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Found under a hidden door in the floor, in the backroom of his lab, was an underground bunker. Tall, long, thin halls of stone lead from room to room of… terrible and dark things. The twisted alchemist's mind had been unleashed down here. Most experiments were with dark arts, forbidden magic, and foul substances. From room to room, anything from potions to holocrons to runes to the corpses of abominable creatures. Imbued weapons, books of terror, and serums of horror.
Within this long, dank, cold underground lab was the reality that was Daisuke Toivonion's depravity.
In the very back room, however, one of his sentient experiments still lived.
When an unsuspecting visitor bought the property of the lab and pharmacy shortly after Toivonion's death, the questions had to be asked… would the twisted lab be found? What dark secrets would be found? Would she finally be discovered?
Point glided across paper, sealing the final document necessary to claim the old apothecary as his own. Rehtul smiled in relief. Red tape, even out in the middle of nowhere, was inescapable. He shook the mayor's hand and stood up from the table.
"I trust the entire sum is accounted for?" he asked as the mayor loaded the coin on the table into a leather pouch. The man nodded and handed it off to the secretary sitting beside him, to be stored in the city's treasury most likely. The mayor's office was quiet, despite the hour. Nothing much seemed to go on in this town. The entire time the two men had been haggling over the minor details of payment, only a single person had bothered them, and only to ask the mayor what he had planned to do about lunch.
The strong oak desk of the office, aged and scratched, but still sturdy, stood as one of the few testaments to the man's position in this town. Outside of that and the mayoral estate, if it could even be called that, being slightly larger and better kept than a majority of the buildings nearby, a person would never be able to tell at a glance who was in charge. Well, they wouldn't without reading the sign posted in front of the building, anyway.
"What were you planning to do with that old place, anyway?"
"To be honest? I need a place to do my magical research, and the apothecary is just far enough out of the way to lend itself readily to that task. It's also considerably cheaper. Have you seen building prices in Corone? My family has money, true, but purchasing a building the size I need in a bustling neighborhood would set me back far more than I was willing to spend."
"Makes sense, I suppose. You're headed there presently, then, or would you care to join us for afternoon tea?" the mayor asked.
While ordinarily not one to miss out on tea, Rehtul merely shook his head and said, "I have men waiting at the building for my instructions to begin unloading, and there are several items I'd rather be there to personally attend, if you catch my meaning."
"Ah, indeed I do, young master. In that case I'll bid you a good day and pray your... research goes as you intend it to."
"Don't worry. It's nothing particularly dangerous. Certainly not anything that'd drag the rest of the town down with me," the younger man said with a slight laugh.
"This does little to assuage fears around town that you might be trying to reignite certain... past affiliation," the mayor said. Rehtul's eyes beheld the gentlemen coldly as he fixed the front of his coat.
"This might come as a shock to you, but few of the Ixian Knights remaining want anything to do with the organization after what my Uncle did. I have very few people I knew during my days as a Knight that I would consider on friendly enough terms to call for a visit, and it's even more unlikely I'd ask them to come out to my laboratory when there are far more... comfortable places in Radasanthia that we could enjoy our time in."
With a slight chuckle at his usual longwindedness, he summed it up for the older, clearly confused man, "I don't plan to revive or begin any group or organization from this town, much less try to revive the Knights. They are gone, dead. That Brotherhood is doing a fine job on their own, anyway. It wouldn't do to step on their toes."
With that, the older man seemed to calm down somewhat.
"At any rate, I'll be seeing you!" Rehtul said as he turned and walked out with a wave of his hand.
-----
The next day, Rehtul had mostly settled in. He had searched the building high and low to find old notes or lab equipment that could have been held by the former master of the shop to no avail. It had been stripped clean, perhaps as part of an estate sale to recover lost taxes or some such thing. When he had stipulated that all belongings within the building were now his in the bill of sale, he had expected to find at least something worth more than a few copper pieces. Sadly, his search had yet to come up with anything of particular note.
He scoured the back room once more, only finding odds and ends, the occasional long dry rotted plant. His feet kicked up some dust from a long rug on the floor, causing him to sneeze.
"Damnable dust," he muttered under his breath as he bent down to roll the rug up to be taken out with the day's cleaning. As he rolled the ancient feeling cloth of, he noticed a small indentation in the floor, obviously cut out with a tool.
"Now isn't this interesting," he said as he called forth a small shard of ice from the air next to him. With a thought, he had it digging around inside the indentation, slowly shaping itself to completely fill the hole. The mage, once convinced he had filled the entire indentation, forced the makeshift key to turn clockwise.
A surprisingly loud click sounded through the empty chamber as Rehtul stood. The floor in front of him depressed by about half a foot before sliding back to reveal a long, narrow staircase, formed entirely out of carved stone.
"Well, this certainly isn't in the architect's notes... must be an add-on," he said, laughing at his onw horrible joke. Without much further ado, he took one of the lanterns he had on a nearby desk and walked down the stairs. His footsteps echoed through the long, empty descent, until he made it all the way to the bottom. He was about to lift his lantern to see how far the halls went when on either side of him, candles ensconced in the wall flared to life, lighting a path all the way down to the end.
"This place is far larger than I'd anticipated," the mage said as he shuttered his lantern and began slowly making his way down the cobweb infested hallway. Off to every side was a different room full of what appeared to be half finished experiments and mountains of papers and notes, each written neatly in slightly shaky handwriting.
"So much for the friendly neighborhood apothecary, it would seem," Rehtul muttered to himself. "Half of these experiments border on the inhumane. I can definitely understand the need for secrecy."
A soft glow filtered into the hallway a few dozen feet ahead. The ice mage skipped the remaining doors to check it out. Inside he found what he could only describe as a girl suspended in a giant tube of bluish green liquid.
"Okay... scratch the 'borders on inhumane' thing... definitely, one hundred percent inhumane."
Rehtul checked the cylinder for a release mechanism. There was a lever attached to a few cables that looked promising, and he yanked it down. The metal pole screamed in protest from being moved for the first time in what must have been years. As it finally clicked into place, the mage heard something like bubbles rising from the bottom of the tank.
"Well, here's hoping whoever's in there is friendly," he said as the fluid was rapidly replaced with air.
In the year 470, the exiled ancestors of the dark elves finally-"
The connection was cut. Strange, definitely. The knowledge connection was never cut. Why? Suspended in nothingness, the girl felt as if she was waking from a long slumber. She did not want to. Like a stubborn child, she winced her eyes shut as what felt like water swirled around her. The feeling of her hair, soaked and clinging to her back, was quite uncomfortable. The water swirled down, down, down... Leaving her coated in goose bumps.
Then... She was free falling.
"What we doing here, grandpa? I don't like it. I want go home."
She found herself slamming into a cold floor. The stone was bitter and frigid as water puddled around her. After so long, she opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was the side of the room. A void, dusty corner was home to a single table with nothing on it. Mass confusion and dread overtook the lass as she laid there, feeling strange and alien in her own body. Eventually, the girl twitched her finger. The memories started to swirl. The machine explained everything her grandfather had not. Her grandfather...
She pulled herself up, hair dripping. Her palms slapped the pavement as her thin clothes hugged her, as if barely fitting. She struggled, shaking for a moment before looking up to see a total stranger.
With a gasp, the young woman panicked. She hastily leaped back, instinct causing magic to bolt through her body. A lightning strike of power, and she had formed a crude, ugly small sharpenel of ice for a spear. She clutched it in her hand, holding it in front of her as she panted. Eyes wide in terror, she cried out, "Who are you!"
Well, that answers that, Rehtul thought as he watched the girl white knuckle the shard of ice she had created. It was very rough magic, as though she'd had far less practice with it than her apparent age would suggest. She hid behind that small weapon as though it were actually going to do her any good.
With a sigh, Rehtul lifted both of his hands in an appeasing gesture and said, "Relax, girl. I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm the new owner of this establishment. The previous master died some time ago, I think months or maybe a year or two ago now. I can only assume you were a part of one of his experiments. I released you from that tube, perhaps earlier than you'd expected from the panic you're feeling." The ice mage traced some of the built up dust on the top of the nearest table and rubbed it into a neat little ball between his fingers.
"However, had I not found the secret entrance to this place in the store room, you'd have never been found or released from that place, so I think a little gratitude would be in order," he said, a slight edge to his tone, as though her pointing her makeshift knife at him were as much an insult as it was a threat.
He fought against his worse nature, brought his tone back to something slightly softer, and said, "Look, I don't know what you're doing down here ot why you were in that tube. You don't even have to share that information if you don't want to. However, I plan to take stock of and catalogue every scrap of note paper down here, make my own journals and notes on my findings, and perhaps even profit from it. You, young lady, are free to leave, however. I've no intention of stopping you."
With those words, he turned his back on the young woman and began to search the room, paying her no more heed than he would an animal in the wilderness. His fingers flew through page after page of research notes as he tried to figure out what the experiment in this particular room was.
"The use of alchemical methods to... accelerate the aging process and instill knowledge, huh? Okay, but how the hell did you actually pull it off?" he asked, as though the dead could hear him from the beyond and more importantly would be willing to answer.
She vibrated, confused and anxious. Daisuke Toivonion was... dead? Tears formed in her eyes as she slumped, dropping the melting shard that completely shattered upon impacting the ground. She looked down at her body and shook. So, accelerated aging. This was what he had done to her? She choked, throat tight, as she felt around her body, awkward and bizarre.
This had never been meant to happen.
The girl shuddered, ice glazing over her eyes as ten million thoughts, curses, and mournings raced through her mind. Who knew how long she was silent, before she finally stood up. Hugging herself, she looked around. She was dreadfully cold, she needed something better than the tight tank top and tiny skirt she was wearing. After all, she was in close proximity with a total stranger. Face red, she darted to another side of the room and pulled open a poorly kept closet. Her grandfather's old science robes and spare outfits were inside. Ducking behind the swung open door, she changed into the loose fitting grey shirt and long, baggy pants. She pulled the white robe over it all and tied the garment enough to hold everything on. All the while, her thoughts were hazy, confused, and conflicted. As she stepped out from the door, she spoke to the stranger who had... absolutely saved her.
She took a couple steps forward, "I was his granddaughter. Adopted and raised by his son and wife before..."
She swallowed back, thinking on her harsh last memories. She was rambling, vomiting the information out as she still emotionally processed it all. "I have five. He took me in the night and told me he wanted to show me a secret. I - well - I didn't expect he'd-" She shivered, hugging herself again, "He... shoved me in that tube. I fell asleep and the voice explained. I was going to emerge a young woman, a weapon. I'm the descendant of two powerful mages, of course the powerful magic in me was desirable. He-"
She was huddled where she stood, hugging herself and staring with long, scarred eyes, "He..."
After another long, vacant silence, she mumbled, "Thank you. - You said he was dead?" Her voice was mixed with grief and relief.
Rehtul listened to the girl's listless story, but managed to pick out the important parts. As a child, however long ago this accelerated aging process started, the child, only about five years old, had been sealed in the tank to fulfill some experimental goal of her grandfather. Fittingly enough, the evil old man had even managed to get himself killed before releasing the girl he called granddaughter from her imprisonment. Some guardian figure he had turned out to be.
"So... you're the experiment... and worse than that, you're his family. Did his child, your caretakers, not have anything to say about this?" Rehtul asked incredulously as he stood up from the leaves of paper scattered around the laboratory.
Nothing yet, but there's obviously so much more going on here that I'm unaware of. Perhaps it would be best if I took the girl topside myself before she saw too much down here, he thought, the only sign of his thoughts a small sigh that slipped through his pale lips.
"Don't answer that, actually. Come with me. We'll go up topside for a bit. My analysis can wait until later, and you probably need something to eat and drink, do you not?"
Without another word the Orlouge motioned for the girl to follow him toward the entranceway. "We'll make sure we get you taken care of at any rate. Everything else down here will simply have to remain a mystery in the meantime."
I shuddered, slowly following the man like a dog that had been beaten too much. Still hugging myself, I followed him through the dark corridors that were way smaller than I remembered.
"Shh, Hanuh. Wake up, darling."
"Gran-pa?"
"Hush. We don't want your parents to hear. We're going on an adventure."
Chills pulsated through me as I answered his question, despite him telling me not to. "I don't think my parents knew what happened... He told me not to wake them, because he was taking me on a secret adventure. A fun adventure..."
I felt chilled to the bone as I looked back on the veiled darkness of those words.
As we reached the entrance, I allowed the man to open the door as I stood back. I felt dizzy. Was all of this real? I had been down here in an instant and for ages all at the same time. I felt everything happen in both lightning speed and spanning ages in that tube. Had I even been awake most of the time? My last memories took place a moment ago, but I had been trapped for eons. It was too strange, too surreal, and too frightening. I was haunted by being down in this place, surrounded by these stone prison walls. I strangely felt like it was all I knew.
When the entrance was opened, I saw natural sunlight for the first time in so long - or was it yesterday? I was blinded, but I stood bathed in the light. Something inside stirred me to tears.
I bolted not only to the upstairs, but towards the door leading to outside. Sunlight... Oh! Sunlight!
Yet, I froze at the door of the shop. I froze, and turned to look around. The shop looked... Exactly the same, yet different. The same counter, same shelves, same rug. Yet the shelves were empty, and the counter was missing the usual cash register. It was strangely unfamiliar. I stood there, looking upon the outside world for the first time.
It destroyed me.
I had grown old in an instant, yet everything had still passed through time. My stolen childhood could never be reclaimed. For the first time, that sunk in. And I sunk into the floor, curling up and bawling. How could he have done this to me? Why?
Rehtul watched with mild interest and not a little bit of amusement as the girl rushed toward the sunlight. His merriment was short lived, however, as she collapsed to the ground and began to cry. He held out a hand but curled it into a fist and looked at his hand in disbelief. What words did he have to comfort someone who had spent what probably felt like ages trapped in something like that? It was... inhuman... almost demonic.
In his mind's eye, he saw a sad smile as a woman slightly older than himself walked out of an inn's door, out of his life and into infamy before flashing to the bright white smile of a well dressed older man, a smile hiding enmity and dark ambitions. He had used her, then discarded her, thrown her aside and ripped her away from the only family she had, all for his sick twisted games. The shadows of the setting sun threatened to reach out and strangle the young girl now lying before him. Would he be unable to help her, either? Would she be lost, travelling the darkness alone because of the man who had used her?
His vision tunneled as his pupils became little more than dark specks in a sea of glowing blue. The air around him began to move, shifting to and fro with abandon. A thin layer of magical light floated across the surface of Rehtul's skin and clothing, cloaking him in a deathly cold chill.
Another monster, just like Ciato! If he weren't dead already, I'd kill him MYSELF!
Fingernails dug into fleshy palms as the cold light began to pick up in intensity, rising from the mage's body like bright azure fire. The hood of his jacket flapped in the updraft and his glasses fogged over. His breathing quickened, coming in rasping breaths and his back hunched over. Tendrils of ice crept along the floor and ceiling around him as his power manifested.
Don't worry about me, little brother, I'll be fine.
The words, only barely remembered, echoed through his head and snapped him back to reality. With great effort, the ice mage straightened his back and held a single hand out through the open door to the storage room. The ice from around the room gathered in front of his hand as a giant frozen shard, easily as long as he was tall and almost as thick. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to get a grip on his composure. With a thought, the shard of ice flew through the door and stuck into the very back wall of the building, buried at least half a meter into the wall.
"My... apologies, young one. I fear I let your situation remind me of another, one that happened to someone quite... dear to me," Rehtul said as he came down on his knees. "However, unlike her situation, I think I can help with yours. You're going to need somewhere to call home, are you not? You can stay here as long as you like. I'll help you hone your skills and get used to being... well, what you have become in the meantime."
Rehtul's eyes betrayed no hint of the malice he bore the girl's supposed grandfather as he held out a hand to her.
"If you want, that is."
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I tried to control my shaking. I had seen a fellow wielder of ice lose his cool, overcome by emotions that drove his powers to boil. Then, he cooled down, sat down, and spoke to me. Ice? He used ice? Was he perhaps related to me? Questions buzzed in my mind about him, but I did know one thing...
I... I wanted to get out of here.
I shook my head, "No... No. I want to get as far away from this place as possible. Fast."
I pulled myself to a straighter sitting position. On my knees, hands in my lap, I felt my hair wrap me in an internalizing blanket, hovering over my face. I blinked, my eyes flickering between ice and normal as I considered where I could possibly go. I wanted to leave this town. I wanted to leave Scara Brae. But to where? What was so far away that I could escape this? Dheathien? Haida? Berevar? Lands that had became known to me through textbook knowledge and detailed descriptions, even pictures. Yet, I had never set foot in any of them. Before exploring the mysteries out there, however, I did know one mystery here. This man who had freed me used ice. Did the ice point to a deeper connection?
I lifted my hands. Pulling one of the loose, white sleeves up, I lifted my arm. I extended my arm, hovering it straight and in front of my liberator. Then, frost began to emit from my appendage as a coat of ice formed across my wrist. As the ice formed, I looked up to this man and asked, "Are you from the Icebreaker family?"
"The Icebreakers?" Rehtul had to stretch his memory to find where he had heard that name before.
Ashla Icebreaker, rang through his head like a cacophony of bells. Disgraced royalty and rampant serial murderer. That was the story he had heard from the broken remnants of the Ixian Knights about her. He was told to keep an eye out for her, as she used a type of magic similar to his own to commit her crimes.
Though, Rehtul thought ruefully, he was incapable, or rather unwilling to use his magic to freeze others alive, as seemed to be her modus operandi. He looked down on the girl in front of him, then to the ice on her arm, and sighed.
"No. I'm not an Icebreaker, though I am from a similarly magically gifted family, the Orlouges. My name is Rehtul, by the way," he said. He offered a hand to help her up once more.
"My you're a stubborn one, but let's not worry about that for now. First thing's first, we need to get you fed. Then we need to find you some clothing that's more... suitable to your new frame. After that, we can discuss the particulars of your living arrangements and what you plan to do with your newfound adulthood. Sound fair?" He kept his eyes on hers, though he knew she had to realize that her clothing was a bit too flimsy to survive out in the world for long, much less keep her looking respectable in the cities or protect her on the trails.
I blinked the tears from my eyes. Despite my desire for departure, I realized Rehtul Orlouge was correct. I needed to eat, I needed something better to wear, and I needed a plan. I reluctantly relented. I looked up to Rehtul and nodded slowly.
"Okay."
I paused for a moment. Food. What... kinds of food did I like? I thought I could remember my mother feeding me mashed potatoes, but they were dull and dry. Green beans? I remembered gagging when my father forced me to try some. Yet, I had only been five years old. I had been a child, spoiled and untainted by the world. I realized I had been staring off into space and looked back at Rehtul.
"Sorry, I was thinking. Um, I'm not picky. Any food you give me is fine."
I struggled to stand, my legs long and awkward to fit into. A struggled, like a baby giraffe learning to stand for the first time. I eventually stood and remembered my balance. My interests sparked towards the man, "I know who the Orlouges are. A family of great legend that impacted Althanas immensely. Sei Orlouge, given the title Silence Sei, had been the head of the Ixian Knights, a powerful crime fighting force in Concordia. However, they collapsed and the castle was brutally attacked under the joint leadership of his four daughters."
I tilted my head, curious as to how Rehtul Orlouge fit into the family tree. Yet, I knew other things were more important. My tummy was rumbling, I could feel it now.
"Can I eat now - please?" I added please hastily at the end. My mother had taught me to say the magic word, it was rude not to. No please, no treat. That had been the rule.
A quick trip to the local inn and a stop by the local clothier later, Rehtul laid out a the best meal he'd paid for the entire time he'd been in town. Roast meats, hearty vegetables, and two large mugs, one of ale and the other of milk, sat heaped high upon the table. With a motion of his hand, he invited the young woman to set herself a plate.
"Whatever you like," he said as he pulled a piece of hardtack from a pouch before and dipped it in the juices of the slab of meat he had prepared for himself. As he waited for the girl to set her own plate and begin to eat, he thought of a few questions that he'd like to ask her, though he didn't want to pry into anything too painful.
As he surveyed her, he realized that despite her apparent age her experience in the world would fall far short of where it needed to be, for her to either protect herself or to not be taken advantage of by those who would use her for a purpose other than to help her do what she wants to do.
Actually...
"Actually, now that we've got you some food, I do have to ask... What exactly do you want to do with your life? I don't... think there's a way to revert the changes you've gone through. I'm not in any rush to have you leave, of course, but it's something you'll need to think about while you're here, until I finish cataloguing and... cleaning that basement."
He preferred not to use the term "dispose of dead subjects" in front of someone who still had the modicum of innocence left to one who had been through so much in such a short life.
It was obvious that this was not a... properly... developed mind sitting at the table. She was educated, yes. Smart, yes. Trained to behave in any way aside a young child? No.
She had completely chugged the milk, leaving a milk mustache she did not wipe off. She completely avoided the vegetables all together. Vegetables were gross, after all. She went straight for the steak. Even then, she had never eaten thick, heavy steak before. Stubbornly trying to cut with an awkwardly held fork with no avail, she gritted her teeth. Plopping the utensil on the table, she simply picked up her first steak with her bare hands and took a bite. Tugging ferociously to break her first bite off, this strange new meat proved to be a difficult challenge. At least it tasted good. She had not tasted food in so long, fed nutrients through her watery tube prison. This made it all the more frustrating that she was unable to bite into this thing that easily.
Her battle with her steak was interrupted, however, by Rehtul. He asked her a question that made her freeze.
Steak juice slid down her neck as she blinked blankly at Rehtul. She made a heavy slurping sound and pulled the steak from her mouth. She set it on her plate and used a handful of napkins to clean her hands and face. It was a good thing this was taking place in the upper lab, and not a public area. The entire town would be appalled, confused, and mocking of this girl's childish behaviors.
She threw her wads of napkins aside and looked up to Rehtul. Once again, she felt so overwhelmed and bewildered by everything. So frightened. She sighed, speaking in that manner far more mature than her actions suggested.
"I have no idea. I don't know who I am, who I'm meant to be. I know what I am, but not who."
She looked down at the very messy steak, saddened and dismayed. Her eyes widened as she wondered and pondered. She blinked, "I'm adopted. I knew this as long as I could remember. My father died, my mother gave me up. The Toivonions took me in. My adoptive mother and father raised me as their own, until my grandpa took me down."
She shuddered, goosebumps coating her skin as she shook her head in dismay. Some of her long hair dipped into the steak sauce and grease as she slumped.
"I'm the byproduct of two powerful bloodlines. I was going to be sold as a weapon. Should I be a weapon then?" She shivered frightfully, "I don't want to be..."