Iarvahr walked through a dark, barely lit corridor. His steps echoed in the darkness and shadows played tricks on his mind, dancing just barely out of vision. He tried to give them no attention, his eyes and thoughts focused on the large door at the end of the corridor.

The doors were locked - a minor hindrance fixed quickly by the use of his axe. After a few bashes, he was in, surrounded by tables with heaps of odd objects. The lantern he carried made the objects around him glitter with golden reflection, but the things he looked for weren’t supposed to be golden.

“Blue prisms, blue prisms…” he muttered to himself, rummaging through the old, forgotten artifacts. “Where are you…”

***

Two men walked through a dark, barely lit corridor. Their steps echoed in the darkness, and shadows played tricks on their mind, dancing just barely out of their vision. They gave them no attention, as they were complaining and groaning about their work all the time while walking to the artifact repository. They both hated the archive work.

“Hey, stop.” One of them hissed suddenly. “Look, the doors are smashed open.”

“What the hell is going on?” Second man whimpered. There wasn’t anyone supposed to be here. “I don't like this Urus, we should head back.”

“Don’t be a coward, Artin.” The first man chuckled. “I have a brand new revolving gun. And besides, if we catch someone here and present him to the citadel guard, maybe we will be rid of archive work forever!”

“Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck…” Artin whispered. “At least open the lantern more, I can't see shit.

“Calm do…” the words of the first man were killed by the sound of heaps of metal falling to the ground. While Artin was terrified of this noise, Urus ran through the archive doors with a gun in his hand and a shouting coming from his mouth. “Hey, who’s there? Show yourself! I’ve got a gun!”

“Fuuuuuck…” Tears of fear trailing down his cheeks, Artin still ran behind his friend and entered the room just a few seconds later. He didn’t notice his friend standing frozen right behind the half-open door and hit him in the back, both of them tumbling on the ground.

Trying to stand up quickly, Urus looked around them, searching for the source of noise. His eyes stopped on a figure clad in bronze-colored armor with three, brightly shining blue tendrils sticking from his back, waving in the still air, tasting the surroundings like a serpent’s snake. He froze, unable to move after seeing such a grotesque sight. “What the fuck is that?” Artin cried loudly, and all three tendrils turned towards him.

Slowly, the bronze-clad man turned his body and faced them. His eyes were blank and unfocused, seeing nothing, looking at nothing, but after he focused his sight on the lying duo, Artin realized that something was indeed present in the eyes. Hunger.

“Leonie…” The monstrous man whispered. “I’m coming.” The man took a few shaky steps towards the men on the floor. His head spun erratically from left to right, the movements choppy, lizard like and not humanly fluid at all. “No. I will not…” He whispered to himself. “No… Feeding…” he pressed the words through gritted teeth. “No, I will not!” He shouted.

Urus was still frozen, but Artin reached for the revolving gun on the ground and with trembling hands, he sent shot after shot against bronze-clad horror walking towards him.

***

They returned to Auria’s home, where Naira was already waiting for them. After a few words, they agreed that sitting on the bed and waiting a day for the departure was not a thing they looked forward to, and so they moved to the tavern two flights of stairs below.

They ordered food and drinks and after a few hungry minutes, roasted beef with richly spiced baked potatoes and steamed vegetables sat on the table in front of them, filling their noses with delightful aroma. Auria didn’t wait for anything and ate quickly, while both Naira and Harian reached for mugs of beer first.

“I’ve been thinking.” Naira said silently between sips of beer. “About the extinct civilization of Bashen.”

“What about them?” Harian asked politely.

“They made that thing.” She nodded towards Auria. “Imagine it, a single person able to decimate a camp, a village, a town, an army, an entire continent of people with one thought, with one plague created in the mind of that person and spread to a few people.”

“If that’s what it really does.” Auria said after a quick swallow of half-chewed meat. “I know that I’ve healed my arm, I am not entirely sure that I’ve killed a man with a thought-plague.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

”That device is obviously connected to diseases.” Harian said. “You feel my cancer. And, you need to drain someone to power the projector. That sounds pretty ominous.”

Naira put the beer mug down quickly. “You need to do what?”

“I’ve... had a dream visitor.” Auria said and re-told her last day’s experiences to Naira.

“We need to get that thing out of your body as soon as possible.”

“I agree only partially.” Auria said. “Imagine it, if I can heal as serious injuries as burnt skin and broken body parts instantly… I might heal more with a projector in a week than I’ve healed in my life.”

Naira looked her right into the eyes. “Unless you lose control. Then you may kill with that thing more in a day than you would have healed in seven lifetimes.”

“I will not lose control. Don’t worry. I’ve got you guys.” Auria smiled at them, and filled her mouth with baked potato.

***

“Why?” Iarvahr screamed into the man’s face as he impaled him on one projector arm. “Why did you make me do this? Why did you have to shoot?” His words echoed in the room, but the dried husk of a man hanging limply from the blue tendril did not answer him. The second man still laid on the ground, a puddle of piss forming beneath him.

“I’ve had it under control.” Iarvahr lowered his upper body towards the man on the floor. “Can you imagine how hard it is to keep three of them at bay?” One blue tendril pierced the man’s shoulder joint, while the second tendril impaled the man’s abdomen. Third projector shook the dried up husk from it. The corpse of Artin fell on the ground where it shattered into million pieces.

Iarvahr straightened up, watching as the man’s life seeped out from him, feeling a surge of energy as he never felt before. Such an ecstatic feeling made his skin tingle, every nerve of his body pushed to its limits, the thrill unimaginable. He felt excited, lustful, stronger than ever, he felt his blood rush into each of his fingers, he felt every heartbeat send more blood into his legs and even his penis.

“Thank you. You gave me much more than the one before you. He fed my arms. You fed… my body.” Iarvahr smiled, and threw the man against the wall.

“What have you done, Iarvahr?”

Iarvahr turned towards the hall entrance. Suranihr stood there, shock plainly visible in his face.

***

The food was finished and they remained seated behind the table, slowly drinking strong beer. “What is your take on this, soldier?” Naira asked Harian. He shrugged.

“I see the dangers, but I see the possibilities. She’s a good person, a good soul. She would not hurt anyone willingly. If anyone was to wield such a powerful thing, I’m glad it’s her.”

Naira rolled her eyes and shifted her focus again towards her oldest friend. “From what I understand, you almost lost control already, Auria.”

“But I didn’t, thanks to Harian.”

“What if he wasn’t there? What if you actually lost control? Can you at least admit that you need to learn how to control that thing properly?”

“No.” Auria shook her head. “I will not use it, I will not think of it. I will block it out of my mind, and it will remain dormant.”

Harian’s eyes were switching between Auria and the projector. “Not to shatter your dreams, medic, but willing or not, you move the arm. You gesture with it, just as you do with your own hands.”

“Oh…” She exhaled. “Well… How do I control it? I can’t use it, otherwise it might drain me and kill me as it did Lakar.”

Naira drummed her fingers against the table. “You need to drain someone.” Harian nodded.

“I will not murder someone just so I can survive.”

“No. Not a murder. A test, performed on a test subject. We will go to alchemists laboratories, they keep the worst of the worst in there as test subjects. Rapists, murderers and their likes.” Harian nodded again, this time with much more eagerness as before.

“I…” Auria sighed. “I see the logic behind this, but… Is that right?” She looked at them with concern in her face. “What gives me the right to kill someone so that I can live?”

“Survival of the fittest.” Harian muttered.

“The projector in your spine.” Naira muttered at the same time.

***

“What have you done?” Suranihr repeated after witnessing Iarvahr throw the corpse away through the room. “You killed them?”

“They shot at me first!” Iarvahr barked angrily. “Do not make the same mistake, Suranihr. Move from my way. No one will stand in my way.”

Suranihr did not move, a pistol in one hand, a lantern in second. “You need help, Iarvahr.”

Iarvahr growled. “I need you to move out of my way, or I’ll make you.”

“No.” Suranihr stood his ground.

Iarvahr focused his mind through one of the tendrils and he realized that he felt how all things attract each other with a very weak force, and how everything around him, and himself, is attracted to the center of the world. He felt how the world is attracted towards the sun, and how the sun is attracted to something dark and deep and unimaginably far away.

He realized that he could eliminate the attractions around him… or amplify them. He focused on Suranihr, and watched as his friend was pulled towards the ground, hitting his knees in a loud impact followed by his torso and head. Suranihr laid on the ground, bleeding, broken, unable to stand, unable to even move. He felt as if a tonne of steel laid on his back, and he felt how his broken ribs scratch against one another. He felt the pulsating, mind-numbing pain in his knees, and then, for a while, he felt nothing as deep darkness enveloped him.

Iarvahr stepped over the dying body of his friend, but he stopped himself from leaving. “I am sorry, my friend.” He whispered as he lifted him off the ground.