Chapter 52 - The Laboratory

When Wain destroyed part of the stone slab, he jumped down. Teresa also followed him. Unlike Wain, Teresa could not feel the aura of the World of Darkness at such a distance. Wain could feel strange energy only because the necessary component to unlock the second form was there.

Wain didn't know how, but his skill, Nameless King's Forms, somehow interacted with the Seal of Darkness. This was unexpected, but it was one big plus for Wain.

When Wain went downstairs, he was in the middle of a strange room. It didn't look abandoned or dirty. It was perfectly clean. But, the furnishings inside were strange. It was something like a hospital room.

"What is this place?" Teresa muttered. She had already joined Wain.

"Decided to come down? I thought you'd run off with your tail between your legs." Smirking, Wain said.

"I never run away. I just found this place very interesting, that's all." Said Teresa.

She was telling the truth, but only partly. In fact, she was curious to see where Wain would go and what he would find there.

Wain nodded and, the next moment, grabbed Teresa by the throat. The girl could barely breathe. He looked at her coldly and said, "If you disturb me, I'll snap your neck and throw you to the monsters. Nod if you understand."

Teresa nodded and said, "I won't stand in your way..."

Then Wain loosened his grip, and Teresa fell to the floor. She greedily gulped air, trying to recover. She understood that Wain was not the kindest man in the world, but she didn't expect him to do something like that.

"What's your name?" Wain asked.

"Teresa Gimenez." Quickly the girl answered.

"Wain Norheim. I take it you don't know what this place is either?" Asked Wain.

Teresa shook her head, "No, I am very well aware of many secret and secret places in this town, but I have never heard of any hospital under the lake. Maybe it's not a hospital, but some kind of lab, I have no idea."

"A laboratory... Hmm, that sounds curious. I wonder what kind of experiments people did here?" Wain muttered.

"By the way, you said you knew a lot of secret places in Overion. Before the apocalypse, were you involved with the government?" Asked Wain.

Teresa didn't know whether Wain should have told the truth or not. But finally, she put all doubts aside and said, "Before the apocalypse, I was an assassin for hire."

Wain looked at her in surprise and asked, "I hope you're kidding. Am I right?"

Teresa didn't understand this strange reaction to her answer and just shook her head. Wain looked at Teresa and muttered, "Yeah, if people like you work as assassins, this world would end sooner or later. What a shame."

As the consummate assassin in his world, Wain thought Teresa's skills were mediocre. He saw that she was afraid of him because of her menacing aura, and she failed to react to his outburst. In his opinion, Teresa was a terrible killer.

But that was Wain's opinion. He was the best, and it was only natural that everyone else was worse than him. Teresa's skills were at a high level, and she was known in the criminal part of Overion.

Teresa answered nothing and rose to her feet, shaking off the dust.

She frowned and looked at Wain and asked, "What were you before the apocalypse?"

Wain grinned and said, "Judge and reaper all in one. Okay, we're done talking."

Then he headed for the exit of the room. Teresa was outraged at the way Wain was acting, but she could do nothing about it. She could count on her finger the people who had the right to behave disrespectfully toward her. But, what Wain was doing was out of line.

When Wain left the room, he found himself in a hallway several dozen feet long. Wain frowned as he could smell the metallic smell of blood permeating everything around him. Moreover, he saw large bloody footprints and even someone's flesh on the floor.

"Looks like you didn't know about this place for a reason," Wain muttered to Teresa.

She nodded and said, "I've never heard of this lab. That means that what the scientists were doing is top secret, even for people like me."

'Hmm, zombies couldn't have gotten here. That means some monster showed up right in the lab. We need to find out what happened here.' Thought Wain and headed on his way.

He also checked where the energy of the World of Darkness was coming from. According to his senses, the spatial rift was quite far away, maybe even at the end of this lab.

After a while, Wain and Teresa entered a room with many dead bodies. They knew from the clothes of these people that they were maintenance staff and quite a few scientists. They were responsible for the experiments going on here.

'Perhaps they were trying to create some mutants, and the apocalypse began at that moment? In that case, a mutant got the power of a soul. That could be problematic.' Thought Wain.

"A monster appeared here? It doesn't look like a human did it. Their bodies are torn up like some beast attacked them." Mumbled Teresa.

"We'll find out soon enough." Said Wain and headed into another room.

After a while, he stopped and said, "Looks like we've come to the main hall of this underground hell."

Wain looked at the many massive pods. Each one was shattered, and he was terrified to imagine what kind of creatures had come out of there. Wain was now certain that mutation experiments had been conducted here.

Crackling.

Suddenly, Wain and Teresa heard a muffled rattle in the distance. They immediately headed there. The closer they got, the stronger it got. Then they came to a dark room. There was nothing to be seen, only the strong smell of blood.

Wain decided to go in there. He was sure that whatever monster attacked him would be able to react and fend off the attack.

Wain stepped forward, and suddenly he saw a glint in the darkness. The next moment a paw with sharp claws appeared out of the darkness. It was going to rip Wain to shreds like the other people in this lab.

However, Wain was prepared for such a thing. He easily managed to react and grabbed the clawed paw. Wain then clenched his fist with force and launched an attack.

"Stop!" Teresa suddenly shouted. Wain managed to react, and his fist stopped a millimeter from his attacking enemy.

"What the hell!" Wain muttered as he looked at the person he was just about to kill.

It was a girl, a little over fourteen years old, but she couldn't be called a full-fledged human being. She had shoulder-length, black hair and amethyst eyes. But, her arms and legs looked like the paws of a monster.

Wain loosened his grip and threw the girl to the floor. He swung his arm, and instantly, the Destruction Sword appeared beside him. The dark sword approached the girl's throat, and Wain coldly asked, "Who are you, and what is this place?"

The girl did not answer. She only gritted her teeth at Wain like a wild beast. Wain was ready to kill this girl, but suddenly Teresa stopped him again.

"Stop. Can't you see that she is afraid herself?" Said Teresa and walked over to the girl.

She put aside her rapier to show her benevolent intentions. Teresa then took the girl by her monstrous hand and gently said, "We won't hurt you. I promise. Tell us who you are and what's going on here?"

The girl looked at Teresa and calmed down a little. But she didn't speak. Then Wain waved his hand, and the Destruction Sword disappeared. He took out a cigarette and smoked.

'Looks like it's going to be a while. I need to leave it to Teresa. I'm too impatient. I'd have killed that girl by now if it wasn't for her.' Thought Wain.

He was curious to know what was going on in this lab and who this girl was. This situation seemed to him something abnormal.

While Teresa tried to convince the girl to talk to them, Wain pondered the current situation.

'She is human, at least she was. Now the most accurate description of her condition is that of a mutant. Her hands and feet don't look human. The skin on her hands and feet is red, and she has sharp, black claws on her fingers.'

'Moreover, her teeth look like vampire fangs. I wonder if she's the only one here or if there are a lot of girls like her here. She's also very young, judging by her appearance.' Wain thought.

He had originally thought that animal experiments were being conducted in this laboratory. He didn't expect to find a lab where mutants were created accidentally.

'Hmm, when you think about it that way, this girl was made stronger than most humans and even monsters that appear at the beginning of the apocalypse because of mutation.'

'But, she must still have gotten a soul, am I right? She probably hasn't activated her Soul Altar yet, since it looks like there are no monsters in this lab, only humans'. Thought Wain.

The situation this girl found herself in was truly unique. Because of the experiments, her physical indicators were at an unbelievable level for a human. But, since she was still human, though not quite normal, she was also given a soul and the ability to activate her Soul Altar.

'If there are still such laboratories in this world, such people could become a new race. And most likely, they will be superior to mere humans.' 

'But, they need to survive first.. Even if there are other such labs in this world, the total number of such mutants won't be huge. Perhaps I should refer them to Gisle?'