As Elena made her way down the narrow secret passage, the darkness enveloped her like a gloomy cloak. Her footsteps echoed through the dark tunnel, and the pungent smell became more intense as she advanced, closely followed by Victor.
Their eyes took a while to get used to the darkness, which was so dense that Elena could feel her heartbeat increasing by the second. The only thing that kept her moving forward was not the determination to discover the truth behind Councilor Steegar's secrets, but Victor with his sword at her back.
The deeper they went, the stronger that strange smell became, making it clear that they were approaching something sinister.
The sound of their footsteps descending the steps echoed louder and louder off the walls, adding to the sense of suspense and mystery.
Finally, after descending a long series of steps, they seemed to arrive somewhere with firm ground.
"I think this is the end of the staircase, but... isn't it still too dark? And, hurgh, what's that smell?" Elena asked, waving her hands forward and trying to touch something.
"Wait a minute here." said Victor, his voice gradually becoming more distant.
"What? Where are you going? Don't leave me here alone!"
"I'm still right here." Victor warned and pressed the button of a lamp he found on a table, illuminating everything around them.
"Whew! And where do we..." Elena was about to ask, but was too shocked to finish the sentence.
Victor then turned to see what Elena had seen and saw that what the light revealed was something that made them both hold their breath for a few seconds.
The hidden room was still partially dark, but it was possible to see how vast it was and it was full of shelves, tables and covered metal benches, each of which contained a variety of strange instruments and vials containing viscous and colorful liquids. The putrid smell intensified, mixing with the aroma of chemicals and something that looked like pieces of monsters still on the metal stands.
In addition to these pieces of meat, the walls were covered in parchments with notes, drawings of grotesque creatures and complex alchemical recipes. To make matters worse, some of the monsters studied in this place were still in huge glass tanks at the back of the room, immersed and apparently induced into hibernation.
There were goblins, wendigos and drow in broken pieces and mixed together.
Elena felt a shiver run down her spine, and a feeling of complete amazement consumed her.
Elena put her hands to her mouth to stop herself from vomiting at the scene and stepped back with a frightened look on her face.
Victor, on the other hand, moved cautiously across the room with a serious expression. Before, he had thought that Councillor Steegar was just a power-hungry man, but now it was clear that his insanity was on another level. He approached one of the tables with jars and notes and saw a book, which had yellowed pages and was written in an ancient and unusual language. Despite this, Victor recognized it. The book was written in Elvish.
"What's all this?" Elena asked, staying in Victor's shadow, because standing next to him seemed much safer now than seconds ago.
"An alchemist's laboratory."
"Alchemist? But I thought alchemists only made medicine with herbs and stuff."
"Yes, those alchemists are the majority. However, there is a very old area of alchemy, which is based on the ideas of a man called Erefin, an elf who lived over a thousand years ago. Erefin was banished from the Elven Forest because he believed that elves should make more use of what monsters had to offer. He dissected monsters, trying to discover the benefits that these creatures could provide."
"Benefits?"
"Yes... He imagined that we could obtain the super strength, perhaps even the super regeneration that some monsters have, but his ideas were never supported by the other elves and I believe not even by humans, because black alchemy, as this area of the study of alchemy was named, was totally banned by the human kingdoms, as was black magic."
"So... I was working for a crazy alchemist all this time?" Elena asked, still trying to process all the information Victor had shared.
"Yes, and it seems that Councilor Steegar is involved in something much darker than I imagined," Victor replied, examining the elven book carefully.
"Is that enough for him to be arrested?"
"It's enough for him to be sentenced to death even though he's a nobleman."
However, that wasn't the end of it. While they were talking, a noise from the back of the room suddenly caught their attention. A noise, almost imperceptible, but which cut through the oppressive silence of the place.
"What was that?" whispered Elena, looking in the direction of the sound.
Victor frowned and started walking towards the sound, closely followed by Elena. As they got closer, the light Victor was carrying revealed a metal door, barely visible between two shelves of glass jars. The door was ajar, and Victor slowly pushed the door open, revealing a small dark space.
When Victor entered this room with the lamp in hand, the light illuminated the faces of several figures shrunken and chained in a cell. It was hard to tell at first, but they were very thin human women with dark spots all over their bodies. And by the characteristic chains around their necks and the numbers tattooed on their chests, they were slaves.
"My God..." murmured Elena at the sight of the thin, battered women with needle marks and bruises all over their bodies.
There were five of them in the room, but only two were alive. One was unconscious and the other was leaning her head against the railing, between life and death.
Victor approached cautiously and when he saw the woman who was almost dead, he retreated with no strength, like a natural instinct. He could see the fear in her eyes, but also a glimmer of hope when she realized that Victor wasn't Steegar. However, Victor knew that he wasn't the best person to free her either.
"Stay here and don't do anything until help arrives." Victor said to Elena, leaving the room.
Elena, who had a lump forming in her throat, looked at Victor and asked:
"What? You're going to leave them like this and you don't want me to free them?"
"They seem to have been used as guinea pigs for experiments. They're very frightened and fragile, they need a healing magician or they'll die. I don't know magic, and neither do you. We'd better not touch them. So, I'll go to the duke and report what I've found out."
"What? No! You're still a trespasser, if the guards see you, they'll kill you before you can fight back!"
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. Stay here and keep an eye on them, I promise help will arrive."