Chapter 7:Trial of the dreams

August woke up from his daze. His eyes were still blurry right after the end of the experiment. After many changes in his body structure, he has become very thin, and also echoes of the pain are still reflected throughout his body. He is still in a sleep-like state. He cannot understand the surroundings, and everything seems blurry.

But he was able to survive the test, which lasted for 7 days, 7 days of inexhaustible physical and moral stress.

From the side, Vincent watched the changes in August. Vincent voiced his findings. "The density of his muscles increased 4 times. It's good, no, it's great. The skeletal structure has been reinforced with more calcium, making them much more durable. His joints have become much more resistant to any damage and can withstand much greater loads. His body structure became much more flexible.

Hmm, strange, his eyes differ from the eyes of other subjects, but I think this may be due to the fact that he is the Source. His eyes have changed colour to yellow in the eye's iris with a cat's blood-red pupil.

I will need to see if these anomalous changes have resulted in an unknown and unwanted mutation. The sooner I can get more data, the better. I need to proceed with the Dream Trial. It might bring something more unexpected and increase his overall strength.

Vincent walked over to his worktable, preparing another elixir and herbal mixture. Approaching August, he fed everything he had prepared to August, who was still in a daze. But Vincent heard what August said in a low and weak voice, almost a whisper.

"Please, please, please stop, I don't want to see this anymore, I don't want to feel pain, I don't want to suffer anymore, death is better, death is better than seeing the truth, better than going under this torture again" All this was said in a rave, but August was really horrified by what he saw, these were not the usual everyday things that you will see. His poor mental health is slowly deteriorating.

But despite the words spoken by August, Vincent had no mercy. He just needed more information. August was just another test subject, just another child to be sacrificed out of the wizard's curiosity, out of his selfish desire for power and respect in the society of his fellow sorcerers. It was nothing more and nothing less, just a disposable resource.

Vincent poured the liquid down August's throat despite August trying to resist, if he was well-fed and able to move he could now escape with his newfound powers, but he was just a tired child who had just gone through a massive shock from visions and pain that left him in a state of defenselessness.

After feeding the last bits of elixirs and herbs, Augustus again plunged into a deep stupor, from which he did not have time to get out. Vincent outside was smiling like crazy and said, "Oh, how cool. His body showed exceptional adaptation to herbs and elixirs. He could have gone further than that other brat who had his hair turn white after extra elixirs. His body also recovers quite quickly. It's good, very, very good. I'm happy with these results".

Hans went to the wizard's lab to see the results of the mutation, to see if the brat survived. He wanted to take him in for training and training so that after the training, he could be sent to the dream test when he was ready for it. Without knocking on the door, Hans entered Vincent's lab and saw Vincent smiling like a madman with an ugly expression.

Hans got straight to the point, asking, "How is August? Did he survive the test?" he saw a boy sitting in an armchair, but his eyes expressed only numbness, and his face was ugly contorted. He went through a terrible experiment and experience.

Vincent turned to Hans and asked, "Who is August? I know no such a man!"

Hans did not know how to react. This magician was completely mad because of his age and herbs, so he pointed to young August and said, "That's his name."

"Oh, my best test subject. He's great. I went on and put him in the Dream Trial," Vincent said with a proud smile. But despite his expectation that the man would be impressed, Hans's face showed disgust. Without a single thought, he drew his sword from its scabbard and placed it on the magician's neck.

In other situations, the Magician could resist the Witcher, but not in this case, Hans was too close, and now his sword was right at the wizard's throat. He had no chance of survival if he resisted.

Vincent's expression changed, only now he realized that he was talking to a Witcher who had also gone through the same experiment, and no matter how much time passed, they would remember the pain and the number of terrible feelings they had to go through. If he had talked about this with other mages, they would have been impressed, had high hopes for him, and cheered him on his success.

But the Witcher stood before him, with a sword at his throat, threatening his life. Witchers weren't magicians; they did not adhere to the same morals and the same thoughts. They didn't like what the wizards did, but there was nothing they could do about it. Since they themselves are Witchers and know nothing more than this.

The children who were brought to this castle were unwanted or homeless. Nothing good was waiting for them in the future. They would be beggars or bandits who do not live up to 30. It's better to be a Witcher than a beggar.

Hans said, "I want you to stop, if you don't, I will kill you." Hans's face was serious and did not show the slightest hint of hesitation to run the sword across the ugly face of the sorcerer and cut his throat or simply decapitate him, as Witchers often did with monsters.

Vincent quickly agreed, but his mind didn't think about the situation at all. All his thoughts were about the changes that would take place in the body of August. He didn't care about Hans now. The Witcher, threatening him, might slightly hurt his pride as a magician, but not now. Now the only thing that matters is how much more this child can bear and what abilities these additional experiments can bring.

Hans left the room, but before he left, he said, "I'll be back in 3 days when his dream test is over. Don't you dare continue your experiments." Vincent agreed without a twinge of conscience and sent the witch to hell so that he would not interfere with the experiment.

Hans left the room while his thoughts still swirled around August. He was somehow hurt by those eyes and his expression. He saw it happen all the time, but this time something was different. This child awakened his emotions, which he had suppressed all the time.

Hans was not a saint. He was one Witcher who had to bury dozens and hundreds of child corpses that died during the Trials. Only 2-3 boys out of 10 survived during the trials. He had to bury children with dead eyes and facial expressions are frozen in time. Their facial expressions only expressed agony, fear and intense pain, but looking at the expression on August's face, the boy he carried to the castle in his arms, whose wounds he personally treated, made him feel bad.

At the same time, in the laboratory, August had the second series of visions. But unlike the past visions, he had seen that came from a distant past. Now everything was much closer. Events that recently turned the lands of the Northern kingdoms into a bloodbath.

August witnessed one of the bloodiest uprisings in history. The rise of an unwanted child, a girl who hated her father and for this sole purpose was ready to plunge all the northern kingdoms into carnage. Falka's uprising. But this story did not start with a riot.

August had to witness how a beautiful king, the King of Redania, bearing the name "Vridank", known as "Elf" not because he was very proud, but because of his beauty. The Elven race was known for its beautiful appearance. All of them could be called the most beautiful people. Vridank deserved that name. He was handsome and craved female attention. But his good looks did not save him from a political marriage, which resulted in him marrying a woman named Beatrice Kovir. She was the daughter of rulers from Kovir, but nature did not reward her with beauty. She was ugly, ugly enough for Vridank to make the mistake that cost him his life.

Vridank had a daughter with Beatrice named Falka, but even after that, Vridank did not want to acknowledge his wife. He usually lay in bed with other women, beautiful women who were perfect for him. In his narcissistic opinion, of course.

Time passed with him, and his disgust for his wife and daughter grew. He simply could no longer look at his ugly daughter and wife, and he decided to get a divorce, sending Beatrice and Falka to Kovir. It happened in 1135, and instead, he married one of his mistresses, named Cerro. She was a woman of unsurpassed beauty, and one of the reasons for this was that she was a half-elf.

They later had two children, both sons. They received the names Heltmult and Denhard. Likewise, they lived a happy life and one day they found a beautiful girl who was still very young, her name was Rhiannon, a person who carried the gene of the elder blood, the one that was lost by the elves, the one that carried in her genes all the hopes for their survival. She was the daughter of Lara Dorren and Cregennan of Lod. Rhiannon has lived her life without knowing this secret, without knowing that she is one of the most important people on the continent.

They lived a happy family life. Rhiannon married Goidemar, King of Temeria. But the happy times did not last long. Unlike Vridank, Falka was not happy. She was angry, and every day her anger grew. Every day, she hated her father more and more. He is the one who left her with her mother. He left them without dignity and pride. She just couldn't forgive him, even after decades.

In 1160, Falka revolted with forces of people from Kovir and Temeria. Her slogans were "Death to kings", "Death to priests, nobility and all the like" and "Death to sorcerers". She declared her lineage, that she was the daughter of Vridank, and that the throne would be hers alone. Slowly but surely, her rebellion grew and grew from a rebellion of a small group of people into a full-fledged war.

People started going crazy. Her rebel forces moved from one city to another, killing and raping everyone they saw. They robbed and killed families for the pleasure of killing and plundering. Those were terrible times. There was no way to live in peace. You either choose a side or get killed. There was nothing left but streets covered in blood and adorned with bodies.

Falka was able to get to her father, to take revenge. She tortured him in the cruellest way she could think of. In the physical and psychological. First, she inflicted severe wounds on him, which turned out to be fatal but gave him a long and painful death. She then brought his sons and wife and killed them in front of him, killing him both physically and mentally. She broke him in every possible way. The last seconds of his life were terrible. Once a handsome king with a beautiful wife turned into a mutilated body to which such words as beauty were simply not inherent.

Luckily, she managed to capture Rhiannon, the adopted daughter of the King of Redania. Rhiannon was pregnant at the time, and Falka found no better option than torturing Rhiannon in other ways. She locked her in a cell and didn't feed her to make her starve and suffer. In the end, Rhiannon was able to give birth to 2 healthy babies, but her mind could not stand it. She was slowly losing her mind.

Falka was also pregnant but had no idea who the father of her child was. She was the leader of the uprising, so she did not disdain sex with anyone. The number of possible fathers could be endless, from knights to peasants. Falka did not want a child, but she could use it for her own good. She gave her child into the hands of Rhiannon, who was already going crazy from the stress she had experienced. As a result, Rhiannon was never able to say who was her child and who was not.

During the rebellion of Falka, one of the greatest cities fell, a city called Mirthe. A city of sorcerers where countless research and elixirs have been created. The city had a long history and an immense collection of knowledge. Everything turned to ashes, nothing remained. Sorcerers were killed, and knowledge was destroyed and burned. Thus ended the long history of the city founded in 760.

Due to the capture of Rhiannon, the King of Temeria did not want to remain on the sidelines of the situation. His emotions were running high as the rebels captured his pregnant wife. He gathered his army and crushed the rebellion, killing all who resisted. Falka was seized and set on fire. People didn't want her to die quickly. They staged a public burning to make her death more painful. They used wet wood to start a fire. They wanted to see her burn slowly and painfully, screaming in agony, begging for mercy and quick death.

But what happened was not what everyone so badly wanted. Falka did not give up, even in the last seconds. She laughed like crazy and cursed everyone around. Her last words were: "I promise you, you and your offspring will suffer at the hands of my child, my blood, which will return the flame of vengeance and continue my vengeance."

August was a witness to all of this. He did not understand much of the vision, since he was still a child. But these visions told him one thing: that people are evil, evil to the bone. Everyone, everyone who lived in this crazy world, did not care about each other. There was no place for sympathy, there was no place for compassion. All intelligent creatures living on this earth are just animals.

Remembering the monster he met, he wondered if monsters were monsters. Do they bring evil, or are they just as evil as humans and others? Are they eviler than a husband who kills his wife in a moment of anger? Are they real monsters in this world? They are the only beings who can say "That's enough, I don't need it anymore". Only they can be content with what they have, unlike selfish humans and elves who want everything for themselves, satisfying their needs at any cost.

But August did not have time to think long, as this was only the beginning of his trial.

August once again received a vision, a vision of the future, something that has not happened yet. August looked around and saw two huge armies. These were the armies of the Northern Kingdoms, in which there were soldiers from Nomadic people, Redania, Liria, Rivia, Timeria, Covir, Skellige, Auedirn, dwarves, normal folks, deserters, the remaining army of Cintra and Brotherhood of Sorcerers. All of them were only able to assemble 70,000 troops army, which opposed the army of Nilfgaard, which numbered 80,000 people under the flag of their empire.

Battle of Sodden Hill. Sodden, a place that was called the gateway to the north. Everyone gathered their forces to repel the approaching army, everyone sacrificed everything they could for preparation. Their sole purpose was to keep someone very dangerous, like Nilfgaard, away from their territory. But the union of the northern kingdoms was defeated.

They were no match for the trained soldiers of Nilfgaard who had gone through many battles and fought together. The northern kingdoms could not teach their warriors to fight together, which led to huge human losses. Only one thing has allowed the northern kingdoms to win, and that is the brotherhood of sorcerers. The strongest sorcerers fought against the army of Nilfgaard. They fought like there was no tomorrow, sacrificing their lives and magic. There were 22 strongest sorcerers, but only 9 of them survived.

The battle was nothing less than one of the largest in history. August had to witness how thousands of bodies lay around Sodden Hill. Everything was dyed red. There was nothing here but death. Huge fireballs fell from the sky. It seemed that God wanted to destroy this world with his power. The power of Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water raged like crazy. They killed people in batches of 100. The place turned into a bloodbath.

Without realizing it, August forced himself to forget about it. With this vision, he witnessed the future battle. The battle that became the biggest battle in history. A war that claimed the lives of a huge number of people. He couldn't handle it anymore. He fell asleep at last in peacetime after 9 days of suffering, suffering from pain and spectacles that he had to witness.

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