The Raven's POV-Chapter 34: Observation

The anchor was changed and the door connected to the door of the lab.

The door glowed with green inscriptions.

Elder Norman touched the doorknob, gave it a twist and it opened.

Revealing the view of the other side, panicking teachers and Doctor Conner who was trying to maintain a semblance of order after arbitrarily setting the complete lockdown of the facility.

Below all the chambers were filled with green liquid with students submerged within, their bodies would occasionally twitch, only indication that they were alive apart from the screen which was monitoring their condition constantly.

Among the chambers, one stood out, for two reasons; One, it was the only chamber where liquid was slowly turning black.

Two, the student or rather the thing inside the chamber was constantly turning, shifting as if it could not decide on one form.

Elder Norman took the lead

"Elder Hinobi, Please relocate that chamber to other more isolated lab"

Saying that, he jumped down the balcony, his white lab coat fluttering with the wind.

He landed on the floor where the chamber was kept; then patted dust off himself and took out his spectacles from under his coat pocket and wore them.

He looked back up

"What are you guys waiting for, come down, we don’t have time for this."

Dr Connor looked at the Elders who were contemplating whether they should jump down or not and point to a corner

"The elevator is that way"

"Right.", Elder Wong who was slowly inching closer to the railings stopped, looked at Dr Connor, nodded and took confident strides towards the elevator.

Other Elders followed, except Elder Mike who just jumped saying, elevator would be cramped with 5 people.

All Elder made their way towards that one chamber; chamber 86, the same one Rowayne was in.

"Stand in a circle around the chamber,I won’t be able to do this twice", Elder Hinobi said.

Other Elder followed her command positioning themselves in a circle around the chamber

"Elder Norman, give me a picture of your lab"

Elder Norman handed her a picture of his lab, specifically a picture showing an empty space in his lab.

Elder Hinobi closed her eyes, and opened them again, her eyes glowed– an indication of gift usage.

Elder Hinobi’s gift allowed her to move an object and/or persons with her into a place as long as she had a picture of that place

And it fit three requirements

First - the picture shows enough space to fit the objects/persons she is transporting

Second - the picture should be of a place she had visited at least once

Third - the picture should be less than 24 hours old.

When these conditions are satisfied she can move herself and the objects/persons to the location the picture was taken in, once per week.

"Doctor Conner, you can lift the lockdown now" , Elder Wong said

Elder Hinobi closed her eyes again and the picture burst into ethereal lights.

When she reopened her eyes, they were standing in Elder Norman’s lab

They looked around, all around them were computer screens, some unknown measurement tools and testubes, lots and lots of testubes.

Test tubes were big but just enough to fit in a palm

Each of them contained tissue samples of different kind, some of beasts, other species or even humans

Growl!

The floor they were standing on was made of glass like material, directly below them were magical beasts– of different sizes, all chained.

"Pardon the messy environment, I don’t have many visitors.", Elder Norman said in a light tone trying to lighten up the mood.

He then walked behind the chamber to connect some wires to it.

"Just a few minutes and we will know everything that is happening"

"Click~ , click~ and click"

Inside his lab Elder Norman was like an introvert in their natural habitat, mildly energetic.

"And the screen is up"

Meanwhile In the mind realm.

Time passed slowly, excruciatingly so for Rowayne.

Each passing moment, made him aware of the wide chasm between him and the figure.

Inside they were the same the person as the figure claimed so, but the difference in power was as vast as distance between heavens and earth

While Rowayne was panting, barely dodging the tentacles, the figure stood, silently observing Rowayne, perhaps finding amusement in his struggles.

The figure have not taken a single step, yet Rowayne was already losing.

If only he had a sword, he could cut it, he was sure he could cut it.

He could cut the tentacles if he had a sword,

Those were the only thoughts running through Rowayne’s mind, perhaps he was overestimating himself or perhaps it was the only way he could cope after becoming keenly aware of his weakness.

Only Rowayne himself knew what his thoughts were.

As Rowayne dodged another tentacles aimed at his heart,

The realm trembled, tremors ran across the realm once again, stronger this time.

Rowayne lost his footing and fell.

Splash!

He was already dead, he knew it, the next tentacle wouldn’t miss.

Only if he had a weapon.

His hand touched something other than the dark water in the dark water.

It felt like the hilt of a sword.

’how?’

He didn’t know, he had lots of questions but no answers.

What he did have though were lots of tentacles to chop.

Rowayne smiled. He gripped the hilt of the sword.

It would be awkward to not cut at least one tentacle after lamenting the lack of a weapon that much.

So he slashed upward, cutting the incoming tentacle.

The cut part turned into dark water and splashed at his face.

It tasted like ash, surprisingly.

He stood up, turned at an awkward angle, narrowing dodging an tentacle that had erupted between his legs.

And performed a vertical slash, severing it from its base.

He kept dodging, but this time he had more freedom, he was able to retaliate by cutting the tentacles

He looked at his sword, it was an odd sword, a longsword, but a part of it was rusted, another part was perpetually covered in blood.

It was like someone took a piece of multiple swords and put them together as a mismatched puzzle.