Another day dawned on the Kingdom of Amine, and it was a gloomy one. Dark clouds hung over much of the kingdom, blocking out the warm rays of the sun and drizzling cold showers on those below. Citizens walked the streets with their collars up over their necks and faces, shielding themselves from the sudden cold chill. The birds were huddled together for warmth, caught just as unprepared as the residents.
A section of street was cordoned off forcing those wishing to walk by to take a detour. A man with rubber boots and a long-handled brush was busy scrubbing the street, washing away the crimson stains. He was maybe the only one in the entire city grateful for the rain as it assisted him in his duties.
Princess Alessandria was sitting in front of a large window, staring forlornly at the dark clouds and depressing atmosphere. She let out a sigh, shaking her head. She was here for a single reason and that was to hold talks with King Alexander. The faster she accomplished her goals the faster she could return home and put all of this behind her.
"Leah, get me the materials on the Amine Kingdom. I need to refresh my mind before meeting with the man." Alessandria said to a maid that was standing at attention not far away.
She would have to brush up on the customs of Amine before speaking with the King. It would be disastrous to accidently offend him because of a simple misunderstanding. She had met Alexander before while he was in her country, but still did not have a feel as to his character.
The maid, Leah, returned shortly with several books and folders containing all that there was when it came to customs and differing subjects of note. She also brought along freshly brewed tea, much to Alessandria's appreciation. Taking a sip of the hot drink, she let out another sigh before opening the first book.
…..
A knock came to the door, breaking the silent atmosphere that had settled over the infirmary room. Laura was sitting in a small bed, cocooned in a large blanket and her knees pulled up to her chest. Continuing to stare with blank eyes at the plain wall in front of her, the knocking came again.
After a few minutes, a familiar voice came from the other side. "I'm coming in, ok?"
The doorknob turned and the door creaked open slowly. Ryan slowly made his way into the room, gently closing the door behind him. His hand had been bandaged, blood still wicking its way to the surface of the white linen. They had offered him potions to immediately heal the wound, but he refused them. He wanted to feel the pain, he wanted a reminder to never again put his guard down.
It was also a form of punishment. He blamed himself for what happened. If he hadn't been dressed in such fine clothing, if he had been paying attention to his surroundings, Laura would have never been hurt. He figured that they had targeted them because he looked like a wealthy young noble with too much money and too weak to keep ahold of it. Laura was merely collateral damage, yet she was the most hurt by it.
He sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to comfort her. Laura recoiled at the feeling of his touch, still traumatized by the man that had assaulted her. Looking at him, she quickly came out of her daze, giving him a halfhearted smile.
"I'm sorry, I was just…... thinking and you surprised me." Laura said in a soft voice.
Ryan returned her smile with an apologetic one of his own. "I understand, there's no need to be sorry."
"Does it hurt?" Laura asked him, looking at his bandaged hand.
Shaking his head Ryan held it up so she could see him flexing his remaining fingers. "No, not at all."
He was lying, it hurt like hell. He was just putting up a strong front. Although they had done an excellent job at applying the bandages, there was only so much they could do without any potions. Laura gave him another smile, letting him get away with the untruth. They both had received injuries from last night, hers were just harder to see.
Silence fell over the room once again. Ryan sat on the edge of the bed with his head down and Laura returned to staring at the wall. Ryan was still replaying the events of last night, admonishing himself over them. While Laura was trying to do the opposite, but no matter how hard she tried she could still feel those dirty hands all over her body.
Suddenly, the door to the room burst open. In walked a mage wearing a plain black robe. Both Ryan's and Laura's eyes darted to Professor Kal. Professor Kal's eyes scanned both of them, settling on Ryan's bandaged hand.
"There's a potion that'll regrow limbs, I have it on me." He said matter of factly.
Shaking his head, Ryan refused the offer. Shrugging his shoulders, Professor Kal moved on to Laura, walking over and squatting down to be eye level with her. "I can make you forget." He said simply.
Once again, his offer was refused causing a slight smirk to appear on his face.
"Good, very good. Your experiences define you as a person, for better or for worse. I'm glad to see that you both understand that. Now, I'll let you two rest, don't worry about classes for the next few days." He said to the two young mages before turning back around towards the door.
"Ah, one more thing." He added, not bothering to turn around.
"Did you kill them all?"
Looking up at Professor Kal's back, Ryan confidently answered. "Yes."
"Are you sure?"
Ryan furrowed his brows, thinking deeply, trying to recall everything that happened for the thousandth time. There were the two men that dragged Laura into the alleyway, the man that he killed that cut off his finger. Three total, that should be all… of… "Shit!" He yelled out.
There was a fourth one that he had forgotten about, the man he originally ran into. Everything had happened so fast that his mind was just a blur, he had lost track of everything going on around him.
"It's alright, just be more careful next time." Professor Kal stated before leaving the room.
…..
Dale felt a wet sensation on his face, he flinched each time a cold drop of water landed on his forehead. He tried to sit up, but couldn't move, then the pain hit. It was the worst headache he had ever experienced. It felt like there was a fire deep inside his head that was boiling his brain. He tried to rub his head but found that once again he couldn't move.
He opened his eyes only to see that he was in a dimly lit room. He started to panic. He tried to move his fingers but couldn't. He then tried to call out but found that nothing came out. He was still breathing on his own and could swallow, but other than that nothing seemed to work the way it should.
Where was he? What happened? He couldn't remember. What had happened last night? The last thing he remembered was running down the street, away from the young noble that they had robbed. Leric had just jumped off his back after that magic array popped up. That was the last he saw.
After seeing the magic array Dale decided that it was best just to cut and run. In truth, he was a coward. He may be big, but a fighter he was not. At the first sign that things might get a little dangerous he would always be the first to turn tail and run; so, that's just what he did, leaving everyone else behind.
Then what happened? He strained his mind, trying to remember. The pain in his head was too great to concentrate, so he gave up. He had to focus on what was going on and how to get himself out of whatever it was. The only problem was that he couldn't move, he could still feel, just not move. He felt the coolness of the table he was laying on. He could feel iron shackles around his wrists and ankles. He was in real trouble.
"You're awake." A deep voice echoed in the room, making it hard for him to tell exactly where it came from.
"I can't tell you how joyful I am to have such a willing test subject." The voice boomed out once again, accompanied by footsteps coming closer.
Dale's eyes darted in every direction, trying to find the source of the voice. It sounded inhuman, like dry dead air was being forced between two reeds to produce such a sound. He couldn't see a thing, the room was almost pitch black, save for a small glimmer of reds and blues that he could see being reflected off of the stone ceiling.
Then he felt a tug at his leg and the sound of the iron shackles scraping against the table. "I'm sorry for the restraints. I know you can't move, but they were necessary. That potion I used was almost as old as I am, there's no telling how affective it is anymore."
He tried to force his head to move, his eyes couldn't see past his nose. He felt fingers run up his leg then onto his thigh causing his skin to goosebump and his heart to tremble in fear.
"Ah, I see that you can still feel everything, that's good. I wouldn't want you to miss out on anything. You know, back in my time, my colleagues would come up with the most outlandish experiments. They were really quite creative. Why, there was one-time Old Kushim transplanted several men's heads onto a fabricated body, making a man-hydra. Can you believe it actually worked!" The voiced seemed excited recanting the past, but Dale only felt abject horror at what it was saying.
"Well, only for an hour. After that, the heads all started to die off, but it was still interesting." The voice continued.
He wanted to scream out that the man was crazy, that he had the wrong guy; but, in the end all that would come out were some grunts and moans. Feeling the unpleasant touch of the man examining his body only drove Dale closer and closer to madness. He urged his muscles to move, to do anything that would help him escape.
"Oh, it seems that you're a lively one aren't you." The voice said, dripping disdain.
Dale could feel dry scaly skin and thin bony fingers grip his jaw. His head was jerked over to the right, towards the man and his grating voice. A skull was staring back at him. Skin stretched tight over white bone that was showing through in certain spots. Yellowed, aged teeth could clearly be seen because the lips and gums had rotted away long ago. Two fires burned inside the hollow eye sockets with red light the reminded Dale of blood encased inside a blue flame.
Eyes widening in horror, Dale evacuated his bowels. Before his eyes, the skin on the monster's face seemed to stretch even further into a menacing grin. The deep voice boomed in his ears, driving any sanity left inside of him away. "Oh, the fun we shall have."