Laetissimus Trilogy

Book 1: Chapter 32

The Plan

"You," Rainbow said, as though she could not breathe. The blood kept flowing.

Master was concentrating the brunt of his presence on her. Lae did not want to even imagine the kind of pain she must have been feeling.

All of a sudden another gunshot followed as Master momentarily redirected the aim of the gun and Lae realized that even without looking at him, Master had just shot Lae on the legs. Lae fell to his knees, buckled in pain. Oh, how he hated bullets. Rainbow was groaning loudly.

Master then gestured with his right hand like one who was issuing a wordless command and just as sure, those other two men walked over to Lae and stood over him. Lae realized that these were the fellows from the river when Lae and Rainbow had gone fishing for the immortal jelly fish.

This time they smiled.

Lae understood the undertones-it was payback time.

"If it isn't Sarandiel herself...it has been so long since we actually met in person," Master said calmly.

"You...you..." Rainbow was panting heavily.

"We had a deal." Master's voice was slow and as deliberate as it could possibly be. "Why did you have to betray me yet again?"

Rainbow moaned in reply.

"I have learned something and seeing as the boy was unable to do it, then I am left with no options...at the very least, let the boy understand the events of the past year."

He turned over to Lae and let loose his sinister laughter. "You see, the experiment itself was perfectly laid out. The first stage was to see your response to emotional trauma. And hence the hunter whom you actually never killed. I killed him, of course."

"You killed the hunter?"

"Silence, boy." Master's voice pressed over Lae. The pain shot up once again. Lae crumbled to his knees and when he tried to get up one of the men sunk a foot deep in his chest and he fell flat on his back.

Master continued, "As for Sarandiel-or did you call her Rainbow?-the instructions were simple. A time would come when she would hear of the rumors. The rumors of the Eximi in the village and then she would know precisely where to find me ... and you, Laetissimus. I had set up Contact between both of you discreetly. As for me, clearly, I had to avoid meeting her myself, for I had my suspicions. After she found you, I knew to stay clear, even though you assumed you were so subtle about the whole thing. But it was her job to explain to you the full brunt of what a murder, that murder meant...and I must confess, she did an excellent job."

He took a slow step to the nearest tree and began caressing it.

"You are a monster," Lae said quietly. This time the other man stamped his foot full on Lae's chest and Rainbow screamed as Master continued speaking calmly,

"The next day, when we changed towns, you had a new resolve. You were going to embark on your journey on becoming a Bioveritist. I know I spent those years belittling your true ability but I had to motivate you somehow. You see, becoming a Bioveritist has always been your destiny. And we both know that no amount of force or cajoling can turn one into a Bioveritist...one's passion and interest in the forbidden science has to be proven by choice of will and persistence in scientific investigations."

With the way his face was positioned, one might have assumed he was having a conversation with the tree.

"Both of these things, thanks to her, you have now exhibited. But there was something else. The one problem that had baffled the Bioveritist community was the problem of Adult Eximification. That is the conversion of a full grown adult into an Eximi. As you currently know, the current state of technology only allows for one to be made an Eximi at birth and at no other time. This was were you Laetissimus came in. "