Having low magical talent, Katya and her sister Karyne were part of a group of 12 disciples of the Order of Sages who still worked and studied in the Garden of Beasts. The reason was their superior beast-taming techniques. Katya hoped to make up for her inferior talent by earning enough points to exchange for a powerful beast from the tower. Among the 12 members who were still part of the tower were also the brothers Yun Hai and Yun Zhe, as well as little Liu who had the special holy-light physique along with his parents.
Katya left Omar earlier today and was fulfilling her simple task of taking care of Madam Zirya's quarters.
As she was doing her chores and reflecting on her conversation with Omar, a familiar figure appeared, it was Old Daran.
"Katya, it's good to see you. I've been looking for you…"
"Senior Daran, if it's about what we talked about last time, I haven't made a decision yet…"
"Look, Katya. I found two new volunteers, so I came to ask you one last time since you and your sister were the first ones I invited."
"D-did you find other people?" Katya stammered for a moment before thinking about the proposal the Old Man had made to her and her sister. According to him, if they both agreed to participate in a certain experiment, they would gain a new magical affinity. However, there were some risks involved in the experiment, such as having their appearance changed…
For women, this was a risk worse than death, because of this, Katya and her sister never accepted, but Daran knew that soon, the two would end up accepting to participate due to desperation and lack of talent. Something he faced when he was younger when he started learning magic. It was no wonder that many apprentices chose the path of the Priests. Feeling despair again, and due to her moment of weakness, Katya finally made her decision:
"I need a few more days to prepare myself, and convince my sister."
"Hehe, good, very good, I'll dismiss the other two and start making the necessary preparations, here, when you're ready, sign this contract."
As Katya looked at the blood contract stating that she and her sister would be guinea pigs for three days in an experiment, Old Daran turned his back and began to walk away. His gentle smile, which he had shown the girl, became completely distorted. His plan to convince these two Valyrian sisters to participate in his experiments had lasted for several years, and neither of them knew how valuable they were.
The Valyrians were a race that at the time was in decline since the perdition, there were only a few thousand alive scattered throughout the world and those with magical talent were even rarer. Two sisters with the same magical affinity, gender, and very close in age. This was his greatest treasure and his final chance to advance to become a Master. As for whether the test subjects would die or become deformed? That was none of his business…
***
While Genesis went after Liushiam and his parents, Madame Zirya, who had been left alone in the meeting room with her husband, heard a question from him:
"Are you going to give up on the boy with the physique of life?"
She stood up and went to a cupboard to get some drinks, keeping her back to her husband. As she moved towards the place, each step she took left small branches and flowers on the black stone floor. This was a natural effect she had obtained after almost 10 years of studying with Jhon; the plants would disappear after a few seconds, but they always left her husband fascinated. Of course, this effect was something that Madame Zirya had no control over, unlike her student who had the same ability and complete control.
Remembering her student, she was a little embarrassed by the kind of relationship she had started to have with him. Since she became the Master of Plagues, her husband never touched her again due to her poisonous body, but Jhon had developed a kind of complete immunity to all types of poison, not even her high-level poisons could harm him.
With that, he became the only man capable of touching her body again, and their relationship as master and student changed a lot, becoming something forbidden.
Of course, her husband didn't even suspect this relationship, so she simply said that Jhon didn't need to die anymore and that she already had what she needed for her experiments.
As she poured a drink for herself and another for her husband, she controlled her expression and walked towards him again while explaining:
"Don't think that Jhon has the same value as Liushiam, he is one of the founding members of the Order of Sages, the most talented in learning spells, and Rafael's right-hand man. If something happened to him, the Red Sage would stop at nothing to find out the whole truth. Besides, I don't know how powerful Jhon has become in recent years, I don't know if I could beat him in a fight… Doesn't that make you question why someone who is already almost as strong as a Master would still follow someone like Rafael?"
"Are you saying that Rafael and he are stronger than me?" the Master of Beasts asked, smiling…
When he said that, his shadow split into 10 for a moment before returning to one, his wife felt a chill and went back to drinking her drink.
At that point, Genesis finally returned to the room accompanied by a young man dressed in white and a middle-aged couple wearing standard robes from the Garden of Beasts. As soon as they entered, the Master of Beasts' shadow split into 10 again. Two of those 10 shadows stood up, revealing two humanoid-looking beasts.
One was completely black, with curled horns similar to those of a goat with long tentacles on its back. The other was pale blue, with two thirty-centimeter-long pointed horns and long claws on its arms. The creature with tentacles on its back stretched its horns toward the shadows of Liu and his parents. As soon as it reached their shadows, Liu and his parents realized that they could do nothing but breathe, blink, and move their mouths.
"Master of the tower, what does this mean? I thought you had a mission for us… D- Did I or my family do something to offend you?"
As despair took over their faces, Genesis and Madame Zirya remained expressionless, watching everything. Soon after, the second demon walked towards Liu and, with the claws of its right hand, made a huge cut in his chest.
"ARGH"
After seeing that the cut had not bled at all despite the pain, only then did Liu look at the ground and realize that he was inside a huge magic circle. Being an assiduous scholar, he recognized that this specific ritual was from the branch of necromancy and could prevent him from dying for several days. Before he could scream again, the demon with pointed horns removed his heart from inside his chest.
"NOOOOO MY SON!"
"MASTER OF BEASTS YOU DARE!"
As Liu's mother burst into tears screaming her son's name, his father began to threaten him. Madame Zirya waved her hand and a small cloud of poison floated to the parents' faces, putting them to sleep. Before going to sleep, the father tried to recite a chant for a self-sacrifice ritual, but he fell asleep before he could do anything.
Realizing that he could not leave there alive, Liushiam looked at Genesis and asked: "Why?"
"That was always the value you had for us," Genesis replied without a hint of remorse.
After the clawed demon handed the heart to his master, he returned to Liu's motionless body and placed his hand on his head. Liu's eyes changed. At that moment, the other demon released his shadow, and he began to move again. Still alive despite not having a heart inside his body, he took a piece of paper from his bag and began to write a letter.
Genesis took the letter and sent it directly to the Tower of Sages. After that, Liu was also put to sleep, still trapped inside the laboratory next to his parents, with his soul attached to his lifeless body, denying him the right to even die. All that was left was a timer for the ritual to end, finally allowing him to die. Master of Beasts looked at his wife and she confirmed the deadline for what they were planning:
"Seven days..."
****
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