Capítulo 3: Emersion
'This is beyond anything I've ever seen.'
And I've seen some dark shit. But this. This was madness.
"The fragility of life, and the inescapable nature of human suffering..." I murmured repeatedly, like some sort of mantra or chant, as if that phrase could soothe me.
I pulled the door completely open to behold what is, as of now, the most disturbing sight I've ever witnessed. A feeling I had long forgotten about emerged again in my heart... and stomach. Disgust.
Beyond the door, what lay before me is an immense hall, full of metallic and wooden tables, all with straps at the corners holding the limbs of hundreds, if not close to a thousand of naked pregnant women. All at different stages of pregnancy, and all with their bellies kept open by what looked like metallic clamps, their babies still in them. Some had some weird contraptions sticking out of them, some had different kinds of liquids being steadily dripped into them, at an excruciatingly slow rate.
As I walked down the hall, my eyes darting between the tables and columns, looking for any presence not securely strapped to a table. A horrifying detail dawned on me. They were still alive. The women and their babies were still alive. I could see the heart beating in some and could hear the breathing of others. All unconscious, but all awake.
'How does he keep them unconscious? There are too many for him to do it by hand unless there are a lot more warlocks than I expect. A magic circle, or enchantment this big would require too many resources. If I had to keep so many people unconscious I'd...'
As I thought of the only feasible method for me, I held my breath as I looked carefully around.
'The braziers at the foot of each column! There doesn't seem to be anybody else here, just me and the women. No other exit either, just the door I came from. I need to understand what's going on before I do anything.'
Without delay, I went back from whence I came and made sure to close the door behind me.
Back at what I now know is an office or library and not the main laboratory, I walked towards the other door, spitting into the brazier where the scum's remains were still burning as I walked past it.
'He's more of a demon than a human. Even that pest Ludovic would've found him disgusting.'
As I reach the door at the other end of the office, I steel myself for some other type of horrifying sight. I slowly grab the knob, and to my delight, it opens outwards. However, remembering what I saw in the other room, I slowly push it ajar instead of bursting through.
"-ure you have some cards up yer-"
Three guys holding cards sat around a table with cards, coins, and jewelry atop it. All of them stared at the door.
'Should've burst through the door.'
No use mulling over it. I waited for them to become suspicious. In any other similar situation, I would've jumped on them before they could react, but I don't have any armor, and I'm not completely used to this body, I need to conserve as much energy as I can. There could also be someone outside of what I can see through the slight opening.
My course of action decided I wait for them to approach the door. It's human nature to be curious about the unknown, and right now, the door suddenly opening and no one coming through is an irresistible mystery to them. As expected one of them stands and approaches the door, his hand on the handle of the falchion hanging at his hip.
As soon as he's within reach of the door, I slam it open, right into his face. Exploiting his staggering, and his companion's surprise, I emerge slashing my Kandjar across his throat, right before spinning him around with my other hand and planting my new favorite weapon into his back.
'This khanjar is seriously sweet. It's both sharp and sturdy. Are all their weapons the same quality or is this one special? One way to check...'
Propping the gurgling man with the dagger I embedded in his back, I push him forward toward the table, my free hand now firmly holding the handle of the falchion still slung at his hip. As soon as one of the other men stands up, I push-kick my first victim onto him while retrieving both the Kandjar and the falchion. And in the same motion, as me jumping onto the table, I slash the longer weapon at my next target. The third man who was still in the motion of getting up didn't expect it and screamed in agony when the sword cut open a deep wound across his chest.
Noticing my next target's actions, I jump onto him as soon as he succeeds in pushing the dead weight off him. My Kandjar finding purchase into his brain, right through the eye. I push him and myself down to fall back on the chair then push it down on its back.
'Close call.'
I thought as I heard a wooshing sound right above me. Rolling onto the ground and away, I stand up to see the results of my handiwork. Two dead bodies on the ground, and one man grabbing his chest with one hand, and struggling to walk towards me with a sword in the other. The room is smaller than the office, with a bunk bed, a table with three chairs, a pot in a corner, and a brasier in another. A narrow and short corridor ending in a door stood behind me now, right across the door I came through.
'Three people, so I just need to kill the last one...'
Examining my last enemy, his surrounding soaked red hinted at the wound being fatal.
'Let's not take unnecessary risks then.'
I wait for the man to make his way toward me, grunting and heaving with each step he took. His complexion was whitening, each beat of his heart poured more of his blood out his chest and onto the ground. Each time he came too close for comfort, I discreetly stepped back, just enough to stay out of reach.
After three more steps, when he noticed me not moving as I was again within his reach, a small grin formed on his lips. He suddenly jumped forward and swung his sword horizontally, just for me to step back into the corridor, let it strike the wall, and then throw my Kandjar right into his face.
Producing a 'ptuck' sound, the best knife I've ever got my hands on embedded itself in his head until the hilt. And after a small sway, the man stiffly fell backward with a heavy thud.
I retrieve the knife and clean it on the clothes of my last victim. Then I drag him from the hands into the corner where the chamber pot was. By the time I had dragged them all into that corner, I was breathing heavily. So I stood there to catch my breath while comparing my loot.
'hmm, all leather armor. Well, beggars can't be choosers. I'm taking the boots of that one, they look in good condition. Their swords are nothing special, I guess only the dagger is exceptional. A weapon with a longer reach can't hurt, hmm, the one I used will need some care, the one that hit the wall is sure to have some chips, I'll take the last one, he didn't even have a chance to use it. And last but not least, I'll need to check the last door and barricade it for now, I need time to recollect myself and make a decision on where to go from here.'
Working as soon as I felt rested enough, I wore my new clothes, leather armor, and boots. Strapped the falchion to my back for better movements. And plunged the bloodied falchion into the head of the guy whose throat I slit. Just for good measure.
I walked into the corridor with careful steps and firmly grabbed the handle. As always, slightly pushing the door ajar, I carefully inspected the other side, my other hand tightening around my dagger.
Sunlight blinded me, and after my eyes got used to the bright view, I exhaled a sigh at the sight of an alley and open skies. Completely opening the door and looking both ways, I noted the dead end on one end and a busy street on the other. All the buildings were colorful, with multiple bronze arches and marble decorations. the building across from me had multiple frail and delicate balconies.
'A rich city. Good.'
Wherever there is wealth, there is poverty. And wherever there is poverty, there are back alleys, black markets, and smugglers; all services that will be of use if this city's people have any form of identification.
Walking back in I closed the door firmly, and brought the chair to leverage it against the door. It won't stop someone from breaking in, but it'll alert me of it.
I made my way back to the office, my aim being the huge library I saw there, and maybe personal notes the warlock may have kept. They usually have notes about their experiments.
'Hopefully, I'll find answers to what happened to me there. There is also the hall of horrors to deal with.'
...
'By all that is holy, unholy, and whatever the fuck! ten years?! I've been in that vat, for fifteen fucking years!'
I was now sitting where the now dead, good-riddance, warlock was sitting when I first awoke. Reading through his notes on me after three days of searching for them, luckily there was a cellar full of supplies under the table in the other room.
In these three days, I learned quite a few things about my situation nonetheless. The deranged 'researcher' fancied himself a records keeper. I'm in a city called Qarth, in a continent named Essos. Never heard of it before, and I've been around the planet twice, so I assume I am in a different dimension, realm, or reality altogether; whatever it is, it's beyond my understanding, and probably will stay that way till I die again.
During these ten years, my captor had fancied my body a new vessel for himself. By his words 'The Undying Ones will regret turning him down when they see his new form, and come begging him to release them of their old, rotting husks'. So by all accounts, he wanted to make this body as strong as it could be, and he had partially succeeded. From his notes, it seems he pushed the growth of my body until maturity, without compromising its longevity. Quite the contrary, by his estimates, I should live for a few hundred years. Which I am sure isn't accurate going by his apparent ineptitude at his craft.
The sole reason he didn't already take possession of my body, is that although its longevity and health are beyond anything anyone could wish for, it all came at a hefty cost. It became immune to anything occult. Meaning no magic worked on my body anymore, but it also couldn't cast any itself, and no rituals, experiments, or spells he did had any effect on it. His last hypothesis before I put an end to his ambitions, is that it was so saturated with occult powers after a decade of experiments, that it somehow developed a sort of resistance to it. A resistance so strong, it could render a self-proclaimed peak warlock inept.
'Well, a hefty cost for him. For me, that is just a dream come true.'
I closed the booklet of notes, walked to the brasier, and threw it inside to burn. Walking back to the desk I continued to peruse book by book, looking for some information on the purpose of the horrors he committed in the hall besides this office.
...
I kept track of time by checking the door and the alley beyong regularly, it also served to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary.
It's been six moons.
After the first few days, I had found the notes about his other 'experiments'. Out of a thousand and seventy four women from a previous batch, Irros Mopanar, a warlock of the city of Quarth and a former prospect to become an Undying One, was able to get two babies with potential. And as he was discreetly travelling from his home to his laboratory through the backalleys of the city, he happened upon a baby surviving on the remnants of breastmilk of his dead mother. The mother had apparently been brought by slaver's servants to the alley to give birth, and if the child was a girl she would've been taken back to become a slave, if it was a boy it would be left to die. The deviant servants apparently took a liking to the mother and proceeded to defile her after she gave birth to a baby boy, then left both to die, as a mother dying during childbirth was quite common for slaves.
Irros, quite convinced that his happening upon an 'Undying' boy is destiny handing him his due, took it back to his laboratory to add to the other two ongoing experiments. Experiments that would go on for two, seven, and ten years respectively. On the seventh year, after the failure of the second experiment, and the apparent immunity of the this one to further experimentation, the warlock sent his men out to bring him another batch of women he would artificially impregnate to produce his next materials. One of which would be subjected to the same treatment as me, in hopes of producing the same result minus the magic ineptitude. He even hoped to replicate the immunity, without its downside. Quite an ambitious man.
The women in the hall, were all bought, kidnapped, or simply convinced with some food and clean water to come here. Once artificially impregnated, and sedated in the office, they were brought to the hall where they would never again see the light of day. A brasier burning a concoction of herbs to keep them sedated made sure of that.
Periodically, Irros would perform experiments on them and their fetuses at different stages of their pregnancies. Trying to produce better 'materials' for his main inquiry into biology, magic, immortality and everything inbetween.
'Why do all madmen seek immortality? Is it because they're mad? Or is that obsession why they become insane?'
After reading everything concerning the women, I proceeded to drive my prized knife through the head of every one of them, and their offspring. Whatever that cunt did to them, I knew not how to reverse, nor how to finish. So all I could do is make sure they didn't wake up as some abominations after the herbs run out or their effects dissipate.
That was before the first moon. After that event, I spent most of my time either burning the as many bodies as I could on a big crematory fire pit I made at the center of the big hall. Or reading books in the office. I discovered I could read and understand a single language, Quartheen, the language of the city of Quarth. The mother of all cities, according to some of the books.
By the second moon, I had finished burning the last of the corpses that had begun to rot. Making sure to always leave my clothes in the office to keep them clean, and not bring the odors out of the hall. I found out that each room was properly isolated, with air vents dug into the ceiling. The green liquid that was still in the other two vats, had cleaning properties, and after some reading I found out how to pour some of it into a bucket by pulling a lever.
From then on, all my time was dedicated to reading through the library, and getting used to my new body by drilling into it the muscle memory of using a knife, a sword and a shield I fashioned out of the table.
My swordsmanship is the result of five decades of battlefields and near-death situations, it is nothing too flashy, nor pretty. A pragmatic set of moves, counters and feints, aiming to kill at each and every strike. The shield is used to bash, hit, and blind. And any type of fine powder is held within the shield hand to throw at the enemy's eyes whenever necessary. Throwing, spitting, taunting... everything that would lead to a mortal hit or to escape one, is fair to use.
The more I trained this new body in it. The more I contemplated wether me having a spear, would've helped me in the last fight of my old life. And the more I was convinced a spear alone wouldn't have made any difference. But a spear, a shield, and a sword at my hip for a space, would've made for the perfect combination.
'Even the excuse of me being too old to train a new weapon doesn't apply now. Guillaume, in the end, you still won, you insufferable bastard. I'll learn the spear.'
I already knew what I had to do. Guillaume joined my old mercenary group the same year I did. We were both of the same age, and spent fifty years fighting back to back. Every battle, every war, we could start at the opposite ends of the battlefield, and still end up side by side. The combination of his agile and acrobatic spearsmanship, and my pragmatic and lethal swordsmanship proved to be an effective combination against all types of enemies.
I ended up learning the basics of his spearmanship, but never fully commited to mastering it. And now, here was I, creating a makeshift spear from a long wooden shaft used to hang the library ladders.
Today, marks the sixth full moon I observed from the shadows in the alley. I walked back inside, arranged everything I prepared, and cast a last look at the hall where I had trained after pushing the tables to the walls. Then the office, where I read all the books I could understand, and learned a new language from a learning book called 'How to Common. In Quartheen.' And lastly, at the small room, where I slept on the bunk bed. This was my house for the first half a year in this new life.
Wearing the leather armor, and carrying a falchion wrapped in cloth at my back, my prized Kandjar secured in its ornate sheath on my hip. A linen rucksack containing some food, a leather water flask, some jewelry and coins I found, as well as what I deemed to be the most precious books for me, books about swordsmanship, spearmanship, and javelin throws. I never learned the sword formally, and I wasn't going to spit in the face of an opportunity, especially now that I had all the time to learn anew.
Draping a loose cloth over me, made to help withstand the scorching sun. I walked with resolute steps towards the door.
Finally, after ten and a half years of me being born anew, I walked outside, towards my next adventure.
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Word Count: 3230 words (didn't need to round it this time :) )
A/N:
Finally, the end of the prologue! Next chapter some real dialogue(mc doesn't talk much, but hey, that's his personality.) and the start of the MC's journey, titled: Wonder.
I'm dead tired, I'm gonna add the reference images and go home. Writing this everyday, after work ain't cutting it, especially since it took me nearly 4 hours again today.
I don't know about you, but I felt a slight drop in quality. I might rewrite some parts after re-reading it with a fresh head tomorrow. Also, I might buy grammarly premium subscription. Although I didn't need it much so far for grammar, it did help with some repetitions and whatnot, and I'm always curious about the huge number of suggestions they say it'll give if I buy premium, this chapter it's 79 suggestions. So there's that.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Stone me daddy/mommy ( ´ཀ` )
Have a great weekend
I love you all
(づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ♡
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Odil
Odil Not much to say today.
I'm getting my diploma in a month, and then instead of working 3 days, and going to school 2, I will be working full time. Which is great, because it means I'll have much more free time to write.
As always thank you for supporting this work of passion.
I hope you enjoy the journey as much as me.
Have a fantastic week-end.
Much Love
(づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ
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