by Chase Erwin
“Just… explain to me why,” Antareus asked, “why do you act out so much? Why are you surrounding yourself with such bad people?”
Through hot cheeks I sucked in a breath, scrambling to explain myself with an answer that didn’t exist. “You just… can’t understand. There’s no way you could.”
How could he understand how alone you feel after you’ve been violated… How is it that happened first?
“I might not know how it feels, but you’ve got to understand you’re not the only person in the world going through this. You’re not the only person who’s been adopted, you know.”
My heart froze. A cry of surprise lodged in my throat. I gulped.
“What did you just say to me?”
It was Antareus’ turn to suck in his breath. “You—I thought you… Didn’t you get the letter from the Guild?”
“What letter?”
“The letter from the Guild about your scholarship eligibility. The bursar told me when I was in town, because you don’t have a true bloodline to the family, we have to pay more for your tuition from next… you didn’t get a letter?”
I just stared back at him, my mouth agape.
“Oh, no…” Antareus gulped. “Abel, I’m so sorry, I thought you had already known. I thought the counselors had spoken with you… They said it was better if… if they told you…”
“Screw you,” I said bitterly through clenched teeth. “Screw the farm, screw the money, but most of all, screw you.” With that, I grabbed my knapsack and flew out of the farmhouse.
“Abel! Please… please don’t…” Antareus’ voice trailed off quickly as I ran down the path towards Galek – back to my new family… Trevalyn and his gang.
I floated freely through the blue, cylindrical vortex. Memories continued to fly by me as if they were windows seen from a passing carriage.
Second by second, my story pieced itself together:
I was adopted by the Mondragons when I was barely a week old. Antareus, then only a few years older, detested me to start with, but soon fell into the role of protective older brother.
Mother was doting and attentive; Father was distant – literally and figuratively. He was often away for work, but when he was home, he was cordial to me, but not like a father to son. Instead, our relationship felt more like distant relatives, or even a mere acquaintance.
My mother did inspire my love of cooking – for a long time, it was my only passion. In her care, I was a captive student, eager and willing to learn. Anywhere else, however, and I was a terror. When I did decide to pay attention and participate in classes, teachers said I was bright and had potential… but I was not applying myself enough. They said I had a sour attitude.
That attitude soured further when my parents were killed. I remember feeling like something had been stolen from me. Of course, in a way, it had. I lost my dearest friend, mentor and teacher – Mother. From then on, all I saw were the negative aspects of life. Hardship, poverty, crime and sadness were everywhere, and most of that developed within the Mondragon household as Antareus tried to pick up the pieces and become the head of the household. I developed a never-ending supply of rage towards anyone trying to act parental – faculty, counselors, even Antareus. Now I was the one who detested him.
11. Split Infinitive
I held up a vial of silver liquid before the group assembled in my laboratory.
“No matter what happens, do not, under any circumstances, stop the process,” I commanded. “Just observe and record.”
“Yes, Dr. Kane,” the four underlings sounded frightened and obsequious.
“This is a compound I call ‘Divide.’ Is anyone here aware of the concept of mitosis?”
A brown Reptilian with glasses rose her hand meekly. “The process by which one cell divides into two… and each part becomes wholly independent of each other, yet identical in every way.”
“Correct. Now, to create this compound, I started with an essence of simple transmutation and cross-bred it with the essences of evaporation and liquefication. Put more succinctly, ‘Divide’ should split me into two completely independent forms.”
There were hushed whispers among the group.
“But, Sir,” one said. He was an orange Felinial, his yellow eyes the only pair in the group looking directly at me. “What is the danger associated with this? What if you can’t reform into one again?”
“We need not worry about that,” I said, smiling brightly. “I have plans for the further components of this experiment which require both parts to remain separate.”
I took off my orange spectacles and set them down on the metallic table before me. Looking into the beaker of liquid, I grinned even more.
“Well… Bottoms up!”
The liquid rushed down my throat, almost as if it wanted to be inside me. Almost instantly I began to shiver as the compound began to take effect.
I began to imagine a large lake, a babbling brook, anything dealing with water in motion, and within seconds, a prickly heat rose from my legs. Opening my eyes at the last second, I watched with glee as my underlings stared at me, the transformation well underway.
All but the Felinial, I noticed. How curious…
As my body turned to liquid, I began to sink into myself. I could remain in my humanoid form if I so chose, but for this experiment to work correctly, I needed to be as much of a puddle as possible.
Just like I had hypothesized, once I sank to the floor, there was the sensation of being in a whirlpool. The puddle began to spin as if going down a drain, though there was no drain in sight.
My liquid form spun and spun. I could feel the gravitational force begin to pull at my being, as if I were peeling apart.
Suddenly there was a popping sensation, like bones cracking but without the pain. I willed myself back into my humanoid form, and as I regained full eyesight, I saw there was indeed a second puddle now just steps away from me.
I had never seen exactly what reforming from the liquid state looked like, so there was a look of genuine fascination from me as I walked around the mass and watched a cylindrical shape grow from and compose itself into the shape of a human.
The flesh of the second being began to fade into view. It was just as I had surmised – another Dr. Kane standing before me.
“Amazing,” I whispered.
The doppelganger looked frightened, nervous of his surroundings. “Wh… what is this?” He stared at me, instantly aware he was looking at another version of himself. “What is this?”
My brow furrowed. This wasn’t what I expected. “Do you know where you are?”
He shook his head.
I peered closer at him. “Do you know your name?”
“A-Abel,” the clone said. “Abel Mondragon. Who… who are you?”
I smirked as the gears turned inside my head. “I’m your better half,” I replied.
Turning to address the others, I said, “Please note that the subject, while cognizant and apparently identical in features, displays a distinct personality, quite different from my own.”
Abel looked frightened. “No,” he protested. “I’m you. I-I think. This… something isn’t right here.”
The Felinial rose his hand. “Is this a flaw in your methodology?”
“Not at all,” I bluffed. “The main purpose of this trial was to study the effects of the ‘Divide’ compound on a humanoid subject. Now there are two subjects – myself, and our new “pet.”
The group smirked amongst themselves. “Pet” was the name I gave test subjects that intrigued me enough to put them through a rigorous series of tests – to push them to the brink of death and pull them back through the various magics and potions we were creating.
Abel quaked pathetically. “No… please, this is wrong! What you are doing is wrong! I’m dreaming. This must be a dream!” The double tried to make a break for the door.
I nodded my head at the group, and the Reptilian and Felinial shot towards Abel, holding him steady by ea
ch arm as I approached. I pulled a small test tube with a stunningly blue liquid inside.
Abel continued to beg and plead. “Shh,” I said, uncorking the tube. “You were always such a goody two-shoes. Let’s see how long that lasts during your stay with us.”
I forced the open end of the tube into Abel’s mouth, massaging his throat roughly to make sure he swallowed the sleeping potion.
Ruffling my new pet’s hair, I leaned into his ear and whispered, “Welcome to the secret world of the Grey Ravens, kid.”
Abel’s shoulders sagged, and within seconds, he was out cold.
“Shackle him and take him down to the testing corral,” I ordered. The four scientists took Abel by each limb and carried him out the door.
“Vy’kallai Nachtremord!” I hollered after them in ancient tongue.
“Long live Nevermore!” their reply echoed off the stone walls.
A few moments later, one of my assistants came back into my laboratory. “Dr. Kane,” he said timidly.
“What is it?” I made it a point to never look directly at my staff. I busied myself writing in a journal.
“The items you requested have arrived.”
My head rose. Even still, I looked beyond the underling’s gaze to the wall just behind him. “Splendid! Show me, Sunfire.”
✽ ✽ ✽
“Brilliant work, Vestov,” I said as a henchman unloaded a wooden crate’s contents onto a metallic table between us. “I presume it was a simple mission?”
“Not quite, Doctor,” the man said in a thick, gravelly accent. “We lost one of the men when the Dragonkin attempted to fight back with a fireball.”
“Hm. Pity,” I said dismissively. “Still, we got what we needed. Our informant was quite correct in his assessment of the Dragonkin’s array of potions.”
I examined the round, corked bottles arrayed on the table. There were twenty of them in all; each a differing shade of color. Bubbles effervesced endlessly up the sides of the glass.
I uncorked a bottle containing a forest green liquid. I held it under my nose for a moment before sticking a pointer finger inside. Closing my eyes, I focused my mind’s energy on analyzing the liquid’s properties.
“Quite rudimentary,” I mused to myself. “The consistency is right, but the spells they harness are… diluted. Still, a good basis for development and testing.
I was suddenly aware there was still an extra pair of eyes following me as I walked around.
“Why are you still here?” I turned towards the henchman and arched an eyebrow. Rebuffed, the man bowed his head and made a hasty retreat.
Sunfire looked at me rather sycophantically. There was the smell of day-old alcohol off his clothes.
“Are we certain we can strengthen the potency?” he asked.
“Deciphering the chemical makeup of the base potions here will be quite easy,” I said with a gesture across the table. “Our quasi-scientist may have made a cocktail of sorts with these recipes… but it is I who will perfect them and deliver them to The Raven for completion of his mission.”
Sunfire’s brow furrowed. “It’s quite difficult just to harness a spell without” –
“Blood,” I finished his sentence, replacing the vial on the table. “But we have a growing supply of blood within each cell in Nevermore. We take what we need from the magically gifted and add their essences to our potion base.”
I walked out into the hallway and watched as my duplicate was tossed into a small cell and the iron door slammed shut.
“And I have the perfect test subject lying in wait,” I muttered to myself, a smile spreading across my face…
I had one more test to perform on my new subject before the night was over. I placed my hand over the wrought-iron handle to Abel’s cell.
He scurried, frightened, into a corner the moment he saw it was me. Scurried like a common rat. I walked coolly past the threshold.
“You have every right to fear me,” I told him as he trembled. “I am the part of you that you repressed for so long, now set free.”
I stepped threateningly toward him, one hand placed firmly on my right hip, my fingers clasping around a handle.
“W-what?” Abel whimpered, simpering. “I still don’t understand… what do you want of me? What are you going to do?”
I drew the blade of the long hunting knife. My pulse slowed; a delicious, almost narcotic chill ran down from my chest to the arm holding the blade.
“I’m going to do what Mother should have done to us when we were born,” I snarled.
With a swift, deep slicing motion from left to right, I severed Abel’s vocal cords, the teeth of the knife ripping through flesh, catching and chipping bone.
I watched the shocked look on the miserable boy’s face as purple blood oozed from the wound and out of his mouth. He gagged, gurgled and choked as the life faded quickly from him.
I stood over the body crumpled at my feet. I kicked it to the side; Abel flopped onto his back, his glassy eyes staring up blankly. His chest was barely, just barely inflating.
“That was so satisfying,” I whispered to the body as I knelt down.
Turning from the body to look at Sunfire, I said, “You’re dismissed.”
There was a moment’s hesitation before Sunfire nodded and backed out from the cell. I waited until I could no longer see his shadow from the stone walls, then turned back to the body of the other me.
From my left pocket I drew a small glass jar. I opened it and dipped two fingers inside, drawing out a glob of blue, translucent putty. I began to apply it liberally to Abel’s gaping throat wound.
The magic began its work immediately, Like a zipper being pulled up on a winter coat, the wound sealed itself closed, the seam shutting the opposite direction of my attack – from right to left.
Putting the jar of putty back in my pocket, I watched as the color returned to Abel’s face… and he began to breathe more deeply. He was alive once more, albeit unconscious.
Compound N was a success.
“And I can’t wait to kill you again and again and again…” I whispered in his ear, before standing upright and carrying his limp frame back to the straw pile at the far end of the cell.
Leaving the cell, and slamming the door shut again, I whirled back and began my trek back to my laboratory, an exuberant smile across my face -- a smile that disappeared when I saw the Felinial and Sunfire staring in my direction.
How curious.
They mustn’t see the putty. I acted as if I were adjusting the buttons on my sleeves, but in actuality I slipped the jar down my sleeve and adjusted my limbs so it wouldn’t be as noticeable.
We maintained eye contact briefly until they walked further down into the coiled hallway of Central Nevermore.
12. Time Served
The Raven led me down to my laboratory, hands behind his back. He seemed more jovially evil than usual.
“You have been with the Covenant for two years now,” he said as he turned on the lights to the lab. I followed his pace and sat down at one of the examination tables. “It’s time you earned an anniversary present.”
“What on earth do you mean?” I said, smiling softly. “I’ve earned no presents. I am simply here to work for you.”
The Raven chuckled. “And work is what you shall continue to do. I am impressed with the level of growth you have managed with the elixir project. I believe it is time we ramped up the research.”
“Glad to hear it, Sir,” I said. “When shall I begin?”
“Immediately.” The Raven crossed to the elongated observation window overlooking the testing area. He turned some knobs, threw some switches, and turned on all the lights.
There was Abel – good, righteous Abel – laying out on a tuft of straw, like a common donkey.
“Bring out the new playmate,” The Raven said.
Confused, I looked out into the testing area. A large iron door unlocked with a loud clang, and in walked the orange Felinial. He had a smug look creeping
around his protruding incisors.
Following the Felinial were two guards, cloaked head to toe in gray cloth. They each held a length of chain, attached to something behind them.
“Antareus?” Abel yelled from the ground below.
Antareus was yanked into the testing area like a dog on a leash. His hair was disheveled, his face swollen and cut.
The Raven knelt close to me. “Surprise,” he whispered.
“Abel, what’s going on?” Antareus shouted through a fat lip.
“I… I don’t know,” Abel stammered. His gaze wandered until he saw me and The Raven staring out at him from behind the glass.
“You bastards!” Abel yelled from the arena floor. “You absolute bastards!”
The Raven laughed deeply. I just stared back at my other half and his brother.
There was a fluttering sensation around my heart. It felt warm. It seemed to be telling me this isn’t right. This can’t happen.
“Now you have the chance to do what has been burning deep within your soul,” The Raven said to me. “The one who caused you to turn to us for sanctuary and understanding, to harness all that hatred and anger you concealed all your life… and turn it into something beautiful… now lays helpless before you. What will you do first?”
I shook my head. “I don’t… I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Oh?” The Raven looked only mildly concerned. “I thought someone as cold and as ruthless as you would leap at the chance to chop the little adulterer up into a thousand bits… Do I detect a sudden change of… heart?”
I began to struggle for the words. Suddenly, it felt as if I had lost all confidence, all power when standing beside The Raven as I had been for the last few years.
“I know about your little side project,” he said, scowling at me.
The putty. Compound N.
“It’s… not what you think,” I lied, scrambling for composure. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up on something if I wasn’t sure I could deliver.”
“But you did, didn’t you? You did deliver. A most powerful weapon in our fight against humanity.