“Brothers are always lying to us, Belrigan. They say that Libra is all about secrets, but they are no better!”

“Why are you saying so?”

“Cause it’s true! Want to know the true story of your graft?.”

“I know it, Lauro. It was like with everyone else and—”

“You still don’t remember, do you? You lost your consciousness that day and the memory too.”

“It happens to others as well—”

“Yes, but I was there next to you, and I know the truth!”

Belrigan froze. The wave went again through his body. Then, his vision turned black and white again for a split second. His hand went down to his belt bag, but there was no more potion. Lauro should have one, though…

“Your graft is different from others, Belrigan.” continued Lauro with determination and anger. ”Because it is not a graft! You have a real wolf inside of you.”

“How could this be? You are making it up!”

“You wish! I remember it as if it was yesterday. It was the first, and the last time the brothers caught a moon wolf and brought it into the monastery. They put it in a cage of cast metal and hung it in the isolated room, surrounded by lamps and torches. On the second day after that, you and I were on our duty helping to clean the dungeon. Do you remember at least that Belrigan?”

“No.”

“But I do, although I’d rather prefer to forget! The memory of that dusty dark dungeon makes me sick, but it’s burned in my mind and doesn’t go away!” Lauro grabbed his hair and tugged at it as if he wanted to dragg it out his head altogether with all the thoughts and memories. ”That night was insane. The wolf was howling like crazy, calling for his kin. Brothers didn’t let us come close to the creature, of course. We’d just finished clearing the caguar’s cage when the wolf broke free—”

Words were leaving Lauro’s mouth with a noticeable pressure as if he was pushing each of them out with force. Losing his breath, stumbling over, he was not going to stop.

”Someone accidentally dropped the lamp—that’s what I heard later. I know nothing else! But I remember the creature stopped howling, and then someone screamed… And they were still screaming when I saw the thing rushing through a dark corridor toward us. Jumping from one wall to another and twirling like a small dark hurricane, it was so damn fast that before I opened my mouth to warn you, it was already behind your back. Just a second after, and bam! It jumped straight through you. Devils know how it did it, but it went straight through your body. I stepped back and fell, stumbling upon a bucket of shit. That shit saved us both, brother, believe me, or not. There was a lamp on the wall behind me, and when I fell, it gave enough light to freeze the creature. It didn’t freeze entirely but became slow enough for us to survive. I was sitting in the puddle of shit with my pants full of shit, too, while that thing was slowly moving above me, stretched in the air like… like it was a black cloak or something. It stretched right above me, with a small part still sticking out of your body, right here.” Lauro touched himself in the chest, but Belrigan didn’t dare to look. “It was right here. And you screamed. And I screamed, too, scared to death. I thought it killed you. I thought you were dead, brother. Before I could think of what to do, two brothers came to our help with lamps, and they smashed the thing into pieces. But one long shard of it sank into your chest! It disappeared inside… You lost consciousness while our brothers tried to take it out… but it sank in very fast… it didn’t even cut your skin. And then they took you into the grafting chambers quickly.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Lauro’s voice showed he was ready to burst into tears.

Intense fear pulsed in Belrigans veins. His vision was changing back and forth, with pictures of the past appearing before his eyes one after another as if it was happening to him now. That thing inside Belrigan was rolling over in his mind desiring to wake up.

How could this be true?

“You were there for a few days. Master Masho told me you would be alright, and I must not tell others what happened for your own sake. He told me to say that it was a planned graft. They even made me vow on that damn book! You got well eventually and couldn’t remember anything. Since then, master always kept you close, and I was lying to everyone else. It wasn’t hard for me, but I think some didn’t believe.”

“You made an oath on the book of the Five?”

“Yes…”

“You shouldn’t have broke it.”

“And what now? Will the gods come down here and punish me? Let them come. I never saw one, and I bet I’ll never see one—”

“Lauro, do you have this second potion with you?”

“Is it coming again, brother?”

“Looks like it.”

“Then better drink.”

Lauro approached Belrigan and handed him the small flask.

“That’s all I have. The bigger one was left with the pony.”

”Thank you.”

Belrigan drank it in one gulp. The effect was the same: the pace of his heart slowed down, and he felt an unpleasant coldness spreading over his body. However, his vision instantly returned to normal.

They were silent for quite a long. Belrigan felt shattered.

“Why have you told me this now?” he asked after a while.

“If I didn’t, you would probably never know! I’m afraid the creature or its soul might survive and somehow live inside you now—”

“But you don’t know?”

“Of course not… but why else would master ask me to keep silence?”

Suddenly, Belrigan felt much calmer, as if the anxiety and fears pushing him all this day had run out.

“Then maybe it was like with other grafts: a shard of a mortified magical creature containing its power. Only in my case, it wasn’t planned—”

“So, you do believe me!”

Belrigan didn’t answer. Of course, he believed Lauro. But maybe there was a reasonable explanation for why master Masho decided to keep this secret. If everyone knew, the rumors and fears would start spreading.

“Brother, let’s run together,” Lauro changed the theme suddenly.

“We can’t.”

How tempting it was to punch him in his stupid head, but Belrigan resisted it. Losing control over himself in such a situation would be fatal.

"How did you find me here, brother?”

”I noticed you outside, among bushes. Haven’t you heard me calling you?”

“I hid in these ruins long before you came. You couldn’t see me outside.”

“But I saw you! I swear! I saw…” Belrigan paused. His heart suddenly rushed again. He felt himself sweating. “I saw someone out there.” His voice trembled.

They both froze, and in the silence, they distinctly heard voices coming from outside.

“Let’s get out!” Lauro looked around. He was the first to rush to the doorway. But when Belrigan followed him, they saw a tall man standing behind it. He was dressed as a local and had a pale face and gray eyes.

“The window!” shouted Lauro when the man crouched to pass under the slanted door.

They hurried there only to see that way to retreat was also blocked. The other guy, stout with a face disfigured by smallpox, was already waiting for them on the other side.