Moonlight filled the streets and alleys of the city of Bril.

A man just came out from behind an alley and quickly looked around.

The person had dark skin, and black hair and was very muscular, as was typical of men in this region.

Of course, this was no ordinary man, but it was a Polykenas in disguise. To be exact, it was Lors, who pretended to be one of the humans.

He had been given the task by his duce Nero to spy out the power of this land and find good ways to attack. He has already found out quite a bit.

The city of Bril is the capital of the country of Gretan. 3 countries in this world play a role: Gretan, a land where only humans live and rule, Irl, a land full of intelligent monsters, and lastly Sirib, a land inhabited by human-like creatures called: elves.

Lors fumbled around the stone Nero gave him, and he still felt almost the full warmth. He had only been in this world for two days and did not yet understand everything.

Fortunately, Ramor had equipped him with a special symbol that enabled him to understand all languages, so he could go to a library and learn a lot of things by reading. However, much of his knowledge was only superficial and he still had a lot to do before he was ready.

He already knew quite a bit about the people who lived in this region. They were mostly just normal people, but there were also some mages.

He didn't know the exact powers of these mages, since he hadn't met any yet, but from what the stories said, it seemed like they were very strong.

Lost in thought, Lors stepped further, his next destination was a noble house, as there were always special writings in them that might tell him more about this world.

He walked straight down a long dark street, looking around in confusion. It was late, he realized, but this was the biggest city in the country, and usually, at this hour there were still drunks staggering around who had looked too deeply into the glass.

He had just wondered when suddenly a bright light erupted from a rooftop, shooting straight at him. Lors reacted in a flash and stepped into the shadows. Lors was not a mage who was for fighting, he was just a scout.

And so most of his skills were based on flight and defense and he could flee at the first sign of danger. He went into the shadows, wanting to get out of this street as fast as possible, but suddenly symbols next to him started to light up.

An incredible pain jerked through him and he had to show himself again. All his camouflage spells were broken and he stood there in his full glory as a Polykenas.

"What is that thing?" asked an unknown voice behind him.

Immediately, Lors turned around, but already another bright beam was shooting at him. He jerked his hand upward and blocked it with a wave of darkness. He squirmed and snapped his fingers. Another wave of darkness emerged and attacked the symbol on the wall.

After a few heartbeats, the symbol shattered, and immediately Lors shifted again. He ran as fast as he could, but this time a bright flash hit him. Lors was thrown back and briefly saw stars,

"He's strong. Do you think he's from Irl?"

"Who knows," said a second voice, "But it doesn't matter now. Let it be taken to the torture chamber, it surely will tell us where it came from if the pain is bad enough."

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Lors tried to stand up again, but he was immediately hit by another beam. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by three people, all of whom gave off a rather strong aura.

Desperately, he thought of a way to escape, but he couldn't find an opening in the enemies' defenses. He straightened up, and with a quick flick of his wrist, he fended off the again upcoming attacks and then went into the shadows.

He had cast an illusion spell that made it look like he was still standing in the same place. He quickly slipped past the men and was about to crawl up a house when more symbols lit up.

"By Duce, you've got to be kidding me!!! Who are these guys?" Lors cursed as his cover was lifted again, and he took a very strong blow.

He fell to the ground, and symbols began to light up around him, forming a barricade of light. And there a fourth man came walking out of the darkness, laughing,

"Do you think we really fall for such simple tricks? Pathetic."

Slowly, Lors stood up and looked around. The four men had surrounded him from all sides and he knew that he had no possibility to escape. Sadness filled him,

"I'm sorry my duce, I will have to let you down."

"What are you talking about?" one of the men asked, but Lors paid no attention to him, simply activating his magic,

"Hey what are you doing? Stop it right now!"

But Lors did not even think about it. And the very next moment his skull burst open in a wave of darkness, and Lors committed suicide.

----------------

Two weeks flew by.

Nero straightened up and got out of his bed. He took the crown and put it on and wrapped the cloak around his shoulders. He was a little tired, but as usual, he hid it skillfully. Slowly he went down the great steps of his palace, and then stepped through another door and entered the throne room.

"Greetings, my Duce," said Ramor and Shire immediately, who were already waiting for him.

Nero just nodded and waved his hand to show he had heard them,

"Where's Xersies?"

"He's already waiting at the gate, my Duce."

Nero nodded with satisfaction, "Are the guards ready yet?"

"Xersies should have everything ready by now."

"Then come!"

Sometime later, they stood outside again on the upper steps of the stairs leading to the keep. Nero nodded to Fril, who turned to the guards,

"Get ready,"

Nero saw with satisfaction that everything was proceeding as usual and then lifted the portal stone.

Once again the rift between the worlds opened and let them look at a forest shrouded in darkness.

The Polykenas were full of expectations and curiosity, but Lors did not come through the portal.

They waited exactly 4 hours, as agreed, before closing the gate again. Nero suspected something bad. Until now, Lors had always been punctual to the second and had never disappointed him.

"What do we do now?" asked Shire.

Nero looked at him with a furrowed brow, "Nothing. Or at least for now. We'll do the same process again tomorrow and then the day after tomorrow, as planned. If Lors isn't here by then, I'll go through it in person and explore the world. "

"No offense, my Duce, but why would you put yourselves in danger when you have several million loyal subjects who can do it for you?" Ester asked, sitting on the steps.

"It's very simple. If Lors doesn't return, it means there are enough powerful mages to capture him and discover his true identity and as a real person, it is less likely to discover my true origins. And if there are non-human beings lurking on the planet, I still have a higher chance of survival than Lors or you. I'll just make cautious observations for now and then come back if they would be too powerful for an attack. "

"And by the way, Ester, I want to talk to you in your lab."

"Yes my Duce, please follow me."

With that, they left the others and headed back toward the fortress. A short time later they arrived in front of the door to Ester's laboratory.

The first thing he noticed when they entered was the large increase in hybrids between humans and polykenas lying on beds in the middle of the room. They were all in different positions, and always in different places with tubes attached,

"How is the hybrid program coming along?" asked Nero to Ester Gewand,

"Well, I'm making more and more progress. Here, for example, is one of my top products,"

Ester pointed to a person who must have once been a young man. His eyes were open and you could clearly see the yellow pupils glowing. His skin had an unnatural gray coloring and instead of 5 fingers, his right hand had 6 claws. His left hand, on the other hand, was atrophied and black and rotten. Neither did the man look at them, nor did he make any sounds.

"As I'm sure you can see, my Duce, the mixing keeps progressing, but they always become the same after mixing the blood. Their brains simply stop functioning at a certain point. I wanted to artificially reproduce them and see if the children would be different, but the fetuses die immediately in the womb before they even have a chance to develop. It will probably take some time before I can show a perfect result. But this is not why we are talking, is it?"

"Right," Nero said, "I have to give them an assignment."

"Anything, my duce. How can I help them?"

Nero smiled wickedly.