The History of Renko: Book 2 Voyager (Avatar, BoyxBoy)

Chapter 26: Experiments

The sounds of combat rattled Ippei as watched Fogwai in near horror. Thunder rumbled the chamber and the earth shook.

It must be the Avatar and his friends he thought to himself. The thunder must be from that fire bending prince and the earthquakes must be the Avatar. But he couldn't worry about that now. Right now, he stood and watched Fogwai conducting tests on a trembling man strapped down to an operating table. The man had a sock in his mouth muffling his voice. A single lightbulb dangled in the laboratory in which the experiments were taking place.

"Is it going to work this time?" he asked not knowing the answer he wanted to hear.

"I think so," Fogwai answered. His voice had lowered and the dim light reflected off of his glasses making it impossible to see his eyes. Fogwai took a syringe filled with purple liquid and readied it near the man's vein in his arm.

"You may feel a slight pinch," he said as he stabbed the man and pushed the liquid into his bloodstream.

Ippei turned his head as the ground shook even more beneath him. He had ordered his team to flee the catacombs and return to the surface while keeping his security force to keep the Avatar busy. Maybe freeing Fogwai was a mistake, he thought to himself. This man is insane. The Dark Hand had very good reasons to leave him in prison. What would it look like once it was found out he freed the very man the Dark Hand wanted to forget?

"I sense apprehension," Fogwai said without turning towards Ippei. The man on the table began to struggle as the serum entered his bloodstream. He thrashed about wildly grunting through the sock that gagged his mouth.

"You're wondering what good it was to free me," Fogwai continued to speak. "Allow me to tell you what the Dark Hand is really about."

Ippei turned to look at him.

"You've been told the governments that keep people oppressed are legitimized by the spirits," Fogwai began. "This is true. Every king and monarch throughout history has claimed some spiritual connection that makes them worthy of the crown while keeping others under their foot.

"The Dark Hand does want to do away with all that. But not by separating humans and spirits. Oh no. The true aim is to..."

There was a crash and the light went out leaving them standing with just the eerie glow of the crystals. The man on the table appeared to have passed out and was breathing raggedly.

"It appears storytime is over," Fogwai said. He pointed to the man on the table. "Let's collect our things and be off. Take him with us."

"Wait," Ippei said. "What is the Dark Hand's true goal?"

The noises from the battle outside grew louder and louder until Ippei could only read Fogwai's lips. What he read, froze him to his core.