“Thuridan! How goes my favorite elf’s most recent test?” Yelled the overly loud dragonkin whom I had been hoping to avoid today.
Struggling to keep the smile on my face, I turned from my work to see the familiar form of Brundath marching through the stone archway of the room. A full seven foot four with gleaming red scales and hulking muscle, Brundath was the very definition of a noble dragonkin. A noble dragonkin who had been a pain in my side ever since he was put in charge of this project.
“Brundath. Wonderful to see you as always,” I replied dryly before turning back to the stone table, my smile returning to full force as I gazed upon the body lying on it. “This may turn out to be our biggest breakthrough to date. I’ve managed to fit four shards into this one without destabilizing it.”
“Really? The most we managed before was two. How’d you fit so many?” he replied, pausing to eye the body, “And does it explain why you’re using a human?”
I understood his last question for what it was, afterall, humans were oft considered the weakest of the enlightened races. They had typically weaker inherent magical abilities, if any at all, and a generally weak physique when compared to most of the other less magical races. The only thing they had going for them was their prodigious reproduction rate, which was thankfully limited by their short lifespans. This was also why the fact that they could be found almost anywhere one cared to look was so intriguing.
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Taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I then replied, “I had a theory that the adaptability of the human body may allow it to overcome the inherent instability induced by a higher number of shards. This, along with the reasonable compatibility between the four shards, is how I was able to get four of them together without the body breaking down. I hypothesis that-”
“So a human body can hold more. Good to know,” Brundath interrupted.
“Put very simply, yes, but-” a blaring alarm set the air to shaking as it echoed throughout the room and the cave as a whole, cutting my rant short and immediately putting us both on alert. I glanced between the dragonkin and the door before turning to the table and my most recent test result. Brundath was already heading for the hallway at speed, but I needed to secure my results before anything else.
“Make sure you get that secured before joining me to see what caused the alarm. If it’s anything other than a simple beast wandering through the perimeter then we don’t want that out here,” he commanded as he left.
I then immediately set about moving the body into a secure room to the side of the lab, ensuring it was set in the best stasis enchantment available. I hoped that this was just some dumb beast wandering where it shouldn’t, that it would be cleared up fast so that I could get back to my work. Even more, I hoped that those church fanatics hadn’t found us, else we might be in for a lot of trouble soon. I did not sign up for fighting.
I continued to worry to myself as I sealed up the room, hiding it from sight, and continued out of the lab to find Brundath. I hoped again that this was something simple, that those fanatics hadn’t found us, but the yells and clashing of metal echoing down the hall did not bode well for my hopes.