About an hour later, the two carvations had been rushed to the hospital, and Moon and I stood inside The Temple. It had given us a break to take a breather earlier, and it didn’t last nearly as long as I would’ve wanted. The whole time we were inside, Moon was dead quiet though. Was she afraid of The Temple like a lot were? Didn’t think she would be for some reason. Moon being afraid didn’t seem like it happened often.

“Your assignment went better than we expected,” The Temple admitted. “We give you our compliments.”

“That’s a first…” I said skeptically. “What do you need now?”

“Your mission was delayed to completion, yes?”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting whatever was down there. After seeing that, I don’t think Hell is as far down as we think.”

“Your next assignment has already been determined.”

“Don’t you even-”

“Find the creation, Gryft. Before it causes substantial damage.”

“Oh yeah, just easy-peasy!” I growled, throwing my arms up. “You want me to knock out the juggernaut? That thing’s not human anymore, and it’s certainly not carvation! How-”

“Do not capture, Gryft. It has no place here.” The Temple said ominously. “You have permission and orders to destroy the creature and dispose of it.”

My mouth went dry as I sat on that. The Temple wanted me to kill. Was this thing that dangerous, or did The Temple think it was just that unholy? I didn’t have a problem killing usually, but the ones I took out deserved it… or at least I think they did. Now wasn’t the time to grow too big of a conscience though.

“So you want me to finally play assassin, huh?” I asked. For once, The Temple didn’t respond. It was totally silent, leaving a grave air through itself. “Are you going to say anything, or just send me away to the job?!”

In a flash of light, The Temple disappeared, and I was back in The Living. The old decrepit hospital in front of me had shuffling and noises coming from it. I looked around, taking in the small abandoned town. It’s a good thing nobody’s going to be here to see this.

“Back in the same place?” Moon asked, making me jump. Why was she back here with me?! This wasn’t her mission!

“Goodness- The Temple sent you with me?!” I exclaimed. I looked back up. “You made a mistake, you damn sentient rock!”

“We made no mistake, Gryft. She is your partner for this assignment as well, so she is to accompany you.”

“Take her back!” I demanded.

“I’m not that bad,” Moon grumbled, starting her walk to the hospital doors.

“You win this time,” I cursed, pointing a middle finger to the sky before walking inside the building with Moon.

As we walked through the hospital, it looked more like a morgue in my eyes. From her expression, it was a massacre to Moon’s. Humans were scattered around the hospital, bloody, beaten, and dead.

“Do you think…?”

“It was definitely him,” I said with a darkened face. I couldn’t imagine that anything but the science experiment could’ve caused this much damage. “Come on, keep quiet and follow my lead. When we find him, he’s mine.”

“He’s yours?”

“Yeah, I’ll take him down.”

“I’m sure you will,” Moon said, rolling her eyes.

I shuffled through the building, listening out for something that might jump out at me. I’m not looking to get jumpscared by the lab experiment. Moon tried her best, but I don’t think she’s had to tiptoe for her life before.

“Do you have a plan to find him?”

Through a door to our left, something slammed into me and sent me right into the room to my right. I hoped that answered her question. The experiment and I kind of grappled on the ground while Moon watched us. 

“Do you want to help?!” I asked.

“Oh sorry, I thought he was yours.”

I pushed the thing away with my legs, and it readied itself and flew back at me. When it got close to me, I wrapped my tail around it and put pressure around it. Moon took the opportunity to put her hands on its back and force some kind of magic into him. When she was done, the experiment went limp in my tail, and I dropped it.

“Did you kill it?” I asked, poking it with my foot.

“No,” she said. “I calmed him down.”

Just then, the experiment started to rise, and I readied my fists. Unlike before though, it didn't immediately go for my throat. He clutched his head and groaned, looking around.

“Who… are you?” he asked. “What are you?”

“Your nightmare,” I said. “Now who are you?”

“I am… I was Adam,” he said. He glanced aside and looked at himself in a cracked full-length mirror. “I don’t know who I am anymore though.”

“Charming.” I remarked.

“Gryft, finish your mission,” voiced the voice of The Temple in my head. I ignored it.

“Hey,” I said. “Are you the only person here?” He looked up with a dazed expression.

“I’m… I’m not.” He blinked hard and looked to be getting back to reality. “There’s more experiments here, but not like me.”

“You are not here to listen to him talk.”

“Where are they?”

“I can show you, but it’s not easy to get in.”

“Do it Gryft.”

“Piss off, marble slab.”

“We commanded you to carry out the mission.”

Before I knew it, my fingers became sharp talons without me even thinking. Moon glanced at my hands, confused. Like my body was moving on its own, my hand was around Adam’s throat with a talon hand poised to strike.

“Gryft, what are you doing?!” Moon asked.

I turned around and looked at her, but my vision was kind of fuzzy, but I could hear her gasp. Afterwards, she told me my eyes had a golden glow to them. I looked otherworldly, and that really is something for a carvatian to say.

Before long, my vision blacked out too, and all I could hear were muffled noises and shouting. But I could feel it. Something that was always pushing at the edge of my mind since that day I got the brand. 

“Don’t hide now,” I called. “I know you’re there, Temple.”

“Why do you defy orders?” it asked. “You haven’t had an issue killing in the past.”

“I kill whoever deserves it. They pay for what they’ve done. That man hasn’t done anything but get his revenge.”

“Your judgment is clouded. You cannot see monsters from judges.”

“Oh yeah, and which one are you, Mr. All-powerful? You wanna judge ethics when you sent me here to kill him?”

“Why do you pity a creature who does not belong? He is a divine mistake, and cannot belong in any world.”

“Maybe it’s one divine mistake to another,” I said, smiling. “But I’m going to take my leave now.”

“You cannot escape our grasp, Gryft. We have control over your mind and body.”

“Oh I know, and I just needed time to remember a trick my therapist taught me for dispelling nightmares from my brain.” I popped my knuckles and looked up. “Should work on annoying as hell deities though.”

I raised my hands into the air and shouted some words. Truth be told, I had no clue if they were right, but I hoped they would do the trick. The black abyss that was my mind started to glow white as I heard The Temple shout out.

“You cannot-“

The Temple’s voice faded into the back of my mind again as I came back into control of my own body. It felt good to not share it anymore. When my vision came to, I had Adam pinned to the ground, and Moon pulling me off of him. Everyone was panting and heaving their chests, looking straight at me.

“How’s that for a ‘learning disability’ you dirtbags,” I said spitefully. I glanced at the two people looking at me nervously. “Nothing personal?” I asked, getting up. I felt my body hurting in some extra places and I started coughing.

“What was that?!” Moon demanded.

“That was The Temple,” I explained, catching my breath. “It was… ah screw it. Temple bad, screwed my brain.”

“What Temple?” Adam asked.

“The one in the sky.”

“What?”

“We can tell you later,” Moon said. “We should get you out of this hospital though.”

“No,” Adam said, clutching his fist. “There’s still something here I have to destroy before I can leave.”

“Destroy, huh?” I asked. “Moon, you wanna extend our stay?”

“What’re we destroying, exactly?” she asked nervously. “Not more of you, I hope?”

“Miss, I was the prototype,” Adam said darkly. “Let’s go see the final product.”

*   *   *   *   *

We followed Adam through the hospital, looking at the humans who were lined up and on the ground. Adam didn’t look particularly proud of it looking back, but I could tell he did what he felt like he needed to do. He was chained, so he broke free.

“Do you attack everyone you first meet, or was I love at first sight?” I asked.

“You were a monster to me.”

“Mhm, I’m the one who looks freaky.”

“Gryft!” Moon fussed, elbowing me.

“No, no, he’s right.” Adam said. “I’m the one they pulled apart and put back together. I’m Frankenstein’s monster here.”

“I don’t know who Frankenstan is, but I’ll kick his ass,” I said, pounding my fists together.

“Try reading a bit,” Moon said, rolling her eyes.

“But I don’t need to read to fight.”

Adam led us into a room like the one we found him in, hospital beds lining the walls. The experiment man moved one of the beds to reveal a hole with a ladder leading down it. We looked at the dark hole in the ground, and Adam gestured.

“Who wants to go first?” he asked.

“I’m already this far in,” I shrugged. “Might as well take every chance to almost die. Just follow my lead.”

I lept down the hole without even taking the ladder. Why? Partially because I thought it would be fun and exciting. Also just because taking the ladder would take forever and be boring. When I hit the bottom, I looked up at the distant bright speck above me.

“It’s not that far of a-” I shouted before Moon fully dropped her weight on my head. We both got up, dazed.

“What was that?” I asked angrily.

“I was following your lead,” she said innocently.

“Look out,” Adam called before gently descending with his wings shrunken before expanding again when in the wider space. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going again?” I asked skeptically. “We did… what? We jumped down a hole in the ground. Where are we?!”

“We’re here to meet more experiments like me,” he said, kicking open a door. Moon and I stared in fascination and horror.

Inside the dark room, there were these large cylinders holding bodies in them, like something you’d see in a science fiction movie. Wires and tubes were hooked up to them, and they were all filled with some kind of liquid. What was most shocking though, was what was in them. They were carvations. At least a couple dozen. From elderly to child, they were in these tanks with wires and shit all in them.

“Hey Temple,” I tried to call out in my mind. “I thought you said there were only two carvations here!” Silence answered me back.

In the corner of the room, there was exactly one scientist. She was up next to a tank and writing some notes on a clipboard when we burst in. She was tall and thin, with light red hair and a pair of glasses. Her hair was straight and curled around the tops of her shoulders. I think I had seen her somewhere before… Adam snarled at her.

“She’s the last one,” he growled. “She’s the head scientist, Roslin!”

“Adam,” she acknowledged with a nod of her head. “Though it does intrigue me why you’ve lasted longer than Solomon or Isaac, I think your use here has just expired.”

Adam lunged for the doctor, but she frowned and held out her hand. All too late, Adam saw a searing fire come towards him. He fell down, badly burned, and Moon cast magic to start healing him.

“You were the first success,” Dr. Roslin said to Adam. “But you never could use magic like I was aiming for.”

“Ok, time to die!” I shouted, running and slashing a talon at her, barely leaving her time to get out of the way. I saw the surprised and curious look on her face.

“Fascinating!” she cried. “Magic that alters entire physiology to that of something neither human nor carvation… Are you the one who killed Dr. Carpenter a few months back?”

“I don’t take names,” I growled.

“The man at the circus, yes?”

“Yeah, a bunch of clowns,” I said, reaching to slash her again. 

She stepped aside and grabbed my arm, and using both hands, slammed it down on her knee. Holy shit, humans are definitely not this strong. I didn’t think she was fully human since she used magic, but fuck, she splintered my forearm in two. I fell down to the ground crying in pain as she walked past me to Moon, who was still healing Adam.

“Female specimens are few and far between down here for some reason,” the doctor said, eyeing Moon like she was just a piece of meat. “I would love to study you inside and out.”

Like hell she would. I used my one good hand to rake my talons across her back. She shrieked out in pain before falling to her knees. I hobbled over to look at the doctor in her emerald eyes.

“Ok, time to answer questions,” I harshly said, flashing my talons. “Or else.”

Dr. Roslin gave one last look of contempt before I saw her hands moving just too late. In a flash of light, she was gone, leaving us three in the room with the carvations in tanks. Adam was well enough to walk, and Moon came over to me.

“Let me see it,” she asked.

“It’s not that bad,” I groaned.

“I said let me see it!” she fussed. I let her handle it. “Completely broken arm isn’t that bad? Stop being like Iris.”

Moon worked her magic, and my arm started feeling better, but I knew it was still broken. A cast materialized on my arm, and a sling over my shoulder to hold it in place. I sighed in relief, knowing that all the excitement was finally over for the day. And knowing that a broken arm would mean The Temple would give me days off.