Chapter 38

He had believed that the dark magic he had sensed outside was the most intense, sinster magic he had ever felt, but in the deepest, darkest corners of Gogossos, where the bloodmages conducted their experiments, it was much worse.

He had imagined that Asshai would feel this way, but the facts speak for themselves.

"I see your experiments were rather sloppy," Kaelarys said, looking at the creature in the dungeon before him.

The creature crouched in the dark corner of the dungeon, its bony limbs grotesquely twisted and barely resembling human form. Its skin was so thin and pale that the network of its veins and the sharp edges of its protruding bones were clearly visible underneath. It was as if the skin was nothing more than a protective covering, barely able to conceal the skeleton behind it. Every movement seemed painful and agonizing, as if her joints had long since become stiff, rusty hinges.

Her eyes were deep black holes, empty and expressionless, as if the life itself had been sucked out of them. There were no eyelids left, just bald, burnt-out sockets staring into the darkness as if they could see nothing else. Where once hair might have covered their heads, only scattered, disheveled strands were left, hanging limply from their bald, scarred scalps. It looked as if most of the hair had been violently ripped out, the scalp covered in blood-crusted wounds and scars.

Her claw-like hands clutched her bony knees, stretching almost to her chest as she crouched there, as if trying to hide from the world. But the long, sharp nails that looked like dagger-like claws told of a creature that had not only been a victim, but also a hunter.

The dungeon around her was a picture of horror. The remains of their victims lay everywhere - shattered skulls, gnawed bones and rotting pieces of flesh that gave off a foul stench. It was clear that she had fed on the creatures that had fallen into her clutches, but it wasn't just hunger that had driven her. The brutal, maniacal look she gave off spoke of a deeper, darker need - one that went beyond the mere preservation of life.

The floor of the dungeon was cold and damp, covered in a thin layer of dirty water and blood slowly seeping into the cracks of the stone. The air was thick and suffocating, permeated with the metallic smell of blood and the sour stench of decay. Small, almost imperceptible movements gave rise to the suspicion that rats were hiding in the dark corners, attracted by the remains of the horrible meal the creature had left behind.

"And cruel without rhyme or reason," he added.

He looked to his left, where a man in a deep red robe stood. His face was shrouded by the darkness that surrounded them, but Kaelarys had been able to recognize him clearly before. He was a middle-aged man, at least according to his biology, but his haggard appearance made him look as if he already had one foot in the grave.

His name was Voren Meroq, one of the many children of the head of House Meroq. As far as Kaelarys knew, Voren had a remarkable talent for magic, but instead of recognition, he had always been despised by his own family. So he turned to the dark art of blood magic, his skills and knowledge constantly growing and his thirst for knowledge insatiable, so that any brutality was welcome to quench it.

"On the contrary. What we're doing here is art, and every artist is unreasonable, because what he or she is doing is something that hasn't been done before. Besides, the gods can be cruel, and so can we," he replied calmly, unbothered by the sight before him.

Kaelarys looked him up and down, glancing at the face of Volen that had turned to him. "It seems they were especially cruel to you," he countered, referring to his rather .... unsightly appearance.

Volen's brow furrowed slightly at his reply, a normal reaction to unexpected answers. But Volen no longer had any eyebrows, which made it a comical sight.

Kaelarys ignored him and turned his gaze back to the creature before him. Judging by its physique, it had once been a woman, but now it was little more than a distorted abomination. Her hands were covered in blood, and he noticed that she seemed less interested in the flesh of her victims than in something else, the blood.

"Was she the result of a natural cross between two species, or was she made what she is by alchemical or magical means?" he asked, reaching for a freshly severed human arm presented to him by a guard.

"It's a fascinating experiment that we know very little about ourselves. A few years ago, we came across a creature that killed dozens of our soldiers before we were finally able to capture it. But before we could return to Gogossos with it, it was able to kill itself," Voren recounted as Kaelarys threw the arm into the cage and watched the creature rush towards it with inhuman speed, sinking its sharp teeth into the flesh and shredding it greedily.

"Very unusual," Kaelarys interrupted, his gaze traveling from the creature to Voren. "No animal or beast that I know of possesses the intellect or will to kill itself to avoid capture. That is more than mere instinct; it is evidence of an intelligence far beyond that of your everyday species, don't you think?"

"Indeed" 

"Go ahead, continue" Kaelarys motioned after a moment's thought.

In the few hours since his arrival in Gogossos, Kaelarys had encountered a variety of creatures that were the result of bizarre and fascinating experiments.

One of the creatures he encountered appeared to be a grotesque mix of human and feline predator. Its muscular limbs resembled those of a panther, lithe and powerful, but its head was half man, half beast, with a mouth full of sharp teeth and eyes that had lost all intelligence.

Another creature that caught his attention was a grotesque mixture of insect and human. Its body was covered in a thick, chitinous carapace that shimmered in the darkness. Its hands were deformed into claw-like extremities that could crush even the hardest stone. But worst of all were its eyes - they had the shape and appearance of an insect, split a thousand times, but with the expression of a tortured human trapped in this monstrous body.

But of all the things he saw, and of many he would like to erase from his memory forever, the creature in front of him was the most interesting. Here he found inspiration. He knew that everything the mages here did he could probably do better with enough time and resources, but he couldn't and wouldn't take care of everything, so he looked for inspiration for his next project, among other things, and seemed to have found it.

"We dared to merge the body of this creature with a living human - a risky undertaking, I admit. It may seem unusual to perform a ritual on an already dead creature, but our curiosity drove us on. After all, the creature was dead, and what was the worst that could happen? A dead slave and a failed experiment." Volen spoke calmly, almost casually, as if this was nothing more than an ordinary conversation about trivial matters.

Kaelarys raised an eyebrow and let his gaze wander over the creature again, still gnawing greedily at the severed arm. "What do you call it?" he asked, his voice emphatically indifferent, though the experiments increasingly intrigued him.

"Umbrahaes," Volen replied.

Kaelarys turned his back on the Umbrahaes, his gaze now firmly fixed on Volen. "I want everything you have documented about this creature. Every note, every report, every little detail," he demanded, his voice calm but with an air of authority that brooked no argument.

Volen, who already wore a smug smile on his lips, tilted his head slightly and replied in a voice as oily as his grin. "Of course, that can be arranged. But..." He deliberately let the sentence hang in the air before continuing. "A little quid pro quo would be appropriate, don't you think?"

Kaelarys eyed him coolly, his eyes narrowing barely noticeably. "Money is no obstacle, if that is what you ask. But speak clearly, Volen. What do you ask?"

Volen's grin widened even more, his fingers playing with the edges of his red robe, lost in thought. "Oh, not just money. There are... other things more valuable than gold." His eyes twinkled deviously as he waited to see how his offer would be received.

Kaelarys remained unimpressed, his expression showing no emotion. "Speak, Volen. What do you really ask?"

Volen raised his hands in a placating gesture, his eyes glinting with the greed that was deeply rooted in his soul. "Money, my dear Kaelarys, is indeed valuable, but it has its limits. What I need are resources that are not easily acquired through gold. Your aunt has a lot of prestige and status with the bloodmages and it would be easy for her to get them"

Without hesitation, Kaelarys gave him his answer, "That can be arranged."

Kaelarys laughed inwardly at Volen. In the end, the only two things you can truly depend upon are gravity and the greed of humans.

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I have seen the many comments and have made up my own mind about how I will continue this. But I won't spoil it for now, otherwise it would be boring.