My stress levels were going through the roof (partially because of the coffee but we're not going to say that) and I was going to have a mental break down soon if I didn't get some peace. The stone wall in front of me started blurring and darkness started appearing as I started breathing harder and faster, crouching on the floor with my hands over my head. The voice kept yelling, but now it seemed fainter, masked by the sound of my breathing in my ears. The walls and the darkness were closing in, and soon I would be nothing more than a puppet controlled by a dark entity--I finally snapped when male and female voices clashed together into a muffled symphony of shouts and yelling, all directed at me.

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" I screamed in a demonic voice, my maroon eye glowing through my contact . Lashing out with my magic, I blasted both of them and stopped them from talking.

"We...we will talk about this later. For now, we have to find the ingredients and save Creine." I stood up and walked off, waving my hand to let them speak again, but from behind me I only heard footsteps.

Another 30 hours passed, and right now we were almost through the entire list. Creine, being the weak person he is, fell asleep at our camp. Then Penelope fell asleep too, so then it was just down to me. I gulped down some more instant awakening liquid, then went and got some Torlock toad skin and Ramoni tree bark.

I got back to our camp in the forest and Creine was awake, sitting by the fire and toasting a marshmallow. I snuck up behind him and grabbed the warm marshmallow, popping it into my mouth and ignoring his cries of protest.

"I need you to try these cures," I mumbled, my mouth full of sugary goodness. "So go over there and eat all the stuff one by one, and wait like 2 minutes until you try the next one if it doesn't work. Ok?"

Creine was either too tired or too scared of me to argue, so he obediently walked over there and started eating the different items laid before him, making faces as some of the more unappetizing items went down his throat.

"Oh my god. Wh-why is Torlock toad skin on the list?"

"It isn't. I just wanted to make you eat it."

Creine tried giving me a death glare, but he just looked like a small puppy trying to be intimidating. It was just kind of impossible to take him seriously, because even though he was taller than me, he had the face of a little fluffy dog and it was just so adorable.

"Aww, I'm sorry, puppy. But the good news is that we're almost done with the list. We only have 30 more possible cures to go!"

Creine cheered up at this enough to go wake up Penelope, who helped me find the final 30 cures in about 8 hours.

Finally, it was time for the 'final tasting', so to call it. The final 3 items were laid out before him to try. 

"Okay, the first one is Slerrok hair." Creine grabbed the small, fluffy tuft of hair and swallowed it, wincing at how it scratched his throat. Don't ask me how I know it scratches. We waited two minutes and-nothing. But it only served to fuel our happiness, because we knew that the cure must lie in the final 2 items.

"Now, dragon scale tea." Penelope handed a steaming mug of clear green liquid to the zombie, and he hesitantly took a sip. We waited, but there was no positive reaction whatsoever. In fact, the dragon scales appeared to make it worse, making Creine cry out as the claw marks grew deeper and the dark, inky tendrils spread from his neck to shoulder.

"Okay, okay! That means tracker snake spleen must be the cure!" I handed the small, blood-soaked piece of meat to Creine, and he swallowed. The 3 of us waited, holding our breaths.