The Force of Magic Ep. 3
Episode 3: Ghost
We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
The Book of Job 14:2
Karven
Karven was growing more and more infuriated every day. The result with the soldier gave him great hope that he finally was making real progress. When the Overlord tasked the Guild with unlocking the secret of eternal life, Karven considered it an impossible, but worthy endeavor. Over the last few years, they saw very few successes and many failures. The results had been interesting. He knew he stumbled on to something with what he was calling the Elixir of Life, but for the vast majority of those who took it, they only experienced death and disfigurement.
So far, only 4 subjects had responded in any way that could be seen to be productive:
Tantem, that traitor who had escaped
Brant, whose adaptation made him a very effective part of the Brotherhood
The soldier, Trace, imprisoned below
And the girl, his first success years ago, but one he would now like to forget
The soldier’s response was by far the closest to his desired outcome. Even now, weakened by the potion he put in his food, he showed the ability to heal himself. Karven took samples and blood and tested them to the best of his ability. He ordered half the Guild at Darkholm Keep to keep working on coming up with a solution, but in all these months since the soldier’s transformation, none of their ideas saw any success. There were no shortage of “volunteers'' to test on. As long as the Dominion continued to expand its borders and the Overlord ruled there would always be new subjects. Their deaths and pain were a necessary means to an end, but failure was what bothered him.
Something about the serving girl reminded him of the soldier. Karven’s “magic” was made up of many things, not the least of which was his mastery of alchemy, but more than anything, he rose to his current position because of an innate ability to see the essence of a person and use what he learned from that to control and manipulate them. When he looked up and saw the serving girl the day before, she looked familiar. Upon reflection, he realized it was her essence that mirrored that of the soldier. It was difficult to fully explain what that meant, but he was sure of it.
Perin
Perin was terrified to visit the strange, evil man who was the Chief of the Guild, but knew she had no choice. When you were a servant/slave of the Dominion, you didn’t get to say “no”.
June and the others in the kitchen were sympathetic to her plight, but they also were under orders and knew that she had no choice. A member of the Dark Brotherhood came to escort her to Karven’s laboratory. It was in a secure part of the Keep, and the servants weren’t normally allowed to go there. He brought her to a heavy iron door with 2 more guards outside. They opened the door and gestured for her to go inside.
A short stone hallway led to a series of steps up to the heart of the space, where she could see Karven and 2 other Guild members busy with a huge assortment of glass containers, candles and strange metal implements. There were two tables and a chair that looked like they had thick leather straps for holding someone in place. For Perin, it was a place of nightmares. She slowly moved to the bottom of the steps and stopped there, waiting, hoping to be ignored.
As soon as she stopped, Karven turned to face her. “Ah, yes, the girl. So glad to have you join us.” Turning to the others, Karven said, “She’s the one I mentioned. I believe she holds great promise.”
Karven came down to her, descending the steps and holding out his gloved hand from beneath his dark robe. She avoided the touch of any men since she had arrived at the Keep, but knew she needed to take his hand. He led her to the chair and motioned for her to sit.
“My friends and I are engaged in experiments of great importance in the service of the Overlord. Many special people, like yourself, are often given the honor of helping with these experiments,” Karven said.
“How could I help you?” Perin asked.
“We have developed special potions and elixirs that have magical properties. They have been shown to give great health and strength to some who take them. I believe you are just the right kind of person who might benefit from this,” Karven said.
“You said some, what about the others?” Perin asked.
“They are unaffected by it and are sent back, but I think you are a good candidate,” Karven said.
Karven motioned for the other men to fasten the leather straps. “For your protection,” he said.
They tightened straps on her wrists and ankles. Perin could feel her anxiety grow, as she began to breathe rapidly as she looked around the room, searching for any possibility of rescue. Everything inside of her pushed her to fight back, but her fear kept her pinned in place until they had fully restrained her.
“Nothing to worry about, drink this, it will help you feel better,” Karven said as he held a small stone cup to her lips. He poured it in her mouth and she swallowed, with some of it dribbling down her chin. Within a few minutes, her anxiety eased as she began to feel a bit light-headed. She noticed Karven’s helpers cutting a lock of her hair and scraping some of her skin, but suddenly, she wasn’t very concerned anymore. She did feel disgust as one of the men put something wet and slimy on her shoulder, but not enough to protest.
“There, all better now,” Karven said. “You are going to be an excellent helper for us today, aren’t you?”
Karven went away to the other side of the room, where he unlocked a great chest. When he opened the lid, a light shone on his face. He pulled out a thin vial from which a portion of the light shone. Karven brought the vile over to her and carefully pulled off some type of wax seal that was fixed on top of it. The liquid looked like it was on fire and she pursed her lips closed, causing Karven to frown.
“We call this the Elixir of Life, my darling girl, don’t you want to live? There is life in this vial,” Karven said.
Perin looked at him, unsure whether to trust him, but whatever they had given her before made her just want to give in, hoping she would be allowed to rest after they were done. She opened her mouth and Karven carefully poured the contents of the vile in. Perin was surprised that it was very cool and had almost no taste, just a slight sweetness. She drank down a mouthful and opened her mouth to show him it was gone.
“Good, very good,” Karven said.
Perin saw a smile that looked more wicked than warm as her eyes felt incredibly heavy. Within a few seconds, she could no longer keep them open and drifted off to sleep.
Karven
Karven didn’t mind pretending to be nice to the girl. It was all part of the game. His intuition led him to know just what to say and do in order to get her to follow his directions. He was very hopeful this time. Truly, her essence did resemble that of the soldier. They were from the same part of the Dominion’s realm. Perhaps they were even distant relations. Falling asleep was a good sign. Some of the volunteers had an immediate, violent reaction to the elixir, and a few died immediately. All of his successes began with them falling asleep. This time, he wouldn’t take her to a cell like they had with the soldier. He wanted her monitored every moment until they knew what her response would be.
Karven watched her sleep for over an hour with no visible change. He was actually there and saw the change come over Brant. His very skin became hard right before their eyes, even as he was still asleep. A very useful variation, for it made Brant almost indestructible, and his loyalty to the Brotherhood was unquestionable. Unfortunately, the armor like skin limited their ability to do further experimentation on him. Still, he served his purpose and was living evidence of their progress, just as the soldier was below.
“I’m going to go down and get some food, you two stay here and don’t leave her alone, even for a second,” Karven said as the 2 members of the Guild nodded their agreement. He walked down the steps and was striding through the door when one of the men yelled.
“Karven! Come quick!!”
He spun on his heels and raced back towards the laboratory, just in time to see one of the guild members attempting to grab the girl. Karven couldn’t believe his eyes! The girl's hands and feet were free, flailing about as she awakened as though coming back from a bad dream, but even more surprising was her body was slowly sinking into the chair as if it wasn’t there. He rushed closer, attempting to grab her hair as her head and shoulders were now the only part of her in sight. Her eyes were wide with fear and he could tell she didn’t understand what was happening either. Karven’s hand went right through her, coming out the other side of her head, as though she were an illusion or...
“A ghost!” one of the men said, “she’s turned into a ghost!”
And with those words, Karven watched in horror as she slowly sank through the chair, down through the floor and completely out of sight.