25 The Laboratory

Aurice easily moved her way towards the source of the magic concentration, although she felt the air becoming heavier and heavier. Navigating her way in the dark, she stumbles upon a room marked "Authorized Personnel Only".

'Just the place I'm looking for.' She smiles as she disappears into the door.

Aurice was normally a very composed person, but as she entered the room she was slightly taken aback. Everything was so white: the walls, the furniture, the fixtures. White. It made her even more curious of where she is. Making her way towards what looked like the office room and peeked inside.

It only had a table and two lab coats hanging on the wall. Inspecting the lab coats she saw the name "Stedore" handsewn into the breast pockets.

'Stedore, huh. Fancy name, I'll give you that.' Aurice mused, already assuming these are the names of her would be captors.

'Aaand here's what they look like.', she continued as she moved toward the table and saw a picture. In the picture there were three people, a man standing behind a woman seated while holding a small child. She found herself staring at the picture, wondering where she had seen these people before, when suddenly she heard movement.

She immediately placed the picture to where it was and hid behind the table. Just then she realized she was still in her cloaking spell, and so she stood up, feeling kind of embarrassed. 'Hmm. Just needs a little getting used to.', she laughed for allowing herself to get sidetracked.

She walked out of the office and moved on to the next room. Aurice notices the sign on the door, "Laboratory". Looking through, she saw a lot of apparatus and machines across the room, but a certain device caught her eye. The chair in the far corner seemed very ordinary compared to the other equipment in the room but she sensed a lot of magic residue coming from it. She can't explain why but she was drawn to this object.

Just then, she remembered a book she read from the Sanctuary about a spell that can let you read memories. It said that even inanimate objects such as stones and wood have memories, and if the right magic is used, one can access these memories for themselves. Luckily, Aurice was able to learn it. After muttering the incantation for the spell, her hand glowed a ghostly blue-green. She touched one hand on the chair, and one to her temple. Blurry images started to flash within her mind.

"Nooooooooo! Please Stop!"

'Blood… too much blood.'

'Bones cracking…'

"What are you doing?!"

'Clang.' A sound suddenly pulled Aurice out of the memories, abruptly ending the spell. She was sweating, and she felt a little bit dizzy. 'That girl sitting in the chair…', Aurice thought, trailing off. 'But that's impossible.' She was trying to rack her brain for the answer.

'Clang.' The sound came again. It wasn't a very loud sound but in this room where the only sound was the hum of the instruments, a 'clang' would be enough to scare anyone. Instead of being frightened though, Aurice was actually annoyed.

'Clang'. The sound came a third time. Aurice listened closely to trace it back to its source.

'Clang. Clang.' The sounds were coming from another room at the other corner of laboratory. She was exhausted from using the memory-reading spell but she was curious what could be making the sound. Maybe it could explain some of the happenings she saw in the memory. She slowly made her way towards the room. Her cloaking spell was already gone, she was too tired to keep channeling it. But as she turned the doorknob to open it, a sudden dread came upon her. She stood frozen on the doorway entrance as the scene inside was revealed.

It was another room, but instead of apparatus and equipment, Aurice saw bodies hanging upside down from the ceiling. Most of the bodies were too emaciated to be alive but some others were still moving. Some of them still gasped like they were trying to say something but only wheezes came out. Others tried to reach out to Aurice as if asking for help, but only a weak flail of their limbs and it seemed like their strength have already worn out.

'Clang'. The chain that bound their feet to the ceiling hauntingly rang in the silent room. 'Clang'. 'Clang'.

Aurice was normally a very composed person, but at the sight of this monstrosity, she began to feel her knees failing. Trembling, she stepped back, dragging herself away from the horrible room. 'What is going on here?' 'Why are these people here?' 'I must get out of here.' Aurice kept thinking, but her strength began to fade. The spells she used were beginning to take their toll on her. And the mental stress from what she has seen was not helping.

Aurice collapsed to the cold floor, blacking out.