Chapter 13 – Life 4 – The Madness

“What the hell is going on?” I asked my father, as his tamed blood-monster released me. “My boy, we are entering a great battle for our bright future. History will be written today… in blood.” As if to punctuate his statement, another explosion could be heard in the distance.

“Father… so many people have died right here, in this room! Surely, they couldn’t all have been criminals, so why?!” My father shook his head. “They WERE all criminals, boy. They committed the crimes of being shortsighted, disloyal, and above all else… WEAK. In death, they served the Harmonium more greatly than in life. And even that, is only thanks to me… and the lovely creatures like the one you see before you.”

I backed away from him and the creature. “Is- is that thing made from their blood?” “Yes… blood. A wonderful thing, blood. It flows like water yet is so very much greater. The stuff of life flows in our veins, pumped by a heart that would mean your death if it stopped! Yet most people only truly appreciate it… when it’s gone…”

My father had gone mad, it was the only explanation. I had to keep him talking while I plotted my escape. “H-how did you make such a creature, Father? I thought the Water Affinitied couldn’t control blood?” My father leaned back his head and gave an uncharacteristic laugh. “Oh my boy, I haven’t used mere WATER in years! I suppose our fair Caretaker has seen that you are rather too busy to keep up on current events, hmm?”

He nodded to himself. “Very well, I’ll fill you in. Some time ago, the Caretaker instructed me to take on a rather important role. Our agents had confirmed the great Volcano City had determined how to control the magma that gives them life. Not through Earth, not through Fire, but through their combination of both. The Caretaker took that knowledge and refined it, and made a small task force of Combined-Affinity Warriors. Very secret, you understand, I’ve told you what happens when power is given too freely to the masses. The trick lies in gaining as much power over your element as possible… and then rejecting it, all at once! A very enlightening act, let me assure you.”

“So, once I killed hundreds of monsters, thanks in no small part to your help healing my injuries and enhancing my muscles, I rejected the element of Water, and invited the element… of Life. Oh, don’t look so shocked, my boy! Did you really think you were the only one in the world with Life Affinity? I gave birth to you, of course I have some of my own! The Caretaker was wise enough to suspect that, that’s why I became her trusted ally!” I barely noticed my father talking like he knew the Caretaker personally. Ever since the Caretaker of 30 years ago was assassinated, no Caretaker was allowed to reveal their identity to anyone, no matter how trustworthy they seemed. Case in point, my father turned out to be a madman.

He continued ranting. “Blood Affinity is an amazing thing, you know that, boy? Unlike your equal exchanges of vitality, I can CREATE! LIFE! ITSELF! Under my command, taking any shape, and able to regenerate when given new blood! And if there’s one thing humans are good at… it’s making more blood than they know how to use, ahaha! Granted I did go through a few test subjects to perfect things… I suppose you know how that goes, right bo-“

It was at this point that I punched my father in the face. I tried to drain him, but it was like draining juice from a stone. He pushed me back.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BOY?!” I growled. “Those lives were not yours to take.” He looked genuinely confused. “Why wouldn’t they be? They couldn’t defend themselves. In this world, this Apocalypse, that’s deserving of death where they stand.” I shook my head. “No, it’s DESERVING of being HELPED. Of being shown HOW to defend themselves… so that they can stand up to men like you!” I tried to punch him again, but the blood golem engulfed my hand first. It lifted me into the air.

“Boy, the Caretaker said you were valuable, but soft… that’s why she stuck you in a room where you could do your work, while the rest of us did ours. I always said you could handle the truth… but clearly, I was wrong. And you know what else? We found another Life Affinity brat. A kid who can do just the same things as you, if trained properly. And we’ve been training him for *years*. All that adds up to you being fucking expendable. Is that what you want, boy? To have your blood end up mixed with the blood of our enemies?”

I had an idea, but I needed to keep him talking. “Science doesn’t have enemies, Dad, only opportunities. That’s what mom always said…” “Your mother had some fool ideas, then. Knowledge is power, and there will always be those who wish to seize power for themselves, and only themselves…” A third arm reached from the blood golem’s chest and wrapped around me. I struggled. “Volcano City tried to keep the knowledge of combined Affinities from us, you know? They would kill to keep it a secret, and they aren’t the only ones. The Caretaker foresaw a future where it wasn’t the monsters that killed us, but human infighting. Not unless someone stood up and took charge. Someone to guide the strong and cull the weak. She will be that leader, and I will give her an ocean of blood to drown anyone who wishes to stop her! Can you feel it, boy? Can you feel the bright future ahead?”

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My plan was almost complete. Thankfully, my father was too mad to notice the strain I was putting my power under, or what was going on around him. “I don’t know much about what the future holds, Father… but I know one thing. I know that if I let you leave this room, you’ll be just as much of an Apocalypse as the one outside our doors.” He raised an eyebrow. “If you LET me, eh? And who are you to stop me, hmm?”

“Someone who realized hundreds of bodies drained of blood is still a pretty fucking decent amount of life essence.” My father’s eyes widened, looking around at the room of his ‘test subjects’ as if for the first time. They had all dried and desiccated far beyond what they were just a few minutes ago. I mentally flipped the switch to apply all that life essence to the one place I had never been allowed to put it. My own body. I cried out in agony; no-one had ever been given this much overhealth before. Were there side effects? Long term effects?

Heh, look at me, wanting to do actual research. I guess this not-so-Harmonious place taught me something decent after all.

With a surprisingly small amount of effort, I broke through the blood golem’s arms that had been holding me back. I tried to stand up, only to find my head hitting the ceiling. My father was shouting commands at his golem, trying to get it to kill me, but I barely felt the thing. I reached out with a single overgrown fist and *punched*. My father’s head dented inwards. His blood golem collapsed back into the liquid it truly was.

I made my way back out of the room full of corpses and towards the door to the upper decks. I used my enhanced strength to break the lock off instantly. Repeating the process a few times, I found myself standing in the sun for the first time in nearly two decades. We were off the coast of a large city covered in snow, with a large volcano visible in the distance. Several areas of the ship were on fire, and I could see a few Water Generators trying to put it out. It was no use though, since balls of liquid fire kept launching from the city and hitting the sides of the ship. I guess my father was telling the truth at one point, at least: there was a Magma Affinitied somewhere in the city.

I wandered around the surface deck of the ship, not really sure how best to proceed. Should I try to commandeer the ship from the Caretaker? Or should I just try to swim to land? I had no idea where the ship was controlled from, but I also would probably be attacked as an enemy if I went to Volcano City.

The choice was put on hold when a woman in a black cloak approached me. “ELIAS! What is- no, you aren’t Elias… of course, his son. Do I have you to thank for the loss of our blood golem soldiers?” Elias was my father, so this had to be the Caretaker. I grunted. “The Caretaker, I presume.” The woman chuckled, undoing her hood. It revealed a surprisingly beautiful woman with long black hair. She smirked and said, “The one and only.”

I realized she was the spitting image of the Caretaker who had been assassinated. Of course, she faked her death and ran the ship from the shadows. Was ANYTHING in this damn place not a lie? “You seem to have had quite the upgrade, young man. Overhealth does have diminishing returns, so I can’t say I ever tried to push it that far. Perhaps that will be something new to try… once we get the requisite ‘donors’ of course…”

She was just as mad as my father. If I wanted the Harmonium’s reign of terror to end, I needed to kill this woman as well. Without giving her more time to prepare, I ran towards her and prepared to punch her to death. She simply smirked once more and made some strange hand gestures. A wave of pure darkness, almost like a cloud of ink, emerged from out of nowhere.

I was blinded by it, but still tried to attack in the direction I thought she was in. I just heard her terrible laugh. “I suppose this means you won’t be replacing your father any time soon. A shame, but now that we know how to test for Life Affinity, replacing you both shouldn’t prove too troublesome. Still, you could NOT have picked a worse time to kill Elias, we were in the middle of our first large-scale test of his blood warriors, you know? I suppose you at least taught me their biggest weakness, the fragility of their summoner, so that will be something to remember in the future…”

Walking though the darkness was like walking through deep water. The stuff stuck to me with my every movement, making it harder and harder to push through, even with my enhanced muscles. I hoped she couldn’t keep this up indefinitely; if I recalled correctly, she was supposed to be a Generator, not an Absorber. “How are you liking my Darkness Affinity?”, she said, mockingly. “I hadn’t expected that to be the combination of Earth and Water, but in the end, it all made sense. The darkness of the deep water… and the darkness of being buried alive.”

All of a sudden, the darkness thickened even further. It began to flow into my ears, nose, and throat. I struggled, but that made it go in even further. This… this was the end, wasn’t it? I had lived a life of scientific discovery, only to learn that all the knowledge I had wanted to gain for humanity had instead gone to this evil woman and her mad desires. At least I had slowed her down by taking out her blood army, but she likely already had plans on how to make another one.

Should I have stopped doing my experiments? Should I have questioned further where all the bodies came from? Should I have simply run away on that first day when I drained my mother by accident?

…I’m sorry, mom. This place… these people… you deserved better from everyone, especially me. The Harmonium used us all up, along with who knows how many others.

Caretaker! May your efforts turn to ash! May your empire be engulfed in flame! May you rot in your darkness, never to learn the true secrets of the Apocalypse! May you… may you…

*Gak*

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You have died as a Rank 1 Life Stealer (Yin)