Chapter Ten
Author's notes: Please allow full credit for the author Robert Louis Stevenson for the marvelously sinister story of Dr. Jeyll and Mr. Hyde; also some lyrics from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression were lifted, after providing some aural entertainment while writing this chapter. As always, the stories are written for pure amusement with no intent of profit or gain.
"Did you ever notice that door?"
Said specimen was an oddity in the ancient lovely street in Upper Paddra; clearly deserted, it was dusty, unkept and paint was beginning to peel from the stout wood, which looked as if it had been used as a practice post for a gunsaber or two. Dead leaves were heaped untidily about the stoop and it seemed somehow cursed under the air of neglect.
"Yes, sister; it is connected in my mind with a very odd story. Do you remember when I was in Valhalla ? And I told you about Caius?"
Serah caught her breath and her eyes darkened to amethyst as she recalled The guardian of Yuel she had encountered in her travels.
"I found out that was where he lived before he became a guardian. He was known as Doctor Caius – the repository of records had a file on him. He…changed."
"Oh! Tell me more, sister!"
"Well, it was this way; things were not always thus with him…"
Purple hair hung in the eyes of a man immaculately clad in doctor's scrubs and lab coat; he absent-mindedly flicked it out of the way as he continued to observe the activity in the microscope.
He smiled pensively, his deep eyes flashing tyrian as he rapidly took notes in shorthand, never taking his eyes from the fascinating microcosm unfolding before his gaze. His face was noble, and surprisingly sensitive; he was known as a gentleman, and generous to a fault with his indigent cases.
A pipette in the long fingers teased a bare sample from the petri dish and dropped it in the synthesizer and set the mechanism to create a 500 milliliter batch overnight before flicking a light switch off and quietly exiting the top floor laboratory. The stairs two flights down opened into a lovely flat, with a wide balcony, and was furnished with all of the cultured things any civilized Paddran enjoyed in that long lost gracious era. A precisely measured glass of well aged brandy was slowly poured and relished as the handsome doctor sat on his gracious airy balcony, listening to a very civilized Paddran opera as he opened his mail, one lovely parchment roll at a time, none of those new fangled flat folded things called envelopes for him, no thank you, sir.
One in particular was read, the re-read and left nerveless fingers to drift softly to the floor, followed by even softer sobbing. It was too bad he was a bachelor, a calming hand and cheerful smile would have dispelled his fears, and perhaps he could have faced the news that the mail brought with a better sense of proportion; but the complex sensitive man had no kind friend or acquaintance to help reduce the mountain in his mind back into the gentle foot hill.
A delicately flourished hand had written:
In accordance with the edicts of Etro and the Farseer guiding principles, the guardian of the seeress has reached the age of majority and is voluntarily stepping down from the illustrious post.
The replacement candidates are chosen by genetic match and by the testing as deigned by the seeress Paddra Nsu Yuel herself.
Congratulations, you are match number 13 as chosen by the genome matching program of the temple. Please report to the temple with this missive on 31st October.
Caius was beside himself; what would happen to his patients? His career as a healer, his research on rare plants on Gran Pulse? His quiet little flat, his cat Toby? How could he ever be a fierce guardian of a seeress, girt with weapons, and ready to kill at the blink of an eye? He couldn't even bring himself to trap a rat, much less hack off a head of a demon! He was a simple doctor, a peaceful healer of the sick, not a killer! Even a vegetarian, for Etro's sake!
He thought if he'd ever have to kill, he'd go mad from it…if there were only a way to kill in the name of good and not feel the pain of a living thing dying. Could it be compartmentalized, minimized, trivialized? No, not for him; he'd have to split into two. The nervously tapping hand slowed as he thought of the experiment he was running: Well…why not? If I can split a cell, why can't I split a brain?
3 days later, he'd synthesized a serum and was eyeing it somberly in the gloomy afternoon; it was threatening rain and the autumn leaves chased each other chattering in a secret language that bespoke of unknown excitements. Dare I take it? Or do I leave it be? Sighing, he walked around the little table it sat on, his reflection distorting in the curved glass apothecary jar that held the faintly glittering liquid and further mused: If the experiment fails, at least there are my lab notes and the formula…I should name it, so it can be patented later…hmmm…Caius' Chaos? More like the chaos Etro places in all our hearts at the unknown…ah! That's it: Etro's Heart. He wrote the words in a delicately elegant hand on a label, and carefully slid it in the little metal display on the side of the bell-like curve of the glass.
He sat himself comfortably in his favorite chair by the fireplace and poured a draught of Etro's Heart into his finest crystal brandy glass, then tilted his head and let it slide down his throat; then he sat and waited.
The next memory was of the gentle rays of sunrise playing on his face; puzzled, he looked at the clock by his bedside and noted the hour of 6:10 AM, and wondered how he got there; he felt remarkably…well, and stretched pleasurably, enjoying the sensuous feel of the silk sheets against his skin. Alarmed, he looked down at himself; he never felt the silk of the sheets, as he wore night clothes, like any civilized Paddran. A bit shocked, he realized he was nude under the covers; he bolted from bed in shame, but was caught by the accusing eye of the tall mirror by his dressing room, flash of warm olive skin and black-purple hair; a deep stain of red mounted to his face and his heart plummeted in fear as he took in the stains, marks and lovebites that teased him with the mystery of where he'd been, obviously an amorous, nay, an outright lustful evening of debauchery! Almost sickened at the defilement of his body, his stomach began to heave; the horrified gaze dropped, but not before he saw his feet: Dirty, almost black with dirt, splashed up to the ankles with putrid bits of…flesh, intestinal matter, and drying blood. The heave turned nauseous, and he stumbled into the toilet and retched pitifully.
As he lay there later, his head on the cool white porcelain, gripping the bowl with knuckles almost as white, did he hear a soft voice speak in the little room: "For Etro's sake, you sodding pussy, get up. Get the baste up. It's not like you killed yer mum. She were just a whore. And she was a tight one!"
Caius shook his head and managed to croak from his bitter tasting mouth: "What- Who are you? "
"There ya go man! Keep as cool as yer can, because the heat, the heat's all reet, let's all rumba to da sexy beat…now get the baste up and get rid of that shite before the tight assed housekeeper smells it and starts asking questions!"
He slowly staggered to his feet, a bit lightheaded, and turned about: "Where-where are you?"
"Right here, behind you, sirrah."
Caius turned and came face to face with his bathroom mirror, but it wasn't his face staring back at him, it was a lean hungry hyena, a lustful grin on his lips that enjoyed the sight of the naked man covered in the remains of a very violent, yet satisfying evening.
"Why, it's about time we met, Doctor Caius; allow me to introduce meself…Mistah Ballad, at yer service. Don't you know, we is mates for life, you lucky sod!"
He screeched and punched the mirror with his elegant long hands until he was bleeding and the silvered glass was nothing but shards.
He cleaned the mess before his housekeeper came in, burning the clothes and sheets in the fireplace. He refused to look at the apothecary jar or go near the lab after he'd read the news and found the little back page article announcing a prostitute had been found dead in a chocobo stable, apparently trampled to death by the creatures. The next 15 days bled into each other, and he regained his confidence in himself; he found himself writing his notes on the experiment and its failure. He rolled a mouthful of brandy around his savoring tongue and held the amber liquid in the firelight to observe its color; a faint sparkle caught his eye, but he put it down to his emotional state; tomorrow he was going to the temple for his appointment; perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, after all he was the thirteenth best match.
"Ohhh, heyyy…lucky thirteen, are we, mate?"
Dr. Caius blanched at the soft snide voice with its rough burr. "Go away. You're not real. And I destroyed the Etro's Heart."
"Play too rough for yeh, eh, sirrah? Nah, nah, ye cannae lie to me, dear Dr. Caius…it what you wanted; you did not make Etro's Heart ta destroy yer dark side; ye made it so ye could do what yer wanted without feelin' da guilt of it, ye wanted no besmirching of yer good name. Ye absolutely intended me ta live. And there's no worryin' about punishment for playing God. You know Mr. Ballad is yer reward, no?"
"You cannot exist! I destroyed the potion!"
"Oh? Did yer think to check yer fine decanter?"
"I should have killed you!"
A slow low giggle escaped his lips in the gloom, slowly escalating into rolling chuckles, then frenzied laughs at the anger of Doctor Caius. He pulled the heavy crystal decanter off the table, intending to smash it the fireplace, but his eyes were caught by the mirror above the fireplace; dazed, he stared back at the devilish lean hyena of face that was Mr. Ballad, smirking at him with an evil glint in his lavender eyes.
"Negative! Primitive! Limited! *I* let you live! Do'ye think the experiment were a failure? Unexpected 'side' effects? Oh, Etro, how very like you to think that, you simple minded pathetic dreamer."
"But I gave you life!"
"What else could you do, my Dear Dr. Caius?"
"To do what was right!"
"But I'm perfect, are you?"