(Unknown POV)
It had been nothing but setbacks since we had started this rebellion. One after another...… there was nothing but failures. I had almost given up hope. But then she contacted us and from then on it was all a matter of experimentation.
(How many have it been since we got our first success.)
I had already forgotten about the number of resources used and all the time consumed running after what felt like an impossible errand.
(Creating a crack in the fabric of the world. It all seemed unfathomable.)
I thought as I stood in front of an empty darkness. If anyone was to describe the view in front of me, he would say that the sky had cracked. And he would not be wrong because that was what it seemed like. It was as If the sky had broken like glass and was now trying to piece itself back together. Slowly, the pieces regenerated themselves and covered up the broken part. It was afternoon so the sky was dark but the world inside the broken sky was even darker. Shades of blue, violet, and black emitted from it as it looked like nothing but an empty void. If not for a few scattered colors, It would have been completely black. It was a crack in the fabric of the world. It was a tear in the space-time continuum.
"Another failure han?" But alas it was nothing but another failure.
"Yeah.... Another failure." I replied. Despite the fact that we all stood in front of a fracture in space, it was nothing but a failed attempt.
"So what went wrong this time?" I looked toward the back.
"coordinates." The reply came.
"How can you mess up with the coordinates? How many times have we done it already? How many?" I was furious, and I had good reason to be.
"I gave you two chances and you messed up both times." I pulled out my wand.
"I am sorry just give me one more chance and I will...." He wanted to plead... probably but my time was precious.
"AVADA KADAV" a beam of light emitted from my wand and he was dead.
"I just can't stand people like you. She should make the fractures. At least she gets every other one right." I pushed the wand back into my robe.
"Seriously?" There was sarcasm in his voice.
"Yeah seriously. What do you think I was going to let him live after he had seen all this." I replied kind of astonished at what he meant by this.
"No, we were not going to let him live after he had seen everything. But you could have given him a chance. You know he was the best at what he did." He spoke.
"So what.... There is a limit to my patience you know. We will have to do with Carmen. I don't care what she is doing but only Carmen can do this." I massaged my temples. I mean I had other things to do. If he was not going to do it in two tries he could go and die for all I cared.
"Sometimes I wonder, how you became what you are with this crappy personality of yours. No one is as impatient as you." Xeros replied.
"What do you mean a crappy personality. HAAANNN. WHO DO YOU THINK HAS A CRAPPY PERSONALITY. I HAVE A REALLY GOOD PERSONALITY FOR YOUR INFORMATION." I replied. What did he mean I had a bad personality? There was nothing wrong with my personality. I was perfect. Handsome, intelligent, and extremely resourceful. Not to mention my expertise. I was by far the best offense they had.
"yes yes." Xeros replied. "there is absolutely nothing wrong with your personality. It is amazing. Now can we go? We have another matter to attend to." He seemed kind of pissed. I wonder why. I ignored it. Why would anyone feel pissed while talking to me?
"Okay lets go," I replied. "This is a failure after all. We seriously need more competent people."
I replied as I kicked the corpse of the inscription master. He was worthless even when he was alive don't get me started now that he was dead. Xeros pulled out his staff from apparently nowhere. It was a wood that I had brought back from that place. I mean it was so hard to get. Even those who claimed to be the most passive species did not let me take it. I mean who else could have brought it back if it were not me? I know I was simply awesome.
He waved the staff and a portal opened.
"let's go." He gestured.
(It's amazing how easily he can tear through space. I need to learn to do that as well. But I will be damned if I asked him for help. It would be easier for him because of the staff. But if I examine it all, it should be easier for me because I am a genius.)
Thinking that I followed Xeros through the tear in space and we immediately arrived at our next destination. It was an old building. One of our test centers.
"So, why are we here again?" I asked Xeros. I could not help but forget all those little things.
"To check up on the progress. We need to see if there had been any success like those two." He replied.
"Of right right right. Now I remember." I said. But suddenly I sensed something odd. "hey Xeros." I spoke in a stern voice. "Is that you," I asked.
"Is what I?" he was confused and immediately I knew it was not him.
"What is it now ..." Before he could speak further I gestured for him to quiet down and he followed. Both of us stood there looking around. I scanned every corner of my vicinity but there was nothing. Yet my instincts were telling me that something was wrong. But whatever that something was, it sure was good because I could not find any trace of it. and then my gaze lingered on a spot at the far corner of the building for a moment. There was something...…
I shot from my place and in the blink of an eye, I was there. The vampire hiding did not even have a chance to escape. It tried to run but I grabbed it by the neck. Immediately my battle senses activated. The vampire had used its claws to attack my face
"Humph." I could not help but snort as the head of the vampire rolled on the ground. His hand had never reached my face. I had simply cut off his head before that.
I let go of his body and shook my hand to remove all the blood off of it as I deactivated the blade made of pure energy.
"Well, that was a job well done." Xeros walked up to me. "I see you still haven't lost your touch. You did not even unsheathe your sword." He spoke.
(WHAT???? WHO DOES HE THINK I WAS)
"WHO DO YOU THINK I AM." I roared in an outrage. This was blasphemy against my great being. "I DO NOT NEED SOMETHING LIKE A SWORD TO KILL SUCH A LOWLY CREATURE." I made sure to get my point across to him.
"Oh, will you SHUT UP YOU MORON?" A sudden shout came from inside the building. And I knew immediately that I needed to take this one seriously. It was not like the threat I sensed from the vampire. This was some other level. I immediately pulled out my sword and fused it with mana. Abruptly the wall of the building broke and a blinding light came from it. I grabbed the blade from both hands and slashed the light. It was heavy. Almost too heavy for me. Almost.
My feet got dragged in the mud as I tried to exhaust the power behind the attack. It wasn't before three two four meters that I stopped the attack. And it further took me several seconds to exhaust the attack completely.
(What an absolute monster she is.)
"COULD YOU JUST SHUT UP? I was having such a pleasant dream when I had gained all the money in the world and had whatever I wanted, and no one told me to work anymore. BUT THEN I WAS WOKEN UP BY THE OBNOXIOUS SOUND OF A BUFFON PRAISING HIMSELF." A girl walked out of the broken wall. She had disheveled white hair that came down to her mid-back. With my precise senses, I could even sense the damage that she had done to her hair. She was powerful but not as noble and beautiful as me. There was no one of my caliber.
"We are sorry Carmen. But we do not have any time to dwell on things like these. How is it going with the experiments." He asked. Straight to the topic.
"Ahhhhh" She scratched her head. And stepped outside. As moonlight fell on her body I discovered that her whole body was covered in blood and body parts. Some of which even I did not recognize. Her condition made me want to puke.
(Can't you clean yourself up, woman.)
"Just a bunch of failures. But I am getting closer. I need you to see this." She said and turned back to enter the building again. I could hear faint cries inside the building. Probably from the specimens. And then she entered a specific room. I could immediately tell it was her lab. There was a table in the dead center and on it, there was something that I suppose used to be human. Now its skin was black. I could see its eyes, they were open with no eyelids. The round eyeballs seemed as if they would pop out of the eye sockets anytime soon. The body was maimed. Its frontal skin had been cut open and I could see all the innards piled at a side. The skin was held with pins on the table. The corpse had no blood or any kind of moisture and I knew that it was but a fresh corpse. Carmen never worked with old specimens. She was a sadist of the worst kind. She never saw humans as anything but tools or specimens for experiments. I wanted to puke. I wanted to puke really bad but I could not show weakness. I never wanted to be a part of this but it was necessary for the greater good.
We followed Carmen through various doors when we finally reached a metal door that had been closed. I could see various runes carved on the door. That metallic door was built to hold. Even I would have had some difficulty breaking it down and that was saying something. But I would have done it eventually. No inscription was a match for me after all.
She raised her hand and I saw something wriggle on her wrist. It always gave me the creeps even though I had seen it so many times. The runes that were on her body moved and rearranged themselves and a faint light started to emit from her hand. The door responded and the runes on it also shined with a light. And with a giant *CLUCK* the door swung open. She led us down the staircase that was revealed.
"Careful she said." And then she rose her hand. I saw the runes move on her body and her hand started to glow. The simple knowledge she held about the runes was immense. I couldn't even fathom it. I had to admit that she was better than me when it came to this field. But that was only because I had never studied. If I had even tried to study the field I would have done better.
She led us down the staircase into a corridor. As we walked soon I started to see cages on both sides of the corridor. There was virtually no light in that place. Only the light emitted by her hand. In that faint light, I saw that the cages were filled with children.
(How many of them are there? How did they bring so many children here.)
My hands trembled as I walked down the corridor. A part of me wanted to simply unsheathe my sword and cut down all the bars holding the children.
"Don't Maxwell." I heard Xeros say. "this is the necessary sacrifice for our plan. Remember, this is all for the greater good." He spoke.
"But at what cost Xeros." I was fed up with all this. I wanted it to end already.
"sacrifices have to make you dunce. None of us like what we are doing." I heard Carmen say.
"It's all for the cause. Don't tell me that you have forgotten what happened." Xeros kindled my memories. Rage filled my mind as those memories resurfaced. "And you can always say that you never had any hand in this. We are not asking you to hurt them. You will not have any hand in doing this." Xeros explained.
(yes…. Yes, he is Right. I have nothing to do with this. I did not hurt anyone.)
And with that, some satisfaction filled my mind. I was not in the wrong. I could never be. My nerves calmed down. And I quietly followed Carmen and Xeros. She led us through the corridor until we reach another room. The door was like the bars that made the cells. I thought that it was another cell but apparently not.
"Now be careful. Be on your guard at all times. Xeros you stay back and Maxwell you protect Xeros. She won't hurt me but I can't be sure about you two. I can control her but.... Better careful than sorry." Carmen said as she used the runes on her other hand to open the door.
All three of us entered the room. It was a giant room of a circular shape. There were doors all over the walls and the room itself looked like an arena. The doors led to different cells and except for the doors, there were also chains attached to the walls. The room was dark. I tried to look around but there was nothing in the room.
(hmmm maybe Carmen has finally lost it after so many experiments.)
"Hey, Carmen." I approached her. "There is nothing ..." But before I could complete the sentence, my instincts flared up. It was dangerous here. There was something.
Without a slight delay, I pulled out my sword and
*CLANG*
Something hit the blade with such a force that I was sent sliding back.
(If I was a bit late...… I would have died.)
I said wiping the thin line of blood on my neck.
(That thing..... whatever it was almost beheaded me. If it were someone else they would have been already dead.)
I looked towards the direction from where the attack had come but now there was nothing there.
"WHERE ARE YOU," I whispered as I walked carefully in a circle.
"UGH." I heard Carmen as the only source of light we had disappeared.
"CARMEN... YOU OKAY." I shouted as I ran towards her.
"CAREFUL MAX." She shouted back but I was always careful. The thing attacked me again but this time I was ready. I felt the slashes nearing me and I deflected them using my blade. The thing pounced and then its presence disappeared.
(DAMN ITS FAST.)
The light turned back on. I looked towards Carmen. She had created an orb of light that now floated between the room. With her right hand, she was holding her left arm which was bleeding. I looked and saw claw marks on her arm.
"You okay?" I asked.
"yeah I am fine" she gritted her teeth. She sure did not look fine though.
"We have no time. Heal yourself and tame that thing, Carmen, whatever it is." I heard Xeros. He had created a magical dome and was standing near the door of the cell.
"If I could have healed it I would have done it already." That was something unheard of. A wound that Carmen could not heal. I looked towards the wound and noticed how they were turning black.
(Is it some kind of poison.)
"And also I can't tame it until I see it. You will have to hold it down, Max." Carmen said.
"Okay, I will...….." Before I could complete my sentence, the creature came out of a shadow near the wall and pounced at us. Now that there was a bit more light, I could see more clearly. I could not make out its features but now that I was ready for its attack and could see it, it did not stand a chance against my might. I blocked its slash with my sword and then with my other hand I grabbed its claw.
"HUP." Hurling the creature above, I smashed it into the ground.
"Aaahhha grrra hasss" A weird sound came from its mouth. But it had incredible resilience. It simply twisted itself so that I would let go of its arm. But I did not. It was not easy to beat me in grip strength.
As the creature felt that it could not free itself, it tore off its arm.
"WHAT." I was taken aback and that was the moment when I was vulnerable. The creature guessed it and then it pounced at me ready to bite my throat.
(SHIT I HAVE TO KILL IT OR ILL BE THE ONE WHO DIES.)
But before I could do anything runes appeared on the creature's neck and it fell down.
I could not help myself but look towards the creature as it withered in pain. My emotions were a mess.
"Just...….." I could not word my feelings.
"WHAT?" Carmen asked as she came to stand beside me. One of her hands was raised and a single rune was apparent on her palm as it shone with a faint light. Her wounds were now recovering. The poison or whatever it was had been purified and the wound was closing.
"Just what have you created Carmen," I asked her as disgust filled my whole being.
The creature in question was the one in front of me. It had the body of a human child. With countless stitch marks visible on its body. It had claws. But, even the claws were different. I could actually name both the creatures the claws had come from. It also had a tail that seemed like it was from a scorpion. Its face was also distorted with the lower half taken from an imp. One eye of a reptile while the other probably belonged to a mammal. In the center of its chest, there was a crystal that shone with black light. It emitted darkness that seemed to eat away at the light.
"Yeah...… " she scratched her head. "the experimenting was going downhill so to make a perfect contained, I had to modify some specimens." She spoke nonchalantly.
"Beautiful.... Amazing." Xeros added in a dazed manner but I still could not accept it. I looked towards both of them as if they were crazy.
"What are you guys talking about." I inquired. "This was a human." I felt the world spin around me as a felt pangs of guilt in my stomach. "What have you done," I asked concerned but there the carelessness in their next answer left me in a different kind of peril.
"What do you mean what is this," Carmen spoke. "It's a Chimera."
------------------------
Unknown to the three, there was an entity that none of them could hope to defeat outside the building. It was floating in the air a few meters above the ground. There were no magical protections, as those three had removed them all while moving so the creature could see what was going on inside. Well, see would be a wrong word but it could sense it through the shadows.
"It all happening all faster than I had anticipated. Soon it will escalate to the point where The council will have to step in." He raised his hand in front of his mouth. There were cracks in his hand. He focused for a bit and the cracks disappeared.
"I hope that the little Morningstar would accept my proposal. I don't have much time."
Dracula whispered to himself as he simply vanished from the area.