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Chapter 66 - Road of No Return, part 1
I can still remember the first time I took the life of another man as clearly as it had been yesterday.
I have killed many. The bully Inquisitor, the desperate prostitute, the unloyal soldier, the alcoholic priest, the grumbling ferrywoman, the repulsive and manipulative bloodsucker of the Moroi clan, the rude undertaker, the half-deranged militia soldier, the pompous nobleman, the master of the wizard's guild, my own apprentice, the big-whisked rat catcher, the stupid adventurer who fancied himself a hero, the innocent twins, the greedy thief.
But I still remember the first. The first is special.
I can still see his face as he strangled him. I can see the red and bulging eyes, the swollen tongue sticking out of the mouth, the puffed cheeks turning from pink to purple. I can hear the husky gurgling sputtering of the man choking and trying to inhale air that will never reach his lungs. I feel his desperate hands hitting m
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World Of Darkness Chapter 67 - Road of No Return, part 2
Viktor arrived at the apartment building as the temple bells struck ten o'clock. In the dark, one of his feet brushed against something hairy and wet. Viktor stopped and took a step back.The unearthly luminescence of the moon illuminated even the darkness of the street, where the light devoid of shades stripped the object of all its color, but in spite of that it was unmistakable.Erich's cat lay dead in the street. His skinny body was unnaturally stretched out. Hideously black blood stained his spiky ginger hair where the wagon wheel had passed over him.Seeing such an incongruous image momentarily distracted Viktor from his own worries and anguish. Erich would be greatly affected. For some strange reason, he adored that grungy stray cat.Viktor bent down and scooped up the cat's body in the cape. The pungent acrid smell of the dead animal assaulted his nostrils even more strongly than the smell of
World Of Darkness Chapter 68 - Road of No Return, part 3
Viktor turned his head slowly and saw that Erich was standing in the doorway, his horrified face turned into conspicuous shock. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Viktor was busy panting, and Erich was simply too scared to say anything.Viktor's roommate had no need to explain what he was doing there. If anyone had to explain something, it was Viktor. And yet it was Erich, still standing in the doorway and not daring to step through, the first to speak.“I… I heard the cat. He was meowing. M… I wondered what had happened to him. "Viktor glanced at the body lying on the workbench. The front of the ginger cat hung from the edge of the table."Well, now you know," Viktor replied.Erich looked from Viktor to the cat and back to Viktor, the same shocked expression of horror painted on his face."H ... how?" was the only thing he coul
World Of Darkness Chapter 69 - Road of No Return, part 4
His dreams grew darker, but he told himself it was undoubtedly a simple adaptation to his new gift.Each night, by the light of a lamp, he filled notebook after notebook with notes of his new discoveries. It had been weeks since Viktor and Erich had last attended a class at the magic school.They slept during the day, and when dusk cast its shadows over the city, they ventured outside to discreetly make their way to the warehouse.Each night they followed a different route, sometimes retracing their own steps in order to make sure they did not follow them and to avoid detection. They worked non-stop until the first gleams of the pre-dawn light began to fade the velvety darkness of the sky.And so they continued as the first month of autumn progressed. But life was on its way to the other side of the insular world of darkness they had created, and by the twelfth day of the month the plague had already
World Of Darkness Chapter 70 - Road of No Return, part 5
After Viktor delivered the letter to be sent to his sister, he and Erich met again at the warehouse. Now, after sunset, the air had a characteristic autumnal chill that suggested the season was about to change again. In too little time the decline of autumn would give way to winter and the dead months of the year. A chilly wind blew in from under the wooden doors and whistled through the slate tiles above the hayloft.They were surrounded by a scene not much different from the one they had discovered in Dr. Tepes's basement. There were trestle tables, covered with Viktor's open notebooks. On a workbench were the instruments of a surgeon. And in the middle of all this was a heavy oak table set to become an autopsy table when the opportunity presented itself.Erich had "acquired" most of the equipment and Viktor preferred not to ask how he had gotten it. Viktor had just told him what he needed and Erich provided it. Around all this he hung a s
World Of Darkness Chapter 71 - Necromancy, part 1
Let me tell you a little about the nature of what you vaguely call "magic."I have never liked that word for it because it describes too poorly the reciprocal action of energy that only a few are capable of generating with enough power and control to affect the material plane.Those of us who have been blessed with the ability to control the ebb and flow of Mana do not see the world as mere mortals do. Our minds exist at the same time in the everyday material world and the dazzling magical world that only users of this power can know.This is so in the case of all sorcerers, Wizards, Witches and any user of arcane powers, including those who practice the science of death.The malevolent negative energy that necromancy uses is by far the most dangerous form of magic, but some will say the most powerful as well. But don't get me wrong, negative energy involves both physical and mental sacrifice as it c
World Of Darkness Chapter 72 - Necromancy, part 2
Viktor spread his hands over his body, palms down, trembling. It wasn't Herwin Reiss, he told himself, it wasn't anymore.As the vital spark disappeared from him, the corpse was nothing more than an empty vessel, an empty man. Inside his mind he saw the words he had to speak form into letters of fire, and he began to speak the words required for the spell. Erich's wavering voice joined hers and his accomplice began to recite the words whose pronunciation Viktor had spent long hours teaching her.The two students did not know what the words meant, but the power of the words could not be denied. The darkness of the warehouse took on a body. The air they breathed thickened, like the suffocating river mists that drowned the streets of the half-dead city, and it entered their lungs like mud.The alchemical stench of the preserved body was increased by the intense odor of plant decay, the ferrous aroma of spilled blood, and th
World Of Darkness Chapter 73 - Necromancy, part 3
What would his father have thought of him?Had he been alive, he would have disinherited his prodigal son from him and cursed his immortal soul. Right now he must be turning in the grave.And what would his beloved sister think of him?The thought of her face haunted by her, horrified at her, was almost enough to make him burst into tears right there.But the reality was that the blasphemous invocation had failed and he had been saved.For all the time that he had wondered if he could control his powers, he had never once questioned whether he should.How could he have been so deluded as to believe that the powers that had awakened within him could be a gift, when they had lain dormant for so long?They were a curse: a filthy stain on his immortal soul that would require years of penance and restraint to erase. But if that was what it too
World Of Darkness Chapter 74 - Broken, part 1
What is death? What does it mean to die? Where does that immortal part of us go when we die? Or is this fragile world the only thing there is?As the son of a priest of the god of death, I need not tell you that Mortis is the most austere, demanding, and ruthless deity. He offers very little in terms of blessings and favors to the common man who does his thing, and yet we all beg for his mercy.All the souls of the dead belong to him and he greedily treasures them ... he is a cruel and ruthless god who knows no mercy.Do you think that what I say is heresy?Maybe yes, but I also know it's the truth.I have looked out into the other world, into the icy abyss of what some stupid people call the afterlife.I will tell you what death is.Death is the ultimate thief. It is stronger than love and more durable than time.You
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