Weeks after starting stuffing rune covered paper into a rune covered jar. Experiments on prisoners to ensure the safety of the mind jar had left five minds scrambled too useless. This latest jar was ready for testing.
The mage brought the jar into the hallway and to the moon focus. A new prisoner had been strapped to a table. A severed arm controlled by a reliable mind had drawn runes on his head.
"Very good," thought the mage to the mind. He looked at the gaged and blindfolded man. The mind jar was placed inside a brainless head.
"Good luck my boy," whispered the mage into the man's mind. The mage touched the runes and moonlight soaked into his head. The man twitched and spasmed.
"stop it!" cried the severed head. "what is happening why am I looking at my body? Am I dead?"
"No," whispered the mage. "your mind is in a jar inside someone else's head. Thank you for your cooperation. I see here your body is tagged for sacrifice. Do you have a particular project you would like to be sacrificed to or should I keep it a surprise?"
"What?" asked the severed head. "I don't understand?"
"Well, me or one of my servants are going to drain the life force from your body," thought the mage allowed, "think about it like being the dirt for a plant. Do you have any idea what we want to grow out of you? I can make you into a walking beehive. I can use your life force to grow a broad of rats. I have been looking into making a wasp the size of a cow."
"I don't… What?" asked the prisoner.
"Don't think to hard about it," replied the mage. "You probably haven't seen enough of my scourge to know I will leave it as a surprise, but I will give you a hint on my next project. It involves earth worms."
The mage released the moonlight and the mans mind returned to his body. The man panicked and struggled against his restraints. A rat came and dragged him out.
The mage picked the jar out of the skull and returned to the lab where War minds puppet lay on the table. The jar was placed into the body and the body brought back to life. The body inhaled and exhaled on the table. The body seemed stable.
"War mind," though the mage. "It is done."
"How done?" asked War mind. "I have heard about the five scrambles."
"I just tested the jar it worked find," responded the mage. "He seemed a little confused but that seems natural."
"It won't scramble me?" asked War mind concerned.
"Probably," responded the mage.
"What does PROBABLY mean?" asked War mind.
"Well in theory every mind is different," replied the mage. "It is mostly safe, but I will never know your mind for sure until we use your mind."
"Gah!" cried War mind. "Fine I could use the puppet."
The puppet shook on the table before stopping. The body sat upright. The stitched-on head looked at the mage.
"Does this thing work," asked the puppet.
"Sounds fine to me," replied the mage. "is everything else working, If you mention reproductive organs I will smash that jar."
War mind stood up and began to stretch. The puppet touched his toas leaned back checked inside his pants and looked at the mage.
"It's not that I don't like mine, but I should have asked you to sow on a bigger one," said the puppet.
The mage began looking for a hammer and the puppet disappeared out the lab door.
"Sorry Pail Scourge I have a siege camp to organize," thought War mind.
Albie cracked the blinds to see rats digging trenches around a castle wall. Scab had made himself busy raising thousands of corpses. New cannons were arriving from foundries run by the dead in Yourz. They arrived on the back of walking buildings. The first cannons had fired at the capital's city walls.
War mind had forbidden assaults until trenches were dug and at least 20,000 walking corpses were ready for the assault.
Milled had figured out how to grant Twenty-Eight fire breath and the fling beast staffed the walls spitting black flames on the walls.
Milled had come a long way in their study of moon magic. They had a week left before he would die. In truth he had stopped breathing to help slow down the liquid unlife from spreading more. The black veins spread across his body. A better way to get through the walls was needed.
It was time to begin playing with worms.