Oh, the name's Vinyl Scratch, but most ponies know me by my stage name, DJ-PON3, I was just about to go pick up some records from the repair shop when I heard you pumping those sick beats. Gotta say, never seen you around before, I've heard about you, but now that I see you for real, I gotta say, you don't look quite seven feet tall," the mare explained, looking up at him.

"Almost, six foot eight, I just hope that nopony said anything about my eyes or hair," he laughed, squatting down to be eye-level with the white unicorn.

"Well, your mane's not black, it's dark brown, and your eyes are actually a bit gold around the edges, OH HEY speaking of gold, I found your T thingy, I gotta go, so here it is," Vinyl pulled out an intricately carved golden cross and lobbed it into Jackson's hands before galloping off to her errands.

"Oh, what?" the officer looked over the cross and saw that it had the words *Property of: Jackson McCard, return to him on sight* engraved on it, "Cool," he said, before attempting to stuff it into his pocket.

The cross suddenly stuck to his Infernal Sentinel's amulet like a magnet, the two of them glowing brightly before phasing away in a burst of yellow, orange, and red light.

You're Binary Crucifix has inexplicably combined with your Infernal Sentinel's amulet, causing the two relics to disappear into nothingness.

The warmth in your body increases ten-fold, making you feel like you have a fever, your spine feels like it's grinding your skin away with each breath, so much pain, but a magical counter reads 23 hours remaining, you can either wait for the timer to run out or dispel whatever is coming.

Jackson had no idea about how to work any kind of magic other than P1 signature 'Thy Will be Done' powers, and that was technically not magic, but a defiance of reality.

The two had differences, surely, from what he had seen, magic in Equestria was a natural thing, it didn't defy reality, rather it interacted with it.

He felt his head run into a door, and upon opening his eyes realized that his body had taken him to Sugarcube Corner on its own.

Since the place was a public store, the burnt-brunette didn't bother with knocking as he walked inside, seeing Pinkie Pie preparing several trays of food in a blur of pink fur, metal apparatuses, and baked goods in various states of 'baked-ness'.

"Hey Pinks, meet Anjuel and Samuel, they'll be joining us for Chris-er, Hearth's Warming," Jackson mentally chided himself for almost saying Christmas, that holiday wasn't here, and he was here, so he needed to follow the saying: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

"Hi there, Anjuel and Samuel, ooh, you're undead and you're a zebra, NEAT. I know a zebra myself, her name is Zecora and she lives out in the Everfree, but I've never met any undead before, how are you undead is it like a necromancy thing, wait does that mean you're evil cause necromancy is kinda scary," Pinkie backed away from Anjuel as her voice cracked.

"I apologize, Lady Pinkie, I was once the Lich King, but my soul was destroyed and I was bested by Master Jackson in a glorious battle. I am now a siurl, my necromancy originally came from holy powers, but now comes from myself," Anjuel explained, breathing in deep to explain the parts of his explanation.

*breathe IIIIIIIIIIIIIIN*

"Makes sense," the party mare said, causing the undead stallion to make a sound like the air being let out of a balloon.

"Ay, I 'eard ya talkin' bout mah sista, ol' Z, I can't believe Z is livin' in tha Evafree," the zebra remarked.

"Zecora is your sister? How come you two talk so different?" the mistress of ceremonies asked innocently.

"What up wit chu? Ya sayin' all zebras should sound a certain way?" the khaki-eyed stallion rebuked in a joking tone, "Ah, I'm juss playin', I don't really take no offense ta no species-al joke unless they explicitly offensive, but ta answa ya questionin', I've been livin' in big cities tryna find'er, guess I shoulda know she'd be in a place wit da plants, where is da Evafree even?" he queried.

"If I'm not mistaken, that forest about two hundred and fifty meters away from our house is the Everfree Forest, I'll need to expand the home outwards if we're to have manageable defenses against whatever may stalk its way out of there," Jackson sat down and began deeply thinking.

"Master, now that you are closer to eye-level, I can't help but notice that your eyes are chartreuse," the siurl informed.

"What? No, no no no, please tell me you're joking," Jackson started panicking, of all the bad things to happen to him...

This was THE. WORST. Thing to be permanent and also in his eyes.

"Oh, in that case Master, I merely jest in my observations," the butler tried to comfort him.

"No no, no no no, why no oh no no, please god no." he looked into the mirror that Pinkie so kindly brought up for him.

His eyes were chartreuse.

"ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff..." the tall man walked outside, ducking under the doorway first.

"... fffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF" the metaphorical bomb was about to explode, he started running.

"FFFFFFFFFFFF-FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

He was running faster.

"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" his sprinting brought his closer to Twilight's library.

"- UUUUUUUUUUUUUU-UUS RO DAH" the afflicted man dragon shouted, blowing a hole in the clouds the size of the library before skidding to a halt a mere two feet from the door.

*knock knock* no need to be rude.

"It's open!" Twilight announced from somewhere on the other side, too busy to open the door.

Jackson calmly walked inside, calmly found Twilight looking through various books and compiled notes, and calmly sat down and waiting for her to acknowledge him.

"Ooh, where is it, SPIIIIIKE, where's the story about the guy who's greedy and had no friends, then is visited by the ghosts and scared straight? I need it for my scheduled group Hearth's Warming story-time.

"You mean Scrooge?" Spike called back, searching the shelves for it.

"Yes, the tale of Equenezer Scrooge," the lavender mare confirmed.

Jackson calmly pulled out his cellphone, loaded 'computer view', activated a new setting called 'world help', and used the command 'Control F'

A small text bar with the word 'Find' next to it came up, and he tapped in 'Story of Scrooge'.

A few books on a nearby shelf suddenly lit up with a faint, but noticeable yellow light, the tall man stood up and calmly walked over to them, pulling out the first one.

'Rewrite, The Story of Scrooge in modern-era terminology' by P.L. Night-Write, he could immediately recognize Princess Luna's penponyship, and mentally applauded her for coming up with a quite vague pseudonym.

"Hey Twi, here's the book you need," he said, walking over and setting the book in front of the unicorn.

"Ooh, written in modern-era terminology? That'll be sure to get my friends interested," she hoped, looking at the book with sparkly eyes.

"Right, okay, Twilight, magic, in me, my eyes are the worst color ever, fix it, please," he summarized, catching Twilight's full attention finally.

"Oh, okay, um, ooh, those eyes do not look good on you," she winced, getting out of her seat and trotting to the bookshelf.

"I need Magical Auras and the Identification thereof, by Mirror Flash," she announced, looking high and low for the desired volume.

Jackson did the 'Control F' thing again and searched for the title, finding it within seconds.

He didn't pull it down, though, instead he smiled and sat in his chair, starting to count how many times Twilight passed it.

In his mind, one....two......four.......nine...........fifteen.................twenty seven.....

He stopped counting when he started actually looking at Twilight herself, he had never taken much time to really analyze his pony friends, so he did so now.

Now that he really looked at her, Twilight was really cute, both cute in an adorkable way, and cute in an attractive way, she was trim, or maybe not so much 'trimmed down' as 'never had the extra', from what Spike had told him, she didn't eat much, and didn't do much besides study, sciences, magic, and hang out with friends.

His eyes traced over her whole form, her amethyst eyes. Her clean, well-kempt, squared off mane with the little rebellious lock off to the far side. Her muzzle was a delicate looking thing, even though he knew she had taken doors, walls, and even the ground to the face, but she was still pretty by pony standards. Her slender neck and slightly pudgy body, only slightly pudgy though. Her long legs and caring hooves, Spike was the best well of knowledge on the studious mage, and according to him, Twilight had never been mad enough to punch someone, or do anything mean with any of her hooves. Then his eyes met her flanks.

It was bound to happen, he was looking over her entire body, but the second his eyes hit those flanks, it got weird. Just as human males had an instinctual love for curves, so too did pony males, and Twilight's flanks were being loved a lot at that moment.

'How does she had such a perfect ass when all she does is sit on it all day?' he thought, before the despised voice of P1 joined him.

'You've been hit by, OOH, you've been struck by, a perfect ass. Not really hit by it, but I don't think you don't want that, huh? Ya filthy man, look at yourself, came here for help and now you're ogling Twi's ass, I swear it's like Shaun all over again, actually, I'm quite scared now, you're more like Shane...' P1 trailed off, whimpering a bit.

'Who the hell is Shaun, or Shane?' Jackson mind-asked.

'Shaun was a caring, fatherly man, who fathered many men, and women, his lover was raised with him, Gray is her name, the two share a special bond of the soul, not like you and Samuel with your 'soul brotha' thing, but like literal 'soul mates', they have sex every hour, on the hour, Shaun is a charismatic, chivalrous pervert, who gets his sex via seduction. Shane is the polar opposite, he even has opposite colors on his hair, eyes, and clothes, the dude is a prick and a rapist, he once killed a shemale for threatening to stick it in him, blew off her penis, lift leg, and right arm, then raped the body three times, the only reason the authorities never arrested him was because they feared him. Shaun has the noble Thor's Hammer, Mjolnir, a weapon that can only be wielded by those as worthy as Thor himself, and there was even an account of Captain America using it, where as Shane has the Dirty Harry Surprise, the S&W29, one of the most powerful handguns in the world.' the god avatar explained.

'I didn't need a whole fucking essay reading, man, but it's nice to know that I scare you,' Jackson smiled, hoping that the insane god would leave him alone for a good long while.

'So often have I pawned as mortals rebelling against deities, that I have forgotten myself to be one, I shall depart,' a few footstep noises, then nothing.

"AHA, I found it," Twilight suddenly said, after passing the book about eighty times.

"Good, fix me, I hate chartreuse, and I love my eyes, so I don't want these two things mixing," Jackson lamented, sincerely hating this development.

"I first have to diagnose the problem, then I can fix it," Twilight insisted, finding the page she needed.

Her horn flared up with magic, which brightened and intensified quickly, Jackson was surrounded by an aura of light, which changed colors rapidly.

The mage grunted as she filtered out many colors from the aura, leaving only magical auras.

The light flashed out and was gone, leaving the afflicted human surrounded by strangely colored aura, like a mix of green, gold, and light brown.

Twilight huffed and puffed, carefully trapping a piece of light in a clear bubble, before doing to the next part of the process and summoning up a crystal panel to divide the mixed aura into its individual aura components.

The final part, with three individual bubbles of aura sample, words formed next to them.

Twilight backed away from the man in sudden fear, mumbling something.

"Uh, Twi, what's the matter?" the magical man asked, not sure about what was going on.

"P-p-p-p-pony," she stuttered, before stutteringly mumbling.

"What?"

"you've a dragon's soul and a necromancer's power,' she whispered, too quiet for normal ears to hear.

Jackson was then shocked by a sudden blast of stun magic, unfortunately he wasn't balanced at that moment, and fell over, hitting his head on the floor and blacking out.