Shards of Life
Prologue
~It's so cold inside me… ~
*Death is laughing loud tonight, as two armies clash near the city of Silvermoon. Hard to say what are you fighting against. One thing for sure – it's not anything that you're used to. Rotten bodies, exposed bones, flesh of those who are long gone… And here I am, bashing skulls of ghouls with my shield… I can see a face in the distance, above the heads of crackling undead. I don't know why do I look at her, I don't know her name. All I know that she's not my enemy. She calls me, tells me to look behind my back. When I do turn around I catch a glimpse of a sword digging deep into my chest…*
-I… Can't move…
A loud shrieking voice speaks from side. It seems to be annoyed by me:
-Of course you can't move, idiot. I tied you up.
I open my eyes and see a dark ceiling covered in spiderwebs. It's cold in here. As I lift my head I see my hands legs and chest tied to a table. It could be terrifying but somehow I can't feel my heart beating faster… I feel… Calm. Maybe that's why I bring myself to ask:
-Where am I..?
A tall, thin figure dressed in labcoat lifts a pile of papers from table beside me and looking at them mumbles:
-In my lab. I think even someone as dumb as you could understand that much. Now shut up and let me do my work.
As he puts down papers I get a better look at his face. He's human scientist I can see that much… Or at least he used to be... His hair has fallen off almost completely, only remaining slivers of hair hanging randomly. He didn't seem to care about his looks much though. Anything that used to be his face has rotten away. What is left is a skull and a bit of flesh that hangs around his jaw, which seems to help him talk better. His empty eyeholes are glowing with icy-blue color.
I see him walking around the room taking different bottles, mixtures and powders, laying them all on the table. Whatever he was making, it looked like it made him happy, as he seemed like dancing between the shelves of reagents. When he picked up a vial and a knife from corner and went out of the room I looked around better. There wasn't much to look at, though – shelves with weird bottles, a huge reservoir with strange green glowing liquid and few tables covered with papers and unfinished mixes… Well…. And myself tied up…
He comes back in the lab smiling, as much as his rotten jaw lets, with something dark red dripping from blade of the knife and a vial full of it, then throws knife back in corner and starts mixing vial's content with other ingredients:
-This one there… That one here… Spice it up with this…
Looks at me for a minute, measuring me with his glowing eyeholes:
-Maybe a bit more…
He finishes stirring reagents and draws a syringe full of his dark results, then comes to me shaking it:
-Now. You don't move and it won't hurt.
He chuckles and stabs syringe into my neck:
-For me, that is.
Suddenly my whole body heats up and splitting pain starts spreading from my neck throughout the body. Last thing I see is him leaning over me with another syringe of same liquid.