The silhouette of a humanoid figure stood in the corner of a small cage-like cell. The room had no source of light; it wasn't needed.
It was dead, and its owner blind.
Then a small flame illuminated the stairwell that circled into it as someone made their way down the steep stairs. Their steps were soft, but the taps they made echoed, amplifying them to a loud stomp.
The dark figure stirred at the light, snarling as it got closer, darting at the bars. "Let me out!" The figure yelled in a deep, sharp voice; a man.
The person descending didn't say a word, simply ignoring the prisoner of the darkness.
The man bellowed, "I'm going to fucking kill you!" He pounded on the bars of his cell as hard as he could. "I'm going to fucking eat your body while you watch!"
"Enough!" Zera yelled, her once soft voice becoming thunderous. She was carrying a silver-covered platter.
"What are you-" he growled again, "-going to do about it bitch!?" The man was slipping in and out of consciousness.
Zera looked at him, unfazed by the man. "I will burn you to dust before you can ever lay a hand on me." She then walked right up to the cage, coming within inches of the man's deformed face. "Supper is ready."
She then used her magik to send the platter through the bars, before softly placing it onto the ground behind the man.
His eyes were red, and he was severely deformed. He had spikes like a lizard going down the back of his arms and legs as well as up his spine to the base of his neck. His skin had a charred appearance, as per usual of one that was Rotted.
"Are you going to tell me anything, today Tashi?" Zera questioned him, as he finally surrendered himself to the food on the platter.
The monstrous creature ignored her as it gnawed away at the chicken carcass that Zera had served him.
"Do I need to pick your brain again?" She warned, snapping her finger, causing a small white spark to emerge from her fingertips as she summoned a spell to send her consciousness into his.
Tao had requested Neya and Tashi be kept imprisoned to try and study the disease; he perhaps was scared of letting go.
But he discovered something. When using a spell commonly used on patients in comas on a rotted person, he and Zera had discovered that there was a small hint of consciousness inside; barely a sliver of it, and only some of the strongest mages can use it due to its potentially dangerous effects.
The limitation, however, was that to use the spell one had to have eyes, and the best person to do the job would be someone that was close to the recipient. It wasn't that someone who wasn't close to the person couldn't successfully bring someone out of a coma, but it would be 100x faster.
Tao wanted to experiment on Neya and Tashi, but he didn't have eyes. Instead, he trained Zera to do it. When he had gotten some results, bringing back more of their consciousness, and the ability to form some sentences, he had sent an ominous letter to Gairma.
He felt he was close enough to possibly bring back a version of her parents and he wanted her to see. Due to the lack of morals of the experiments because the person could potentially feel unimaginable pain coming back from rotted unconsciousness, it was better to leave them classified as dead.
Tashi had reached a point in his consciousness where he was able to resist the spell. Zera and Tao had given a demon a voice.
Zera didn't know Tashi, she could only try to bring him back with the stories she was told about him. It was enough to bring a more human side out.
Tashi jumped at the sight of the light. While he could control it, it still made his head feel like it would explode. It was forbidden to be used on conscious patients.
"You going to talk?" Zera asked again, more demanding.
"Fuck....off....."
Zera sighed. She sent the light flying at him, and it quickly made its way into one of his ear canals, causing his red eyes to roll back as his body stiffened like he was about to seize. "I gave you a fair chance."
After a few moments of torture, Tashi's fingers flexed slightly, as he began to regain control over his limbs. After a few more seconds the light flew out of his mouth and dissipated midair. He started gasping, taking deep, gargled breaths.
"What the fuck do you want to know?" He finally replied, growling at her.
"Where is the Harmella flower?" she demanded.
"Like I would tell you!" He spat.
The Harmella flower was the flower representing death. Only one exists in the world at a time and cannot be farmed; only Valowre can grow it, and only the rotted can sense it.
Tao needed it to restore his vision, and possibly find a cure for the disease that ran rampant.
Then another set of footsteps started descending the stairs, as Zera distanced herself from the cage to check who it was.
"Zera, dear," Tao said, as he approached her and the prisoner.
"Yes, master?"
Upon reaching them, he smiled. He sensed his friend, and it made him mourn the past. "I need you to do me a favor."
She approached him, "what do you need?"
He looked at her, unable to see her, but needed to tell her as directly as possible, "I need you to find this girl, Mana, and I need you to bring her to me. Her weapon may be the key to the flower."
"Are you sure you want me to leave?" She asked; she had been helping him for nearly the past 10 years.
"Yes, but you cannot let her know of our experiments. It's not necessarily honest work."
She smiled at him, even though he couldn't see her, "alright, master. I will set off first thing in the morning."