The Blood Knight

Before VIII

The first blood sample Cedric extracted from Tomson One's veins was stored in the darkness of the cold-vault, a mortuary for dead bodies ready to be cut open for scientific research deep underneath the tower. It was a natural cavern, cooled by the undergoing stream flowing through and colder due to the Cold Breezing Moon.

"Are you done?" Prince Xalvador asked, impatient as he waited for Cedric to finish turning the wheel that turned the blood sample in a small glass tube.

"Patience, your highness. This must be done for quite a while," Cedric replied.

Prince Xalvador sighed in annoyance. But even he knew that separating the red from the white of blood takes time and energy.

Once Cedric was done, he pulled out the glass tube from the wheel, revealing a tube filled half with red at the bottom and hay yellow fluid at the top. Besides him inside a mouth cage trap, squeaked about three mice.

Cedric felt a bit sorry for the small creatures, a bit guilty for what they were going to do to them. Still, the book took out a blood-pipe and sucked the yellow portion of the contents in the glass tube into the small delicate metal alloy tube using the piston at the end of it. Then, Cedric slowly took hold of one of the mice and slowly inserted the blood-pipe needle under the skin of the tiny creature, inserting part of its contents.

They used three blood-pipes for the three mice to avoid contamination. The pipes would have to be boiled to remove any curse-bodies. And so the mice were placed in three separate cages and carried to Prince Xalvador's study under the cover of night.

Neither of them knew what to expect. The mice could fall dead, probably due to toxins in Tomson One's blood or due to something else.

One mice died the first night.

The other two developed a high fever, their tiny bodies lying limp on the floor of the cage as they took labored breaths. They didn't eat, nor drink. But they were warm to the touch.

"They developed a fever," Cedric observed.

Prince Xalvador nodded. It was quite expected that they would get a fever. It still was an infection no matter how miraculously the effects seemed to be.

On the second day, both mice woke up, their eyes red. They bumped on the cage, gnawing at the tiny steel bars and only calmed down when they were given blood to drink.

They drunk the red liquid with such abandon as if it was akin to an animal being starved of water for at least seven days.

"We need to eliminate the blood lust at least," Prince Xalvador said, "And try to extract the healing factor."

Cedric looked at the prince. The prospects were promising, exciting, but impossible to figure out how.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Cedric said. "This is a curse-body. We can only change the characteristics of any species by letting them reproduce as they adapt to various conditions. How are we_"

"Let one feed blood, let the other starve but leave it food and water."

The mouse left with food and water ended up gnawing on its own limbs for blood. It became a bloody mess. But to Cedric's surprise, the animal didn't have as much blood as one would expect it to have. It's wounds seemed as if the flesh underneath was drained of blood.

It was then that Cedric understood why the animal craved so much blood.

"They cannot produce new blood," Cedric said.

"Blood is simply water and red-particles, Cedric. Any living being with red blood can produce it."

"Maybe it's dehydrated," Cedric replied. "But dehydrated blood is thick and dark red. It's blood isn't."