Cell five was the most interesting to Codul at the moment, for it held a new species he had only just discovered. He had been out in the woods, not far from that beautiful, deathly town of Vodren when he stumbled across this creature. Not man, not beast. Rather, something in between. Fascinated with what he saw, Codul shot a dark with a heavy hallucinogen into the creature's neck which had made them act in the most entertaining fashion. Running around in circles, walking into tree trunks, talking to themselves in gibberish and oddly, undressing themselves and inspecting their genitals in curiosity, as if they were new. Codul was completely astounded by this reaction, no other creature had reacted quite like this one to his formula. He wanted to find out who this creature was or what species at least, so he could see if they all reacted in such a confusing way. Cell six was home to a completely different thing, a Shadow. He had come across this while dragging the occupant of cell five back to the mansion. An odd, hairy pig creature had shown itself and tried to converse with Codul. He recalled something about "dinner" and not much else. The idiotic creature spoke so slowly and in broken sentences, Codul grew bored of it quickly. However, Shade, as it liked to call itself, had followed him home regardless of being invited. It seemed to have taken a liking to Codul which irked the man greatly. He was not here to be liked, he was here to learn and experiment. But seeing as he could not get rid of the Shadow, Codul allowed it to stay in cell six but only as long as it behaved and did not hunt the other occupants in the dungeon. Standing up from his desk, Codul picked up the chair beside it, walked over to cell five and placed the wooden seat down in front of the bars. Before he sat down, he pulled a small metal chain at the side and a strong, greenish light shone down and into the face of the captive. Codul sat on the chair and smiled at the frowning man behind the bars.
"Good evening, Feyzer."
Blinking heavily to force his eyes to adjust to the painful bright light, Feyzer tried to move his arms again but as usual, they were securely locked up over his head on the cold, metal device he was chained to. His ankles also restrained from being free with shackles, meaning his legs were constantly bent like he was squatting. At first it burned in his calf muscles but as time wore on, he barely noticed it any more. He had also learned to ignore any itching or pain from Codul's experiments on him. Feyzer remembered every single thing that had been done and vowed, silently to get his revenge one day, he just had to get out of this cell first. Spitting out some saliva to the side, he watched his captor sit opposite him with a wry grin on the wrinkled face.
"I thought today I would tell you about my younger self," Codul crossed one leg over the other and hit one of the bars with his cane, "so you can understand a little bit more about how I am and how I came to be."
Feyzer stared at the mad man and wondered how long this speech would go on for. He did not care about his past nor about his state of mind, he already knew he was insane.
"When I was a young lad I would take apart my father's watch and other devices to see how they worked, and oh how I enjoyed putting them back together again! Sometimes they didn't work properly afterwards."
Codul laughed softly to himself and shook his head, not taking his eyes off Feyzer's frowning face.
"It was not until I hit my teenage years that I truly began to realise how special I was." Reaching into his pocket, the old man pulled out a pipe and a box of matches. "For it was then when i discovered that there was so much more to be learnt from other humans! Animals only hold so many secrets but children..."
Feyzer's eyes widened at the story as it was told to him, this beast did experiments on young humans?!
"And they're so trusting! If you tell them you have presents in your wagon or if you know where they could find the pixies in the forest." Codul lit his pipe and puffed in the strange concoction that certainly was not tobacco. "Their screams are exquisite. All young make fantastic screams of anguish when they know they've made a mistake in following me into the darkness."
Feyzer rattled his chains in horror and outrage at what he was hearing. As he heaved at the metal links to get free, he roared in annoyance that he was completely helpless which amused Codul greatly.
"But that was just the start, I haven't gotten to the best part yet." He blew some smoke towards the cell and shook his head. "Demuns, canun, felun... and the supremely rare, merun... they are all so wondrous to examine, dissect and improve-"
"MONSTER!" Feyzer howled again and struggled against the chains once more in hope.
Codul laughed louder than before, coughing a little at the same time.
"Come, come, I am not the monster here." He glanced at his watch and held up his free hand.
A deafening howl of torment echoed throughout the dungeon and up the stairs to the ground floor of the mansion. Its source another cell across from Feyzer and its owner writhing on the floor in agony. Lying on his back and pressing his hands into the stone floor, the screamer thrusted their body up and continued to make his agony heard as his chest seemed to bulge outward before becoming flat again. Whimpering and sobbing, the screamer became silent again as he lay on his side on the floor.
"It was not before I became a man," Codul puffed on his pipe, looking content, "that I gained my true purpose in this world. I would become a great surgeon! Making people more interesting and more... what is the term I'm looking for..."
Feyzer snarled as he tried once again to be free and hopefully lunge for that scrawny, evil neck.
"Unique. There is not much in this world that is such. I plan to change that for everyone." He stood up and looked at his watch again. "Ah, I have taken up too much of my time talking to you. It is nearly the hour that I need to prepare the toxin. Sleep well, demun."
Switching off the light in the cell again, Codul marched over to his desk with the stool and sat down to study the notes for his chemistry he would work on soon. Placing the cane against the desk, he glanced briefly with just his eyes at the creature he had been talking to and saw the yellow eyes staring back at him. He knew that beast wanted him dead, probably everyone in the dungeon felt that way.
"Dinner, master!"
Apart from Shade. Sighing loudly, Codul opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a jar. He held it up to the light and grinned at his reflection. Not looking terrible at his age, the glasses made him look older than he was but he needed the four lenses to see everything. The two bigger lenses for sharper images and the smaller two to see through the shields demuns put up to hide their inner power. He would not be fooled again, especially not by that cretin in cell five. Putting on the little boy lost routine and then attacking Codul when he did not expect it. He had made Codul feel insecure about his safety and his own persona by making him out to be his father figure, looking up to him and being apparently caring. All a ruse to lull Codul into a false sense of security. Well now Feyzer knew how it felt to be ridiculed! Chained up to that metal bed on a slope for years, arms securely bound by two loops of the metal rope and his feet likewise. With his arms straight up over his head and his legs constantly bent, Codul knew that if he broke free, his body would be so accustomed to that stance, he would fall over instantly. There was still so much to learn about that creature, he knew to be demun. His glasses told him that even if Feyzer denied it.
"Master!"
"In a moment, Shade!"
Getting to his feet again, Codul picked up the jar and walked over to Shade's cell. As he unscrewed the container, he could hear Shadow salivating in the darkness and smiled to himself. Even in little pieces, Shadow loved to feed on the young. He threw in the morsel and watched the feasting with curious eyes, the whole spectacle horrendous but for Codul, fascinating.
Codul did not ascend the stairs to his family's mansion until dawn, when the sun was beginning to rise and the small birds were flying around, singing their happy little songs. Perhaps unlike his nature to how he spent his time, the man enjoyed their song and would not miss a single morning after his nights at work. Walking across the peach carpet of the main hall, Codul made his way to the pantry to retrieve something to eat as he was rather famished. It had been a successful night, many new formulas to compose, a few new discoveries about his guests and one, minor incident. He had dropped his cane on the way towards the cabinets where he kept his chemistry utensils and it had rolled into Kauda's cell. He knew better than to go in after it... He was not alarmed though, he had plenty more canes. Some more rare than others but that one he had lost not four hours ago, he wished it was with him and not with her. Felun are a smart species and they know their own scent. She would work out very soon that the cane was her own leg, stripped, polished and embossed with his family crest. Father had one like it, except it was canun bone and a very fine one. The canun in question must have been over eight feet tall if that was his arm! It was kept in the family safe, along with other precious heirlooms. Stifling a yawn, Codul prepared himself some breakfast and looked out at the morning sky.
"What new species will I uncover today?"
Comments (0)
See all