The two riders advanced impatiently towards the front of the house. They were riding motheros. One of them dismounted on the go to get as close as possible to Asmodeus, the other carried a strange bundle in his arms while trying to hurry. Both were hooded and wearing the military uniform of the city of Elker.

—She needs help —shouted the one closest to his master—. We have no idea what's wrong with her.

The three settled in the living room while I approached cautiously to see what they were doing. They seemed alarmed, but I didn't understand why. Abigail wasn't sure if she should be there or if it was better for her to go up to her room. Her master turned to look at her. He was about to ask her to leave, she could see it in his eyes, but the words stuck in his throat.

—We need you —he said, almost as if he regretted it.

The first hooded figure was a woman, the other, a man. Abigail still didn't recognize them, but she trusted her master's judgment.

The woman had left the bundle she was carrying on the table. When Abigail approached, she saw a girl trembling in pain while her eyes wandered aimlessly on the ceiling. She was so thin she looked like a corpse. She would be about ten years old, barely two years younger than Abigail. She was an arcabassys, which is why she looked much younger than normal. She tossed her head from side to side and her mouth emitted some guttural sounds. The strangest thing was the muscle contractions in her abdomen. It was the first time she had treated someone so young for something that seemed so serious. Abigail took a step forward to begin stabilizing her, but she was too terrified to try anything else.

—Keep her stable and focus on analyzing her —said her master as he headed towards the basement—. You control the girl and transfer your energy to my pupil.

The man took the girl by her shoulders to keep her from moving. The woman placed a hand on Abigail's back while with the other she tried to keep the girl's legs still.

Here is where Abigail's narrative becomes as cold and objective as her master's would be. I even dare to think that it was he who filled that part of the book, for his speech is very far from the warm and cheerful girl that Abigail has always been. If I can now offer a more accurate version of the events, it is because I collected brief testimonies from all involved. And although I try to do justice to the emotions of the moment, I don't believe any artistic medium can faithfully convey them.

Abigail placed one hand on the girl's stomach and the other on her forehead.

She could feel her energy, the weak flow of her shpabisshys coursing through her limbs. She wanted to help her by imbuing her with her energy, but the girl's body was rejecting that support. It was as if the girl was no longer compatible with primal energy. Her regenerative factor continued to fight to return her body to its normal state, but an unusual weakness prevented her from healing at the speed she needed.

The man asked about the girl's condition. According to Abigail, it seemed to be some kind of poisoning.

Asmodeus returned to the room with a rolled-up bag that he spread out on one side of the table. He filled a syringe with the clear liquid from a vial and injected it into the girl's arm. She became paralyzed. Her vital signs returned, she gasped instantly, and her eyes refocused. She was alive.

Abigail took advantage of that moment to try to enhance her defensive abilities, but they degenerated until they disappeared. The girl then went into shock again. Abigail screamed in despair. She could feel the girl's regenerative factor fading away with each passing second.

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Asmodeus began to examine the girl: her pupils, her mouth, her nose, her neck, her arms. He moved to the back of her head and stopped there. He jumped towards his bag, took a syringe, and used it to extract the blue liquid from a vial, then plunged the needle into the girl's chest. Both soldiers were startled by that stab that seemed brutal, but neither intervened. Asmodeus proceeded to push the liquid into the girl's heart as she murmured between whispers. The woman wanted to react, but the man asked her to hold back, even when he too was doubting what was happening.

The girl opened her eyes and began to shake more violently. She seemed to be on the verge of improving, but it didn't take long for her to start reverting to her previous state.

Asmodeus knelt down in front of the floor under the table, inserted his fingers between two notches, and with a pull, he removed a circular lid. A bunch of metal wires lay beneath the floor, similar to snakes. He referred to them as cables. They carried energy, according to his words. Abigail had seen him light filaments that invoked lights with those cables, but other than that, she didn't see much use for them. Her master put his hands into the hole he had uncovered and pulled out a square device on which several silver needles connected to various cables were placed.

First, he pierced the needles into the girl's skull. He did it so quickly that it was easy to think he simply wanted to hurt her, but Abigail could see in the movement of his eyes that his mind was occupied with several calculations. Only she was able to glimpse those small details in her master. Asmodeus subtly measured with the tips of his fingers the distance between the eye and certain points of the skull, then pierced the needles according to what he obtained. But that wasn't all. The angle of the wound also seemed to play a very important role in the operation. First, he perfectly aligned the needles parallel to the bone he was trying to pierce, then he tilted it differently depending on the location. He made a uniform distribution of the needles on the girl's skull, mainly in her temples, but also a few that went from her forehead to the anterior part of her skull. To put it in more appropriate terms and according to the description provided by Abigail herself: Eight needles in her temporal bone, three in the frontal, one in the parietal, and one last, longer and thicker, right in the center of her occipital bone.

If it was painful, the girl didn't show it. She seemed to be suffering so much from her condition that she hadn't even noticed the perforations. Asmodeus adjusted the soldier to hold the girl's head, then proceeded to press some buttons on his device.

A burst of electricity attacked

the girl through the needles, swirled over her wounds, and began to cause spasms all over her body. First, she arched her spine, then suddenly relaxed her body.

The girl started breathing again suddenly. She buried her fingers on the edges of the table and turned instantly towards Asmodeus. It was impossible that she had recognized him, nor that they had known each other before.

Asmodeus approached the girl a little. She opened her mouth and moved her lips, but there were no words. She managed to emit some sounds, but they drowned in the back of her throat. She herself understood what was happening. She spoke again, this time more forcefully. Then she tried again.

"Elma-acen," she said with teary eyes.

She looked at the others in the room and locked her eyes on my master again. Why she stopped on him, whether it was because he was closer or because she perceived his authority over the others, is a mystery. She repeated the same sound two more times. It made no sense, nor did it even seem like a word. Desperation could be seen in her gaze: she wanted to be understood and knew she wasn't achieving it. Abigail tried to pay more attention to what she was saying. "Elma-acen," that was the clearest thing she could get from her lips.

Abigail jumped forward. The girl's signs were returning, Abigail could feel her energy trace again, but she needed more romular stones to help her.

Asmodeus held the girl's gaze, stroked her hair, and moved the soldier aside to take her hand.

—Master! —Abigail shouted in the midst of her despair, but there was no reaction—. Hand me that bag.

Abigail approached the soldier, but he lowered his gaze. I approached the soldier, but he lowered his gaze.

—The bag! —Abigail shouted at the woman, who immediately reacted—. Share your energy with me.

The woman put her hands in the bag, which contained several romular stones, and touched her neck to transfer her energy to her. Abigail took advantage of that momentum to heal the girl's internal tissues. She felt a slow internal progress bearing fruit, but the girl's condition began to deteriorate faster than she could heal her. Muscle spasms returned, and her eyes clouded over again. Her regenerative factor had disappeared. Abigail was only fighting to prevent her body from collapsing completely.

—It's useless —murmured her master, a whisper that felt like a stab.