13
It was quiet; a soft, cold wind blew against me, and the ground my right cheek was touching unpleasantly cold. I inhaled out, opening my eyes, and freaking out when I couldn’t feel anything below my neck. Where is my body? Where am I?
“Are we throwing his body into the furnace too,” I heard a voice say, a sound of something being shoveled from the dirt ringing in my ears. “Did the master really say that?”
“Yes, it is shame that he would not be turned into a freak like us, or that we can’t even eat him,” another voice replied, as I heard something like footsteps approaching in my location.
Blinking, I looked slightly up and almost lost my nerves, when I saw my headless body lying on the ground next to me. And next to it, there were more dead bodies, all piled up around each other, and they reeked from decomposition. Upon seeing this, I was horrified, the unsteady composure inside of me almost brewing up into a wild panic. Kicking off the bodies, I saw this mutant chimera, in a bright, red cloak, trudge up to these two bodies, a few meters from me, and pick them up roughly. It sniffed one of them, a smile on its face, and took a large bite off the body’s toes.
“The rotten they are, the better they taste,” it commented, walking away without noticing me.
Okay, it was definitely time for a full blown panic. I mean, I was immortal and I knew that one day my head was bound to get chopped off my body, and I always imagined that I would just die with that. But, nope, I would not die from it. To calm my mind, I exhaled silently, ignoring all of my surroundings, using a technique I learned two hundred years ago. This situation was bad, I knew, and if I didn’t do something soon, they were either going to eat me, or throw me in the burning furnace. I would imagine both situations would be extremely agonizing.
“It’s a pity we can’t eat him,” a voice said, plodding towards my location, and picking up my headless body. “His black blood tastes so amazing—I just want to drink more of it.”
“No, you stupid fool,” the other voice boomed, causing the mutant to drop my body down, with a look of terror on its face. “Do you know what happens to those who defy our master? Do you want to end up like these fools, too?”
“No, Helberd, but what about a nibble of his head, just a small ear,” he whined, reaching for my head. “I just want to taste that exquisite flavor one more time, and I promise I won’t ask you for anything else.”
“Listen, Qean, if you take a bite, even one little nibble, I will tell the master,” his partner growled at him, a few metallic things clanking on the ground. “Don’t touch that head, or I will take yours next.”
“Fine, fine,” the mutant chimera frowned, not looking at me, withdrawing its hand slowly. “I don’t get why the master want him burned inside the furnace. It doesn’t make any sense at all, since he told us to capture and detain the other two rebels.”
“It is not our job to ask questions,” the other voice responded, coughing faintly, as it cleared its throat. “Our job is to burn these bodies, and to keep the furnace running.”
“I know, I know, but I just think it’s strange, that’s all,” it finished, inhaling slowly as it walked away.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed that I was in some kind of a room, far much smaller than the previous one, with smooth walls that connected to the ceiling, in a semi-spherical way. A small window was placed far above the walls, roughly fifteen feet in the air, and the light of the moon shined brightly through it. The smell of rotting flesh was too repulsive, and thankfully for me, there were no flies and maggots around to digest the corpses. I felt so helpless, a feeling of dread bearing down on me, and something I had never felt before—pure fear.
Think, think, you idiot; otherwise, you are done for. You can’t let like this, not without taking the madman’s head off.
The noise suddenly stopped, the sound of the mutants’ movement dying down, as a small faint of light appeared. A door, metallic from the sound, was opened up wide before being shut back in a loud bang. It became quiet again. I exhaled slowly, the anticipation building up dangerously inside of me, as I tried to roll over using my tongue. Tasting the tainted blood on the concrete, smooth floor, I retracted my tongue back in, and almost gagged from the aftertaste. I was in serious danger, I knew. Stop panicking, Rave, think things through for once.
I glanced at my cold body, looking the neck portion where the blade had cut cleanly through, a sensation of pain enveloping me. My body was still dressed as before, but they had stripped all of my weapons from it, leaving it here in this place to be destroyed. And considering that I was still alive, in a messed up way, it would also stand to reason that my body was too. Okay: that made no sense at all.
Silence engulfed the whole room, nothing stirring inside, save for my head and the burning furnace. The mutant chimeras had left, meaning I was alone for the moment. I managed to rotate my head around, facing the other direction and I almost yelped, when I saw another dismembered head facing me. The head, belonging to an alien of unknown origin, was facing me; its eyes were open and lifeless, its thick lips slightly spaced apart, and its orange skin chapped and wrinkly. It had no nose, just a smooth ridge between the mouth and the eyes, long pointy ears, and a few strands of dark hair sticking out on top of its head. I blinked, staring at it for a few seconds, fighting a discomforting feeling that was manifesting in my mind.
So, this whole time that bodiless head had been staring down the back of my head? That is just messed up and seriously disturbing, I thought.
“On second thought, I should face the other way,” I thought out loud, unable to concentrate on anything with the alien’s eyes staring back at me. “But if I do that, this head might come back to life, and eat me or something. Oh, crap!”
“I am sorry, boss, but I might have to break my promise,” I muttered, closing my eyes, and awakening the dark power that had been slumbering inside of me. “I will try to keep the casualties below one hundred, if I can.”
I wasn’t too sure if my plan would work, but considering the fact that I was still alive and breathing, the possibility of it working was greater than fifty percent. The air inside became thin, the light from the moon vanishing, as black vapors began to ooze from my headless body. The torso shifted slightly to the left, the abdomen collapsing in and out, and the fingers on my right hand making small movements. Wide eyed, surprised, I watched my own body stand back to its feet, the dark energy swirling all over it. This is what I was hoping for, but to see it actually happen, right in front of my eyes, was mind boggling. And despite not being attached to the body, I could, in a strange way, feel my body moving—an experience I could not understand. I thought of flexing my right hand, and, without hesitation, the body did it, almost like I was controlling it with a remote controller.
“Come this way,” I ordered the body, thinking of the direction I wanted it to go. “Come towards me, right now.”
It plodded forward, falling over some corpses, before standing back up again. Arms spread, it moved slowly towards me, but accidentally stepped on my head, not intentionally, and took a few more steps past me. It turned around, controlled by my thoughts, and placed its left knee down, searching for my head with both of its dirty fingers. The thought of those dirty hands of mine touching my face was awful; however, I didn’t have a choice.
“You are getting closer,” I whispered, watching my body throw the dead alien’s head to the side, and reach for my head. “Not the face, not the face!”
It grabbed my head, and stood up slowly, raising my head like it was some kind of trophy. Attaching back my severed head to my body was the only dilemma that was standing in my way. And to think that I would face this problem, at a critical time as this, was clearly laughable.
The furnace, to my left, was grand, black like charcoal in color, rectangular in shape, attached to a straight pipe that ascended all the way to the top, to let out the smoke. A fleshless, human skull was placed on top of it, a silver key lodged between the teeth, and a small trace of blood on the
frontal bone. This room, this whole complex—I would destroy it all, if it’s the last thing I would do.
Unexpectedly, I heard the door open, the voices belonging to the two mutant chimeras, and a distant scream from another captive. I willed my body to move to the side, aghast, as I smelt the scent of something disgusting on my own fingers. My body plowed through piles and piles of dead corpses, making haste for cover, as it carried me beneath its left armpit. I smelled the thick fur on the coat, and the wetness of the blood on it. I hid myself behind the table, lowering my body to the floor, while my head was placed next to it.
“That was a good meal, eh, Helberd?” the mutant chimera, with a face of a rat, horns of a bull, in a red cloak, commented, opening the furnace door, and throwing something in it. “I am so full that I don’t want to work anymore.”
“You are right about that, Qean, but we have to get rid of these bodies, before the next batch of captives arrives,” the other replied picking up a body, and tossing it into the furnace.
Ignoring their chitchat, my body grabbed my head and tried to wedge it back in place only to fail in the attempt. It was going to require some sort of bonding agent, or…… a specific magic spell! That was it; I knew what I had to do. It was so simple, that if I could, I would slap myself silly on the cheek.
“Revro nei,” I muttered, focusing my entire remaining ounce of magic into the task at hand.
My body took my head again, retried to connect it, and finally succeeded in attaching it back. Once it was done, I felt my head and body converge into one again, the power of the darkness surging greatly through me. The spell, a level two incantation, allowed me to attach anything together almost like glue, but it required time before the effects were permanent. I restrained from moving my neck too much, until I was fully sure that the wound had healed, and until the nerves and ligaments had reattached and repaired. I slowly sat up, a stiff feeling in my arms and legs, and a sensation of thirst and hunger overwhelming me. To my surprise, the mutant chimeras had not noticed me; they were busy dumping bodies into the furnace that they never saw or heard me move. Aside from the dead bodies, the burning furnace, and the small table, I spotted a long, industrial chain, anchored by a small chair. Next to it, there was a small shovel, a socket wrench, and some sort of mechanical contraption with a few parts missing from it. I crawled towards it, stopping whenever the noise died down, and continuing when the mutants began to bicker whist working. I retrieved the chain, wrapping it around my waist, and took the socket wrench, planning on using it to maim the chimeras.
“Here goes nothing,” I sighed, standing back up, and making a swift dash on the unsuspecting beasts.
“You should be dead,” the mutant, known as Qean, boomed, moving back.”Your head was decapitated, I saw it for myself.”
“Well, allow me to change your mind,” I rattled, throwing the chain around his neck, and pulling it back.
I spun my body sideways, chucking the socket wrench at the other chimera, before pulling the chain towards me. I planted my right knee into the chimera’s face, breaking its nose, before felling him to the ground. His partner, angry and surprised, flung his cloak to the ground, picked up a shovel, and rushed towards me with intent to kill. His massive, jaw opened out wide, displaying his sharp, razor teeth, and his eyes turning red; he flared his nostrils, and swiped at me with his free hand. Dodging left, I shifted out of the way, bending my body down as the shovel passed over me. The monster roared, its mind taken over by frustration and rage, and it began to lash at me with its feet and tail. I ignored it for a second, a dark smile on my face, as I raised my foot and stomped the mutant chimera, on the ground, in the face. It shrieked in pain, struggling to remove the chain from its neck, both of its hands clamped onto it.
“Enough, you stupid beast,” I hissed, raising the creature up into the air, and throwing it against the right side of the furnace.
“You will pay for that,” the monster, known as Helberd, growled with anger, pulling out a flintlock and firing three times.
The bullets struck me in the chest, the force of the rounds jerking me back, but it didn’t stop me from advancing towards him. I had grown tired of these mutant beasts, grown tired of this planet, and I just wanted to slaughter them all, and depart the planet.
“So, tell me, mutant, of this man you call master,” I asked, extending my hand out, my left leg pressed lightly in the ground. “If you tell me what I need to know, then, perhaps, I may see it fit you grant you pardon, and allow you to leave.”
“You talk big for a puny earthling,” it sniffed, circling around me, a sinister look on its face. “And even if I were divulge my secrets about our master, it wouldn’t do you any good; the man is heavily guarded and also powerful. He possesses knowledge beyond your tiny human understanding, a true gift the whole galaxy will soon learn to fear.”
“So he plans on galactic conquest, I see,” I nodded, my curiosity of him peaked. “That’s interesting to know.”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that,” he gasped, shocked, clenching its claws into fists. “I will have to kill you again for that.”
Spreading its mechanical wings, it took flight, shrieking as loudly as it could, and ascended further into the air, before plunging down at an amazing speed towards me. I raised both my arms, bending my knees slightly, my whole mind in a state of mental focus, and blocked the creature’s talons with my arms. The winds from its flapping wings brushed against my cheeks, and a bit of blood oozed from the wound the creature had inflicted upon me. I fended the creature off, bending down and picking up the chain from the ground, planning on ending it with one final move. Roaring fiercely, while flying above me, it drew out another flintlock and pointed the muzzle of the gun towards me; however, I threw the chain around it, before it could fire. I pulled back, using all of my strength, and managed to bring the flying fiend to the ground.
“Tell me something, Helberd,” I began, walking toward it and kicking the guns from its hands. “Have you ever been burned alive? Me, personally, I am more of a jaw breaking guy, but on rare occasions such as this, I have been known to experiment.”
“You lie,” it laughed, showing no signs of fear. “You might be strong, but you are no killer.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that,” I sighed, shaking my head, and plodding towards it. “Do I have a face that says otherwise? Tell me, honestly, I wish to know.”
“Yes, you do,” it screamed, as I squeezed its jaw tightly. “You have that kind of face.”
“Oh, good to know,” I replied, releasing my hands from it, as I grabbed the chain and pulled the mutant chimera away. “It gives me a lot to think about—when I watch you burn inside the furnace.”
I kicked it good on its right cheek, and thoroughly tied the chains around its arms and wings, making sure it wouldn’t try to escape. And just to be certain, I maimed it in the left leg, stopping when I heard its right femur snap, and a painful cry from the beast.
“You see, Helberd, I am not a nice person, truth be told,” I whispered, walking towards the furnace, opening the metallic door, and squinting my eyes from a wave of heat that struck against my face. “You monsters shot me down, hunted me, and had the nerve to cut off my head from my body. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? It is an unpleasant experience, I tell you, and a thing I don’t want to experience again. But on the bright side, I found out that it wouldn’t kill me, and for that, I owe you a debt of gratitude. And with that being the case, I will give you one more chance to tell me about your master, the owner of whatever this place is.”
“If I tell you that, he will kill me,” he pleaded, panting heavily, only one of his eyes open. “He might look human, act like a gentleman, but he is a beast at heart, I warn you, a pure, evil being.”
“That’s not what I asked you,” I boomed back, picking up his unconscious partner, tossing him inside the furnace, and closing it shut. “I want you to tell me about your master. As you have just witnessed, my patience han
gs on a whim, and if you don’t tell me what I need to know, you will join him shortly after.”
His partner screamed, to my delight, his body burning quickly from the fierce fire residing inside the furnace. And upon hearing the cries of his partner, Helberd, began to shiver with fear, his eyes widening, and the confident look on his face turning into pure terror. That was the exact reaction I was looking for. His fear, his terror—it was the exact tool I needed to pry the information from him, but time was the one thing I lacked.
“Are you ready to talk? I mean, I highly doubt you would like to experience what your partner is experiencing first hand, would you?”
“Okay, I will tell you what you need to know; it’s not like it will do you any good, since you will never get to him. You will be dead before you even know it, I guarantee you that.”
“Enough small talk, vermin, just tell me who this man is, and everything he is planning. Don’t skip out on any details, if you know what’s good for you.”
“His name is Professor Roger Dozer, also known to everyone as the Madman, and he wears a grey lab coat, a loose black shirt with suspenders, and high, leather boots. He sits on a golden throne, on the third floor, a ten minute walk from this place, and he usually spends his time in his laboratory, doing experiments on his captives. The corpses you see here are the results of his failed experiments at turning ordinary people into chimeras, and then into freaks like us.”
“But why do you follow him? You all seem like intelligent animals, capable of making rational decisions for yourself and your combat prowess is incredibly amazing.”
“Yes, that may be so, however, he holds us prisoner in our minds, and we cannot go against his wishes or we will die. I know who I was before my mind was altered, my body modified with gears and magic, but I can’t think of anything besides obeying my master’s wishes and commands.”
“I cannot say I understand your emotional pain, not that I am trying to, but I don’t want you to stop speaking on the account of feeling emotional. I want to know what his true plans are, what his real objective in shooting down these ships is.”
“From what I heard—this is a rumor, so I have no idea if it’s true— he is using the captives to create his new army, a mutant army to be exact. And he plans on invading earth, capturing Cyborg City, and enslaving its entire people.”
“Is he mad or something? What sort of lunacy could drive a person to such a goal? Cyborg City is heavily guarded by cyborg soldiers, battle drones, and combat cannons, which makes his goals impossible. He wouldn’t even be able to get past the electric barrier that guards the city, unless…..his soldiers did not operate on electricity. Of course, it is completely messed up, but genius, nonetheless. That’s why he has been altering you all to run on steam power, in order to counter against the effects of the barrier, simply incredible. Perhaps, he is not as crazy as you all make him appear to be. I believe its time I had a little chat with him.”
Standing up, satisfied with his responses, I strolled towards the furnace, humming, and opened the door up widely. I pivoted back, grabbing his leg, and dragged him to the door, planning on tossing him inside, too.
“This is nothing personal, lad, but if I let you leave, you will more than likely come after me. And, yes, I did say I would let you go, so here you go.”
I tossed him into the furnace, a stoic expression on my face, closing it behind me without even a hint of regret inside my cold heart. He screamed in pain, banging his hands against the door, hoping to change my heart. He had some nerve, considering the hundreds of corpses he and his partner had burned in this furnace, and they took pleasure in it. Suppose it wasn’t their fault, they were simply following orders, but it was by their hands that these atrocious crimes had been committed.
“Crap, I should have asked him for the directions to get to the third floor,” I snickered, glancing at the furnace, as I no longer heard his cries of pain. “Although, the challenge of finding it by myself will prove to be amusing.”
On the floor, a few meters from me, I saw one of the creatures’ weapons, a flintlock of gold and silver, fully loaded and ready to fire, the oval muzzle of the facing the door of the furnace. I trudged forward, bending my back and picked it, before straightening back up. I examined the gun, placing my index finger on the trigger, pointing it in every direction with lightning reflex speed. It shall make a fine weapon for killing mutant chimeras, I thought.
The wind howled through the small cracks in the infrastructure, the light from the moon fading from sight, and the smell of the corpses as repulsive as before. The horrors that I had endured, ever since I landed on this planet, would not go unpunished. All those who hand wronged me would fill my wrath to its full extent, and it was a privilege only a few ever got to experience. I would not show any of them mercy; I would send them all into the eye of the abyss.
Turning around, the flintlock placed on my holster, and the chain in my left arm, I sauntered out of the compartment, headed for the madman’s laboratory.