"I don't know what any of this means, but you were right," said Avva when she met them at the morgue's door with her usual glee and excitement over unorthodox things.
All three of the tables now hosted a body.
The first was a bare skeleton arranged the way animals were in natural history museums. The other two were replicas of the same body, one of which was collected that very morning.
All three of them had the uncanny look of some unholy experiment on human evolution or a set of hyper-realistic props for a movie never to be made.
"We are analyzing the original to see what we can use, and if we missed anything when we cut him up the first time. That will take some more time, but right now I can say with great accuracy that these three are biologically the same person." The shine in Avva's eyes could reflect the entire ceiling. "I never thought I'd get to say such a thing in my life. Remarkable isn't it?"
Ori smirked as he observed the three instances of the same thing. "We're getting somewhere, aren't we?"
Avva took one of the perfectly polished tools from the tray and approached the table in the middle. "You told me to re-examine the DNA once again. I did that, and guess what happened?"
"It changed, or better yet it made no sense, like it was not DNA at all?" Ori proclaimed like he'd seen it happen before. The brightness of the room, the pale skin of the victims and all the lab coats made him look like a stray raven or a creature of darkness that wandered into another realm.
"Exactly. I was intrigued at first, by how quickly it was deteriorating, but the more I tested it, the more I became convinced it was not trying to fall apart but become something else. Almost like... like it wanted to revert to a simpler form, whatever that may be."
"Again, I must inquire in the name of the simple-minded - how does that fit into all of this?" Myra demanded answers as the circles under her eyes became darker than Ori's coat.
"Patience," he returned standing at the back of the second variant's skull. It was open and the brain was sitting on a platter beside it. "The magic used here is not trivial, you've seen what it does when one tries to read it. You don't just make an exact copy of something with a novice-level spell, and even less so make the creatures think they were that other person. It's bothersome really," he added as he poked the brain with a metal pin. "And most importantly, such demanding magic has a pretty short expiration time."
"So that would explain why it's changing so quickly," Myra concluded. "The spell is wearing down, so the body is falling apart in a way it wouldn't naturally?" she whispered as if she was only talking to herself.
Avva walked in small circles with her fingers dancing in the air like she was about to play music. "That got me thinking," she said and smiled after every word. "This deterioration could explain why there are visible changes deep in the skin and the internal organs. It is changing before our eyes. None of the usual signs of biological decomposition, just constant alteration. So my question is, would the tissue change that way only now that they are dead, or would it happen even while they were still alive if they weren't killed, that is?"
"You are wrecking my mind Doc," Myra growled feeling a light shiver in her body. She checked her phone to satisfy an old habit, only to realize it was still full of water and quite dead.
A memory returned to her, of dark trees, winds, and voices without a body, intertwined around an unpleasant feeling. She could not help but wonder if she'd ever gotten closer to being the one lying on one of those tables.
"This is not a blood vessel," said Ori, interrupting Myra's drifting thoughts and Avva speculations.
He lowered the large magnifying glass over the empty skull. There was something there, something no one would suspect even existed. He tried touching it with one of the tools to see if it was a coincidence, but the mark he saw was clear as day.
Myra moved closer, analyzing the undoubtedly obvious string of strange symbols, somewhat hoping that she was hallucinating.
"Those are letters, aren't they?" she said. "What does that say?"
"Furik A'Roshet," Ori said in hesitation. He pulled the light away and moved on to the next table. "Can I see this one?"
Avva nodded gently and opened the skull back up, removing the brain.
They looked it over together, bit by bit until they discovered the same thing once again. Any possibility of a coincidence was instantly wiped away.
"Now this one." Ori went over to the skeleton's table, but bare bones could no longer carry blood. Instead, he hovered his bare hand above them until they responded by gently lifting themselves off the table and dancing in the air. They bounced off one another and produced pleasant sounds, like a hunter's winchimes.
"Furik A'Roshet," he said again as if he wasn't the only one who could understand what that meant. The symbol on the top of his hand glowed and the bones kept swirling.
"What is going on?"
Myra's eyes widened as the bones began to drop down one by one like they were meant to tell a fortune. A single one of them remained floating just under his hand.
"He had a surgery, did he not?" Ori said, observing the thin bone once belonging to an arm.
"Well yes," Avva said with a slight hint of confusion. "His medical records state he suffered a broken arm at a young age, and he underwent two surgeries for it." She pointed her pen at the lines on the bone, slightly thicker than the bone itself, where the fracture and the screws used to go. "You can see it right here."
"It must be here then." he carried the bone under his hand and let it rest under the light. Using a scalpel he began to scrape at the bone's surface, not far from where the fracture used to be. Slowly, darkened symbols began to appear, carved into the bone.
"I cannot believe we missed that," Avva gasped and compared the writing to the one in the skull. They were identical. "I never imagined such a thing would even cross someone's mind."
"You wouldn't have known about it even if you saw it. It was meant to be hidden, for the bone to grow around it." Ori remarked. "Do his records say who performed the surgery?"
"Let me see," Avva flinched her red pen and disappeared back to the lab.
Myra remained with both her hands leaning on the cold metal, as her head slowly began to heat up, foreshadowing the oncoming fever.
"Those words, what do they mean?" she asked. "And why would it be on someone's body?"
"It's not a language you'll hear today. Furik stands for skin or flesh, perhaps even meat in some cases. Roshet means to own, to possess or hold power over. He who bears the mark will owe his skin to the one that branded him."
"That's -" Myra started but let Avva bring them the news instead.
"Sick," she whispered when no one could hear her.
"Sadly there is no information we can find on the surgeon," said Avva. "It's rather uncommon I admit. But the hospital where it was performed is something I can help you with." She handed them a freshly printed hospital note of admittance with the address circled at the very bottom. "It's in Gallaven if you're wondering."
"Gallaven? Shit," Myra said under her breath and grabbed the paper like it was a heating bill.
"Something wrong with that?" Ori inquired seeing how dissatisfied she was.
"No... well yes. It's just that Marus grew up in a wealthy family in North Pellis. The best hospitals in Helden are there. Why send him to Gallaven of all places? It doesn't sit right."
"That's what I thought as well," Avva said smiling. "That reminds me. We should check the other victims' records as well. What if all of them...?"
"Let us know what you find. We'll see to the rest," returned Ori as they headed for the exit.
"I need rice," Myra mumbled, mourning the fate of her phone. She was planning on killing two birds with one stone that day, but in truth, she was hardly able to tell the two apart.
"You know, I do have somewhere I need to stop first if you don't mind," Ori insisted.
"I am not your chauffeur. Can't you people make you know-" she waved her hands in the air making a whooshing sound, but quickly saw it had no effect.
"Portals?" Ori returned with a raised eyebrow.
"That?"
"Not everyone can. They are used only for emergencies. And it's complicated."
"Right. That's just an excuse because you can't make one. It's CoMpliCateD," she mocked in a deepened voice.
"I don't have to justify myself to you. I'll meet you when I'm ready."
"Then you can walk to Gallaven as far as I'm concerned."